WCP5527

[1]

Barra do Rio Negro.

5. Jan[uar]y 1855.

My dear Sir William,

When I arrived here on the 22^nd Dec[embe]^r I found awaiting me your kind letter of Aug 13/53. Just before leaving San Carlos I had received the letter you sent me by way of Caracas, and also another dated Jan. 28/53. For all these[,] you have my best thanks, not only because of your their proving your unabated interest in my welfare, but for the valuable information they contain respecting the progress of our amiable science in England & elsewhere.

I know not when it was that I last wrote to you, & I can now only tell you of a succession of disasters. I mentioned in a note to Mr. Bentham¹ that I had been seriously ill of ague at San Fernando. In March last I arranged an expedition to explore the upper part of the Guainia [Guainía]. Arrived at Tomo I left there my piragoa² and crossed the Montaña de Javita (as the portage between the Guainia & Atabapo is called); from thence I went on in a small canoe to San Fernando, in search of provisions, but finding there the same scarcity as I had left on the Guainia, I resolved to go as far as the cataracts of the Orinoco in order to kill & salt an ox; for at Maypures begins the savannahs and the haciendas³ of cattle which thenceforward are everywhere found on the banks of the Orinoco. Exposure to the sun and rains at Maypures, & especially on the voyage back to San Fernando, in a small boat where I neglected my personal comfort in order to stow away securely my dried beef and plants, brought on a violent fever, and when I reached San Fernando I was incapable of proceeding further. Nearly two months passed ere⁴ I was able to leave San Fernando again, & I certainly thought for a good while to leave my bones there; not only because of the severity of the attack & the want of proper remedies (for I had unfortunately left my medicine-chest in Tomo) but because I fell into very bad hands. I think I did not mention the last circumstance to Mr. Bentham. My friend Gregorio Diaz⁵ & his wife were both seriously ill, and for some days it was thought that the former would die; I was therefore deprived of their personal attentions, although they were very kind in sending me any little thing I wanted. I was recommended to an elderly woman⁶ to nurse me, & having despatched my Indians to San Carlos[,] I removed to her house. This woman was a Zamba (a cross between an Indian and a Negro) — ^{the race to which it is said belong nine-tenths of the worst criminals in Columbia} and in a treacherous heart & wicked tongue she did certainly not bely her origin. I had with me a small bag of dollars which she seems to have thought much more weighty than it was in reality, and as in the case of my death she would have a chance of securing them all, it was soon evident that she wished me a speedy release from my sufferings. In order to accomplish this without her apparent intervention, it was her custom whenever the attacks increased in violence, which was always towards night, to leave me entirely to myself; then, sitting in the verandah of her house along with her grown-up children and others of the same race, to mock at my sufferings and insult me in every possible way[.] — Calling out such things as "Die, you English dog, that we may have a merry velorio⁷ (watch-night) with your dollars!" On one occasion as night closed in I was so ill that it seemed impossible that I could survive until morning, and the woman locked up the house and with her family betook herself to some other place whence they did not return until 2 or 3 hours past midnight. When they re-entered the house they listened attentively whether the Englishman were still alive, as contrary to their expectation and his own he still was, and I heard one of them suggesting that perhaps in order to finish him it would be necessary to put a little poison in his gruel. Before this I had taken my leave of life. I was reduced almost to a skeleton, as you may well conceive when I mention that during the first 20 days of my illness I slept only three times — an uneasy slumber of 3 or 4 hours — and that in all this time I took scarcely any nourishment. I sent for the Comisario⁸ to tell him how I wished my effects to be disposed of in case of my death. When he came I was unable to converse with him, but on the following day during a short interval in the fever I with great pain scrawled out on paper brief directions for the disposal of my effects. At length, against all hope, I had a favorable turn and from the turning-point went on gradually improving, though very slowly. I was still very weak when I undertook the voyage to San Carlos, & I was obliged to be carried in a hammock across the Montaña de Javita. More than six months have passed ever since the first attack, yet I am far from having thrown off its effects. The Venezuelans say very expressively that however completely a man may think he has thrown off the ague, there always remains a bit of it sticking to his backbone.

