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laughing country wench, such as might be met with any day among the laboring class in villages in our own country, than a cannibal. I heard this artless maiden relate, in the coolest manner possible, how she ate a portion of the bodies of the young men whom her tribe had roasted. But what in creased greatly the incongruity of this business, the young widow of one of the victims, a neighbor of mine, happened to be present during the narrative, and showed her interest in it by laughing at the broken Portuguese in which the girl related the horrible story.

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In the fourth month of my sojourn a dt. Paulo I had a serious illness, an attack of the 'sizoens," or ague of the country, which, as it left me with shattered health and damped enthusiasm, led to my abandoning the plan I had formed of proceeding to the Peruvian towns of Pebas and Moyobamba, 250 and 600 miles further west, and so completing the examination of the natural history of the Amazonian plains up to the foot of the Andes. I made a very large collection at St. Paulo, and employed a collector at Tabatinga and on the banks of the Jauarf for several months, so that I acquired a very fair knowledge altogether of the productions of the country_bordering the Amazons to the end of the Brazilian territory, a distance of 1900 miles from the Atlantic at the mouth of the Pará; but beyond the Peruvian boundary I found now I should be unable to go. My ague seemed to be the culmination of a gradual deterioration of health, which had been going on for several years. I had exposed myself too much in the sun, working to the utmost of my strength six days a week, and had suffered much, besides, from bad and insufficient food. The ague did not exist at St. Paulo; but the foul and humid state of the village was, perhaps, sufficient to produce ague in a person much weakened from other causes. The country bordering the shores of the Solimoens is healthy throughout; some endemic diseases certainly exist, but these are not of a fatal nature, and the epidemics which desolated the Lower Amazons from Pará to the Rio Negro, between the years 1850 and 1856, had never reached this favored land. Ague is endemic only on the banks of those tribu tary streams which have dark-colored water.

I always carried a stock of medicines with me; and a small vial of quinine, which I had bought at Pará in 1851, but never yet had use for, now came in very useful. I took for each dose as much as would lie on the tip of a penknife-blade, mixing it with warm chamomile tea. The first few days after my first attack I could not stir, and was delirious during the paroxysms of fever; but the worst being over, I made an effort to rouse myself, knowing that incurable disorders of the liver and spleen follow ague in this country if the feeling of lassitude is too much indulged. So every morning I shouldered my gun or insect-net, and went my usual

walk in the forest. The fit of shivermg very often seized me before I got home, and I then used to stand still and brave it out. When the steamer ascended in January 1858, Lieutenant Nunes was shocked to see me so much shattered, and recommended me strongly to return at once to Ega. I took his advice, and embarked with him, when he touched at St. Paulo on his downward voyage, on the 2d of February. I still hoped to ha able to turn my face westward again, to gather the yet unseen treasures of the marvellous countries lying between Tabatinga and the slopes of the Andes; but although, after a short rest in Ega, the ague left me, my general health remained in a state too weak to justify the undertaking of further journeys. At length I left Ega, on the 3d of February, 1859, en route for England. I arrived at Pará on the 17th of March, after an absence in the interior of seven years and a half. My old friends, English, American, and Brazilian, scarcely knew me again, but all gave me a very warm welcome, especially Mr. George Brocklehurst (of the firm of R. Singlehurst & Co., the chief foreign merchants, who had been my correspondents), who received me into his house, and treated me with the utmost kindness. Í was rather surprised at the warm appreciation shown by many of the principal people of my labors; but, in fact, the interior of the country is still the "sertao" (wilderness)-8 terra incoguita to most residents of the seaport-and a man who had spent seven years and a half in exploring it, solely with scientific aims, was somewhat of a curiosity. I found Pará greatly changed and improved. It was no longer the weedy, ruinous, villagelooking place that it appeared when I first knew it in 1848. The population had been increased (to 20,000) by an influx of Portuguese, Madeiran, and German immigrants, and for many years past the provincial government had spent their considerable surplus revenue in beautifying the city. The streets, formerly unpaved or strewn with loose stones and sand, were now laid with concrete in a most complete manner; all the projecting masonry of the irregularly-built houses had been cleared away, and the buildings made more uniform. Most of the dilapidated houses were replaced by handsome new edifices, having long and elegant balconies fronting the first floors, at an elevation of several feet above the roadway. The large swampy squares had been drained, weeded, and planted with rows of almond and casuarina trees, so that they were now a great ornament to the city, instead of an eyesore, as they formerly were. My old favorite road, the Monguba Avenue, had been renovated and joined to many other magnificent rides lined with trees, which in a very few years had grown to a height sufficient to afford agreeable shade; one of these, the Estrada de Sao José, had been planted with cocoa-nut palms. Sixty public vehicles, light cabriolets (some of them built in Pará), now plied in the streets, increasing much the animation of

