WCP6663

[1]

San Carlos del Rio Negro

(Venezuela)

27 June, 1853.

My dear Sir William /¹

I received some time ago your very interesting letter of Jan. 27, 1852, and I should have replied to it earlier, but that I have waited to complete and pack up a small collection I have for your Museum². One cannot count here as in England on a commission being executed in a given time, and some fine hammocks, ornamental at the borders with feathers, which I ordered in Feb^r 1852, have only very lately been completed, & I have had to go as far as Tomo³, to fetch them. I have selected the most showy of these for your Museum and I hope it will please you. Along⁴ with it in the same case I have put another hammock of the same kind ^{sewed up in cotton print,} which I shall be much obliged if you will forward to the Earl of Carlisle⁵. I suppose it will go best in the same case and it should by no means be doubled or the feathers will break off. These hammocks are made in the house of a Portuguese emigrant, Senhor Antonio José Diaz⁶, to whom is owing the design & grouping of the ornaments; but the work is executed entirely by Indian girls. Senhor Diaz has obtained great repute for his hammocks, which in the Barra⁷ fetch 80 milreis⁸ apiece and in Pará⁹ as much as 100 milreis.

I hope you received the last case I sent you from S[ão]. Gabriel¹⁰, containing principally articles ^worn used by the Indians on the Rio Uaupés¹¹ in their feasts. As I have now spent several months among these Indians I have seen the whole of these articles in use, & I have two corrections to make to the account I gave you of them. The Murueú [Portuguese], or spear, is really used in war, and the white stone is worn by all the men, and not merely by the chiefs (as I was had been wrongly informed). Those of "royal" descent alone are allowed to wear a stone bored lengthwise instead of across.

The remaining articles I am now sending are also from the Uaupés. I met there with several other things which I should have liked to send you, had they not been too bulky. Even among the things actually sent are some of inconvenient bulk, especially 4 "devils", which, innocent as they may look, have been the cause of not a few scourgings and poisonings in their native country. I had no small difficulty in carrying them off — they had to be wrapped up in cloths and mats so as completely to disguise their form, and to be put on board by night, covering them up so in the canoe as never to appear during the voyage. I could not send these and the other things from the Uaupés ^direct for want of boards to make a box to put them in.

Perhaps the most interesting article I am sending you is a quantity of salt — (weighing 30 lbs. when put up) made from various species of Podostemeae growing on the cataracts of the Uaupés: it was obtained with no small difficulty, and at several times & of several different Indians.

There is also a glass jar of Ipadú (Coca) from which a chemical analysis can be made, as well as of the Podostemin salt, whose constituents I am anxious to ascertain.

I had another glass jar, containing Caapí¹², a most extraordinar an intoxicating drink used by the Uaupé Indians in their festas [Portuguese: parties]; but after I had had it by me 5 months and thought it quite safe, the Caapí fermented & burst the jar. I cand therefore send only the articles from which it is prepared, viz. portions of the stems of a twining Malpighiacea (seeming[?] an undescribed Banisteria) and of the roots of an Aprocynenous twiner (a Haemadictyon). [2] The extraordinary effects produced on the Indians by drinking Caapí I have myself witnessed, and I have detailed them to Mr. Bentham¹³ in some notes on plants collected.

I could not send entire the large drum used on the Uaupés, as it is a portion of the trunk of a Lauraceous tree and of itself nearly a load for ^a an Indian canoe; but I send a rough sketch of it, accompanied by the drumsticks, which are of caoutchouc¹⁴.

I had a very interesting excursion on the Uaupés, lasting from the end of August (if I include the voyage from S. Gabriel) to early in March of the present year. My collection contains a greater number than any preceding one of the tallest forest trees, among which are several undescribed Vochysiaceae and Caesalpiniae. There are also a great many new things among the minutest tribes of flowering-plants, such as Podostemeae, Triurideae, Burmanniaceae and the leafless Gentianeae (Voyriae). I suppose that of the whole collection, numbering some 500 species, about four-fifths are entirely undescribed. I unfortunately made myself ill by working too hard both in & out of doors in the heat of the day, and was visited by some distressing attacks of vertigo, from which I am yet scarcely free.

