Usual standard declarations about age, ownership etc. apply here. All parts and sections of this story are the sole copyright of the author (2019).
After too long an absence, it's a pleasure to welcome you back to the next chapter in this long, expanding story.
This chapter has been a problem child beyond my every expectation. It has been rewritten several times to try and unearth the right way to tell this part. Pieces of it have been removed, put back, removed and rewritten. And then technical problems meant that it didn't reach the moderators despite my expectations. So once again it was in my hands, only to be rewritten once more when my muse, who has more patience than I think I deserve, persuaded me to put back the parts I'd cut out. That made the chapter far too long, so I had to break it into two and possibly even three pieces, depending how the rewrite of the second, longer part goes. Think of it as A, B and C if you wish. Here's part A.
The technical problem turned out to stem from my habit of copying and pasting non-English words from my research sources in order to ensure that the spelling (and the little diacritics above and below them) is accurate. The trouble is when these words carry a hyperlink that aren't apparent, My heartfelt thanks to the moderator who pointed out the problem, allowing me to finally fix it. I won't be doing the copy/paste thing again -- if a word is spelt wrong, or doesn't have the correct cedilla, accent or grave, so be it.
So, those who have had the patience, lean back against this fence, gaze out over the fields and the distant hills, hazy and bright in the afternoon sunshine, watch the cows slowly graze and listen to that voice on the wind, saying...
Let me tell you a story.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Chile, 1713
On this day, the 21
st
of March in the year of our Lord 1713, with his blessings and protection, and by the grace of Maria, the Blessed Virgin, we have reached the great ocean at last.
Finally I have time to collect together my writings and accounts of the travels and tribulations of our venture into exploration and the quest for earthly riches. Many times I have feared that my end would come and the day of my judgement occur, but there is a modicum of peace in this place and I would take advantage of that to set down this account of our travels before we continue on our journey.
I, João Castello Branco, and my three younger brothers -- Miguel, Guilherme and Lourenço set out from our estate in Castello Branco almost four years ago, and we are in hope of being finally on the last part of our journey to restore honour and wealth to our family.
My memories of our departure have faded with time, but I can still see dear Mama and my sisters, Anamaria and Margarita, as they waved a tearful farewell to the four younger sons of our family. My older brother Miguel, newly become head of the family and estates, and holder of the title and all incomes, stood silent with his wife and daughter. I am certain that he was more than pleased to see the back of us, as it would free up his larder from our excesses, and his money chest from sponsoring our lifestyles.
He had gladly arranged for passage for the four of us and the fourteen servants and men-at-arms that we would take with us to the New World, pleased to see us out of his sight. I turned for a last look, and it seemed to me that he spat. There was little love lost between he and I, not since I found him and my Rosa in ...
[Note: The rest of this passage is heavily scored and inked out. No record of the Rosa mentioned in this passage has been discovered through museum resources as yet. AM.]
We reached SantÃsima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa MarÃa del Buen Aires, both port and town lazily termed Buenos Aires by its residents, after five months at sea, all of us drunk with sea motion as we stepped onto dry land once again. None of us were the men we had been when we left Castello Branco, as my older brother had foregone the opportunity to explain that he had booked us passage across the sea as working sailors, and not passengers of noble birth.
Still, although I burned with indignation at this slight to my honour, I am not in the end displeased at the result of his betrayal of our blood. After this time, even young Lourenço is strong and healthy, no longer the milk-white dandy of the courts, adopting -- as did we all at that time -- the faux airs of ennui, permanent languor, ill-health and bored disdain. Now, I am delighted to see him as a young bull ready to face any matador in the ring of our great adventure.
Guilherme is a different matter, and has a cough upon his chest that even the most potent poultices cannot relieve, although he tells me he feels well. Apart from the almost constant hacking cough, I see little difference in his nature and constitution, and he seems happy to continue on our quest. I worry however, that he may have contracted consumption. He scolds me and tells me that I am as an old hen, and perhaps he is correct in this. But I worry for him.
The port and town, although conjoined, go by different names, and SantÃsima Trinidad was a pleasant surprise, without the stinks and miasmas of our port cities back home in Portugal, and is situated at the far end of the inlet where the Rio de la Plata empties into the ocean. At first I could not believe that we were sailing up a river, as neither bank was visible for days, although the blue waters had become stained with trails of mud from the contributories. With startling suddenness the de la Plata finishes in mud and swamp as if a dam has been placed across it, and on the south bank of this region, was Buenos Aires.
I was surprised at the number of establishments and houses that had already been constructed since the Spanish had reached here, and realised that this truly must be the land of opportunity. Of course, the houses had little of the sophistication and comforts of my own dear home, but it amazed and excited me in equal quantities.
