1851.] 
THOUGHTS OF HOME. 
307 
could riot undertake a voyage on this wild river for se- 
veral months, without being well supplied with neces- 
saries, and articles for barter with the Indians, which 
could only be obtained at Barra ; moreover the best 
season for ascending would not arrive for two or three 
months, so that I could do scarcely anything if I re- 
mained here. The months of November, December, 
January, and February, are the “ vasante,'' or low water, 
and then is the summer-season, when the river presents 
a totally different and a much more agreeable aspect, 
being everywhere bordered with fine sandy or rocky 
beaches, on which one can eat and sleep with comfort at 
any hour. Fish are then much more abundant; tur- 
tles of a new species are said to be found on the sands, 
in the upper part of the river, and to lay abundance of 
eggs ; the delicious fruit of the baccaba and patawa 
palms are then ripe, and birds and insects of all kinds 
more easily procurable. These four months I hoped 
therefore to spend there, so as to be able to descend to 
Barra, and thence to Para, in time to return to England 
by July or August, with a numerous and valuable col- 
lection of live animals. It was on account of these, 
principally, that I determined to return to England a 
year before the time I had fixed upon, as it was impos- 
sible to send them without personal care and attendance. 
And so, having once made up my mind to this course, 
with what delight I thought upon the sweets of home ! 
What a paradise did that distant land seem to me ! How 
I thought of the many simple pleasures, so long absent, 
— the green fields, the pleasant woods, the flowery paths, 
the neat gardens, — all so unknown here ! What visions 
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