The mechanical labor of drying plants is so great here, that I have little time for making geographical & other observations, and as Mr Wallace had preceded me on the Uaupés, and his occupations leave him much more spare time than ^mine I do, I scarcely attended to anything but botany there. I determined the latitude of Panuré, or Saó Jeronymo¹⁵, an Indian village at the foot of the first falls, which I made my principal station, to be 0˚-13' N. My watch has proved almost useless in determining longitude & I much regret I did not bring with me a telescope. I purchased indeed a telescope in the Barra of a Franciscan friar who had, bought it at Rio Janeiro¹⁶, and it has proved of the greatest use to me in my herborisations, enabling me to distinguish green flowers on a tree at the distance of a mile & when sailing near the bank of a river to ascertain the form of the leaves of the adjacent trees; but though it barely shows the satellites of Jupiter, it ^and is not sufficiently powerful to take an observation of them with sufficient accuracy.

I intended at this time to have sent Sir F. Beaufort¹⁷ my Barometrical register and a few scattered geographical observations: but have not time to copy them out. He did not state along with the Aneroid he kindly sent me, whether or not it corresponded exactly with the mercurial barometer ^{when it was put up}. When I opened it out at the Barra de Rio, in Sept. 1851 the zero point was considerably higher than it ought to be (as much as 4/10 of an inch) and it seems to have gone on gradually rising ever since. The instrument however may be depended on for horary differences and for low altitudes. I mark every day the maximum & minimum, & it is interesting to observe with what regularity the atmospheric tides recur on the Equator, being apparently totally uninfluenced by changes in the weather. During the space of nearly two years, it has only twice occurred that the minimum has been considerably retarded beyond its usual hour, which is from 3 to 4 o'clock, which the maximum is attained between 9 and 10.

Ever since I have been on the Rio Negro I have made enquiries respecting the position & possible means of reacting the sources of the Orinoco¹⁸, without any expectation however on my part of being able to solve this ^interesting geographical problem. Quite unexpectedly the means of doing it seem about to be placed within my reach. We were lately visited at San Carlos¹⁹ by the Commisario [sic] Geral [Portuguese: Commissioner General]. of the Canton of the Rio Negro²⁰, Don Gregorio Diaz²¹, who resides at San Fernando de Atabapo²², and on my mentioning to him how much I should like to reach the headwaters of the Orinoco, he at once entered ardently into the project, saying that it was what he had all his life being longing to do, & that if I would promise to accompany him he would arrange as many men well-armed as he could, to start on the expedition early in the year 1854. Nearly all the whites in the Canton seem eager to join us, being possessed with the idea that there is certainly an El Dorado at the source of the Orinoco. Don Gregorio is at present making a progress through his dominions, ^{having come} coming to San Carlos by the Atabapo²³& Guainia²⁴, and returning by the Casiquiare²⁵ and Orinoco. He proposes to ascend above Esmeralda²⁶ as far as the mouth of the Manáca²⁷, and to enter 3 days' [3] journey within this river, where is a pueblo established a few years ago. He promises ^engages to make everywhere enquiries as to the best route for reaching the sources of the Orinoco, and the facilities or hindrances we may expect to encounter. I heard from the other day, from about midway along the Casiquiare, and he promises to write me again, should there be opportunity, from Esmeralda.

