THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



715 



<jabin. The wind had abruptly ceased, giv- 

 ing place to light puffs from the eastern 

 slure, and leaving a long swell rolling into 

 the shoaly buy. 



After this I resolved nut to move a step be- 

 yind Paquiatuba without an additional man, 

 and one who understood the navigation of 

 the river at this season. We reached the 

 landing place at ten o'clock, and anchored 

 within the mouth of the creek. In the morn- 

 ing 1 walked through the beautiful shady 

 alleys of the forest, which were water-paths 

 in June when we touched here in ascending 

 the river, to the house of Inspector Cypriano. 

 After an infinite deal of trouble I succeeded 

 in persuading him to furnish me with another 

 Indian. There are about thirty families es- 

 tablished in this place, but the able-bodied 

 men had been nearly all drafted off within 

 the last few weeks by the Government to ac- 

 company a military expedition against run- 

 nway negroes, settled in villages in the in- 

 terior. Senhor Cypriano was a pleasant- 

 looking and extremely civil young Mameluco. 

 He accompanied us, on the nightTof the 28th, 

 ve miles down the river to P\>int Jaguarari, 

 There the man lived whom he intended to 

 send wiili me. I was glad to find my new 

 hand a steady, middle-aged and married In- 

 dian ; his name was of very good promise, 

 Aiigelo Custodio (Guardian Angel). 



Point Jaguarari foims at this season of 

 the year a high sand-bank, which is pro- 

 longed as a narrow spit, stretching about 

 three miles toward the middle of the river. 

 We rounded this with great difficulty in the 

 night of the 29th, reaching before daylight 

 a good shelter behind a similar sand-bank at 

 Point Acaratingari, a headland situated not 

 more than five miles in a straight line from 

 <,ur last anchoring place. We remained here 

 all day : the men beating timbo in a quiet 

 pool behind the sand-bank and the mainland, 

 and obtaining a gieat quantity of lish, from 

 which I selected :>ix species new to my col- 

 lection. We made rather better progress the 

 two following nights, but the terral now 

 always blew strongly from the north north- 

 east after midnight, and thus limited the 

 hours during which we could navigate, forc- 

 ing us to seek the nearest shelter to avoid 

 being driven back faster than we came. 



On the 22d of October we reached Point 

 Cajetuba, and had a pleasant day ashore. 

 The river scenery in this neighborhood is of 

 the greatest beauty. A few houses of set- 

 tlers are seen^at the bottom of the broad bay 

 of Atamaiia-i at the foot of a range of richly- 

 timbered hills, the high beach of snow-white 

 sand stretching in a bold curve from point to 

 point. The opposite shores of the river are 

 ten or eleven miles distant, but toward the 

 north is a clear horizon of water and sky. 

 Tiie country near Point Cajetuba is similar 

 'ta the neighborhood of Sanatarem : namely, 

 carupos with scattered trees. We gathered 

 ji large quantity of wild fruit : Caju, Umiii, 

 4ind Aa piranha. The Umiri berry (Humi 

 -lium lioribuudum) is a black drupe similar 

 in appea'.uucd to the Damascene olum and 



not greatly unlike it in taste. The Aapirfinga 

 is a bright vermilion-colored berry, with a 

 hard skin and a sweet viscid pulp inclosing 

 the seeds. Betwen the point and Altar do 

 Chao was a long stretch of sandy beach with 

 moderately deep water ; our men therefore 

 took a rope ashore, and towed the cuberta at 

 merry speed until we reached the village. A 

 long, deeply-laden canoe with miners from 

 the interior provinces here passed us. It was 

 manned by ten Indians, who propelled the 

 boat by poles, the men, five on each side, 

 trotting one after the other along a plank ar- 

 ranged for the purpose from stem to stem. 



It took us two nights to double Point 

 Cururii, where, as already mentioned, the 

 river bends from its northerly course beyond 

 Altar do Chad. A confused pile of rocks, 

 on which many a vessel heavily laden with 

 farinha has been wrecked, extends at the 

 season of low water from the foot of a high 

 bluff far into the stream. We were driven 

 back on the first night (October 3d) by a 

 squall. The light terral was carrying us 

 pleasantly round the spit, when a small black 

 cloud which lay near the rising moon sud- 

 denly spread over the sky to the northward : 

 the land breeze then ceased, and furious blasts 

 began to blow across the river. We re- 

 gained, with great difficulty, the shelter of 

 the point. It blew almost a hurricane for 

 two hours, during the whole of wh ch time 

 the sky over ourlieads was beautifully clear 

 and starlit. Our shelter at first was m t very 

 secure, for the wind blew away the lashings 

 of our sails, and caused our anchor to drag. 

 Angelo Custodio, however, seized a rope 

 which was attached to the foremast, and 

 leaped ashore ; had he not done so we should 

 probably have been driven many miles back- 

 ward up the storm -tossed river. After the 

 cloud had passed, the regular east wiud be- 

 gan to blow, and our further progress was 

 effectually stopped for the night. The next 

 day we all went ashore, afler securing well 

 Ihe canoe, and slept from eleven o'clock till 

 five, under the shade of trees. 



The distance between Point Cururii and 

 8antarem was accomplished in three days, 

 against the same difficulties of contrary and 

 furious winds, shonly water, ' and rocky 

 coasts. I was thankful at length to be safely 

 housed, with the whole of my collections, 

 made under so many privations and perils, 

 landed without the loss or damage of a speci- 

 men. The men, after unloading the canoe 

 and delivering it to its owner, came to receive 

 their payment. They took part in goods, 

 and part in money, and afler a good supper, 

 on the night of the 7th of October, shouldered 

 their bundles and set off to walk by land some 

 eighty miles to their homes. 1 was rather 

 surprised t the eood feeling exhibited by 

 these poor Indians at parting. Angelo Cus- 

 todio said that whenever 1 should wish to 

 make another voyage up Ihe Tapajos, he 

 would be always ready to serve me as pilot. 

 Alberto was undemonstrative as usual ; but 

 Kicardo, with whom 1 had had many sharp 

 quarrels, actually shed tears when he shook 

 ^Udsand bid me the final " adeos. " 



