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---continuation commentary #9a----
That
I am a follower of this philosophy, I both willingly confess and dare
to announce here. For after I had for a long time tried eagerly to discover
truth and penetrate deeply into divine matters, and those other things
which a modest youth usually busies himself about, I became stuck fast
in the arid rocks, or rather the sandy Syrtes (quicksand) of
intellectual endeavor. But impelled by some internal force, which had
arisen not from my mind alone but from the whole nature of my spirit,
and was being strongly nourished and magnified -- by this force, as if
by the awareness of God which is inborn to me, I was led to that Platonic
wonder, and from this limpid font, my thirsting heart drank in sweet succor
and the powerful recreation of my spirit.
Do not marvel, dear reader, because you here find words of this sort,
and do not be indignant, since it is only rarely permitted to me to pass
outside the set bounds of our investigation and to consider with you those
things which set us at peace and strengthen our heart, and which almost
alone are able to give solace to human beings amidst the great frailty
and misery of this world.
On the fourth day of October 1819, I set out with Spix, the companion
of my journey, and several accompanying Indians from Vila
Nova de Rainha, which is situated along the Amazon River and which they popularly call "Topinambarana". We set
out towards the south, so that wandering in primeval forests, we might
collect plants. At first, as we traveled in a small boat through deep
channels which were covered over with the vegetation characteristic of
the "Ygapo" [the flooded forest], our way had to be
made through a labyrinth of the humble shrubs and trees connected by leafless
vines that make up these little woods.
At
the outset, various shrubs of Licania, Wallenia laxiflora, Cybianthus  penduliflora and Eugenia egensis presented themselves, as well as other small-leafed species of the same
genus, those of Nectandra canescens, Anona tenuiflora and Anona foetida, Duguetia Spixiana, Godoya gemmiflora, Phellocarpus Amazonum, Drepanocarpus floridus and Crista castrensis, Hecastaphyllus Monetaria,
various species of Inga, Ilex Macucu, Blakea
quinquenervis, Gustavia
augusta, Sagonea palustris,
etc. In many places we found brush armed with the strong pricks of that Smilax, the roots of
which it is known are sold under the name of Salsaparilha lisbonensis;
among this brush the Cacao tree (Theobroma
Cacao) spread its branches with their straightened leaves. This
tree the Bombax Munguba overtopped, from the branches of which at that very time large, oblong
capsules were hanging down.
 
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penduliflora