As to the modes of reaching the sources of the Orinoco, besides that of following the r river itself, there seem to be several. When I was at the Barra, the most direct route seemed to be by the Rio Padauirí, whose mouth is a little eastward of the 64th meridian. This large river has its sources in the Serra [Portuguese: mountain range] de Tapiíra-pecú, or "Ox's-tongue", and the Orinoco is considered to rise on the north-eastern slopes if the same Serra. — back and Persons who have ascended high up the Padauirí, in quest of salsaparilha, assure me they have met Indians from the sources of the Orinoco. The river Padauirí however gives dysentery and the ague²⁸ to every one who enters it, and it was here my countryman Mr Bradley²⁹ caught the illness which proved fatal to him, while cutting piassaba with a party of Indians. The Maraniá is the next large river entering the Rio Negro on the same side, but its course is ascertained to be much shorter than that of the Padauirí. The Rio Canaborís, which enters the Rio Negro in the 66th meridian probably extends nearby to the Orinoco. It's course from ^{In its lower part it makes} a large curve to westward, nearly parallel to that of the Rio Negro, and I have been assured by Indians at S. Gabriel, that it ran not much to the eastward of that place. From Marabitanas, the frontier town of Brazil, I could distinctly see, though at a great distance, the serrania [Portuguese: mountain range] called Pirá-pukú, or "The Long Fish", whose base is laved by the Canaborís. This lofty ridge seems to extend westward ^run westward, trending slightly northward, and ^{the portion of it seen} from Marabitanas extends through an angle of about 90˚ (from E. nearly to N.), its prolongation ^westward [one illeg. word struck through] being hidden from view by the forest on the opposite side of the river. With my telescope I could distinguish steep escarpments bare of forest, but in no part could I distinguish the trees, the forest-clad portion being only recognisable from its colour. I suppose that in their highest part — an abrupt truncate peak about midway — they may be nearly 4000 feet above the plain. Those who have ascended the river ^Canaborís describe it as very picturesque and possessing a peculiar vegetation. Certain curious plants said to resemble both palms and ferns, from the description given me can only be Cycades. — I was delighted to meet with a Cycas in the Uaupés, though it never showed signs of flowering: it is the only species of this tribe I have but[?] seen in S. America.

The Rio Canaborís is easily reached from San Carlos by proceeding up the Pacimóni a tributary of the Casiquiare, & up its southern branch the Baría, from which there is a short portage to the Canaborís; but nothing of bulk could be taken this way, and I have reason to believe that the Canaborís does not reach the Cerro [Spanish: hill] de Tapiira-pecú.

A more likely route for us is by the Siápa the longest tributary of the Casiquiáre, called in its upper part the Rio Castanha, and certainly having its sources in the above named cerro. The only objection to it is that several steep raudales have to be passed; but these may be avoided by making a circuit through the upper mouth of the Casiquiare & going up the Manaca, from which there is a short passage by land to the Castanha.

We have discussed these and other routes principally with the view of avoiding the hostile Guaharibos³⁰, the more especially as it is believed that these Indians do not extend to the actual sources of the Orinoco, but that tribes inhabit there with whom friendly communication has been held by the Castanha and Padauirí. On the whole I think we incline to first risk a battle with the Guaharibos, and I have little doubt that with fifty men well-armed we should be able to force our way.

Shortly after the separation of Venezuela from the mother country, and whilst there was still an armed police in the Canton del Rio Negro, the Commandant of San Fernando was sent by the government — there is none of any kind now — the [4] [p. 4] Commandanté of San Fernando was sent with a considerable body of armed men to endeavour to open amicable relations with the Guaharibos.He reached the Raudal de los Guaharibos [Spanish: stream of the Guaharibos] with his little fleet of 15 piragoas³¹, and as the river was full, the whole of them might have passed the raudal, but it was not considered necessary and his own piragoa alone was dragged up, the rest being left below to await their return. A very little way above, they encountered a large encampment of Guaharibos, by whom they were received amicably, in return for which they rose on the Indians by night, killed as many of the men as they could and carried off the children. One of these captives is still living near the upper mouth of the Casiquiare, where I hope to see & converse with him. —Treatment such as this of course is calculated to confirm, and perhaps it was the original cause, of the hostility of these Indians to the whites. The same sort of thing seems to have been practised anciently towards the headwaters of all these rivers. On the Rio Negro, where the Portuguese had formerly large "fazendas reaes", in which were cultivated great quantities of coffee, indigo, &c., it was the custom to recruit from time to time the hands required for cultv working them, by sending armed men up the various rivers debouching into the Rio Negro & Japurá³² to make "pegas" (razzias) among the indigenous inhabitants. The fazendas reaes have disappeared & the Brazilian government has promulgated edicts against the seizing of the native inhabitants & reducing them to slavery, yet the practice still exists and is connived at. I speak of this with certainty because since I came the Rio Uaupés Negro two such expeditions have been sent up a tributary of the Uaupés, called the Rio Páapurís, to make "pegas" among the Carapaná³³ Indians; and in the second of these, which was sent from Panuré early in the present year, I was in some sort an accomplice, though unwittingly, having lent a gun to one of the Indians engaged in it, but without knowing for what purpose it was intended. I have also seen and conversed with two female children stolen from the Carapanás in these expeditions.

