Nothing would be more fatal to the maintenance of a
high ideal of education than the complete substitution of considerations of utility such as these, for the more uniform standard of general learning and intelligence at present accepted by the Education De- partment, and adopted by the elementary schools of both town and country alike. But the value of such considerations, as tend- ing to modify the application of that standard and to prevent the nation from acquiescing in a sterile uniformity, is unquestionable. The fairy-tale, the abstractions of grammar or arithmetic, the stories of strange animals and remote people which kindle the imagination and enlarge the vocabulary of a little child, all have their uses, and cannot be dispensed with as ingredients in the education even of the labourer's son. There are duties of being, as well as of doing ; and they who control national education will never, we trust, disregard this aspect of their work. Mean- while, we are in constant danger of accepting one theory of train- pest has its enemy, in the shape of a small ichneumon fly, which lug as if it were good for all children alike, and of forgetting seizes it, tucks it between its legs, and carries it off, to store up as food for its own larvm. To all these insect tormentors, as well as that systems are rectified, and kept healthy by being constantly
a disagreeable creature of any species save the human one ; and educational systems fail in their application to particular classes of as has been seen, bichos have pretty much their own way at pre- the population do a public service, and Mr. Denton's pamphlet sent in these regions, although, when the forests are somewhat cleared, it may be hoped that these plagues will also take their
FIFTEEN THOUSAND MILES ON THE AMAZON.* Tuts work, written by two authors, describes the explorations carried on by them and their companion, Mr. Trail, who acted as botanist and medical adviser, during nearly two years on the Amazon and twelve of its tributaries. The time mentioned would, of course, have been utterly insufficient for the purpose, had not the explorers, who were sent out by the Amazon Steam Naviga- tion Company, been furnished by the latter with every means for expediting their progress, all the employes of the Company having received orders to render every assistance, and a steam launch, capable of making its way among shallows and rapids, having been also provided for the use of the expedition. In this expedition, Mr. Barrington Brown acted as chief and geologist, while Mr. Lidstone fulfilled the duties of civil engineer and draughtsman, and their object is stated to have been to select and report upon certain territories allotted to the Company by the Government of Brazil. For what purpose these territories were required, or what may have been their judgment concerning them, the authors do not say ; indeed, the business part of the question is in this book studiously kept out of view. We hear a little of surveying every now and then, and of cutting a line through a forest to mark a boundary, as well as of taking observations to determine latitude and longitude,—and a few remarks upon geology are also interspersed ; but of the resources of the countries visited, or of their probable commercial future, not a hint is given ; and this strikes one as a want all through the book, giving to the record a somewhat purposeless character, while it lacks, at the same time, that spirit of adventure which would have enlivened a mere pleasure-trip. It may seem captious to say, too, that the authors fail to bring vividly before us the scenery, which they occasionally pronounce to be, as we know that it really is, exceedingly grand, and that they are wanting in the power of describing picturesquely a number of situations which might have been made much more effective. On the other hand, their narrative impresses one with an idea of perfect truthfulness, and certainly does not stimulate one's desire to visit the localities spoken of. In the first place, the journey was nothing but one long martyrdom from insect tormentors. Imagination fails to conceive their numbers and variety ; mosquitoes, some kinds of which have bills of immense length, and inflict a sting as sharp as if they had been plunged into strong acid ; ticks, of several varieties ; venomous ants ; minute bees, which persist in drinking the moisture from the human eye; and large bees, more like beetles, that can hit a blow by their own impetus which is long remembered by the unhappy receiver ; wasps of all sorts, from the little ones that make their nests under single leaves, and can be removed without much danger, if you whistle to them while carefully breaking off the twig upon which they are found, to the fierce marabuntas, which, when they attack in numbers, can easily deal out death to their enemies, one single sting causing violent pain and swelling ; mayflies, attracted by light, coming on board in thousands of an evening, and falling into the food, so that it was sometimes found preferable to consume dinner almost in the dark ; motucas of two kinds, species of cow-flies, which not only give a painful bite, but are able to suck a large amount of blood, if undiscovered ; and lastly, perhaps the worst pest of all, the detestable pium- a disgusting little black fly—the puncture of which, at first scarcely noticeable, leaves behind it, under the skin, a little round spot of blood, and as these creatures attack the unfor- tunate human being in myriads, it is not uncommon to see persons whose wrists and necks are almost black with their wounds, the irritation from them being also quite unbearable. The pium infests the whole of the Upper Amazon and its tribut- aries, beginning its work at six o'clock in the morning, and ending at the same hour in the evening. Happily, however, this written about the Amazon, say very little about its
• Frfteen Thousand Mites on the Amazon and its Tributaries. By C. Barrington Brown. Assoc. R.S.M., and William Lidatme, 0.E. With Map and Wood Engravings. London: Edward Stanford.
