The Andes and the Amazon
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[Transcriber's note: The accentuation and spelling of the original
has been retained. This may at times seem variable: e.g., manati and
manati. Greek transliterations appear between + signs. This symbol:
[=o], which appears once to represent the letter o with a line above it.
Italics are indicated by under-scores, as in this example: _NEW YORK:_.
The illustrations are viewable in the XHTML version.]
[Illustration: PALMS ON THE MIDDLE AMAZON.]
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 CORRESPONDING
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.
* * * * *
TO
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 Maranon;
and thence by steamer to Para.[1]
[Footnote 1: 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 Ilanos to Pao, descended the Apure 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 Manaos, making a voyage by canoe of over 2000
miles through a little-known but deeply-interesting region. A narrative
of this expedition will soon be given to the public.]
Nearly the entire region traversed by the expedition is strangely
misrepresented by the most recent geographical works. On the Andes of
Ecuador we have little besides the travels of Humboldt; on the Napo,
nothing; while the Maranon is less known to North Americans than the
Nile.
Many of the following pages first appeared in the New York _Evening
Post_. The author has also published "Physical Observations on the Andes
and the Amazon" and "Geological Notes on the Ecuadorian Andes" in the
_American Journal of Science_, an article on the great earthquake of
1868 in the Rochester _Democrat_, and a paper _On the Valley of the
Amazon_ read before the American Association at Salem. These papers have
been revised and extended, though the popular form has been retained. It
has been the effort of the writer to present a condensed but faithful
picture of the physical aspect, the resources, and the inhabitants of
this vast country, which is destined to become an important field for
commercial enterprise. For detailed descriptions of the collections in
natural history, the scientific reader is referred to the various
reports of the following gentlemen, to whom the specimens were committed
by the Smithsonian Institution:
Volcanic Rocks Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, F.R.S., Montreal.
Plants Dr. Asa Gray, Cambridge.
Land and Fresh-water Shells. M. Crosse, Paris,
and Thomas Bland, Esq., New York.
Marine Shells Rev. Dr. E.R. Beadle, Philadelphia.
Fossil Shells W.M. Gabb, Esq., Philadelphia.
Hemiptera Prof. P.R. Uhler, Baltimore.
Orthoptera S.H. Scudder, Esq., Boston.
Hymenoptera and Nocturnal Lepidoptera Dr. A.S. Packard, Jr., Salem.
Diurnal Lepidoptera Tryon Reakirt, Esq., Philadelphia.
Coleoptera George D. Smith, Esq., Boston.
Phalangia and Pedipalpi Dr. H.C. Wood, Jr., Philadelphia.
Fishes Dr. Theodore Gill, Washington.
Reptiles Prof. E.D. Cope, Philadelphia.
Birds John Cassin, Esq.,[2] Philadelphia.
Bats Dr. H. Allen, Philadelphia.
Mammalian Fossils Dr. Joseph Leidy, Philadelphia.
[Footnote 2: This eminent ornithologist died in the midst of his
examination. Mr. George N. Lawrence, of New York, has identified the
remainder, including all the hummers.]
Many of the type specimens are deposited in the museums of the
Smithsonian Institution, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science,
the Boston Society of Natural History, the Peabody Academy of Science,
and Vassar College; but the bulk of the collection was purchased by
Ingham University, Leroy, New York.
The Map of Equatorial America was drawn with great care after original
observations and the surveys of Humboldt and Wisse on the Andes, and of
Azevedo, Castlenau, and Bates on the Amazon.[3] The names of Indian
tribes are in small capitals. Most of the illustrations are after
photographs or drawings made on the ground, and can be relied upon. The
portrait of Humboldt, which is for the first time presented to the
public, was photographed from the original painting in the possession of
Sr. Aguirre, Quito. Unlike the usual portrait--an old man, in
Berlin--this presents him as a young man in Prussian uniform, traveling
on the Andes.
