Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

CHAPTER XXII
ON THE SHORES OF THE PACIFIC : SPRUCE'S
LAST
THREE YEARS IN SOUTH AMERICA
[DURING the whole of this period Spruce was
struggling hard against the severe illness which
prostrated
him for the remainder of his life. The
list of his Botanical Excursions gives a connected
view of his movements in search of health, and the
few letters he wrote to his friends give a sufficiently
vivid picture of his life and occupations, when he
could do little more than rest and make those
minute observations on the country and the people
which were his chief consolation during the wearisome
years of forced inactivity.
One result of these observations was an elaborate
paper of 80 pages, on the district of Piura, in
which he resided for nearly two years, more
especially
in relation to the cultivation of cotton
there. This paper was published by the Foreign
Office, but is now out of print ; and
as it describes
a district very rarely visited by European travellers,
I here reproduce those portions of it (about one-third
of the whole) which are of general or botanical
interest. They also serve to show how caretully
Spruce utilised his opportunities
for scientific obser-
vation, even under the most adverse conditions.]
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