62 
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE HERBARIUM. 
“ But let us turn to the other side of the picture, the enjoyments arid rewards 
of a botanist in these untrodden wilds, and which happily leave behind them a 
much stronger impression than all the dangers and hardships. 
“ If the vegetation of the Amazon be of small importance in the eyes of a 
European cultivator, in an economic point it is most interesting. 
“ Many of the most valued gums, drugs, etc., come from the region of the 
Amazon. Near its mouth are the forests which produce the best kinds of 
caoutchouc, and about its head water is the native country of the most precious 
of drugs, quinine. At Santarem I had the pleasure of discovering a new species 
of Caoutchouc (or as we call it Sevingue), which Mr. Bentham has named 
Siphonia Spruceana, and within these few days I have found another species 
quite new, also growing above the falls of St. Gabriel. Materials for cordage 
exist in infinite variety, and at some future time some of them will also be 
applied to the production of fabrics equal to those of cotton and linen. In the 
forest are trees probably unrivalled for hardness and durability, some of them 
excellent for shipbuilding, and existing in sufficient quantity to furnish out 
fleets for the whole civilized world. Then there is that greatest of all pleasures 
to the naturalist, however some utilitarians may affect to undervalue it, that of 
discovering new species, of dotting in (as it were) new islands on the map of 
nature, and in some cases of even peopling continents that appeared to be 
deserts. In this I have succeeded far beyond my expectation. Of my Santarem 
collection, comprising about 800 species, nearly the one half is new, and of those 
I am now gathering on the Rio Negro I cannot doubt that two out of every three 
are undescribed. I have several new genera, and some that do not fit well into 
any described natural order. Since entering the Amazon I have had the 
pleasure of gathering and studying examples of nearly every natural order of 
plants, almost the only exceptions are Cruciferce and Umbelliferce families, 
with you perhaps the commonest of any. Notwithstanding the complete 
dissimilarity, viewed as a whole, between Europe and these Equatorial forests, 
I have yet seen several European Genera produced. There are even a few 
species, common also to Europe, and two of which are even natives of England. 
The commonest grass at Santarem was a variety of Cynodon Dactylon, and 
on the sands of the Tapajoz, near the same place, grew Isoetes lacustris. In 
coming up the Rio Negro I was delighted to fall in with a little Adder’s tongue, 
with a much narrower frond than the English species. At Santarem I fell in 
with several minute Utricularias, mostly leafless, about half of them new. 
“ Respecting my old favourites, the Mosses and Hepaticae, I have not a very 
favourable account to give. About Para, in certain places, there was no lack of 
them, but they comprised very few species, and I found the same reproduced in 
small quantities .all the way up the Amazon. In the neighbourhood of Santarem, 
during the period of 11 months, I found, I believe, only four mosses, indeed 
there are large districts in that region where absolutely not a moss exists. Here, 
on the upper Rio Negro, 1 have fallen in with strips of forest of a very peculiar 
character called by the Indians ‘Caatinga.’ The soil is a thin layer of white 
sand over granite. The trees are low and stunted, often not exceeding 36 to 40 
feet, and they are intermixed with shrubs from 6 to 12 feet high, but the twiners 
of the great forest are altogether wanting. The trees and shrubs are densely 
clad with mosses and hepaticae, even to their slenderest twigs, and amongst 
these are perched sundry ferns, Orchises, Bromeliacece, Peppers and Annus, 
some of the Jungermaunia are good and the ferns are all interesting, including 
several species of Acrosticlium. The Orchises are numerous, but mostly 
Maxillaria and Catasetum. Just now most of the trees are out of flower, but 
there are many new to me, and I promise myself a rich treat in exploring these 
