Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I PARA
- CHAPTER II PARA
- CHAPTER III PARÁ
- CHAPTER IV THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETÁ
- CHAPTER V CARIPÍ AND THE BAY OF MARAJÓ
- CHAPTER VI THE LOWER AMAZONS—PARÁ TO OBYDOS
- CHAPTER VII THE LOWER AMAZONS—OBYDOS TO MANAOS, OR THE BARRA OF THE RIO NEGRO
- CHAPTER VIII SANTAREM
- CHAPTER IX VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS
- CHAPTER X THE UPPER AMAZONS—VOYAGE TO EGA
- CHAPTER XI EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
- CHAPTER XII ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
- CHAPTER XIII EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA
- Index
CHAPTER VI - THE LOWER AMAZONS—PARÁ TO OBYDOS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I PARA
- CHAPTER II PARA
- CHAPTER III PARÁ
- CHAPTER IV THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETÁ
- CHAPTER V CARIPÍ AND THE BAY OF MARAJÓ
- CHAPTER VI THE LOWER AMAZONS—PARÁ TO OBYDOS
- CHAPTER VII THE LOWER AMAZONS—OBYDOS TO MANAOS, OR THE BARRA OF THE RIO NEGRO
- CHAPTER VIII SANTAREM
- CHAPTER IX VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS
- CHAPTER X THE UPPER AMAZONS—VOYAGE TO EGA
- CHAPTER XI EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
- CHAPTER XII ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
- CHAPTER XIII EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA
- Index
Summary
At the time of my first voyage up the Amazons—namely, in 1849—nearly all communication with the interior was by means of small sailing-vessels, owned by traders residing in the remote towns and villages, who seldom came to Pará themselves, but entrusted vessels and cargoes to the care of halfbreeds or Portuguese cabos. Sometimes, indeed, they risked all in the hands of the Indian crew, making the pilot, who was also steersman, do duty as supercargo. Now and then, Portuguese and Brazilian merchants at Pará furnished young Portuguese with merchandise, and despatched them to the interior, to exchange the goods for produce among the scattered population. The means of communication, in fact, with the upper parts of the Amazons had been on the decrease for some time, on account of the augmented difficulty of obtaining hands to navigate vessels. Formerly, when the Government wished to send any important functionary, such as a judge or a military commandant, into the interior, they equipped a swift-sailing galliota, manned with ten or a dozen Indians. These could travel, on the average, in one day farther than the ordinary sailing craft could in three. Indian paddlers were now, however, almost impossible to be obtained, and Government officers were obliged to travel as passengers in trading-vessels. The voyage made in this way was tedious in the extreme.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Naturalist on the River AmazonA Record of Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature under the Equator, during Eleven Years of Travel, pp. 112 - 135Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1873