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THE TROPICAL WORLD.
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
[Illustration: PRIMITIVE FOREST.]
THE TROPICAL WORLD:
ASPECTS OF MAN AND NATURE
IN
THE EQUATORIAL REGIONS OF THE GLOBE.
BY
DR. G. HARTWIG,
AUTHOR OF ‘THE SEA AND ITS LIVING WONDERS,’ ‘THE SUBTERRANEAN WORLD,’
‘THE HARMONIES OF NATURE,’ AND ‘THE POLAR WORLD.’
_WITH EIGHT CHROMOXYLOGRAPHIC PLATES AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS._
NEW EDITION.
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1873.
_All rights reserved._
PREFACE.
The numerous alterations I have made in this new edition of the
‘Tropical World,’ both by the attentive revision of its former
contents, and the addition of new chapters descriptive of the chief
characteristics of the various tropical races of man; as well as the
care I have taken to condense as much information as possible within
narrow limits, will, I hope, justify my assertion that I have done my
best to please indulgent readers, and to merit the favourable verdict
of severer critics.
Dr. HARTWIG.
Salon Villas, Ludwigsburg (Würtemburg):
_March 10, 1873_.
CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER I.
THE DIVERSITY OF CLIMATES WITHIN THE TROPICS.
Causes by which it is produced--Abundance and Distribution of
Rain within the Tropics--The Trade Winds--The Belt of Calms--
Tropical Rains--The Monsoons--Tornados--Cyclones--Typhoons--
Storms in the Pacific--Devastations caused by Hurricanes on
Pitcairn Island and Rarotonga 1
CHAPTER II.
THE LLANOS.
Their Aspect in the Dry Season--Vegetable Sources--Sand Spouts--
Effects of the Mirage--A Savannah on Fire--Opening of the Rainy
Season--Miraculous Changes--Exuberance of Animal and Vegetable
Life--Conflict between Horses and Electrical Eels--Beauty of
the Llanos at the Termination of the Rainy Season--The Mauritia
Palm 11
CHAPTER III.
THE PUNA, OR THE HIGH TABLE-LANDS OF PERU AND BOLIVIA.
Striking Contrast with the Llanos--Northern Character of their
Climate--The Chuñu--The Surumpe--The Veta: its Influence upon
Man, Horses, Mules, and Cats--The Vegetation of the Puna--The
Maca--The Llama: its invaluable Services--The Huanacu--The
Alpaca--The Vicuñas: Mode of Hunting Them--The Chacu--The
Bolas--The Chinchilla--The Condor--Wild Bulls and Wild Dogs--
Lovely Mountain Valleys 20
CHAPTER IV.
THE PERUVIAN SAND-COAST.
Its desolate Character--The Mule is here the ‘Ship of the
Desert.’--A Shipwreck and its Consequences--Sand-Spouts--
Medanos--Summer and Winter--The Garuas--The Lomas--Change
produced in their Appearance during the Season of Mists--Azara’s
Fox--Wild Animals--Birds--Reptiles--The Chincha or Guano
Islands 30
CHAPTER V.
THE AMAZONS, THE GIANT RIVER OF THE TORRID ZONE.
The Course of the Amazons and its Tributaries--The Strait of
Obydos--Tide Waves on the Amazons--The Black-water rivers--
The Rio Negro--The Bay of the Thousand Isles--The Pororocca--
Rise of the River--The Gapo--Magnificent Scenery--Different
Character of the Forests beyond and within the verge of
Inundation--General Character of the Banks--A Sail on the
Amazons--A Night’s Encampment--The ‘Mother of the Waters’--
The Piranga--Dangers of Navigating on the Amazons--Terrific
Storms--Rapids and Whirlpools--The Stream of the Future--
Travels of Orellana--Madame Godin 36
CHAPTER VI.
THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF TROPICAL AMERICA.
Their peculiar Charms and Terrors--Disappointments and
Difficulties of the Botanist--The Bush-ropes--Variety of Trees
and Plants--Trees with Buttresses--Numberless parasites--
Character of the Primitive Forest according to its Site--Its
Aspect during the Rainy Season--A Hurricane in the Forest--
Beauty of the Forest after the Rainy Season--Our Home Scenes
equally beautiful--Bird Life on the rivers of Guiana--Morning
Concert--Repose of Nature at Noon--Nocturnal Voices of the
Forest 53
CHAPTER VII.
THE WILD INDIANS OF TROPICAL AMERICA.
The wild Forest Tribes--Their Physical Conformation and Moral
Characteristics--Their Powers of Endurance not inferior to
those of other Races--Their stoical indifference--Their Means
of Subsistence--Fishing--Hunting--The Wourali Poison--
Ornaments--Painting--Tattooing--Religion--The Moon, a Land
of Abundance--The Botuto--The Piaches--The Savage Hordes
of Brazil and Guiana--The Ottomacas--Dirt-eaters--Their
Vindictive Ferocity and War Stratagems--The extinct Tribe of
the Atures--A Parrot the last Speaker of their Language--
Their Burial-cavern--The Uaupes Indians--Their large Huts--
Horrid Custom of Disinterment--The Macus--The Purupurus--The
‘Palheta’--The Mandrucus--Singular resemblance of some of the
Customs of the American Indians to those of Remote Nations--The
Caribs--The Botocudos--Monstrous distension of the Ears and
Under-lip--Their Bow and Arrow--Their Migrations--Bush-rope
Bridge--Botocudo Funeral--‘Tanchon,’ the Evil Spirit 62
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MEXICAN PLATEAUS, AND THE SLOPES OF SIKKIM.
Geological Formation of Mexico--The _Tierra Caliente_--The
_Tierra Templada_--The _Tierra Fria_.
The Sylvan Wonders of Sikkim--Changes of the Forest on ascending--
The Torrid Zone of Vegetation--The Temperate Zone--The
Coniferous Belt--Limits of Arboreal Vegetation--Animal Life 79
CHAPTER IX.
THE KALAHARI AND THE BUSHMEN.
