See the bibliography for the sources referred to in these notes. For additional information on the Bobonaza River, go to www.themapmakerswife.com.
Chapter One: A Sunday in 1769
La Condamine wrote in his journal of Maldonado’s family and friends advising him not to go into the Amazon. Jean Godin described Isabel’s departure from Riobamba in a sedan chair in his 1773 letter to La Condamine. The Archivo Nacional de Historia (Arnahis) documents also provide information about Isabel’s departure from Riobamba.
Chapter Two: Not Quite Round
Berthon and Robinson’s Shape of the World and Brown’s Story of Maps were particularly useful regarding historical efforts to determine the size and shape of the world prior to the La Condamine expedition. Greenberg’s Problem of the Earth’s Shape from Newton to Clairaut and LaFuente and Delgado’s La geometrizacion de la tierra provide accounts of the debate within the French Academy of Sciences over the earth’s shape.
8. “an unclouded and attentive mind,” A. Wolf, 644.
8. “Science was the true passion,” Hahn, 57.
14. “Plato, Aristotle, and the old philosophers,” Berthon and Robinson, 102.
19. “has cost me a major portion of my realm,” Berthon and Robinson, 109.
20. “the success of this work,” Cassini, 245–257.
21. “Nothing in our research,” Cassini, 245–257.
21. “emits from itself,” Hall, 262.
24. “to entertain a notion,” Westfall, 51.
24. “How these Attractions,” Westfall, 258.
25. “the axes of the planets,” Jones, 45.
25. “spheroid prolonged toward the poles,” Jones, 57.
26. “It is suspected that this resulted,” Berthon and Robinson, 108.
26. Huygens’s “absurd” letter to Newton, Westfall, 193. Also see Boss, 59.
26. “It is obvious that the current measurements,” LaFuente and Delgado, 21.
26. “gibberish … I tried to understand it,” Greenberg, 12.
27. “badgered, intimidated, cajoled,” Greenberg, 87.
27. “justify the English at the expense,” Greenberg, 87.
28. “Who would have ever thought it necessary,” Paul, 30.
28. “being scandalous, and offensive to religion,” Brandes, 266.
28. “Apparently a poor Frenchman,” Brandes, 365.
29. “this senseless and ridiculous phantom,” Brandes, 389.
29. “most eminent geniuses of Europe,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 5.
29. “cannot have any determinate shape,” Greenberg, 12.
29. “inconceivably exact,” LaFuente and Delgado, 26.
29. “sectarian” and “indiscreet,” Harcourt Brown, 174.
29. “facts of the matter,” Greenberg, 80.
Chapter Three: A Daughter of Peru
The best biographical information about Isabel Gramesón can be found in a book published by the municipality of Riobamba in 2000, Una historia de amor. The author, Carlos Ortiz Arellano, is a local historian who relied on archival documents in Ecuador. Similarly, Marc Lemaire in France, who is a distant relative of Isabel’s, unearthed helpful information through his research into the genealogy of the Godin family.
31. “equipped with a considerable fortune,” Le Magasin Pittoresque, 371.
33. “the most splendid appearance,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 156.
33. “everywhere so level,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 154.
33. “300 loads of wheat,” Arellano, 32.
33. “didn’t let pass by any business,” Arellano, 32.
34. “she was quite precocious,” Lemaire, “Mais … qui etait Dona Isabelle Godin des Odonais?”
35. “kept their women sequestered,” Rowdon, 36.
36. “most distinguished and blessed day,” Kamen, Spain: 1469–1714, 35.
37. “mirrored with sufficient fidelity,” O’Connor, 8.
37. “for our rulers would not commit so great a crime,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 30.
38. “We went along the coast,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 46.
38. “because it is said that there are people,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 46.
39. “If there be any so craven,” Prescott, 183.
39. “We were amazed,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 43.
40. “at given times men from the mainland,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 48.
40. “eat and drink out of gold vessels,” Prescott, 309.
42. “We protest that the deaths,” Burkholder and Johnson, 37.
44. “These women are very white and tall,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 52. The text in Colonial Travelers is an excerpt from The Discovery of the Amazon according to the Account of Friar Gáspar de Carvajal, as translated into English by Bertram Lee in 1934.
45. “it is considered a shame,” Martín, 154. This quote is from Amedée Frezier, a Frenchman who traveled to South America in 1712.
45. “spend almost whole days in this manner,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 167. The text is an excerpt from Frezier’s Voyage to the South Sea and along the Coasts of Chili and Peru in the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714; an English translation of his work first appeared in 1717.
45. “If sometimes I had put my hands on her,” Martín, 148.
Chapter Four: The Mapmakers
The eulogies in Histoire et memoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences provide excellent biographical information on La Condamine, Bouguer, Louis Godin, and Joseph de Jussieu. I also relied on information from Gillispie’s Dictionary of Scientific Biography. See Pierre Godin’s “Génealogie de la famille Godin” and Boyer’s Nouvelle biographie generale for biographical information about Jean Godin. Jacques Charcellet, a local historian in the Berry region of France, also provides some biographical information about Jean Godin’s family in his “Histoire fantastique de Jean et Isabelle Godin des Odonais,” as does Felix Grandmaison in “Un drame inconnu: Voyage de Madame Godin des Odonnais,” his 1830 account of Isabel’s adventure. Felix was the son of Isabel’s nephew.