[Footnote 3: We have retained the common orthography of this word,
though _Amazons_, used by Bates, is doubtless more correct, as more akin
to the Brazilian name _Amazonas_.]
We desire to express our grateful acknowledgments to the Smithsonian
Institution, Hon. William H. Seward, and Hon. James A. Garfield, of
Washington; to Cyrus W. Field, Esq., and William Pitt Palmer, Esq., of
New York; to C.P. Williams, Esq., of Albany; to Rev. J.C. Fletcher, now
United States Consul at Oporto; to Chaplain Jones, of Philadelphia; to
Dr. William Jameson, of the University of Quito; to J.F. Reeve, Esq.,
and Captain Lee, of Guayaquil; to the Pacific Mail Steamship, Panama
Railroad, and South Pacific Steam Navigation companies; to the officers
of the Peruvian and Brazilian steamers on the Amazon; and to the eminent
naturalists who have examined the results of the expedition.
NOTE.--Osculati has alone preceded us, so far as we can learn, in
obtaining a vocabulary of Zaparo words; but, as his work is not to be
found in this country, we have not had the pleasure of making a
comparison.
INTRODUCTION
BY
REV. J.C. FLETCHER,
AUTHOR OF "BRAZIL AND BRAZILIANS."
In this day of many voyages, in the Old World and the New, it is
refreshing to find an untrodden path. Central Africa has been more fully
explored than that region of Equatorial America which lies in the midst
of the Western Andes and upon the slopes of these mountain monarchs
which look toward the Atlantic. In this century one can almost count
upon his hand the travelers who have written of their journeys in this
unknown region. Our own Herndon and Gibbon descended--the one the
Peruvian and the other the Bolivian waters--the affluents of the Amazon,
beginning their voyage where the streams were mere channels for canoes,
and finishing it where the great river appears a fresh-water ocean. Mr.
Church, the artist, made the sketches for his famous "Heart of the
Andes" where the headwaters of the Amazon are rivulets. But no one whose
language is the English has journeyed down and described the voyage from
the _plateaux_ of Ecuador to the Atlantic Ocean until Professor Orton
and his party accomplished this feat in 1868. Yet it was over this very
route that the King of Waters (as the Amazon is called by the
aborigines) was originally discovered. The _auri sacra fames_, which in
1541 urged the adventurous Gonzalo Pizarro to hunt for the fabled city
of _El Dorado_ in the depths of the South American forests, led to the
descent of the great river by Orellana, a knight of Truxillo. The fabled
women-warriors were said to have been seen in this notable voyage, and
hence the name of the river _Amazon_, a name which in Spanish and
Portuguese is in the plural. It was not until nearly one hundred years
after Orellana was in his grave that a voyage of discovery ascended the
river. In 1637 Pedro Teixeira started from Para with an expedition of
nearly two thousand (all but seventy of whom were natives), and with
varied experiences, by water and by land, the explorer in eight months
reached the city of Quito, where he was received with distinguished
honor. Two hundred years ago the result of this expedition was
published.
The Amazon was from that time, at rare intervals, the highway of Spanish
and Portuguese priests and friars, who thus went to their distant
charges among the Indians. In 1745 the French academician De la
Condamine descended from Quito to Para, and gave the most accurate idea
of the great valley which we had until the first quarter of this
century.
The narrow policy of Spain and Portugal was most unfruitful in its
results to South America. A jealous eye guarded that great region, of
which it can be so well said there are
"Realms unknown and blooming wilds,
And fruitful deserts, worlds of solitude,
Where the sun smiles and seasons teem in vain."
