WCP4899

[1]¹

Parà. [sic] [Belém]²

3. Aug. 1849.

My dear Sir,³

I seize the opportunity of the Britannia⁴ sailing for London to tell you how I am getting on, but I have no time to write a journal or anything that will be fit for publication. In two or three days after our arrival here we set seriously to work on our dried collection & we have now several hundred specimens dried & drying. In the way of living plants I have made a beginning. I have sowed the seeds of two palms & hope shortly to get the ripe fruit of some others. I have also flowers & fruit of three species hanging up to dry. I have met with 5 or 6 Orchidaceae, the larger ones out of flower, but two small ones in flower, one a pretty Fernandezia, most likely F. lunifera, the other with small yellow sweet-scented yellow [sic] flowers; neither of these w[oul]d Mr. Pince⁵ care for, but I have transported all to Mr. Campbell's⁶ Rosinha [Rocinha],⁷ where I have them hanging up in the orange-trees, by way of experiment. As Mr. Yates⁸ has been engaged for years in searching the neighbouring forests for Orchises, he may safely be supposed to have exhausted them of everything handsome, as he says he has done. For this reason I am anxious⁹ to get to new ground, & I w[oul]^d go up the river at once, but this is such slow work that I sh[oul]^d be unable to get down again with my collections in time to despatch them so as to reach England before the setting in of winter. In consequence [2] of this I have decided to accept Mr. Arch[ibal]^d Campbell's invitation to visit two of the islands in the river, where he has some property, & wh[ic]^h. have been explored by no botanist. These are Caripé & Tauau.¹⁰ In the former a deposit of fossil shells has been found quite recently which I am anxious to see. Some time in the month of September I hope to send off my collections to England & immediately after to set off up the river for Mont' Alegre [Monte Alegre], on the north bank, which is spoken of as a good station from which excursions can be made up the country. The hills too about Montalegre [Monte Alegre] itself are seen from the Amazon at a distance of 20 miles. Had I been alone I might have started at once & have run the risk of not being able to send anything to England before spring, but it is essential that my funds have some replenishing after coming down from the hills & this I hope will be secured by what I send off before I start. I should like to devote the remainder of the year to Montalegre [Monte Alegre] & the north shores of the Amazon, or even to prolong my stay there a little way into the rainy season, & then return to Parà [sic] [Belém] ^{to remain} until dry weather again commences. I mentioned in my former letter that several forest-trees were in flower — I derived this impression through sundry glances through the ship's glass at the shores of the river as we ascended, & I certainly ^saw many trees completely crowned with blossom — blossom, as now I see, not their own, but that of various Bignonias & other parasites. There are [3] however a few in flower, which I am securing, but the great mass is not in flower until the rainy season. There are also many things which will have to be put off until the commencement of the rainy season, such as the procuring specimens of woods &c.

The ferns around here interest me much, especially the minuter epiphytal [sic] [epiphytic]¹¹ ones, & I gather all I find in good state, at the risk of having them accounted "common tropical trash." But of all the Cryptogamous¹² tribes Hepaticae seem most to flourish here, covering the trunks branches & even leaves of the trees in the dense virgin forests. The mosses & lichens too are numerous & beautiful. These are some of them overlooked, as you may well suppose, knowing my previous propensities, but they are mostly laid down to dry in the lump, & await a season of more leisure for their being examined & portioned into specimens.

I write to Mr. Bentham¹² by this opportunity, & if I can I will write also to Mr. Wilson,¹³ but if not you may perhaps mention to him when you write that I have met with an abundance of the Drepanophyllum, though hitherto only in a barren state, and with both the Octoblepharums in copious fruit.

