Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons (1863)

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It was with deep interest that my companion and myself, both now about to see and examine the beauties of a tropical country for the first time, gazed on the land where I, at least, eventually spent eleven of the best years of my life.

Henry Walter Bates
Besides alligators, the only animals to be feared are the poisonous serpents. These are certainly common enough in the forest, but no fatal accident happened during the whole time of my residence.

Henry Walter Bates
The poor monkey, quietly seated on the ground, seemed to be in sore trouble at this display of anger.

Henry Walter Bates
I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of getting news from the civilised world down river, from the irregularity of receipt of letters, parcels of books and periodicals, and towards the latter part of my residence from ill health arising from bad and insufficient food.

Henry Walter Bates
I was obliged, at last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of nature alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind.

Henry Walter Bates
The people were simpler, more peaceable and friendly in their manners and dispositions; and assassinations, which give the southern provinces so ill a reputation, were almost unknown.

Henry Walter Bates
On these expanded membranes [i.e., butterfly wings] Nature writes, as on a tablet, the story of the modifications of species... As the laws of nature must be the same for all beings, the conclusions furnished by this group of insects must be applicable to the whole organic world.

Henry Walter Bates
The study of butterflies-creatures selected as the types of airiness and frivolity-instead of being despised, will some day be valued as one of the most important branches of Biological science.

Henry Walter Bates
The city and province were given up to anarchy; the coloured people, elated with victory, proclaimed the slaughter of all whites, except the English, French, and American residents.

Henry Walter Bates