the beautiful squares, streets, and avenues. I found also the habits of the people considerably changed. Many of the old religious holidays had declined in importance, and given way to secular amusements-social parties, balls, music, billiards, and so forth. There was quite as much pleasure-seeking as formerly, but it was turned in a more rational direction, and the Paraenses seemed now to copy rather the customs of the northern nations of Europe, than those of the mothercountry, Portugal. I was glad to see several new book-sellers' shops, and also a fine edifice devoted to a reading-room, supplied with periodicals, globes, and maps, and a circulating library. There were now many printing offices, and four daily newspapers. The health of the place had greatly improved since 1850, the year of the yellow fever, and Pará was now considered no longer danger

ous to new-comers.

So much for the improvements visible in the place, and now for the dark side of the picture. The expenses of living had inCreased about fourfold, a natural consequence of the demand for labor and for native products of all kinds having augmented in greater ratio than the supply, through large arrivals of non- productive residents, and considerable importations of money on account of the steamboat company and foreign merchants. Pará, in 1848, was one of the cheapest places of residence on the American continent; it was now one of the dearest. Imported articles of food, clothing, and furniture were mostly cheaper, although charged with duties varying from 18 to 80 per cent, besides high freights and large profits, than those produced in the neighborhood. Salt codfish was twopence per pound cheaper than the vile salt pirarucú of the country. Oranges, which could formerly be had almost gratis, were now sold in the streets at the rate of three for a penny; large bananas were a penny each; tomatoes were from twopence to threepence each, and all other fruit in this fruit-producing country had advanced in like proportion. Mandioca-meal, the bread of the country, had become so scarce and dear and bad, that the poorer classes of natives suffered famine, and all who could afford it were obliged to eat wheaten bread at fourpence to fivepence per pound, made from American flour, 1200 barrels of which were consumed monthly; this was now, therefore, a very serious item of daily expense to all but the most wealthy. House-rent was most exorbitant; a miser able little place of two rooms, without fix. tures or conveniences of any kind, having simply blank walls, cost at the rate of £18 sterling a year. Lastly, the hire of servants was beyond the means of all persons in moderate circumstances; a lazy cook or porter could not be had for less than three or four shillings a day, besides his board and what he could steal. It cost me half-a-crown for the hire of a small boat and one man, to disembark from the steamer, a distance of 100 yards.

In rambling over my old ground in the forests of the neighborhood, found great changes had taken place-to me, changes for the worse. The mantle of shrubs, bushes, and creeping plants which formerly, when the suburbs were undisturbed by axe or spade, had been left free to arrange itself in rich, full, and smooth sheets and masses over the forest borders, had been nearly all cut away, and troops of laborers were still employed cutting ugly muddy roads for carts and cattle, through the once clean and lonely woods. Houses and mills had been erected on the borders of these new roads The noble forest trees had been cut down, and their naked half-buned stems remained in the midst of ashes, muddy puddles, and heaps of broken branches. I was obliged to hire a negro boy to show me the way to my favorite path near Una, which I have described in the second chapter of this narrative, the new clearings having quite obliterated the old forest roads. Only a few acres of the glorious forest near Una now remained in their natural state. On the other side of the city, near the old road to the rice mills, several scores of woodmen were employed, under government, in cutting a broad carriage-road through the forest to Maranham, the capital of the neighboring province, distant 250 miles from Pará, and this had entirely destroyed the solitude of the grand old forest path. In the course of a few years, however, a new growth of creepers will cover the naked tree-trunks on the borders of this new road, and luxuriant shrubs form a green fringe to the path; it will then become as beautiful a woodland road as the old one was. A naturalist will have, henceforward, to go farther from the city to find the glorious forest scenery which lay so near in 1848, and work much more laboriously than was formerly needed, to make the large collections which Mr. Wallace and I succeeded in doing in the neighborhood of Pará.

