Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10938
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Plan of Bernardo's house
Date
December 1852
Creator
Richard Spruce (1817 - 1893, British) , Explorer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 207mm
width (drawing): 255mm
width (drawing): 255mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Ground and internal plan of an Indian house annotated ‘No. 18.’.
The ground plan (left) is annotated ‘House of Indian Bernardo, at Urubu-Coara, above the Pino-Pinô cat[a]ra[cts] on the Rio Uaupés. Dec/52. Ground plan. Total length 90 ft/3 in. Breadth 52/3. Length of rectangular portion 58/2. (These are internal dimensions: the external very slightly exceed them). Roof of Caraná [Mauritia carana]. Side walls of Bassú. Entrance-end wall of bark of an Anonaceous tree (Iwiŕas[?]) spread out flat & forming sheets of 2/3 – 2/8 in breadth*; this reaches to height of door, the rest of the gable is of Assaí [Euterpe oleracea] fronds.
*Sometimes bark of Yébaru (Parivoa excelsa) is used for this purpose. Larger pillars (of some species of Laurel) 2/11 in circumf. Smaller pillars 1/8. Doorway closed internally by a Japá which is turned up during the day, and in its stead a Parí is extended outside the door to prevent the entrance of pests’.
The ground plan is also annotated to show the areas of residence of the chief and general kitchen.
The internal plan (right) is annotated with measurements and it is noted that ‘(Externally roof projects 5/4)’.
Richard Spruce (1817-1893) British botanist was not a Fellow of the Royal Society. He spent fifteen years collecting in the Amazon of Brazil and the Andes of Peru and Ecuador between 1849-1864, and observing the indigenous people and their cultures, learning 21 different languages while away.
Spruce was already in South America when he was employed by a Kew Gardens-India Office project to secure seeds of the cinchona tree, whose bark yielded the antimalarial drug quinine. In 1860 he shipped around 100,000 dried seeds and over 600 young plants out of Ecuador. A year later, Ecuador adopted laws to protect its cinchona trees from mass exportation.
The ground plan (left) is annotated ‘House of Indian Bernardo, at Urubu-Coara, above the Pino-Pinô cat[a]ra[cts] on the Rio Uaupés. Dec/52. Ground plan. Total length 90 ft/3 in. Breadth 52/3. Length of rectangular portion 58/2. (These are internal dimensions: the external very slightly exceed them). Roof of Caraná [Mauritia carana]. Side walls of Bassú. Entrance-end wall of bark of an Anonaceous tree (Iwiŕas[?]) spread out flat & forming sheets of 2/3 – 2/8 in breadth*; this reaches to height of door, the rest of the gable is of Assaí [Euterpe oleracea] fronds.
*Sometimes bark of Yébaru (Parivoa excelsa) is used for this purpose. Larger pillars (of some species of Laurel) 2/11 in circumf. Smaller pillars 1/8. Doorway closed internally by a Japá which is turned up during the day, and in its stead a Parí is extended outside the door to prevent the entrance of pests’.
The ground plan is also annotated to show the areas of residence of the chief and general kitchen.
The internal plan (right) is annotated with measurements and it is noted that ‘(Externally roof projects 5/4)’.
Richard Spruce (1817-1893) British botanist was not a Fellow of the Royal Society. He spent fifteen years collecting in the Amazon of Brazil and the Andes of Peru and Ecuador between 1849-1864, and observing the indigenous people and their cultures, learning 21 different languages while away.
Spruce was already in South America when he was employed by a Kew Gardens-India Office project to secure seeds of the cinchona tree, whose bark yielded the antimalarial drug quinine. In 1860 he shipped around 100,000 dried seeds and over 600 young plants out of Ecuador. A year later, Ecuador adopted laws to protect its cinchona trees from mass exportation.
Associated place