Reasons why Droughts are prevalent in South Africa--Vegetation
admirably suited to the Character of the Country--Number of
Tuberous Roots--The Caffre Water-Melon--The Mesembryanthemums--
The Animal Life of the Kalahari--The Bushmen, a Nomadic Race
of Hunters--Their Skill in Hunting--Their Food--Acuteness of
their Sight and Hearing--Their Intelligence and Perseverance--
Their Weapons and Marauding Expeditions--Their Voracity--Their
Love of Liberty--The Bakalahari--Their Love for Agriculture--
Their Ingenuity in procuring Water--Trade in Skins--Their
timidity 85
CHAPTER X.
THE SAHARA.
Its uncertain Limits--Caravan Routes--Ephemeral Streams--Oases--
Inundations--Luxuriant Vegetation of the Oases contrasted with
the surrounding Desert--Harsh contrasts of Light and Shade--
Sublimity of the Desert--Feelings of the Traveller while
crossing the Desert--Its charms and terrors--Sand-Spouts--The
Simoom--The ‘Sea of the Devil’--The Gazelle--Its chase--The
Porcupine--Fluctuation of Animal Life according to the Seasons--
The Tibbos and the Tuaregs--Their contempt of the sedentary
Berbers 93
CHAPTER XI.
THE BEDOUINS OF ARABIA.
The Deserts of Arabia--Sedentary Arabs and Bedouins--Physical
Characteristics of the Bedouins--Remarkable acuteness of their
Senses--Their Manners--Their intense Patriotism and Contempt
of the dwellers in Cities--The Song of Maysunah--Their Wars--
Their Character softened by the Influence of Woman--Their
chivalrous Sentiments--The Arab horse--The Camel--Freedom
of the Arabs from a Foreign and a Domestic Yoke--The Bedouin
Robber--His Hospitality--Mode of Encamping--Death Feuds--
Blood-money--Amusements--Throwing the Jereed--Dances--
Poetry--Story-telling--Language--The Bedouin and the North
American Indian 104
CHAPTER XII.
GIANT TREES AND CHARACTERISTIC FORMS OF TROPICAL VEGETATION.
General Remarks--The Baobab--Used as a Vegetable Cistern--
Arborescent Euphorbias--The Dracæna of Orotava--The Sycamore--
The Banyan--The sacred Bo-Tree of Anarajapoora--The Teak Tree--
The Saul--The Sandal Tree--The Satinwood Tree--The Ceiba--
The Mahogany Tree--The Mora--Bamboos--The Guadua--Beauty
and multifarious Uses of these colossal Grasses--Firing the
Jungle--The Aloes--The Agave americana--The Bromelias--The
Cactuses--The Mimosas--Bush-ropes--Climbing Trees--Emblems of
Ingratitude--Marriage of the Fig Tree and the Palm--Epiphytes--
Water Plants--Singularly-shaped Trees--The Barrigudo--The
Bottle Tree--Trees with Buttresses and fantastical Roots--
The Mangroves--Their Importance in Furthering the Growth of
Land-Animal Life among the Mangroves--‘Jumping Johnny’--
Insalubrity of the Mangrove Swamps--The Lum--Trees with
formidable Spines 120
CHAPTER XIII.
PALMS AND FERNS.
The Cocoa-nut Tree--Its hundred Uses--Cocoa-nut Oil--Coir--
Porcupine Wood--Enemies of the Cocoa Palm--The Sago Palm--
The Saguer--The Gumatty--The Areca Palm--The Palmyra Palm--
The Talipot--The Cocoa de Mer--Ratans--A Ratan bridge in
Ceylon--The Date Tree--The Oil Palms of Africa--The Oil Trade
at Bonny--Its vast and growing Importance--American Palms--
The Carnauba--The Ceroxylon andicola--The Cabbage Palm--The
Gulielma speciosa--The Piaçava--Difficulties of the Botanist
in ascertaining the various species of Palms--Their wide
geographical range--Different Physiognomy of the Palms according
to their height--The Position and Form of their Fronds--Their
Fruits--Their Trunk--The Yriartea ventricosa--Arborescent
Ferns 146
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CHIEF ESCULENT PLANTS OF THE TORRID ZONE.
Rice--Various Aspect of the Rice-fields at different Seasons--The
Rice-Bird--Maize--First imported from America by Columbus--Its
enormous Productiveness--Its wide zone of Cultivation--Millet,
Dhourra--The Bread-Fruit Tree--The Bananas--Their ancient
Cultivation--Avaca or Manilla Hemp--Humboldt’s Remarks on the
Banana--The Traveller’s Tree of Madagascar--The Cassava Root--
Tapioca--Yams--Batatas--Arrowroot--Taro--Tropical Fruit
Trees--The Chirimoya--The Litchi--The Mangosteen--The Mango
163
CHAPTER XV.
SUGAR, COFFEE, CACAO, COCA.
Progress of the Sugar Cane throughout the Tropical Zone--The
Tahitian Sugar Cane--The enemies of the Sugar Cane--The
Sugar-Harvest--The Coffee Tree--Its cultivation and enemies--
The Cacao Tree and the Vanilla--The Coca Plant--Wonderful
strengthening Effects of Coca, and fatal consequences of its
Abuse 174
CHAPTER XVI.
TROPICAL PLANTS USED FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES.
Cotton--Its Cultivation in the United States--Caoutchouc and
Gutta Percha--Manner in which these resins are collected--
Indigo--The British Logwood cutters in Honduras--Brazil Wood--
Arnatto 188
CHAPTER XVII.
TROPICAL SPICES.
The Cinnamon Gardens of Ceylon--Immense profits of the Dutch--
Decline of the Trade--Neglected state of the Gardens--Nutmegs
and Cloves--Cruel monopoly of the Dutch--A Spice Fire in
Amsterdam--The Clove Tree--Beauty of an Avenue of Clove Trees--
The Nutmeg Tree--Mace--The Pepper Vine--The Pimento Tree 197
CHAPTER XVIII.
TROPICAL INSECTS, SPIDERS, AND SCORPIONS.