The Rio Páapurís enters the Uaupés ^{from the south} at the 3rd cataract (called Jaguaraté, or the Tiger) of the latter, about 4 days above Panuré. It is a beautiful river, being in its lower part a succession of cataracts. I spent a day in it, & would have liked to ascend high on it, but I was informed that the Carapanás were everywhere on the alert, and that the paths leading to their mallocas³⁴ were stuck with strips of Paxiuba palm (Iriartea exorrhiza Mart.) which besides being as hard as nails and capable of themselves to inflict a serious wound, were in many cases tipped with Uirarí³⁵ poison.

To return to the Orinoco. I have met ^{at San Carlos} here several people who have been as far as the Raudal de los Guaharibos. The most intelligent of these, & the person who perhaps of all others knows most of the country between the Casiquiare and the sources of the Orinoco, is an old gentleman called Don Diego Pina³⁶, residing now in Solano (a little within the Casiquiare), but when Schomburgk³⁷ passed this way residing in San Carlos and acting as Commisario [sic]. He is unfortunately quite blind and cannot therefore point out anything on my maps, but his memory seems perfect for distances and bearings. According to him it takes a month to reach the Raudal from Esmeralda, travelling as traders are accustomed to do here, that is stopping at all the caños [channels], within which the Indians usually fix their habitations. The Orinoco above the Raudal is still a large river, which in the force of the rainy season might be navigated by piragoas³⁸ of considerable size. He is of opinion that the real sources of the Orinoco are very much to the eastward of what is supposed by Humboldt³⁹ in his 'Aspects of Nature'⁴⁰; and it seems to be clearly made out that they are at least considerably to the east of the sources of the Rio Branco⁴¹, or in other/words that the system of the Rio Branco overlaps (if I may so say) that of the Orinoco; a circumstance not without parallel in other river systems.

[5] [p. 5] Don⁴² Diego is perhaps the only white now living in the Canton del Rio Negro who recollects Humboldt in Venezuela. He was making turtle-oil on the Orinoco, on a playa [Spanish: beach] near the mouth of the Apure⁴³, when that distinguished traveller ^{passed on his way} was ascending towards the cataracts. A person died in San Fernando 2 or 3 years ago who recollected had seen Humboldt and Bonpland⁴⁴ at Esmeralda, and remembered the difficulty they had in procuring the flowers of the Juvia (Bertholletia excelsa) for which (said he) they offered on ounce of gold. — At the season of fruit of this tree the Guaharibos descend much below the raudal in order to collect it for food, and at time the Indians of the Casiquiare, in parties of not more than 5 or 6, lie in wait for them and carry off such as they can lay hold on, making of them slaves for cultivating their cunúcos⁴⁵. Many Indians on the Casiquiare can show lance-wounds received from the Guaharibos in these expeditions.

I should mention that Don Gregorio Diaz has also travelled much on the rivers eastward of the Casiquiare, and in his voyages about the head-waters of the Siapa must have come very near the sources of the Orinoco.

I have been twice to the junction of the Guainia and Casiquiare. The water of the latter is not very white, which is explained by its having received during its course from the Orinoco two considerable rivers of black water, the Pacimoni and Siapa. The Guainia & Casiquiare seem of nearly equal bulk, but neither can compare with the Uaupés. It should be noted that the name "Guainia" does not extend below the mouth of the Casiquiare, the junction of the two ^constituting being considered to form the Rio Negro. "Quiare" is the ancient name of the Rio Negro⁴⁶, and "Casi-quiare" has evidently some connection with ^it this, but what I am not prepared to say. Possibly "casi" is pure the prefix "casi" is pure Spanish (Lat. "quasi"); for the Rio Negro is here considered the continuation of the Casiquiare ("as it were the Quiare") and not of the Guainia.

