Chap. II. 
A STRONG BREEZE. 
91 
antecedents of this man, who was a tall, strong, self- 
willed fellow, and it began to dawn on ns that this was 
not a very safe traveling companion in a wild comitry 
like this. I thought it better now to make the best of 
our way to the next settlement, Aveyros, and get rid of 
him. Our course to-day lay along a high, rocky coast, 
which extended without a break for about eight miles. 
The height of the perpendicular rocks was from 100 
to 150 feet ; ferns and flowering shrubs grew in the 
crevices, and the summit supported a luxuriant growth 
of forest, Hke the rest of the river banks. The waves 
beat with loud roar at the foot of these inhospitable 
barriers. At two p.m. we passed the mouth of a small 
picturesque harbour, formed by a gap in the precipitous 
coast. Several families have here settled ; the place is 
called Ita-puama, or "standing rock," from a remarkable 
isolated cliff, which stands erect at the entrance to the 
little haven. A short distance beyond Ita-puama we 
found ourselves opposite to the village of Pinhel, which 
is perched, like Boim, on high ground, on the western 
side of the river. The stream is here from six to seven 
miles wide. A line of low islets extends in front of 
Pinhel, and a little further to the south is a larger 
island, called Capitari, which lies nearly in the middle 
of the river. 
June 23rd. — The wind freshened at ten o'clock in 
the morning of the 23rd. A thick black cloud then 
began to spread itself over the sky a long way down the 
river ; the storm which it portended, however, did not 
reach us, as the dark threatening mass crossed from 
east to west, and the only effect it had was to impel a 