I cannot specify the phanerogamic¹⁴ families in which I have done most — Leguminoseae, Melastomaceae [or Melastomataceae], Clusiaceae, &c. [4]¹⁵ will include the most interesting of my exogenous collection. The islands are said to possess a more varied & untouched vegetation than the mainland, & I hope when I return from them, which will be some time in September, to have several living plants & a larger lot of dried spec[imen]^s to send home. Peppers & Arums abound here, but the latter are such monstrous things that I scarcely know how I shall send them alive. There are several sorts of Mandiocca¹⁶ [sic] cultivated ^here but & I propose sending you plants of each,¹⁷ but the plant which was shewn to me at Kew¹⁸ as the Mandiocca-plant is one which grows everywhere about the streets of Parà [sic] [Belém], as a weed, & is not at all cultivated for the sake of its root.

I enclose a note for Mr. Smith,¹⁹ touching the state of the plants entrusted to my care from Kew. I write also to Mr. Pince & to Mr. Jos[eph]. Woods.²⁰

I fear it has been a mistake to bring an assistant with me from England. My companion, though an exceedingly strong young man, is of rather plethoric habit, & his activity seems to have forsaken him. Indeed in this climate scarcely any white man can bear the fatigue & exposure to heat which the blacks can. They are besides expert at climbing trees by means of a rope, at wading into morasses, & many of them are familiar with the native [5] names of all the more conspicuous & useful plants. One of these men w[oul]^d cost me [1 word illeg. struck through] less by half than the assistant I now have, & w[oul]^d be far more efficient. There is a black²¹ now at Parà [sic] [Belém] who was several years in the employ of Dr. Natterer,²² & who w[oul]^d have been delighted to accompany me, & he is familiar with the country & the people for many hundreds of miles — Since I began this letter I have been called out to have an interview with a Frenchman who has for many years carried on an extensive bakery business here — his name is Lartigue²³ & he is from Auch²⁴ near the foot of the Pyrenees — he was a good while in the region I propose visiting, about Obidos²⁵ [Óbidos] & Montalegre [Monte Alegre], & has been some days journey up the Rio Trombetas²⁶ about which & the dangers of its navigation so many fabulous stories have been told. But there is another Frenchman, now a journeyman shoemaker in Parà [sic] [Belém], who once ascended the Trombetas nearly to its source in search of gold — his name is Brandon,²⁷ & I intend to get all the information from him I can. He professes to be very willing to accompany me & I am told he is a very courageous trustworthy person, but I fear I could not afford to employ him.

The dry season may be considered to [6]²⁸ have fairly commenced, but throughout its duration few days pass without rain, so that vegetation is never at all scorched up. There is some intermittent fever in the town, & I have myself had a good deal of toothache, headache & running at the nose, which may be attributed to the same cause as the fevers, namely the drying up of the waters. But on the whole I hope I shall be able to bear the climate pretty well & I do not shrink from fatigue in the pursuit of objects which so much interest me.

You will I dare say be kind enough to forward the enclosed letter to my father.²⁹

I shall be thankful for a line whenever you have any advice or information to impart.

Believe me | My dear Sir William | Ever yours faithfully | Rich[ar]^d. Spruce³⁰ [signature]

Sir W. J Hooker

[7] I forgot to mention that we have several times seen Mr. Wallace sen[io]^r — when we arrived he had made up his mind to go to the Rio Negro,³¹ but hearing me talk of Monte Alegre put it into his head to go thither & he is preparing to start in a few days. He does not appear to wish for our company either now or at the time when we ourselves propose starting. He & Bates³² quarreled [sic] & separated long ago, & Bates is now at Camétà³³ [sic] a town at the mouth of the Tocantins.³⁴ There are frequent occasions of getting up the river by means of small brigs which now trade from Parà [sic] [Belém] to the Barra,³⁵ & this is a cheaper mode than buying an entire boat.

This is a bad place for drying plants — the leaves turn mouldy & drop off if left for 24 hours without a change of paper.

When you write to Sir Everard Home³⁶ I shall be glad to be respectfully remembered to him. His letter to the Messrs. Campbell has been of great use to me, & they desire to be most kindly remembered to him. You may tell him that several of the buildings at Pará [sic] [Belém] still bear traces of his visit to Pará, especially one old church.