My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 145publication in 1847 of "A Voyage up the Amazon,"by Mr. W. H. Edwards. This little book was soclearly and brightly written, described so well thebeauty and the grandeur of tropical vegetation, andgave such a pleasing account of the people, whileshowing that expenses of living and of travelling wereboth very moderate, that Bates and myself at onceagreed that this was the very place for us to go to ifthere was any chance of paying our expenses by thesale of our duplicate collections. We immediatelycommunicated with Mr. Edward Doubleday, who hadcharge of the butterflies at the British Museum, forhis advice upon the matter. He assured us that thewhole of Northern Brazil was very little known, andthat there was no doubt we could easily pay ourexpenses. Thus encouraged, we determined to goto Para, and began to make all the necessaryarrangements.After spending some time in London studyingthe insects in the British Museum, purchasing collectingapparatus and outfit, we set sail from Liverpoolon April 20, 1848.At this time there were very few steamships, andmost of the ocean trade was still carried on in sailingvessels. Ours was one of the smallest, being abarque of 192 tons named the Mischief, and saidto be a very fast sailer. Bates and I were the onlypassengers.We encountered violent storms in the Bay ofBiscay, the waves flooded our decks, washed awaypart of our bulwarks, and very nearly swamped usaltogether. All this time I was in my berth prostratewith sea-sickness. After the first six days the weatherbecame fine, and the remainder of the voyage was veryenjoyable.