The other matter that took me by surprise was the number of African slaves present in the town. I had expected that most of the slaves would be natives, but by their colour and facial features I could see they were indeed from Africa, probably taken by our ships in West Africa and sold on to the Spaniards. There were also numerous mulattos of various social classes, and it seemed that the Spanish had little hesitation in their breeding habits with the native women. However, the criollos and peninsulars held the power and it was with those that we determined to negotiate and trade.
[Note: Peninsulars and criollos were slang terms for pure-bred Spanish; those born in Spain, and those born in South America of pure-bred parents. AM.]
During our passage, the captain had on several occasions taken me aside, as eldest member of our family, to ask my advice on several matters, such as finances for future voyages and whom to speak to at court to secure advancement in rank for his family. It seems our captain had made several profitable ventures and was looking for a higher place at the grand table with the right investment. I think that he made space in his hold for our supplies and trade goods in order to facilitate that.
We also discussed the plans of my brothers and I, and finally he offered to sell me a consignment of trinkets he had in his hold at a decent price for us to trade with the natives. These are curious, mostly polished iron bracelets and glass beads, with a few other things thrown in for good measure.
I agreed to this proposal and both of us seemed satisfied with the trade. At this he offered me port in his cabin, to which I readily agreed. After drinking foul well-watered wine for the last months, some decent produce of Porto seemed as a wonderful gift.
The captain grew expansive as we drank, and told me of the New World and the vast interior, where gold is as pebbles in the path, and silver common as wood. Iron and glass is extremely rare, however, and accoutrements such as the armour my brothers and I had stored in the hold, as well as the iron weapons we and our men carried, were much prized.
Captain Mendoza had seen us off the ship with a nod of respect, and we bid him farewell, if not with friendship, then at least comradely good cheer. We carried letters of introduction and had what we hoped would be a promising chance of an enriched future ahead of us.
Our biggest piece of luck was in the type of cargo we carried. My sisters had convinced me that what the people of the new world craved would be luxury items such as silks and lace, and had pressed me continuously to purchase a stock of these. What they had discovered by careful listening to the gossip in court was that the taxes on such items sent to the Americas were huge and therefore rarely carried. We had concealed bales of such items with clever and divers disguises and these were snapped up in trade in return for an astonishing amount of goods.
One of these items was a long string of slaves. I was most pleased at this, as a gentleman foraging for riches in unknown and hostile parts must needs carry a large amount of food, wine and other supplies. My brothers and I then spent days planning our expedition into the hinterlands.
One afternoon Lourenço, who habitually spent his days drinking in the lowest tavernas alongside the river, persuaded me after long hours of talk, to allow him to trade one of the bales of silk for a purchase he wished to keep secret. Reluctantly, and with threats of severe punishment if he failed to live up to his promises, I eventually agreed and waited for the revelation of his promised riches.
The next day, he came to me and gave me a large, heavy coin. It was gold!
He had fallen in with a crowd of rough miners and in a hand of cards had won the coin. The loss of it didn't seem to worry the miner overmuch, who confessed that he had several more. Lourenço had fallen in with him and plied him with much drink over the following hours. For the next two days, my brother had sought conversation with various people and then made his purchase.
When we saw it, the three of us stared with open mouths at what our youngest brother had obtained.
Two huge rafts formed from some pale wood, each with two masts and sails, floated calm at the edge of the river. We boarded these vessels, which rode high on the water and were almost as solid as the earth beneath our feet. They were constructed of long, shaped trunks bound together in such a way that each was linked but independent of its neighbours, and I realised immediately the wise thinking of this design for the river waters we would be facing. The forward end of each trunk was sharpened somewhat to a point and water would easily flow around and between the logs that made up the deck, combating the influence of an adverse current. If we should come across an unsuspected obstruction beneath the surface, the logs would ride up over it without the catastrophic damage that would face a rigid hull, and any severely damaged component could be unfastened and replaced. The added advantage of this was that such collisions would not usually tip everyone and everything from the raft. We marvelled at the ingenious simplicity of its design and at the lightness of the wood from which the rafts were constructed.
[Note: In all likelihood, this was balsa, as there is a history of this material being used for coastal trading craft, but records are scarce that mention river usage. AM.]
There was a raised platform, the width of a man with his arms outstretched, that ran along the sides of the rafts. Lourenço demonstrated the use of this by taking a long rigid pole formed of a different wood, poking it down into the river bed and then walking backward along the platform towards the rear, pushing on the pole as he walked. This, of course, forced the raft forward. By enlisting our slaves to continually do this, each following the previous one in a circular formation, this would provide a form of propulsion that would take us upriver when the wind was not in the right quarter for the effective use of the sails.
