150 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. Chap. II. 



Point Jaguarari forms at this season of the year a 

 high sandbank, which is prolonged as a narrow spit, 

 stretching about three miles towards 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 sandbank at Point Acara- 

 tingari, a headland situated not more than five miles in 

 a straight line from our last anchoring place. We 

 remained here all day ; the men beating Umbo in a 

 quiet pool between the sandbank and the mainland, and 

 obtaining a great quantity of fish, from which I selected 

 six species new to my collection. 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, forcing us to seek the nearest shelter 

 to avoid being driven back faster than we came. 



On the 2nd of October we reached Point Cajetilba 

 and had a pleasant day ashore. The river scenery 

 in this neighbourhood is of -the greatest beauty. A 

 few houses of settlers are seen at the bottom of the 

 broad bay of Aramana-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 towards the north is a clear horizon of water 

 and sky. The country near Point Cajetilba is similar 

 to the neighbourhood of Santarem : namely, campos 

 with scattered trees. We gathered a large quantity of 

 wild fruit : Cajii, Umiri,and Aapiranga. The Umiri berry 

 (Humirium floribundum) is a black drupe similar in 