[2]

I reached San Carlos on the 28th of August. This was a good time for descending the Rio Negro, and I had an opportunity of making the voyage along with Sen[ho]r⁹ Antonio Diaz¹⁰ (the manufacturer of the feather hammocks) who shortly afterwards went down to the Barra [Manaus] with two large vessels; but after having been nearly three years in the land of Piassaba, I did not like to leave it without seeing either flower or fruit of that remarkable palm, (for which purpose I had previously made not a few unsuccessful journies¹¹. I decided therefore to remain some time longer. The time of ripe fruit is about midsummer; this had already passed, and on returning to the Guainia I learnt that no fruit had been seen there, but that the trees on the Casiquiari had borne a little fruit. The year 1853 was a year of scarcity for fruits of the forest for all kinds. In 1852 the Patauá palm fruited so copiously that I drank the wine prepared from it nearly all the year round; while in 1853 I did not drink it once. In October, 1853, I succeeded in getting flowers of the Piasabba at Solano on the Casiquiari. A few days after this, I caught the virulent chillblains of this country by walking barefoot in the wet forest, and from this apparently simple cause I was confined to the house for 5 weeks, and great part of the time to my hammock. The skin of the sole of my right foot came off as completely as if a blistering-plaster had been applied to it, and this was followed by tumors that burst & sloughed.

[3]

I left San Carlos for the Barra on the 23rd of November, with a crew of 4 Indians. As I was going down the stream I did not trouble myself to seek for more, & I thought myself fortunate in meeting with Indians who had previously made the same voyage, though three of them (an father ^{old man} & his two sons) were quite new to me. The old man was my pilot, and at the first night from San Carlos we slept at his sitio¹², a little within a small stream entering the Rio Negro on the left bank. Here we found the still at work — it is rarely at rest among these Indians — and the quality of the bureche¹³ had to be tested. Under its influence they laid a plot to murder me and had I not (unknown to them) understood enough of the Barré language to comprehend their design, they would have undoubtedly carried it into exection [sic]. My hammock was suspended in a small rancho open at the sides, and from this I overheard the whole of their conversation in another rancho at a few paces distance. I was going (they said) to my country, to return no more — I was known to be ailing when I left San Carlos, and therefore no one would be surprised to hear I had died by the way — we were in the midst of dense forest and removed from the observation of people passing up and down the river — nothing would be easier than to murder me while sleeping. They would thus escape payment of the labour they owed (for, as usual, they had been paid beforehand for the voyage) and might calculate on finding a rich booty in my trunks. Besides this, they discussed the disposal of the body, and of themselves after committing the crime, m with a degree of skill and forethought which would have done credit to the most practised assassins. They were preparing to put their project in execution, when I rose from my hammock & walked slowly towards the forest as if my necessities had called me there, but when I had gone a few steps I turned and walked down to the canoe, where I took out my gun and cutlass and awaited the attack which I still expected would be made. However, they did not molest me, though I could hear by their shouts from time to time that they were surprised that the white man did not return to his hammock. We continued our voyage, but it may readily be understood that I thought it necessary to exercise a constant watchfulness over the movements of my companions. During the course of 5 years' travels among Indians, I had been accustomed to report the utmost confidence in them — to sleep unarmed in the midst of them in the most lonely places, and frequently to stroll into the forest alone when we stopped by the shore to cook, when, had they been so disposed, they might easily have embarked and left me to almost certain destruction. But on this last voyage I found it necessary to adopt an entirely different plan, and not desiring to be in such society a moment longer than I could help, I did not stop on the way for a few days at certain points, as I had previously intended doing.

At Barcellos I went on shore to buy turtle, and when I re-embarked I had a return of agueish symptoms which continued with me during the rest of my voyage. My quinine was all expended and I have been disappointed in not finding a grain in the Barra. (My idea was to go direct to Pará, by the first steamer, and there rest awhile before proceeding to Peru. I could there make a collection of Cryptogams ^{at Pará} which would pay my expenses up and down. But information I have just received has caused me to change for my plan. I have met in the Barra an American gentleman who has lately returned from taking up the Amazon two small steamers for the Peruvian government, one intended to navigate the Ucayali and the other the Huallaga. From what he tells me the undertaking is not unlikely to fall through. The crews of American sailors who ascended in the steamers have already tired of their occupation and have returned, leaving the engineers alone; upon the constancy of these last is then the sole dependence for the continuance of the scheme. Hence if I do not start very soon I shall probably lose the advantage of the steamers for getting to the foot of the eastern Andes. I propose therefore (D[eo] V[olente]¹⁴) to ascend by the next steamer from Pará for Peru. One is now up at Nauta, and the next is not expected to start before the first of March; in the latter I hope to be a passenger.

