4 
TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. 
\June, 
used for sleeping in, and are very convenient on account 
of their portability. These, with a few chairs and tables 
and our boxes, are all the furniture we had or required. 
We hired an old Negro man named Isidora for a cook 
and servant of all work, and regularly commenced house- 
keeping, learning Portuguese, and investigating the na- 
tural productions of the country. 
My previous wanderings had been confined to England 
and a short trip on the Continent, so that everything 
here had the charm of perfect novelty. Nevertheless, on 
the whole I was disappointed. The weather was not so 
hot, the people were not so peculiar, the vegetation was 
not so striking, as the glowing picture I had conjured up 
in my imagination, and had been brooding over dming 
the tedium of a sea- voyage. And this is almost always 
the case with everything but a single view or some one 
definite object. A piece of fine scenery, as beheld from 
a given point, can scarcely be overdrawn ; and there are 
many such, which will not disappoint even the most ex- 
pectant beholder. It is the general effect that strikes at 
once and commands the whole attention : the beauties 
have not to be sought, they are all before you. With 
a district or a country the case is very different. There 
are individual objects of interest, which have to be sought 
out and observed and appreciated. The charms of a 
district grow upon one in proportion as the several parts 
come successively into view, and in proportion as our 
education and habits lead us to understand and admire 
them. This is particularly the case with tropical coun- 
tries. Some such places will no doubt strike at once as 
altogether unequalled, but in the majority of cases it is 
