Travels on the Amazon

by Alfred Russel Wallace

As we proceeded along the sands we found the heat very oppressive. We had finished the water in our gourd, and knew not where to get more. Our Indian told us there was a spring halfway up the mountain, a little further on, but it might now have failed, as it was the height of the dry season.

We soon came in sight of the spot, and a group of Mauritia palms, which always grow in damp places, as well as some patches of brilliant green herbage, gave us hope. On reaching the palms we found a moist, boggy soil, but such a slow filtering of water among the weeds that it took nearly half an hour to fill our gourd. Seeing a mass of green at the very base of the perpendicular rocks higher up, where the spring appeared to issue, we proceeded there, and found, to our great joy, a little trickle of pure and delightfully cool water, and a shady place where we could rest and eat our lunch in comfort.

We then went on till we arrived where our guide said the cave was situated; but having been there only once he could not find it again, among the confused mass of rock which in several places appeared to present openings, but which on searching the spot deceived us. After various clamberings we gave up the search, and determined to return home and get a better guide another day.

On our way back we passed by a high cliff, on which were some of the picture-writings I had so much wished to see. They were executed in a red tint, produced apparently by rubbing them in with pieces of the rock, which in places is of that colour. They looked quite fresh, and were not at all obliterated by the weather, though no one knows their antiquity. They consisted of various figures, rudely executed, some representing animals, as the alligator and birds, others like some household utensils, and others again circles and mathematical figures, while there were some very complicated and fantastic forms: all were scattered irregularly over the rock to the height of eight or ten feet. The size of most of the figures was from one to two feet.

I took a general sketch of the whole, and some accurate tracings of the more curious single figures, which have unfortunately been since lost. The night felt chilly and damp, and we had nothing to cover ourselves with, or should have slept on the mountain. As it was, we arrived home very tired about eight o'clock, and were soon glad to turn into our hammocks.

The next day Senhor Nunez determined to go with us himself to show us the cave and some more picture-writings, situated in another part of the mountain. We now went on horseback, but could no more find the cave than before, and were forced to send our Indian for an old man who lived a couple of miles off, and who knew the place well. While he was gone, Senhor Nunez went with me to find the picture-writings, which we did after a fatiguing walk. They were situated on a perpendicular rock, rising from the top of a steep, stony slope, which almost deterred me from getting up to them, as I was very tired and thirsty, and there was no water. However, having come on purpose to see them, I was determined to persevere, and soon reached the place. They were much larger than the others, and extended higher up the rock; the figures, too, were all different, consisting principally of large concentric circles, called by the natives the sun and moon, and several others more complicated and three or four feet high. Among them were two dates of years about 1770, in very neat well-formed figures, which I have no doubt were the work of some travellers who wished to show that they knew how the others were executed, and to record the date of their visit. Near some of the higher figures were two or three impressions of hands in the same colour, showing the palm and all the fingers very distinctly, as if the person executing the upper figures had stood on another's shoulders and supported himself with one hand (smeared with the red colour) while he drew with the other. I also took copies of the figures at this place, which, being large and exposed, are visible from a considerable distance round, and are more generally known than the others, which are in a secluded and out-of-the-way situation, and were probably not visited by any European traveller before myself.

We walked some distance further, to get some water, before returning towards the cave. There we found that our guides had arrived, and they soon led us up a steep path to its mouth, which is so well concealed by trees and bushes that our failing to discover it was not to be wondered at. The entrance is a rude archway, fifteen or twenty feet high; but what is most curious is a thin piece of rock which runs completely across the opening, about five feet from the ground, like an irregular flat board. This stone has not fallen into its present position, but is a portion of the solid rock harder than the rest, so that it has resisted the force which cleared away the material above and below it. Inside there is a large irregularly arched chamber, with a smooth sandy floor, and at the end there are openings into other chambers; but as we had not brought candles we could not explore them. There was nothing about the cave at all remarkable, except the flat transverse rock at its mouth. The vegetation around it was by no means luxuriant or beautiful, nor were there any flowers worth noticing. In fact, many of our caves in the limestone districts of England are in every way more picturesque and interesting.

I had heard of a plant growing in the pools in the marsh, which I was convinced must be the Victoria regia. Senhor Nunez told me there were plenty near his house, and early the next morning he sent an Indian to try and get me one. After some search the man found one, with a half-opened flower, and brought it to me. The leaf was about four feet in diameter, and I was much pleased at length to see this celebrated plant; but as it has now become comparatively common in England, it is not necessary for me to describe it. It is found all over the Amazon district, but rarely or never in the river itself. It seems to delight in still waters, growing in inlets, lakes, or very quiet branches of the river, fully exposed to the sun. Here it grew in the pools left in the bog; but in June the water would be twenty or thirty feet deeper, so its leaf and flower-stalks must increase in length rapidly while the water rises, as they did not seem to be very long now. I took the leaf home, in order to dry some portions of it. It is called by the Indians "Uaupé Japóna" (the Jacana's oven), from the resemblance of the leaf, with its deep rim, to the clay ovens used for making farinha.

As we wished to get home that day, we took leave of our kind host, and again had to pole our way over the grass and weeds in the small stream. It did not, however, now seem so tedious as on our ascent, and we soon got into the open river.

Passing along a sandy shore, our Indian saw signs of turtles' eggs, and immediately jumped out and commenced scraping away the sand, in a very short time turning up a hatful of eggs of the small turtle called "Tracaxá." A little lower down there was an old tree giving a tempting shade, so we made a fire under it, boiled our eggs, made some coffee, and with some farinha and beef we had brought with us made an excellent breakfast. Proceeding on, we fell in with a great number of alligators, of a large size, swimming about in all directions. We fired at some of them, but only succeeded in making them dive rapidly to the bottom. They are much feared by the natives, who never venture far into the water when bathing. In a place where we had bathed a few days previously, we saw one close in shore, and resolved to be more careful for the future, as every year some lives are lost by incautiousness.