Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Von Hagen in
South America Called Them
(1945) recalls the hardships en-
countered by many fi eld naturalists in the tropics, and it merits retelling.
Isabela was the daughter of Don Pedro Manuel de Grandmaison, corregi-
dor (territorial governor) of Otavalo in Ecuador. She was very intelligent
and by the age of thirteen, in addition to her native Spanish, she spoke
fl uent French and Quechua. Jean Godin des Odonais was a member of the
Charles-Marie de La Condamine expedition, the fi rst scientifi c expedition
to South America. Godin married Isabela in 1742, and in 1749 he left on
a four-month voyage to Cayenne, French Guiana. The correspondence be-
tween Godin and La Condamine reveals the men's stoicism in anticipation
of the hellish journey. As Von Hagen notes: “[Godin] did not go into the suf-
fering of his 3000-mile trip down the stygian Amazon. He did not have to.
La Condamine was thoroughly acquainted with its horrors. To people used
to living in a country of relative civilization such an action would seem on
the point of lunacy . . . for the mere purpose of preparing accommodations
for a second” (1945, 69)
By 1749, Godin had already spent fi fteen years exploring Amazonia and
was showing signs of the strain. Fifteen more years passed while he waited
in Cayenne for permission from the Portuguese government to begin an
expedition into the Amazon Basin. He tried to expedite matters by drafting
a plan whereby the French government could take over Amazonia. When
no reply was received, he became convinced the letter had fallen into the
hands of the Portuguese; and when a ship from Portugal fi nally arrived to
take him on the voyage, he refused to go, dispatching in his place his friend
Tristan d'Oreasaval. Tristan carried letters for Isabela, waiting at her home
in Riobamba, detailing how she was to meet up with Godin. After an eight-
month voyage, d'Oreasaval delivered the letters to the wrong person. None-
theless, rumors had reached Isabela that Godin was still in Cayenne, and
after fi ve more years with no word, she disposed of her property and in
October 1769 prepared to leave:
Isabela de Godin was a remarkable woman. She had been cloistered all her
life in the cold, remote citadel of the Inca and Spaniard. Since Jean Godin
had left . . . all four children died from malaria, yellow fever, and dysentery.
Now in middle age she was called upon to take a journey that no one, even
in the fullness of youth [would attempt], a journey down the whole of the
Amazon. (Von Hagen 1945, 72)
Her father, Don Pedro, made such arrangements as he could, advising
her to keep the number of people in her party to a minimum. Even so, when
