xii PREFACE. 



greater part of my collections and sketches, were lost by the 

 burning of the ship on my homeward voyage. From the 

 fragmentary notes and papers which I have saved I have 

 written the intermediate portion, and the four last chapters 

 on the Natural History of the country and on the Indian 

 tribes, which, had I saved all my materials, were intended to 

 form a separate work on the Physical History of the Amazon. 



In conclusion, I trust that the great loss of materials which 

 I have suffered, and which every naturalist and traveller will 

 fully appreciate, may be taken into consideration, to explain 

 the inequalities and imperfections of the narrative, and the 

 meagreness of the other part of the work, so little proportionate 

 to what might be expected from a four years' residence in such 

 an interesting and little-known country. 



London, October, 1853. 



PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. 



'"THIS issue is substantially a reprint of the original work, but 

 A the proof sheets have been carefully revised and many verbal 

 corrections made. A few notes have been added, and English 

 names have in many cases been substituted for the local terms 

 which were used too freely in the first edition. The only 

 omissions are the vocabularies of Indian languages and Dr. 

 Latham's observations on them, which were thought to be 

 unsuitable to the general reader. The publishers have sup- 

 plied a few additional woodcuts which give a fair idea of 

 Amazonian scenery. A. R. W, 



« 



Parkstone, Dorset, October^ 1889. 



