As mil vozes da natureza. portuguese + english.pdf. In Representações da fauna no Brasil.

1

josé luiz de andrade franco

REPRESENTATIONS OF THE FAUNA IN BRAZIL­ 16th – 20th CENTURIES

®Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio, 2014

organização / editor

agradecimentos / acknowledgments

textos / texts

Glória Mariani e Pedro Mariani

Lorelai Kury

Felipe F. Vander Velden, Bruno Martins Boto Leite,

Lorelai Kury, Magali Romero Sá, José Luiz de Andrade Franco pesquisa iconográfica / iconographic research Lorelai Kury (coordenação / coordination) projeto gráfico / design

Glória Afflalo a+a design e produção

editoração eletrônica / desktop publishing Gloria Afflalo e Helena Varella

revisão e padronização  / proofreading Rosalina Gouveia

versão para o inglês / english version Chris Hieatt

produção gráfica / graphic production Renata Arouca

pré-impressão / pre-printing Trio Studio

impressão e acabamento / printing and binding Ipsis Editora Gráfica

conselho editorial/editorial board Gustavo Martinelli

Lindolpho Carvalho Dias Malena Barretto

Família Mariani, especialmente Íris Kantor

Maria da Conceição Piedade Costa Antonio Francisco Florence

A todas as instituições que cederam suas imagens para enriquecer

esta obra e especialmente a | To all institutions that contributed to enrich this work, and especially National Library

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Randy Smith, Missouri Botanical Garden

John Minichiello, John Carter Brown Library

Alice Lemaire, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Mariska de Jonge, Fondation Custodia

Mary McFeely, National Gallery of Ireland

Hr. Prof. Mag. Christa Riedl-Dorn, Archiv für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

Wolfgang Brunnbauer, Zoologische Hauptbibliothek Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

Sylvie Béguelin, Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Neuchâtel Noëlle Pouret, Institut National d’Histoire d’Art

Mônica Carneiro, Fundacão Biblioteca Nacional

Rutonio Jorge Fernandes de Sant’Anna, Fundacão Biblioteca Nacional Francis Melvin Lee, Instituto Hercule Florence

Leila Florence, Coleção Cyrillo Hércules Florence

Sandoval Carneiro Júnior

organização Lorelai Kury

Sílvia de Mendonça Figueirôa

Tânia Tavares Bessone Ferreira

É vedada a reprodução desta obra no todo ou em parte,

Capa | Cover

p. 4

em qualquer mídia, sem a autorização expressa da editora.

lourenço álvarez roxo de potfliz

aart schouman (s.d.)

(1699-1756)

La ménagerie de Guillaume V d’Orange

forbidden without express consent of the Publisher

Ouarà, ou Guarà

Oiseaux exotiques, antilopes et cerfs

Prancha 29 do manuscrito |

près d’une fontaine

Plate 29 of the manuscript

Aquarela, crayon e sépia sobre papel |

Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas,

Watercolour, crayon and sepia on

e minero-logicas ou Descripções

paper

Physico-historicas das mais notaveis producções Animaes, Vegetaes e

Album folio 10, inv. no 1407-22 Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits

Mineraes do Estado do Grão Parà [...]

Lugt, Paris

Partial or full reproduction of this book is strictly

Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio Editorial Ltda. Rua Senador Dantas, 75 grupo 1.310 20031-204 Centro Rio de Janeiro RJ telefone + 55 21 2533 9353

www.jakobssonestudio.com.br

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Direction des

p. 7

Bibliothèques et de la

Anônimo | Author unknown

Documentation, Paris

Tuiuiu Manuscrito português do século XVIII | Portuguese manuscript, 18th century Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro

autores Felipe F. Vander Velden Bruno Martins Boto Leite Lorelai Kury Magali Romero Sá José Luiz de Andrade Franco

8 Animais e história Lorelai Kury

SUMÁRIO

12 Multiplicam-se muito nestas terras Os animais domésticos europeus na América Portuguesa séculos xvi – xviii Felipe F. Vander Velden 40 Animalia, exotica & mirabilia Os animais brasileiros na cultura europeia da época moderna de Thevet a Redi Bruno Martins Boto Leite 82 Gaviões ardilosos, aves curiosas O manuscrito de d. Lourenço de Potfliz (1752) Lorelai Kury 124 Coleções zoológicas brasileiras em museus de história natural europeus e norte-americanos Magali Romero Sá 160 As mil vozes da natureza Lorelai Kury 200 Representações da Panthera onca no imaginário do Brasil: Colônia e Império, séculos xvi – xx José Luiz de Andrade Franco 236 Apêndice | Appendix

7

josé luiz de andrade franco

Lorelai Kury

As mil vozes da natureza

“ES COMO EN EL PARAÍSO”

A viagem de Humboldt e Bonpland à América representou aos olhos de seus contemporâneos o modelo do que deveria ser a viagem científica moderna. Humboldt foi um dos sistematizadores dos estudos das paisagens pela história natural. Sua abordagem integrava descrições morfológicas, quantitativas e estéticas, de acordo com a sensibilidade romântica da época. O artista Ferdinand Keller esteve no Brasil, com o irmão Franz, acompanhando o pai Joseph Keller, engenheiro a serviço do imperador, a partir de 1856 ferdinand keller (1842-1922) Humboldt und Aime Bonpland am Orinoko (durante a expedição à Venezuela, 1799-1800) Xilogravura a partir do óleo sobre tela do mesmo autor, 1877 Acervo AKG-Images/Latinstock, São Paulo

Na edição de 1849 de Quadros da natureza (Ansichten der Natur), Alexander von Humboldt inclui um capítulo intitulado “Vida noturna dos animais nas florestas do Novo Mundo” (Das nächtliche Tierleben im Urwalde). Entre os trechos do diário de viagem à América que transcreveu nessa obra, há o relato de um episódio ocorrido às margens do Rio Apure, afluente do Orinoco: Era uma noite fresca, iluminada pela lua. [...] Reinava profundo silêncio; somente de quando em vez ouvia-se o ronco dos golfinhos de água doce [...] que se sucediam formando grandes manadas. § Depois de onze horas surgiu no bosque próximo um tal clamor, que foi preciso renunciar a qualquer sono durante o resto da noite. Os gritos dos animais selvagens ressoavam pela floresta. Entre as numerosas vozes em uníssono, os índios conseguiam distinguir apenas aquelas que, após uma breve pausa, ouviam-se separadamente. Eram os uivos chorosos e monótonos dos aluatos; a voz queixosa e em tom de flauta dos sapajus e os murmúrios roucos do pequeno macaco-coruja (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus, cuja descrição fui o primeiro a fazer); os gritos entrecortados do grande tigre, do cuguardo ou leão-sem-juba americano, do pecari, da preguiça e de uma multidão de periquitos, parraquás (Ortalida) e outros galináceos. 1 Os índios, indagados sobre o motivo daquele tumulto, diziam que os animais festejavam a lua cheia. Humboldt acreditava que se tratava de episódios casuais, iniciados, por exemplo, por um ataque de jaguar, com a consequente fuga de animais e revoada de pássaros. Segundo o viajante, durante os violentos aguaceiros e trovoadas, os gritos dos animais eram mais ruidosos, o que não poderia ser explicado por nenhuma “celebração da lua”. Ainda de acordo com Humboldt, em “Vida noturna dos animais nas florestas do Novo Mundo”, cenas de tumulto nas matas ocorreram com certa frequência ao longo de sua viagem. Em contraste, o viajante opõe uma cena que ocorreu no estreito chamado de Angustura del Barguan, aos pés da Serra Parima. Era meio-dia, o sol estava a pino e reinava o silêncio: As rochas e as pedras arredondadas estavam cobertas de infinito número de iguanos de escamas espessas, gecos e salamandras coloridas. Imóveis, a cabeça levantada e a boca escancarada, pareciam inalar com prazer o ar quente. Os animais grandes ocultam-se nas profundezas da floresta; as aves sob a folhagem das árvores ou nas fendas das rochas [...].2 O sossego, no entanto, era aparente. Um ouvido atento perceberia um rumor surdo de insetos zumbindo. Nos matos, troncos de árvores, na terra, “tudo anuncia um mundo de forças orgânicas em movimento”. Conclui Humboldt: “a vida agita-se e faz-se ouvir, como uma das mil vozes que a natureza envia à alma piedosa e sensível do homem.” 3 As descrições do barulho da floresta aparecem em Quadros da natureza na sequência de uma análise da dinâmica da vida local. Durante a época de águas baixas, na região do Orinoco, do Cassiquiare e do Rio Negro, os animais costumavam sair da floresta para beber água no rio. Jaguares, antas e outros grandes mamíferos formavam um espetáculo impressionante. “Es como en el paraíso” – dizia o piloto da expedição, que, de acordo com o relato, era um velho índio criado por um padre.4 Humboldt, no entanto, avaliava de forma diferente a aparente calma: Mas a doce paz da idade de ouro não reina no paraíso do mundo animal americano: as criaturas se observam e se evitam; a capivara [...] é devorada na água pelo crocodilo, em terra pelo tigre. 5 Desse modo, para o grande viajante, os sons da natureza permitiriam perceber o movimento da vida orgânica. As cenas sonoras americanas que descreve em seus Quadros da natureza revelam contrastes, alternâncias entre calmaria e tumulto e evidenciam que só a educação dos sentidos seria capaz de efetivamente apreender as vozes da natureza em suas distintas manifestações. A alternância entre paz e guerra na cena em que os animais vinham beber no rio utiliza os mesmos artifícios narrativos das outras cenas: os sentidos atentos do viajante são capazes de desvendar a dinâmica da natureza por trás da aparência imediata.

162

163

lorelai kury

Embora o interessante capítulo “Vida noturna dos animais nas florestas do Novo Mundo” só tenha passado a compor o livro Quadros da natureza em sua terceira edição, as passagens sobre as vozes animais já estavam disponíveis para o público leitor desde a publicação da narrativa da viagem que Humboldt empreendera com Aimé Bonpland, cuja edição francesa data de 1814 a 1825, a alemã de 1815 a 1832 e a inglesa de 1818 a 1829. Sabe-se da imensa importância que seus relatos tiveram para a literatura de viagens do século XIX e também para o despertar de vocações de jovens naturalistas europeus. É possível que muitas cenas sonoras narradas posteriormente por outros viajantes sejam de algum modo ecos de leituras dos livros de Humboldt. As viagens de Humboldt são consideradas uma espécie de divisor de águas da literatura de viagens. Suas descrições da natureza são ao mesmo tempo artísticas e científicas, poéticas e exatas. Assim como alguns artistas e homens de ciência de sua época, ele demonstrou o valor cognitivo da arte. A arte muitas vezes era associada a outros tipos de descrição, com o intuito de dar conta do registro de determinados fenômenos naturais e culturais. Muitas das próprias representações artísticas que não eram diretamente relacionadas à história natural buscaram, ao longo do século XIX, apropriar-se dos conhecimentos físicos e químicos disponíveis na época, a fim de melhor imitar a natureza, principalmente no que diz respeito à pintura de paisagem. Na linhagem de Goethe, passando pelo naturalista e artista Carl Gustav Carus6 ou por John Constable, a ciência se estabeleceu como elemento constitutivo da produção artística. Para este último,

As paisagens para Humboldt englobam, desse modo, a configuração vegetal específica dos lugares, mas devem igualmente ser conectadas à cultura humana que se desenvolveu nesses mesmos lugares. No atlas pitoresco que segue a publicação da narrativa da viagem à América, ele afirma que:

AS PAISAGENS E OS SONS

Ainda que as nações, o desenvolvimento de suas faculdades intelectuais, o caráter particular impresso em suas obras dependam ao mesmo tempo de um grande número de causas que não são puramente locais, não é de se duvidar que o clima, a configuração do solo, a fisionomia dos vegetais, o aspecto de uma natureza amena ou selvagem tenham influência sobre o progresso das artes e sobre o estilo que distingue suas produções. 10 Na obra de Humboldt as plantas e a geografia têm presença dominante. Os animais, por sua mobilidade e menor número, concorrem de maneira discreta e secundária na composição das paisagens, como demonstram as imagens associadas à sua viagem com Bonpland. Quando se trata, no entanto, da descrição da natureza em movimento, a fauna adquire lugar central, como nas passagens sobre as vozes da natureza no texto “Vida noturna dos animais nas florestas do Novo Mundo”. As representações de paisagens na obra de Humboldt buscam retratar as impressões de viagem por meio de imagens, pelo sentido da visão e de descrições textuais, que fazem apelo à “imaginação” e à “sensibilidade” dos leitores. As sensações experimentadas pelo viajante poderiam ser vividas de algum modo por outros:

A pintura é uma ciência, e deve ser levada como uma pesquisa nas leis da natureza. Mas, então, a paisagem não poderia ser considerada como um ramo da filosofia natural, para o qual os quadros seriam as experiências? 7

São as artes da imitação que retraçam a nossos olhos o quadro variado das regiões equatoriais. Na Europa, o homem isolado em uma costa árida pode gozar, em pensamento, do aspecto das regiões longínquas: se sua alma é sensível às obras de arte, se seu espírito cultivado é extenso o bastante para se elevar às grandes concepções da física geral, do fundo de sua solidão, sem sair de seu lar, ele se apropria de tudo o que o intrépido naturalista descobriu. 11

A aproximação entre arte e ciência característica da interpretação humboldtiana desenvolveu-se plenamente nos estudos que o naturalista realizou sobre as “fisionomias” vegetais, que buscavam aplicar regras tipológicas para a classificação e compreensão das paisagens. O que importa para o fisionomista é a observação da “massa das plantas”. Os vegetais, por sua imobilidade e quantidade, impressionam o olhar mais que os animais, móveis e mais dispersos. Segundo Humboldt, a variedade prodigiosa de espécies vegetais poderia ser reunida em um número menor de formas principais. Embora não fosse contrário ao estudo taxonômico das famílias naturais, corrente na época, ele acreditava que as semelhanças morfológicas entre os seres eram insuficientes para se pintar um quadro de uma dada região. Certos vegetais podem assemelhar-se enormemente no contexto de uma paisagem e pertencer a grupos taxonômicos distintos. As massas vegetais, seus contornos e o porte das plantas constituem a base do caráter de uma paisagem, de um lugar. Ele divide, então, os vegetais em 15 grupos cuja fisionomia ofereceria material para os estudos dos pintores de paisagem. 8 Em suas palavras:

As vozes da natureza chegavam à Europa associadas a imagens e textos, mas não a sons. O artista viajante Albert Berg, por exemplo, publicou uma fisionomia de apelo sonoro em uma série de vistas da região de Nova Granada. Em diálogo com as descrições de Humboldt, Berg retrata um animal – um jaguar – na cena cuja descrição textual evoca as vozes dos animais: Uma viagem pelo rio na estação seca é adequada para dar uma ideia da vida animal nos trópicos. Nessa circunstância, os animais da floresta, em busca de água, são obrigados a irem para a beira dos rios. Bandos de engraçados macacos se movem ruidosamente pelos cimos das árvores; papagaios de todo tipo, tamanho e cor, do pequeno periquito até o macau, enchem o ar com sua gritaria [...] Faisões reais e muitos outros pássaros da tribo da galinha e do faisão cansam o ouvido com seus gritos monótonos. A desajeitada tartaruga deixa-se cair timidamente na água e, ocasionalmente, um jaguar é visto saciando sua sede no rio. 12

Essas divisões fisionômicas não têm quase nada em comum com aquelas que os botânicos fizeram até hoje segundo princípios muito diferentes. Trata-se aqui somente dos grandes contornos que determinam a fisionomia da vegetação e da analogia com relação à impressão que recebe o contemplador da natureza, enquanto a botânica descritiva reúne as plantas segundo a afinidade que apresentam as partes menores, mas essenciais, da frutificação. 9

Atualmente, de forma diferente do que acontecia com os artistas e naturalistas do século XIX, a ecologia e as artes têm a possibilidade de gravar e ouvir os sons associados a paisagens. O conceito de soundscape13 (paisagem sonora), cunhado por Raymond Murray Schafer, busca dar conta dos ambientes sonoros e é usado como ferramenta para a luta contra a degradação da qualidade de vida nas sociedades modernas. Os sons dos animais são elementos centrais nas paisagens sonoras, principalmente em ambientes não urbanos. O desenvolvimento de artefatos capazes de registrar e reproduzir sons transformou profundamente as possibilidades de representação das “vozes da natureza”, para usar a expressão de Humboldt. O fonógrafo, inventado por Thomas Edison em 1877, foi o primeiro aparelho capaz de registrar e reproduzir sons. Até então, era possível registrar as ondas sonoras, mas não reproduzi-las. Quando se tratava de música, sempre era necessária a presença de músicos e instrumentos para sua reprodução, executada a partir da leitura de partituras, grafadas em notação musical específica. No caso dos sons da natureza, a questão é mais complexa porque os animais, o vento e a chuva não seguem a lógica da música e suas harmonias. Os barulhos e os ruídos da fauna não conheciam outro tipo de registro além da escrita e do apelo à imaginação.

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

164

165

lorelai kury

A pintura romântica das paisagens incorporou elementos da descrição científica da natureza. Carus, ele mesmo artista e homem de ciências, utilizou a obra de Humboldt para refletir e representar sobretudo as montanhas. Foi também próximo de Goethe e suas concepções científicas e estéticas carl gustav carus (1789-1869) Haute Montagne, vers 1825-1827 Óleo sobre tela Acervo AKG-Images/Latinstock, São Paulo

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

166

167

lorelai kury

O Chimborazo foi referencial na obra de Humboldt. As montanhas, além de serem elementos essenciais das fisionomias de cada lugar, são centrais para as concepções do autor quanto à geografia das plantas. O conjunto de cada paisagem compõe o caráter específico de seus habitantes, mesmo que todos os povos formem uma só humanidade alexander von humboldt (1769-1859) & aimé bonpland (1773-1858) Le Chimborazo, vu depuis le plateau de Tapia Ilustração incluída no livro Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigènes d’Amérique, 2 vol. Paris: Chez F. Schoell, 1810-[1813] Acervo AKG-Images/Latinstock, São Paulo

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

168

169

lorelai kury

FAUNA, RITMO E MOVIMENTO

O mundo das plantas é silencioso. Os animais trazem às paisagens movimento e sons. O artista retratou nessa cena uma situação narrada por Humboldt, quando, durante a estação seca, os animais saem da floresta para beber água albert berg (1825-1884) Forest in Serro de Ocana, about 7000 (Par.) feet high Prancha publicada na página 28 do livro Physiognomy of Tropical Vegetation in South America [...] Londres: Paul and D. Colnaghi and co., 1853 Acervo Lenhardt Library, Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago

Muitos viajantes naturalistas que estiveram no Brasil durante o século XIX descreveram os sons das matas, dos desertos, das costas. Seu domínio da escrita e o recurso a comparações com barulhos conhecidos eram os instrumentos de que dispunham. Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius era um humboldtiano. O relato da viagem que fez ao Brasil, entre 1817 e 1820, acompanhado do zoólogo Johann Baptist von Spix,14 é rico em referências ao “reino dos animais”, segundo eles “não menos extraordinário que o reino das plantas”. Assim como em Humboldt, a fauna é vinculada ao ritmo, às transformações que ocorrem entre dia e noite, entre diferentes horários e temperaturas, como na seguinte descrição de excursão pela Mata Atlântica, no Rio de Janeiro: Excetuando o meio-dia em que todos os viventes da zona quente procuram sombra e sossego, [...] cada hora do dia dá ocasião para aparecer novo mundo de criaturas. A manhã é anunciada pelo urro dos bugios, as notas altas e graves da perereca e do sapo, o monótono cicio das cigarras e o zunido dos gafanhotos. Logo que o sol nascente dissipa os nevoeiros que o precedem, todas as criaturas regozijam-se então com o novo dia. [...] Daí por diante tudo se agita em plena vida. [...] Os papagaios verdes, azuis ou vermelhos, em bandos [...], enchem o ar com a sua gralhada. O tucano dá estalos com seu grosso bico oco, lá em cima no extremo dos galhos, e chama chuva com suas altas notas queixosas. [...] Escondido nas brenhas, dá, entretanto, o tordo amoroso sinal da sua alegria de viver em meio de belas melodias; os piprídeos palradores divertem-se, enganando o caçador, atraindo-o à espessura das moitas, ora aqui, ora ali, com seu canto de notas cheias como as do rouxinol, e o pica-pau, enquanto pica a casca das árvores, faz ressoar longe as fortes bicadas. Mais retumbantes que essas prodigiosas vozes, soam [...] os sons metálicos da araponga, que, semelhantes à pancada do ferreiro na bigorna, [...] assombram o passeante. [...] Ao pôr do sol, volta a maioria dos animais ao sossego [...] até que, finalmente, o bugio rugidor, a preguiça que parece clamar por socorro, os sapos ferreiros e os grilos chiadores fecham o dia com seu triste canto; o chamado do macuco, da capoeira, do curiango e as notas de baixo do sapo-boi anunciam a chegada da noite. 15 Diversas observações quanto às sensações obtidas diante dessas cenas naturais, como notas queixosas, sons que assombram, tristes ou alegres, além de comparações com sons conhecidos dos europeus (pancada do ferreiro na bigorna) buscam tornar as vozes dos animais imagináveis pelo leitor. A composição de paisagens sonoras permitia relacionar os seres vivos a uma determinada “economia natural”. A conhecida imagem de uma lagoa do Rio São Francisco repleta de aves, contida no atlas da viagem, ilustra perfeitamente esse aspecto da percepção do naturalista. A descrição textual que os naturalistas fazem dessa imagem impressiona pela visão da dinâmica “ecológica” que ele percebe no microcosmo em que transformou a lagoa: Ressoam aqui, na mais alvoroçada celeuma grasnada, chiados e gorjeios sem fim dos mais diversos gêneros de aves, e, quanto mais observávamos o raro espetáculo, em que os animais, com a nata independência e vivacidade, sozinhos representavam os papéis no espetáculo da natureza, tanto menos vontade sentíamos de perturbar, com mortíferos tiros, aquele cenário pacífico da natureza. [...] Parecia-nos ter-se renovado o quadro da criação do mundo diante dos nossos olhos, e esse maravilhoso espetáculo nos teria ainda mais agradavelmente impressionado, se não ocorresse o pensamento de que a guerra, a eterna guerra, era a lei e misteriosa condição de toda existência animal. As inúmeras espécies de aves aquáticas e paludícolas aqui se agitavam, umas no meio das outras, descuidadas, perseguindo cada qual seu gênero de presa, de insetos, rãs e peixes e cada qual sendo procurado por seu próprio inimigo. 16

170

171

lorelai kury

Os sons dos pássaros brasileiros foram descritos por muitos naturalistas que aqui estiveram no século XIX. Os barulhos dos animais pontuavam as horas do dia, as estações do ano, anunciavam mudanças de tempo e indicavam que as matas estavam povoadas de bichos, mesmo que não fossem vistos de imediato johann baptist von spix (1781-1826) À esquerda: Picus Albirostris (Le soldat) Tab. XLV, tomo 1 À direita: Thamnophilus 1. guttatus 2. radiatus Tab. XXXV, tomo 2 Pranchas incluídas no livro Avium Species Novae. Mônaco: Fran. Seraph. Hübschmanni, 1825 Acervo Smithsonian Institute Library, Washington DC

