PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 



This volume is one result of a scientific expedition to 

 the equatorial Andes and the river Amazon. The expedi- 

 tion was made under the auspices of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, and consisted of the following gentlemen besides 

 the writer: Colonel Staunton, of Ingham University, Le-^ 

 roy, N. y. ; F. S. Williams, Esq., of Albany, IST. Y. ; and 

 Messrs. P. V. Myers and A. Bushnell, of Williams College. 

 We sailed from JSTew York July 1, 1867; and, after cross- 

 ing the Isthmus of Panama and touching at Paita, Peru, 

 onr general route was from Guayaquil to Quito, over the 

 Eastern Cordillera ; thence over the Western Cordillera, 

 and through the forest on foot to Napo ; down the Rio 

 Napo by canoe to Pebas, on the Maranon ; and thence by 

 steamer to Para.* 



Nearly the entire region traversed by the expedition is 

 strangely misrepresented by the most recent geographical 



* Another division, consisting of Messrs. H. M. Myers, R. H. Forbes, 

 and W. Gilbert, of Williams College, proceeded to Venezuela, and after 

 exploring the vicinity of Lake Valencia, the two former traversed the llanos 

 to Pao, descended the Apure and ascended the Orinoco to Yavita, crossed 

 the portage of Pimichin (a low, level tract, nine miles wide, separating the 

 waters of the Orinoco from those of the Amazon), and descended the Negro' 

 to Manaos, making a vogage by canoe of over 2000 miles through a little- 

 known but deeply -interesting region. A narrative of this expedition was 

 published by D. Appleton and Co., under the title of Life and Nature under 

 the Tropics. 