June 2d, 1859.-At length, on the second of June, I left Pará, probably forever; embarking in a North American trading-vessel, the Frederick Demming, for New York, the United States route being the quickest as well as the pleasantest way of reaching England. My extensive private collections were divided into three portions, and sent by three separate ships, to lessen the risk of loss of the whole. On the evening of the 3d of June, I took a lust view of the glorious forest for which I had so much love, and to explore which I had devoted so many years. The saddest hours I ever recollect to have, spent were those of the succeeding night, when, the mameluco pilot having left us free of the shoals and out of sight of land, though within the mouth of the river, at anchor, waiting for the wind, I felt that the last link which connected me with the land of so many pleasing recollections was broken. The Paraenses, who are fully aware of the attractiveness of their country, have an alliterative proverb, "Quem vai para (0) Pará “He who goes to Pará stops there,'

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and I had often thought I should myself have been added to the list of examples. The desire, however, of seeing again my parents and enjoying once more the rich pleasures of intellectual society had succeeded in overcoming the attractions of a region which may be fittingly called a Naturalist's Paradise. During this last night on the Pará River a crowd of unusual thoughts occupied my mind. Recollections of English climate, scenery, and modes of life came to me with a vivid ness I had never before experienced during the eleven years of my absence. Pictures of startling clearness rose up of the gloomy winters, the long gray twilights murky atmosphere, elongated shadows, chilly springs, and sloppy summers; of factory chimneys and erowds of grimy operatives, rung to work in early morning by factory bells; of union workhouses, confined rooms, artificial cares, and slavish conventionalities. To live again amid these dull scenes I was quitting a country of perpetual summer, where my life had been spent, like that of three fourths of the people, in gypsy fashion, on the endless streams or in the boundless forests. I was leaving the equator, where the well-balanced forces of nature maintained a land-surface and climate that seemed to be typical of mundane order and beauty, to sail toward the North Pole, where lay my home under crepuscular skies somewhere about fifty-two degrees of latitude. It was natural to feel a little dismayed at the prospect of so great a change; but now, after three years of renewed expe

rience of England, I find now incomparably superior is civilized life, where feelings, tastes, and intellect find abundant nourishment, to the spiritual sterility of half-savage existence, even though it be passed in the Garden of Eden. What has struck me powerfully is the immeasurably greater diversity and interest of human character and social conditions in a single civilized nation, than in equatorial South America, where three distinct races of men live together. The superiority of the bleak north to tropical regions, however, is only in their social aspect; for I hold to the opinion that, although humanity can reach an advanced state of culture only by battling with the inclemencies of nature in high latitudes, it is under the equator alone that the perfect race of the future will attain to complete fruition of man's beautiful heritage, the earth.

The following day, having no wind, we drifted out of the mouth of the Pará with the current of fresh water that is poured from the mouth of the river, and in twenty-four hours advanced in this way seventy miles on our road. On the 6th of June, when in 7° 55' N. lat. and 52° 30′ W. long., and therefore about 400 miles from the mouth of the main Amazons, we passed numerous patches of floating grass mingled with tree-trunks_and withered foliage. Among these masses I espied many fruits of that peculiarly Amazonian tree the Ubussú palm; this was the last I saw of the Great River.

THE END.

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

PAGE

I-PARA: Arrival-Aspect of the country-The
Pará River-First walk in the suburbs of
Pará -Birds, Lizards, and Insects of the sub-
urbs-Leaf-carrying Ant-Sketch of the cli-
mate, history and present condition of Pará.. 623
II.-PARA: The swampy forest of Pará-A Por-
tuguese landed proprietor-Country house at
Nazareth-Life of a Naturalist under the
Equator-The dryer virgin forests-Magoary
-Retired creeks-Aborigines..
III.-PARA: Religious holidays
Monkeys-Serpents-Insects.

