Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro

Record summary

Alfred Russel Wallace’s 1853 narrative includes descriptions of Amazonian environments, Indigenous societies, local beliefs, and natural phenomena. It is relevant to luminous folklore because Amazonian narratives about fire, stars, spirits, and nocturnal forest appearances were often interpreted alongside biological and meteorological observations by travelers. Wallace’s book should be searched for named peoples, local terms, and quoted informants rather than treated as a comprehensive folklore collection. Its observations are selective, translated through an English scientific traveler’s perspective, and sometimes dependent on intermediaries.