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

146 MY LIFEWe landed at Para on May 19, twenty-nine daysafter leaving Liverpool.From this date till I landed at Deal in October,1852, my adventures are narrated in my book" Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro," and Iwill here, therefore, only give a very brief outline ofmy wanderings.For the first four months Bates and I lived andcollected together in and around Para, but on ourreturn from an expedition which we had made up theTocantins river, we agreed that it would be better formany reasons to travel and collect independently ;one reason being that the country was so vast and sorich in birds and insects that much better resultswould be obtained if we each explored separatedistricts. We therefore separated, but we again metat Santarem and at the Barra. Afterwards Batesdevoted himself to the Upper Amazon, while Iascended the Rio Negro and the unknown Uaupes.After spending about nine months collecting inwent on an expeditionthe neighbourhood of Para, Iup the river Guama, on my return from which in July,1849, my younger brother, Herbert, joined me withthe idea of becoming a collector. We spent a monthtogether in Para, and then went to Santarem, wherewe intended to stay for some time. Dr. RichardSpruce, the now well-known traveller and botanist,had come out in the same ship with my brother, andwe much enjoyed his society during the short time hestayed with us here.After spending three months at Santarem wewent to the city of Barra at the mouth of the RioNegro, but here we found the scarcity of insects andbirds a great contrast to the abundance at Para,and after exploring the neighbouring country in all