172

173

lorelai kury

A paisagem de Rugendas representa uma situação complexa, apesar da aparente simplicidade. A mata é composta por dezenas de espécies diferentes entrelaçadas, formando um conjunto tropical que destoa da monotonia das florestas europeias. Na profusão de tons de verde, marrom e amarelo, o indígena percebe o pássaro e se prepara para abatê-lo com uma flecha, método de caça adequado à circunstância johann moritz rugendas (1802-1858) Paisagem na mata virgem do Brasil com figuras, 1830 Óleo sobre tela. Acervo Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Berlim

Ouvem-se em Spix e Martius ecos das narrativas de Humboldt sobre animais, mas, sobretudo, percebe-se a descrição textual de paisagens sonoras, tão associadas aos lugares quanto as fisionomias da vegetação. O texto dos dois viajantes faz apelo aos sentidos, que, para além da visão, poderiam concorrer para a caracterização dos ambientes – sons, mas também cheiros e gostos de diversas substâncias vegetais, animais e minerais. A percepção da densidade dos ambientes foi certamente uma preocupação anterior à vinda dos viajantes à América. A atmosfera do romantismo alemão favorecia a sensorialidade. 17 Havia, no entanto, uma reeducação dos sentidos, um aguçamento da percepção em função dos trópicos americanos e da distância da civilização. No sul da Bahia, na região do Rio Almada, dizem ter tomado índios por guias e observaram: Com passos miúdos, mas rápidos, eles caminhavam à nossa frente e pareciam absortos com todos os sentidos no silêncio do ambiente. Cada lufada que move a folhagem das copas, cada ruído feito por animal é percebido pelo índio – que volve para todos os lados os pequenos olhos inquietos e as orelhas acabanadas; ele compreende por assim dizer, de uma vez, todas as ações nesse grandioso drama da natureza, através do qual passa, e liga tudo às suas necessidades; aqui, atrai com enganadores chamados o papagaio no galho, ou descobre instantaneamente o esquilo que foge pela ramagem. 18 Desse modo, as vozes da natureza dizem muito a respeito da vida, do movimento, da dinâmica de cada lugar e de cada circunstância, do “drama da natureza”, na expressão de Spix e Martius. Os sentidos aperfeiçoados dos índios eram capazes de perceber o que acontecia em torno. Provavelmente, os europeus passavam muitas vezes ao largo da atividade das plantas e dos animais que os cercavam. Sem a cooperação de guias e habitantes locais, as vozes da floresta permaneceriam ruídos sem sentido, como no episódio narrado pelo francês Auguste de Saint-Hilaire: ao descer um rio de canoa, ouvira “o canto da cigarra e o barulho confuso produzido dentro da mata pelos animais selvagens”. 19 As matas tropicais são barulhentas. O calor e a umidade favorecem a vida animal e, consequentemente, seus sons. Aves, macacos e insetos formavam um fundo quase contínuo de ruídos, preenchendo os ares. O naturalista Henry Walter Bates, na narrativa de sua estada na Amazônia, tratou o ruído constante das florestas como a “expressão audível da profusão prolífica da natureza”. Segundo ele, o “rumor nunca cessava completamente”, mas acabara por se habituar a isso, como os demais habitantes locais. Bates continua: [...] é esta, contudo, uma das singularidades do clima tropical – pelo menos do Brasil – que provavelmente mais surpreende ao estrangeiro. Quando voltei para a Inglaterra, o silêncio de morte dos dias estivais no campo me pareceu tão estranho como o ruído confuso por ocasião de minha primeira chegada ao Pará.20

174

175

lorelai kury

Os insetos – objeto central das pesquisas de Bates – contribuíam fortemente para o rumor ininterrupto das matas. Zumbidos, bater de asas, gritos de acasalamento espantavam muitas vezes pela altura. Sobre um ortóptero chamado “tananá” pelos indígenas perto de Óbidos, afirmou: “Um amigo meu manteve um por seis dias. Viveu apenas dois ou três, quando sua nota alta podia ser ouvida de um canto a outro do povoado”. 21 Alfred Russel Wallace, companheiro de Bates durante parte de sua estada no Brasil, também identificou o ruído contínuo da bicharada nos trópicos: Na realidade, jamais cessa o ruído da vida animal. Imediatamente após o pôr do sol, garças, socós e grous iniciam seu concerto de gritos dissonantes, enquanto são acompanhados pelo lúgubre contracanto dos ararapás e das rãs. [...] [§] Ao longo de toda a noite, escuta-se o barulho produzido pelos jacarés e outros peixes, que ficam continuamente mergulhando no lago. Mas é com o romper da aurora que começam os sons mais extraordinários. Numa só voz, dez mil periquitos de asas brancas entoam seu toque de alvorada, numa tal confusão de gritos agudos que é até impossível descrevê-la. Posso tentar dar uma pálida ideia do que seja comparando-a com o barulho que fariam cem amoladores de faca trabalhando simultaneamente. 22

O naturalista Bates concedeu espaço expressivo para as “paisagens sonoras” em seu relato de viagem ao Brasil. A cena o retrata rodeado por uma algazarra de tucanos, cujo canto é facilmente reconhecível nas matas henry walter bates (1825-1892) À esquerda: Mobbed by curl-crested toucans Prancha do volume I À direita: Musical cricket (Chlorocoelus tanana) P. 251, capítulo VI da obra The Naturalist on the River Amazon. Londres: John Murray, 1863 Acervo John Hay Library, Brown University Library, Providence

176

177

lorelai kury

Muitos outros naturalistas se referiam aos sons da natureza, com diferentes ênfases e descrições mais ou menos detalhadas e eloquentes. Assim como Wallace recorreu à imagem de facas sendo amoladas, os demais viajantes costumavam apelar para sons conhecidos pelos europeus a fim de dar uma ideia daquilo que ouviam. O som do martelo na bigorna, por exemplo, servia para narrar o canto da araponga, conhecido igualmente por ferrador, e também do sapo-ferreiro. O escocês George Gardner se deteve em buscar comparações para a cantoria dos sapos. Segundo ele, os sons do sapo-ferreiro “ferem o ouvido como a pancada de um malho na bigorna”. Os demais sapos, no entanto, produziriam sons que seriam “admiravelmente” parecidos com um “mugido de gado distante”.23 Auguste de Saint-Hilaire comparou o “canto alegre da araponga e do pavão” aos “sons de uma flauta que se ouve ao longe”.24 O mesmo naturalista escreveu que os gritos dos macacos-barbudos são como o “rugir de um vento impetuoso que se interrompesse por intervalos, espaçando-se pouco a pouco”. 25 O príncipe de Wied-Neuwied afirmou que uma borboleta produzia um som semelhante ao de uma matraca, provavelmente com a tromba.26 O ornitólogo e artista Jean-Théodore Descourtilz afirmou que as notas emitidas pelo pica-pau (Picus robustus) “parecem bastante com uma ruidosa risada”. 27 Wallace usava como recurso referências conhecidas, como a comparação do canto das rãs com o “barulho de um trem de ferro”, que o fazia lembrar “os familiares ruídos do trem correio” de sua casa europeia.28 Além disso, o naturalista recorria a frases em inglês para dar ao leitor uma ideia do que ouvira:

A araponga é um dos mais marcantes pássaros do Brasil. Seu canto é muito semelhante ao barulho do bater do martelo na bigorna, por isso, um de seus nomes populares é ferreiro ou ferrador jean theodore descourtilz (1796-1855) Araponga Prancha do livro Ornithologie Brésilienne ou Histoire des Oiseaux du Brésil. Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Reeves, 1854 Acervo Smithsonian Institution Library, Washington DC

No interior da floresta, escuta-se constantemente o curioso canto dos pica-paus, sucedendo-se as notas cada vez mais rapidamente txuuu-txuu-txu-txutxutxu, como os sons dos ricochetes de um martelo na bigorna. Quando a noite começa, muitos curiangos passam voando e emitindo seus curiosos e melancólicos gritos. Um diz “whip-poor-will”, do mesmo modo como o pássaro norte-americano que tem esse mesmo nome, enquanto que um outro fica repetindo distintamente a pergunta “who are you?” [quem é você?], e como seus cantos alternam-se frequentemente, estabelece-se então uma curiosa conversação entre eles, se bem que um tanto quanto monótona.29 Os barulhos da natureza são, desse modo, constantemente associados à interação entre os seres vivos – como à “conversa” entre pássaros referida por Wallace –, às diferentes horas do dia – como o silêncio do meio-dia –, à multidão de animais presente nos climas tropicais – como o incessante zumbido de insetos. Muitas vezes, no entanto, ao ruído que faziam os bichos seguia-se o estampido das espingardas. O príncipe Maximiliano de Wied-Neuwied dedicava-se em grande parte aos estudos das aves. As vozes dos animais aparecem frequentemente em seu relato associadas a situações de caça: “Nessas matas ermas, era a caça o nosso mais agradável, útil e, na realidade, único passatempo”.30 Os barulhos dos animais denunciavam sua presença e facilitavam seu abate. Assim, por exemplo, contou como aprenderam a imitar o canto de notas repetidas do surucuá para alvejá-lo quando pousava nos ramos mais baixos. Ou então: “Ouvindo o grito das araras nas matas adjacentes, não resistimos ao desejo de dar-lhes caça”. 31 Os estrondos causados pelas armas de fogo afugentavam os outros animais. Por isso, embora a caça com espingardas tenha sido uma prática constante dos coletores, acarretava transtornos. O zoólogo austríaco Johann Natterer, que permaneceu 18 anos no Brasil, entre 1817 e 1836, inicialmente usava uma espécie de rifle de ar comprimido para alvejar pássaros. A arma era especialmente interessante por ser bem mais silenciosa que as tradicionais e por provocar menos estragos nas plumagens e nas peles dos bichos. Seu transporte e manuseio, entretanto, não eram fáceis e práticos. Quando se estabeleceu na bacia amazônica, Natterer passou a adotar armas dos nativos, como a zarabatana e o arco e flecha, silenciosos e menos destrutivos que a pólvora. O zoólogo, assim como em geral fizeram os viajantes, contratou caçadores indígenas, principalmente para matar pássaros.32

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

178

179

lorelai kury

O príncipe Wied-Neuwied retratou muitas cenas de caça durante sua viagem ao Brasil. A caça, além de ter sido um dos principais passatempos dos aristocratas, era a base do trabalho de campo em zoologia. As armas de fogo faziam muito barulho, o que espantava os outros animais, além de causarem estragos na pele e na plumagem dos bichos príncipe maximiliano de wied-neuwied (1782-1867) Portugiesische Jaeger in Brasilien Desenho original do livro Viagem ao Brasil, 1815-1817 Acervo Brasilien Bibliothek der Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart O pintor Rugendas acompanhou um trecho da expedição comandada pelo Barão Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff. Entre as imagens de animais que representou, encontra-se o sapo-de-chifre. A ilustração retrata indígenas que caçam com zarabatanas. Os dois homens misturam-se com as plantas e são difíceis de perceber. As armas e as técnicas dos nativos foram frequentemente incorporadas pelos coletores que visitaram a

O forte barulho produzido pelos anfíbios marcava os ouvidos dos viajantes johann moritz rugendas (1802-1858) Proceratophrys boiei Wied, 1825 (sapo-de-chifre) Aquarela sobre papel Acervo Academia de Ciências da Rússia,

selva amazônica, pois eram as que melhor se

São Petersburgo

adaptavam à mata e ao terreno henry walter bates (1825-1892) Interior of Primeval Forest in the Amazon Prancha publicada na página 72, volume 1, da obra The Naturalist on the River Amazon. Londres: John Murray, 1863 Acervo John Hay Library, Brown University Library, Providence

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

180

181

lorelai kury

Em muitas narrativas de viagem, a percepção das vozes dos animais é instrumental, pois denunciava a presença dos bichos. Porém, mesmo os que mais encontravam prazer na caça, como o príncipe de Wied-Neuwied, realizavam inúmeras outras associações. Por exemplo, em uma passagem em que narra o trajeto que fazia pelo interior da Bahia, perto da fronteira com Minas Gerais, o aristocrata demonstra de que maneira o que era ouvido pelos viajantes variava de acordo com a transformação da vegetação. Conforme a paisagem ficava seca e apareciam touceiras de cactos e bromélias, a barriguda e as árvores pequenas mudavam igualmente as espécies animais: Logo depois de galgarmos a Serra [da Suçuarana], vimos que as matas adquiriam caráter estranho, que cantos novos de aves feriam-nos o ouvido, e novas eram as borboletas que voavam em volta de nós; também grande número de plantas, que nunca observáramos, alegravam nossos olhos. 33

A vocalização da saracura é bastante ruidosa e

Essa espécie de biogeografia dos sons aparece aqui e ali nos relatos de viajantes do século XIX. Spix e Martius, Auguste de Saint-Hilaire, Wallace, entre outros, deixaram exemplos dessa associação. Saint-Hilaire tinha como um dos focos de estudo a geografia botânica. As observações sobre os animais são periféricas em sua obra, mas há trechos em que os sons dos animais ajudam a descrever as paisagens, como no reencontro com a floresta a seguir:

que habita ambientes alagados

No silêncio da floresta, o ferreiro (Casmarynchos nudicollis), que eu não ouvia desde vários meses, fazia ecoar seus cantos graves e imitava com singular exatidão o ruído produzido pela lima e pelo martelo sobre o ferro. Todas as vezes que atravessei florestas virgens, depois de ter percorrido durante algum tempo regiões descobertas, experimentei um sentimento de profunda admiração. É aí que a natureza mostra toda a sua magnificência, é aí que ela parece se desdobrar na variedade de suas obras; e, devo dizer com pesar, essas magníficas florestas foram muitas vezes destruídas sem necessidade. 34

Washington, DC

claramente reconhecível, mesmo para os ouvidos pouco experimentados dos viajantes europeus. Vários relatos de viagem se referem a essa ave, johann baptist von spix (1781-1826) Gallinulla saracura Tab. XCVIII, tomo II, da obra Avium species novae, 1825 Acervo Smithsonian Institution Libraries,

Martius foi um discípulo de Humboldt e imprimiu sua marca como um dos principais narradores das paisagens sonoras do Brasil. Seus conhecimentos musicais permitiram até que se reconhecesse a escala do Si no canto de uma tovaca: Nessas brenhas surpreendeu-nos pela primeira vez o canto de um pássaro pardo-grisalho, provavelmente uma tovaca, que pousa nos arbustos e no solo úmido do mato, e canta com repetições frequentes a escala do Si, da 3a linha da clave do Sol ao Lá superior tão regularmente, que não falta uma só nota. Em geral, repete cada nota quatro até cinco vezes e passa então de modo imperceptível à seguinte nota.35 Wallace tinha uma aguçada percepção da dinâmica das paisagens. Em um trecho de sua narrativa de viagem compõe a cena dos “concertos noturnos” aos quais assistiu no Tocantins: Toda noite, enquanto estivemos no curso superior do rio, escutávamos um verdadeiro concerto de rãs, composto de sons realmente extraordinários. As rãs emitiam três tipos de sons, fazendo-o, não raro, simultaneamente. [...] O contracanto era feito pelos guaribas, ou macacos-gritadores, com seus medonhos guinchos, pelas cigarras e pelos gafanhotos, com sua estridente e dissonante chiadeira, e pelas saracuras e outras aves aquáticas, com seus pios característicos. Acrescente-se a tudo isso o contínuo e desagradável zumbido dos mosquitos. 36 Jean-Théodore Descourtilz, que se dedicava ao estudo de aves, inclusive de seus hábitos e vocalização, deixou apontamentos detalhados, preciosos para a ornitologia atual e para a identificação da degradação ambiental e espécies ameaçadas. Em alguns casos, os pássaros cantavam de forma “harmoniosa”, ou seja, o som podia ser representado com notas musicais, como foi o caso do “saci”, cujo canto diurno poderia anunciar tempestade. Em outros casos, seria impossível empregar notação de música, como para o Turdus brasiliensis: “O canto desse pássaro não é harmonioso; ele compõe-se apenas das sílabas gouy-goui-goui, pronunciadas em voz sonora”.37

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

182

Apesar da riqueza e da variedade das descrições e associações, em nenhum desses naturalistas a paisagem sonora aparecia como objeto de pesquisa em si. Os sons dos animais podiam compor cenas ou servir para ilustrar algum acontecimento ou ruído particularmente notável. A grande exceção dentre os viajantes do século XIX foi o trabalho de Hercule Florence, criador de um campo de estudos e de um método para descrever as vozes dos animais, chamado por ele de “zoofonia”.38 Florence não era um naturalista, mas um inventor e artista. Reuniu a experiência adquirida na longa viagem comandada por Langsdorff com seu talento na escrita e na realização de obras e artefatos de ciência e arte. Além da zoofonia, foi o inventor da fotografia, em simultaneidade com Daguerre, do papel inimitável, da poligrafia e de inúmeras técnicas para captar luz e sombras nas representações de paisagens. 39 O tema da zoofonia ocorreu-lhe depois da viagem fluvial, que partira de São Paulo e terminara em Belém, antes dos viajantes embarcarem, de saída para a Europa, pelo porto do Rio de Janeiro, em 1829. Florence ficou no Brasil e acabou se estabelecendo em São Carlos, atual Campinas. No relatório que enviou à Rússia sobre sua participação na viagem, já havia um pequeno texto intitulado Mémoire sur la possibilité de décrire les sons et les articulations de la voix des animaux, escrito em 1829. A partir de então, sucederam-se versões de memórias sobre o tema, inclusive o opúsculo Recherches sur la voix des animaux, publicado no Rio de Janeiro, em 1831. O termo “zoophonia” aparece apenas em 1877, como título de memória publicada na revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. Apesar das diferenças entre os textos, o essencial do método estava exposto desde a primeira versão.

A ZOOFONIA DE HERCULE FLORENCE

O artista e estudioso dos pássaros Descourtilz descreveu cantos de algumas aves – como o saci – que são “harmoniosos” e por isso podem ser representados por notação musical jean theodore descourtilz (1796-1855) Detalhe da pauta musical na página 16 do livro Ornithologie Brésilienne ou Histoire des Oiseaux du Brésil. Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Reeves, 1854 Acervo Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington DC

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

184

185

lorelai kury

Esta obra de Florence foi sua primeira publicação sobre o tema das vozes dos animais e hoje em dia é raríssima. O editor encontrou dificuldade em intercalar as descrições textuais e os símbolos, como desejava o autor, por isso, optou por agrupar todas as imagens em uma mesma página. Os primeiros pentagramas ilustram os símbolos do sistema proposto e os demais retratam sons emitidos por algumas espécies de animais hercule florence (1804-1879) Frontispício e Système de l’art d’ecrire la voix des animaux Recherches sur la voix des animaux, ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature. Rio de Janeiro, Typ. de R. Ogier, 1831 Acervo Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

186

187

lorelai kury

O que distingue fortemente os estudos e as propostas de Florence das descrições dos demais viajantes é que incluem um método de reprodução dos sons emitidos pelos animais, mesmo dos gritos, ruídos, rugidos e cantos que não soem como música. Para tanto, concebeu um sistema baseado na notação musical, mas que adota diferentes marcações para tempo e não indica as notas propriamente ditas, mas posições relativas. Florence também incluiu sinais que determinam se o tom ascende, descende ou é contínuo, e se o som é expirado ou aspirado. Além disso, as notações, segundo essas regras, eram seguidas por textos explicativos que as completavam. Assim, Florence apresenta, por exemplo, a representação gráfica do “Canto do Jaó” e, em seguida, explica que, para imitar seu canto, a música deve ser assobiada e repetida a cada 20 ou 25 segundos, e acrescenta que o jaó canta desde às 4:00h ou 5:00h da tarde até às 10:00h ou 11:00h da noite. Os ruídos registrados descrevem tanto cantos genéricos – “Canto da anhumapoca”, “Grito do jacaré” – quanto situações mais específicas, como “Coaxar de um sapo dos desertos de Mato Grosso e Pará” ou “Urro da onça irritada”. 40 Mais do que apresentar um método de registro das vozes dos animais, a zoofonia de Florence pretendia se integrar à descrição das paisagens. Ele associava sons a lugares de diversas maneiras. Havia um sentido biogeográfico, como na seguinte passagem: Quando atravessava os campos floridos de Vila Maria, ouvia pela manhã o canto alegre da seriema e à noite o canto triste do jaó. Ouvi no Diamantino o macauã, o caracará e o quiriquiri [...] às margens do Juruena e do Tapajós, esses cantos diversos haviam mudado, assim como o lugar. 41

A anhumapoca chamou a atenção de Hercule Florence, que descreveu seu canto como semelhante ao badalar de um sino e o transcreveu com as notações “zoofônicas” criadas por ele hercule florence (1804-1879) Anhu-póca Poligrafia aquarelada, ca. 1830 Coleção Cyrillo Hércules Florence, Leila Florence, Sílvia Florence Franco, fotografia de Marisa Aranha, São Paulo

Havia também uma associação com o caráter ou o temperamento de cada lugar: Mas as vozes dos animais não deixam de estar em harmonia com os lugares onde se as ouve. No Spitzberg, onde a natureza parece triste, ouvir-se-ão apenas tristes passagens, enquanto na Itália fica-se alegre pelos cantos tão doces quanto a natureza ali é benigna. Nos desertos áridos da Arábia, nunca o viajante será entretido, como no fértil Brasil, pela voz de uma enorme quantidade de animais.42 Uma terceira relação que o viajante estabelece é com a ideia de pátria, o que aparece claramente, pela primeira vez, em manuscrito de 1837, intitulado “Zoofonologia”: Se uma araponga fosse transportada a Paris, e exibida em um poleiro, todo mundo, espantado com seu grito extremamente metálico, deter-se-ia nesse local. [...] Um brasileiro que estivesse em Paris e o ouvisse sentir-se-ia vivamente arrebatado por essa tão forte lembrança de seus pensamentos sobre a pátria.43 Assim, o método elaborado por Florence permitiria a reprodução das vozes animais que acompanhavam as paisagens e dariam a elas mais densidade. Em “Zoofonologia”, o inventor demonstrou como os sons deveriam ser intimamente associados a situações referenciais não apenas para a história natural mas para a própria filosofia, como a cena paradigmática das meditações do filósofo francês Volney diante das ruínas de Palmira. Para Florence, Volney citou o canto lúgubre do chacal, em sua noite meditativa nas ruínas de Palmira; se nós conhecêssemos essa voz, teríamos uma ideia mais exata das impressões que ele experimentara. 44 A melancolia experimentada por Volney diante do cenário do que havia sido outrora uma opulenta cidade figurava-se na imaginação do leitor por meio de suas belas descrições textuais, aliadas às gravuras que acompanhavam muitas das edições dos livros Les Ruines e Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte. As vozes animais são representadas nos dois registros, escrito e visual. Escreveu Volney: O olho não percebia mais qualquer movimento na planície monótona e acinzentada; um vasto silêncio reinava sobre o deserto; somente a longos intervalos ouvíamos os gritos lúgubres de algumas aves noturnas e de alguns chacais... 45

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

188

189

Uma das gravuras da cena das meditações na ruínas de Palmira – que conheceu variantes em diversas edições – estampa o filósofo em meio a arcos, colunas e capitéis, debaixo de uma palmeira oriental. Pousada na árvore, uma coruja. Não longe de Volney, um chacal parece observar o cenário. Florence representou a mesma imagem em um desenho de estudo, inclusive a coruja e o chacal. Fez também uma interessante aquarela que retrata Volney meditativo em meio a ruínas. A coruja aparece aí sobre uma coluna e não se vê mais o chacal. A sequência das pedras remanescentes da antiga cidade provém de uma gravura que acompanhava a obra Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, que apresenta diversos elementos semelhantes. Florence estabeleceu sua leitura das meditações de Volney, escolhendo uma cena noturna, com ruínas tratadas de forma fiel e incluindo uma referência ao som que deveria acompanhar o melancólico panorama. As relações a serem feitas entre Florence e Volney são muitas e merecem estudos específicos.46 A partir do tema da zoofonia, porém, é possível aproximá-los. Volney realizou duas grandes viagens – ao Oriente e aos Estados Unidos –, que se tornaram paradigmáticas para a arte de viajar, juntamente com o texto “Questions de statistique à l’usage des voyageurs”, de 1795. A abordagem do filósofo garantia ao mesmo tempo uma visão de conjunto e a preocupação com a exatidão dos detalhes. Suas reflexões baseavam-se no estabelecimento de informações, obtidas a partir de métodos modernos e precisos de inquirição. 47 Florence não deixa de ser um discípulo de Volney, por seu desejo de registrar fielmente as experiências da viagem, acrescentando a isso a tentativa de reproduzir tudo o que pode ser apreendido pelos sentidos. 48 Florence buscou não se afastar das visões do todo, realizando uma apropriação romântica da obra do filósofo francês.

