SKETCH OF HENRY WALTER BATES. 119 



tion was procured for him in the offices of Messrs. Alsopp, Burton- 

 on-Trent, where he remained, in an uncongenial atmosphere, till 

 arrangements were made for his starting with Mr. Alfred Russel 

 Wallace on their scientific expedition to the Amazons. 



He first became acquainted with Mr. Wallace in 1844, when 

 Wallace was a master in the English Collegiate School, and began 

 a correspondence with him. Three years later, or in 1847, Mr. 

 Wallace suggested a joint expedition to the Amazons for the pur- 

 pose of exploring the natural history of its banks, and of gather- 

 ing facts, as he said, "toward solving the origin of species." 

 The two friends, after spending some time in studying South 

 American plants and animals in the principal collections in Lon- 

 don, embarked in a small trading vessel April 26, 1848, and arrived 

 at Para May 28th. They set to work forthwith, sending home 

 from time to time duplicates of their collections to defray expenses. 

 Though zoology was the primary object of their expedition, they 

 also acquired much geographical and ethnographical information. 

 Para continued to be the headquarters of the two, and of Bates 

 after the separation, from which their excursions were made and 

 to which they returned, and after the departure of Wallace, 

 till November 6, 1851, when Bates started on his voyage of 

 seven years and a half to the Tapajos and the upper Amazons. 

 One of their excursions was down the Tocantins River and to the 

 town of Cameta, and furnished much information on the subject 

 of the complicated river geography. In September, 1849, Bates 

 started on his first voyage up the Amazons in a small sailing ves- 

 sel (for steamers were not established until the year 1853) and 

 reached Santarem, which he subsequently made his headquarters 

 for a period of three years, but on this journey he pushed on 

 to Obydos, about fifty miles farther. Here a trader was found 

 who was proceeding in a cubesta laden with merchandise to the 

 Rio Negro, which was arranged to stop frequently on the way, 

 and Bates, securing a passage, once more increased his knowledge 

 of the Amazons. The destination of the boat was Manaos, or the 

 Barra of the Rio Negro, a spot rendered memorable by the visit of 

 Spix and Martius in 1820. After a short stay Bates proceeded to 

 Ega, the first town of any importance on the Solimoens River, 

 which he reached on the 26th of March, 1850. Here he spent 

 nearly two months before returning to Para, and thus finished 

 what may be considered as his preliminary survey of the vast 

 collecting ground to be almost called his own. In November, 

 1851, he again arrived at Santarem, on a second journey, where, 

 after a residence of six months, he commenced arrangements for 

 an excursion up the little-known Tapajos River, which in magni- 

 tude stands sixth among the tributaries of the Amazons. A stay 

 was made at the small settlement of Aveyros, and from this spot 