flora. They do, indeed, mention coming upon the Victoria Regis on two or three occasions, and speak once of the beautiful blossoming wild flowers and creepers indigenous to the country ; but they do not seem at all impressed by the luxurious vegetation, and even declare that although the variety of ferns in a tropical forest is very great, they make a less effective display than those which are found in a Devonshire wood,—a statement which, considering what other writers have said, we find it hard to credit. The district of Aramanahy, on the Tapajos, is spoken of as that where forest-trees are to be seen in their greatest grandeur, it being quite common to see there stems 200 feet in height, with trunks of four feet diameter. Cacoals, or chocolate plantations. are of frequent occurrence on the lower Amazon, and from 3,000 trees about fifty bushels of beans can be gathered every year. On the Madeira and the Purus we find the handsome, white- stemmed zeringa tree, from which the indiarubber is obtained, the latter river especially being the head-quarters of the trade ; but the rubber merchants are obliged to return to their homes in the large towns during the hot season, when pests are intolerable. On the Madeira, the red cedar is common, and also the " pao-mulatto," or black tree, the bark of which looks as if it had been polished with black- lead. The silk-cotton tree, with its singular, buttressed stem, is, however, by far the grandest object in the forest ; and a sketch of one is given, with a hut for smoking the indiarubber built against one of these singular projections. Of palms, Mr. Trail succeeded in discovering more than thirty new species, some of them of great beauty, and some exceedingly minute ; while others were, says the writers, "formidably armed with prickles of amazing sharpness, rendering contact with them exceedingly dis- agreeable, if not dangerous." The piassaba, so useful for making ropes and brooms, is a palm of the Barcellos district, on the Rio Negro. On the Trombetas they saw the sapukia, that curious tree allied to the castanheiro, and called in Demerara the monkey-pot tree, which bears a great pot-like fruit, enclosing many delicious nuts, prized both by animals and human beings. Another kind of palm constitutes the food of the tambaki, the salmon of the Amazon, the fruit when ripe falling into the water and being instantly devoured. The fishermen of the Solimiles contrive to imitate this shedding of the seeds, and concealing a hook in one of them, catch the unwary fish. The Brazil nut is found on the Trombetas at Lake Arapecu, to which numbers of vessels resort for cargoes ; the trees have stately trunks, running up a hundred feet before they branch off, and rising to fully a hundred and fifty altogether ; while the girth of the stem above the buttresses, which it possesses in common with the silk-cotton tree, is about twenty-three feet. On the Mauhes the writers visited a guarana plantation, the berries of the shrub being used in South America to produce a beverage like tea or coffee, while in Europe they are only in repute as a medicine. Of animal life we hear most of the monkeys, two or three of which of different kinds were selected as pets by the members of the expedition, affording them a good deal of amusement and some annoyance too, for both Bismark and Phil were at times excessively mischievous. The barrigudo, with his stupid good-humour, while he committed no special depredations, and evinced no particular fondness for anybody-, was a pretty general favourite, but poor little "Miss Squeers " had really quite a touching history. Turtles, of course, in some regions were ex- ceedingly abundant, the crew of the Guajark ' catching as many as thirty full-grown ones on one occasion ; while another time the chief was present when a nest of young ones hatched out, and "a perfect stream of little turtles, each not two inches in length," made its way towards the water, the spot in the sand from whence they came having been but a moment before quite smooth and firm, giving no hint of any life existing beneath its surface. It seems that these infant turtle are considered by the sailors as quite a delicacy ; they are roasted whole, and then eaten. The Indians shoot the full-grown ones when in the water, sending their arrows first high into the air, so that they may have force to penetrate the turtle's shell, yet aiming with such precision that they seldom miss their mark. The peixe-boi is another strange Amazonian animal, sometimes called the dugong lamantine or manatu ; it is a creature of the whale species, and is much used as food by the people of this region. A sketch is given of a young one, which the members of the expedition contrived to keep alive for some time in a bath on board one of the steamers. At San Sebastian, on the Javary, and one or two other places, the writers came in contact with Indians, but not so as to see much of them. Those on the higher Amazon and its tributaries are reported to be dangerous or savage. The lingoa geral, that curious dialect invented by the Jesuits as a means of communication between the various tribes, is still understood amongst them ; but at the present day, although chapels exist in almost every district, there are very few priests, and most of these only make occasional journeys to baptise the children and attend to the spiritual wants of their sparse congre- gations, composed, for the most part, of Brazilians or Portuguese settlers. Although fever is very prevalent in many parts of the- Amazon district, the author seems to have escaped its ravages, but one of the party, the engineer, suffered so severely from the bite of a scorpion, as to have been in great danger of losing his life. His cure seems to have been providentially affected by administering to him a piece of ginger, which one of the party fortunately had in his pocket, for at the time of the accident they were in the forest, and at a considerable distance from their supplies. If so simple a remedy is efficacious in so, serious a case—and Mr. Lidstone was growing white and cold, in spite of all exertions to maintain circulation—it is a thing that deserves to be remembered and made extensively known. The same individual afterwards suffered from the ben-ben, a disease apparently resembling paralysis, but peculiar to tropical climes, and was obliged to proceed homewards by sea in an almost- helpless condition. His recovery is not mentioned, but it is to be hoped, since his name appears as one of the authors of the book, that be did regain his former health and strength. We have not- alluded to the fierce storms which the expedition encountered upon some of these great rivers, nor to the pleasant descriptions of the towns of Santarem and Manaos, the latter especially having been a very favourite halting-place ; but although, as we remarked before, the writers have not the happy knack of giving to their- experiences as much life and colour as might be wished, the reader will find plenty of information as to the present state of this- part of South America, and will in all probability rise from its. perusal with a different view of the matter from any precon- ceived one which he may have entertained.
Previous page