A imagem à esquerda acompanha a primeira edição francesa da obra Les Ruines [...] (1791), de Volney, e representa o philosophe em momento de meditação sobre os destinos dos grandes impérios, sentado a contemplar as ruínas da antes florescente cidade de Palmira. Vê-se uma ave noturna na palmeira e um pequeno chacal à esquerda, presentes também no texto constantin-françois de chasseboeuf (volney) (1757-1820) Ilustração do livro Les Ruines, ou Méditation sur les révolutions des empires, par M. Volney [...]. Paris: Desenne, 1791 Acervo Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris No estudo à direita, Florence retrata os mesmos elementos da gravura de Volney, incluindo esboços da ave na palmeira e do chacal à esquerda. Segundo ele, a cena registrada por Volney deveria ser compreendida em associação com os sons lúgubres produzidos pelos animais retratados hercule florence (1804-1879) Sem título (Volney e as ruínas de Palmira) Estudo em grafite sobre papel, ca. 1836 Coleção Cyrillo Hércules Florence, Leila Florence, Sílvia Florence Franco, fotografia de Marisa Aranha, São Paulo

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

190

191

lorelai kury

Volney foi um dos mestres na arte de viajar. Seus

À direita: A imagem de Hercule Florence é uma

métodos de investigação, sua descrição completa e

criação que combina elementos de gravuras da obra

confiável provavelmente marcaram Hercule Florence.

de Volney, como o trecho central das ruínas da

A gravura representa detalhes das ruínas da antiga

imagem acima, e a palmeira, o filósofo e a coruja

cidade de Palmira, com a indicação do que foram

retratados na gravura do livro Les Ruines. A luz da

templos, sepulcros, fortificações, colunadas e pórticos

lua e a sombra da noite compõem um ambiente

gaitte (s.d.) (sculpt.)

melancólico. Florence acrescentaria a essa paisagem

Vue des Ruines de Palmyre dans le désert de la Syrie

os sons que a acompanhavam

Ilustração datada de 1787 e incluída na página 262,

hercule florence (1804-1879)

tomo 2 da obra de Constantin-François de

Céu noturno. Volney e as ruínas de Palmira, Síria

Chasseboeuf (Volney) (1757-1820). Voyage en Syrie et

Aquarela, ca. 1836

en Egypte pendant les années 1783, 1784 et 1785. Paris,

Coleção Cyrillo Hércules Florence, Leila Florence,

Volland et Desenne, 1787, 2 vol

Sílvia Florence Franco, fotografia de Marisa Aranha,

Acervo Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris

São Paulo

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

192

193

lorelai kury

O tipo de abordagem de Florence pode ser considerado pertencente à linhagem dos estudos de paisagens de Humboldt, que buscava apreender a especificidade e o caráter próprio de cada lugar. As representações dos sons dos animais do Brasil do inventor não tiveram grande repercussão na época, embora recentemente a “zoofonia” seja reconhecida em sua novidade e ousadia.49 Comparada à de muitos dos viajantes coevos, a proposta de Florence tem como característica marcante ter escapado da chamada “polêmica do Novo Mundo”50 e da condenação dos climas tropicais. Até o século XIX, era comum que o calor e a umidade fossem tidos como elementos extremamente negativos, em oposição à temperança do clima europeu. Além disso, o Novo Mundo era visto como sendo de algum modo incompleto ou menos desenvolvido que o Velho Mundo. Acreditava-se que os animais das Américas eram “inferiores” ou menores, como, por exemplo, a anta – com sua pequena tromba – em relação ao elefante, ou o lhama comparado ao camelo. Com relação aos sons, os tradicionais relatos sobre o Brasil faziam menção ao fato de os pássaros do Novo Mundo não cantarem tão bem quanto os do Velho Mundo.51 Os reflexos dessas afirmações se fazem sentir mesmo no século XIX, quando vários naturalistas manifestaram-se contra ou a favor dessa asserção. O próprio Wallace, que viria a ser um dos formuladores do princípio da seleção natural, sentiu necessidade, em 1853, de se contrapor aos termos da “polêmica do Novo Mundo”: [...] gostaríamos de contestar a generalizada crença de que os pássaros dos trópicos têm uma pobreza canora proporcional ao esplendor de sua plumagem. De fato, muitos dos coloridíssimos pássaros tropicais pertencem a famílias ou grupos que não cantam; entretanto, do mesmo modo que os nossos pássaros de cores vivas, como o pintassilgo e o canário, não são os menos musicais, também nos trópicos o mesmo ocorre com alguns de seus pássaros mais vistosos. 52 O filósofo Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel foi um dos que ajudaram a fixar a imagem negativa da sonoridade do Novo Mundo. Ele publicou, em 1817, a obra Enciclopédia das Ciências Filosóficas em Compêndio, que serviria de manual aos seus alunos de Heidelberg. Na parte dedicada à filosofia da natureza, no verbete “calor” pode-se ler:

A POLÊMICA DO NOVO MUNDO

Até o século XIX havia a crença disseminada de que os pássaros tropicais cantavam mal, mas tinham as cores vivas e fulgurantes. Os papagaios eram descritos como ruidosos. Rugendas pintou os papagaios alvoroçados, em meio a folhagens cujas cores se assemelham a sua plumagem johann moritz rugendas (1802-1858) Três papagaios na selva [sic], ca. 1850 Acervo Städtische Kunstsammlungen Augsburg, Augsburg

Nos pássaros tropicais é portanto o calor que não preserva em si, mas funde e impulsiona para o brilho metálico da cor este ser-em-si, este estado de sua idealidade interna como voz; isto é, o som naufraga no calor. A voz já é na verdade algo mais alto que o som, mas também a voz se mostra aqui nesta oposição ao calor do clima. 53 Hegel cita em nota um trecho do relato da viagem de Spix e Martius ao Brasil, no qual os viajantes descrevem o belo canto de um pássaro brasileiro – provavelmente a tovaca-cantadora –, apesar de ser “costume negar aos cantores da floresta americana toda expressão harmoniosa e conceder-lhes somente como vantagem o esplendor das cores”. Esse exemplo demonstraria que há melodia no canto das aves brasileiras. Os bávaros acrescentavam, entretanto: De resto é imaginável que, se um dia deixarem de ressoar pelas florestas do Brasil os quase inarticulados sons de homens degenerados [os indígenas], também muitos dos emplumados cantores hão de produzir refinadas melodias. 54 Assim, Spix e Martius sugeriam que as vozes dos animais fossem uma espécie de imitação da fala humana. Como, de acordo com as teorias de Martius, os indígenas brasileiros seriam os descendentes degenerados de povos mais desenvolvidos, o canto dos pássaros brasileiros não teria modelo de beleza para imitação. Na filosofia natural de Hegel, cores, sons e clima articulam-se de maneira orgânica nesse lugar essencialmente tropical, alheio à história e ao desenvolvimento do espírito. Segundo Antonello Gerbi, Humboldt opôs-se mais de uma vez às considerações de Hegel sobre o Novo Mundo, onde, aliás, o filósofo não tinha pisado. 55

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

194

195

lorelai kury

Florence, assim como Humboldt, associava as vozes dos animais à vida, à dinâmica da natureza. Imagine a solidão de um lugar não habitado pelo homem. Imagine um deserto onde não se escute a voz de nenhum animal, de nenhum pássaro, nem o canto da cigarra, ou o zumbido dos insetos: encontraria esse silêncio, uma segunda morte da natureza. 56

O DOCE CANTO DO SURUCUÁ

À direita: O ornitólogo e artista John Gould representou pássaros do gênero Trogon, conhecidos no Brasil pelo nome de surucuá. Essas aves ocorrem

O registro das paisagens sonoras é uma maneira de se contrapor à fugacidade do presente, ao inexorável passar do tempo. No manuscrito “Zoofonia”, Florence indagava sobre o sentido das representações:

principalmente na América Central e do Sul e seu

O sr. Rugendas me dizia em 1846 no Rio de Janeiro: “poderão dizer que perdi meu tempo, mas eu sempre serei suficientemente filósofo para responder que eu me diverti. De resto, nós não somos totalmente inúteis, nós os pintores; o pesado carro do Chile começa a desaparecer para ceder lugar aos carros leves da Europa. O chiripá dos habitantes de La Plata só é visto no fundo das Missões. Quem conservaria para a história esses tipos dos povos e do tempo se não fossem os pintores?” As florestas virgens caem todos os dias sob o bárbaro machado do Paulista: quem conservará para nós o doce canto do surucuá, que somente habita essas florestas, se não for a zoofonia?57

Trogon aurantius (Spix) (Orange Breasted Trogon ou

canto é agradável. A imagem apresenta uma das espécies do gênero, que apresenta dimorfismo sexual john gould (1804-1881) Surucuá, p. 44) Prancha do livro Monograph of the Trogonidae or Family of Trogons. Londres: by the author, 20 Broad Street, 1838 Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire Neuchatel, Neuchatel À esquerda: Hercule Florence preocupava-se em registrar imagens e sons: era um inventor. O método que criou de notação das vozes dos animais permitiria conservar para sempre a memória do doce canto do surucuá, mesmo quando as matas tivessem sido derrubadas pelo bárbaro machado dos homens hercule florence (1804-1879) Zoophonologie ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature [ca. 1840] Do manuscrito L’ami des arts livré à lui-même [...], 1837-1859, p. 107-108 Instituto Hercule Florence, São Paulo

representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

196

197

lorelai kury

1 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1849. Das nächtliche Tierleben im Urwalde. In: Ansichten der Natur. Stuttgart und Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, p. 332-334: Die Nacht war von milder Feuchte und mondhell. [...] Es herrschte tiefe Ruhe; man hörte nur bisweilen das Schnarchen der Süßwasser Delphine, [...] und in langen Zügen auf einander folgten. § Nach 11 Uhr entstand ein solcher Lärmen im nahen Walde, daß man die übrige Nacht hindurch auf jeden Schlaf verzichten mußte. Wildes Thiergeschrei durchtobte die Forst. Unter den vielen Stimmen, die gleichtzeitig ertönten, konnten die Indianer nur die erkennen, welche nach kurzer Pause einzeln gehört wurden. Es waren das einförmig jammernde Geheul der Uluaten (Brüllaffen), der winselnde, fein flötende Ton der kleinen Sapajous, das schnarrende Murren des gestreiften Nachtaffen (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus, den ich zuerst beschrieben habe), das abgesezte Geschrei des großen Tigers, des Cuguars oder ungemähnten Amerikanischen Löwen, des Pecari, des Faulthiers, und einer Schaar von Papageien, Parraquas (Ortaliden) und anderer fasanenartigen Fögel. Tradução nossa. Para a versão em português, ver: Humboldt, Alexander. 1950. Vida nocturna dos animais nas florestas do Novo Mundo. In: Quadros da natureza. Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo-Porto Alegre: W. M. Jackson Inc. 2 Idem, p. 336-337: Die Felsblöcke und nackten Steingerölle waren mit einer Unzahl von großen, dickschuppigen Iguanen, Gecko-Gideckten und buntgefleckten Salamandern bedeckt. Unbeweglich, den Kopf erhebend, den Mund weit geöffnet, scheinen sie mit Wonne die heiße Luft einzuathmen. Die größeren Thiere verbergen sich dann in das Dichticht der Wälder, die Vögel unter das Laub der Bäume oder in die Klüfte der Felsen [...]. 3 Ibid., p. 337: Alles verkündigt eine Welt thätiger, organischer Kräfte. [...] Erde regt sich hörbar das Leben. Es ist wie eine der vielen Stimmen der Natur, vernehmbar dem frommen, empfänglichen Gemüthe des Menschen. 4 A expressão em espanhol aparece nas edições alemã e francesa. 5 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1950. Vida nocturna dos animais... Op. cit., p. 332: Aber der süße Friede goldener Urzeit herrscht nicht in dem Paradiese der amerikanischen Thierwelt. Die Geschöpfe sondern, beobachten und meiden sich. Die Capybara [...] wird im Flusse vom Krocodil, auf der Trockne vom Tiger gefressen. 6 Cf. Friedrich, Caspar David & Carus, Carl Gustav. 1988. De la peinture de paysage. Paris: Klincksieck. 7 John Constable, apud Wat, Pierre. 1998. Naissance de l’art romantique. Paris: Flammarion, p. 38. 8 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1805. Essai sur la géographie des plantes. Paris: Levrault, Schoell et Compagnie. 9 Idem, p. 32: Ces divisions physionomiques n’ont presque rien de commun avec celles que les botanistes ont faites jusqu’à ce jour selon des principes très-différens. Il ne s’agit ici que des grands contours qui déterminent la physionomie de la végétation et de l’analogie d’impression que reçoit le contemplateur de la nature, tandis que la botanique descriptive reunit les plantes selon l’affinité que présentent les parties les plus petites, mais les plus essentielles, de la fructification. 10 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1816. Vue des Cordillères et des monumens des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique. Paris: Librairie Grecque-Latine-Allemande, p. 48-49: Quoique les moeurs des nations, le développement de leurs facultés intellectuelles, le caractère particulier empreint dans leurs ouvrages, dépendent à la fois d’un grand nombre de causes qui ne sont pas purement locales, on ne sauroit douter que le climat, la configuration du sol, la physionomie des végétaux. L’aspect d’une nature riante ou sauvage, n’influent sur le progrès des arts et sur le style qui distingue leurs productions. 11 Humboldt, Alexander von. Essai sur la géographie des plantes. Op. cit., p. 34: Ce sont les arts d’imitation qui retracent à nos yeux le tableau varié des régions équatoriales. En Europe, l’homme isolé sur une côte aride peut jouir dans sa pensée de l’aspect des régions lointaines: si son âme est sensible aux ouvrages de l’art, si son esprit cultivé est assez étendu pour s’élever aux grandes conceptions de la physique générale, du fond de sa solitude, sans sortir de ses foyers, il s’approprie tout ce que le naturaliste intrépide a découvert.

12 Berg, Albert & Humboldt, Alexander von. 1854. Physiognomy of Tropical Vegetation in South America: A Series of Views Illustrating the Primeval Forests on the River Magdalena, and in the Andes of New Grenada: With a Fragment of a Letter from Baron Humboldt to the Author, and a Preface by Frederick Klotzsch by Albert Berg. Londres: Paul and Dominic Colnaghi, p. 6: A river voyage in the dry season is very fit to give an idea of animal life in the tropics. Then the animals, from the want of water in the forest, are compelled to come to the rivers side. Herds of droll Monkeys move noisily along the tops of the highest trees; Parrots of all kind, sizes, and colours, from the small Perriquito up to the Macaw, fill the air with their yelling shrieks. [...] Hocco-fowl (Paujils) and many other birds of the hen and pheasant-tribe tire the ear with their monotonous screams. The clumsy Tortoise plumps shyly into the water, and occasionally a Jaguar is seen quenching his thirst in the river. 13 Schafer, Raymond M. 1994 (1977). Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Rochester: Destiny Books. 14 O relato deve-se em grande parte a Martius, pois Spix faleceu em 1826 e a narrativa de viagem foi publicada entre 1823 e 1831. 15 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil. Belo Horizonte-São Paulo: Itatiaia-Edusp, vol. 1, p. 96- 98. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 1, p. 163-165: Den Mittag ausgenommen, wo alle lebende Geschöpfe der heissen Zone Schatten und Ruhe suchen [...] ruft jede Stunde des Tages eine andere Welt von Geschöpfen hervor. Den Morgen verkünden das Gebrüll der Helaffen, die hohen und tiefen Töne der Laubfrösche und Kröten, das monotone Schmettern und Schwirren der Cicaden um Heuschrecken. Hat die aufsteigende Sonne den ihr vorhangehenden Nebel verdrängt, so freuen sich alle Geschöpfe des neuen Tages. [...] Von nun ist Alles voll thätigen Lebens. [...] Die grün, blau oder roth gefärbten Papageien erfüllen [...] versammelt [...] die Luft mit ihrem krächzenden Geschwätz. Der Tucan klappert mit seinem grossen hohlen Schnabel auf den äussersten Zweigen, und ruft in lauten Tönen wehklagend nach Regen. Im Gesträuche verbogen thut indessen die verliebte Drossel die Freude ihres Levens in schönen Melodien kund; die geschwätzigen Pipren belustigen sich, aus dichtem Gebüsche bald hier bald dort in vollen Nachtigallentönen lockend den Jäger irre zu führen, und der Specht lässt, indem er die Rinde der Stämme aufpickt, sein weit schallendes Klopfen ertönen. Lauter als alle diese wunderbaren Stimmen erschallen [...] die mettalischen Töne der Uraponga [...] den Wanderer in Erstaunen setzt. [...] Mit dem Untergang der Sonne kehren die meisten der Thiere zur Ruhe [...] bis endlich die brüllenden Heulaffen, das gleichsam um Hülfe rufende Faulthier, die trommelnden Frösche und die scharrenden Cicaden mit ihrem traurigem Liede den Tag abschliessen, der Ruf des Macuc, de Capueira, des Ziegenmelkers und die Basstöne des Ochsenfrosches den Eintritt der Nacht verkündigt. 16 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil, vol. 2, p. 88. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 2, p. 530: Hier herrschte endloses Geschnatter, Geschrei und Gezwitscher der mannichfaltigsten Vögelgeschlechter, und je länger wir das seltsame Schauspiel betrachteten, worin die Thiere mit aller ihnen innwohnenden Selbstständigkeit und Lebendigkeit allein die Rollen ausfüllten, um so weniger konnten wir es über uns gewinnen, durch einen feindseligen Schuss die Behaglicheit dieses Naturzustandes zu stören. [...] Das Gemälde der ersten Schöpfung schien vor unsern Blicken erneuert, und dieses so überraschende Schauspiel hätte noch angenehmer auf uns wirken müssen, wäre das Resultat unserer Betrachtungen der Gedanke gewesen, dass Krieg und ewiger Krieg die Losung und die geheimnisvolle Bedingung alles thierischen Daseyns sey. Die unzahlbaren Arten von Sumpf- und Wasservögeln, welche hier, unbekümmert um einander, ihr Wesen treiben, verfolgen jede ihre eigene Beute an Insecten, Fröschen und Fischen, so wie jede von einem andern Feinde heimgesucht wird.

17 Cf. Wellbery. 1996. The Specular Moment. Goethe’s Early Lyric and the Beginnings of Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford University Press e Seamon, David & Zajonc, Arthur (orgs.). 1998. Goethe’s Way of Science. Albany: State University of New York Press. 18 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil, vol. 2, p. 182. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 2, p. 687: Trippelnden, jedoch schnellen Schrittes gingen sie vor uns her, und schienen mit allen Sinnen in das Stillleben der Umgebung versunken. Jeder Windstoss, der die ruhigen Wipfel bewegt, jeder Laut eines Thieres wird von dem Indianer vernommen, ­– nach allen Seiten wendet er die kleinen dunklen Augen, die weitabstehenden Ohren; ­ – er erfasst gleichsam auf einmal alle Handlungen, die in diesem grossen Naturschauspiele, durch welches er hinwandelt, vorgehen, er setzt alle in Beziehung zu seinen Bedürfnissen; – hier lockt er mit täuschendem Rufe den Papagei aus dem Zweigen herab; hier hat er im Nu das, durch die Zweige fliehende Eichhörnchen ausgekundschaftet. 19 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1833. Second voyage dans l’intérieur du Brésil. Paris: Gide, t. 2, vol. 2, p. 336: Nous entendions le chant des cigales et le bruit confus produit dans l’épaisseur des bois par les bêtes sauvages. 20 Bates, Henry Walter. 1944. O naturalista no Rio Amazonas. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, p. 36 e 37. Bates, Henry Walter. 1863. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. Londres: J. Murray, p. 10: the audible expression of the teeming profusion of Nature; This uproar of life, I afterwards found, never wholly ceased, night or day; It is, however, one of the peculiarities of a tropical — at least, a Brazilian — climate which is most likely to surprise a stranger. After my return to England the deathlike stillness of summer days in the country appeared to me as strange as the ringing uproar did on my first arrival at Pará. 21 Idem, p. 250: A friend of mine kept one six days. It was lively only for two or three, and then its loud note could be heard from one end of the village to the other. 22 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Belo Horizonte-São Paulo: Itatiaia-Edusp, p. 73. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro. Londres: Ward, Lock and Co., 2a ed., p. 71: In fact, the sound of animal life never ceases. Directly after sunset, the herons, bitterns, and cranes begin their discordant cries, and the boat-bills and frogs set up a dismal croaking. The note of one frog deserves a better name: it is an agreeable whistle, and, could it be brought into civilised society, would doubtless have as many admirers as the singing mouse, or the still more marvellous whistling oyster described by Punch. All night long, the alligators and fish keep up a continual plunging; but, with the grey of morning, commence the most extraordinary noises. All of a sudden ten thousand white-winged paroquets begin their morning song with such a confusion of piercing shrieks as it is quite impossible to describe: a hundred knife-grinders at full work would give but a faint idea of it. 23 Gardner, George. 1975. Viagem ao interior do Brasil. São Paulo-Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia-Edusp, p. 28. Gardner, George. 1846. Travels in the Interior of Brazil. Londres: Reeve Brothers, p. 26: ringing in the ears like the clang of a hammer upon a anvil; strikingly resemble the lowing of cattle at a distance. 24 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1936. Segunda viagem ao interior do Brasil – Espírito Santo, Op. cit., p. 188. SaintHilaire, Auguste de. 1833. Second voyage dans l’intérieur du Brésil. Op. cit., t. 2, vol. 2, p. 326: Le chant grave de l’araponga et celui du pavão semblable aux sons d’une cornemuse qu’on entends dans le lointant. 25 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1938. Viagem pelas províncias de Rio de Janeiro e Minas Gerais. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, p. 32. Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1830. Voyage dans les provinces de Rio de Janeiro et de Minas Gerais. Paris: Grimbert et Dorez, p. 16: ressemblent au bruit d’un vent impétueux qui s’interromprait par intervalles en se ralentissant peu à peu.

