The sea and the jungle
By: H.M. Tomlinson ; preface by Evan S. Connell.
Publisher: Marlboro Press/Northwestern
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Evanston, Ill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
Subjects: Tomlinson, H. M. 1873-1958 -- Travel -- Brazil.; Capella (Ship); Amazon River -- Description and travel.; Madeira River (Brazil and Bolivia) -- Description and travel.
Description: Considered a masterpiece of travel literature for nearly a century, The Sea and the Jungle is a wise and witty book of firsts: ostensibly a light-hearted story of a Londoner's first ocean voyage, it is also a carefully crafted journalistic account of the first successful ascent of the Amazon River and its tributary, the Madeira, by an English steamer.

One rainy morning in November 1909, Henry Major Tomlinson bid farewell to his family and set off to find his berth as purser aboard the Capella, where he would spend many storm-driven days until landfall at Para on the Brazilian coast. But his travels had only begun, as the steamer continued its journey 2,000 miles up the Amazon.

Encountering tiny jungle villages and exotic flora and fauna of awesome beauty and ferociousness - the meddlesome insect life in particular attracted his attention - Tomlinson recorded all he saw in cleverly humorous style: never condescending, but always aware of the inherent inappropriateness of his presence in this strange land.
Notes: Originally published in 1912.