48. “He knew how to intersperse humor,” eulogy for Louis Godin, which was composed by Jean-Paul Grandjean de Fouchy.
49. “dislike for sea voyages,” Bouguer, 271.
50. “extensive scarification of his face,” eulogy for La Condamine, which was composed by Jacques Delille and included remarks by Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon.
51. “an apostle of Newton and Locke,” LaFuente and Delgado, 25.
52. “sensed that his zeal,” eulogy for La Condamine.
52. Several who have written about the La Condamine expedition claim that there was an eleventh member, Mabillon, and a few even report that he went crazy on the expedition. But La Condamine does not list Mabillon as a member of the expedition, he does not write about him in his journal of the voyage, and there is no Mabillon listed on the expedition’s passport. The confusion seems to have arisen because La Condamine, when he provided an update on the expedition members in 1773, stated that Jussieu had lost his memory, much like the “famous Mabillon.” But in that passage, La Condamine was not stating that Mabillon was on the expedition. Instead, he was simply comparing Jussieu to a person who would be known to eighteenth-century French readers (perhaps Jean Mabillon, a seventeenth-century French scholar and Benedictine monk). Victor Von Hagen, in his 1945 book South America Called Them, wrote that Mabillon went “mad” on the voyage, an invention subsequently repeated by others.
52. “vivid imagination,” eulogy for Jussieu, which was composed by Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet.
53. “born a traveler,” Grandmaison.
53. “study at their source,” Boyer.
54. “By the abundant treasure of that country,” Means, 230.
54. “ravening wolves among gentle lambs,” Las Casas, xl.
54. “a moral pestilence which daily consumes,” Las Casas, xx.
55. “I testify that I saw,” Las Casas, 113.
56. “they rain[ed] down from the sky,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 73. This is an excerpt from Carletti’s My Voyage around the World, translated by Herbert Weinstock and reprinted in 1964.
56. “themselves together by their tails,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 75.
57. “eyes in their shoulders,” Alexander, 172.
57. “far exceeds any of the world,” Gheerbrant, 42.
58. “three and four hundred bars and ingots of silver,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 83.
59. “They always go dressed very fine,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 130. The text in Colonial Travelers is an excerpt from Biscay’s Voyage à Buenos Aires et delá au Perou, which was published in Paris in 1672 and translated into English in 1698.
59. “that should oppose their pleasures,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 161.
59. “wear three or four buff-waistcoats,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 134.
59. “display themselves strolling about,” “the part which men do in France,” and “proposals which a lover would not dare to make,” Leonard, Colonial Travelers in Latin America, 160–174.
59. “where the rivers ran inland,” Las Casas, xl.
60. “persons who have never been induced,” Bouguer, 272.
61. “while abroad there is progress in physics,” Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, 250.
61. “sharp voice,” LaFuente and Delgado, 37.
61. “to study the country and bring back a detailed description,” Trystram, 35.
61. “which would be advantageous not only for,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 272.
62. “be made at the equator itself,” and “useful for navigation in general,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 273.
62. “give them all assistance, favors and protection,” and “above suspicion of any illegal commerce,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 274–276.
Chapter Five: Voyage to Quito
La Condamine wrote about the voyage to Quito and their scientific work in the Andes in Journal du voyage fait par ordre du roi à l’équateur. Juan and Ulloa described the journey in Relación histórica del viage a la América Meridional; the page numbers cited here are from the Adams’s 1806 translation, A Voyage to South America. Ulloa was the principal author, and in passages where it is apparent that it is Ulloa writing, I have at times attributed the quote only to him.
65. “large and long waves,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 13.
66. “Mr. Amonton’s sea barometer,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 9.
66. “be of Use, where the Motion of the Objects,” Lloyd Brown, 194–196.
67. “far beyond the usual limits,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 9.
67. The account of a dog biting Jussieu is from Trystram, 38.
68. “700 toises above sea level,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 9.
68. “determine their heights geometrically,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 9.
69. “ill, bled, purged, cured,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 3.
71. “youngbeard without experience,” Trystram, 43.
72-5. Descriptions of daily life in Cartagena, Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 19–87.
76. “the knowledge and the personal merit,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 5.
76. “great fatigue, time and expense,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 5.
76. “four, five, six thousand crowns,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 104.
77. “these verifications were so precise,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 275.
77. “cursed by nature,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 99.
77. “without treading on them,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 103.
78. “the most fertile imagination,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 111.
78. “When dead, [the monkeys] are scalded,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 110.
79. “of the thermometer, the barometer,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 10.
79. “I see that this trip,” LaFuente and Delgado, 43.
80. “and sometimes another in their mouth,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 129.
80. “wraps its fins around a man,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 129.
