

RETURN TO GOIANA. 



83 



in the mean time, drove the loose horses into 

 the water ; they fortunately leaned to the right, 

 passed out far enough to see the land on the 

 other side of the rock, and made for it. I 

 was getting over the rock, missed my footing, 

 and fell up to my arms into a hole between 

 two pieces of it ; however, I succeeded in 

 raising myself, and leaped from it on to the 

 sand on the other side, just at the return of a 

 Avave, by which means I had an unintentional 

 cold bath up to my waist. We might certainly 

 have waited to have allowed the tide to retreat, 

 but were afraid of being benighted, which, after 

 all our exertions, did happen to us. The coun- 

 try, on the other side of the projecting rock, is 

 low, and sandy uncultivated land. At dusk, we 

 arrived upon the banks of a broad stream, so 

 that by the light which then remained, we could 

 not see the other side ; after several calls, the 

 ferryman did not make his appearance, and the 

 night closed in. I advised sleeping under the 

 tree which then sheltered us ; to this my com- 

 panion would not consent, but asked the dis- 

 tance to Abia, the nearest sugar-plantation; the 

 guide answered three leagues, — we must either 

 sleep where we were, or go to Abia. We had 

 already advanced sixteen leagues, and Senhor 

 Joaquim's horse, a fine highly fed animal, began 

 to give way. The guide led, and we followed, 

 through a narrow path, very little frequented, 



g2 



