A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro : with an account of the native tribes, and observations of the climate, geography, and natural history of the Amazon Valley / by Alfred Russel Wallace ; with a biographical introduction by the editor.

  • Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro : with an account of the native tribes, and observations of the climate, geography, and natural history of the Amazon Valley / by Alfred Russel Wallace ; with a biographical introduction by the editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1848.] different from the species we had had alive at Para, having a natch of short yellow and black fur on the back. Ihe Indians stewed it for their dinner, and as they consider the meat a great delicacy, I tasted it, and found it tender and very pdatable. In the evening, at sunset, the scene was lovely. The groups of elegant palms, the large cotton-trees relieved against the golden sky, the Negro houses surrounded with orange and mango trees, the grassy bank, the noble river, and the back- ground of eternal forest, all softened by the mellowed light of the magical half-hour after sunset, formed a picture indescrib- ably beautiful. • - At nine A.M., on the 28th, we entered the Igaripe Mir , which is a cut made for about half a mile, connecting the Moju river with a stream flowing into the Tocantins, nearly opposite Cameta : thus forming an inner passage, safer than the naviga- tion by the Para river, where vessels are at times exposed to a heavy swell and violent gales, and where there are rocky shoals, very dangerous for the small canoes by which the Cameta trade is principally carried on. When about halfway through, we found the tide running against us, and the water very shallow, and were obliged to wait, fastening the canoe to a tree. In a short time the rope by which we were moored broke, and we were drifted broadside down the stream, and should have been upset by coming against a shoal, but ^fre luckily able o turn into a little bay where the water was still. On getting o of the canal, we sailed and rowed along a winding river, often completely walled in with a luxuriant vegetation of trees and climbing plants. A handsome tree with a mass of purple blossoms was not uncommon, and a large aquatic wi^h its fine white flowers and curious fruits, grew on all the mud- banks along the shores. The Miriti palm here covered _ exten- sive tracts of ground, and often reached an enormous height At five P.M. we arrived at Santa Anna, a village ^Mth a Pretty church in the picturesque Italian architecture usual in Pard. We had anticipated some delay here with our passports; but finding there was no official to examine them we continued our ^^Thfanth was spent in progressing slowly among intricat^e channels and shoals, on which we several times got agroun , till we at last reached the main stream of the Tocantins, studded with innumerable palm-covered islands,
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