REVIEWS, 



125 



depths, the more remarkable and beautiful 

 will be the forms of animal and vegetable life 

 he will discover. The spot must be, I should 

 think, a very paradise for the botanist, for in 

 no other place in the States have I seen a 

 greater variety of lovely ferns, flowers, and 

 mosses." But the trees of the great country 

 he visited are not described or referred to, 

 whereas he runs riot in lizard, snake, and ani- 

 mal lore. 



The author in the introduction to his 

 second book, "The Great Mountains and 

 Forests of South America," supplies, himself, 

 the motive of his wanderings. 



" Ostensibly," he says, " my journey to 

 the South was to study bird-life and to make 

 as complete a collection of specimens as pos- 

 sible. A secondary object was to ascertain if 

 the many stories of monstrous serpents found 

 in the remote Brazilian forest had any truth 

 in them. I had some minor objects in mind, 

 but these will appear in the course of my 

 narrative. As a matter of fact, the real object 

 of these travels was to gratify that intense 

 longing to visit remote and little known spots 

 on the earth which was the first cause of my 

 choosing a wandering life, and which I could 

 no more overcome than the sun can fail to 

 give light and heat." An overpowering in- 

 stinct for wandering and a love of savage and 

 uncontrolled Nature is nothing rare or extra- 

 ordinary, but, given the knowledge that the 

 hero of these adventures was a cripple and 

 without material means or education, it will 

 readily be admitted that he is a man of no 

 ordinary interest. 



Mr. Fountain landed in Brazil in the year 

 1884. It does not appear that he had the 

 slightest knowledge of either Spanish or Por- 

 tuguese, and the little preparation he made for 

 his journey was made on the spot. Having 

 decided that his first journey should be a boat 

 voyage on the Amazon and its tributaries, he 

 purchased a fishing boat at Para and had her 

 towed to Obydos, where some necessary altera- 

 tions and fittings, including a half deck and 

 mast, were carried out, and the craft stored 

 with what he calculated would be sufficient 

 food and necessaries for four or five persons 

 for six months. For crew he engaged, after 

 much trouble, two South American sailors, 



who, he was assured by those who knew them 

 well, would cut his throat on the first oppor- 

 tunity. He had no choice, however, but to 

 enlist their services or abandon his journey. 

 They proved in the sequel good seamen and 

 faithful companions, and with two savage dogs 

 in addition as camp watchers, the author, after 

 a preliminary trip up the Trombetas River, 

 started to ascend the River Purus, one of the 

 largest and least known of the Amazon's efflu- 

 ents, wending its course through the heart of 

 the vast forest which covers the whole surface 

 of northern Brazil, and in many parts as yet 

 untrodden by the foot of the European. 



The "Firefly," as he had named his boat, 

 turned out a miserable old tub, and ill suited 

 for the work before her. The sense of solitude, 

 as the travellers got further from civilization, 

 was intense. The interlacing branches of the 

 forest prevented them from seeing a hundred 

 yards distance on either side. For the greater 

 part of the day this solitude was almost un- 

 broken by any sound save the shrill screams 

 of innumerable parrots and macaws, and the 

 prolonged howling of monkeys in the morn- 

 ings and at nights. Added to these elements 

 of depression was the lurking presence of the 

 Indians, often rather felt than seen. Some parts 

 where he landed were so densely wooded that 

 the sky was invisible ; their progress in the 

 streams was impeded by giant water lilies ; 

 remains of dead settlements were stumbled 

 upon. After three days of the gloom of these 

 great solitudes, the author, feeling he could no 

 longer endure the strain, returned, and con- 

 tinued his course up the river until, after a 

 course of some 600 miles, he was brought to 

 a standstill by rocks over which it was impos- 

 sible to take the boat. 



A chapter is devoted to " Rambling Days 

 in a Central Brazilian Forest." " Often," he 

 says, " I spent prolonged periods at some iso- 

 lated spots in the forests, or on the rivers, or 

 on the mountains, as far away from the haunts 

 of men as I could possibly get, studying the 

 ways and habits of beast and bird, by day and 

 by night." His companions here were one of 

 the South American sailors before mentioned 

 (the other had died in the course of his voyage 

 on the Purus), two hired Indians, a negro ex- 

 slave, and his equipment consisted of seven 



