"The raft which is to take us to Belem! It will float if all the cataracts of the sky have to open to flood the Amazon!" Joam Garral was on the raft with the pilot and some of the crew.

It was for him to take all the necessary measures at the critical moment.

The jangada was moored to the bank with solid cables, so that it could not be carried away by the current when it floated off.
Quite a tribe from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Indians, without counting the population of the village, had come to assist at the interesting spectacle.
They were all keenly on the watch, and silence reigned over the impressionable crowd.
Toward five o'clock in the evening the water had reached a level higher than that of the night before--by more than a foot--and the bank had already entirely disappeared beneath the liquid covering.
A certain groaning arose among the planks of the enormous structure, but there was still wanting a few inches before it was quite lifted and detached from the ground.
For an hour the groanings increased.

The joists grated on all sides.

A struggle was going on in which little by little the trunks were being dragged from their sandy bed.
Toward half-past six cries of joy arose.