I am now preparing a boat to ascend the Casiquiare and, if possible, explore the mountains at the back of the Duida⁴⁷ of Esmeralda, for which purpose the preferable course seems to be enter the Rio Cunucunúma⁴⁸, whose mouth is half-a-day's journey ^{on the Orinoco} below the Casiquiare. The summit of the Duida is said to be inaccessible on account of the perpendicular walls of rock on every side of it; yet everybody seems to know perfectly well about there is a round lake on the very top, inhabited by a large turtle, the 'genius' of the mountain. Whether I shall proceed direct from the Cunucunúma towards the sources of the Orinoco or first return to S[an]. Carlos, will depend on the intelligence I receive from Don Gregorio on his reaching San Fernando.

The gratification I naturally feel at finding myself fairly in terra Humboldtiana [land of Humboldt] is considerably lessened by various untoward circumstances, not the least of which ^is the very great difficulty experienced here in procuring the necessaries of life, so great indeed that it occupies nearly all a person's time, especially when the river is filling, and we think ourselves well off at San Carlos when we can eat once a day. Anciently when there were missions in most of the pueblos [Spanish: towns] on the Orinoco and Rio Negro, travellers had in them a ready resource; but for some twenty years past there has not been a padre [Spanish: father] resident in the Canton del Rio Negro, and scarcely one on the Orinoco out of Angostura [Ciudad Bolívar]. A country without priests, lawyers, doctors, police & soldiers is not quite so happy as Rousseau⁴⁹ dreamt it ought to be; and this in which I now am has been in a state of gradual decadence ever since the separation from Spain, at which period ^{(or shortly after)} the inhabitants rid themselves⁵⁰ of these functionaries in the most unscrupulous manner. San Carlos seems to have fallen away much since Humboldt's visited it. Ever since Schomburgkh [sic], the pueblo has been devastated by a fire which [6] [p. 6] consumed⁵¹ the church and 22 ^dwelling-houses, of which very few have been rebuilt; and there are now standing in all but 26 houses. The oldest building in the place is the convent, but no traces remain of the friars who once tenanted it, save in the fair skins of many of the Indians, amongst whom to be a "hijo de padre" [Spanish: father's son] is the same as to be born to good luck. There is great need here of some force to overcome the Indians, who are ^far more numerous than the whites and know their strength. It is not improbable that one of these days they may get up a revolution of their own, as their brethren of Pará did in 1835, when atrocities of every sort may be expected to be committed. On the day I reached San Carlos the whole Indian population was in a state of intoxication, and I saw them enter without ceremony the houses of the whites to ask for burréche (rum), which they were quite ready to take by force had it been refused. But I have seen worse than this since, and we are now scarcely passed ^over the feast of San Juan⁵², when the Indians ^had openly avowed their intention of murdering at least all the foreigners in the place; ^{on which account} and we have been obliged to watch for some days and nights with arms constantly by our sides.

I⁵³ have already written a long letter & have not yet said anything in reply to yours. Most sincerely do I sympathise with you in the sufferings you must have endured in your distressing illness, of which I trust all traces have now left you. Has it do you think been caused partly by breathing an atmosphere strongly saturated with turpentine when at work among your dried collections? I have noticed that the fumes of turpentine cause me considerable irritation in the throat.

I am much affected by what you and Dr Mr. Bentham tell me of poor Dr. Lemann's⁵⁴ illness and death. Our amiable science has indeed lost some of its brightest ornaments and most disinterested cultivators since I left England.