Gradual increase of Insect life on advancing towards the Line--
The Hercules Beetle--The Goliath--The Inca Beetle--The
Walking-leaf and Walking-stick Insects--The Soothsayer--
Luminous Beetles--Tropical Spiders--Their gaudy colours--
Trap-door Spiders--Enemies of the Spiders--Mortal Combat
between a Spider and a Cockroach--Tropical Scorpions--Dreadful
Effects of their sting 205
CHAPTER XIX.
INSECT PLAGUES AND INSECT SERVICES.
The Universal Dominion of Insects--Mosquitoes--Stinging
Flies--_Œstrus Hominis_--The Chegoe or Jigger--The _Filaria
Medinensis_--The Bête-Rouge--Blood-sucking Ticks--Garapatas--
The Land-leeches in Ceylon--The Tsetsé Fly--The Tsalt-Salya--
The Locust--Its dreadful Devastations--Cockroaches--The
Drummer--The Cucarachas and Chilicabras--Tropical Ants--The
Saüba--The Driver Ants--Termites--Their wonderful Buildings--
The Silkworm--The Cochineal--The Gumlack Insect--Insects used
as Food and Ornaments 221
CHAPTER XX.
THE MALAYAN RACE.
Physical Conformation of the Malays--Betel Chewing--Their
Moral Character--Limited Intelligence of the Malays--Their
Maritime Tastes--Piracy--Gambling--Cock-fighting--Running
A-Muck!--Fishing--Malayan Superstitions--The Battas--Their
Cannibalism--Eating a Man alive--The Begus--Aërial Huts--
Funeral Ceremonies--The Dyaks--Head-Hunting--The Sumpitan--
Large Houses 253
CHAPTER XXI.
THE TROPICAL OCEAN.
Wanderings of an Iceberg--The Tropical Ocean--The Cachalot--
The Frigate Bird--The Tropic Bird--The Esculent Swallow--The
Flying-fish--The Bonito--The White Shark--Tropical Fishes--
Crustaceans--Land Crabs--Mollusks--Jelly Fish--Coral Islands
266
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PAPUANS AND POLYNESIANS.
The Papuans--Their Physical and Moral Characteristics--Their
Artistic Tastes--Their Dwellings--Their Primitive Political
Institutions--Their Weapons and Mode of Fighting--The
Polynesians--Their Manners and Customs when first visited by
Europeans--Tattooing--The Tapa Cloth--Their Canoes--Swimming
Feats--Aristocratic Forms of Government--The Tabu--Religion--
Superstitious Observances--Human Sacrifices--Infanticide--Low
Condition of the Coral Islanders 276
CHAPTER XXIII.
SNAKES.
First Impressions of a Tropical Forest--Exaggerated Fears--
Comparative rareness of Venomous Snakes--Their Habits and
External Characters--Anecdote of the Prince of Neu Wied--The
Bite of the Trigonocephalus--Antidotes--Fangs of the Venomous
Snakes described--The Bush-Master--The Echidna Ocellata--
The Rattlesnakes--Extirpated by Hogs--The Cobra de Capello--
Indian Snake-Charmers--Maritime Excursions of the Cobra--The
Egyptian Haje--The Cerastes--Boas and Pythons--The Jiboya--
The Anaconda--Enemies of the Serpents--The Secretary--The
Adjutant--The Mungoos--A Serpent swallowed by another--The
Locomotion of Serpents--Anatomy of their Jaws--Serpents feeding
in the Zoological Gardens--Domestication of the Rat-Snake--
Water-Snakes 292
CHAPTER XXIV.
LIZARDS, FROGS, AND TOADS.
Their Multitude within the Tropics--The Geckoes--Anatomy of
their Feet--The Anolis--Their Love of Fight--The Chameleon--
Its wonderful Changes of Colour--Its Habits--Peculiarities of
its Organisation--The Iguana--The Teju--The Water-Lizards--
Lizard Worship on the Coast of Africa--The Flying Dragon--The
Basilisk--Frogs and Toads--The Pipa--The Bahia Toad--The
Giant Toad--The Musical Toad--Brazilian and Surinam Tree-Frogs
310
CHAPTER XXV.
TORTOISES AND TURTLES.
The Galapagos--The Elephantine Tortoise--The Marsh-Tortoises--
Mantega--River-Tortoises--Marine-Turtles--On the Brazilian
Coast--Their Numerous Enemies--The Island of Ascension--
Turtle-Catching at the Bahama and Keeling Islands--Turtle caught
by means of the Sucking-Fish--The Green Turtle--The Hawksbill
Turtle--Turtle Scaling in the Feejee Islands--Barbarous mode
of selling Turtle-flesh in Ceylon--The Coriaceous Turtle--Its
awful Shrieks 321
CHAPTER XXVI.
CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS.
Their Habits--The Gavial and the Tiger--Mode of Seizing their
Prey--Their Voice--Their Preference of Human Flesh--Alligator
against Alligator--Wonderful Tenacity of Life--Tenderness of
the Female Cayman for her Young--The Crocodile of the Nile--Its
Longevity--Enemies of the Crocodile--Torpidity of Crocodiles
during the Dry Season--Their Awakening from their Lethargy with
the First Rains--‘Tickling a Crocodile’ 332
CHAPTER XXVII.
TROPICAL BIRD LIFE.
The Toucan--Its Quarrelsome Character--The Humming-birds--Their
wide Range over the New World--Their Habits--Their Enemies--
Their Courage--The Cotingas--The Campanero--The Tangaras--The
Manakins--The Cock of the Rock--The Troupials--The Baltimore--
The Pendulous Nests of the Cassiques--The Mocking-bird--
Strange Voices of Tropical Birds--The Goat-Sucker’s Wail--The
Organista--The Cilgero--The Flamingos--The Scarlet Ibis--The
Jabiru--The Roseate Spoon-bill--The Jacana--The Calao--The
Sun-birds--The Melithreptes--The Argus--The Peacock--Tropical
Waders of the Old World--The African Ibis--The Numidian Crane--
Australian Birds--The Lyre Bird--The Birds of Paradise--
African Weaving Birds--The Social Grosbeak--The Baya--The
Tailor-bird--The Honey Eaters--The Bower-bird--The Talegalla--
The Gualama 342
CHAPTER XXVIII.