80. “Tomorrow we are to see,” LaFuente and Delgado, 41.
81. “easier to provide for the subsistence,” LaFuente and Delgado, 38.
81. “extremely mountainous and almost covered,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 143.
82. “of all this coast, the most westerly,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 11.
82. “an emerald the size of an ostrich egg,” Bouguer, 276.
83. “of labour painful to excess,” Bouguer, 276.
83. “discordant stunning noise,” Bouguer, 278.
83. “Palmar, where I carved,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 12.
84-8. The trek from Guayaquil to Quito is described by Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 150–211.
89. A number of writers have reported that Maldonado and La Condamine traveled together from Esmeraldas to Quito. This mistaken version of events appears to have originated with Von Hagen’s South America Called Them. Historians at a 1985 colloquium in Paris pointed out the error.
89-91. La Condamine describes his trip from Esmeraldas to Quito in Journal du voyage, 13–15.
Chapter Six: Measuring the Baseline
93. “tropical paradise,” Bouguer, 285.
95. “transcendental matters of science,” Vera, 10.
96. “seemed to vie with each other,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 208.
96. “breathing an air more rarified,” Bouguer, 286.
96. “Nature has here scattered,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 276.
96. “vast quantities of wrought plate,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 255.
96. “white and fibrous, but infinitely delicate,” Bouguer, 299.
97. “affected great magnificence in their dress,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 264.
97. “Every part of their dress is,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 265.
98. “Seventy mules used to carry cargo,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 16.
99. “watch that the said astronomers,” Colloque International. Article by Jorge Salvador Lara, “La Biblioteca Americana de Don Antonio de Alcedo y Bejarano y la expedición de los académicos franceses,” 81.
100. “within the boundaries,” Zúñiga, 26.
100. “I will always be suspicious,” Colloque International, 82.
100. “would be found near or next to the equator,” Zúñiga, 27.
100. “the first time that I had emerged,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 17.
101. “I completely satisfied the President,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 17.
101. Zúñiga details how many of the elite in Quito bought goods from La Condamine.
102. “operations alone without needing to refer,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 39.
104. “as a pessary, composed of gun-powder,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 219.
104. “the base of whole work,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 212.
106. “Such dreadful whirlwinds,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 212.
107. “was always open for all the French men,” Zúñiga, 38.
107. “the practice of astronomy and trigonometry,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 269–270.
107. The story of the connection between the Gramesóns and the expedition can be put together from information in Zúñiga, ’s 250 Años, Arellano’s Una historia de amor, genealogical research by Lemaire, and La Condamine’s journal. Martín’s Daughters of the Conquistadores provides a wonderful account of daily life inside eighteenth-century convent schools in Peru.
Chapter Seven: High-Altitude Science
112. “cabelleros del punto fijo,” Krousel, 6.
112. “no employment or calling to occupy,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 269.
112-113. Arthur Whitaker detailed the dispute between Ulloa, Juan, and Araujo.
115. “considerably incommoded by the rarefaction,” Bouguer, 287.
115. “I remained a long time without sense or motion,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 216.
115. “No one before us, that I know of, had seen the mercury,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 35.
116. “rolling large fragments of rock,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 217.
116. “When the fog cleared up,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 217.
117. “that they would rather have suffered,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 220.
117. “we were continually in the clouds,” Bouguer, 287.
117. “Our feet were swelled and so tender,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 218.
118. “The mountains in America are in comparison,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 47.
119. “He was always in movement,” Pierre de La Condamine, 1314. Although some of the biographical details about Jean in Pierre de La Condamine’s article are wrong, his description of Jean’s harsh life in the mountains fits with what Charles-Marie de La Condamine wrote about Jean’s work as a signal carrier.
120. “strongest and most convincing proof,” LaFuente and Delgado, 42.
120. “Mr. Godin des Odonais preceded us,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 52.
121. “from this sad situation,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 55.
122. “clothes, eyebrows, and beards covered in icicles,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 58.
122. “and we could guarantee the accuracy,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 58.
122. “alter in a geometrical progression,” Bouguer, 288.
124. “They retired with all the marks of extreme sorrow,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 226.
124. “Even those of the best parts and education,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 224.
125. “the little cabins of the Indians,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 223.
125. “completely imprudent enterprise,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 43.
125. “one might even come to believe that the earth,” LaFuente and Delgado, 50. (Modern surveys have determined that at the equator, a degree of longitude is 1,948 feet longer than a degree of latitude.)
126. “Do the observers have some predilection,” LaFuente and Delgado, 27.
126. “it is evident that the earth is considerably flattened,” LaFuente and Delgado, 258.
126. “flattener of the earth and the Cassinis,” Jones, 93.
126. “The arguments increased,” LaFuente and Delgado, 17.
127. “This flatness [of the earth] appears even more considerable,” James Smith, 94.
127. “choose to stay [neutral] till the French arrive,” Jones, 93.
128. “agreeable reception provided us,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 66.
128. “She possessed every talent,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 66.
129. “contrary to all received opinion,” Bouguer, 275.