I notice what you say about the interest the Victoria⁵⁵ continues to excite in your gardens. I have seen no Victoria since I ascended the Rio Negro and ^for white water seems essential to its existence. I have most frequently seen it in lakes into which the water of the Amazon entered only in the rainy season, but in June 1851 I saw 2 or 3 plants of its in the Amazon itself, at two days journey above the Barra. They were growing in a small bay where the water swept gently round, but at 20 yards from them it ran with a rapid current. I have been unfortunate with my specimens of this fine plant, those I gathered in my voyage from Santarem having been nearly all wasted by the bad weather and want of convenience for drying them; but I hope to get more as I descend, and I shall also have my eyes open for it when I reach the Orinoco.

I have now traced the use of Caraipé, or the bark of the Pottery-tree⁵⁶, on all the tributaries of the Amazon, as also on the Casiquiare, upper Orinoco and Guaviare. Nearly all the species of Licania afford it, but no other genus so far I know. The best Caraipé is afforded by species growing in rich dryish soil; those of the low sandy forests and of the gapó⁵⁷ containing ^only a small proportion of silex⁵⁸ in the bark. The Indians test Caraipé by burning it, and if when burnt it cannot be broken by the fingers but requires the use of a mortar, it is considered good. In the best sorts the silex can be seen by the naked eye filling up the vessels of the quartz bark. On the Uaupés and Guainia ^utensils vessels of immense size, such as stills and coppers, are made of clay mixed with Caraipé.⁵⁹

I⁶⁰ am glad to hear of Dr. Hooker's⁶¹ safe return to England — no doubt he brought with him a wonderful collection. — You will have seen Mr. Wallace and learnt from him the irreparable loss he sustained on his voyage. He can also tell you what dreadful work it is being imprisoned in these forests, through even he has never [7] inhabited a place so bad in some respects as ^this San Carlos. I must confess that this object for which I established myself at San Carlos — boats, boards of which to make boxes, and Indians to row & climb trees — are all obtainable — were it in England, I should say with great difficulty, but here no one thinks time of any value — and I must put up as well as I can with the daily hunger, the risk of assassination, & other similar trifles.

I feel very much obliged for the enquiries you made, on my behalf, respecting the Consulship. I believe there is now a British Consul at Pará⁶², but I know not who he is.

Believe me to remain | my dear Sir William | Your obliged & ob[e]d[ien]t. serv[an]t. | Rich^d Spruce [signature]

I have omitted to say above that the articles I am sending should be worth £ 20. I sh[oul]^d be much obliged if you will cause an analysis to be made of the Podostemin salt & of the Coca. The latter especially will speedily lose its strength after it is opened out. I dare say my friend Dr. Southby⁶³ w[oul]^d undertake this task, as he has considerable chemical knowledge and at any rate has plenty of leisure for procuring the assistance of some more experienced chemist, if necessary. I am writing to him and will ask him about it.

If it sh[oul]^d not be in your power to write me a line immediately on the receipt of the articles for the Museum, will you be kind enough to direct Mr. Smith⁶⁴ to do so. With the exception of the first things I sent you from Pará, I know not with certainty that anything I have sent has reached you. From the Barra I sent in April 1851, three cases of Museum specimens, a box of Orchises, and a Ward's Case⁶⁵ with palms & other plants. I am particularly anxious to learn the fate of the last. — At the same time I wrote you the most carefully written letter for ^your journal, which I have sent since reaching S. America. It contained a good deal about the aspects of the vegetation at the Barra, the uses of some of the plants, &c. As it has not appeared in your Journal I presume it was never received. On the contrary I have been sorry to see that some letters written from Santarem, intended to be entirely private, have found their way into your Journal. It must have happened during your indisposition. — I have now not time to write anything with sufficient attention either to style or matter to render it worth putting in print; but if you sh[oul]^d think anything in this letter worthy to be published, by all means draw your pen through whatever is not of a purely scientific nature. I have lately received from the young men in Singlehurst⁶⁶ & Miller's⁶⁷ house at Pará a remonstrance against some impartations on them (of what kind I can't tell) which I had caused to be printed in your Journal.

RS [signature]

I have several times written to Mr. Smith, but have never received but one letter from him.

I have put along with the hammocks two pairs of cards for suspending them, one ^p[ai]r being intended for Kew and the other for Lord Carlisle.