The Naturalist in Nicaragua

Front Cover
Cosimo, Inc., 1. jaan 2005 - 448 pages
Sometimes.we would fall in with a troop of the white-faced cebus monkey, rapidly running away, throwing themselves from tree to tree. This monkey feeds also partly on fruit, but is incessantly on the look-out for insects, examining the crevices in trees and withered leaves, seizing the largest beetles and munching them up with great relish.-from Chapter VIII This masterpiece of scientific reportage and travel storytelling, first published in 1874, is a captivating narrative of the journeys of mining engineer Thomas Belt through the tropical rivers, valleys, forests, and lakes of Nicaragua. Replete with vivid descriptions of the animals and plants he encountered and full of ruminations on the geology of the region that were dismissed as fanciful at the time but have since been vindicated as true, this is "the best of all natural history journals which have ever been published," according to no less an authority than Charles Darwin.English engineer THOMAS BELT (1832-1878) traveled the world working mines from Australia to Colorado and producing numerous papers on topics ranging from geology to paleontology. The Naturalist in Nicaragua is considered his greatest work.

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Contents

CHAPTER II
11
CHAPTER III
30
CHAPTER IV
43
CHAPTER V
61
CHAPTER VI
85
CHAPTER VII
103
CHAPTER VIII
126
CHAPTER IX
150
CHAPTER XIII
231
CHAPTER XIV
247
CHAPTER XV
275
CHAPTER XVI
292
CHAPTER XVII
308
CHAPTER XVIII
327
Iguanas and lizards
338
CHAPTER XX
358

CHAPTER X
176
CHAPTER XI
191
CHAPTER XII
212
CHAPTER XXI
374
338
392
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