Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/90

 send collections down to Pará to be shipped for England, which happened three or four times a year, I used to arrange with any trader who was dispatching a vessel 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 Cururú, 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 endeavouring 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 José'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