Another remarkable voyage was accomplished, in a similar manner, by a Spaniard named Lopez d'Aguirre, from Cusco, in Peru, down the Ucayali, a branch of the Amazons flowing from the south, and therefore, from an opposite direction to that of the Napo.An account of this journey was sent by D'Aguirre, in a letter to the King of Spain, from which Humboldt has given an extract in his narrative.As it is a good specimen of the quaintness of style and looseness of statement exhibited by these early narrators of adventures in South America, I will give a translation of it:
"We constructed rafts, and, leaving behind our horses and baggage, sailed down the river (the Ucayali) with great risk, until we found ourselves in a gulf of fresh water.In this river Maranon we continued more than ten months and a half, down to its mouth, where it falls into the sea.We made one hundred days'
journey, and travelled 1500 leagues.It is a great and fearful stream, has 80 leagues of fresh water at its mouth, vast shoals, and 800 leagues of wilderness without any kind of inhabitants, [This account disagrees with that of Acunna, the historiographer of Texeira's expedition, who accompanied him, in 1639, on his return voyage from Quito.Acunna speaks of a very numerous population on the banks of the Amazons.] as your Majesty will see from the true and correct narrative of the journey which we have made.It has more than 6000 islands.God knows how we came out of this fearful sea!"Many expeditions were undertaken in the course of the eighteenth century; in fact, the crossing of the continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic, by way of the Amazons, seems to have become by this time a common occurrence.The only voyage, however, which yielded much scientific information to the European public was that of the French astronomer, La Condamine, in 1743-4.The most complete account yet published of the river is that given by Von Martius in the third volume of Spix and Martius' Travels.These most accomplished travellers were eleven months in the country--namely, from July, 1819, to June, 1820--and ascended the river to the frontiers of the Brazilian territory.The accounts they have given of the geography, ethnology, botany, history, and statistics of the Amazons region are the most complete that have ever been given to the world.Their narrative was not published until 1831, and was unfortunately inaccessible to me during the time I travelled in the same country.
While preparing for my voyage it happened, fortunately, that the half-brother of Dr.Angelo Custodio, a young mestizo named Joao da Cunha Correia, was about to start for the Amazons on a trading expedition in his own vessel, a schooner of about forty tons'
burthen.A passage for me was soon arranged with him through the intervention of Dr.Angelo, and we started on the 5th of September, 1849.I intended to stop at some village on the northern shore of the Lower Amazons, where it would be interesting to make collections, in order to show the relations of the fauna to those of Para and the coast region of Guiana.As I should have to hire a house or hut wherever I stayed, I took all the materials for housekeeping--cooking utensils, crockery, and so forth.To these were added a stock of such provisions as it would be difficult to obtain in the interior--also ammunition, chests, store-boxes, a small library of natural history books, and a hundredweight of copper money.I engaged, after some trouble, a Mameluco youth to accompany me as servant--a short, fat, yellow-faced boy named Luco, whom I had already employed at Para in collecting.We weighed anchor at night, and on the following day found ourselves gliding along the dark-brown waters of the Moju.
Joao da Cunha, like most of his fellow countrymen, took matters very easily.He was going to be absent in the interior several years, and therefore, intended to diverge from his route to visit his native place, Cameta, and spend a few days with his friends.
It seemed not to matter to him that he had a cargo of merchandise, vessel, and crew of twelve persons, which required an economical use of time; "pleasure first and business afterwards" appeared to be his maxim.We stayed at Cameta twelve days.The chief motive for prolonging the stay to this extent was a festival at the Aldeia, two miles below Cameta, which was to commence on the 21st, and which my friend wished to take part in.
On the day of the festival the schooner was sent down to anchor off the Aldeia, and master and men gave themselves up to revelry.
In the evening a strong breeze sprang up, and orders were given to embark.We scrambled down in the dark through the thickets of cacao, orange, and coffee trees which clothed the high bank, and, after running great risk of being swamped by the heavy sea in the crowded montaria, got all aboard by nine o'clock.We made all sail amidst the "adios" shouted to us by Indian and mulatto sweethearts from the top of the bank, and, tide and wind being favourable, were soon miles away.
Our crew consisted, as already mentioned, of twelve persons.One was a young Portuguese from the province of Traz os Montes, a pretty sample of the kind of emigrants which Portugal sends to Brazil.He was two or three and twenty years of age, and had been about two years in the country, dressing and living like the Indians, to whom he was certainly inferior in manners.He could not read or write, whereas one at least of our Tapuyos had both accomplishments.He had a little wooden image of Nossa Senora in his rough wooden clothes-chest, and to this he always had recourse when any squall arose, or when we ran aground on a shoal.Another of our sailors was a tawny white of Cameta; the rest were Indians, except the cook, who was a Cafuzo, or half-breed between the Indian and negro.It is often said that this class of mestizos is the most evilly-disposed of all the numerous crosses between the races inhabiting Brazil; but Luiz was a simple, good-hearted fellow, always ready to do one a service.
