vi NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
Notes of a Botanist, etc. (as given on the title-page), 
had been carefully written out (in a large account- 
book) during his last years in South America, and 
were apparently ready for publication after being 
copied and finally corrected. With considerable 
condensation, this constitutes the first six chapters 
of the present work. 
I have omitted the first chapter — a mere journal 
of the voyage from Liverpool to Para — with the 
exception of two short introductory paragraphs, and 
have combined the two following chapters, which 
deal with the district of Para. The journals of the 
voyages to Santarem, to the Trombetas river, and 
to Manaos, have been condensed by large omissions, 
and a number of historical and geographical notes 
of little general interest have also been omitted. 
With these exceptions, the whole narrative is exactly 
as Spruce left it ; and I have been careful to pre- 
serve his frequent north-country or archaic words 
and expressions (though these have often been 
" queried " by the printer's reader) in order that his 
individuality of style may be preserved. 
Wherever I have found it necessary to insert 
connecting phrases or paragraphs, or to make any 
explanatory interpolations, these are indicated by 
being enclosed in square brackets, while the omis- 
sions are shown by rows of small dots so as not to 
disfigure the pages, and this rule is followed through- 
out the entire work. 
The remainder of the two volumes is of a very 
composite nature, and the materials I had to put 
in order are sufficiently stated in the introductory 
notes to the various chapters. I may add here that 
of the whole quantity of material — Journals, Letters, 
