42 



OEXITIIOLOGTST 



[Vol. 14-Xo. 8 



South America. 



Messrs. Sonthimck and Webster: 



Dear Sirs: After a very pleasant and un- 

 eventful trip, interrupted only by a brief stop 

 at St. Thomas (which, by the way, with the 

 other islands we passed, present a very invit- 

 ing appearance, perhaps made so in part by 

 our long sail, out of sight of land) we arrived 

 at Para, and I enjoyed the momentary thrill 

 of i.ANDiNG ON SouTH Amekica. I hope that 

 you will all envy me. I want to make the 

 most of my trip, and perhaps the thought that 

 you would like to be here will offset my long- 

 ings for the land of protection. Protection, 

 good! the minute 1 landed I got it. I tell you 

 the heathen are fully up to home civilization. 

 Why, it really seemed as if I was actually in 

 an American port. The manner the officials 

 went for me was a caution. They taxed every- 

 thing, even to a button that dropped off' while 

 I was swelling with . 



Perhaps you will be pleased to know how 

 much it cost "to clear." Well, I enclose you 

 four pages of foolscap of items; I have written 

 it tine as paper is scarce. 



As soon as possible I called upon Mr. Norton, 

 witli whom I partook of my lirst meal on shore. 

 Mr. Norton is one of the leading business men 

 here; may his success equal his courtesy. 

 [Mr. Norton is a Hyde Park, Mass., gentle- 

 man.] 



Instead of leaving Para the same day I ar- 

 rived, it took three days for the energetic 

 custom house officials to pass my goods. They 

 draw a fat salary. I presume, and like their 

 fellow craft in the U.S., are as indei)endent as 

 hogs on ice and as slow as cold molasses. 

 How'ever, I suppose it protects. 



Leaving Para the third day I arrived at 

 Santarem, on Sunday afternoon, and being anx- 

 ious to get at once about the business for 

 which I had come so far, I commenced to cast 

 about for quarters outside the town. These I 

 secured in the shape of a mud hut with a 

 thatch roof. Across one corner I have stretched 

 my hammock. My long drying and general 

 utility table occupies the centre of the room, 

 the four legs each in a pan of water to keep 

 away the too familiar ants. A shelf across 

 one end holds my tin cans of coffee, sugar, 

 farina, etc., and these with my tin trunks 

 holding my wardrobe aiid working outfit make 

 up the fuiniture. I am seven miles from San- 

 tarem, and an ox team brought me here with 

 my traps. These plantations are not thickly 

 settled. My nearest neighbors are an Indian 



and an American family from Tennessee, and 

 they are a mile away. 



I suppose you are anxious to know what is 

 tlie prospect for successful collecting. You 

 may rest your minds easy on that score. At 

 present the birds are said to be away in the 

 bush (where they cannot be followed), and 

 there are no desirable insects, for there has 

 been no rain for many months and everything 

 is dried up. The rainy season is expected di- 

 rectly and then everything will spring into 

 life. I have examined the collection of butter- 

 flies made by a young American, and from 

 what he says I hope to obtain six or seven 

 thousand butterflies and beetles, but of coixrse 

 that is only guessing. 



I shall remain until I have accomplished the 

 objects of our venture — several thousand 

 skins, insects and shells, some ethnological 

 material, and as much more truck as I can lay 

 hands on. It will take at least a year and 

 after that Brazil is not large enough to hold 

 me. It is the most forsaken country I have 

 struck. If you buy anything here, you have 

 to pay for the factory that made it. Arsenic 

 and fine cotton cannot be found at any price. 

 Nails are 2.t cents a pound, a :}8 cent box of 

 primers %;2.")0, powder .*;1.00 a i)ound, and buck 

 shot (tlie only size to be had) is 16 cents a 

 pound. Fruit and vegetables are not for sale, 

 and people live for the most part on chips and 

 sawdust, that is fisli and farina. Out here in 

 tlie country I live much better than they do in 

 town. The past week I have twice had pig- 

 eons, a broiled coatia, and a roasted monkey. 

 How is that, eh '.' 



I have grumbled awhile and will now write 

 about business. For my first ten days I have 

 only 108 bird skins, including Crimson Tanager, 

 Trogon, two kinds of Toucans, three of Paro- 

 quets, the Yellow-breasted and the Yellow- 

 rump Cassicans; a very handsome Oriole, Jac- 

 amar. Fork-tail Flycatchers, Jacana, and a 

 fine Woodpecker, black with brown breast, a 

 red cockade, and white beak, etc. For the 

 last five days I have been terribly troubled 

 with prickly lieat and cliafing, and this has 

 prevented my getting about as rapidly as I 

 could wish. 



So far I have found only two kinds of shells, 

 one a large Helix, the others about an inch 

 and a half long. I made a skin of my Coatia, 

 but my neighbor's dog took hold of it after- 

 ward and made a specimen out of it in half the 

 time it took me to do it. The life of a collect- 

 ing naturalist is not altogether a liap])y one, 

 any more tlian a policeman's. 