26 Maximiliano, Príncipe de Wied-Neuwied. 1989. Viagem ao Brasil. Belo Horizonte-São Paulo: Itatiaia-Edusp, 1989, p. 441 e 442. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, p. 228229: [...] der klappernde Schmetterling, der ein solches Geräusch, wahrscheinlich mit seinem Saugrüssel hervorbringt. 27 Descourtilz, Jean-Théodore. 1852. Ornithologie brésilienne. Rio de Janeiro-Londres: Thomas Reeves, descrição n o 49, p. 18: imitent assez bien un bruyant éclat de rire. 28 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 57. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 52: a distant railway-train approaching; the familiar sounds of the approaching mailtrain. 29 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 24. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 11: In the forest are constantly heard the curious notes of the bush-shrikes, tooo-too-to-to-t-t-t, each succeeding sound quicker and quicker, like the successive reboundings of a hammer from an anvil. In the dusk of the evening many goat-suckers fly about and utter their singular and melancholy cries. One says ‘Whip-poor-will’, just like the North American bird so called, and another with remarkable distinctness keeps asking, ‘Who are you?’ and as their voices often alternate, an interesting though rather monotonous conversation takes place between them. 30 Maximiliano, Príncipe de Wied-Neuwied. 1989. Viagem ao Brasil. Op. cit., p. 194. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, Erster Band, p. 258: [...] Die Jagd gewährte uns in diesen einsamen Wildnissen die angenehmste und nützlichste, ja die einzige Beschäftigung [...]. 31 Maximiliano, Príncipe de Wied-Neuwied. Idem, p. 58 e 241. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, p. 324: Da wir hier das Geschrey der Araras aus den benachbarten Wäldern laut zu uns herüberschallen hörten, so konnten wir dem Wunsche, Jagd auf sie zu machen, nicht wiederstehen. 32 Schmutzer, Kurt. 2012. Metamorphosis Between Field and Museum: Collections in the Making. Host, 5:68-83, cf. p. 71. 33 Maximiliano, Príncipe de Wied-Neuwied. 1989. Viagem ao Brasil. Op. cit., p. 389. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, p. 159: [...] denn seitem wir die Serra überstiegen hatten, hörten wir in den Waldungen von einem fremdartigen Charakter auch lauter uns neue Volgelstimmen, erblickten neue Schmetterlinge, und ergötzten uns an mancherley uns völlig fremden Gewächsen. 34 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1941. Viagens pelo distrito dos diamantes e litoral do Brasil. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, p. 88. Auguste de SaintHilaire. 1833. Voyages dans le District des Diamans. Paris: Gide, t. 1, p. 107: Dans le silence de la forêt, le ferrador (Casmarynchos nudicolis), que je n’avais pas entendu depuis plusieurs mois, faisait retentir l’air de ses chants graves, et imitait avec une singulière exactitude le bruit que fait le maréchal en se servant tour à tour de la lime et du marteau. Toutes les fois que j’avais traversé des bois vierges, après avoir pendant quelque temps parcouru des pays découverts, j’avais éprouvé un sentiment profond d’admiration. C’est là que la nature déploie toute sa magnificence; c’est là qu’elle semble se jouer dans la variété de ses oeuvres; et, je dois le dire avec amertume, ces magnifiques forêts ont été mille fois détruites sans aucune nécessité!



representações da fauna no brasil, séculos xvi a xx

198

199

lorelai kury

35 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil, vol. 1, p. 115. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 1, p. 190: In diesen Wäldern fiel uns zum ersten Male der Ton eines graulich braunen Vogels, wahrscheinlich einer Drossel, auf, der sich in den Gebüschen und auf dem Bodem feuchter Waldgründe aufhält und in häufigen Wiederholungen die Tonleiter von H1 bis A2 so regelmässig durchsingt, dass auch kein einziger Ton darin fehlt. Gewönlich singt er jeden Ton vier- bis fünfmal, und schreitet dann unmerklich zu dem folgenden Viertelstone fort. Para uma reprodução atual do canto de uma tovaca-cantadora cf.: http://www.wikiaves. com.br/tovaca-cantadora. 36 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 57-58. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 52: Every night, while in the upper part of the river, we had a concert of frogs, which made most extraordinary noises. There are three kinds, which can frequently be all heard at once. One of these makes a noise something like what one would expect a frog to make, namely a dismal croak, but the sounds uttered by the others were like no animal noise that I ever heard before. [...] Then we often had the ‘guarhibas’, or howling monkeys, with their terrific noises, the shrill grating whistle of the cicadas and locusts, and the peculiar notes of the suacúras and other aquatic birds; add to these the loud unpleasant hum of the mosquito in your immediate vicinity, and you have a pretty good idea of our nightly concert on the Tocantins. 37 Descourtilz, Jean-Théodore. 1852. Ornithologie brésilienne. Op. cit., descrição no 75, p. 23: “Le chant de cet Oiseau n’est pas harmonieux; il ne se compose que des syllabes gouygoui-goui prononcées d’une voix sonore”. 38 Cf. Hardman, Francisco Foot. 1994. A Zoophonia de Florence: registros da natureza falante. In: Brutalidade antiga e outras passagens. Tese de livre-docência. Campinas: DTL-IEL-Unicamp, vol. 1, p. 181-209. 39 Sobre Florence, ver, entre outros, Bourroul, Estevam Leão. 1900. Hercules Florence (1804-1879): ensaio historicolitterario. São Paulo: Typ. Andrade, Mello & Comp.; Kossoy, Boris. 1980. Hercules Florence – 1833: a descoberta isolada da fotografia no Brasil. São Paulo: Duas Cidades, 2a ed. rev. aum.; Monteiro, Rosana Horio. 2001. Descobertas múltiplas: a fotografia no Brasil (1824-1833). Campinas: Mercado de Letras; São Paulo: Fapesp; e Costa, Maria de Fátima et al. 1995. O Brasil de hoje no espelho do século XIX. Artistas alemães e brasileiros refazem a expedição Langsdorff. São Paulo: Estação Liberdade. 40 Florence, Hercule. 1831. Recherches sur la voix des animaux, ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature. Rio de Janeiro: Typ. de R. Ogier e Zoophonia. 1876. Revista do Instituto Historico e Geographico Brasileiro, t. XXXIX, parte II, p. 321-336 (trad. e introd. Visconde de Taunay, 1877). 41 Florence, Hercule. 1876. Voyage Fluvial du Tiété à l’Amazone (Zoophonie): Quand je traversais les campagnes fleuries de Villa-Maria, j’entendais le matin le chant gai de la siriéma, et le soir le chant triste du Jaó. J’ai entendu au Diamantino le Macauam, le Caracará et le Quiriquiri [...] Sur les bords du Juruena et du Tapajós, ces chants divers avaient changé comme le pays. Manuscrito, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. 42 Florence, Hercule. 1831. Recherches... Op. cit.: Mais les voix des animaux ne laissent pas d’être en harmonie avec les lieux ou on les entend. Au Spitzberger, ou la nature paraît triste, on n’entendra jamais que de tristes accents, tandis qu’en Italie on est ravi par des chants aussi doux que la Nature y est bénigne. Dans les déserts arides de l’Arabie, jamais le voyageur ne sera entretenu comme au fertile Brésil, par la voix d’une grande quantité d’animaux. 43 Florence, Hercule. 1837. Zoophonologie, ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature. Si l’on transportait une Guarapúnga à Paris, et qu’on l’exposât sur une perche [porte?], tout le monde, étonné de son cri extrêmement métallique, s’arrêterait en cet endroit [...] [§] Un Brésilien, qui serait à Paris et qui l’entendrait serait vivement saisi par un si puissant rappel de ses idées sur la patrie. Manuscrito, São Carlos (Campinas).

44 Ibidem: Volney a cité le chant lugubre du chacal, dans sa nuit méditative sur les ruines de Palmyre; si nous connaissions cette voix, nous aurions une idée plus exacte des impressions qu’il avait éprouvées. 45 Volney. [1791] 1989. Les ruines ou méditation sur les révolutions des empires. In: Oeuvres. Paris: Fayard, p. 173. L’oeil n’apercevoit plus aucun mouvement sur la plaine monotone et grisâtre; un vaste silence régnoit sur le désert; seulement à des longs intervalles l’on entendoit les lugubres cris de quelques oiseaux de nuit et de quelques chacals... 46 Ver aproximação inicial em Hardman, Francisco Foot & Kury, Lorelai. 2004. Nos confins da civilização: Algumas histórias brasileiras de Hercule Florence. História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos, 11(2):385-409. 47 Kury, Lorelai. 1998. Les instructions de voyage dans les expéditions scientifiques (1750-1830). Revue d’Histoire des Sciences, 51:65-91. 48 Kury, Lorelai. 2008. As artes da imitação nas viagens científicas do século XIX. In: Almeida, Marta de; Vergara, Moema de Rezende (orgs.). Ciência, história e historiografia. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Via Lettera-Mast. 49 Vielliard, Jacques. 1993. A zoophonia de Hercule Florence. Cuiabá: UFMT. 50 Gerbi, Antonello. 1996. O novo mundo: história de uma polêmica, 1750-1900. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. 51 Idem, capítulo V. 52 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 31. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 18: We are inclined to think that the general statement, that the birds of the tropics have a deficiency of song proportionate to their brilliancy of plumage, requires to be modified. Many of the brilliant birds of the tropics belong to families or groups which have no song; but our most brilliantly coloured birds, as the goldfinch and canary, are not the less musical, and there are many beautiful little birds here which are equally so. 53 Hegel, Georg W. F. 1997. Verbete “O calor”, § 303. In: Enciclopédia das Ciências Filosóficas em Compêndio: 1830, São Paulo: Loyola, vol. 2, p. 197. Hegel, Georg W. F. 1970. Die Wärme. § 303. In: Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse. Heidelberg: Suhrkamp Verlag. Disponível em www.hegel.de/werke: Bei den tropischen Vögeln ist es also die Hitze, welche dieses Insichsein, dieses Ergehen ihrer inneren Idealität als Stimme, nicht in sich bewahrt, sondern schmilzt und zum metallischen Glanz der Farbe heraustreibt, d. h. der Klang geht in der Wärme zugrunde. Die Stimme ist zwar schon ein Höheres als der Klang, aber auch die Stimme zeigt sich in diesem Gegensatz zur Hitze des Klimas. 54 Trechos citados por Hegel, loc. cit. A primeira edição do primeiro volume da Reise in Brasilien é de 1823. Cf. a edição brasileira: Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil. Op. cit., p. 115, vol. 1. 55 Gerbi, Antonello. 1996. O novo mundo... Op. cit., cap. VII. 56 Florence, Hercule. 1837. Zoophonologie. Op. cit.: Figurez vous la solitude d’un pays où l’homme n’habiterait pas. Figurez vous un désert où l’on n’entendrait la voix d’aucun animal, d’aucun oiseau, ni le chant de la cigale, ou le bourdonnement des insectes: vous trouverez ce silence, une seconde mort de la nature. 57 Florence, Hercule. 1876. Voyage Fluvial... Op. cit.: Mr. Rugendas me disait en 1846 à Rio de Janeiro: ‘on pourra dire que j’ai perdu mon temps, mais je serai toujours assez philosophe pour répondre que je me suis amusé. Au reste, nous ne sommes pas tout-à-fait inutiles, nous les peintres; le carro pesant du Chili commence à disparaître pour céder la place aux voitures légères de l’Europe. Le Chiripá des habitants de La Plata ne se voit plus que dans le fond des Missions. Qui conserverait à l’histoire ces types des peuples et du temps, si ce n’étaient les peintres?’ [§] Les forêts vierges tombent tous les jours sous la hache barbare du Pauliste: qui nous conservera le doux chant du Surucuá, habitant de ces seules forêts, si n’est pas la Zoophonie? Manuscrito, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro.

Apêndice Appendix

Lorelai Kury

The Thousand Voices of Nature

full moon. Humboldt Lorelai Kurybelieved they were just casual episodes, initiated, for example, by a jaguar attack, with the consequent fleeing of the animals and flight of the birds. According to him, during the violent downpours and thunder storms, the cries of the animals were louder, which could not be explained by a “moon celebration”. Still according to Humboldt, in “Night life of the animals in the forests of the New World”, scenes of tumult in the jungle occurred with certain frequency during his voyage. In contrast, he tells of a scene that occurred in the strait called Angustura del Barguan, at the foot of the Parima mountains. It was midday, the sun was at its zenith and silence reigned. The rounded rocks and stones were covered with an infinite number of iguanas with thick scales, geckos and colored salamanders. Immobile, with their heads up and their mouths wide open, they seemed to inhale the warm air with pleasure. The large animals hide in the depths of the forest; the birds on the leaves of the trees or the cracks in the rocks [...]. 2 There was, therefore, apparent tranquility. An attentive ear could perceive a low hum of insects buzzing. In the forest, tree trunks, in the earth, “everything indicated a world of organic forces in movement”. Humboldt concluded: “life vibrates and makes itself heard, like one of the thousand voices that nature sends to the pious and sensitive soul of man.”3 The descriptions of forest sounds appear in Ansichten der Natur after an analysis of the dynamics of local life. During the low-water season, in the region of the rivers Orinoco, Cassiquiare and Negro, the animals would come out of the forest to drink water. Jaguars, tapirs and other large mammals would provide an impressive spectacle. “Es como en el paraiso” – the expedition pilot would say, who according to the story was an old indian brought up by a priest.4 Humboldt, however, evaluated the apparent calm in a different way: However, the sweet peace of the golden age does not reign in the paradise of the American animal world; they keep watch and avoid each other; the capybara [...] is devoured in the water by the crocodile, and by the tiger on land. 5

“ES COMO EN EL PARAÍSO” In the 1849 edition of Ansichten der Natur (Views of Nature), Alexander von Humboldt includes a chapter entitled “Das nächtliche Tierleben im Urwalde” (Night life of the animals in the forests of the New World). Among the extracts from his diary of the voyage to America that he transcribed in this book, there is a tale of the happenings one night on the banks of the River Apure, tributary of the Orinoco: It was a fresh, moonlit night. [...] Profound silence reigned; every now and again we would hear the snort of the freshwater dolphins [...] that followed each other in long lines. § After 11-o-clock a clamor rose in the nearby forest, making it impossible to sleep the rest of the night. The cries of the wild animals resonated through the forest. Among the many cries in unison, the indians managed to distinguish only those that, after a brief pause, could be heard separately. They were the monotonous cries of the howler monkeys; the complaining voice and flute-like tone of the capuchin monkey and the hoarse murmurs of the little owl-monkey (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus, whose description I was the first to make); the interspersed growls of the great tiger, the cougar or American maneless lion, the pecari, the sloths and a multitude of parakeets, parraquás (Ortalis) and other gallinaceous birds.1 When the indians were asked about the reason for all the noise, they said that the animals were celebrating the

In this way the sounds of nature helped the great traveler to perceive the movement of organic life. The scenes and sounds of America that he describes in his Ansichten der Natur reveal contrasts, changes between calm and tumult, and tell us that only education of the senses can effectively teach us the voices of nature in their distinct manifestations. Alternating between peace and war in the scene where animals come to drink in the river uses the same narrative artifices as the other scenes: the alert senses of the traveler can feel the dynamics of nature behind the immediate appearances.

LANDSCAPES AND SOUNDS Although the interesting chapter “Night life of the animals in the forests of the New World” only appeared in the third edition of the book Ansichten der Natur, the passages on animal voices were already available to the public since the publication of the story of the voyage that Humboldt wrote with Aimé Bonpland, of which the French edition is dated 1814 to 1825, the German from 1815 to 1832 and the English from 1818 to 1829. His stories had immense importance in 19 th century voyage literature, and also in awaking the interest of young European naturalists. It is possible that many scenes of forest sounds described later by other travelers were in some way echoes from reading Humboldt’s books. Humboldt’s voyages are considered to be a watershed of voyage literature – his descriptions of nature at the same time artistic and scientific, poetic and precise. Like many artists and men of science of his time, he demonstrated the cognitive value of art. Art was often associated with other types of description, with the objective of recording certain

landscapes. The concept of “soundscape”, 13 created by Raymond Murray Schafer attempts to include the sound environments and is used as a tool against the degradation of the quality of life of modern society. The sounds of the animals are central elements in the soundscapes, mainly in non-urban environments. The development of apparatus capable of recording and reproducing sounds profoundly transformed the possibilities of reproduction of the “voices of nature”, to use Humboldt’s expression. The phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877, was the first apparatus capable of recording and reproducing sounds. Until then, it was possible to record sound waves, but not reproduce them. When the subject was music, musicians and instruments were needed for the reproduction, performed by reading musical scores, written in printed musical notes. In the case of sounds of nature, the question is more complex because the animals, the wind and the rain do not follow the logic of music and its harmonies. The cries and squeals of the fauna could only be recorded by written description and an appeal to the imagination.

natural and cultural phenomena. Many works of art that were not directly related to natural history attempted, throughout the 19th century, to appropriate physical and chemical knowledge available at the time, in order to better imitate nature, principally in the sphere of landscape painting. In the lineage of Goethe, including naturalist and artist Carl Gustav Carus6 or John Constable, science established itself as an constituent of artistic production. This latter artist said: Painting is a science and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not a landscape be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but experiments?7 The approximation between art and science characteristic of Humboldt’s interpretation was developed fully in the naturalist’s studies of plant “physiognomy”, which attempted to apply typological rules to the classification and comprehension of landscapes. What is important to the physiognomist is the observation of the “mass of plants”. Vegetation, by its immobility and quantity, impresses the eye more than the animals, mobile and more dispersed. According to Humboldt, the prodigious variety of plant species could be concentrated into a lesser number of main forms. Although he was not against the taxonomic study of natural families, current at the time, he believed that the morphological similarities existing between the beings were insufficient to paint a scene of a particular region. Certain plants were extremely similar in the context of a landscape though they belonged to different taxonomic groups. The masses of plants, their shape and size constitute the basis of the character of a landscape, of a place. He therefore divides plants into 15 groups whose physiognomy offers material for study for landscape painters. 8 In his words:

FAUNA, RYTHM AND MOVEMENT

ferdinand keller (1842-1922) Humboldt und Aime Bonpland am Orinoko (during the expedition to Venezuela, 1799-1800) Woodcut after an oil painting by the same author, 1877 AKG-Images/Latinstock, São Paulo

These physiognomic divisions have almost nothing in common with those created up to now by the botanists, following very different principles. Here we deal with only the main shapes that determine the physiognomy of plants and the analogy in relation to the impression on one contemplating nature, whereas the botanist description lists the plants according to the affinity of the lesser, but essential parts of germination.9

It is the arts of imitation that trace for us the varied scenario of the equatorial regions. In Europe, man isolated in an arid coast can enjoy, in his mind, the scenes of faraway places, if his soul is sensitive to works of art, if his cultured spirit is sufficiently broad to take him to the great concepts of general physics, from the depth of his loneliness, without leaving home, he can appreciate all that the intrepid naturalist discovered.11

For Humboldt, the landscapes encompass the specific outline of the vegetation of the locations, but must be connected equally to the human culture that developed in these same locations. In the picturesque atlas that followed the publication of the story of the voyage to America, he states that Whatever the customs of the nations, the development of their intellectual faculties and the particular character impressed on their works all depend on a large number of causes which are not purely local, such as undoubtedly the climate, the formation of the soil, and the physiognomy of the vegetation. The aspect of a mild or savage nature influences the progress of the arts and the style that distinguishes its productions.10

The voices of nature arrived in Europe associated with images and texts, but not alusive to sounds. Traveler-artist Albert Berg, for example, published a physiognomy of sound in a series of views of the region of New Granada. In dialog with Humboldt’s descriptions, Berg portrays an animal – a jaguar – in a scene where the textual description of the voices invokes the animal noises:

In Humboldt’s work, plants and geography are dominant. Animals, by their mobility and lesser number, compete in a discreet and secondary way in the composition of landscapes, as is shown by the images associated with his voyage with Bonpland. When one is dealing, however, with the description of nature in movement, the fauna take center stage, as in the passages about the voices of nature in the text “Night life of the animals in the forests of the New World”. The landscape illustrations in Humboldt’s book attempt to portray the impressions of the voyage by means of images, through vision and textual descriptions, which appeal to the “imagination” and “sensitivity” of the readers. The sensations experienced by the traveler can be lived in a way by others:

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

A river voyage in the dry season is very fit to give an idea of animal life in the tropics. Then the animals, from the want of water in the forest, are compelled to come to the rivers side. Herds of droll monkeys move noisily along the tops of the highest trees; parrots of all kind, sizes, and colours, from the small periquito up to the macaw, fill the air with their yelling shrieks. [...] Hocco-fowl and many other birds of the hen and pheasant-tribe tire the ear with their monotonous screams. The clumsy tortoise plumps shyly into the water, and occasionally a jaguar is seen quenching his thirst in the river.12 In the 19th century, artists and naturalists worked under conditions very different to those of today. Now ecology and the arts can record and hear the sounds associated with the

