THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



and T had often thought I should myself have 

 been added to the list of examples. The de- 

 sire, however, of seeing again my parents and 

 enjoying once more the rich pleasures of in- 

 tellect aai society had succeeded in overcom- 

 ing tLe attractions of a region which niay be 

 fittingly called a Naturalist's Paradise. Dur- 

 ing this last night on the Para River a crowd 

 of unusual thoughts occupied my mind. 

 Recollections of English climate, scenery, 

 and modes of life came to me with a vivid- 

 ness I had never before experienced during 

 the eleven years of my absence. Pictures of 

 startling clearness rose up of the gloomy win- 

 ters, the long gray twilights murky atmos- 

 phere, elongated shadows, chilly springs, and 

 sloppy summers ; of factory chimneys and 

 crowds of grimy operatives, rung to work in 

 early morning by factory bells ; of union 

 workhouses, confined rooms, artificial cares, 

 and slavish conventionalities. To live again 

 amid these dull scenes I was quitting a coun- 

 try of perpetual summer, where my life had 

 been spent, like that of three fourths of the 

 people, in gypsy fashion, on the endless 

 streams or in the boundless forests. I was 

 leaving the equator, where the well-balanced 

 forces of nature maintained a land-surface and 

 climate that seemed to be typical of mundane 

 order and beauty, to sail toward the North 

 Pole, where lay my home under crepuscular 

 skies somewhere about fifty-two degrees of 

 latitude. It was natural to feel a little dis- 

 mayed at the prospect of so great a change ; 

 but now, after three years of renewed expe- 



rience 01 England, I find now incomparably 

 superior is civilized life, where feelings, 

 tastes, and intellect find abundant nourish- 

 ment, to the spiritual sterility of half-savage 

 existence, even though it be passed in the- 

 Garden of Eden. What has struck ma pow- 

 erfully is the immeasurably greater diversity 

 and interest of human character and social 

 conditions in a single civilized nation, than 

 in equatorial South America, where three - 

 distinct races of men live together. The 

 superiority of the bleak north to tropical re- 

 gions, however, is only in their social aspect ; 

 for I hold to the opinion that, although hu- 

 manity can reach an advanced state of cul- 

 ture only by battling with the inclemencies 

 of nature in high latitudes, it is under the- 

 equator alone that the perfect race of the- 

 future will attain to complete fruition of 

 man's beautiful heritage, the earth. 



The following day, having no wind, we 

 drifted out of the mouth of the Para with the 

 current of freshwater that is poured from 

 the mouth of the river, and in twenty- four 

 hours advanced in this way seventy miles on 

 our road. On the 6th of June, when in 7* 

 55' N. lat. and 52 30' W. long., and there- 

 fore about 400 miles from the mouth of the- 

 main Amazons, we passed numerous patches 

 of floating grass mingled with tree-trunks and. 

 withered foliage. Among these masses I es- 

 pied many fruits of that peculiarly Amazo- 

 nian tree the Ubussu palm ; this was the? 

 last I saw of the Great River. 



THE END. 



CONTENTS. 



CHIP. PAG 



I. PARA: Arrival Aspect of the country The 

 Para River First walk in the suburbs of 

 Para Birds, Lizards, and Insects of the sub- 

 urbs Leaf-carrying Ant Sketch of the cli- 

 mate, history and present condition of Para.. 623 



n. PARA: The swampy forest of Para A Por- 

 tuguese landed proprietor Country house at 

 Nazareth Life of a Naturalist under the 



! Equator The dryer virgin forests Magoary 

 Retired creeks Aborigines 680 



III. PARA: Religious holidays Marmoset 

 Monkey s Serpents Insects 639 



IV. THE TOCANTINS AND CAMBTA: Preparations 

 for the journey The bay of Goajara Grove 

 of fan-leaved palms The lower Tocantins 

 Sketch of the river Vista alegre Baia.6 

 Rapids Boat journey to the Guanba falls- 

 Native life on the Tocantins Second journey 

 toCameta 644 



V. CARIP! AND THE BAY OF MARAJ6: River 

 Parfi, and Bay of Mara joJourney to Caripi 



CHAP. PAQKT 



Negro observance of Christmas A German 

 family Bats Ant-eaters Humming-birds- 

 Excursion to the Murucupi Domestic life of 

 the inhabitants Hunting excursion with In- 

 dians White Ants .-. 657 



VI. THE LOWER AMAZONS PARA TO OBYDOS: 

 Modes of travelling on the Amazons His- 

 torical sketch of the early explorations of the 

 river Preparations for voyage Life on board 

 a large trading vessel The narrow channels 

 joining the Para to the Amazons First sight 

 of the great river Gurupa The great shoal 

 Flat-topped mountains Santaren Obydos.. 665* 



VII. THE LOWER AMAZONS OBYDOS TO MAN- 

 AOS, OR THE BARRAOF THE Rio NEGRO: De- 

 parture from Obydos River banks and by- 

 channels Cacao planters Daily life on board 

 our vessel Great storm Sand island and its 

 birds Hill of Parentins Negro trader and 

 Mauhes Indians Ville Nova, its inhabitants, 

 forest, and animal productions- Canumwu 