TROPICAL BIRDS OF PREY.
The Condor--His Marvellous Flight--His Cowardice--Various
Modes of Capturing Condors--Ancient Fables circulated about
them--Comparison of the Condor with the Albatross--The
Carrion Vultures--The King of the Vultures--Domestication
of the Urubu--Its Extraordinary Memory--The Harpy Eagle--
Examples of his Ferocity--The Oricou--The Bacha--His Cruelty
to the Klipdachs--The Fishing Eagle of Africa--The Musical
Sparrow-hawk--The Secretary Eagle 376
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE OSTRICH AND THE CASSOWARY.
Size of the Ostrich--Its astonishing Swiftness--Ostrich Hunting--
Stratagem of the Ostrich for protecting its Young--Points of
Resemblance with the Camel--Its Voracity--Ostrich Feathers--
Domestication of the Ostrich in Algeria--Poetical Legend of the
Arabs--The American Rheas--The Cassowary--The Australian Emu
384
CHAPTER XXX.
PARROTS.
Their Peculiar Manner of Climbing--Points of Resemblance with
Monkeys--Their Social habits--Their Connubial Felicity--
Inseparables--Talent for Mimicry--Wonderful Powers of Speech
and Memory--Their Wide Range within the Temperate Zones--Colour
of Parrots Artificially Changed by the South American Indians--
The Cockatoos--Cockatoo killing in Australia--The Macaw--The
Parakeets 392
CHAPTER XXXI.
TROPICAL RUMINANTS AND EQUIDÆ.
The Camel--Its Paramount Importance in the great Tropical
Sandwastes--Its Organisation admirably adapted to its mode
of Life--Beauty of the Giraffe--Its Wide Range of Vision--
Pleasures of Giraffe Hunting--The Antelopes--The Springbok--
The Reedbok--The Duiker--The Atro--The Gemsbok--The
Klippspringer--The Koodoo--The Gnu--The Indian Antelope--
The Nylghau--The Caffrarian Buffalo--The Indian Buffalo and
the Tiger--Dr. Livingstone’s Escape from a solitary Buffalo--
Swimming Feats of the Bhain--The Zebra--The Quagga--The Douw
399
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
Behemoth--Its Diminishing Number and Contracting Empire--Its
Ugliness--A Rogue Hippopotamus or Solitaire--Dangerous
Meeting--Intelligence and Memory of the Hippopotamus--Methods
employed for Killing the Hippopotamus--Hippopotamus-Hunting on
the Teoge--The Hippopotamus in Regent’s Park--A Young Hippo
born in Paris 417
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE RHINOCEROS.
Brutality of the Rhinoceros--The Borelo--The Keitloa--The
Monoho--The Kobaaba--Difference of Food and Disposition between
the Black and the White Rhinoceros--Incarnation of Ugliness--
Acute Smell and Hearing--Defective Vision--The Buphaga
Africana--Paroxysms of Rage--Parental Affection--Nocturnal
Habits--Rhinoceros Hunting--Adventures of the Chase--Narrow
Escapes of Messrs. Oswell and Andersson--The Indian Rhinoceros--
The Sumatran Rhinoceros--The Javanese Rhinoceros--Its
involuntary Suicide 423
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE ELEPHANT.
Love of Solitude, and Pusillanimity--Miraculous Escape of an
English Officer--Sagacity of the Elephant in ascending Hills--
Organisation of the Stomach--The Elephant’s Trunk--Use of the
Tusks still Probmatical--The Rogue-Elephant--Sagacity of the
Elephant--The African Elephant--Tamed in Ancient Times--South
African Elephant-Hunting--Hair-Breadth Escapes--Abyssinian
Elephant-Hunters--Cutting up of an Elephant--The Asiatic
Elephant--Vast Numbers destroyed in Ceylon--Major Rogers--
Elephant-Catchers--Their amazing Dexterity--The Corral--Decoy
Elephants--Their astonishing Sagacity--Great Mortality among
the Captured Elephants--Their Services 431
CHAPTER XXXV.
TROPICAL FELIDÆ.
The Lion--Conflicts with Travellers on Mount Atlas--The Lion and
the Hottentat--A Lion taken in--Narrow Escapes of Andersson
and Dr. Livingstone--Lion-Hunting by the Arabs of the Atlas--
By the Bushmen--The Asiatic Lion--The Lion and the Dog--The
Tiger--The Javanese Jungle--The Peacock--Wide Northern Range
of the Tiger--Tiger-Hunting in India--Miraculous Escape of an
English Sportsman--Animals announcing the Tiger’s Presence--
Turtle-Hunting of the Tiger on the Coasts of Java--The Panther
and the Leopard--The Leopard attracted by the Smell of
Small-pox--The Cheetah--The Jaguar--The Puma--The smaller
American Felidæ--The Hyæna--Fables told of these abject
Animals--The Striped Hyæna--The Spotted Hyæna--The Brown Hyæna
446
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE AUSTRALIAN RACE.
Physical Conformation of the Australians--Their Low State of
Civilisation--Their Superstitions--Their Wars--Singing and
Dancing--The Corrobory--Division of the Nation into Great
Families--Rules Regulating the property of Land and the
Distribution of Food--Skill in Hunting the Kangaroo and the
Opossum--Feasting on a Whale--Moral Qualities and Intelligence
of the Australians 466
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE SLOTH.
Miserable Aspect of the Sloth--His Beautiful Organisation for his
Peculiar Mode of Life--His Rapid Movements in the Trees--His
Means of Defence--His Tenacity of Life--Fable about the Sloth
refuted--The Ai--The Unau--The Mylodon Robustus 477
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ANT-EATERS.
The Great Ant-Bear--His Way of Licking up Termites--His
Formidable Weapons--A Perfect Forest Vagabond--His Peculiar
Manner of Walking--The Smaller Ant-Eaters--The Manides--
The African Aard Vark--The Armadillos--The Glyptodon--The
Porcupine Ant-Eater of Australia--The Myrmecobius Fasciatus 482
CHAPTER XXXIX.