262

263

apêndice appendix

Many traveler-naturalists who were in Brazil during the 19 th century described the sounds of the forests, the deserts and the coasts. Their skill in writing and the recourse of comparing with known sounds were the instruments they had access to. Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius was a humboldtian. His report on the voyage he made to Brazil, between 1817 and 1820, accompanied by the zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix,14 is rich in references to “the reign of the animals”, according to them “no less extraordinary than the reign of the plants”. As with Humboldt, the fauna is tied to the rhythm, the transformations that occur from day to night, between different hours and temperatures, as in the following description of an excursion in the Atlantic Forest, in Rio de Janeiro: Except at midday when all living things in the hot zone look for shade and quiet, [...] a new world of creatures appears every hour. The morning is announced by the grunts of the monkeys, the high and low notes of the tree frogs and other frogs, the monotonous chirping of the cicadas and the buzz of the grasshoppers/locusts. As soon as the sun dissipates the dawn mists, all the creatures rejoice with the new day. [...] From then on all life is agitated. [...] The green, blue and red parrots in flocks [...], fill the air with their squawking. The toucan makes snapping noises with his great hollow beak, up high at the tips of the branches, and calls for rain with its high complaining notes. [...] Meanwhile, hidden in the woods, the amorous thrush shows its love of life in beautiful melodies; the chatty manakins (pipridae) enjoy themselves, fooling the hunter, attracting him into the bushes, now here, now there, with his song full of notes like the nightingale, and the woodpecker, while he pecks at the bark of the trees, the pecking can be heard from far away. More stentorian than these prodigious voices, sound [...] the metallic sounds of the anvil bird, like a blacksmith hammering on an anvil, [...] haunting the passerby. [...] At sunset most of the animals return to their rest [...] until finally, the capuchin monkey, the sloth that seems to call for help, the blacksmith tree frog and the chirping cicadas close the day with their sad chant; the call of the macuco bird, the capoeira, the whippoorwill and the bass notes of the bullfrog announce the arrival of night.15 Various observations regarding sensations felt from these scenes from nature, such as whining cries, sounds that haunt, sad or happy, as well as comparisons with sounds recognized by Europeans (blacksmith hammering on anvil) tend to make the animal voices imaginable by the reader. The composition of soundscapes permitted a relationship of live beings with a certain “natural economy”. A well-known picture of a lagoon on the São Francisco river, full of birds, in the voyage atlas, illustrates perfectly this aspect of the naturalist’s perception. The textual description of this

painting created by the naturalist gives a visual impression of the “ecological” dynamics that he perceives in the microcosm into which he transformed the lagoon: The lagoon resounds with the most clamorous confusion of endless honking, chirping and twittering of the most diverse genera of birds, and the more we observed the rare spectacle, in which the birds, born with independence and vivacity, play the roles in the spectacle of nature, making us feel less willing to disturb them with deadly shots, that peaceful scene of nature. [...] It seemed as if the world was being re-created before our eyes, and this marvelous spectacle would have agreeably impressed us even more, if it had not occurred to us to think that war, eternal war, was the law and the mysterious condition of all animal existence. The countless species of aquatic and palustrine birds all mixed up with each other, unprotected, each one seeking out its prey, insects, frogs and fish each being sought out by its particular predator.16 One hears in Spix and Martius echoes of Humboldt’s narratives about animals, but above all one perceives the textual description of the soundscapes, as associated to the places as the physiognomy of the vegetation. The text by the two travelers appeals to the senses, which as much as vision can compete for the characterization of the environments – sounds, but also smells and liking for various vegetable, animal and mineral substances. The perception of the density of the environments was certainly a concern before the arrival of the travelers in America. The atmosphere of German romanticism favored the sensoriality. 17 There was, however, a re-education of the senses, a sharpening of perception related to the American tropics and the distance from civilization. In the south of Bahia, in the region of the river Almada, they hired indian guides and observed: Walking in quick, short steps, they went in front of us and seemed to have all their senses alert in the silence of the forest. Each breath of air that moved the leaves of the forest canopy, each animal noise is perceived by the indian – turning from side to side with restless eyes and sensitive ears; he understands so to speak, all at once, the activity in this grandiose drama of nature through which he passes, and relates them to his needs; here, he attracts a parrot to a branch with deceptive calls, or discovers instantly the squirrel escaping through the foliage.18 Thus the voices of nature tell much with respect to life, to movement, to the dynamics of each place and each circumstance, to “nature’s drama”, the expression used by Spix and Martius. The well-tuned senses of the indians could perceive everything happening around them. Europeans probably passed near to plant and animal activities that surrounded them. Without the help of the guides and local inhabitants, the voices of the forest would remain as noises without meaning, like in the episode told by Frenchman Auguste de Saint-Hilaire: when canoeing down a river, he heard “the song of the cicada and the confusing noise produced inside the forest by the wild animals”. 19 Tropical forests are noisy. The heat and humidity favor animal life, and consequently its sounds. Birds, monkeys and insects form an almost continuous background of sound, filling the air. Naturalist Henry Walter Bates, in the narrative of his stay in the Amazon, treated the constant sound of the forests as an “audible expression of the teeming profusion of nature”. According to him, the “noise never wholly ceased”, but he became used to this, just like the local inhabitants. Bates continues: [...] “the audible expression of the teeming profusion of Nature”; “This uproar of life, I afterwards found, never wholly ceased, night or day”; “It is, however, one of the peculiarities of a tropical — at least, a Brazilian — climate which is most likely to surprise a stranger. After my return to England the deathlike stillness of summer days in the country appeared to me as strange as the ringing uproar on my first arrival at Pará”.20

Insects – the main objects of Bates’ research – contributed strongly to the uninterrupted sounds of the forest. Buzzing, beating of wings, mating cries, were often startling in their volume. Talking about an orthoptera (cicada or cricket) called tananá by the indians near to Óbidos, he said: “A friend of mine kept one six days. It was lively only for two or three, and then its loud note could be heard from one end of the village to the other”.21 Alfred Russel Wallace, companion to Bates during part of his stay in Brazil, also identified the continuous noise of the insects in the tropics: In fact, the sound of animal life never ceases. Directly after sunset, the herons, bitterns, and cranes begin their discordant cries, and the boat-bills and frogs set up a dismal croaking. The note of one frog deserves a better name: it is an agreeable whistle, and, could it be brought into civilised society, would doubtless have as many admirers as the singing mouse, or the still more marvelous whistling oyster described by Punch. All night long, the alligators and fish keep up a continual plunging; but, with the grey of morning, commence the most extraordinary noises. All of a sudden ten thousand whitewinged paroquets begin their morning song with such a confusion of piercing shrieks as it is quite impossible to describe: a hundred knife-grinders at full work would give but a faint idea of it.22 Many other naturalists referred to the sounds of nature, with different emphases and descriptions more or less detailed and eloquent. Just as Wallace compared them to the sound of knife-grinders, the other travelers described sounds known to Europeans in order to give an idea of what they were hearing. The sound of a hammer on an anvil, for example, was a good description of the song of the araponga, called in English the anvil bird, like the frog also called the blacksmith frog. The Scot George Gardner dwelt at length on finding comparisons for the singing of the frogs. According to him the sound of the blacksmith frog was like “ringing in the ears like the clang of a hammer upon an anvil”. The other frogs, however, produced sounds that “strikingly resemble the lowing of cattle at a distance”. 23 Auguste de Saint-Hilaire compared the “happy song of the anvil bird and the peacock” to the “sound of a flute heard from a distance”.24 The same naturalist wrote that the cries of the bearded tamarin monkeys are like the “roar of an impetuous wind that blows in intervals, spaced out little by little”.25 The prince of Wied-Neuwied stated that a butterfly produced a sound similar to a rattle, probably with the snout.26 Ornithologist and artist Jean-Théodore Descourtilz claimed that the sounds made by the woodpecker (Picus robustus) “are much like a noisy laugh”.27 Wallace used known references, such as the comparison of the song of the frogs with “a railway train approaching”, which reminded him of “the familiar sounds of the mail-train” at his home in Europe.28 Besides this, he would refer to phrases in English to give the reader an idea of what he heard: In the forest are constantly heard the curious notes of the bush-shrikes, tooo-too-to-to-t-t-t, each succeeding sound quicker and quicker, like the successive reboundings of a hammer from an anvil. In the dusk of the evening many goat-suckers fly about and utter their singular and melancholy cries. One says ‘Whip-poor-will’, just like the North American bird so called, and another with remarkable distinctness keeps asking, ‘Who are you?’ and as their voices often alternate, an interesting though rather monotonous conversation takes place between them.29 The sounds of nature are thus constantly associated with interaction between living beings – such as the “conversation” between birds referred to by Wallace –, the different times of day – such as the silence of midday –, to the multitudes of animals present in tropical climates – such as the incessant buzzing of insects. Quite often, however, the noises made by the animals follow the crack

of a rifle shot. Prince Maximilian Wied-Neuwied was much dedicated to the study of birds. The sounds of the animals appear frequently in his stories of hunting: “In these pristine forests, hunting was our most agreeable, useful, and in reality only hobby”.30 The noises the animals made announced their presence and helped in killing them. He told, for example, how he learned to imitate the call of the repeated cries of the surucuá to shoot it when it landed on one of the lower branches. He also said: “Hearing the squawk of the macaws in the nearby forest, we couldn’t resist hunting them”.31 The explosive noise made by the rifles scared away the other animals. Because of this, although hunting with firearms was practiced constantly by the collectors, it caused problems. Austrian zoologist Johann Natterer, who stayed in Brazil for 18 years, from 1817 to 1836, initially used an air-gun to shoot the birds. The weapon was especially interesting for making less noise than the traditional rifles and also for causing less damage to the plumage and skin of the birds. Carrying and handling it however was not easy or practical. When Natterer was well established in the Amazon basin, he started to use native weapons, such as the blow-gun and bow and arrow, silent and less destructive than gun-powder. As done generally by the travelers, Natterer contracted indigenous hunters, mainly to kill birds. 32 In many of the travel stories, the perception of animal voices is instrumental, as it announced the presence of animals. However, even those who got most pleasure from hunting, like Prince Wied-Neuwied, made many other associations. For example in a passage in which he describes the trip he made into the interior of Bahia, near to the border with Minas Gerais, the aristocrat explains that what was heard by the travelers varied according to the changes in vegetation. As the landscape became drier, with stands of cactus and bromeliads, and small trees such as the barriguda tree, the species of animals also changed: Soon after we reached the mountain range [Suçuarana], we saw that the forest had acquired a strange character, that the bird calls we heard were different, and the butterflies flying around us were different as well; also a large number of plants that we had never seen before gave us much pleasure. 33 This sort of biogeography of sounds appears here and there in the reports from the 19 th century travelers, and Spix and Martius, Auguste de Saint-Hilaire, Wallace, among others, left examples of this association. Saint-Hilaire had botanical geography as one of his study focuses. Animal observations are peripheral to his work, but there are sections in which the sounds of animals help to describe the landscape, as in the following return to the forest: In the silence of the forest, the araponga or bellbird (Casmarynchos nudicollis), which I hadn’t heard for some months, made his low-pitched song echo through the forest, imitating with singular exactitude the noise produced by a file or a hammer on iron. Every time I crossed virgin forests, after passing for some time through discovered regions, I experienced a feeling of profound admiration. This is where nature shows all her magnificence, this is where she seems to double the variety of her works; and I must say, sadly, that these magnificent forests have many times been needlessly destroyed.34

it would be impossible to use musical notation, as for the blackbird (Turdus brasiliensis): “The song of this bird is not harmonious; it is composed of just the syllables gouy-gouigoui, pronounced in a sonorous voice”.37

HERCULE FLORENCE’S ZOOPHONY Despite the richness and variety of the descriptions and associations, the soundscape was not in itself the object of research for any of these naturalists. The sounds of the animals could comprise scenes or serve to illustrate some happening or particularly noteworthy sound. The greatest exception among the travelers of the 19 th century was the work of Hercule Florence, creator of a field of studies and a method for describing the animal sounds, which he called “zoophony”.38 Florence was not a naturalist, but an inventor and artist. He united the experience gained on the long voyage commanded by Langsdorff with his talent for writing and creating scientific and artistic artefacts. Besides zoophony, he invented photography – at the same time as Daguerre, uncounterfeitable (security) paper, polygraphy and numerous techniques for capturing light and shadow in landscape painting.39 The theme of zoophony occurred to him after the river journey, which had started in São Paulo and ended in Belém, before the travelers embarked for Europe from the port of Rio de Janeiro, in 1829. Florence stayed in Brazil and eventually settled in São Carlos, today Campinas. In the report he sent to Russia about his participation in the voyage, there was already a small text entitled Mémoire sur la possibilité de décrire les sons et les articulations de la voix des animaux, written in 1829. From then on there followed various memoirs on the theme, including the booklet Recherches sur la voix des animaux, published in Rio de Janeiro in 1831. The term “zoophony” only appeared in 1877, as the title of an article published in the magazine of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. Despite the differences existing between the texts, the essential ideas for the method were present from the very first edition. What strongly distinguishes Florence’s studies and proposals from descriptions made by other travelers is that they include a method for the reproduction of the animal sounds, even for the cries, noise, roars and songs that are not musical. For this he conceived a system based on musical notation, but which uses different markings for time and does not indicate the notes as such, but their relative positions. Florence also included signs that indicate if the tone ascends, descends or is continuous, and if the sound is exhaled or inhaled. According to these rules, the notations were also followed by explanatory texts. For example, Florence creates the graphic representation of the “Song of the Jaó” (Undulated Tinamou) explaining that to imitate its song, the musical note should be whistled and repeated every 20 to 25 seconds, and adds that the Jaó sings from 4 or 5pm until 10 or 11pm. The sounds recorded describe both generic song – “Song of the Anhumapoca (Southern Screamer)”, “Cry of the Caiman” – and more specific situations, such as “The croak of a frog in the deserts of Mato Grosso and Pará” or “The roar of the irritated jaguar”. 40 Further to providing a method for recording the voices of the animals, Florence intended with zoophony to integrate it with descriptions of landscapes. He associated sounds to places in various ways – in a biogeographic sense, such as in the following passage:

jean-theodore descourtilz (1796-1855) Araponga Plate included in the book Ornithologie Brésilienne ou Histoire des Oiseaux du Brésil. Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Reeves, 1854 Smithsonian Institution Library, Washington DC

Wallace had a sharp perception of the dynamics of landscapes. In one section of his voyage narrative he composes the scene of “night concerts” that he listened to in Tocantins:

Martius was a disciple of Humboldt and made his mark as one of the principal narrators of the Brazilian soundscapes. His musical knowledge allowed him to recognize the scale of B in the song of an ant-thrush:

Every night, while in the upper part of the river, we had a concert of frogs, which made the most extraordinary noises. There are three kinds, which can frequently be all heard at once. One of these makes a noise something like what one would expect a frog to make, namely a dismal croak, but the sounds uttered by the others were like no animal noise that I ever heard before. [...] Then we often had the guaribas, or howling monkeys, with their terrific noises, the shrill grating whistle of the cicadas and locusts, and the peculiar notes of the saracuras and other aquatic birds; add to these the loud unpleasant hum of the mosquito in your immediate vicinity, and you have a pretty good idea of our nightly concert on the Tocantins.36

In these thick woods we were surprised for the first time with the song of a brownish gray bird, probably an antthrush, which landed on the bushes and on the humid soil of the forest, singing with frequent repetitions the scale of B, from the 3rd line of the key of G to A major so regularly, that not one note is missing. In general, it repeats each note four or five times and then passes imperceptibly to the second note.35

Jean-Théodore Descourtilz, who was a dedicated student of birds, including their habits and songs, left detailed notes, precious for current ornithology and for the identification of environmental degradation and endangered species. In some cases, the birds would sing in a “harmonious” manner, or in other words the sound could be represented with musical notes, as in the case of the saci (striped cuckoo) whose daytime song could announce coming storms. In other cases,

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

When we crossed the flowery fields of Vila Maria, in the morning we heard the happy call of the “seriema” and at night the sad song of the jaó. In Diamantino I heard the macauã (tinamou), the caracará and the quiriquiri (kestrel) [...] on the banks of the Juruena and Tapajós rivers, these various songs had changed, like their surroundings. 41 There was also an association with the character or temperament of each place: But the voices of the animals are heard to be in harmony with

264

265

apêndice appendix

the places where one hears them. In Spitzberg, where nature appears to be sad, one would hear only sad sounds, while in Italy one feels happy with the songs that are as sweet as nature there is benign. In the arid deserts of Arabia, the traveler will never be entertained, as in fertile Brazil, by the voice of an enormous number of animals. 42 A third relationship that the travelers establish is with the idea of the homeland, and this appears clearly, for the first time, in a manuscript from 1837, entitled “Zoophonology”: If an araponga (anvil bird) were to be transported to Paris, and exhibited on a perch, everyone, startled, would stop there and listen. [...] A Brazilian in Paris who heard this would feel strongly drawn to this powerful reminder of his thoughts about his country.43 So the method developed by Florence would permit the description of animal voices that accompanied the landscapes, and give them more density. In “Zoophonology”, the inventor showed how the sounds should be intimately associated with situations in question, not just for natural history but for philosophy itself, such as the paradigmatic scene of the meditations of the French philosopher Volney before the ruins of Palmira, as Florence would say, Volney cited the melancholy cry of the jackal, in his night of meditation in the ruins of Palmira; if the sound were known to us, we would have a more exact idea of the impressions that he had experienced.44 The melancholy experienced by Volney on observing the scenario that was once an opulent city is felt in the imagination of the reader through his beautiful textual descriptions, allied to the engravings that accompanied many editions of the books Les Ruines and Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte. The animal voices are represented in two ways, written and visual. Volney wrote: The eye no longer perceived any movement in the gray and monotonous plain; a vast silence reigned over the desert; in long intervals we would hear the mournful cries of some night birds and jackals...45 One of the engravings of the scene of meditation in the ruins of Palmira – which was different in various editions – places the philosopher among arches, columns and chapiters, under an oriental palm tree. Perched on the tree, an owl. Not far from Volney, a jackal appears to observe the scene. Florence portrayed the same picture in a sketch, including the owl and the jackal. He also painted an interesting watercolor that portrays Volney meditating in the midst of the ruins. The owl appears on a column and the jackal does not appear. The sequence of rocks reminiscent of the old city comes from an engraving that accompanied the work Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, which shows various similar elements. Florence established his own interpretation of Volney’s meditations, choosing a night scene, with a faithful treatment of the ruins and including a reference to the sound that should accompany the melancholic panorama. Relations between Florence and Volney are many and deserve specific studies.46 Using the theme of zoophony, however, they can brought closer. Volney made two major voyages – to the Far East and to the United States – which became paradigmatic for the art of travel, together with the 1795 text “Questions de statistique à l’usage des voyageurs”. The approach of the philosopher guarantees at the same time a vision of the whole scene and a concern with the accuracy of the details. His reflections were based on the establishment of information, obtained with modern and precise enquiry methods.47 Florence is nonetheless a disciple of Volney, by his desire to record faithfully the experiences of the voyage, adding to this the attempt to reproduce all that can be learned through the senses. 48 Florence tried not to ignore the overall vision, achieving a romantic appropriation of the French philosopher’s work.

Florence’s approach can be considered to belong to Humboldt’s line of studies of landscapes, looking to learn the specifics and the character of each place. The inventor’s representations of Brazilian animal sounds caused little repercussion at the time, although recently Zoophony has been recognized for its novelty and audacity. 49 Compared to that of many contemporary travelers, Florence’s proposal is characterized by having escaped from the so-called “New World controversy”50 and the condemnation of tropical climates. Up to the 19th century, it was common for heat and humidity to be considered extremely negative elements, as opposed to the temperate climate of Europe. Apart from this, the New World was seen to be in some way incomplete and less developed than the Old World. It was believed that the animals in the Americas were “inferior” or smaller, as for example the tapir, with its small trunk – compared to the elephant, or the llama compared to the camel. With regard to the sounds, the traditional stories about Brazil stated that the birds of the New World sang less well than the birds of the Old World.51 Reflections from these statements were felt even in the 19th century, when various naturalists expressed themselves for or against this assertion. Even Wallace himself, who was to become one of the formulators of the principle of natural selection, felt the need, in 1853 to speak out against the terms of the “New World controversy”: [...] we are inclined to think that the general statement, that the birds of the tropics have a deficiency of song proportionate to their brilliancy of plumage, requires to be modified. Many of the brilliant birds of the tropics belong to families or groups which have no song; but our most brilliantly coloured birds, as the goldfinch and canary, are not the less musical, and there are many beautiful little birds here which are equally so.52 Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was one of those who helped to fix the negative image of New World sonority. In 1817 he published the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, which served as a manual for his students in Heidelberg. In the part dedicated to natural philosophy, under the entry “heat” he writes: With tropical birds it is however the heat that doesn’t preserve in itself, but merges and propels towards the metallic shine of the color, this being, this state of its internal ideal as a voice; that is, the sound drowns in the heat. The voice is already in truth somewhat higher than the sound, but the voice also shows itself here in opposition to the heat of the climate.53 Hegel quotes an excerpt from the report on the voyage to Brazil by Spix and Martius, where the travelers describe the lovely song of a Brazilian bird – probably such’s antthrush – despite it being a “custom to deny the songbirds of the American forest all harmonious expression and concede to them the advantage of the splendor of colors”. This example shows that there is melody in the song of Brazilian birds. The Germans added, however: Furthermore it is conceivable that, if one day the almost inarticulate sounds of degenerate men [the indigenous] stop resonating through Brazil’s forests, many of the feathered singers would also have to produce refined melodies. 54 This way Spix and Martius suggested that the animal voices were a sort of imitation of human speech. As, according to the theories of Martius, the indigenous Brazilians would be the degenerate descendants of more developed people, the Brazilian bird songs would not have a model of beauty to imitate. In Hegel’s natural philosophy, colors, sounds and climate articulate organically in the essentially tropical place, alien to history and the development of the spirit. According to Antonello Gerbi, Humboldt once again opposed Hegel’s considerations on the New World, where, in fact, the philosopher had never been. 55

THE SWEET SONG OF THE SURUCUÁ Florence, like Humboldt, associated animal voices to life, to the dynamics of nature. Imagine the solitude of a place uninhabited by man. Imagine a desert where no sound of animal is heard, no bird, not even the song of the cicada, or the buzz of the insects; you would find in this silence, a second death of nature. 56 The record of soundscapes is a way of opposing the evaporation of the present, the inexorable passage of time. In the Zoophony manuscript, Florence enquires about the meaning of the paintings: In Rio de Janeiro, in 1846, Mr. Rugendas told me: ‘they may say that I missed my time, but I shall always be sufficiently philosophical to reply that I enjoyed it. As for the rest, we are not totally useless, us painters; the heavy Chilean car starts to disappear to make way for the light cars of Europe. The chiripá of the La Plata inhabitants is only seen in the back of the Missions. ‘Who would preserve for history these types of people and of the time if it weren’t for the painters?’ The virgin forests fall every day under the barbaric axe of the Paulistas: who would preserve for us the sweet song of the surucuá, who only inhabits these forests, if it weren’t for Zoophony?57

1 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1849. Das nächtliche Tierleben im Urwalde. In: Ansichten der Natur. Stuttgart und Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, p. 332-334: Die Nacht war von milder Feuchte und mondhell. [...] Es herrschte tiefe Ruhe; man hörte nur bisweilen das Schnarchen der Süßwasser Delphine, [...] und in langen Zügen auf einander folgten. § Nach 11 Uhr entstand ein solcher Lärmen im nahen Walde, daß man die übrige Nacht hindurch auf jeden Schlaf verzichten mußte. Wildes Thiergeschrei durchtobte die Forst. Unter den vielen Stimmen, die gleichtzeitig ertönten, konnten die Indianer nur die erkennen, welche nach kurzer Pause einzeln gehört wurden. Es waren das einförmig jammernde Geheul der Uluaten (Brüllaffen), der winselnde, fein flötende Ton der kleinen Sapajous, das schnarrende Murren des gestreiften Nachtaffen (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus, den ich zuerst beschrieben habe), das abgesezte Geschrei des großen Tigers, des Cuguars oder ungemähnten Amerikanischen Löwen, des Pecari, des Faulthiers, und einer Schaar von Papageien, Parraquas (Ortaliden) und anderer fasanenartigen Fögel. Tradução nossa. Para a versão em português, ver: Humboldt, Alexander. 1950. Vida nocturna dos animais nas florestas do Novo Mundo. In: Quadros da natureza. Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo-Porto Alegre: W. M. Jackson Inc. 2 Idem, p. 336-337: Die Felsblöcke und nackten Steingerölle waren mit einer Unzahl von großen, dickschuppigen Iguanen, Gecko-Gideckten und buntgefleckten Salamandern bedeckt. Unbeweglich, den Kopf erhebend, den Mund weit geöffnet, scheinen sie mit Wonne die heiße Luft einzuathmen. Die größeren Thiere verbergen sich dann in das Dichticht der Wälder, die Vögel unter das Laub der Bäume oder in die Klüfte der Felsen [...]. 3 Ibid., p. 337: Alles verkündigt eine Welt thätiger, organischer Kräfte. [...] Erde regt sich hörbar das Leben. Es ist wie eine der vielen Stimmen der Natur, vernehmbar dem frommen, empfänglichen Gemüthe des Menschen. 4 The expression appears in Spanish in the German and French editions. 5 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1950. Vida nocturna dos animais... Op. cit., p. 332: Aber der süße Friede goldener Urzeit herrscht nicht in dem Paradiese der amerikanischen Thierwelt. Die Geschöpfe sondern, beobachten und meiden sich. Die Capybara [...] wird im Flusse vom Krocodil, auf der Trockne vom Tiger gefressen. 6 Cf. Friedrich, Caspar David & Carus, Carl Gustav. 1988. De la peinture de paysage. Paris: Klincksieck. 7 John Constable, apud Wat, Pierre. 1998. Naissance de l’art romantique. Paris: Flammarion, p. 38.

