Chap. II. DESCENT OF THE TAPAJOS. 145 



ing to see his parents cheerfully agreed to accompany me 

 to Santarem. The loss of a man at this juncture would 

 have been very annoying, with Captain Antonio ill at 

 Aveyros, and not a hand to be had anywhere in the 

 neighbourhood ; but if we had not called at Andre s 

 sitio, we should not have been able to have kept 

 Ricardo from running away at the first landing-place. 

 He was a lively, restless lad, and although impudent 

 and troublesome at first, had made a very good servant ; 

 his companion, Alberto, was of quite a different dispo- 

 sition, being extremely taciturn, and going through all 

 his duties with the quietest regularity. 



We left at 11 a.m., and progressed a little before the 

 wind began to blow from down river, when we were 

 obliged again to cast anchor. The terral began at 

 six o'clock in the evening, and we sailed with it past the 

 long line of rock-bound coast near Itapuama. At 

 ten o'clock a furious blast of wind came from a cleft 

 between the hills, catching us with the sails close-hauled, 

 and throwing the canoe nearly on its beam-ends, when 

 we were about a mile from the shore. Jose had the 

 presence of mind to slacken the sheet of the mainsail, 

 whilst I leapt forward and lowered the sprit of the 

 foresail ; the two Indians standing stupified in the prow. 

 It was what the canoemen call a trovoada secca or white 

 squall. The river in a few minutes became a sheet 

 of foam ; the wind ceased in about half an hour, but 

 the terral was over for the night, so we pulled towards 

 the shore to find an anchoring place. 



We reached Tapaiuna by midnight on the 23rd, and 

 on the morning of the 24th arrived at the Retiro, where 



VOL. II. L 



