Chap. II. 
STRONG BREEZE. 
147 
I gave orders at ten o'clock to move out of the harbour, 
and try with the oars to reach Paquiatuba, which was 
only five miles distant. We had doubled the shoaly 
point which stretches from the mouth of the creek, and 
were making way merrily across the bay, at the head of 
which was the port of the little settlement, when we 
beheld to our dismay, a few miles down the river, the 
signs of the violent day breeze coming down upon us — 
a^long, rapidly advancing line of foam with the darkened 
water behind it. Our men strove in vain to gain the 
harbour ; the wind overtook us, and we cast anchor in 
three fathoms, with two miles of shoaly water between 
us and the land on our lee. It came with the force of 
a squall : the heavy billows washing over the vessel 
and drenching us with the spray. I did not expect that 
our anchor would hold ; I gave out, however, plenty of 
cable and watched the result at the prow ; Jose placing 
himself at the helm, and the men standing by the jib and 
foresail, so as to be ready, if we dragged, to attempt the 
passage of the Marai spit, which was now almost dead 
to leeward. Our little bit of iron, however, held its 
place ; the bottom being fortunately not so sandy as 
in most other parts of the coast ; but our weak cable 
then began to cause us anxiety. We remained in 
this position all day without food, for everything was 
tossing about in the hold ; provision-chests, baskets, 
kettles, and crockery. The breeze increased in strength 
towards the evening, when the sun set fiery red behind 
the misty hills on the western shore, and the gloom of 
the scene was heightened by the strange contrasts of 
colour ; the inky water and the lurid gleam of the sky. 