129. “Nature has here continually in her hands,” Bouguer, 306.
130. “I spent eight days wandering,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 75.
130. “sleep was continually interrupted,” Bouguer, 306.
130. “the most beautiful horizon,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 78.
130. “whole side of the mountain seemed to be on fire,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 77.
130. “suffering too much from the heat,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 80.
133. See James Smith and LaFuente and Delgado for details about the expedition’s measurements around Tarqui and about the accuracy of their work in the Andes.
133. “our geometric measurements were completely finished,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 84.
Chapter Eight: Death in the Afternoon
La Condamine wrote at length about Senièrgues’s murder, in the form of a “Lettre à Madame ***,” which he published in his Relation abrégée d’un voyage fait dans l’intérieur de l’Amérique Méridionale, pages 215–260. I have relied on a Spanish translation of that letter, published in Relación abreviada de un viaje hecho por el interior de la América Meridional (Madrid: Calpe, 1921), 133–192.
Ulloa and Juan wrote about the abuse of the Indians in their confidential report to the Spanish Crown, published in 1826 under the title Noticias secretas de América; Ulloa is believed to be the principal author. I have used a more recent translation of that book, titled Discourse and Political Reflections on the Kingdoms of Peru.
136. “Senièrgues stopped Leon at a street corner,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 138.
138. “Work in the obrajes,” Juan and Ulloa, Discourse and Political Reflections, 135.
139. “commanded to stretch out on the ground,” Juan and Ulloa, Discourse and Political Reflections, 145.
139. “so that the sparks fall on the victims,” Juan and Ulloa, Discourse and Political Reflections, 145.
140. “all their efforts to enriching themselves,” Juan and Ulloa, Discourse and Political Reflections, 103.
141. “there were times when there would not be a week that passed,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 55.
141. “stabbed by a mulatto in broad daylight,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 56.
142. “bullfights are in the blood of the Spanish people,” Carrión.
143. “did not have any virtue,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 139.
143. “This was the first time,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 141.
143. “There was nothing that could infuriate,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 143.
144. “give them a spectacle,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 145.
144. “Seeing himself surrounded,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 145.
144. “up in his arms the wounded,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 148.
145. “Senièrgues alone has paid for all of us,” Colloque International. Article by Gabriel Judde, “Recherches sur Joseph de Jussieu botaniste (et médecin) de l’expedition La Condamine,” 28–42.
146. “It seems that they were shewing some French gallantry,” Jones, 113.
147. The Cuenca church that La Condamine and Louis Godin used as a triangulation point is still standing; San Sebastián Plaza where Senièrgues was murdered is about one-half mile away from that spot.
148. “series of sad and difficult observations,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 87.
148. “They had the talent of mimicking,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 88.
Chapter Nine: Marriage in Quito
For a description of marriage practices in colonial Peru, see Socolow’s Women of Colonial Latin America, Lavrin’s Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America, Martín’s Daughters of the Conquistadores, and Descola’s Daily Life in Colonial Peru.
151. “Creole women recognize the disaster,” Juan and Ulloa, Discourse and Political Reflections, 220.
152. “Don’t marry an old man,” Descola, 116.
152. “stir up immoral and lascivious desire,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 88.
153. “so utterly absorbed in reading,” Leonard, Books of the Brave, 22. 153. “She was always dressed,” Martín, 281.
153. “an amatory conversation through the Venetian blinds,” and “frantic desire to marry,” Descola, 116.
154. “little kisses, raise the old-man,” Socolow, 102.
154. “after four years of a traveling life,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 92.
155. “I love my country,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 156.
156. “Only the French members of the Academy,” Journal du voyage, La Condamine, 245–246.
156. “a new comedy by Molière,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 269.
157. “put his affairs and his conscience in order,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 103.
158. “the most famous in all South America,” and “never hazarded without the utmost dread,” Bouguer, 295–296.
159. “reconnoitering the ground,” Jean Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine, as translated into English in Perils and Captivity.
160. “His duties regarding the objective,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 132.
160. Dowry information is from Arellano, 41.
162. “At a time when I was flattering myself,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 131.
163. “for the same purpose we use waxcloth,” Wolf and Wolf, 28.
163. “It matters not on what place of the earth we stand,” Bouguer, 311.
164. “One wishes that it would be universal,” Vera, 21.
164. “I tried in vain to keep moving,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 151.
165. “no one obeyed it,” La Condamine, Relación abreviada de un viaje, 153.
165. “insulted the nation of Spain,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 242.
166. “justice in Quito is constant,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 270.
166. “attracted the attention of the ladies,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 164.
167. “series of labors and hardships,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 229.
169. “I reckoned on taking the same road,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
170. Arellano describes the financial difficulties of Jean Godin in Quito.
171. “Riobamba is situated,” Ecuador: Insight Guide, 251.
171. “very careful not to diminish their wealth,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 311.
171. “tallest in the viceroyalty,” Mejía, 9.
172. “landscape elegantly adorned,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 312.
