CHAPTER I.
THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD.
Boy Reader, I am told that you are not tired of my company. Is thistrue?
"Quite true, dear Captain,--quite true!"
That is your reply. You speak sincerely? I believe you do.
In return, believe _me_, when I tell you I am not tired of yours; andthe best proof I can give is, that I have come once more to seek you. Ihave come to solicit the pleasure of your company,--not to an eveningparty, nor to a ball, nor to the Grand Opera, nor to the Crystal Palace,nor yet to the Zoological Gardens of Regent's Park,--no, but to thegreat zoological garden of Nature. I have come to ask you to accompanyme on another "campaign,"--another "grand journey" through the fields ofScience and Adventure. Will you go?
"Most willingly--with you, dear Captain, anywhere."
Come with me, then.
Again we turn our faces westward; again we cross the blue and billowyAtlantic; again we seek the shores of the noble continent of America.
"What! to America again?"
Ha! that is a large continent, and you need not fear that I am going totake you over old ground. No, fear not that! New scenes, await us; a new_fauna_, a new _flora_,--I might almost say, a new earth and a new sky!
You shall have variety, I promise you,--a perfect contrast to the scenesof our last journey.
Then, you remember, we turned our faces to the cold and icy North,--nowour path lies through the hot and sunny South. Then we lived in alog-hut, and closed every cranny to keep out the cold,--now, in ourcottage of palms and cane, we shall be but too glad to let the breezeplay through the open walls. Then we wrapped our bodies in thickfurs,--now we shall be content with the lightest garments. Then we werebitten by the frost--now we shall be bitten by the sand-flies, andmosquitoes, and bats, and snakes, and scorpions, and spiders, and stungby wasps, and centipedes, and great red ants! Trust me, you shall have achange!
Perhaps you do not contemplate _such_ a change with any very livelyfeelings of pleasure. Come! do not be alarmed at the snakes, andscorpions, and centipedes! We shall find a cure for every bite--anantidote for every bane.
Our new journey shall have its pleasures and advantages. Remember how ofold we shivered as we slept, coiled up in the corner of our dark log-hutand smothered in skins,--now we shall swing lightly in our nettedhammocks under the gossamer leaves of the palm-tree, or the featheryfrondage of the ferns. Then we gazed upon leaden skies, and at nightlooked upon the cold constellation of the Northern Bear;--now, we shallhave over us an azure canopy, and shall nightly behold the sparklingglories of the Southern Cross, still shining as bright as when Paul andhis little Virginia with loving eyes gazed upon it from their islandhome. In our last journey we toiled over bleak and barren wastes, acrossfrozen lakes, and marshes, and rivers;--now we shall pass under theshadows of virgin forests, and float lightly upon the bosom of broadmajestic streams, whose shores echo with the voices of living nature.
Hitherto our travels have been upon the wide, open prairie, thetrackless plain of sand, the frozen lake, the thin scattering woods ofthe North, or the treeless snow-clad "Barrens." Now we are about toenter a great forest,--a forest where the leaves never fade, where theflowers are always in bloom,--a forest where the woodman's axe has notyet echoed, where the colonist has hardly hewed out a singleclearing,--a vast primeval forest,--the largest in the world.
How large, do you ask? I can hardly tell you. Are you thinking of Eppingor the New Forest? True, these are large woods, and have been larger atone time. But if you draw your ideas of a great forest from either ofthese you must prepare yourselves for a startling announcement--and thatis, that the forest through which I am going to take you is _as big asall Europe_! There is one place where a straight line might be drawnacross this forest that would measure the enormous length of twothousand six hundred miles! And there is a point in it from which acircle might be described, with a diameter of more than a thousandmiles, and the whole area included within the vast circumference wouldbe found covered with an unbroken forest!
I need scarce tell you what forest I allude to, for there is none otherin the world of such dimensions--none to compare with that vast,trackless forest that covers the valley of the mighty Amazon!
And what shall we see in travelling through this tree-covered expanse?Many a strange form of life--both vegetable and animal. We shall see thegiant "ceiba" tree, and the "zamang," and the "caoba," twined by hugeparasites almost as thick as their own trunks, and looking as thoughthey embraced but to crush them; the "juvia," with its globe-shapedfruits as large as the human head; the "cow-tree," with its abundantfountains of rich milk; the "seringa," with its valuable gum--thecaoutchouc of commerce; the "cinchona," with its fever-killing bark; thecurious "volador," with its winged seeds; the wild indigo, and thearnatto. We shall see palms of many species--some with trunks smooth andcylindrical, others covered with thorns, sharp and thickly set--somewith broad entire leaves, others with fronds pinnate and feathery, andstill others whose leaves are the shape of a fan--some rising like nakedcolumns to the height of an hundred and fifty feet, while othersscarcely attain to the standard of an ordinary man.
On the water we shall see beautiful lilies--the snow-white _nymphs_, andthe yellow _nuphars_. We shall see the _Victoria regia_ covering thepool with its massive wax-like flowers, and huge circular leaves ofbronze green. We shall see tall flags like Saracen spears, and the darkgreen culms of gigantic rushes, and the golden _arundinaria_--thebamboo, and "cana brava,"--that rival the forest trees in height.
Many a form of animal life we may behold. Basking in the sun, we maybehold the yellow and spotted body of the jaguar--a beautiful butdreaded sight. Breaking through the thick underwood, or emerging slowlyfrom the water, we may catch a glimpse of the sombre tapir, or thered-brown capivara. We may see the ocelot skulking through the deepshade, or the margay springing upon its winged prey.
We may see the shaggy ant-bear tearing at the cones of sand-clay,and licking up the white termites; or we may behold the scalyarmadillo crawling over the sun-parched earth, and rolling itselfup at the approach of danger. We may see human-like forms,--the_quadrumana_--clinging among the high branches, and leaping from tree totree, like birds upon the wing; we may see them of many shapes, sizes,and colours, from the great howling monkeys, with their long prehensivetails, down to the little saimiris and ouistitis not larger thansquirrels.
What beautiful birds, too!--for this forest is their favourite home.Upon the ground, the large curassows, and gurns, and the "gallo," withhis plumage of bright red. Upon the trees, the macaws, and parrots, andtoucans, and trogons. In the waters, the scarlet flamingoes, the ibises,and the tall herons; and in the air, the hawks, the zamuros, theking-vultures, and the eagles.
We shall see much of the reptile world, both by land and water. Baskingupon the bank, or floating along the stream, we may behold the greatwater lizards--the crocodile and caiman; or the unwieldly forms of the_cheloniae_--the turtles. Nimbly running along the tree-trunk, or up theslanting lliana, we may see the crested iguana, hideous to behold. Onthe branches that overhang the silent pool we may see the "water-boa,"of huge dimensions, watching for his prey--the peccary, the capivara,the paca, or the agouti; and in the dry forest we may meet with hiscongener the "stag-swallower," twined around a tree, and waiting for theroebuck or the little red-deer of the woods.
We may see the mygale, or bird-catching spider, at the end of his strongnet-trap, among the thick foliage; and the tarantula, at the bottom ofhis dark pit-fall, constructed in the ground. We may see the tent-likehills of the white ants, raised high above the surface, and the nests ofmany other kinds, hanging from high branches, and looking as though theyhad been constructed out of raw silk and pasteboard. We may see treescovered with these nests, and some with the nests of wasps, and stillothers with those of troupials and orioles--birds of the genus _icterus_and _cassicus_--hanging down like long cylindrical purses.
All those, and many more strange sights, may be seen
in the great forestof the Amazon valley; and some of them we _shall_ see--_voila_!