CHAPTER I 
PARA AND THE EQUATORIAL FORESTS 
{July 12 to October lo, 1849) 
I EMBARKED at Liverpool on the 7th of June 1849. 
on board the brig Britannia, of 217 tons, Edmund 
Johnson commander, with a crew of twelve men. 
My fellow-passengers were Mr. Robert King, a 
young man who had agreed to brave the wilds of 
the Amazon as my companion and assistant, and 
Mr. Herbert Wallace, who was going out to join 
his elder brother, then engaged in the exploration 
of the Amazon valley, of which he has given so 
pleasant an account. 
When day broke this morning (July 12) the city 
of Para lay distinctly before us, in a line of houses 
of striking appearance stretching along the right 
bank of the river ; the Custom-house, with a rather 
paltry mole in front of it, standing about midway, 
with the towers of the church of Merces peering 
over its roof ; the church and convent of St. Antonio 
occupying the extreme left (as seen from our ship) ; 
and the cathedral nearly on the extreme right. It 
was 10 o'clock when we came to our anchorage 
near the mole, and visits from the Custom-house 
authorities kept us on board until i p.m., when we 
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