Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

204
NOTES OF A BOTANIST
that to be there without either money or lucrative
not to be reflected on
employment is a contingency
without dread. On the other hand, I already feel
myself unequal to the painful mountain ascents,
exposed at the same time to a burning sun and a
piercingly cold wind. The eastern slopes of the
Andes no doubt contain much fine ground, but for
want of roads they can scarcely be explored, except
by one to whom the pecuniary value of his collec-
tions would be no object, and who could go to any
amount of expense. I have often wished I could
get some consular appointment here, were it only
of ^"150 a year; but I have no powerful friends,
without which a familiarity with the country, the
inhabitants, and the languages go for little. A
person
is much wanted to watch over the interests
of Europeans on the Upper Amazon, but I can
hardly suggest a station for him which would not
be liable to some objection, and an itinerating consul
is something I have never heard of, though
it would
really be very useful here. The Brazilians have a
vice-consul in Moyobamba. The French have a
vice-consul in Santarem and another in the Barra
do Rio Negro.
. . . Several
To Sir William Hooker
AMBATO, March 24, 1858.
friendly letters have passed between
Dr. Jameson and myself, but I have not yet had the
pleasure of meeting him. The upper part
of the
Rio Napo (where is the Indian village of Archi-
dona), which Jameson has lately explored, is nearly
parallel to the upper part of the Pastasa (and at no