Back to the Explorers
of the West
Digest #5
In this digest:
1) "I loved your sketch on Charles Waterton"
2) Charles Waterton - Questions & Answers - Part 1
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Hi List Members
I finally got the sketchbooks ready to mail so thought I would take a few moments to get this bit of information out.
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"I loved your sketch on Charles Waterton"
A few months ago I got the following email from Charles Waterton in Australia. Some of those I have already shared it with (with permission) have asked for more information on the earlier Charles Waterton. I have visited Waterton's estate and the museum in nearby Wakefield, England and pictures will be posted on the website in time. Until then enjoy....
Bruce
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I was drifting through the 'Net looking at entries "Waterton" - saw lots of material on Waterton Lakes National Park but my eye was caught by your entry. I loved your sketch - I don't suppose you could send me a full size copy (by "Snail Mail" as my children call it!
The Charles Waterton you quote is my great-great-great grandfather. As you say, he certainly was eccentric (Dame Edith Sitwell devoted a chapter to him in her book "Great Engilish Eccentrics") There are lots and lots of stories about his eccentricities - When he was an old man, he would greet his dinner guests by hiding under the table, barking like a dog and scampering out to bite their ankles! It would seem likely that he wasn't locked up because he was wealthy! His behaviour may have been a consequence of the mercuric chloride he used to preserve his animal specimens, but that's another story!
Regards
Charles Waterton
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Who was Charles Waterton?
Charles Waterton was a pioneering naturalist who as a young man explored the tropical forests of South America and observed the richness of their natural history. After four eventful journeys to British Guiana he returned to his home in Yorkshire, England at Walton Hall in the 1820's. He then set about managing his estate for forty years as a protected environment for wildlife. Today, this is thought to have been the world's first nature reserve.
How did Waterton get interested in natural history?
In 1801 Charles Waterton completed his schooling at Stonyhurst College where his interest in natural history had been encouraged by the Jesuit teachers. Three years later, when he was just 22 years old, he set-off for a six week sea voyage from Portsmouth, across the Atlantic Ocean to British Guiana (now called Guyana) on the northern coast of South America. He went there to help manage sugar plantations that belonged to his family. This duty ended in 1812, but by then he had decided to explore more of this tropical country. In April he set out on a journey that took over four months from Georgetown on the coast to the Brazilian border at Fort St. Joachim, which was situated on a river that led down ultimately to the Amazon.
Weren't travel conditions rather primitive?
Much of the expedition was completed by canoe, travelling upstream. On occasions, to avoid rapids or cut across the land, they had to leave the river, chop down a path through the forest and drag the canoes along. Further inland Waterton walked across the more mountainous areas and a wide expanse of flat savannah, much of which was covered with shallow water. Throughout the journey, Waterton went barefoot travelled with only a few Amerindian guides and ate the food that they killed for him; monkey, armadillo and toucan were included in this diet. At night he slept in a hammock hung between two trees. By the time they reached the Brazilian border Waterton was ill with fever and he returned home as soon possible.
When did he return to South America?
He went back to South America in 1816 and 1820 and, after a trip to North America, in 1824. On these journeys he concentrated on studying natural history and he gathered a large collection of birds and animals for the museum that he was creating at Walton Hall.
How did Waterton acquire the animals?
The birds and smaller animals that Charles Waterton wanted from Guyana for his collection were easily obtained from the Amerindians who hunted them for food or to provide brightly coloured feathers and other ornaments. The larger specimens were more of a problem and Waterton had some strange adventures obtaining them.
What were some of his strange adventures?
One incident occurred in 1820 when he captured a cayman, (South American alligator) over three metres in length. Waterton's description of how he jumped onto the cayman and rode it to the shore made certain that his later book received plenty of attention and increased his reputation for eccentric behaviour.
How did he catch the cayman?
The cayman was caught with a baited hook on the end of a rope in the Essequibo River. In order to avoid shooting the large reptile, Waterton went out onto the river while seven helpers held on to the rope on dry land. He edged his canoe close to the cayman and jumped onto its back.
Later he wrote ". . . fancying himself in hostile company, he began to plunge furiously, and lashed the sand with his long and powerful tail . . . it was the first and last time I was ever on a Cayman's back."
What was Waterton's connection to the deadly poison - curare?
Waterton wrote that one of the main aims of his journey in 1812 was "to collect a quantity of the strongest wourali poison". This was made by the Amerindians from ingredients taken from the forest and used by them to tip their arrows for both the blowpipe and the bow. Today it is usually called curare.
Why was he interested in collecting a sample?
It was a scientific interest. Although curare was known to bring about death by acting as a powerful muscle relaxant, experiments in Waterton's lifetime showed that an animal could be given curare and then kept alive with artificial respiration until the poison had warn off. Surgeons tried without success to use it as a cure for tetanus and rabies.
Investigations in the nineteenth century failed to get beyond discovering the propertes of curare, but since the 1940's it has been used widely in surgery to relax muscles.
To be continued.....