466 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
CHAP. 
last out the night. Another night, when a similar 
termination was expected, she scolded him because 
he was going to leave her responsible for the 
safety of his goods, and one of the men whispered 
to her that he thought it would be necessary to 
give the white man some poison. At length, on 
the nineteenth day of the fever (July 23), a 
change for the better occurred, partly, he thinks, 
owing to his leaving off the purging pills which he 
had taken too frequently. He now slept better, 
was able to eat a little, and obtained some good 
red wine which he took daily. 
On August 13, though still excessively weak, 
a Portuguese trader from Tomo, Senhor Antonio 
Diaz (the chief manufacturer of the celebrated 
feather hammocks), being on his return to the 
Rio Negro, Spruce determined to travel with him. 
He had to be carried in a hammock from Javita to 
Pimichin, and reached Tomo (where he had left his 
large canoe) on the 20th. Here he remained to 
recover his strength somewhat till the 26th, when 
he descended to San Carlos on the 28th. 
As Maypures is a very interesting locality, 
being one of Humboldt's collecting stations, I 
give here a list of the plants collected by Spruce 
during his four days of leisure, so as to enable 
botanical readers to form some idea of the char- 
acteristic features of the vegetation. The numbers 
are those of Spruce's botanical register, and I have 
added the natural orders for the benefit of those 
who may not be familiar with the generic names.] 
