Fortunately, Bates was in Para at the
time, and did what he could for the boy until stricken down himself with
the same sickness, from which, however, his stronger constitution
enabled him to recover.
Perhaps the most eventful and memorable journey during this period was
the exploration of the Uaupes River, of which Wallace wrote nearly sixty
years later: "So far as I have heard, no English traveller has to this
day ascended the Uaupes River so far as I did, and no collector has
stayed at any time at Javita, or has even passed through it."
From a communication received from the Royal Geographical Society it
appears that the first complete survey of this river (a compass traverse
supplemented by astronomical observations) was made (1907-8) by Dr.
Hamilton Rice, starting from the side of Colombia, and tracing the whole
course of the river from a point near the source of its head-stream. The
result showed that the general course of the lower river was much as
represented by Wallace, though considerable corrections were necessary
both in latitude and longitude.
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