Now, the making known to the world of any portion of these "fruitful
deserts" is performing a service for the world. This Professor Orton
has done. His interesting and valuable volume hardly needs any
introduction or commendation, for its intrinsic merit will exact the
approbation of every reader. Scientific men, and tourists who seek for
new routes of travel, will appreciate it at once; and I trust that the
time is near at hand when our mercantile men, by the perusal of such a
work, will see how wide a field lies before them for future commercial
enterprise. This portion of the tropics abounds in natural resources
which only need the stimulus of capital to draw them forth to the light;
to create among the natives a desire for articles of civilization in
exchange for the crude productions of the forest; and to stimulate
emigration to a healthy region of perpetual summer.
It seems as if Providence were opening the way for a great change in the
Valley of the Amazon. That immense region drained by the great river is
as large as all the United States east of the States of California and
Oregon and the Territory of Washington, and yet it has been so secluded,
mainly by the old monopolistic policy of Portugal, that that vast space
has not a population equal to the single city of Rio de Janeiro or of
Brooklyn. Two million five hundred thousand square miles are drained by
the Amazon. Three fourths of Brazil, one half of Bolivia, two thirds of
Peru, three fourths of Ecuador, and a portion of Venezuela are watered
by this river. Riches, mineral and vegetable, of inexhaustible supply
have been here locked up for centuries. Brazil held the key, but it was
not until under the rule of their present constitutional monarch, Don
Pedro II., that the Brazilians awoke to the necessity of opening this
glorious region. Steamers were introduced in 1853, subsidized by the
government. But it is to a young Brazilian statesman, Sr. A.C. Tavares
Bastos, that belongs the credit of having agitated, in the press and in
the national parliament, the opening of the Amazon, until public
opinion, thus acted upon, produced the desired result. On another
occasion, in May, 1868, I gave several indices of a more enlightened
policy in Brazil, and stated that the opening of the Amazon, which
occurred on the 7th of September, 1867, and by which the great river is
free to the flags of all nations, from the Atlantic to Peru, and the
abrogation of the monopoly of the coast-trade from the Amazon to the Rio
Grande do Sul, whereby 4000 miles of Brazilian sea-coast are open to the
vessels of every country, can not fail not only to develop the resources
of Brazil, but will prove of great benefit to the bordering
Hispano-American republics and to the maritime nations of the earth. The
opening of the Amazon is the most significant indication that the leaven
of the narrow monopolistic Portuguese conservatism has at last worked
out. Portugal would not allow Humboldt to enter the Amazon Valley in
Brazil. The result of the new policy is beyond the most sanguine
expectation. The exports and imports for Para for October and November,
1867, were double those of 1866. This is but the beginning. Soon it will
be found that it is cheaper for Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and New Granada,
east of the Andes, to receive their goods from, and to export their
India-rubber, cinchona, etc., to the United States and Europe, _via_ the
great water highway which discharges into the Atlantic, than by the
long, circuitous route of Cape Horn or the trans-Isthmian route of
Panama.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Guayaquil.--First and Last Impressions.--Climate.--Commerce.--The
Malecon.--Glimpse of the Andes.--Scenes on the Guayas.--Bodegas.--Mounted
for Quito.--La Mena.--A Tropical Forest......Page 25
CHAPTER II.
Our Tambo.--Ascending the Andes.--Camino Real.--Magnificent Views.
--Guaranda.--Cinchona.--The
Summit.--Chimborazo.--Over the Andes.--Chuquipoyo
the Wretched.--Ambato.--A Stupid City.--Cotopaxi.--The
Vale of Machachi.--Arrival at Quito......40
CHAPTER III.
Early History of Quito.--Its Splendor under the Incas.--Crushed by Spain.
--Dying now.--Situation.--Altitude.--Streets.--Buildings......56
CHAPTER IV.
Population of Quito.--Dress.--Manners.--Character.--Commerce.--Agriculture.
--Manufactures.--Arts.--Education.--Amusements.--Quito
Ladies......68
CHAPTER V.
Ecuador.--Extent.--Government.--Religion.--A Protestant Cemetery in
Quito.--Climate.--Regularity of Tropical Nature.
--Diseases on the Highlands......85
CHAPTER VI.
