xii Pkeface. 



works. On the Andes of Ecuador we have little besides 

 the travels of Humboldt ; on the Napo, notliing ; while the 

 Maranon is less known to North Americans than the Nile. 

 Many of the following pages first appeared in the New 

 York Evening Post. The author has also published 

 "Physical Observations on the Andes and the Amazon" 

 and " Geological Notes on the Ecuadorian Andes " in the 

 American Journal of Science, an article on the great earth- 

 quake of 1868 in the Rochester Democrat, and a paper On 

 the Valley of the Amazon read before the American Asso- 

 ciation at Salem. These papers have been revised and ex- 

 tended, though the popular form has been retained. It 

 has been the effort of the writer to present a condensed 

 but faithful picture of the physical aspect, the resources, 

 and the inhabitants of this vast country, which is destined 

 to become an important field for commercial enterprise. 

 For detailed descriptions of the collections in natural his- 

 tory, the scientific reader is referred to the various reports 

 of the following gentlemen, to whom the specimens were 

 committed by the Smithsonian Institution : 



Volcanic Rocks Dr. T. Steriy Hunt, F.R.S., Montreal. 



Plants Dr. Asa Gray, Cambridge. 



Land and Fresh-water Shells. M. Crosse, Paris, and Thomas Bland, Esq., 

 New York. 



Maiine Shells Rev. Dr. E. R. Beadle, Philadelphia. 



Fossil " W.M.Gabb, Esq., Philadelphia. 



Hemiptera Prof. P. R. Uhler, Baltimore. 



Orthoptera S. H. Scudder, Esq., Boston. 



Hymenoptera and Nocturnal 



Lepidoptera Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr. , Salem. 



Diurnal Lepidoptera Tryon Reakirt, Esq., Philadelphia. 



Coleoptera George D. Smith, Esq., Boston. 



Phalangia and Pedipalpi Dr. H. C. Wood, Jr., Philadelphia. 



Fishes Dr. Theodore Gill, Washington. 



Reptiles Prof. E. D. Cope, Philadelphia. 