TROPICAL BATS.
Wonderful Organisation of the Bats--The Fox-Bat--The Vampire--
Its Blood-Sucking Propensities--The Horse-Shoe Bats--The Flying
Squirrel--The Galeopithecus--The Anomalurus 490
CHAPTER XL.
APES AND MONKEYS.
The Forest Life of the Simiæ--Excellent Climbers, Bad
Pedestrians--Similitude and Difference between the Human Race
and the Ape--The Chimpanzee--Chim in Paris--The Gorilla--
The Uran--The Gibbons--The Proboscis Monkey--The Huniman--
The Wanderoo--The Cercopitheca--A Plundering Party--Parental
Affection of a Cercopitheca--The Maimon--‘Happy Jerry’--
The Pig-Faced Baboon--The Derryat--Wide Difference between
the Monkeys of both Hemispheres--Distinctive Characters
of the American Monkeys--The Stentor Monkey--The Spider
Monkeys--The Laïmirit--Friendships Between Various Kinds of
Monkeys--Nocturnal Monkeys--Squirrel Monkeys--Their Lively
Intelligence--The Loris and Makis 496
CHAPTER XLI.
THE AFRICAN NEGROES.
Causes of the Inferiority of Negro Civilisation--Natural
Capabilities of the Negro--Geographical Formation of Africa--
Its Political Condition--Physical Conformation of the Negro--
Fetishism--The Rain-Doctor--The Medicine-Man--Religious
Observances--Gift-Offerings--Human Sacrifices--Ornaments--The
Peléle--The Bonnians--Their Barbarous Condition--The Town of
Okolloma--Negroes of the Lake Regions--The Iwanza--Slavery--A
Miserable Group 518
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
CHROMOXYLOGRAPHS.
Primitive Forest _Frontispiece_
Savannah on Fire 11
Cereus Giganteus 135
Lum Tree 144
Termite Hills 242
Flamingoes 360
Condor-catching 378
Tiger 454
WOODCUTS.
African Bushmen 85
Bedouin warriors 104
Birds:--
Adjutant 303
Argus Pheasant 360
Bird of Paradise 364
Campanero 350
Cardinal 80
Cassowary 391
Condor 377
Crested Cassique and Baltimore Oriole 353
Emu 391
Fiery Topaz and Hermit 348
Frigate Bird 268
Harpy Eagle 380
Honey Eater, lanceolate 375
Hornbill, Rhinoceros 358
Humming-Birds 342, 347, 370
Ibis, Egyptian 361
Java Sparrow 164
Macaw, Blue 42
Mocking-bird 80
Parrots 392
Peacock, Javanese 360
Secretary Bird 303
Sparrow, Baya 367
Swallow dicæum 371
Swallow, Esculent 269
Tailor Birds 368
Talegalla, Lathami 372
Toucan 346
Turkey Buzzard 378
Vulture, Sociable 381
Weaver-bird, Sociable 365
Woodpecker, Ivory-billed 60
Botocundo Indians attacking a jaguar 62
Caravan 399
Ceylonese cocoa-nut oil mill 146
Coral Island 266
Fishes:--
Electrical Eel (Gymnotus electricus) 17
Sun Fish 271
Sword tail 271
Guano Island 30
General Fraser’s coffee estate at Rangbodde, Ceylon 178
Head-dresses of East African negroes (from Burton) 518
High Table-lands of Peru 20
Insects:--
Ants and Termites 221
Beetle, Diamond 252
Buprestis gigas 252
Cochineal 250
Cocujas 210
Copris hamadryas 206
Cyclommatus tarandus (Borneo) 220
Foraging ants 238
Fungus ant 239
Leucopholis bimaculata 207
Locust 231
Mantichora mygaloides 205
Mantis 209
Mormolyce, Javanese 210
Odontolabris cuvera 206
Phyllium 208
Scorpion 218
Termite 244
Soldier 245
Tsetse 229
Land crabs 273
Malay pirates 253
Mammalia:--
Aard-vark 486
Aguti 14
Alpaca 25
Camel, Bactrian 401
Capybara 333
Chinchilla 27
Coatimondi, Rufous 499
Coffee Rat 185
Dromedary 401
Elephants 431
Flying Foxes 490
Giraffes and Zebras 404
Gnu 411
Hippopotamus 417
Howling Monkey 510
Jackal 456
Koodoo 88, 411
Lemurs, handed 510
Leopard and Cheetah 446
Llama 23
Malay Bear 147
Mandrill 510
Mongoos 302
Musk Deer 84
Nylghau 412
Opossum 34
Palm Squirrel 147
Pangolin, the Indian 482
Peccary 14
Pichiciago 488
Pig-faced Baboon 510
Porcupine echidna 488
Quagga 414
Rhinoceros 423
Rhinolophus 493
Sloth 477
Springbok 409
Tarsius Bancanus 510
Wanderoos 496
Whale, Sperm 267
Zebra 415
Plants:--
Areca Palm 162
Banana and the Plantain 163
Banyan 125
Baobab Trees at Manaar 120
Bo-tree, the Sacred 127
Bottle-tree 138
Caoutchouc Trees--Indians incising them 188
Cocoa-nut tree 147
Cinnamon 197
Clove 197
Date-tree 155
Dragon-tree at Orotava 123
Fig-tree at Polanarrua 136
Indigo Plant 193
Mangosteen 173
Mangrove-tree 140
Mimosa 135
Nepenthes 12
Nutmeg 202
Oil Palm 157
Pepper Plant 202
Snake-tree 139
Sugar Cane 174
Sycamore 124
Yriartea ventricosa 161
Polynesian fishermen 276
Reptiles:--
Alligator 333
Amblyrhyne 321
Basilisk 318
Chameleon 313
Crocodiles and Alligators 332
Flying Dragon 318
Gecko 311
Iguana 314
Monitor 315
Rattlesnake 298
Toad, Bahia 319
Surinam 318
Toad and Anolis 310
Tortoise, Marsh 324
Turtle, Green 329
Loggerhead 331
Uropeltis Philippinus 292
Tower in Agades 93
Tropical Tornado 1
[Illustration: TROPICAL TORNADO.]