Astronomic Virtues of Quito.--Flora and Fauna of the Valley of Quito.
--Primeval Inhabitants of the Andes.--Quichua Indians......97
CHAPTER VII.
Geological History of South America.--Rise of the Andes.--Creation of the
Amazon.--Characteristic Features of the Continent.--Andean Chain.--The
Equatorial Volcanoes......114
CHAPTER VIII.
The Volcanoes of Ecuador.--Western Cordillera.--Chimborazo.--Iliniza.
--Corazon.--Pichincha.--Descent into its Crater. Page 127
CHAPTER IX.
The Volcanoes of Ecuador.--Eastern Cordillera.--Imbabura.--Cayambi.--Antisana.
--Cotopaxi.--Llanganati.--Tunguragua.--Altar.--Saugai......143
CHAPTER X.
The Valley of Quito.--Riobamba.--A Bed of "Fossil Giants."--Chillo Hacienda.
--Otovalo and Ibarra.--The Great Earthquake of 1868......152
CHAPTER XI.
"The Province of the Orient," or the Wild Napo Country.--The Napos, Zaparos,
and Jivaros Indians.--Preparations to cross the Continent......164
CHAPTER XII.
Departure from Quito.--Itulcachi.--A Night in a Bread-tray.--Crossing the
Cordillera.--Guamani.--Papallacta.--Domiciled at the Governor's.--An
Indian Aristides.--Our Peon Train.--In the Wilderness......177
CHAPTER XIII.
Baeza.--The Forest.--Crossing the Cosanga.--Curi-urcu.--Archidona.--Appearance,
Customs, and Belief of the Natives.--Napo and Napo River......187
CHAPTER XIV.
Afloat on the Napo.--Down the Rapids.--Santa Rosa and its mulish Alcalde.
--Pratt on Discipline.--Forest Music.--Coca.--Our Craft and Crew.--Storm
on the Napo......200
CHAPTER XV.
Sea-Cows and Turtles' Eggs.--The Forest.--Peccaries.--Indian Tribes on
the Lower Napo.--Anacondas and Howling Monkeys.--Insect Pests.--Battle
with Ants.--Barometric Anomaly.--First View of the Amazon.--Pebas......215
CHAPTER XVI.
Down the Amazon.--Steam on the Great River.--Loreto.--San Antonio.--Tabatinga.
--Brazilian Steamers.--Scenery on the Amazon.--Tocantins.--Fonte
Boa.--Ega.--Rio Negro.--Manaos......230
CHAPTER XVII.
Down the Amazon.--Serpa.--Villa Nova.--Obidos.--Santarem.--A Colony
of Southerners.--Monte Alegre.--Porto do Moz.--Leaving the Amazon.
--Breves.--Para River.--The City of Para.--Legislation and Currency.
--Religion and Education.--Nonpareil Climate. Page 247
CHAPTER XVIII.
The River Amazon.--Its Source and Magnitude.--Tributaries and Tints.--Volume
and Current.--Rise and Fall.--Navigation.--Expeditions on the
Great River......264
CHAPTER XIX.
The Valley of the Amazon.--Its Physical Geography.--Geology.--Climate.
--Vegetation......280
CHAPTER XX.
Life within the Great River.--Fishes.--Alligators.--Turtles.--Porpoises
and Manatis......295
CHAPTER XXI.
Life around the Great River.--Insects.--Reptiles.--Birds.--Mammals......300
CHAPTER XXII.
Life around the Great River.--Origin of the Red Man.--General Characteristics
of the Amazonian Indians.--Their Languages, Costumes, and Habitations.
--Principal Tribes.--Mixed Breeds.--Brazilians and Brazil......315
CHAPTER XXIII.
How to Travel in South America.--Routes.--Expenses.--Outfit.--Precautions.
--Dangers......325
CHAPTER XXIV.
