t 
7 
PORTAGE (from page 9) 
returning to England caught afire in 
the Atlantic on August 6, 1 >52; while 
Wallace survived nine days/adrift in a 
lifeboat before being picked/ up by an¬ 
other ship, all his specimens were lost. 
Wallace is cruelly neglected in the 
plaudits of the modern scientific world. 
Darwin recognized a peer In the great 
held naturalist and said: “You are the 
only man I ever heard of who persist¬ 
ently does himself an in ustice, and 
never demands justice. But you cannot 
burke yourself, however mu:h you may 
try.” Wall ace had not onlk f infinitely 
f 
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31 .** 
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greater field experience th 
and opportunity for persoi 
tion in fitting together the e 
natural selection, but was 
<• i* 1 «i » 
n Darwin 
il observa- 
/idence for 
dso a per- 
a 
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son of much more diversified interests. 
He published tracts on economics, land 
nationalization, spiritualism (in the Vic¬ 
torian sense), and vaccination. One of 
his final efforts was editing the travel 
notes of his good friend, Ricl/ard Spruce. 
Spruce was the last of l renowned 
nineteenth-century natural/history tri¬ 
umvirate to visit the portage/. He reached 
Pimichin on June 10, 18 j4, -and pro¬ 
ceeded to Yavita the next Hay. He was 
at the far end of his lowland travels 
from the mouth of the Amazon and 
also on the verge of the/severe fever, 
that later incapacitated lrim for thirty- 
eight days in San Fernando de Atabapo. 
His written impressions Avere brujf, de¬ 
spite his exultation at being in “Hum¬ 
boldt’s country.” He returned an in¬ 
valid from San Fern.Vndo on August 
13 and was carried across the trail in 
a hammock. 
Recent scientific vi/itors to the port¬ 
age have included Iilewelyn Williams 
(1942) and a group hf Venezuelan and 
German ecologists j 1958). The New 
York Botanical Garden expeditions Pave 
visited the height-oflland on five differ¬ 
ent trips, most recently in June, 1959. 
Even twentieth-century visitors have 
continued to collect % plants previously 
unknown to civilization, and all gain 
the impression o if a benevolent rather 
than an inimical/ jungle. While it is 
now possible to/ ride across the trai] 
in a sporadical)/ functioning jeep, the 
park-like stroll/is much more reward¬ 
ing. All walkt/s echo the reflection of 
a Maroa doc/or, long-time resident in 
Venezuela, fn at the Yavita-Pimichm 
portage is t !jr most serene place he had 
known in the tropics. 
- *>CC*tA 
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• IN IMIS iultl * NO r tut INC u*»ti 
»c la l*»h 
rossiurtaocn tiCNlic 
i-i* rr* *» ■.. ~ - > ^ r -- 
,i-V> ’ -il • . . . - >:* . 
* -if/1* - i'i I ^ .. . i i ...j 
A fossil bird, about three and a half inches long, with a prominent crest. It suggests affinity 
to a kinglet or titmouse. This is from the Oligocene Ruby paper shales. 
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■ .j 
JANUARY-FEBRUARY, I960 
13 