CHAPTER I.
THE DIVERSITY OF CLIMATES WITHIN THE TROPICS.
Causes by which it is produced--Abundance and Distribution of Rain
within the Tropics--The Trade Winds--The Belt of Calms--Tropical
Rains--The Monsoons--Tornados--Cyclones--Typhoons--Storms in the
Pacific--Devastations caused by Hurricanes on Pitcairn Island and
Rarotonga.
On surveying the various regions of the torrid zone, we find that
Nature has made many wonderful provisions to mitigate the heat of the
vertical sun, to endow the equatorial lands with an amazing variety of
climate, and to extend the benefit of the warmth generated within the
tropics to countries situated far beyond their bounds.
Thus, while the greater part of the northern temperate zone is occupied
by land, the floods of ocean roll over by far the greater portion of
the equatorial regions--for both torrid America and Africa appear as
mere islands in a vast expanse of sea.
The conversion of water, by evaporation, into a gaseous form is
accompanied by the abstraction of heat from surrounding bodies, or, in
popular language, by the production of cold; and thus over the surface
of the ocean the rays of the sun have a tendency to check their own
warming influence, and to impart a coolness to the atmosphere, the
refreshing effects of which are felt wherever the sea wind blows. There
can, therefore, be no doubt that, if the greater part of the tropical
ocean were converted into land, the heat of the torrid zone would be
far more intolerable than it is.
The restless breezes and currents, the perpetual migrations of the
air and waters, perform a no less important part in cooling the
equatorial and warming the temperate regions of the globe. Rarefied by
the intense heat of a vertical sun, the equatorial air-stream ascends
in perpendicular columns high above the surface of the earth, and
thence flows off towards the poles; while, to fill up the void, cold
air-currents come rushing from the arctic and antarctic regions.
If caloric were the sole agent on which the direction of these
antagonistic air-currents depended, they would naturally flow to the
north and south; but the rotation of the earth gradually diverts them
to the east and west, and thus the cold air-currents, or polar streams,
ultimately change into the trade winds which regularly blow over the
greater part of the tropical ocean from east to west, and materially
contribute, by their refreshing coolness, to the health and comfort of
the navigator whom they waft over the equatorial seas.
While the polar air-currents, though gradually warming as they advance,
thus mitigate the heat of the torrid zone, the opposite equatorial
breezes, which reach our coasts as moist south-westerly or westerly
winds, soften the cold of our winters, and clothe our fields with
a lively verdure during the greater part of the year. How truly
magnificent is this grand system of the winds, which, by the constant
interchange of heat and cold which it produces, thus imparts to one
zone the beneficial influence of another, and renders both far more fit
to be inhabited by civilized man. The Greek navigators rendered homage
to Æolus, but they were far from having any idea of the admirable laws
which govern the unstable, ever-fluctuating domains of the ‘God of the
Winds.’
The same unequal influence of solar warmth under the line and at the
poles, which sets the air in constant motion, also compels the waters
of the ocean to perpetual migrations, and produces those wonderful
marine currents which like the analogous atmospheric streams, furrow
in opposite directions the bosom of the sea. Thanks to this salutary
interchange, the Gulf Stream, issuing from the Mexican Sea, and thence
flowing to the north and east, conveys a portion of its original warmth
as far as the west coast of Spitzbergen and Nowaja Semlja; while in the
southern hemisphere we see the Peruvian stream impart the refrigerating
influence of the antarctic waters to the eastern coast of South America.
The geographical distribution of the land within the tropics likewise
tends to counterbalance or to mitigate the excessive heat of a vertical
sun; for a glance over the map shows us at once that it is mostly
either insular or extending its narrow length between two oceans,
thus multiplying the surface over which the sea is able to exert its
influence. The Indian Archipelago, the peninsula of Malacca, the
Antilles, and Central America, are all undoubtedly indebted to the
waters which bathe their coasts for a more temperate climate than that
which they would have had if grouped together in one vast continent.
The temperature of a country proportionally decreases with its
elevation; and thus the high situation of many tropical lands moderates
the effects of equatorial heat, and endows them with a climate similar
to that of the temperate, or even of the cold regions of the globe.
The Andes and the Himalaya, the most stupendous mountain-chains of
the world, raise their snow-clad summits either within the tropics or
immediately beyond their verge, and must be considered as colossal
refrigerators, ordained by Providence to counteract the effects of
the vertical sunbeams over a vast extent of land. In Western Tropical
America, in Asia, and in Africa, we find immense countries rising
like terraces thousands of feet above the level of the ocean, and
reminding the European traveller of his distant northern home by their
productions and their cooler temperature. Thus, by means of a few
simple physical and geological causes acting and reacting upon each
other on a magnificent scale, Nature has bestowed a wonderful variety
of climate upon the tropical regions, producing a no less wonderful
diversity of plants and animals.
But warmth alone is not sufficient to call forth a luxuriant
vegetation: it can only exert its powers when combined with a
sufficient degree of moisture; and it chiefly depends upon the presence
or absence of water whether a tropical country appears as a naked
waste or decked with the most gorgeous vegetation.
As the evaporation of the tropical ocean is far more considerable than
that of the sea in higher latitudes, the atmospherical precipitations
(dew, rain) caused by the cooling of the air are far more abundant in
the torrid zone than in the temperate regions of the earth. While the
annual fall of rain within the tropics amounts, on an average, to about
eight feet, it attains in Europe a height of only thirty inches; and
under the clear equatorial sky the dew is often so abundant as to equal
in its effects a moderate shower of rain.
