Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon (French: La Jangada - Huit Cents lieues sur l'Amazone) is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1881. It has also been published as The Giant Raft.
Unlike many of his other novels, this story does not have any science fiction elements. It is an adventure novel.
This novel involves how Joam Garral, a ranch owner who lives near the Peruvian-Brazilian border on the Amazon River, is forced to travel down-stream when his past catches up with him. Most of the novel is situated on a large jangada (a Brazilian timber raft) that is used by Garral and his family to float to Belém at the river's mouth. Many aspects of the raft, scenery, and journey are described in detail.
Original illustration of Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires
Plot summary
Joam Garral grants his daughter's wish to travel to Belém where she wants to marry Manuel Valdez in the presence of Manuel's invalid mother. The Garrals travel down the Amazon River using a giant timber raft. At Belém, Joam plans to restore his good name, as he is still wanted in Brazil for a crime he did not perpetrate. A scoundrel named Torres offers Joam absolute proof of Joam's innocence but the price that Torres wants for this information is to marry Joam's daughter, which is inconceivable to Joam. The proof lies in an encrypted letter that will exonerate Garral. When Torres is killed, the Garral family must race to decode the letter before Joam is executed.