My notion is to get to a place called Tarapota¹⁵, among the mountains on the left bank of the Huallaga. The steamer goes as far as Yurimaguas, which is 70 miles, or 7 days' journey, below Chasuta. From Chasuta over land to to Tarapota is 5 hours' journey on foot, or mule-back. It is the most easy of access of any place really in the mountains; its population is considerable, and as a good many cows, sheep & pigs are bred there, one may count on experiencing no lack of victuals. Its site is described as very picturesque — in a small plain among lofty mountains, from which trickle down several streams, abounding it is said in shells, which will be something new to me. If unfortunately the steamer has ceased running, then it would take two months to reach Chasuta in an ordinary boat, and in my present weak state I do not feel myself competent for such a voyage, especially when the unceasing plague of [4] mosquitos by day & night is taken into account. In that case also I should probably stay some time at Nauta, which also must be the centre of an interesting vegetation, completely unknown except from the few things brought away by Pöppig¹⁶; it has however the disadvantage of being terribly infested by mosquitos, which would render such work as mine nearly impossible — or at least very painful. I hope however to be able to get into the mountains — I need much to be for some time in a clime where the atmosphere is more bracing. For a long while after I came out I rarely allowed myself to rest in a hammock by day, but latterly, and especially since I have been so ill, I have been glad to obliged to yield more to the weakness and languor which too frequently comes over me, and to repose from my labour at short intervals. My friends in the Barra wonder to see that I still go on working, and tell me that the most industrious European ^{in less than five years} generally accommodates himself to the "far niente"¹⁷ to which the climate and the example of all around him so temptingly invite. Five years experience have also pretty well disgusted me with drunken Indians for workmen. I do not expect to find the Indians of Peru a whit better than the rest of their race; they are said to be good oarsmen but great "hidalgos"¹⁸ on land, where it is difficult to get a man to carry anything, and I am told that I shall perhaps not find an Indian who will condescend to shoulder any vasculum¹⁹. The worst of the Indians of Peru is that they understand the value of gold & silver, & stop not at crimes to obtain them. They it was who assassinated M. d'Osery²⁰ (companion of Count Castelnau²¹) and a few years ago poisoned poor Matthews²² in Moyobamba. A younger brother of Matthews is now at Nauta, where he officiates as Secretary to the Governor of the province of Maynas, Colonel Ortiz. I hope to learn from him what parts of Mayna the mountains were most explored by Matthews, though from what I can ascertain, he was very far from exhausting the botany even of the environs of Moyobamba.

I propose if my life be spared, spending about a year in Peru, and then coming to England. If it could be made worth my while, I would not mind coming out again to Quito, and spending the rest of my days there. Now that there are steamers on the Amazon, Quito would be excellent headquarters from which to explore the he Napo, Pastasa [Pastaza], and other rivers running eastward from the cordillera. A collection made on the upper part of the Napo might easily be sent down to Pará, but it would be tedious work ascending it from this side for the purpose of exploring its head-waters. There is yet a vast deal for some botanist to do on the Napo & Pastasa.

I must now advert to the matters touched on in your letters. I am sure I am greatly obliged to you for the recommendations you have procured for me to the authorities of Venezuela & Brazil. I have heard nothing from Caracas (your letter was forwarded to me by the English consul at Ciudad Bolivar, i.e. Angostura) but I rather think the Venezuelans w[oul]^d be more likely to keep an Englishman as far away from the Orinoco as possible. Lately, when news came that some ships were fitting out at Portsmouth (I believe to reinforce the Black Sea fleet) a report was spread through Venezuela that they were coming to take Spanish Guayana, as compensation for the debt owing to British subjects.

I am glad to hear of Mr. Birschel's²³ expedition. I wish you would recommend him to look up a plant called "Verbena" in Venezuela, which has come into repute as a specific against yellow fever. It is said to be diocious, and from the description that has been given ^me it is probably one of the common Euphorbiaceous weeds. It grows abundantly in uncultivated places about Caracas, on the Apure, etc. Various species of Priva, Stachytarpheta &c. are also called "Verbenas".

Mr. Smith's²⁴ letter contains the welcome information that you have several plants growing of my sending. As I had never received anything for them and did not even know that they had reached Kew either alive or dead, I gave up collecting him plants and seeds on the Rio Negro. I have never put a price on my living plants, as you will find by referring to my letters, and I have certainly never received a farthing except for the few Orchidae I sent from Pará. Mr. Smith tells me "We have now growing of your sending — Oenocarpus Bacaba, Oe[ocarpus] Minor, Enterpe (E. eduli aff.), Enterpe mollissima, Cattleya superba, Oncidium ampliatum, 2 ferns (new), Selaginella sp[ecies] and several others.