173. The folklore regarding Chimborazo, Altar, and Tungurahua is recounted by Anhalzer.
174. “There are a great number of young people,” Mejía, 52.
174-175. Details about the Gramesón family during this period are from Arellano’s Historia de amor.
175. The fact that Jean and Isabel’s first three children died shortly after birth is from research by Saint Amand librarian Hélène Touzel.
175. Pierre Godin’s “Génealogie de la famille Godin” provides the date for the death of Jean’s father.
177. “They were like madmen, without sense,” Hanson, 154.
177-184. Hemming’s Red Gold provides a very thorough and disturbing history of the exploration of the Amazon River and the slave trade that depopulated it.
181. “most intelligent, the best governed on the river,” Anthony Smith, 150.
181. “settlements are so close together,” Hemming, 231.
182. “They killed them as one kills mosquitoes,” Hemming, 411.
184. “As for the discomforts,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 123.
185. “The famous straight known under the name,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 174, and “Abridged Narrative of Travels through the Interior of South America,” 215.
186. “should die en route,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 187.
186. “on rafts constructed on the spot,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 216.
187. “Ever since, secluded in accessible woods,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 219.
187. “The waters seem to hurl,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 219.
187. “I found myself,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 220.
189. “grows in the flesh of men,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 247.
189. “By a strong puff of the breath,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 225.
190. “nothing but a thirst for gold,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 238.
190. “probably exaggerations or inventions,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 234.
191. “While thus torpified,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 245.
192. “On the banks of the Marañón,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 229.
192. “The chief decoration,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 229.
192. “Of all the savages,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 189.
192. “to make them more perfectly resemble,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 226.
193. “without coming across any signs of life,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 190.
193. “native women all clad in Britany linen,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 230.
194. “In dull, distant places,” Jones, 153.
194. “furnishes a new argument and demonstration,” La Condamine, “Relation abrégée de un voyage,” iii.
196. “By all appearances,” LaFuente and Delgado, 285.
197. “Bouguer could not disguise,” eulogy for La Condamine.
197. “One of the best and most useful,” Hanke, 169.
198. “No other wish but,” La Condamine, Journal du voyage, 218.
199. “heart covering itself with a black veil,” eulogy for Jussieu.
200. “never hazarded without the utmost dread,” Bouguer, 296.
200. “Anyone but you, Sir,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
201. “With no other recommendation,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
201. “He received me with open arms,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
202. “a large pirogue of fourteen oars,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
202. “by following the same route,” Froidevaux, 95–96.
202. “It doesn’t appear that his time,” Froidevaux, 96.
Chapter Eleven: A Continent Apart
206. The two memoires by Jean Godin cited in this chapter were published in a nineteenth-century book, Extraits des auteurs et voyageurs qui ont écrit sur la Guyane de 1596 à 1844, edited by Victor de Nouvion.
206. “France’s interest in navigation along the Amazon,” Godin, “Mémoire sur la navigation de l’Amazone,” in Extraits, 88–91.
208. “owing to it being light and pliable,” Godin, “Mémoire sur différents bois dans l’ile de Cayenne,” in Extraits, 91–93.
209. “He was well regarded,” Froidevaux, 103.
209. “I had the honor,” letter from Godin to Rouillé, April 8, 1751. Froidevaux, 125–126.
210. “We have not yet responded to him,” Froidevaux, 98.
211. “facilitate, on my account,” letter from Ignatius Visconti, January 16, 1754. Copy obtained from the municipal library in Saint Amand-Montrond.
211. “I write, Sir, to Monsieurs d’Orvilliers,” letter from Rouillé to Godin, March 19, 1752. Froidevaux, 98.
211. “I inquired [about the passport] of the governor of that place,” Froidevaux, 98.
212. “would be a source of riches,” and “I implore you, Sir,” letter from Lemoyne to Paris, June 14, 1752. Froidevaux, 127.
214. “Only a small portion of the costs,” joint letter from Lemoyne and d’Orvilliers to Paris, June 19, 1752. Froidevaux, 128.
215. “Godin asked me for permission,” letter from M. Dunezat to Paris, May 10, 1755. Froidevaux, 129.
215. “mouth of the Amazon,” and “poor state,” Froidevaux, 141.
215. The name of Isabel and Jean’s daughter does not appear in genealogical records; Carmen del Pilar is as cited by Arellano.
217. Arellano describes the financial problems of the Gramesón family during the 1950s in his Historia de amor.
217. “I will always better your fortune,” Arellano, 55.
218. Information about Indian uprisings in the 1760s can be found in Encyclopedia del Ecuador and Mejía’s Riobamba: La villa peregrina.
218. Mejía describes the importance of the Virgin of Sicalpa in Riobamba during this period.
219. “I renewed my letters every year,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
221. “I provided [Choiseul] with a very detailed account,” letter from Godin des Odonais to Fiedmont, October 25, 1765. Froidevaux, 134–136.
221. “In December 1763, I had the honor,” letter from Godin des Odonais to Choiseul, June 1, 1764. Froidevaux, 130.
