3 o NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



the port of Nauta, manned by a crew of rats and 

 mosquitoes. The state of these steamers was a 

 great disappointment to me, as I had calculated on 

 getting up as far as Yurimaguas on the Huallaga in 

 one of them, and I had now no alternative but to 

 continue my voyage in canoes, in the rainy season 

 and with the river full. I got a couple of canoes, 

 and after a fortnight's delay in putting them in 

 order and getting crews of Indians to navigate 

 them, I took my weary way up the Maranon. . . . 



[Part of a letter to Mr. Bentham carries on the 

 narrative by describing an incident at Nauta that 

 might have had very serious consequences, or 

 even caused the death of the traveller.] 



To Mr. George Bentham 



YURIMAGUAS, PERU, May 27, 1855. 



* 



I left the Barra on March 15 in the steamer, and 

 reached Nauta on April 2. Had it not been for the 

 delays in taking in firewood every day or nearly 

 so, the voyage might have been made in half the 

 time. At Nauta I was detained a fortnight getting 

 together Indians and a couple of canoes to continue 

 my voyage. From Nauta to Yurimaguas took me 

 till May 5 a voyage made sufficiently uncomfort- 

 able from abundance of mosquitoes by day and night, 

 and rendered perilous by frequent falling in of the 

 banks of Maranon and Huallaga, and by the risk of 

 upsetting when the deeply-laden canoe struck on 

 some hidden stump, which happened every day. 



My repose in the Barra had been of great 

 service to my health, but I reached Yurimaguas 



