Henry Walter Bates

“ I think there is plenty, in tropical nature, to counteract any unpleasant impression which the reckless energy of the vegetation might produce. There is the incomparable beauty and variety of the foliage, the vivid colours, the richness and exuberance everywhere displayed, which make, in my opinion, the richest woodland scenery in Northern Europe a sterile desert in comparison. But it is especially the enjoyment of life manifested by individual existences which compensates for the destruction and pain caused by the inevitable competition. ”

“ All the actions of the Indian show that his ruling desire is to be let alone; he is attached to his home, his quiet monotonous forest and river life; he likes to go to towns occasionally, to see the wonders introduced by the white man, but he has a great repugnance to living in the midst of the crowd; he prefers handicraft to field labour, and especially dislikes binding himself to regular labour for hire. He is shy and uneasy before strangers, but if they visit his abode, he treats them well, for he has a rooted appreciation of the duty of hospitality ”

“ He had on board a wire guitar or viola, as it is here called; and in the bright moonlight nights, as we lay at anchor hour after hour waiting for the tide, he enlivened us all with songs and music. He was on the best of terms with the cabo, both sleeping in the same hammock slung between the masts. I passed the nights wrapped in an old sail outside the roof of the cabin. The crew, five in number, were Indians and half-breeds, all of whom treated their two superiors with the most amusing familiarity, yet I never sailed in a better managed vessel than the St. John. ”

“ Morning and evening the howling monkeys make a most fearful and harrowing noise, under which it is difficult to keep up one's buoyancy of spirit. The feeling of inhospitable wildness which the forest is calculated to inspire, is increased tenfold under this fearful uproar. Often, even in the still hours of midday, a sudden crash will be heard resounding afar through the wilderness, as some great bough or entire tree falls to the ground. ”

“ The whole arrangement of a Formicarium, or ant-colony, and all the varied activity of ant-life, are directed to one main purpose:—the perpetuation and dissemination of the species. Most of the labour which we see performed by the workers has for its end the sustenance and welfare of the young brood, which are helpless grubs. The true females are incapable of attending to the wants of their offspring; and it is on the poor sterile workers, who are denied all the other pleasures of maternity, that the entire care devolves. What a wonderfully-organised community is that of the ant! ”

“ On our second visit to the mills, we stayed ten days. There is a large reservoir and also a natural lake near the place both containing aquatic plants, whose leaves rest on the surface like our water lilies, but they are not so elegant as our nymphæa, either in leaf or flower. On the banks of these pools grow quantities of a species of fan-leaved palm-tree, the Caraná, whose stems are surrounded by whorls of strong spines. I sometimes took a montaria, and paddled myself alone down the creek. ”

“ Our companion, Joaquim, had fallen asleep; the night air was cool, and the moonlight lit up the features of Raimundo, revealing a more animated expression than is usually observable in Indian countenances. I always noticed that Indians were more cheerful on a voyage, especially in the cool hours of night and morning, than when ashore. There is something in their constitution of body which makes them feel excessively depressed in the hot hours of the day, especially inside their houses. Their skin is always hot to the touch. ”

“ There is something in a tropical forest akin to the ocean in its effects on the mind. Man feels so completely his insignificance there, and the vastness of nature. A naturalist cannot help reflecting on the vegetable forces manifested on so grand a scale around him. A German traveller, Burmeister, has said that the contemplation of a Brazilian forest produced on him a painful impression, on account of the vegetation displaying a spirit of restless selfishness, eager emulation, and craftiness. ”

“ We made acquaintance on this coast with a new insect pest, the Piúm, a minute fly, two-thirds of a line in length, which here commences its reign, and continues henceforward as a terrible scourge along the upper river, or Solimoens, to the end of the navigation on the Amazons. It comes forth only by day, relieving the mosquito at sunrise with the greatest punctuality, and occurs only near the muddy shores of the stream, not one ever being found in the shade of the forest. In places where it is abundant it accompanies canoes in such dense swarms as to resemble thin clouds of smoke. ”

“ There is a wildness and sadness about the tunes which harmonise well with, and in fact are born of, the circumstances of the canoe-man's life; the echoing channels, the endless gloomy forests, the solemn nights, and the desolate scenes of broad and stormy waters and falling banks. Whether they were invented by the Indians or introduced by the Portuguese it is hard to decide, as many of the customs of the lower classes of Portugese are so similar to those of the Indians that they have become blended with them. One of the commonest songs is very wild and pretty. ”

“ The land for miles around the establishment is rich alluvial soil, and as level as a bowling-green. Beyond the belt of forest which runs along the banks of the river, there is a large tract of soft green meadow with patches of woodland and scattered trees, combining to form a landscape like that of an English park. But a meadow on the banks of the Amazons is a very different thing from what it is in a temperate climate: the vegetation is rank and monotonous, and there are absolutely no flowers. ”