222. “I was, Sir, associated with the gentlemen,” letter from Godin des Odonais to d’Herouville, September 10, 1764. Froidevaux, 130–132.
222. “This behavior by our touchy and cruel neighbor,” letter from Fiedmont to Paris, October 18, 1765. Froidevaux, 132–133.
223. “in the midst of a nation against which,” Godin, October 25, 1765, letter to Fiedmont.
223. “something is going on in this boat,” letter from Godin des Odonais to Fiedmont, October 25, 1765.
223. “The whites that I would have brought,” letter from Godin des Odonais to Fiedmont, October 28, 1765. Froidevaux, 137–139.
224. “I’ve worked against this nation,” Godin, October 28, 1765, letter to Fiedmont.
224. “nasty fall in the woods,” Godin, October 25, 1765, letter to Fiedmont.
224. “He’ll hear nothing of going ahead,” Godin, October 25, 1765, letter to Fiedmont.
224. “This man wants to overpower me,” Godin, October 28, 1765, letter to Fiedmont.
224. “Please do me the honor,” Godin, October 28, 1765, letter to Fiedmont.
224. “to whom I might entrust,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
225. “a knight of the order of Christ,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
226. “give credit to [it], while others dispute,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
226. The date for Carmen’s death is from Arellano.
227. “live in a debasement of human nature,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 479.
227. “wholly covered with scales,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 362.
228. “It is a serpent of a frightful magnitude,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 397.
228. “extremely troublesome and fatiguing,” Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, 370.
229. “Her father and her brothers,” Grandmaison, “Un drame inconnu.”
229. “a garden and estate,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
230. “to watch over her health,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
230. “might have need of the assistance,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
Chapter Twelve: Lost on the Bobonaza
Jean Godin wrote twice about Isabel’s ordeal. The first time was in a 1770 letter to the Duc de Choiseul-Praslin. The second was in his 1773 letter to La Condamine. While the two letters are generally consistent, they differ in a few details. The 1773 document is both longer and more specific, and Jean also could have expected it to be the “historical record” of his wife’s journey. In contrast, his 1770 letter to the Duc de Choiseul-Praslin was sent as a private appeal for relief from a debt. Thus, in those instances where the details in the two letters are not quite the same, I have used the 1773 letter as the authoritative source. Rocha’s descriptions of the voyage, as he related it to a priest at Andoas, Juan Suasti, can be found in the Arnahis documents.
For information on the rain forest, see Kricher’s Neotropical Companion. Alexander Von Humboldt wrote a three-volume account of his travels in South America that appeared between 1814 and 1825. Spruce’s 1857 trip up the Bobonaza, which he relates in Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and in the Andes, provides a revealing foil for Isabel’s journey. In some instances, descriptions of the river basin are based on observations I made while traveling this route in 2002.
234. “crowned with great bushes of flowers,” Kricher, 4.
235. The description of this bridge is from Spruce, vol. 2, 163.
237. “impractical even for mules,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
237. “rain from sunrise till nightfall,” Spruce, vol. 2, 142.
237. “dreadful, what with mud,” Spruce, vol. 2, 148.
237. “the track ran along the very edge of the cliff,” Spruce, vol. 2, 145.
237. “was one mass of foam,” Spruce, vol. 2, 149.
237. “hardly bear to think of it,” Spruce, vol. 2, 104.
238. “crossed with difficulty,” Spruce, vol. 2, 135.
238. “utterly abandoned by its population,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
238. “had hid in the woods,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
239. “The desire of reaching the vessel,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
241. “We had scarcely resigned ourselves to sleep,” Spruce, vol. 2, 121.
243. “We didn’t know the path,” and “none of us had any skills,” letter written by Juan Suasti, December 15, 1769. Arnahis, 111–114.
244. “We saw a canoe,” Suasti’s letter, Arnahis.
245. “stooping to recover it,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
245. “with great work,” Suasti’s letter, Arnahis.
246. “especial care to carry his effects with him,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
Chapter Thirteen: Into the Jungle
In his two letters, Jean Godin stated that all seven of those left behind on the sandbar went together on the raft. As a result, this became the accepted history. However, the documents published in Arnahis tell a different story, and conclusively so. The documents include statements made by Rocha, Joaquín, and the Indians who went with Joaquín on the rescue mission. Their accounts provide a precise description of the scene at the sandbar. In addition, the Arnahis documents include a statement by a priest from the Santa Rosa mission station, Luis Peñaherrera, who said that Isabel informed him that only her two brothers and her nephew went on the raft, while Juanita, Tomasa, and Antonio stayed behind.
247. “at the top of the beach,” Suasti’s letter, Arnahis.
251. “lances and bows and arrows,” Spruce, vol. 2, 107.
251. “confidence that help would come,” Peñaherrera’s account, Arnahis, 149–150.
251. “five and twenty days,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
253. “The raft, badly framed,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
253. “No one was drowned,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
253. “resolved on tracing the course of the river,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
254. The description of Isabel dressed in pants is from testimony given by Andoas Indians, Arnahis, 141–147.
255. “The very air may be said to be alive with mosquitoes,” Honigsbaum, 11.
