HOMEWARD BOUND. 245 



extends two or three miles to a hilly and well-wooded 

 point, where stands the Cidade de Olinda ; from that point 

 the flat coast extends to Ceara and Para (Belem), near the 

 mouth of the Amazons. 



I was interested at seeing some rafts, called jangada 

 (Port.) or catamaran. These are formed of a framework of 

 planks, on which are fixed three or four benches and a mast 

 with a triangular sail, which latter is taken down when the 

 men are fishing. These slight craft can stand any weather, 

 and have been met with two hundred miles out at sea.* 



The rough sea caused considerable excitement in the 

 taking on and off of passengers. The company's agent 

 (who had to pay 3 for his boat with six oars to bring 

 him off, though tugged by the company's tender) was 

 hoisted on board in a chair slung from the davits, so were 

 also the three passengers who embarked here. This process 

 was by no means pleasant, as the boats were now alongside, 

 and the next moment swept twenty feet away ; one instant 

 nearly level with the main deck, the next ten feet lower. 

 The greatest excitement, however, was caused by the dis- 

 embarking of three men and two women into a boat by the 

 ordinary steps. Why they did not go by the ducking- 

 stool, as I called it, I don't know. The boat kept dancing 

 up and down, and one by one the men, taking advantage 

 of a favourable moment, jumped in ; but the women ! it 

 made one hold one's breath. The first tried a dozen times, 

 but always failed. At length, clinging to the hand-rail of the 

 steps, she was just being grasped in the arms of a man at 

 the bows of the boat, when lurch away went the boat, and 

 she was left hanging over the trough of a wave for a few 

 seconds, which seemed an age ; then back came the boat, 



* Small jangadas form the only craft allowed on the island of Fernando 

 de Neronha. 



