Wanderings in South America, the North-West of the United States, and the Antilles, in the Years 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1824

The 1828 edition of an 1825 publication, describing four eventful zoological expeditions to the Americas by an English naturalist.

The naturalist Charles Waterton (1782–1865), whose family owned plantations in Demerara, travelled widely in South America and the Caribbean. This 1825 account of his expeditions, reissued here in its 1828 second edition, describes research on Amazonian poison, the capture of an enormous snake, and being attacked by vampire bats.Although in the original preface to this work the British naturalist Charles Waterton (1782–1865) modestly says his book has 'little merit', his account is a rich description of his experiences in South America and the Caribbean. Waterton managed his family's sugar plantations in Demerara from 1804 to 1812, studied natural history, and later (1812–25) divided his time between the Americas and Europe. This book, originally published in 1825 and reissued here in its 1828 second edition, describes his four expeditions, beginning with his search deep in the rainforest for samples of the rare poison, curare. Waterton also recounts a fierce battle with the Maroons, but his main focus is zoology, including the capture of 'an enormous Coulacara snake', encounters with sloths, monkeys and vampire bats, and close observations of a huge variety of birds. The final chapter describes Waterton's methods of 'preserving birds for cabinets of natural history'.