BRAZILIAN VERACITY. 



22Q 



Continuing our journey, nothing particular occurred but 

 several storms of rain and wind, accompanied with thunder, 

 which sometimes retarded us, and sometimes helped us on. 

 Many of them were complete hurricanes, the wind shifting 

 round suddenly, through every point of the compass ; so that, 

 if our little canoe had not been well ballasted with her cargo 

 of salt and iron, she would have capsized. Once, in particular, 

 at about four in the 'morning, we experienced one of these 

 storms in a wide part of the river, where the waves raised were 

 very great, and tossed us about violently. A sudden shift of 

 the wind took our sail aback, and we had great difficulty in 

 getting it in. The rain was driving thickly against us, and 

 rendered it bitterly cold ; our montaria, which was towed 

 astern, got water-logged, — plunged, and dashed against the 

 canoe, — tore out its benches, and lost its paddles. I gave 

 orders to cast it loose, thinking it impossible to save it ; but 

 the Indians thought otherwise, for one of them plunged in 

 after it, and succeeded in guiding it to the shore, where we 

 also with much difficulty arrived, and managed to fasten our 

 bows to some bushes, and get a rope out from our stern to 

 a tree growing in the water, so as to prevent the canoe from 

 getting broadside to the waves, which rolled in furiously, 

 keeping one of our men constantly baling out water ; and thus 

 we waited for daylight. I then gave the men a cup of caxaga 

 each ; and when the sea had subsided sufficiently to allow of 

 rowing, we continued our passage. These storms are the only 

 things that make travelling here disagreeable : they are very 

 frequent, but each succeeding one, instead of reconciling me 

 to them, made me more fearful than before. It is by no 

 means an uncommon thing for canoes to be swamped by them, 

 or dashed to pieces on the sands ; and the Rio Negro has 

 such a disagreeable notoriety for the suddenness and fury of 

 its trovoados, that many persons will never put up a sail when 

 there is a sign of one approaching, but seek some safe port, 

 to wait till it has passed. 



On the 1 2 th of November I reached the sitio of Senhor Chagas, 

 where I stopped for the night : he gave me some letters to 

 take up to Sao Gabriel, and just as I was going, requested me, 

 as a favour, to tell everybody that I had not found him at his 

 sitio, but that he was gone to the " mato " to get salsa. As I 

 was on familiar terms with him, I told him that really I was very . 