But this enormous mass of moisture is most unequally distributed;
for while the greater part of the Sahara and the Peruvian sand-coast
are constantly arid, and South Africa and North Australia suffer
from long-continued droughts, we find other tropical countries
refreshed by almost daily showers. The direction of the prevailing
winds, the condensing powers of high mountains and of forests, the
relative position of a country, the nature of its soil, are the chief
causes which produce an abundance or want of rain, and consequently
determine the fertility or barrenness of the land. Of these causes, the
first-mentioned is by far the most general in its effects--so that a
knowledge of the tropical winds is above all things necessary to give
us an insight into the distribution of moisture over the equatorial
world.
I have already mentioned the trade winds, or cool reactionary currents
called forth by the ascending equatorial air-stream; but it will now be
necessary to submit them to a closer examination, and follow them in
their circular course throughout the tropical regions. In the Northern
Atlantic, their influence, varying with the season, extends to 22°
N. lat. in winter, and 39° N. lat. in summer; while in the southern
hemisphere they reach no farther than 18° S. lat. in winter, and 28° or
30° S. lat. in summer.
In the Pacific, their limits vary between 21° and 31° N. lat., and
between 23° and 33° S. lat.; so that, on the whole, they have here
a more southern position, owing, no doubt, to the vast extent of
open sea; while in the Atlantic the influence of the neighbouring
continents forces them to the north, and even causes the trade winds
of the southern hemisphere to ascend beyond the equatorial line.
Their character is that of a continual soft breeze--strongest in the
morning, remitting at noon, and again increasing in the evening. In
the neighbourhood of the coasts, except over very small islands, they
become weaker, and generally cease to be felt at a distance of about
fifteen or twenty miles from the sea, though, of course, at greater
heights they continue their course uninterruptedly over the land.
For obvious reasons the trade winds have been much more accurately
investigated upon the ocean than on land, particularly in the Northern
Atlantic, which is better known in its physical features than any other
sea, as being a highway for numberless vessels to which the study of
the winds is a matter of the greatest importance; yet, in spite of so
many disturbing influences, their course, even over the continents, has
been ascertained by travellers. North-easterly winds almost constantly
sweep over the Sahara; and in South Africa, Dr. Livingstone informs
us that north-easterly and south-easterly winds blow over the whole
continent between 12° and 6° S. lat., even as far as Angola, where they
unite with the sea winds.
In Brazil, the presence of the trade winds has been determined with
still greater accuracy. Thus easterly breezes almost perpetually sweep
over the boundless plains up to the slopes of the Andes, and even in
Paraguay (25° S. lat.) a mild east wind constantly arises in summer
after the setting of the sun.
As the trade winds originate in the coldest, and thence pass onwards to
the warmer regions, they are, of course, constantly absorbing moisture
as they advance over the seas. Saturated with vapours, they reach the
islands and continents, where, meeting with various refrigerating
influences (mountain-chains, forests, terrestrial radiation), their
condensing vapours give rise to an abundance both of rain and dew. It
is owing to their influence that in general, within the tropics, the
eastern coasts, or the eastern slopes of the mountains, are better
watered than the interior of the continents or lands with a western
exposure.
An example on the grandest scale is afforded to us by South America,
where the Andes of Peru and Bolivia so effectually drain the prevailing
east winds of their moisture, that while numberless rivulets, the
feeders of the gigantic Marañon, clothe their eastern gorges with a
perpetual verdure, their western slopes are almost constantly arid.
Such is the influence of this colossal barrier in interrupting the
course of the air-current, that the trade wind only begins to be felt
again on the Pacific at a distance of one hundred or even one hundred
and fifty miles from the shore.
In South Africa, also, we find the eastern mountainous coast-lands
covered with giant timber--in striking contrast with the parched
savannas or dreary wastes of the interior; and in the South Sea the
difference of verdure between the east and west coasts of the Sandwich
Islands, the Feejees, and many other groups, never fails to arrest the
attention of the mariner.
The trade winds of the northern and southern hemispheres do not,
however, blow in one continuous stream over the whole breadth of the
tropical ocean, but are separated from each other by a zone or belt of
calms, occasioned by their mutually paralysing each other’s influence
on meeting from the north and the south-east, and by the attraction of
the sun, which, when in the zenith, changes the easterly air-currents
into an ascending stream. From this dependence on the position of the
sun, it may easily be inferred that the zone of calms fluctuates, like
the trade winds themselves, to the north or south, according to the
seasons; and that it is far from invariably occupying the same degrees
of latitude, or the same width, at all times of the year. In the
Atlantic, from the causes previously mentioned, it constantly remains
to the north of the line, where its breadth averages five or six
degrees; in the Pacific it more generally extends during the antarctic
summer, on both sides of the equator.
Besides the intensity of its heat, the zone of calms is characterised
by heavy showers, which regularly fall in the afternoon, and are caused
by the cooling of the saturated air-columns in the higher regions of
the air.
Daily, towards noon, dense clouds form in the sky, and dissolve in
torrents of rain under fearful electrical explosions, now sooner, now
later, of shorter or longer continuance, with increasing or abating
violence, as the sun is more or less in his zenith. Towards evening
the vapours disperse, and the sun sets in a clear, unclouded horizon.
Thus towns or countries situated within the calms, such as Para,
Quito, Bogota, Guayaquil, the Kingsmill Islands, may be said to have a
perennial rainy season, as showers fall at every season of the year. To
the north and south of the belt of calms, we find in both hemispheres
a broad zone, characterised by two distinct rainy seasons, separated
by two equally distinct periods of dry weather. The rainy seasons take
place while the sun is crossing the zenith, and more or less paralysing
the power of the trade winds. Cayenne, Honduras, Jamaica, Pernambuco,
Bahia, afford us examples of these well-defined alterations. In
Jamaica, for instance (18° N. lat.), the first rainy season begins in
April, the second in October; the first dry season in June, and the
second in December.
Towards the verge of the tropics follow the zones which are
characterised by a single rainy season, but of a longer continuance,
generally lasting six months, throughout the summer, or from one
equinoctium to another. In these parts, the rainy season is also the
warmest period of the year, since here the different height of the sun
in winter and summer is already so considerable, that at the time of
culmination the clouds and rain are not able to reduce the temperature
below that of the clear and dry winter months; while in the zones which
are situated nearer to the equator, the rainy season, in spite of the
sun’s culmination, is always the coolest.
