Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

3 o NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
the port of Nauta, manned by a crew of rats and
mosquitoes. The state of these steamers was a
great disappointment to me, as I had calculated on
getting up as far as Yurimaguas on the Huallaga in
one of them, and I had now no alternative but to
continue my voyage in canoes, in the rainy season
and with the river full. I got a couple of canoes,
and after a fortnight's delay in putting them in
order and getting crews of Indians to navigate
the Maranon. . .
them, I took my weary way up .
[Part of a letter to Mr. Bentham carries on the
narrative by describing an incident at Nauta that
might have had very serious consequences, or
even caused the death of the traveller.]
To Mr. George Bentham
YURIMAGUAS, PERU, May 27, 1855.
*
I left the Barra on March 15 in the steamer, and
reached Nauta on April 2. Had it not been for the
delays in taking in firewood every day or nearly
so, the voyage might have been made in half the
time. At Nauta I was detained a fortnight getting
together Indians and a couple of canoes to continue
my voyage. From Nauta to Yurimaguas took me
till May 5 a voyage made sufficiently uncomfort-
able from abundance of mosquitoes by day and night,
and rendered perilous by frequent falling in of the
banks of Maranon and Huallaga, and by the risk of
upsetting when the deeply-laden
canoe struck on
some hidden stump, which happened every day.
My repose in the Barra had been of great
service to my health, but I reached Yurimaguas