8 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1805. Essai sur la géographie des plantes. Paris: Levrault, Schoell et Compagnie. 9 Idem, p. 32: Ces divisions physionomiques n’ont presque rien de commun avec celles que les botanistes ont faites jusqu’à ce jour selon des principes très-différens. Il ne s’agit ici que des grands contours qui déterminent la physionomie de la végétation et de l’analogie d’impression que reçoit le contemplateur de Ia nature, tandis que la botanique descriptive reunit les plantes selon I’affinité que présentent les parties les plus petites, mais les plus essentielles, de la fructification. 10 Humboldt, Alexander von. 1816. Vue des Cordillères et des monumens des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique. Paris: Librairie Grecque-Latine-Allemande, p. 48-49: Quoique les moeurs des nations, le développement de leurs facultés intellectuelles, le caractère particulier empreint dans leurs ouvrages, dépendent à la fois d’un grand nombre de causes qui ne sont pas purement locales, on ne sauroit douter que le climat, la configuration du sol, la physionomie des végétaux. L’aspect d’une nature riante ou sauvage, n’influent sur le progrès des arts et sur le style qui distingue leurs productions. 11 Humboldt, Alexander von. Essai sur la géographie des plantes. Op. cit., p. 34: Ce sont les arts d’imitation qui retracent à nos yeux le tableau varié des régions équatoriales. En Europe, l’homme isolé sur une côte aride peut jouir dans sa pensée de l’aspect des régions lointaines: si son âme est sensible aux ouvrages de l’art, si son esprit cultivé est assez étendu pour s’élever aux grandes conceptions de la physique générale, du fond de sa solitude, sans sortir de ses foyers, il s’approprie tout ce que le naturaliste intrépide a découvert. 12 Berg, Albert & Humboldt, Alexander von. 1854. Physiognomy of Tropical Vegetation in South America: A Series of Views Illustrating the Primeval Forests on the River Magdalena, and in the Andes of New Grenada: With a Fragment of a Letter from Baron Humboldt to the Author, and a Preface by Frederick Klotzsch by Albert Berg. London: Paul and Dominic Colnaghi, p. 6. 13 Schafer, Raymond M. 1994 (1977). Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Rochester: Destiny Books. 14 The report is mainly due to Martius, as Spix died in 1826 and the book was published between 1823 and 1831. 15 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil. Belo Horizonte-São Paulo: Itatiaia-Edusp, vol. 1, p. 96- 98. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 1, p. 163-165: Den Mittag ausgenommen, wo alle lebende Geschöpfe der heissen Zone Schatten und Ruhe suchen [...] ruft jede Stunde des Tages eine andere Welt von Geschöpfen hervor. Den Morgen verkünden das Gebrüll der Helaffen, die hohen und tiefen Töne der Laubfrösche und Kröten, das monotone Schmettern und Schwirren der Cicaden um Heuschrecken. Hat die aufsteigende Sonne den ihr vorhangehenden Nebel verdrängt, so freuen sich alle Geschöpfe des neuen Tages. [...] Von nun ist Alles voll thätigen Lebens. [...] Die grün, blau oder roth gefärbten Papageien erfüllen [...] versammelt [...] die Luft mit ihrem krächzenden Geschwätz. Der Tucan klappert mit seinem grossen hohlen Schnabel auf den äussersten Zweigen, und ruft in lauten Tönen wehklagend nach Regen. Im Gesträuche verbogen thut indessen die verliebte Drossel die Freude ihres Levens in schönen Melodien kund; die geschwätzigen Pipren belustigen sich, aus dichtem Gebüsche bald hier bald dort in vollen Nachtigallentönen lockend den Jäger irre zu führen, und der Specht lässt, indem er die Rinde der Stämme aufpickt, sein weit schallendes Klopfen ertönen. Lauter als alle diese wunderbaren Stimmen erschallen [...] die mettalischen Töne der Uraponga [...] den Wanderer in Erstaunen setzt. [...] Mit dem Untergang der Sonne kehren die meisten der Thiere zur Ruhe [...] bis endlich die brüllenden Heulaffen, das gleichsam um Hülfe rufende Faulthier, die trommelnden Frösche und die scharrenden Cicaden mit ihrem traurigem Liede den Tag abschliessen, der Ruf des Macuc, de Capueira, des Ziegenmelkers und die Basstöne des Ochsenfrosches den Eintritt der Nacht verkündigt.

diesem grossen Naturschauspiele, durch welches er hinwandelt, vorgehen, er setzt alle in Beziehung zu seinen Bedürfnissen; – hier lockt er mit täuschendem Rufe den Papagei aus dem Zweigen herab; hier hat er im Nu das, durch die Zweige fliehende Eichhörnchen ausgekundschaftet. 19 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1833. Second voyage dans l’intérieur du Brésil. Paris: Gide, t. 2, vol. 2, p. 336: “Nous entendions le chant des cigales et le bruit confus produit dans l’épaisseur des bois par les bêtes sauvages”. 20 Bates, Henry Walter. 1944. O naturalista no Rio Amazonas. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, p. 36 e 37. Bates, Henry Walter. 1863. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. London: J. Murray, p. 10. 21 Idem, p. 250. 22 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Belo Horizonte-São Paulo: Itatiaia-Edusp, p. 73. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro. Londres: Ward, Lock and Co., 2a ed., p. 71. 23 Gardner, George. 1975. Viagem ao interior do Brasil. São Paulo-Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia-Edusp, p. 28. Gardner, George. 1846. Travels in the Interior of Brazil. London: Reeve Brothers, p. 26. 24 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1936. Segunda viagem ao interior do Brasil – Espírito Santo, Op. cit., p. 188. Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1833. Second voyage dans l’intérieur du Brésil. Op. cit., t. 2, vol. 2, p. 326: “Le chant grave de l’araponga et celui du pavão semblable aux sons d’une cornemuse qu’on entends dans le lointant”. 25 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1938. Viagem pelas Províncias de Rio de Janeiro e Minas Gerais. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, p. 32. Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1830. Voyage dans les provinces de Rio de Janeiro et de Minas Gerais. Paris: Grimbert et Dorez, p. 16: “ressemblent au bruit d’un vent impétueux qui s’interromprait par intervalles en se ralentissant peu à peu”. 26 Maximilian, Prince Wied-Neuwied. 1989. Viagem ao Brasil. Belo Horizonte-São Paulo: Itatiaia-Edusp, 1989, p. 441 e 442. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, p. 228-229: [...] “der klappernde Schmetterling, der ein solches Geräusch, wahrscheinlich mit seinem Saugrüssel hervorbringt”. 27 Descourtilz, Jean-Théodore. 1852. Ornithologie brésilienne. Rio de Janeiro-London: Thomas Reeves, description n o 49, p. 18: “imitent assez bien un bruyant éclat de rire”. 28 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 57. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 52: “a distant railway-train approaching”; “the familiar sounds of the approaching mail-train”. 29 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 24. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 11. 30 Maximilian, Prince Wied-Neuwied. 1989. Viagem ao Brasil. Op. cit., p. 194. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, Erster Band, p. 258: “[...] Die Jagd gewährte uns in diesen einsamen Wildnissen die angenehmste und nützlichste, ja die einzige Beschäftigung [...]”. 31 Maximiliano, Príncipe de Wied-Neuwied. Idem, p. 58 e 241. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, p. 324: “Da wir hier das Geschrey der Araras aus den benachbarten Wäldern laut zu uns herüberschallen hörten, so konnten wir dem Wunsche, Jagd auf sie zu machen, nicht wiederstehen. 32 Schmutzer, Kurt. 2012. Metamorphosis Between Field and Museum: Collections in the Making. Host, vol. 5, p. 68-83, cf. p. 71. 33 Maximilian, Prince Wied-Neuwied. 1989. Viagem ao Brasil. Op. cit., p. 389. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied. 1821. Reise nach Brasilien. Frankfurt: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, p. 159: [...] denn seitem wir die Serra überstiegen hatten, hörten wir in den Waldungen von einem fremdartigen Charakter auch lauter uns neue Volgelstimmen, erblickten

john gould (1804-1881) Trogon aurantius (Spix) (Orange Breasted Trogon ou Surucuá, p. 44) Plate included in the book Monograph of the Trogonidae or Family of Trogons. London: by the author, 20 Broad Street, 1838 Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire Neuchatel, Neuchatel

16 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil, vol. 2, p. 88. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munich: M. Lindauer, vol. 2, p. 530: Hier herrschte endloses Geschnatter, Geschrei und Gezwitscher der mannichfaltigsten Vögelgeschlechter, und je länger wir das seltsame Schauspiel betrachteten, worin die Thiere mit aller ihnen innwohnenden Selbstständigkeit und Lebendigkeit allein die Rollen ausfüllten, um so weniger konnten wir es über uns gewinnen, durch einen feindseligen Schuss die Behaglicheit dieses Naturzustandes zu stören. [...] Das Gemälde der ersten Schöpfung schien vor unsern Blicken erneuert, und dieses so überraschende Schauspiel hätte noch angenehmer auf uns wirken müssen, wäre das Resultat unserer Betrachtungen der Gedanke gewesen, dass Krieg und ewiger Krieg die Losung und die geheimnisvolle Bedingung alles thierischen Daseyns sey. Die unzahlbaren Arten von Sumpf- und Wasservögeln, welche hier, unbekümmert um einander, ihr Wesen treiben, verfolgen jede ihre eigene Beute an Insecten, Fröschen und Fischen, so wie jede von einem andern Feinde heimgesucht wird. 17 Cf. Wellbery. 1996. The Specular Moment. Goethe’s Early Lyric and the Beginnings of Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford University Press e Seamon, David & Zajonc, Arthur (orgs.). 1998. Goethe’s Way of Science. Albany, State University of New York Press. 18 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil, vol. 2, p. 182. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 2, p. 687: Trippelnden, jedoch schnellen Schrittes gingen sie vor uns her, und schienen mit allen Sinnen in das Stillleben der Umgebung versunken. Jeder Windstoss, der die ruhigen Wipfel bewegt, jeder Laut eines Thieres wird von dem Indianer vernommen, ­– nach allen Seiten wendet er die kleinen dunklen Augen, die weitabstehenden Ohren; ­– er erfasst gleichsam auf einmal alle Handlungen, die in

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

266

267

apêndice appendix

neue Schmetterlinge, und ergötzten uns an mancherley uns völlig fremden Gewächsen. 34 Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 1941. Viagens pelo Distrito dos Diamantes e litoral do Brasil. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, p. 88. Auguste de SaintHilaire. 1833. Voyages dans le District des Diamans. Paris : Gide, t. 1, p. 107: Dans le silence de la forêt, le ferrador (Casmarynchos nudicolis), que je n’avais pas entendu depuis plusieurs mois, faisait retentir l’air de ses chants graves, et imitait avec une singulière exactitude le bruit que fait le maréchal en se servant tour à tour de la lime et du marteau. Toutes les fois que j’avais traversé des bois vierges, après avoir pendant quelque temps parcouru des pays découverts, j’avais éprouvé un sentiment profond d’admiration. C’est là que la nature déploie toute sa magnificence; c’est là qu’elle semble se jouer dans la variété de ses oeuvres; et, je dois le dire avec amertume, ces magnifiques forêts ont été mille fois détruites sans aucune nécessité! 35 Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil, vol. 1, p. 115. Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1823. Reise in Brasilien. Munique: M. Lindauer, vol. 1, p. 190: In diesen Wäldern fiel uns zum ersten Male der Ton eines graulich braunen Vogels, wahrscheinlich einer Drossel, auf, der sich in den Gebüschen und auf dem Bodem feuchter Waldgründe aufhält und in häufigen Wiederholungen die Tonleiter von H1 bis A2 so regelmässig durchsingt, dass auch kein einziger Ton darin fehlt. Gewönlich singt er jeden Ton vier- bis fünfmal, und schreitet dann unmerklich zu dem folgenden Viertelstone fort. For a current playback of a tovaca-cantadora cf.: http://www.wikiaves.com.br/tovaca-cantadora. 36 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 57-58. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 52. 37 Descourtilz, Jean-Théodore. 1852. Ornithologie brésilienne. Op. cit., description no 75, p. 23: “Le chant de cet Oiseau n’est pas harmonieux; il ne se compose que des syllabes gouy-goui-goui prononcées d’une voix sonore”. 38 Cf. Hardman, Francisco Foot. 1994. A Zoophonia de Florence: registros da natureza falante. In: Brutalidade antiga e outras passagens. Habilitation theses. Campinas: DTL-IEL-Unicamp, vol. 1, p. 181-209. 39 About Florence, see, among others, Bourroul, Estevam Leão. 1900. Hercules Florence (1804-1879): ensaio historicolitterario. São Paulo: Typ. Andrade, Mello & Comp.; Kossoy, Boris. 1980. Hercules Florence – 1833: a descoberta isolada da fotografia no Brasil. São Paulo: Duas Cidades, 2nd ed. rev. amp.; Monteiro, Rosana Horio. 2001. Descobertas múltiplas: a fotografia no Brasil (1824-1833). Campinas: Mercado de Letras; São Paulo: Fapesp; e Costa, Maria de Fátima et al. 1995. O Brasil de hoje no espelho do século XIX. Artistas alemães e brasileiros refazem a expedição Langsdorff. São Paulo: Estação Liberdade. 40 Florence, Hercule. 1831. Recherches sur la voix des animaux, ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature. Rio de Janeiro: Typ. de R. Ogier and Zoophonia. 1876. Revista do Instituto Historico e Geographico Brasileiro, t. XXXIX, part II, p. 321-336 (trans. and intro. Visconde de Taunay, 1877). 41 Florence, Hercule. 1876. Voyage Fluvial du Tiété à l’Amazone (Zoophonie): Quand je traversais les campagnes fleuries de Villa-Maria, j’entendais le matin le chant gai de la siriéma, et le soir le chant triste du Jaó. J’ai entendu au Diamantino le Macauam, le Caracará et le Quiriquiri [...] Sur les bords du Juruena et du Tapajós, ces chants divers avaient changé comme le pays. Manuscript, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. 42 Florence, Hercule. 1831. Recherches... Op. cit.: Mais les voix des animaux ne laissent pas d’être en harmonie avec les lieux ou on les entend. Au Spitzberger, ou la nature paraît triste, on n’entendra jamais que de tristes accents, tandis qu’en Italie on est ravi par des chants aussi doux que la Nature y est bénigne. Dans les déserts arides de l’Arabie, jamais le voyageur ne sera entretenu comme au fertile Brésil, par la voix d’une grande quantité d’animaux.

43 Florence, Hercule. 1837. Zoophonologie, ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature. Si l’on transportait une Guarapúnga à Paris, et qu’on l’exposât sur une perche [porte?], tout le monde, étonné de son cri extrêmement métallique, s’arrêterait en cet endroit [...] [§] Un Brésilien, qui serait à Paris et qui l’entendrait serait vivement saisi par un si puissant rappel de ses idées sur la patrie. Manuscript, São Carlos (Campinas). 44 Ibidem: “Volney a cité le chant lugubre du chacal, dans sa nuit méditative sur les ruines de Palmyre; si nous connaissions cette voix, nous aurions une idée plus exacte des impressions qu’il avait éprouvées”. 45 Volney. [1791] 1989. Les ruines ou méditation sur les révolutions des empires. In: Oeuvres. Paris: Fayard, p. 173. L’oeil n’apercevoit plus aucun mouvement sur la plaine monotone et grisâtre; un vaste silence régnoit sur le désert; seulement à des longs intervalles l’on entendoit les lugubres cris de quelques oiseaux de nuit et de quelques chacals... 46 See an initial approach in Hardman, Francisco Foot & Kury, Lorelai. 2004. Nos confins da civilização: Algumas histórias brasileiras de Hercule Florence. História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos, 11(2):385-409. 47 Kury, Lorelai. 1998. Les instructions de voyage dans les expéditions scientifiques (1750-1830). Revue d’Histoire des Sciences, 51:65-91. 48 Kury, Lorelai. 2008. As artes da imitação nas viagens científicas do século XIX. In: Almeida, Marta de; Vergara, Moema de Rezende (orgs.). Ciência, história e historiografia. São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro: Via Lettera-Mast. 49 Vielliard, Jacques. 1993. A zoophonia de Hercule Florence. Cuiabá: UFMT. 50 Gerbi, Antonello. 1996. O novo mundo: história de uma polêmica, 1750-1900. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. 51 Idem, chapter V. 52 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1979. Viagens pelos Rios Amazonas e Negro. Op. cit., p. 31. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1889. A Narrative of Travels... Op. cit., p. 18. 53 Hegel, Georg W. F. 1997. Entrey “O calor”, § 303. In: Enciclopédia das ciências filosóficas em compêndio: 1830, São Paulo: Loyola, vol. 2, p. 197. Hegel, Georg W. F. 1970. Die Wärme. § 303. In: Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse. Heidelberg: Suhrkamp Verlag. Disponível em www.hegel.de/werke: Bei den tropischen Vögeln ist es also die Hitze, welche dieses Insichsein, dieses Ergehen ihrer inneren Idealität als Stimme, nicht in sich bewahrt, sondern schmilzt und zum metallischen Glanz der Farbe heraustreibt, d. h. der Klang geht in der Wärme zugrunde. Die Stimme ist zwar schon ein Höheres als der Klang, aber auch die Stimme zeigt sich in diesem Gegensatz zur Hitze des Klimas. 54 Excerpts cited by Hegel, loc. cit. The first edition of the first volume of Reise in Brasilien appeared in 1823. Cf. the Brazilian edition: Spix, J. B. von & Martius, C. F. Ph. von. 1981. Viagem pelo Brasil. Op. cit., p. 115, vol. 1. 55 Gerbi, Antonello. 1996. O novo mundo... Op. cit., cap. VII. 56 Florence, Hercule. 1837. Zoophonologie. Op. cit.: Figurez vous la solitude d’un pays où l’homme n’habiterait pas. Figurez vous un désert où l’on n’entendrait la voix d’aucun animal, d’aucun oiseau, ni le chant de la cigale, ou le bourdonnement des insectes: vous trouverez ce silence, une seconde mort de la nature. 57 Florence, Hercule. 1876. Voyage Fluvial... Op. cit.: Mr. Rugendas me disait en 1846 à Rio de Janeiro: ‘on pourra dire que j’ai perdu mon temps, mais je serai toujours assez philosophe pour répondre que je me suis amusé. Au reste, nous ne sommes pas tout-à-fait inutiles, nous les peintres; le carro pesant du Chili commence à disparaître pour céder la place aux voitures légères de l’Europe. Le Chiripá des habitants de La Plata ne se voit plus que dans le fond des Missions. Qui conserverait à l’histoire ces types des peuples et du temps, si ce n’étaient les peintres?’ [§] Les forêts vierges tombent tous les jours sous la hache barbare du Pauliste: qui nous conservera le doux chant du Surucuá, habitant de ces seules forêts, si n’est pas la Zoophonie? Manuscript, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro.

p. 39 Even many of the regions farthest from the coast, and originally occupied by men and domestic animals, are today dedicated to animal and cattle breeding, including the interior of Maranhão – illustrated here with its bulls and cows, at the end of the 19th century – and more recently the Amazon region, especially the northern part of Mato Grosso, Rondônia and east of Pará. Itapicouru, pr.ce do Maranhão, Brésil, entré de la fazenda Conceição, dessinée d’après nature Pencil and ink on paper, 1866 p. 42-43 The illustrations in Marco Polo’s book show how the first voyagers refer to mythical and fantastic beings. Along with horses and swans – animals known to the Europeans – unicorns, dragons and other supernatural creatures appear.

p. 52-53 Father Athanasius Kircher was responsible for the creation of the Museum or Cabinet of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus. Often called the Kircherian, the museum exhibited objects of astronomic and mathematical interest, such as clocks and astrolabes and stuffed animals from the New World. Its organization was based on the harmonious vision of neoplatonism of father Kircher, letting other naturalists see the existence of the divine and the supernatural in nature. The miraculous, or marvelous, portentous and fantastic things were of great interest to the thinkers in the Society of Jesus. On page 52, engraving of Athanasius Kircher, 1655 On page 53: Unknown author. Kircher, Romani Collegii Societatus Jesu Engraving published in Amsterdam, 1678

p. 43 Detail of the llustrations of pages 56 (reverse side) and 85, both included in the illuminated manuscript on parchment entitled Le livre des merveilles [...].

p. 54, 55 Father Du Molinet’s cabinet in the Library of the Abbey of Sainte Geneviève, in Paris, housed numerous stuffed animals and parts of animals from Brazil, including toucans, beetles (cerf-volant), fish, armadillos and other Brazilian specimens. On page 54, left: plate 40; right: plate 42; on page 55: page 16 of the book Le Cabinet de la Bibliothèque de Sainte Genevieve [...], 1692

p. 44-45 In the cabinets of curiosities, theologians, philosophers and naturalists collected, besides objects created by man (artificialia), things of nature (naturalia), such as stuffed animals, herbalized plants, corals, shells and minerals. Their idea was to compose an overall vision (systemic) of the natural world, normally prepared by the collector responsible. The collections of George Marcgraf, Athanasius Kircher, Ole Worm and others had great importance in the debates that defined the understanding of Brazilian fauna. Colored illustration on parchment, 1668.

p. 56, 57 Naturalist Pierre Belon du Mans traveled to many parts of the East collecting and directly observing animals. He also received various Brazilian specimens from the French in “Antarctic France”. Among them were the Brazilian blackbird (it was the custom at the time to describe new animals comparing them with those already known) and the toucan. On page 56: Portrait d’un bec d’oiseau apporté des terres neues, chapter XXVIII, book III; on page57: Merle du bresil, published in chapter XXVII, book VI, page 319 of L’histoire de la nature des oyseaux [...], 1555.

