NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
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 w^ay up the Marafion. . . . 
[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 Mi^ George Bentha^n 
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 
