“When in 1852 the upper part of the Amazon, and the adjacent territory east and west of it (corresponding to the ancient Capitania do Rio Negro), were separated from the province of Pará, and erected into a province, under the name of ‘Amazonas,’ the exploration of the rivers entering the Amazon on the south was taken up in earnest by the new president and the provincial assembly; and Serafim Salgado was appointed to explore the Purús, with instructions “to seek a passage to the towns of Bolivia, by the river Purús and the savannahs of the Beni, shorter than that by the Madeira, and free from the cataracts of that river.” Unfortunately he was not furnished with a single instrument—not even a compass, or so much as a lead line for soundings; and his diary of his long and tedious voyage is deficient in information on almost every point of importance; yet, meagre as it is, as no account of that river has ever appeared in print, I give here a translation of it, appending thereto a few deductions which I think may be legitimately made from it.[468]
“ ‘Report of Serafim da Silva Salgado on the Exploration of the River Purús.
“ ‘Most illustrious and excellent Sir,—I have the honour to present to your Excellency the report of the voyage which I made from this capital to the 7th Maloca (village) of the Purús, which river I ascended during the space of four months and nineteen days. Along with it your Excellency will find also a list of the articles which I expended during this long and painful voyage, and another of the presents and other objects which were furnished me to enable me to undertake it.
“Your Excellency will allow me to mention that I have not yet paid the Tuxaúa (chief) Mamurité, and the Purupurú Indian Baidá, who accompanied me on this voyage, and who have hitherto received no pay whatever. The first will be satisfied with a few presents and clothes, and the second with something less. I regret much that I have not been able to perform better the task which your Excellency’s most excellent predecessor confided to me, and (from circumstances specified in the Report) that I could not go forward until I reached some Bolivian town; although I believe there is none such on the banks of the Purús, because at the seventh village of the Cucamas, which is the highest point I reached, the river is so narrow and obstructed, that it would be impossible to ascend much beyond it even in the season of flood.
“ ‘I beg your excellency to kindly excuse the incompleteness of my performance, and to honour me by receiving it, with the expressions of faithful respect and attachment that I offer to your Excellency.
“ ‘Deos guarde á V. Exª. Barra do Rio Negro, 20 de Dezembro de 1852.
“ ‘Serafim da Silva Salgado.
“ ‘To the most illustrious and excellent Senhor Dr. Manoel Gomes Correa de Miranda, 1st Vice-president of the Province of Amazonas.’
“ ‘Report of the voyage made by the undersigned from the capital of the Province of Amazonas to the limit of navigation of the river Purús.
“ ‘Honoured by being appointed, on the 5th of May of the current year, by his Excellency the President of the Province, to explore the river Purús, and furnished with the necessary instructions, I set out from this city of the Barra on the evening of the 10th of May, in two canoes, manned by twelve Indians, and accompanied by a corporal and twelve soldiers with their arms and ammunition, and travelled as far as the lake Curupira, twelve hours’ journey. It was six in the evening of the 11th when I reached that lake, where I remained until the 13th, occupied in making toldas[469] for the canoes. I started again on the morning of the 14th, and at nightfall was within the furo[470] of Aranduba, and as we could not pass it with daylight we remained there, and on the 15th passed out at the other end, and that day reached another furo called Bode.