He built a hut on a piece of rough land near a rock fall. In the wet season there was a plentiful stream, and over the years he encouraged the dry forest to surround him with a thick screen. The greener it became the easier it was to forget the outside. In the end Melio (not without some terrible mistakes) learnt how to live in spite of the difficulties up on that mountain shelf. His only neighbours were a family group of Parakanas Indians who for reasons known only to themselves, took a liking to Melio. Their chief never looked closely at Melio and said to himself that this white man was as mad as a snake which chews off its own tail. The Parakanas taught Melio to catch fish with the help of a wild plant which made them senseless in the stream. It gave off a powerful drug when shaken violently through the water. They showed him how to hunt by laying traps and digging. In the end Melio’’s piece of land became a regular farm. He had wild birds, far long-legged ones and thin nearly featherless chickens, and his corn and salted fish was enough to keep him stocked up through the wet season. The Parakanas were always around him. He’’d never admit it but he could feel that the trees were like the bars of a prison; they were watching him. It was as if he were there by courtesy of the Chief. When they came to him, the Indians never entered his house, with its steeply sloping roof of dried grass and leaves. They had a delicate way of behaving. They showed themselves by standing in the shade of the trees at the clearing’’s (林中空旷地) edge. He was expected to cross the chicken strip towards them. Then they had a curious but charming habit of taking a pace back from him, just one odd step backwards into their green corridors. Melio could never persuade them to come any closer. The group guessed at Melio’’s hatred for his civilized brothers in the towns far away. They knew Melio would never invite any more white man up here. This pleased the Parakanas. It meant that traders looking for rubber and jewels would never reach them. Their Melio would see to that. They were safe with this man and his hatred. Why did Melio encourage the forest around him to grow thicker and greener