THE

ANDES AND THE AMAZON;

OR,

ACROSS THE CONTINENT OF SOUTH AMERICA.

BY JAMES ORTON, M.A.,

PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., and COR-
RESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA.

WITH A NEW MAP OF EQUATORIAL AMERICA AND NUMEROUS
ILLUSTRATIONS.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1870.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

ΤΟ

CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S.,

WHOSE PROFOUND RESEARCHES

HAVE THROWN SO MUCH LIGHT UPON EVERY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE,

AND

WHOSE CHARMING “VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE HAS SO PLEASANTLY

ASSOCIATED HIS NAME WITH OUR SOUTHERN CONTINENT,

THESE SKETCHES OF THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON ARE, BY PERMISSION,

MOST RESPECTFULLY

Dedicated.

"Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man; whether those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are predominant, or those of Terra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature: no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body."-DARWIN'S Journal, p. 503.

PREFACE.

THIS volume is one result of a scientific expedition to the equatorial Andes and the river Amazon. The expedition was made under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, and consisted of the following gentlemen besides the writer: Colonel Staunton, of Ingham University, Leroy, N. Y.; F. S. Williams, Esq., of Albany, N. Y.; and Messrs. P. V. Myers and A. Bushnell, of Williams College. We sailed from New York July 1, 1867; and, after crossing the Isthmus of Panama and touching at Paita, Peru, our general route was from Guayaquil to Quito, over the Eastern Cordillera; thence over the Western Cordillera, and through the forest on foot to Napo; down the Rio Napo by canoe to Pebas, on the Marañon; and thence by steamer to Pará.*

Nearly the entire region traversed by the expedition is strangely misrepresented by the most recent geographical

* Another division, consisting of Messrs. H. M. Myers, R. H. Forbes, and W. Gilbert, of Williams College, proceeded to Venezuela, and after exploring the vicinity of Lake Valencia, the two former traversed the llanos to Pao, descended the Apuré and ascended the Orinoco to Yavita, crossed the portage of Pimichin (a low, level tract, nine miles wide, separating the waters of the Orinoco from those of the Amazon), and descended the Negro to Manáos, making a vogage by canoe of over 2000 miles through a littleknown but deeply-interesting region. A narrative of this expedition will soon be given to the public.