To sum up the foregoing remarks in a few words: the two rainy seasons,
which characterise the middle zone between each tropic and the line,
have a tendency to pass into one annual rainy season on advancing
towards the tropics, and to merge into a permanent rainy season on
approaching the equator. As the sun goes to the north or south, he
opens the sluices of heaven, and closes them as he passes to another
hemisphere.
Such may be said to be the normal state which would everywhere obtain
within the equatorial regions if one unbounded ocean covered their
surface, and none of the disturbing influences previously mentioned
interfered; but as we find the trade winds so frequently deflected from
their course, we must also naturally expect the general or theoretical
order of the dry and rainy seasons to be liable to great modifications.
Thus, in the Indian Ocean and in the Chinese Sea, terrestrial
influences prevail during the summer which completely divert the trade
wind, there called the _North-east Monsoon_, from its regular path.
From the wide lands of south-eastern Asia, glowing, during the summer
months, with a torrid heat, the rarefied air, as it rises into the
higher regions, completely overpowers the usual course of the trade
wind, and changes it into the south-western monsoon, which blows from
May to September.
Hence, during the summer months, the saturated sea wind, striking
against the western ghauts, brings rain to the coast of Malabar, while
the opposite coast of Coromandel remains dry; but the inverse takes
place when, from the sun’s declining to the south, the north-east trade
wind resumes its sway.
Similar deflections from the ordinary course of the trade winds occur
also on the coast of Guinea (5° N. Lat.), in the Mexican Gulf, and in
that part of the Pacific which borders on Central America, through the
influence of the heated plains of Africa, Utah, Texas, and New Mexico,
and have a similar influence on the distribution of moisture. Thus the
sea monsoon, which prevails during the summer months on the coast of
northern Guinea, carries a rainy season over the land as far as the
eighteenth or nineteenth degree of northern latitude, and fertilises a
vast extent of country which, from its position on the western side of
an immense continent, would otherwise have been as naked and barren as
the Sahara.
As the tropical rains, though generally confined only to part of the
year, and then only to a few hours of the day, fall in so much greater
abundance than under our constantly drooping skies, it may naturally
be supposed that the single showers must be proportionally violent.
Descending in streams so close and so dense that the level ground,
unable to absorb it sufficiently fast, is covered with a sheet of
water, the rain rushes down the hill-sides in a volume that wears
channels in the surface. For hours together the noise of the torrent,
as it beats upon the trees and bursts upon the roofs, occasions an
uproar that drowns the ordinary voice and renders sleep impossible. In
Bombay nearly nine inches of rain have been known to fall in one day,
and twelve inches in Calcutta, or nearly half the mean annual quantity
of rain on the east coast of England. During one single storm which
Castelnau witnessed at Pebas, on the Amazon, there fell not less than
thirty inches of rain--nearly as much as the annual supply of our west
coast. The hollow trunk of an enormous tree in an exposed situation
gave the French traveller the means of accurate measurement.
As in the equatorial regions the atmospherical precipitations are far
more considerable than in the temperate zones, so also their storms
rage with a violence unknown in our climes. In the Indian and Chinese
Seas these convulsions of nature generally take place at the change
of the monsoons; in the West Indies, at the beginning and at the end
of the rainy seasons. The tornado which devastated the Island of
Guadeloupe on the 25th July, 1846, blew down buildings constructed
of solid stone, and tore the guns of a battery from their carriages;
another, which raged some years back in the Mauritius, demolished a
church and drove thirty-two vessels on the strand. On the Beagle’s
arrival in Port Louis, after her long and arduous surveying voyage, a
fleet of crippled vessels, the victims of a recent hurricane, might
have been seen making their way into the harbour--some dismasted,
others kept afloat with difficulty, firing guns of distress or giving
other signs of their helpless condition. ‘On the now tranquil surface
of the harbour lay a group of shattered vessels, presenting the
appearance of floating wrecks. In almost all, the bulwarks, boats, and
everything on deck, had been swept away; some, that were towed in, had
lost all their masts; others, more or less of their spars; one had her
poop and all its cabins swept away; many had four or five feet of water
in the hold, and the clank of the pumps was still kept up by the weary
crew.’[1]
Such are the terrible effects of the tornados and cyclones of the
Atlantic and the Indian Oceans; but the storms of the miscalled Pacific
are no less furious and destructive. A hurricane, which on the 15th of
April, 1845, burst over Pitcairn Island, washed all the fertile mould
from the rocks, and, uprooting 300 cocoa-nut trees, cast them into the
sea. Every fishing-boat on the island was destroyed, and thousands of
fruit-bearing bananas were swept away.
The celebrated missionary, John Williams,[2] describes a similar
catastrophe which befell the beautiful island of Rarotonga on the
23rd of December, 1831. The chapels, school-houses, mission-houses,
and nearly all the dwellings of the natives, no less than a thousand
in number, were levelled to the ground. Every particle of food on the
island was destroyed. Of the thousands of banana or plantain trees
which had covered and adorned the land, scarcely one was left standing,
either on the plains, in the valleys, or upon the mountains. Stately
trees, that had withstood the storms of ages, were laid prostrate
on the ground, and thrown upon each other in the wildest confusion;
while even of those that were still standing, many were left without
a branch, and all perfectly leafless. So great and so general was the
destruction, that no spot escaped; for the gale, veering gradually
round the island, did most effectually its devastating work.
Though the tropical storms are thus frequently a scourge, they are
often productive of no less signal benefits. Many a murderous epidemic
has suddenly ceased after one of these natural convulsions, and myriads
of insects, the destroyers of the planter’s hopes, are swept away by
the fierce tornado. Besides, if the equatorial hurricanes are far more
furious than our storms, a more luxurious vegetation effaces their
vestiges in a shorter time. Thus Nature teaches us that a preponderance
of good is frequently concealed behind the paroxysms of her apparently
unbridled rage.
[Illustration: SAVANNAH ON FIRE.]