“Impressions completely new to me” - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 186

gram about my new book is true: I write like I smoke: it's an addiction. But I'll try and give the im-
pression of a writer obsessed by the topic. And if really I do write the topic I'm not going to give
it a title that relates too much to the places where von Humboldt advanced his prophecies, or where
Agassiz committed his greatest errors. I'll write a kind of “Lost Paradise,” for example, or something
else whose amplitude frees me from a precise definition of the facets of a land that, to be well under-
stood, requires the unremitting efforts of a lifetime. 10
Most of his letters at this time are rife with complaint. There were unimaginable
delays, as there still are for anyone who has ever waited for official authorization for
travel in the Amazon. Da Cunha had been wildly overoptimistic about the pace of offi-
cialdom. Yet these setbacks, while deeply annoying, served him in his larger Amazoni-
an apprenticeship. He was ensconced in Rangel's chalet with a good library and a dear
friend, Firmo Dutra. He was feverishly distressed and exhilarated by Manaus: “In the
tumultuous mecca of the rubber barons, my life is unsettled and tiring. At the same time
that I must attend to the countless demands of my post, I suffer from an assault of im-
pressions completely new to me. The obligatory delay is not good, and I don't know
how long it will last. . . . We've already missed the best time to advance into the wilder-
ness.” 11 Da Cunha had not yet experienced the arrival of the Peruvians, who, he noted
inmid-January,appearedwithwreckedboatsthatwouldtaketwomonthstorepair. 12 He
grumbled: he'd imagined a rapid foray up the Amazon to his mysterious wilderness in
the Purús. Three thousand miles from Rio, the vulgarity of Manaus was imposing: the
rabid and devouring commerce, the tumult, all manners of business and dress from the
loinclothsofnativestotheBritishformalgarbcompletewithwhiteshoes,ajumbledcity
of native huts, malocas , and opulent palaces in rampant disorder. He was wild to leave,
and during this time there were regular letters to the Baron, full of polite inquiries: the
departure date? the marching orders? These were still being hashed out.
Petty annoyances took their toll, but he was also distressed by the drastic drop in the
river level. Shallower waters would make the upcoming voyage far more dangerous as
sandbars,drownedtrees,andtreacherousrapidsemergedfromundertheenormouscush-
ionofwaterthatswepttotheAtlanticasthegreatchannelsdrained.Thewaitwouldalso
hamper the all-important technical survey, which depended on chronometers, theodol-
ites for ascertaining longitude, and other sensitive astronomical and survey instruments
whose accuracy would inevitably suffer under the constant buffeting of rough travel. In
addition,theexpedition'sdurationwouldbeincreasedbythedifficultiesinherentinafar
more treacherous river channel, the endless and necessary portages. Their guiding map,
that of Chandless, would require constant review: their coordinates would require veri-
fication as the commission labored upriver.
While waiting in Manaus, he wrote to his long time comrade, the literary critic Hen-
rique Coelho Neto: