Books with author Charles Waters

By the age of 90, when he wrote this memoir, Charles Peters had lived an extraordinary life. Born in the Azores, an immigrant to America at 10, he caught the Gold Fever in 1849 and headed to California. He spent the rest of his long life there, prospecting for gold and ranching.As you'll see in his book, he became something of an encyclopedia on California mining. He packed this book full of wonderful tales as well as a great many fun facts about gold, mining, and the luck of the Chinese. If it hadn't been for an accidental drowning at 96, he may well have made it to a much greater age. He had the genes for it.Every memoir of the American West provides us with another view of the movement that changed the country forever.For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

Although in the original preface to this work the British naturalist Charles Waterton (1782-1865) modestly says his book has 'little merit', his account is a rich description of his experiences in South America and the Caribbean. Waterton managed his family's sugar plantations in Demerara from 1804 to 1812, studied natural history, and later (1812-25) divided his time between the Americas and Europe. This book, originally published in 1825 and reissued here in its 1828 second edition, describes his four expeditions, beginning with his search deep in the rainforest for samples of the rare poison, curare. Waterton also recounts a fierce battle with the Maroons, but his main focus is zoology, including the capture of 'an enormous Coulacara snake', encounters with sloths, monkeys and vampire bats, and close observations of a huge variety of birds. The final chapter describes Waterton's methods of 'preserving birds for cabinets of natural history'.

By the age of 90, when he wrote this memoir, Charles Peters had lived an extraordinary life. Born in the Azores, an immigrant to America at 10, he caught the Gold Fever in 1849 and headed to California. He spent the rest of his long life there, prospecting for gold and ranching. As you'll see in his book, he became something of an encyclopedia on California mining. He packed this book full of wonderful tales as well as a great many fun facts about gold, mining, and the luck of the Chinese. If it hadn't been for an accidental drowning at 96, he may well have made it to a much greater age. He had the genes for it. Every memoir of the American West provides us with another view of the movement that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

Excerpt from Wanderings in South America: The North-West of the United States, and the Antilles, in the Years 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1824; With Original Instructions for the Perfect Preservation of Birds, Etc; For Cabinets of Natural HistoryThe Wanderings I have left untouched as Waterton wrote them, not adding or altering or cancelling a syllable. They constitute, so to speak, the central brilliant of a ring, round which are arranged jewels of inferior value, so as to set off the beauty of the principal gem.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.