“ The cheerful white church is brilliantly lighted up, and the music, not of a very solemn description, peals forth from the open windows and doors. Numbers of young gaudily-dressed negresses line the path to the church doors with stands of liqueurs, sweetmeats, and cigarettes, which they sell to the outsiders. A short distance off is heard the rattle of dice-boxes and roulette at the open-air gambling-stalls. When the festival happens on moonlit nights, the whole scene is very striking to a new-comer. ”

“ In January the orange-trees became covered with blossom—at least to a greater extent than usual, for they flower more or less in this country all the year round—and the flowers attracted a great number of humming-birds. Every day, in the cooler hours of the morning, and in the evening from four o'clock till six, they were to be seen whirring about the trees by scores. Their motions are unlike those of all other birds. They dart to and fro so swiftly that the eye can scarcely follow them, and when they stop before a flower it is only for a few moments. ”

“ For instance, when a fly or parasitic bee has a deceptive resemblance to the species of working bee, in whose nest it deposits the egg it has otherwise no means of providing for, or when a leaping-spider, as it crouches in the axil of a leaf waiting for its prey, presents an exact imitation of a flower-bud; it is evident that the benefit of the imitating species is the object had in view. When, however, an insect mimicks another species of its own order where predaceous or parasitic habits are out of the question, it is not so easy to divine the precise motive of the adaptation. ”

“ The incorrigible nonchalance and laziness of the people alone prevent them from surrounding themselves with all the luxuries of a tropical country. They might plant orchards of the choicest fruit-trees around their houses, grow Indian corn, and rear cattle and hogs, as intelligent settlers from Europe would certainly do, instead of indolently relying solely on the produce of their small plantations, and living on a meagre diet of fish and farinha. In preparing the cacao they have not devised any means of separating the seeds well from the pulp, or drying it in a systematic way ”

“ It is never either spring, summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination of all three. With the day and night always of equal length, the atmospheric disturbances of each day neutralising themselves before each succeeding morn; with the sun in its course proceeding mid-way across the sky and the daily temperature the same within two or three degrees throughout the year—how grand in its perfect equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the equator! ”

“ After traversing the few streets of tall, gloomy, convent-looking buildings near the port, inhabited chiefly by merchants and shopkeepers, along which idle soldiers, dressed in shabby uniforms, carrying their muskets carelessly over their arms, priests, negresses with red water-jars on their heads, sad-looking Indian women carrying their naked children astride on their hips, and other samples of the motley life of the place, were seen, we passed down a long narrow street leading to the suburbs. ”

“ The Libellulidæ, or Dragonflies, are almost equally conspicuous with the butterflies in open, sunny places. More than a hundred different kinds are found near Pará; the numerous ditches and pools being, doubtless, favourable to their increase, for the adolescent states of the dragonfly are passed in an element different from that in which the adult exists. The species are not all confined to open, sunny places. Some are adapted to live only in the darkest shades of the forest, and these are, perhaps, the most beautiful, being brightly coloured and more delicate in structure than the others. ”

“ Penna, Senhora Katita, and I slung our hammocks in triangle between the mainmast and two stout poles fixed in the raised deck. A sheet was the only covering required, besides our regular clothing; for the decrease of temperature at night on the Amazons is never so great as to be felt otherwise than as a delightful coolness after the sweltering heat of the afternoons. We used to rise when the first gleam of dawn showed itself above the long, dark line of forest. ”

“ The Indians are very fond of them as pets, and the women often suckle them when young at their breasts. They become attached to their masters, and will sometimes follow them on the ground to considerable distances. I once saw a most ridiculously tame Coaitá. It was an old female, which accompanied its owner, a trader on the river, in all his voyages. By way of giving me a specimen of its intelligence and feeling, its master set to and rated it soundly, calling it scamp, heathen, thief, and so forth, all through the copious Portuguese vocabulary of vituperation. ”

“ The tropics have also species in which the contrast between the sexes is greater than in any species of temperate zones; in some cases the males have been put in one genus and the females in another, so great is the difference between them. There are species of larger size, but at the same time there are others of smaller size in the same families in tropical than in temperate latitudes. If we reflect on all these facts, we must come to the conclusion, that climate, to which we are naturally at first sight inclined to attribute much, has little or no direct influence in the matter. ”

“ We saw or heard no mammals or birds; a few cattle belonging to an estate down a shady lane were congregated, panting, under a cluster of wide-spreading trees. The very soil was hot to our feet, and we hastened onward to the shade of the forest which we could see not far ahead. At length, on entering it, what a relief! We found ourselves in a moderately broad pathway or alley, where the branches of the trees crossed overhead and produced a delightful shade. The woods were at first of second growth, dense, and utterly impenetrable ”