256. “Without interruption, at every instant,” O’Hanlon, 124.
256. “No matter where you step,” Forsyth and Miyata, 108.
257. “reaching into a flame,” O’Hanlon, 249.
257. “burning, blinding pain,” Forsyth and Miyata, 108.
257. “raging complex itches,” Forsyth and Miyata, 225.
257. “are covered with sharp hairs,” Kricher, 380.
258. Descriptions of the botflies feasting on Isabel and her party is from testimony given by Andoas Indians, Arnahis, 141–147.
259. “is in reality a form of insecticide,” Kricher, 145.
259. “All that the primitive has,” Von Hagen, Off with Their Heads, 166.
260. “fain to subsist on,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
260. “fatigue” and “wounds,” Godin, undated letter to the Duc de Choiseul-Praslin. Arnahis, 111–122.
260. “oppressed with hunger and thirst,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
260. See Whitney and Cataldo for a description of death from starvation.
261. “first to succumb,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
261. “watched as they all died,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
262. “stretched on the ground,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
262. “look for water,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
262. “resolution and strength” to stand, Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
262. “clothing was in tatters,” letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
262. “cut the shoes off her brother’s feet,” and “converted them into sandals,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
262. “took her scarf and wrapped it around herself,” letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
263. “more of his own affairs,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
263. “Filled with hope,” Suasti’s letter, Arnahis.
263. “on both sides of the river,” Suasti’s letter, Arnahis.
264. “ax and machete,” letter written by Antonio de la Peña, January 30, 1770. Arnahis, 111.
264. “old trousers,” declaration by Jean Rocha, January 30, 1770. Arnahis, 114–115.
264. “They were not able to verify,” Suasti’s letter, Arnahis.
265. “knowing what I know,” declaration by Nicolás Romero, January 8, 1770. Arnahis, 114.
265. “by the Jibaros Indians,” Peña’s letter, Arnahis.
265. There is one confusing note in the Arnahis documents. Those who went back to the sandbar on the rescue mission described finding human bones and a cadaver in the river. However, nearly a year later, several Andoas Indians told of hearing a rumor that two of Isabel’s servants had shown up alive in Canelos. One was said to be a small boy and the other a big woman. However, that rumor does not square with several facts, and thus I chose not to include it. There was no “big woman” servant on the trip. (Juanita and Tomasa were only eight or nine years old.) There was only a short period between the time that Isabel and the others left the sandbar and Joaquín arrived with the rescue canoe, making it unlikely that two of the three left behind would have been rescued during this time. Finally, the Indians and Joaquin found a corpse in the river and a pile of human bones stripped of their flesh, a scene consistent with multiple deaths.
266. “It became known that walking,” declaration by Joseph Diguja, May 28, 1770. Arnahis, 115–116.
266. “These roads [are] closed,” court documents, Arnahis, 126.
266. “permit commerce or even communication,” declaration by Joseph Ferrer, a Quito judge, on June 1, 1770. Arnahis, 121–122.
266. “accomplices in this sinful behavior,” statement by Doctor Galdeano, June 1, 1770. Arnahis, 118–120.
267. “upon the orders of Jean Godin,” declaration by Antonio Zabala, June 26, 1770. Arnahis, 129.
Chapter Fourteen: Deliverance
269. “drag herself along,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
269. “half dead with cold,” Spruce, vol. 2, 123.
270. “drank as much as she could,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
270. “with the greatest difficulty, Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
271. “The remembrance of the shocking spectacle,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
271. “often the apparently strong,” Noyce, 59.
271. “It is surprising the large number,” Leach, 151.
272. “For the whole voyage,” Noyce, 79.
272. “fourth walked beside them,” Noyce, 192.
272. “I can assure you that God,” Read, 338.
272. “turn their thoughts to the outside,” Noyce, 196.
273. “heard a noise at about two hundred paces,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
273. “two Indians and their wives,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
273. “Her terror occasioned her,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
274. “the pants of a man and a shawl,” and “took out from her head the worms,” statement by Joseph Macuca on October 9, 1770. Arnahis, 145.
275. “kindness truly affectionate,” Godin, letter to La Condamine.
275. “time of Lent,” statement by Pedro Nolasco Saruín on Oct. 9, 1770. Arnahis, 141–142.
275. “her feet were so swollen,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
275. “Madame Godin, stripped of almost every thing,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
276. “took possession of the chains,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
277. “with a high fever,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
277. “four silver dishes,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
278. “Go your way, Sir,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
278. “She said that the Almighty had preserved her,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine, recounting a letter written by Romero.
279. “My wife was ever dear to me,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
279. “Dear Sir, with all my esteem,” Isabel Godin, letter written April 21, 1770. Arnahis, 147.