p. 47 Of the naturalists who traveled to the New World and described Brazilian fauna, André Thevet acquired major importance by having been one of the first to make his descriptions accessible to intellectuals of the Old World beyond the Pyrenees. In the images of his principal work, Les singularitez de la France Antarctique, we still see traces of the fantastic, present in the works of the first voyagers. In his view of the world, monstrous and disproportional animals are a constant. Illustrations for pages 48 and 50 of the book Les singularitez de la France Antarctique [...], 1557

p. 58 Naturalist Conrad Gesner was the first to think of a system of universal classification of animals. Separating them into livebearing quadrupeds, egg-laying quadrupeds (amphibians and reptiles, except snakes), birds, fish and cetaceans, snakes, mollusks, crustaceans, testacea, insects and zoophytes, Gesner includes Brazilian animals in his classification, such as the armadillo. De Tato, page 18 of Appendix Historiae Quadrupedum [...], 1554

p. 42 Illustration of page 56 (reverse side).

p. 49 The book Exoticorum (of exotic things), by Carolus Clusius, initiated a new method of studying the natural world, especially the fauna and flora of the Indies – both East and West. Instead of basing his work on improbable stories from travelers, or on hearsay, the Dutch naturalist sought to describe his animals based on direct observation (autopsia). Besides this, Clusius in this book categorized the exotic in order to classify animals and plants from the new world. Frontispiece of the book Exoticorum libri decem [...], 1605 p. 50, 51 Emperor Rodolfo II’s court artist, Joris Hoefnagel, in his book of calligraphy Mira calligraphiae monumenta, illustrates a large number of Brazilian animals. The subjects used came from the Emperor’s nursery, which housed many live specimens from Brazil. Illustration on page 50 shows a sloth, and the one on page 51 a toucan, both from the imperial zoo. Colored and illuminated illustrations on parchment, belonging to the manuscript Mira calligraphiae monumenta, ca. 1591-1596

p. 59 In the curiosities cabinet of Bologne doctor Ulisse Aldrovandi, there were many tropical birds such as toucans, described by the naturalist as “Pegas brasílicas”, and parrots, which he used to complement information provided on these birds in Antiquity by Pliny the Elder. In the illustrations, a picture of a toucan, the dried skeleton of a parrot, and a figure of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In clockwise order: De pica bressilica, lib. XII, Page 802; Anatomia, pages 643 and 644, lib. IX; Nidificatio, page 653, lib. XI. Illustrations from the book Ornithologiae [...], 1645-1652 p. 60 Ambroise Paré, a French doctor and surgeon, included the Brazilian toucan in his book about monsters because its beak is disproportionate to the rest of its body. Many animals from the tropics were initially seen by Europeans as monsters, due to being abnormally different to the fauna of temperate zones. Before Paré, Thevet had already related this bird to monstrous beings in his description. De l’oiseau nommé Toucan, Le Vingtcinquiesme, livre traitant des Monstres & Prodiges, page 1.070 of the book Les oeuvres d’Ambroise Paré [...], 1598

p. 61, top Exoticorum, by Carolus Clusius, had a great impact on later naturalists, such as Willem Piso. In the hummingbird illustration, from the book De India utriusque, one notes the clear re-use of the hummingbird illustration engraved in Clusius’s book, placed on a Brazilian plant. Guainumbi II, page 319, lib. V, Historia Natural & Medica, from De India utriusque [...], 1658

p. 67 The report on the appearance of ipupiara to the first Europeans to arrive in Brazil had great repercussions in Europe. After the Jesuit reports history was reassessed and this had a major impact on the process of colonization. However, the documents were not only textual, and many illustrators contributed to the various stories about the Brazilian monster, including the illustration by Adrien Coenen. Het Braziliaanse zeemonster (The Brazilian sea monster – ipupiara) Watercolor illustration, page 52 (reverse) of Visboek (Fish book)

p. 61, below Naturalist Carolus Clusius, in his book Exoticorum, evaluated the marvelous narratives on the hummingbird, which according to the authors of the time, was born from flies or butterflies. However, Clusius made a close analysis, by observing live the birds in Jacques du Plateau’s bird cage. Humming bird, page 96, lib. V from the book Exoticorum libri decem [...], 1605

p. 68, 69 The imagination of prehistoric, medieval and modern man was marked by visions of monsters. The word comes from the latin verb Mostro, mostrare that means to show. The monster was that which deviated from the regular order of nature, was against nature, and denoted direct action of God in the world. Monsters, portents and marvels were signs from God, or from the gods, in nature. Through them, God or the gods showed their designs. They were constantly sighted by travelers and philosophers in their voyages around the world, like these beautiful marine examples in illustrations by Coenen and the ipupiara of Brazilian beaches. De meermin en meerman (The mermaid and the merman) Watercolor illustrations on pages 189 (reverse) and 190 (front) of Visboek (Fish book)

p. 62 Brazilian sloths were fully described by Carolus Clusius. Based on older descriptions and on observation of live samples, Clusius considered the existence of two types of his animal, as can be seen by the engravings shown. Sloths, pages 111, lib. V and 389, Auctarium, from the book Exoticorum libri decem [...], 1605 p. 63 The armadillo and the marmoset had a powerful presence in the minds and pens of European naturalists and philosophers. The first to mention the armadillo were naturalist Pierre Belon and Italian philosopher Girolamo Cardano. The marmoset was first described by Conrad Gesner. Clusius used all these narratives in his great work of observation. The similarity between images by Clusius, Belon and Gesner is significant. Armadillo, sive Tatou genus alterum, page 109, lib. V e Cercopithecus Sagouin, page 388, Auctarium, from the book Exoticorum libri decem [...], 1605

p. 71 The Jesuit naturalists were very concerned with the magic or fantastic character of Brazilian fauna. In the case of the sloth, what interested them was its apparent capacity for going many days without eating, and the melodious sound it emitted. Father Kircher, in his book Musurgia universalis, about music, wrote the sound of the sloth as a musical score. Note that Kircher’s engraving is very similar to that in the book by André Thevet Top: Athanasius Kircher. Figura Animalis Haüt, lib. I. Anatomicus de Natura soni et vocis, page 27 of the book Musurgia universalis [...], 1650 Bottom: André Thevet. Haüt (sloth). Illustration for page 100 of the book Les singularitez de la France Antarctique [...], 1557

p. 65 At the start of Brazil’s colonization, many reports were written about the appearance of a strange marine monster, the ipupiara, based on hearsay, information contained in older reports and the reassessment of these texts. Believing that nature should be studied based on direct observation, many naturalists sought proof, to corroborate the legend of the ipupiara. One was the doctor Pieter de Pauw, who had dissected a sea monster brought from Pernambuco by the Dutch, and Thomas Bartholin, who had in his cabinet one of these monsters’ hands and one of its ribs. Siren, page 165, cent. II of the book Historiarum anatomicarum rariorum, centuria I et II, 1654

p. 73 Gaspar Schott is a clear example of the interest taken by Jesuit naturalists in the fantastic and magic. In his book Physica curiosa, the author is primarily concerned with that that he himself calls mirabilia, or miraculous – the marvels of nature, and with things that deviate from the natural, the curiosities. The prime concern regarding the priests’ knowledge of nature was anything that appeared to be supernatural or divine. Frontispiece of the book by P. Gaspar Schott, Physica curiosa [...], 1662

p. 66 With the Dutch invasion of Pernambuco, important doctors and naturalists came to Brazil to personally observe Brazilian nature. Willem Piso and George Marcgraf studied Brazilian animals and plants, as well as their medicinal uses and the diseases that were common here. Of these studies, Piso published, without the participation of Marcgraf, De India utriusque re naturali et medica, compiled from the information contained in the monumental Historia naturalis brasiliae (1648), written by both naturalists. Frontispiece of De Indiae Utriusque [...], 1658

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

p. 75 Florentine Francesco Redi brought enormous importance to the medical debate of his time, especially about things from the New World, classified by Clusius in the category of exotic. In the book Esperienze intorno a diverse cose naturali [...], Redi used experiments to prove the effects of many products of animal and vegetable origin thought by all to be miraculous. On doing this, Redi confronted the Jesuit priests and their knowledge. On plate 3, observe the stone taken from the head of a Brazilian Iguana, which it was believed possessed great medicinal value. Frontispiece and plate 3 of the book Esperienze intorno a diverse cose naturali [...], 1686

274

275

apêndice appendix

p. 76, 77 Danish naturalist Ole Worm was of major cultural importance at the end of the 17th century. His cabinet contained various stuffed specimens of Brazilian animals, most of which, like this spider, had been studied by Francesco Redi and used in his criticism of the Jesuits. Page 76 Page 244 of the book Museum wormianum [...], 1655 p. 77 Portrait of Ole Worm, from the book Museum wormianum seu historia rerum rariorum, 1655 p. 78-79 Doctors such as Ole Worm were interested in collecting animal and plant specimens from their own and distant regions, with the purpose of better understanding of the medicinal use of fauna and flora. This custom started in the second half of the 16th century with pharmacists such as Nicola Monardes and Garcia da Orta. Page 244 of the book Museum wormianum seu historia rerum rariorum [...], 1655 p. 85 The natural history images in general attributed to Friar Cristóvão de Lisboa portray animals and plants mainly from the north coast of Portuguese America. In the 17 th century, the region was subject to dispute with the French, who had established both missionary and military presence. Japehi Plate 92 of the manuscript “Historia dos animaes e arvores do Maranhão, 1624-1627” p. 86 The bird illustrations attributed to Bolognese architect Landi are some of the few images we have of the north of Portuguese America. His technical and artistic skills, allied to his culture, helped him to produce these images, even without any specialization in natural history. antonio giuseppe landi (1713-1791) Choca – Taraba major (Vieillot, 1816) Xolmis Tachyphonus Bigodinho – Sporophila lineola (Linnaeus, 1758) Viuvinha – Arundinicola leucocephala (Linnaeus, 1764) Ichiteride Gaviaozinho – Gampsonyx swainsonii (Vigors, 1825) Watercolour on paper p. 87 The major iconographic reference from the colonial period on the natural history of the Amazon region were the illustrations made during the expedition led by Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, between 1783 and 1792. Most of the illustrations of birds by Freire and Codina were extremely accurate with regard to distinguishing the species. josé joaquim freire (17??-ca. 1814) Top: Caacan Bottom: Quiriru do Marajó p. 88 Lourenço de Potfliz shared his taste for observation of physical phenomena with many of his contemporaries. In Europe, men of science often made public demonstrations, mainly with electricity, magnetism and optics. In a letter to La Condamine, the priest said he hoped to see the magic lantern, about which he had read in books from the Old World. Lanterna magica Engraving in tome V – VII (Lumière), plate 10 [p. 586] of the book Leçons de physique expérimentale, 1754-1765

p. 89 Although the measurement of the Earth’s meridian had not been conclusive during the expedition headed by La Condamine, the report on his voyage down the River Amazon was considered an important work. The map shows the principal part of his voyage, through Spanish and Portuguese territory, reaching even French Guiana. Carte du cours du Maragnon [...], 1743 et 1744 p. 90, 91 La Condamine’s voyage to South America was conceived as a complement to Maupertuis’ voyage to Lapland – both helped to clear up doubts in relation to the flattening of Planet Earth at the poles. These engravings from the time show the explorers – members of the Paris Academy of Sciences – with scientific instruments in environments of the regions they visited. La Condamine is on the banks of a great river (probably the Marañón), surrounded by exotic animals. Mapertuis, in Lap clothing, has a background of frozen mountains and at the base of the engraving a reindeer pulling a sled. p. 90 Frontispiece of the German edition of La Condamine’s travel narrative: Geschichte der zehenjährigen Reisen der Mitglieder der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Paris vornemlich des Herrn de la Condamine nach Peru in America in den Jahren 1735 bis 1745, 1763 p. 91 Portrait of Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis after Robert Tournières Engraving, 1741 p. 93 Lourenço de Potfliz sent La Condamine a scientific memoir that is one of the few works of the genre produced in the 18 th century about Amazonia, especially by an author born in Pará. The title of the manuscript indicates that the priest intended to write on diverse themes. What has survived for posterity are only the descriptions of birds, preserved in the Paris Museum of Natural History. Opening page of Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas [...] p. 94 Lourenço Potfliz’s manuscript must have been consulted by those studying American birds or fauna. We know that the naturalist Sonnini de Manoncourt consulted it and extracted part of the description and image of the gavião real – (Harpy Eagle), printed in the edition he prepared for a book by Buffon. L’Aigle Destructeur (par Sonnini) 1. L’Ouisa [sic] Ouassou 2. Le Destructeur Plate VII, t. 28, p. 41 Vol. 38 of the book by Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon, comte de, (1707-1788) & Charles-NicolasSigisbert Sonnini (1751-1812) Histoire naturelle, generale et particulière, an VII [1799-] -1808 [t.1, an VIII] p. 95, 96-97 The text and image of the gavião real or ouirá ouassú seek to show its strength and majesty. The information supplied by Potfliz includes details on the behavior of the bird and the uses to which the local population put its parts. p. 95 Ouyrà ouassù, Plate 1 p. 96-97 Descripção 1a Do uyràuassù, ou ouyrà ouassù, ou gavião-real Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas [...], 1752

p. 99 Missionary Claude d’Abbeville left a substantial report on his stay in Maranhão, in early 17th century. Potfliz had few books on natural history. Apparently he could not consult Piso and Marcgraf, the best references up to the 19 th century. Abbeville was one of his main sources of comparison. Frontispiece of the book Histoire de la mission des Peres Capucins en l’Isle de Maragnan [...], 1614 p. 101 The most admirable physics cabinets of the 18 th century were in Europe. Potfliz had little opportunity to see and handle the objects and instruments that he knew only from books. In a letter to La Condamine, he wrote: “I thank you for the cylindrical mirror that you promised me; because being melancholy, I desire things that amuse me”. La bibliothèque Oil on canvas, 1734 p. 102, 103 Lourenço Potfliz grouped the birds according to their similarity, even if their categories did not correspond to genera or ornithological families. The toucans were shown in sequence, as were the parakeets. p. 102 Tocana. Plate 11 p. 103 Tocanassù. Plate 12 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas [...] p. 104-105 What Potfliz calls “parakeets” are listed sequentially, with minor indications of specificity, such as the type of habitat, as with the parakeet of the hills and the parakeet of the mangrove swamps. The illustration on the right, with a bromeliad, demonstrates this concern. p. 104 Periquito das Serras. Plate 47 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas [...] p. 105 Periquito de mangue. Plate 48 p. 106 Birds were much coveted for their beauty, plumage and unusual forms. What Dom Lourenço sent to Paris was a varied set of illustrations, the exotic appearance of which prompted the curiosity of the Europeans. Guaravàzos. Plate 33 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 107 The king vulture appears clutching an animal carcass. Thus the illustration also describes one of the principal habits of the bird. Urubutinga. Plate 22 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas [...] p. 108, 109 Lourenço de Potfliz illustrated three “castes” of tangarás (tanager family) without much detail. The distinction he made between different species was probably based on observations of the inhabitants of the forests around Belém – mostly indigenous. There was little natural history material about the region, which made it difficult to compare his inventory with the forms of illustration and description that were being established in ornithology. p. 108 Tangarà. Plate 14 p. 109 Outra casta de tangarà. Plates 15 and 16 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas

p. 110 The textual descriptions by Potfliz are rich in details of the behavior of the birds and of what they were used for. The tauató (grey-bellied hawk) – species not identified by Potfliz – was presented as a common hawk, “very artful”, which fed on chickens. The indians fed the brain of this bird to their dogs, to make them expert hunters. Descripção 4a Do Tauatò, ou Taouàtò Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 111 The illustration of the mutum (red-billed curassow) was not identified or given a name. Potfliz intended to send more details and descriptions to La Condamine. It is unknown whether his work continued or not, but no more was received. Untitled [mutum]. Plate 66 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 112, 113 These illustrations were grouped under arara (macaw) with its derivatives (“i”, “acanga”, “una”) in sequence. The effect of the feather colors is admirable and added the exotic and curious to the manuscript. From left to right: Arara. Plate 49 Ararì. Plate 50 Arara-acanga. Plate 51 Araruna. Plate 52 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 114 The yapihi is easily recognized by his nest, in the shape of a hanging purse. Several illustrations in Potfliz manuscript inclued representations of the birds behavior, which facilitates identification. Yapihi. Plate 19 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 115 The hummingbirds or “picaflores” were illustrated all on the same page. Unfortunately we do not have a textual description of the group. It is obvious that there was no concern with the systematic identification of the different groups of birds, the colors and movements of which much impressed many Portuguese American chroniclers. Guaynumbi ou picaflores. Plate 36 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 116, 117 The guará (scarlet ibis) was illustrated in typical attitude and habitat, posed on a branch at the edge of a river, with boats in view. The inambu-peua (Small-billed tinamou) however appears next to bird traps made to catch it. In these cases, more important than the morphological details of the birds are the situations in which they can be found in the state of Amazonas. p. 116 Ouarà, ou Guarà. Plate 29 p. 117 Inambù peua. Plate 32 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas p. 119 The yapacani is one of the hawks described and illustrated by Potfliz. Of common habits, one of its principal characteristics, according to the priest, is the use of its feathers as a febrifuge. Yapacanì. Plate 2 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas

p. 120, 121 In his entry on the uacauaã (snake hawk) Potfliz writes that the Tapuias take its song as a warning that the awaited boats are returning. According to him, the numerous properties of the hawk make the bird the most useful in the state. Descripção Do uacauãa ou ouacauãa Uacauaã. Plate 4 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas

p. 130 Anatomical details of hummingbirds, showing the head and the hyoid bone very elongated and thin, and coiled over the cranium to give support to the tongue. Colibris, détails anatomiques. Plate 25 p. 131 Specimen collected by Pierre Antoine Delalande, in 1816, on the Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro, and described by Charles Dumont de Sainte-Croix, in 1818, as Trochilus naevius, today Ramphodon naevius (saw-billed hermit) (Dumont, 1818) Ramphodon tacheté, mâle. Plate 1 Illustration from the book by René Primevère Lesson (1794-1849). Histoire naturelle des colibris [...] [1830-1832]

p. 122 The cabùrehy is a small caburé (ferruginous pygmy owl) as explained by Lourenço Potfliz, using the names given the owl by the indians, and is “so fast in flight that it catches all the other birds, chasing them and pecking their backs, due to the mutual antipathy between them”. Cabùrehy ou Kaouoùrehy. Plate 5 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas

p. 132 Drawings of arachnids (spiders) and insects from various parts of the world. Figures 2 and 3 show a species of arachnid collected in Rio de Janeiro, Faucher acanthope, male and female. Illustration from the book by M. Louis de Freycinet. Voyage autour du monde [...], 1824?-1844. Plate 82

p. 123 A common hawk in Brazil, the inagé, according to Potfliz, can vary in color, forming two “castes” of the same species. Its meat, when eaten, has the virtue of securing the fetus during pregnancy, guaranteeing good births. Anagè, ou Inagè, ou Inayè. Plate 3 Memorias Zoo-logicas, Phyto-logicas, e minero-logicas

p. 133 Figures 5, 6 and 7 represent a colony of soft coral, Renilla sp. (sea pansy), collected in Guanabara Bay. These sessile animals are found in sandy or muddy bottoms and possess a primary polyp of a rose, lilac or violet color, with an elongated peduncle or stem used to bury itself, and a wide kidney shaped rachis, from which extend polyps which capture and select nutrition (zooplankton) Plate 86. Tome Histoire Naturelle: Zoologie, Planches, 1824 Illustration from the book by M. Louis de Freycinet. Voyage autour du monde [...], 1824?-1844

p. 126 The jaguar (Panthera onca) – origin the Americas – illustration from the book by Buffon. The French naturalist described the American jaguar as being similar to the jaguar in the Old World in size, but less ferocious than the panther or the leopard. From its ferocity he considered it the “tiger of the New World, where nature seems to have diminished all the quadruped genera”. Buffon considered the species from the New World to be inferior and weak, and none of the felines had the mane or the strength of a lion. Plate 8 volume III – Quadrupeds, from the publication by George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), in 36 volumes. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière [...], [1786-1791]

p. 134 La Rhynchée de Saint Hilaire, currently Nycticryphes semicollaris (painted snipe) (Vieillot 1816). R. P. Lésson, in his book, writes that Auguste de Saint-Hilaire was the first traveler to send this Brazilian species to the Paris Museum of Natural History. With an ample geographic distribution, it is found in the south and southeast of Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to Chile and Argentina. Engraving from the book by René Primevère Lesson (17941849). Illustrations de Zoologie ou recueil de figures d’animaux [1831-1835?]. Plate 18

p. 127 In a painting by one of the greatest portrait artists of the 18 th century, the artist places exotic animals and a globe map of the world near to Buffon, alluding to the work being done by the French naturalist. [Portrait of] Monsieur de Buffon [Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788)] Watercolor and gouache on paper, 18th century

p. 135 Figure 1 illustrates La Ranâtre bicorne, currently Heteronotus bicornis; figure 2 La Ranâtre porte-gland, current Heteronotus glandiferus, both cricket species of the family Membracidae described by Lésson in 1832. The illustration shows the species in profile and frontal and details of the head. Engraving from the book by René Primevère Lesson (17941849). Illustrations de Zoologie ou recueil de figures d’animaux [1831-1835?]. Plate 57

p. 128 The engraving shows a triumphal parade in Paris of works of art and natural history treasures requisitioned by Bonaparte in the cities he conquered. The exotic animals were taken from zoos and menageries. In the boxes were stuffed animals, herbaria and mineral samples. The products of nature were considered of as much or more value than human art. Entrée triomphale des monuments des sciences et des arts en France; fête à ce sujet : les 9 et 10 thermidor an 6.me de la République. Engraving with chisel and acid, 1802

p. 137 Ameiva oculata and Ameiva coelestis, current Teius oculatus (d’Orbigny & Bibron, 1837), are species of lizard occurring in the south of Brazil to Chile, collected by d’Orbigny in his voyage to Brazil and other South American countries. Plate 5 of the book by Alcide Dessalines d’Orbigny (18021857), tome 9 – Reptiles. Voyage dans l’Amérique méridionale [...], 1847

p. 129 The specimen portrayed was collected by Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, and in 1808 was confiscated from the Natural History Museum in Lisbon by Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and taken to the Paris Natural History Museum. The illustration belongs to the collection from the Philosophical Expedition in the Captaincies of Pará, Rio Negro, Mato Grosso and Cuiabá undertaken by Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira Author unknown Ussu monkey (brown woolly monkey)