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IV. THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA: Preparations for the journey-The bay of Goajará-Grove of fan-leaved palms-The lower TocantinsSketch of the river-Vista alegre-BaiaŏRapids-Boat journey to the Guariba falls Native life on the Tocantins-Second journey to Cametá.

V.-CARIPI AND THE BAY OF MARAJ6: River Pará and Bay of Marajó-Journey to Caripi

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Negro observance of Christmas-A German family-Bats-Ant-eaters-Humming-birdsExcursion to the Murucupi-Domestic life of the inhabitants-Hunting excursion with Indians-White Ants..

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VI.-THE LOWER AMAZONS-PARA TO OBYDOS: Modes of travelling on the Amazons-Historical sketch of the early explorations of the river-Preparations for voyage-Life on board a large trading vessel-The narrow channels joining the Pará to the Amazons-First sight of the great river-Gurupá-The great shoalFlat-topped mountains-Santaren-Obydos.. 665 VII.-THE LOWER AMAZONS-OBYDOS TO MANAOS, OR THE BARRA OF THE RIO NEGRO: Departure from Obydos-River banks and by. channels Cacao planters-Daily life on board our vessel-Great storm-Sand island and its birds-Hill of Parenting-Negro trader and Mauhés Indians-Ville Nova, its inhabitants, forest, and animal productions-Cararaucú

PAGE

CHAP. A rustic festival-Lake of Cararaucú-Motúca flies Serpa Christmas holidays-River Madeira-A mameluco farmer-Mura IndiansRio Negro-Description of Barra-Descent to Pará Yellow fever... VIII-SANTAREM: Situation of Santarem-Manners and customs of the inhabitants-Climate -Grassy campos and woods-Excursions to Mapiri, Mahica, and Irura, with sketches of their Natural History; Palms, Wildfruittrees, Mining Wasps, Mason Wasps, Bees, and Sloths..

IX.-VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS: Preparations for voyage-First day's sail-Loss of boat-Altar do Chao-Modes of obtaining fish-Difficulties with crew-Arrival at Aveyros-Excursions in the neighborhood-White Cebus, and habits and dispositions of Cebi Monkeys-Tame Parrot-Missionary settlement-Enter the river Cupari-Adventure with Anaconda-Smokedried Monkey-Boa-constrictor-Village of Mundurucú Indians, and incursion of a wild tribe-Falls of the Cupari-Hyacinthine Macaw-Re-emerge into the broad Tapajos– Descent of river to Santarem... K-THE UPPER AMAZONS-VOYAGE TO EGA: Departure from Barra-First day and night on the Upper Amazons-Desolate appearance of

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river in the flood season-Cucama IndiansMental condition of Indians-Squalls-Manatee -Forest-Floating pumice stones from the Andes Falling banks-Ega and its inhabitants -Daily life of a Naturalist at Ega-The four seasons of the Upper Amazons.. XI.-EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF EGA: The River Teffé-Rambles through groves on the beach-Excursion to the house of a Passé chieftain-Character and customs of the Passé tribe-First excursion to the sand islands of the Solimoens-Habits of great river turtleSecond excursion-Turtle fishing in the inland pools-Third excursion - Hunting rambles with natives in the forest-Return to Ega..... XII.-ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF EGA: Sarlet-faced Monkeys-Parauacú MonkeyOwl-faced Night-apes-Marmosets Jupura Bats Birds-Cuvier's Toucan-Curl-crested Toucan-Insects-Pendulous Cocoons-Foraging Ants-Blind Ants. XIII.-EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA: Steamboat travelling on the Amazons-Passengers-Tunantins-Caishána Indians-The Jutahí-The Sapó-Marauá Indians-Fonte Boa-Journey to St. Paulo-Tucúna Indians-Illness-Descent to Pará-Changes at Pará-Departure for England....

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