In Memoriam......334
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
Barometrical Measurements across South America Page 338
APPENDIX B
Vocabularies from the Quichua, Zaparo, Yagua, and Campas Languages 340
APPENDIX C
Commerce of the Amazon 344
ADDENDA 349
INDEX 349
ILLUSTRATIONS
Palms on the Middle Amazon _Frontispiece_
Cathedral of Guayaquil Page 27
Equipped for the Andes 37
Ascending the Andes 42
Quito from the North 61
Water-carriers 62
Street in Quito 63
Capitol at Quito 66
Indian Dwellings 78
Washerwomen 83
Ecclesiastics 88
Profiles of Ecuadorian Volcanoes 123
Crater of Pichincha 135
Humboldt in 1802 156
Ibarra 158
Napo Peon 184
Autograph of an Indian 185
Papaya-tree 202
Trapiche, or Sugar-mill 208
Our Craft on the Napo 211
Hunting Turtle-eggs 217
A Howler 223
Kitchen on the Amazon 238
Natives on the Middle Amazon 241
A Siesta 244
Santarem 250
Para 255
Fruit-peddlers 259
Igarape, or Canoe-path 265
Coca-plant 293
Iguana 305
Toucans 307
Brazilian Hummers Page 309
Capybara 310
Jaguar 311
Native Comb 317
Colonel Staunton _To face page_ 334
Map of Equatorial America _End._
THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON.
CHAPTER I.
Guayaquil.--First and Last Impressions.--Climate.--Commerce.--The
Malecon.--Glimpse of the Andes.--Scenes on the
Guayas.--Bodegas.--Mounted for Quito.--La Mona.--A Tropical Forest.
Late in the evening of the 19th of July, 1867, the steamer "Favorita"
dropped anchor in front of the city of Guayaquil. The first view
awakened visions of Oriental splendor. Before us was the Malecon,
stretching along the river, two miles in length--at once the most
beautiful and the most busy street in the emporium of Ecuador. In the
centre rose the Government House, with its quaint old tower, bearing
aloft the city clock. On either hand were long rows of massive,
apparently marble, three-storied buildings, each occupying an entire
square, and as elegant as they were massive. Each story was blessed with
a balcony, the upper one hung with canvas curtains now rolled up, the
other protruding over the sidewalk to form a lengthened arcade like that
of the Rue de Rivoli in imperial Paris. In this lower story were the gay
shops of Guayaquil, filled with the prints, and silks, and fancy
articles of England and France. As this is the promenade street as well
as the Broadway of commerce, crowds of Ecuadorians, who never do
business in the evening, leisurely paced the magnificent arcade; hatless
ladies sparkling with fire-flies[4] instead of diamonds, and far more
brilliant than koh-i-noors, swept the pavement with their long trains;
martial music floated on the gentle breeze from the barracks or some
festive hall, and a thousand gas-lights along the levee and in the city,
doubling their number by reflection from the river, betokened wealth and
civilization.
[Footnote 4: The _Pyrophorus noctilucus_, or "cucujo," found also in
Mexico and the West Indies. It resembles our large spring-beetle. The
light proceeds from two eye-like spots on the thorax and from the
segments underneath. It feeds on the sugar-cane. On the Upper Amazon we
found the _P. clarus_, _P. pellucens_, and _P. tuberculatus_.
At Bahia, on the opposite coast, Darwin found _P. luminosus_, the most common
luminous insect.]