You will perhaps be kind enough to consult with Mr. Smith about the value of these, which you can either keep for me until I return to England or pay over to Mr. Bentham.

I sought under the piassaba trees for fallen fruits to send to England, but could not find one. I found a single young plant, which I have now growing & healthy, but I have nothing to send along with it. I made arrangements for receiving from San Carlos next year (should the present [5] fruit plentifully, as it promised to do) the seeds in a box of earth and also the fruit in spirits.

I am writing to Messrs. Price & Co.²⁵ respecting their offer. I think I ought not to take anything from them in advance, for failing health and other contingencies of which one cannot know beforehand, might disable me from repaying them. In the lower Andes I shall I hope find some vegetable waxes.

I have by me a quantity of Oil of Cupaüba (Capivi) procured on the river Siapa, and 3 gallons of Oil of Sassafras, extracted from Humboldt's²⁶ "Ocotea cymbarum" which is abundant on the Casiquiari. I suppose neither of these would be of any use to Messrs. Price, and I intend sending you the Sassafras (reserving only a little for myself). The steamers however refuse to embark it on acc[oun^]t of its being highly inflammable. I can recommend it as superior to turpentine as a preservative of objects of Natural History against insects. The strong odor passes off in time, but the intensely bitter taste is permanent. It dries paint just as turpentine does. In medicine it is used against colic and other gastric afflictions. They tell me there is no demand for it in Pará, which is probably because its properties have never been experimented on in England.

I have no doubt Dr. Hooker²⁷ brought with him a wonderful collection, & I am not only sorry I cannot stop over and take a peep at it. I have not seen a single Balanophora up the Rio Negro, but it has certainly not been for want of looking for them. The other day on nearing the Barra, I saw a quantity of Helosis Brasiliensis on an inundated island, and this is the only species of the tribe I have met with in S. America.

I see Dr. Hooker's essay on the Origin, Variation & Distribution of Plants²⁸ is published separately from the 'Flora of New Zealand'²⁹, and I should be much obliged if you could send me a copy of it and place the price to my account.

I read your 'Journal of Botany'³⁰ with great interest but it reaches me very irregularly and several of the No.s are missing. It is the same with newspapers & everything else. On reaching the Barra this time what was my astonishment to find awaiting me two boxes containing jars for keeping fruits in spirits and a quantity of paper &c. — the same which I had supposed lost in the Princess Victoria.³¹ They have been deposited 4 years in Miller's³² warehouse at Pará.³³ Amongst the articles in your Journal I read none with more interest than Dr. Wallich's³⁴ contributions and the letters of the veteran Drummond³⁵. In the extracts from my letters your printers show a laudable perseverance in turning all my u's' into n's, in the proper names. I hope you will not think it necessary to print anything contained in this letter. I propose sending you an account of my two visits to the Orinoco, if I am able to write it out, but all that I have written above is so purely personal, that I can have no permanent interest of any kind.

Many thanks for the analysis of the Podostemon salt. I have no doubt the specimen sent from Demerara [Guyana] scarcely differs from mine from the Uaupés.

Believe me | my dear Sir William | Ever faithfully yours | Richard Spruce [signature]

You ask me about Wallace's Palms³⁶. When he came down the Rio Negro in Sept. 1851 he showed me a few figures of palms. I pointed out to him which seemed to be new, & encouraged me to go on; I also proposed that we should work them up together, I taking the literary part & he the pictorial, which he declined. As I had also met with some of his palms & had my names for them, this caused me to relax in my study of the trip, seeing myself likely to be forestalled in the results of my labours. — He has sent me a copy — the figures are very pretty, and with some of them he has been very successful. I may instance the figs of Raphia taedijera & Acrocomia sclerocarpa. The worst figure in the book is that of Iriartea ventricosa. The most striking fault of nearly all the figs of the larger species is that the stem is much too thick compared with the length of the fronds, and that the latter have only half as many pinnae as they ought to have. — The descriptions are worse than nothing, in many cases not mentioning a single circumstance that a botanist would most desire to know; but the accounts of the uses are good. — His Attalea Leopoldina Piassaba and Maurita Caraná are two magnificant new palms, both correctly referred to their genus; but the former has been figured from a stumpy specimen. I have got a series ^of specimens for your museum, showing the way in which the Piasabba grows on the tree.