The River Napo
Year: 1894
Type: article
Abstract: BUT little has been heard of the river Napo since the year 1Cea1, when Orellana descended this now historic stream; and no steps have been taken towards colonizing the fruitful country through which it flowst if we e2rcept the policy of a former dictator of Ecuador, who banished his political enemies thither, in the hope that they would, sooner olt later, fall victims to savage or beast.It was, perhaps, the air of grim mystery which enveloped it that induced me, when at Iquitos, near its mouth, to undertake a journey up this river, and it is the result of my observations during that trip, combined with the experience acquired from a three years' residence in the Amazonian region, which I propose to deal with in the present paper.The journey from Iquitos to the delta of ihe Napo, and thence to the Curaray, a tributary on its right bank, was made in fourteen days in a steam-launch drawing four feet of water.E'rom the Curaray to the village of Napo, a distance of about 340 miles, I travelled in a canoe: time occupied, forty-two days.Thence to Quito proved a toilsome journey afoot, through trackless forests and over high mountain ranges, that lasted ten days.Altogether I spent nearly three months in getting from Iquitos to Quito, distributed as already stated, with the exception of a few days spent at rubber stations en r othte, and a fortnight at the Jesuit Mission at Archidona, on the termination of my canoe voyage, This content downloaded from 192.
Source: Geographical Journal
DOI: 10.2307/1773582
Author: Charles Dolby Tyler
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2321769871