We landed in the morning to find our vision a dissolving view in the
light of the rising sun. The princely mansions turned out to be hollow
squares of wood-work, plastered within and without, and roofed with red
tiles. Even the "squares" were only distant approximations; not a right
angle could we find in our hotel. All the edifices are built (very
properly in this climate) to admit air instead of excluding it, and the
architects have wonderfully succeeded; but with the air is wafted many
an odor not so pleasing as the spicy breezes from Ceylon's isle. The
cathedral is of elegant design. Its photograph is more imposing than
Notre Dame, and a Latin inscription tells us that it is the Gate of
Heaven. But a near approach reveals a shabby structure, and the pewless
interior is made hideous by paintings and images which certainly must be
caricatures. A few genuine works of art imported from Italy alone
relieve the mind of the visitor. Excepting a few houses on the Malecon,
and not excepting the cathedral, the majority of the buildings have a
tumble-down appearance, which is not altogether due to the frequent
earthquakes which have troubled this city; while the habitations in the
outskirts are exceedingly primitive, floored and walled with split cane
and thatched with leaves, the first story occupied by domestic animals
and the second by their owners. The city is quite regularly laid out,
the main streets running parallel to the river. A few streets are
rudely paved, many are shockingly filthy, and all of them yield grass to
the delight of stray donkeys and goats. A number of mule-carts, half a
dozen carriages, one omnibus, and a hand-car on the Malecon, sum up the
wheeled vehicles of Guayaquil. The population is twenty-two thousand,
the same for thirty years past. Of these, about twenty are from the
United States, and perhaps twenty-five can command $100,000. No
foreigner has had reason to complain that Guayaquilians lacked the
virtues of politeness and hospitality. The ladies dress in excellent
taste, and are proverbial for their beauty. Spanish, Indian, and Negro
blood mingle in the lower classes. The city supports two small papers,
_Los Andes_ and _La Patria_, but they are usually issued about ten days
behind date. The hourly cry of the night-watchman is quite as musical as
that of the muezzin in Constantinople. At eleven o'clock, for example,
they sing "_Ave Maria purissima! los once han dedo, noche clara y
serena. Viva la Patria!_"
[Illustration: Cathedral of Guayaquil.]
The full name of the city is Santiago de Guayaquil.[5] It is so called,
first, because the conquest of the province was finished on the 25th of
July (the day of St. James), 1533; and, secondly, after Guayas, a
feudatory cacique of Atahuallpa. It was created a city by Charles V.,
October 6, 1535. It has suffered much in its subsequent history by fires
and earthquakes, pirates and pestilence. It is situated on the right
bank of the River Guayas, sixty miles from the ocean, and but a few feet
above its level. Though the most western city in South America, it is
only two degrees west of the longitude of Washington, and it is the same
distance below the equator--Orion sailing directly overhead, and the
Southern Cross taking the place of the Great Dipper. The mean annual
temperature, according to our observations, is 83 deg.. There are two
seasons, the wet, or _invierno_, and the dry, or _verano_. The _verano_
is called the summer, although astronomically it is winter; it begins in
June and terminates in November.[6] The heavy rains come on about
Christmas. March is the rainiest month in the year, and July the
coldest. It is at the close of the _invierno_ (May) that fevers most
abound. The climate of Guayaquil during the dry season is nearly
perfect. At daybreak there is a cool easterly breeze; at sunrise a brief
lull, and then a gentle variable wind; at 3 P.M. a southwest wind, at
first in gusts, then in a sustained current; at sunset the same softened
down to a gentle breeze, increasing about _7_ P.M., and dying away about
3 A.M. Notwithstanding heaps of filth and green-mantled pools,
sufficient to start a pestilence if transported to New York, the city
is usually healthy, due in great part, no doubt, to countless flocks of
buzzards which greedily wait upon decay. These carrion-hawks enjoy the
protection of law, a heavy fine being imposed for wantonly killing
one.[7] It is during the rainy season that this port earns the
reputation of being one of the most pestiferous spots on the globe. The
air is then hot and oppressive, reminding the geologist of the steaming
atmosphere in the carboniferous period; the surrounding plains are
flooded with water, and the roads, even some of the streets of the city,
become impassable; intolerable musquitoes, huge cockroaches, disgusting
centipedes, venomous scorpions, and still more deadly serpents, keep the
human species circumspect, and fevers and dysenteries do the work of
death.