IDNO

LS.26709.WHI

Description

On catalogue card: "N.W. Amazon. 175.14 - 16.
14. River view, with canoe.
15. Capt Whiffen in canoe, w. natives.
16. ? Capt. Whiffen's camp.
(3 slides)."

View of 'Robuchon’s party' on the bank of the Japura River. A man is sitting in a fully loaded canoe near the bank of the river. A small group of men, possibly South American Indians? and John Brown?, his Barbadian servant, standing on the bank, appear to be using ropes to pull the canoe towards the bank. A man is sitting on a rock in the foreground. The men are wearing European-style clothing. [TC 09/06/1999, updated JD 17/10/2019]

Place

S America; Colombia; North West Amazon; Japura River

Cultural Affliation

?Barbadian; ?South American Indian; ?European

Named Person

?John Brown

Photographer

?Robuchon, Eugenio; ?Whiffen, Thomas William

Collector / Expedition

Date

?1905 - 1908

Collection Name

Whiffen CollectionTeaching Slide Collection

Source

Whiffen, Nöel H.

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Image: A duplicate print is at the RAI, reference 36138, and annotated by Whiffen in pencil on the reverse as "Robuchon’s party at the fatal rapids. Japura River."
Photocopies of Whiffen prints at the RAI are in the UCMAA archive, reference W19/1/3. See Whiffen Collection record for further details on RAI collection. [TC 09/06/1999, updated JD 02/10/2019]

Photographer: Some images in the Whiffen Collection were made during Robuchon’s 1905-1906 expedition, and this is probably one of them. However, when Whiffen began his search for clues about Robuchon in 1908, he met some of the people who had accompanied Robuchon on his expedition. This image may have been made at this point. It is possible that the man standing at the left is John Brown, Whiffen’s Barbadian servant, as described by Whiffen, T. W., 1915 (p. 3). Brown also accompanied Robuchon on his expedition. [TC 09/06/1999]

Bibliographical Reference: Whiffen describes the manufacture of two types of canoes, made from a cedar tree and a bulge-stemmed palm (Whiffen, T. W., 1915: 100-101) and mentions the use of the latter type on his own expedition (ibid: 5). He also describes the paddles used and explains that "Indians always paddle together in unison, sometimes on alternate sides, sometimes three together on one side and three on the other" (ibid: 101). [TC 09/06/1999]

Source: In MAA Correspondence Box 1934 is a letter from Noel Whiffen donating his "brother's collection of lantern slides" to the museum, on behalf of the Whiffen family. Louis Clarke replied. The gift is also noted in the annual report for that year in the list of accessions (UCMAA 1934: 3), which mentions that "the collection of lantern slides has also been increased by gifts from ... Mr N. H. Whiffen ... "
For full details see Whiffen Collection record. [TC 09/06/1999, updated, JD 02/10/2019]