VALLEY OF THE AMAZONS. 
183 
river-banks and lakes. As this was almost 
the only occasion in all my journey when I 
passed a day in the pure enjoyment of nature, 
without the labor of collecting, — which in this 
hot climate, where specimens require such im¬ 
mediate and constant attention, is very great, 
— I am tempted to interrupt our geology for 
a moment, to give an account of it. I learned 
how rich a single day may be in this won¬ 
derful tropical world, if one’s eyes are only 
open to the wealth of animal and vegetable 
life. Indeed, a few hours so spent in the 
field, in simply watching animals and plants, 
teaches more of the distribution of life than 
a month of closet study; for under such cir¬ 
cumstances all things are seen in their true 
relations. Unhappily, it is not easy to pre¬ 
sent the picture as a whole, for all our written 
descriptions are more or less dependent on 
nomenclature, and the local names are hardly 
known out of the districts where they belong, 
while systematic names are familiar to few. 
I started before daylight; but, as the dawn 
began to redden the sky, large hocks of ducks, 
and of the small Amazonian geese, might be 
seen flying towards the lakes. Here and there 
