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#41 A palm-grove of Mauritia flexuosa on the island Pautinga in the archipelago of Para
Latin translation by
Ben Hennelly
Whereas the immediately preceding etching displays a narrow straight
between thick, varied vegetation, here you see only broad waters and
just one plant, grouped into a simple wood -- and yet, only one day's
journey separates the two places. For when you have passed out of the
labyrinth of islands, heading from the southern shore of the island Marajo toward
the west, boundless open waters receive you. This is the sea of fresh
water that the powerful river, Tocantins, creates at its mouth. The eastern shore of this
enormous river basin is called Bahia de Marapata, and the opposite,
western shore Bahia do Limoeiro. You do not, however, see the
full extent of these low-lying shores, as there are many islands, large
(like Uararahy)
and small, in the way. To pass from one shore to the other, you need
the full space of one tide; and so the crossing should not be dared
unless the sky is friendly, so that you are not cast onto the shoals
or sands frequent there. Thus, we crossed cautiously over the space
of two tides, pulling the boat up along the small island Pautinga.
Consequently, we had the opportunity to study the peculiar nature of
the place, which we have endeavored to represent in etching #41. The
flat, low-lying, sandy island is covered with a thick, remarkably tall
forest composed of the palm Miriti, Mauritia
flexuosa. (1).
This regal tree occupies the soil here with almost all other plants
removed, so that the little island offers an appearance of frightful
solitude. Thetree's white, smoothly polished trunks, 1.5 - 2 feet in
diameter, which raise aloft a very full crown of huge, fanshaped leaves,
were set so close together that they often seemed, in the manner of
stakes, to imitate enormous fortifications. Their foliated tops, when
stirred by the air the stream puts in motion, sounded together in an
extraordinary harmony: you would have thought a chorus of Dryads present, singing grave verses. Over this sound, only the murmurs of
the waving stream could be heard, and numerous Araras (Macrocerci
hyacinthini),
which nest in those trees, were croaking together. The solitude of the
deserted island and the strangeness of the birds that alone inhabit
it, then the great expanse you might call an ocean of fresh water --
all these things are arranged here in such a way that a primitive force
of nature itself shows forth, which reigns over all with invincible
power.
Macrocerci hyacinthi, the blue macaw
Where this force predominates,
mortal-kind recedes a little or scatters altogether, so that other forces
productive in the nature of things, in mutual contest and tireless strife,
might progress more freely, and that those things destined by hidden
divine will and eternal law might be brought to prosperous completion.
This stirring of the spirit is increased, if you at the same time look
upon the crowds of trunks that the river's force has uprooted and raised
up in the form of a towering line of palisades. Behold! Even these trees
of exceeding strength, such as seem to conquer the centuries, are swept
away in an hour's time like small beasts of a day!
Sophocles once said,"Great, measureless time brings to light everything
hidden, and into obscurity forces everything seen."
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