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

276

277

apêndice appendix

p. 138-139 Members of the expedition to Brazil and other South American countries headed by Francis Castelnau, camping for the night on the banks of the River Araguaia. In the illustration Castelnau himself and mining engineer Eugène d’Osery, making a barometric measurement; zoologist Émile Deville is removing the skin of a deer to take to the Paris Museum; doctor and botanist Hugh Weddell is pressing the plants collected, and workers are occupied in preparing the hammocks for sleeping, cooking and fishing and keeping watch against indian attacks. Campement sur l’Araguay (Brésil), plate 16 of book by Francis de Castelnau (1810-1880). Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amerique du Sud de Rio de Janeiro a Lima [...], 1852 p. 140 Champsa fissipes or Caiman latirostris (Daudin, 1802) (broadsnouted caiman), commonly known in Brazil as jacaré-depapo-amarelo, is a species typical to South America living mainly in swamp or wetland areas. Print 22 of the book published by Johann Natterer together with Leopold Fitzinger in the Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte, n. 2, p. 313-324, pl. p. 523, 1840 p. 141 Leopoldina of Habsburg (1797-1826), Empress of Brazil, was a great enthusiast of natural history and a collector of botanical and zoological specimens, principally mollusks and insects. She was responsible for one of the greatest inventories of Brazilian fauna and flora, through a group of Austrian and German naturalists who accompanied her to Brazil. She had an important role in the development of studies of natural history in Brazil, mainly as an incentive to create the Royal Museum and increase scientific collections. p. 142 Lepidosiren paradoxa is a South American lungfish, known by the common name of piramboia, found in the Amazon Basin and described for the first time by Leopold Fitzinger (1802-1884), in 1837, from a sample collected by Johann Natterer (1787-1843) Plate 50 of Poissons/Zoologie, part 7, tome 2, from the book by Francis de Castelnau. Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amérique du Sud [...], 1855 p. 143 Pencil sketches made by Natterer on his voyage to Brazil, representing monkeys of the family Cebidae (Cebus apela and Cebus olivaceus) Cebus apela and Cebus olivaceus (on the left) and Emballonura canina (on the right) p. 144 Pteroglossus nattererii, current Selenidera nattereri (Gould, 1834) (tawny-tufted toucanet) is a species collected by Johann Natterer (1787-1843) and described and named by John Gould in honor of the Austrian naturalist. Pteroglossus nattererii (Natterer’s Araçari) Plate 124 of his book A Monograph of the Ramphastidae or Family of Toucans, 1834 p. 145 Illustration of new species of lepidopteras collected in Brazil by Johann Natterer (1787-1843) and described by Vincenz Kollar (1797-1860) in 1839. Fig. 1. Papilio stilbon; fig. 2. Castnia actinophorus, currently Herrichia acraeoides, collected in Rio de Janeiro; fig. 3. Castnia satrapes, currently Imara satrapes, collected in Mato Grosso; fig. 4. Castnia sternbergii, currently Geyeria hubneri, collected in Ipanema, São Paulo. Plate 12 published in the Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte, n. 2, p. 213-218, pl. p. 503, 1840

p. 146 Species of fresh water bivalve mollusk collected by Johann Baptist von Spix on the river Solimões Anodon giganteum. 1. juv., 2. adult. Plate 49 from the book by Johann Baptist von Spix (1781-1826). Testacea fluviatilia quae in itinere per Brasiliam [...], 1828 p. 147 Species of gastropod mollusk collected by Johann Baptist von Spix in Bahia. Spix refers to illustration 2 as a possible variety of Ampullaria zonata, naming the species as Archimedes Ampullaria zonata Wgr.; un-numbered prints, A. 1. zonata; 2. Archimedes. Plate from the book by Johann Baptist von Spix (1781-1826). Testacea fluviatilia quae in itinere per Brasiliam [...], 1828 p. 148 Portrait of Theresa von Bayern (1850-1925). Cousin to Pedro II, Princess Theresa of Bavaria spent five months in Brazil, exploring the Amazon, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, together with a lady companion and a court official. Her zoological collection was donated to the Museum of Natural History in Munich. Portrait of Theresa von Bayern (1850-1925) p. 149 Callithrix mellanochir, now Callicebus mellanochir (coastal black-handed titi) (Wied-Neuwied, 1820). Primate species endemic to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, collected and observed by Maximilian Wied-Neuwied in Espírito Santo and southern Bahia. Plate 5 of the book by Maximilian Wied-Neuwied (1782-1867). Recueil de Planches coloriées d’Animaux du Brésil, 1822 p. 150 Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), formulator of the theory of natural selection at the same time that Charles Darwin, in 1858, one of the great names in biogeography, visited the Amazon from 1848 to 1852 with Henry Walter Bates. During the voyage, he gathered important collections of natural history and made relevant observations regarding natural barriers and the distribution of species, fundamental to his new scientific theories. Author unknown. Portrait of Alfred Russel Wallace, c. 1842 p. 151 Butterflies observed by Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892) during the 11 years he spent in the Amazon rainforest researching and collecting samples of natural history, mainly insects, for British collectors and museums. These led him to describe a survival mechanism of the species in which the butterfly evolves morphological characteristics of other species in order to protect itself from its predators. Known as Batesian Mimicry, Bates’ theory was used to demonstrate Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Butterflies. Watercolor and pencil on paper, c. 1851-1859. From the collection of Alfred Russel Wallace’s travels in the Amazon region, between 1851 and 1854 p. 152, 153 In mid-19th century, when the British Museum in Montagu House started to permit public entry to its exhibitions, the natural history collections became a great attraction for the public which came with families to admire exotic nature housed in its galleries. Since the opening of the museum in 1759, until that moment, visits had to be booked, in groups restricted to 15 people, and only when accompanied by a member of the Museum staff. Unknown artist. The New Coral Room at the British Museum (p. 152), Easter Monday, The Great Zoological Gallery, British Museum (p. 153). Woodcut engraving, [1845]

p. 155 The three stuffed giraffes exhibited at the top of the stairway of the old British Museum, located in the former residence of the Duke of Montagu, in Bloomsbury, are one of the most popular exhibits in the museum. Montagu House had been purchased in 1753 to house the natural history collections, books, objects of art and coin collection, belonging to Sir Hans Sloane and acquired by the government after his death, that same year. It was only at the end of the 19 th century that the zoological collection was transferred to the new building of the Natural History Museum, in South Kensington. Staircase of the Old British Museum, Montagu House Watercolour on pencil, 1845 p. 157 Species of stingray of the genus Potamotrygon collected in Tefé and Maués, Amazon, by members of the Thayer expedition to Brazil. They are poisonous fish, but always attract the attention of travelers both by their form and variety of colors and patterns, and by the barbs on their tails. Located on the base of the tail, these pointed barbs are covered with glandular tissue that ruptures on attack and injects poison into its prey. Of restricted occurrence in the main river systems of South America, they can be found in different habitats such as beaches, forest floods, streams with clay or stony beds, and lakes. Jacques Burkhardt. Stingray (Teffe and Maues, Brazil, 18 October, 17 December and 19 December 1865) p. 159 Jacundá, a species of the genus Crenicichla (pike cichlid), is a sedentary fish that inhabits rivers and their backwaters, lagoons and reservoirs. One of its characteristics is its care with its offspring: the couple guard the eggs until they hatch, and then remain with the fry until they can swim well enough to find their own food. Watercolor of a species of cichlid, detail of the fin, of genus Crenicichla, collected in Tefé, Amazonas, on September 26, 1865 by members of the Thayer expedition to Brazil, led by Louis Agassiz. Jacunda piranga (Teffe, Brazil, September 26, 1865) p.162 In the eyes of their contemporaries, Humboldt and Bonpland’s voyage to America represented the model of what a modern scientific journey should be. Humboldt was one who systemized studies of landscapes through natural history. His approach included morphological, quantitative and esthetic descriptions, in accordance with the romantic sensibility of the era. Artist Ferdinand Keller came to Brazil in 1856 with his brother Franz, accompanying their father, Joseph Keller, an engineer in the service of the Emperor. Humboldt und Aime Bonpland am Orinoko (during the expedition to Venezuela, 1799-1800) Woodcut after an oil-painting by the same artist, 1877 p. 166-167 Romantic landscape painting incorporated elements from the scientific description of nature. Carus, he himself an artist and man of science, used Humboldt’s book to reflect and represent above all the mountains. He was also close to Goethe and his scientific and esthetic concepts. Haute Montagne, vers 1825-1827. Oil on canvas p. 168-169 The Chimborazo mountain was an important point of reference in Humboldt’s work. Mountains, besides being essential elements in the physiognomy of each place, are central to the author’s concepts regarding the geography of plants. The composition of each landscape illustrates the specific character of its inhabitants, even when all nations form just one humanity. Le Chimborazo, vu depuis le plateau de Tapia. Illustration from the book Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigènes d’Amérique, 1810-[1813]

p. 170 The world of plants is silent. Animals bring movement and sounds to landscapes. The artist portrayed in this scene a situation narrated by Humboldt, when during the dry season, the animals leave the forest to find water. Forest in Serro de Ocana, about 7000 (Par.) feet high. Plate published on page 28 of the book Physiognomy of Tropical Vegetation in South America [...], 1853 p. 172, 173 The sounds of the birds were described by many naturalists who visited Brazil during the 19th century. The noises of animals marked the time of day, the seasons of the year, announced changes in the weather and indicated that the forest was full of fauna, though not immediately visible. Page 172 Picus Albirostris (Le soldat), tab. XLV, tome 1. Page 173 Thamnophilus 1. guttatus 2. radiatus, tab. XXXV, tome 2. Plates from the book Avium Species Novae, 1825 p. 174 The landscape by Rugendas illustrates a complex situation, despite the apparent simplicity. The forest is composed of dozens of different interlaced species, forming a tropical mixture much different from the monotony of European forests. In the profusion of tones of green, brown and yellow, the indian sees a bird and prepares to shoot it down with an arrow, a method of hunting suitable to the circumstances. Landscape of Brazilian virgin forest with figures, 1830 p. 176-177 Naturalist Bates gave much space to “sound landscapes” or “soundscapes” in his report on the voyage to Brazil. The scene portrays him surrounded by a cacophony of toucans, whose cry is easily recognizable in the forest. On page 176, Mobbed by curul-crested toucans, plate of volume I, and on page 177, Musical cricket (Chlorocoelus tanana), p. 251, chapter VI of the book The Naturalist on the River Amazon, 1863 p. 179 The araponga (anvil bird) is one of Brazil’s most striking birds. Its song is very similar to the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil, and for this reason its popular name is ferreiro or ferrador (blacksmith). Araponga. Plate from the book Ornithologie Brésilienne [...], 1854 p. 180 The illustration portrays indigenous hunters using blowpipes. The two men hide in the bushes and are difficult to see. The weapons and the native techniques were frequently used by collectors when visiting the Amazon rainforest, as they were best adapted to the forest and the territory. Interior of Primeval Forest in the Amazon. Plate published on page 72, volume 1, of the book The Naturalist on the River Amazon, 1863 p. 181, top Prince of Wied Neuwied painted many hunting scenes during his travels in Brazil. The hunt, besides having been one of the main pastimes of the aristocrats, was the basis for field work in zoology. Firearms made too much noise, and startled the other animals, apart from causing damage to the skins and feathers of the animals. Original illustration from Voyage to Brazil, 1815-1817 p. 181, bottom Painter Rugendas accompanied part of the expedition led by Baron Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff. Among his illustrations of animals is this sapo-de-chifre (litter dwelling frog). The loud noise produced by these amphibians distracted the travelers. Proceratophrys boiei Wied, 1825. Watercolor on paper

p. 183 The call of the saracura (wood rail) is very loud and clearly recognizable, even to the inexperienced ears of European travelers. This bird, which inhabits wetlands, appears in various reports by naturalist travelers. Gallinulla saracura, tab. XCVIII, tome II, from the book Avium species novae, 1825

p. 195 Up to the 19th century there was a general belief that tropical birds did not sing well, but were lively and brilliantly colored. Parrots were described as noisy. Rugendas painted the clamorous parrots with a background of leaves of a similar coloring to the parrots’ plumage. Three parrots in the forest, ca. 1850

p. 184 (detail), 185 The artist and ornithologist Descourtilz described the songs of various birds – like the saci – that are “harmonious” and can therefore be represented as musical notation. Detail of musical notation on page 16 of the book Ornithologie Brésilienne [...], 1854

p. 196 Hercule Florence liked to record images and sounds – he was an inventor. The method he created for annotating the sounds and voices of the animals preserved for ever the memory of the sweet song of the surucuá, even after the forests have been destroyed by the barbarous axe of man.Zoophonologie ou Essai d’un nouveau sujet d’études, offert aux amis de la nature. [c. 1840] From the manuscript L’ami des arts livré à lui-même.., 1837-1859

p. 186, 187 This book by Florence was his first publication on the theme of animal voices, and today is very rare. The editor had difficulty in interleaving the textual descriptions and the musical symbols, as the author wished, and opted to group all the annotations on the same page. The first pentagrams illustrate the symbols for the system proposed, and the rest indicate the notes of the songs of some species of birds and animals. Frontispiece and Système de l’art d’ecrire la voix des animaux Recherches sur la voix des animaux [...], 1831

p. 197 Ornithologist and artist John Gould illustrated birds of the genus Trogon, known in Brazil by the name surucuá. These birds occur mainly in Central and South America and have an agreeable song. The illustration shows one of the species of the genus, which is sexually dimorphic. john gould (1804-1881). Trogon aurantius (Spix) (Orange Breasted Trogon or Surucuá, p. 44). Plate from the book Monograph of the Trogonidae or Family of Trogons [...], 1838

p. 188 A anhumapoca (crested screamer) attracted the attention of Hercule Florence, who described its song as being similar to the ringing of a bell and transcribed it with “zoofonic” annotations that he himself created.

p. 203 Animals of the old world were used when composing images of the beasts of the new world. The great feline of Portuguese America was not always represented in the distinct form of a lion, as in this 16th century image. America Quill pen and indian ink on paper, 16 th century

p. 190 The picture accompanies the first French edition of Volney’s book Les Ruines [...] (1791), and shows the philosopher in a moment of meditation on the destinies of the great empires, sitting and contemplating the ruins of the previously burgeoning city of Palmira. Note a nocturnal bird on a frond of the palm tree and a small jackal to the left, also mentioned in the text. Les Ruines, or Méditation sur les révolutions des empires, par M. Volney [...], 1791

p. 204, 205 Once a constant presence in all parts of Brazil, the jaguars are currently an endangered species and protected in environmental reserves. Jungle Warfare Training Center – Cigs, Manaus, May 23, 2013 p. 204 Panthera onca, (black panther) melanic specimen, black jaguar or jaguarapixuna p. 205 Panthera onca, spotted jaguar or jaguarapinima

p. 191 In this study, Florence portrays the same elements as the engraving by Volney, including sketches of the bird in the palm tree and the jackal on the left. According to him, the scene recorded by Volney should be interpreted in association with the melancholy sounds produced by the animals portrayed. Untitled (Volney and the Ruins of Palmyra) Pencil study on paper, ca. 1836

p. 207 The illustration shows Jerônimo Martins Borges being attacked by a jaguar, from which he escaped by invoking divine powers. The Panthera onca is carnivorous, with more than 85 species cataloged in its diet, varying with the distribution of its prey, and the ease of capture. It prefers stalk-and-ambush to long chases. Santuário Basílica do Divino Pai Eterno, April 6, 2012,Trindade (GO)

p. 192 Volney was a master in the art of travel. His methods of investigation, his complete and reliable descriptions probably affected Hercule Florence. The engraving portrays details of the ruins of the ancient city of Palmira, indicating the remains of temples, sepulchers, fortifications, columns and porticos. Vue des Ruines de Palmyre dans le désert de la Syrie. Illustration dated 1787 and included on page 262, tome II of Volney’s book, Constantin-François de Chasseboeuf (1757-1820). Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte [...], 1787

p. 209 The rock painting attests to the antiquity of images of the jaguar in the Americas, and its significance in the myths of pre-Colombian societies. Serra da Capivara National Park, São Raimundo Nonato, January 4, 2012 Collected during the expedition made by Spix and Martius, this mask can be associated with the engraving in the naturalists’ voyage Atlas (on the right) which portrays its use during an indigenous ritual, together with other ornaments representing animals and anthropomorphic figures.

p. 193 Hercule Florence’s work is a creation that combines elements of engravings from Volney’s book, such as the central part of the ruins from the above image, and the palm tree, the philosopher and the owl portrayed in the engraving from the book Les Ruines. The moonlight and the shadows of the night compose a melancholy atmosphere. Florence would add to this landscape the accompanying sounds. Night Sky (Volney and the Ruins of Palmyra, Syria), ca. 1836

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

p. 210: Jaguar mask, Juri-Taboca, item collected on voyage to Brazil, between 1817 and 1820, by Philipp von Martius (1794-1868) and Johann Baptist von Spix (1781-1826)

278

279

apêndice appendix

p. 211 Festlicher Zug der Tecunas Plate 28 of the Atlas used by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868) and Johann Baptist von Spix (1781-1826) p. 213 Rugendas illustrated a scene of indians hunting a ferocious jaguar through the forest, armed with bows and arrows, stressing their bravery. Below, the hunter brings the dead body of the terrible beast to be prepared. Top: Chasse au tigre, print 3 Below: Indiens dans leur cabane Plates 3 and 2, respectively, 3rd division of the book Malerische Reise in Brasilien (Picturesque Voyage in Brazil), 1835 p. 214, 215 Marcgraf portrays, on page 214, the onça-pintada, which he calls a jaguara; and, on page 215, though it doesn’t look like one, the black jaguar, which he calls jaguaretê. However, jaguara was used by the Tupi indians for all the wild animals, being a more generic name, while jaguaretê, yauaretê or iauaretê was the “true beast”, the Panthera onca. More specifically, the spotted jaguar was called jaguarapinima and the black jaguar jaguarapixuna Jaguara and Jaguarete Illustrations from page 235 of lib. VI, Historia Quadrupedes et Serpent., from the book Historia naturalis Brasiliae [...], 1648 p. 216, 217 On page 216 (full illustration) and on page 217 (detail): A careful inspection of this illustration of various scenes representing the saga of Hans Staden brings to light the presence of jaguars (upper part of the picture) circling human habitations. Page 10 of the book Das sechste Teil Americae oder Der Historien Hieron, 1619 p. 218 Illustration of the supposed friendship between Father José de Anchieta and the jaguars, these ferocious beasts that appeared to recognize the goodness and piety of the priest. V.P. Ioseph Anchieta Soc. Iesu Engraving, 1680-1740 p. 219 Hunt for leopard or jaguar? The hunters look like indigenous Brazilians. The spaces, the fauna and flora of the colonies are often confusing in representations of the world. Unknown author Leopard hunt Mural in tiles, ca. 1650-1655 p. 221 The iconography of the Philosophic Voyage led by Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira is rich in details on customs, clothing, weapons and indigenous artefacts. The concern with this type of representation probably comes from the desire to make a sort of visual inventory of the different nations, to help recognize them. Chief of Aycurú tribe, Inhabitant of River Paraguay Watercolor design from the manuscript of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira “Desenhos de gentios [...]”, result of the Philosophic Voyage (1783-1792) p. 222, 223 Quite accurate illustrations of the Panthera onca, the black jaguar (p. 222), and the spotted jaguar (p. 223). From the manuscript “Desenhos de gentios, animaes, quadrupedes, aves, anphibios, peixes e insetos”, belonging to the collecion from the philosophic expedition to Pará, Rio Negro, Matto Grosso, and Cuyabá Originals, volume 1. p. 222 Black jaguar, folio 33r p. 223 Pacóva-sururoca-yauara, folio 32r

p. 225 In this landscape, the jaguar was portrayed as a natural part of the environment. In this vegetation, the presence of the animal is perfectly adequate, in accordance with the biogeographical observations of naturalists Spix and Martius Campi Silvulis variati ad fluv. Rio das Velhas, Prov. Minarum [Fields with scattered trees and vegetation near to the River das Velhas, provínce of Minas [Gerais]] Plate 43, part I, vol. I of Flora brasiliensis, by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, 1840-1857 p. 227 The illustrations made by Prince Maximilian of WiedNeuwied during his travels record many hunting situations. The zoologists hunted and also contracted local hunters. In this case, we see a “Brazilian” carrying weapons and sound instruments to attract the animals. The skin hanging on his rifle could be of a jaguar. Soldier with complete equipment, turned to the left, original watercolor published in the book Reise nach Brasilien [...], 1820 p. 228 The artists on the Langsdorff expedition portrayed domestic scenes in settlements and villages they passed through. The picture shows a jaguar skin being used as a mat for sleeping. Interieur d’une cabane des indiens Bororós [Interior of a Borôro indian cabin] Watercolor from the Langsdorff expedition (1821-1829), 1827 p. 229 The landscape is an Atlas cedar on palm trees. The illustration of the indian hunting a jaguar indicates that this could occur in this specific type of landscape. The artist sought to illustrate the association of plant, animal and human life. Astrocaryum ginacanthum, Bactris pectinata, Bactris hirta, tabula 60, volume 2, by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. Historia naturalis palmarum, (1823-1850) p. 230 The scene shows that dogs were used for hunting during naturalist Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied’s expedition. Although not used for bird capture, the dogs were essential in hunting ground animals. Jagd der Unze. Februar 1817 [Jaguar hunt, February 1817] Watercolor from the voyage to Brazil in 1815-1817 p. 231: A traveler takes part in an indigenous wedding ritual, which is centralized on the presence of a jaguar; a mask represents the feline and a jaguar skin can also be seen hanging from a beam, indicating a recent hunt. Masked-Dance and Wedding-Feast of Tucúna Indians. Frontispiece of a book by Walter Henry Bates (1825-1892). The Naturalist on the River Amazons, 1863 p. 233 Illustration of a jaguar hunt, which looks like a truly warlike operation against the fierce animal. Chasse au tigre [Jaguar hunt] Watercolor p. 235 The jaguar is an endangered species due to alterations to the environment and to its habitats, and also for being a species traditionally feared. Today the contemporary view has substituted fear with admiration. Jungle Warfare Training Center – Cigs, Manaus, May 23, 2013

Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP) Bibliotecária Juliana Farias Motta CRB7- 5880 R425 Representações da fauna no Brasil séculos XVI - XX / Organização Lorelai Kury ; Tradutor  Chris Hieatt . -- Rio de Janeiro : Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio, 2014.: 284 p. : il principalmente color.; 30 cm. Inclui referência bibliográfica. Texto em português com tradução paralela em inglês Outros autores : Felipe F. Vander Velden ; Bruno Martins Boto Leite ; Magali Romero Sá ; José Luiz de Andrade Franco Este livro foi elaborado com tipos das famílias TheSans e TheSerif e impresso na primavera de 2014 em papel Garda Chiara 135 g/m2 nas oficinas da Ipsis Editora Gráfica para Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio This book was designed with TheSans and TheSerif types, and printed on Garda Chiara 135g/m2 paper in the workshops of Ipsis Editora Gráfica for Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio in Spring, 2014

ISBN 978-85-88742-64-2 1.Zoologia - Brasil. 2. Fauna. 3. Animais. I. Hieatt, Chris, trad. I. Título. CDD 591.981 Índice para catálogo sistemático: 1. Zoologia - Brasil, 2. Fauna, 3. Animais

representations of the fauna in brazil, 16th – 20th centuries

284