1858 Ecuador - QUITO to RIO NAPO - Rival Tribes

Tribes and Birds of Ecuador - Quito to Rio Napo

Title: Excursion made from Quito to the River Napo, January to May, 1857.

Author: JAMESON, William
Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1858

Notes & Condition: Accompanied by two American professors, the author embarked on a journey to make cursory observations of the natural history of uninhabited regions in the Valley of Chillo, which lies within the Ecuador Andes. Two species of hummingbirds of the phaethornis genus were obtained, as well as 34 specimens of beetles, a rupicola, etc. Written in diary format with dated entries of the journey, a description of the Indians of Archidona reveals methods and implements for hunting, practices of eating affol, their language and so forth. Other tribes are seen washing for gold, and the Zaparos tribes, the author labels 'savages' as he explains their poisonous bows.

Also includes a succinct account titled, 'Observations Relative to the Geographical Position of the West Coast of South America', by Carlos Moesta, Director of the National Observatory, Santiago de Chile.

17 pages, both accounts combined. These are the original pages printed in 1858, in excellent condition, attractively bound booklet style in recent blue paper covers with label.

The Turquoise-throated Puffleg (Eriocnemis godini), also known as Godin's Puffleg, is a possibly extinct hummingbird from Ecuador and Colombia. This hummingbird is only known by six specimens which were collected in the 19th century. Only the type specimen from 1850 has a known locality, it being from the Chillo valley, Guayllabamba plains, Ecuador, at an altitude between 2,100 and 2,300 m asl.