Chap. IT. 
POINT CURURIJ. 
151 
appearance to the damascene plum, and not greatly 
unlike it in taste. The Aapiranga is a bright vermilion- 
coloured berry, with a hard skin and a sweet viscid pulp 
enclosing the seeds. Between the point and Altar do 
Chao was a long stretch of sandy beach with moderately 
deep water ; our men, therefore, took a rope ashore and 
towed the cuberta at merry speed until we reached the 
village. A long, deeply-laden canoe with miners from 
the interior provinces here passed us. It was manned 
by ten Indians, who propelled the boat by poles ; the 
men, five on each side, trotting one after the other 
along a plank arranged for the purpose from stem to 
stern. 
It took us two nights to double Point Cururu, where, 
as already mentioned, the river bends from its northerly 
course beyond Altar do Chao. A confused pile of rocks, 
on which many a vessel heavily laden with farinha has 
been wrecked, extends at the season of low water from 
the foot of a high bluff far into the stream. We were 
driven back on the first night (October 3rd) by a squall. 
The light terral was carrying us pleasantly round the 
spit, when a small black cloud which lay near the rising 
moon suddenly spread over the sky to the northward ; 
the land-breeze then ceased, and furious blasts began to 
blow across the river. We regained, with great difficulty, 
^the shelter of the point. It blew almost a hurricane 
for two hours, during the whole of which time the sky 
over our heads was beautifully clear and starlit. Our 
shelter at first was not very secure, for the wind blew 
away the lashings of our sails, and caused our anchor to 
drag. Angelo Custodio, however, seized a rope which 