280. “penetrated with the most lively grief,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
281. “It was proposed to take off the thumb,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
281. “On board this vessel,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
282. “were it told in a romance,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine. As explained in the notes for chapter 13, Jean mistakenly wrote that everyone left behind on the sandbar stayed together, and that there were six or seven who died by Isabel’s side. In order to avoid confusing the reader, I have edited from this passage his comment that Isabel’s maids and Rocha’s slave were with her when they died.
Chapter Fifteen: Saint Amand
283. “I took my leave,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
284. “Might we, Your Grace, ask you to cancel our debt,” Godin, letter to Choiseul-Praslin.
285. “infidelity and neglect,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
285. The 1772 census information is from Froidevaux, 111.
285. “For my part,” Godin, 1773 letter to La Condamine.
286. “card of liberty,” Arellano, 93.
286. “miracles may be effected,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 258.
286. “as extraordinary a series of perils,” Godin, Perils and Captivity, vi.
290. “vexations, mortifications, and rebuffs,” Whitaker, 180.
290. “reckoned equivalent to one living being,” La Condamine, “Abridged Narrative of Travels,” 258.
292. “La Condamine may have had faults,” La Condamine eulogy.
293. “as official geographer to the King,” Lemaire, “À la recherche de la famille d’Isabel Godin.”
293. “which he prepared in St. Amand,” Boyer.
293. “printed at the expense,” letter from a minister to Godin des Odonais, July 22, 1787. Froidevaux, 148.
293. Information about the funeral for Isabel’s father can be found in Vannier.
293. “I owe to Madame Isabelle,” Jean Godin’s “Last Will and Testament.” Copy provided by the Saint Amand-Montrond municipal library.
294. The description of Isabel stroking her sandals and cotton dress comes from Felix Gilbert Grandmaison, the son of Isabel’s nephew Jean-Antoine.
295. Lemaire, in his article “À la recherche de la famille d’Isabel Godin,” writes of seeing the sandals when he was a young man.
Along the Bobonaza Today
There are several indigenous groups that live in the Bobonaza region today. Shuars, known as Jibaros in the eighteenth century, have settlements along the Pastaza. They long had a reputation for being skilled warriors, and became known for their custom of shrinking the heads of their victims. The Shuar population is about 40,000 today, and many live in towns that border the jungle, such as Puyo.
As was the case in 1770, Quichua live in Canelos and along the banks of the upper Bobonaza. They are the indigenous group that has always interacted the most with the Spanish. Canelos still has the feel of the mission town it once was, and Pacayacu, which is about twenty miles downriver from Canelos, also has Spanish-style buildings. Sarayacu, meanwhile, is a thriving Quichua village of perhaps 1,000. The people there live in traditional ways.
There are several Achuar communities along the lower Bobonaza. The Achuars are related to the Shuars, and for a long time the two groups fought regularly, with the victors carrying off women from the other tribe. Fiercely independent, the face-painting Achuars remain wary of intruders, and outsiders traveling through this stretch of river are advised to avoid stopping at their villages unless they come with someone who can provide an introduction. Achuars may still hunt with blowguns and curare-tipped darts. There are only about 5,000 Achuar alive today.
Like the Shuars, the Zaparos were known for their fighting skills. But this group was devastated in the first half of the twentieth century by contact with whites who came into the Pastaza region looking for rubber. Today there are fewer than twenty Zaparos who speak the Zaparo language.
Huaoranis live to the north of the Bobonaza, deep in the jungle. As recently as forty years ago, their members used stone axes and resisted contact with outsiders. Quichua called them “Aucas,” meaning “people of the jungle, savages,” because of their aggressive attitude toward other indigenous groups and white colonists. However, since that time, oil exploration in Ecuador’s orient has put tremendous pressures on the Huaoranis, endangering their way of life. There are thought to be about 2,000 Huaoranis living in the Ecuadorian rain forest.
The people of Sarayacu and along the lower Bobonaza are currently struggling to stop oil exploration in this river basin, fearful that it will contaminate their lands and ruin their way of life. They point to the experience of indigenous groups in northeastern Ecuador, where Texaco began drilling in 1971, as reason for this concern. Texaco dumped millions of gallons of toxic waste fluids in open pits and streams from 1971 to 1991, and the indigenous people there maintain that the pollution has caused many to die from cancer.
Although oil companies initiated plans to explore the Bobonaza in 1989, opposition from indigenous groups stalled these efforts until late 2002, when an Argentinian oil firm, Compania General de Combustibles (CGC), established work camps on the upper section of the river. That led to several skirmishes between the oil workers and residents of Sarayacu, who at one point “detained” several oil company employees who came into their territory. Throughout 2003, tensions continued to escalate, and toward the end of the year, the Ecuadorian government announced that if the indigenous people living along the Bobonaza continued to resist, it would send in military troops to enable the oil drilling to proceed.
Marlon Santi, who was one of my guides on my trip down the Bobonaza, is now the president of the Sarayacu and a leader of this resistance. Several international environmental groups are supporting the indigenous people of the Bobonaza. They note that the region around Sarayacu is old-growth rainforest and one of the richest biological environments in the world. Updated news of this conflict can be found at www.sarayacu.com and www.mapmakerswife.com.