Wanderings in South Americaby Charles Waterton | |
| List(s): | "Carp 500" |
|---|---|
| Category: |
"Travel" |
| Pages: | 334 |
| Year of Publication: | 1825 |
| Date Added: | 12/14/1998 |
| Date Read: | 06/02/1997 |
| Notes: | The author gives an account of four trips he took to the jungles of South America to observe and collect birds and animals. His adventures include wrestling a boa constrictor and riding a caiman. He investigated the properties of native poisons, got sick and treated himself. He also tells of a brief visit to Niagara Falls and gives a description of his English estate. COMMENTS — For the last thirty years of Waterton’s life, he always slept on bare boards, wrapped in a blanket and with a block of oak for a pillow. From this couch he rose at midnight to spend a few minutes in the chapel; he rose again at three o'clock, made a fire and lay down again till half-past, when he dressed and spent an hour at prayer. After surviving so many perils abroad, Waterton met his death in his own park through stumbling over a briar-root. This was in 1865 when he was in his eighty-third year: an internal injury resulted in his death in a few hours. |
| My Rating: | 8 |