76 
VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 
Chap. 11. 
send collections down to Para to be shipped for Eng- 
land, which happened three or four times a year, I used 
to arrange with any trader who was dispatching a ves- 
sel to the capital with produce ; the owners very often 
charging nothing for the carriage. Sometimes I had to 
entrust chests full of choice specimens to Indians for a 
voyage of thirty or forty days : a word to the Pilot 
recommending him to keep the boxes free from damp 
was quite sufficient. I never suffered any loss or 
damage. 
Our course lay due west for about twenty miles. 
The wind increased as we neared Point Cururti, where 
the river bends from its northern course. A vast 
expanse of water here stretches to the west and south, 
and the waves, with a strong breeze, run very high. 
As we were doubling the Point, the cable which held 
our montaria in tow astern, parted, and in endeavour- 
ing to recover the boat, without which we knew it 
would be difficult to get ashore on many parts of the 
coast, we were very near capsizing. We tried to tack 
down the river ; a vain attempt with a strong breeze 
and no current. Our ropes snapped, the sails flew to 
rags, and the vessel, which we now found was 'deficient 
in ballast, heeled over frightfully. Contrary to Jose's 
advice, I ran the cuberta into a little bay, thinking to 
cast anchor there and wait for the boat coming up with 
the wind ; but the anchor dragged on the smooth sandy 
bottom, and the vessel went broadside on to the rocky 
beach. With a little dexterous management, but not 
until after we had sustained some severe bumps, we 
