THE 
NATURALIST ON THE AMAZONS. 
CHAPTER I. 
PARA, 
Arrival—Aspect of the country—The Para river—First walk in the suburbs of Para— 
Free Negroes—Birds, Lizards and Insects of the Suburbs—Leaf-carrying Ant— 
Sketch of the climate, history, and present condition of Para. 
I EMBARKED at Liverpool, with Mr. Wallace, in a small trading vessel, 
on the 26th of April, 1848; and, after a swift passage from the Irish 
Channel to the equator, arrived, on the 26th of May, off Salinas. This 
is the pilot-station for vessels bound to Para, the only port of entry to 
the vast region watered by the Amazons. It is a small village, formerly 
a missionary settlement of the Jesuits, situated a few miles to the east- 
ward of the Para river. Here the ship anchored in the open sea, at a 
distance of six miles from the shore, the shallowness of the water far out 
around the mouth of the great river not permitting in safety a nearer 
approach ; and the signal was hoisted for a pilot. It was with deep 
interest that my companion and myself, both now about to see and 
examine the beauties of a tropical country for the first time, gazed on 
the land where I, at least, eventually spent eleven of the best years of my 
life. ‘To the eastward the country was not remarkable in appearance, 
being slightly undulating, with bare sand-hills and scattered trees ; but 
to the westward, stretching towards the mouth of the river, we could see 
through the captain’s glass a long line of forest, rising apparently out of 
the water ; a densely-packed mass of tall trees, broken into groups, and 
finally into single trees, as it dwindled away in the distance. This was 
the frontier, in this direction, of the great primeval forest characteristic 
of this region, which contains so many wonders in its recesses, and 
clothes the whole surface of the country for two thousand miles from 
this point to the foot of the Andes. 
On the following day and night we sailed, with a light wind, partly 
aided by the tide, up the Pard river. Towards evening we passed Vigia 
and Colares, two fishing villages, and saw many native canoes, which 
seemed like toys beneath the lofty walls of dark forest. The air 
I 
