The Naturalist on the River Amazons

Climbing palms. Seven-inch monkeys. Twenty-foot anacondas. Bats with two-foot wingspans. Five-inch spiders. Bloodthirsty insects. Methods of river travel. Torrential downpours. Indigenous peoples. Henry Walter Bates' personal narrative of exploring and naturalizing in the Amazon Basin is both an enjoyable read and one of immense importance to natural history. The reader is easily lured into Bates' descriptive writing style. Energetic, expressive and vigilant, we are right there alongside him traveling through the murky dark waters of the upper Amazon or up close with a scrutinizing eye to observe the ants, monkeys and butterflies. He was a keen and enthusiastic witness to a world slowly disappearing.