Is -C @ magical?

[Doug Konrad]

We are using the advanced VPATH method described in 
http://make.mad-scientist.net/multi-arch.html#advanced.

The makefile line:

MAKETARGET = $(MAKE) --no-print-directory -C $@ -f $(CURDIR)/Makefile \
               SRCDIR=$(CURDIR) $(MAKECMDGOALS)

has got me puzzled. When I use -C $@, the Makefile is found in CURDIR. However, 
if I use -C /.../some/other/path, Make doesn't look in CURDIR, it looks in the 
directory specified with -C. Is this correct?

Thanks
Doug