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2. contemplating securing his succession via a new marriagepreferably marriage into an imperial family and that he hadrepeatedly flirted with the dynasty of the Russian Tsars. This viewwas reinforced by the meeting in Erfurt. However, the Tsar wasapparently of a different opinion. When, in 1808, he learned ofNapoleons intentions, he imme- diately married his elder sisterKatherina to the Duke of Hol- stein-Oldenburg. But there was stillhis sister Anna. She was then only 13 years old, and there wouldhave to be a delay, but Napoleon wasted no time. In 1809 hedespatched his emissaries to St. Petersburg with an officialproposal. Meanwhile (on 16th December 1809) the Senate hadpronounced the divorce of Napoleon and Josphine. The wilyMetternich was thus fully aware of the danger hanging over Aus-tria in the event of a marital union between France and Russia,which would threaten not only her own destruction but also thecarving up of Europe between these two great powers. Thefraudulently obtained peace treaty (October 1809) between Franceand Austria had already divided the country, requir- ing largeareas to be forfeited, and access to the sea to be relinquished.She had also been compelled to give up all trade with England. Butat least this undesirable treaty had allowed the Austrian Emperorto return to Vienna on the 26th Novem- ber, and Metternich to takeoffice as Minister of State and do what he had been planning:...from the day of the signing of the peace treaty our strategymust be solely to resist, connive, evade, and cajole. Only thuswill we succeed in surviving until the day of the very probablyuniversal lib- eration. On the 28th November ie two days after hisarrival at the Ballhausplatz he summoned Count Alexandre de Labordeto his office. The latter was the son of a great financier, amember of the national government in Vienna, and acting ascommissioner for the regulation of certain financial interestsdependent on the recently implemented peace treaty. Metternich putforward the possibility of a marriage between the French Emperorand an Archduchess: The idea is my own, I have not yet sought theviews of the Emperor on this matter, but I am almost certain thathe will look favourably on the scheme, he said. When Metternichthen learnt from de Laborde that Napoleon would consent providedacceptance of his proposal was guaranteed (clearly the two Russianflops had not gone down well with the French ruler), and that theway was clear in Paris, he wrote to his master on the 7th February1810, The marriage scheme will undoubtedly develop to our bene-fit. Ultimately his idea not only had the desired effect, but alsoproved popular with the entire land-owning class when the newsspread like wildfire. It even saw Austrian government securitiesrise by 30% on the stock exchange. The 1st April 1810 was no matterfor joking, but the day of the civil ceremo- ny, with who wouldhave thought it the religious service in the Louvre the next day.In the Louvre because the Pope had not given Napoleon his consentand for this reason he wished to avoid a wedding in Notre Dame. Theelders of the Roman Catholic religion opposed a church weddingbetween the Archduchess and a divorced man. Just as in the case ofMarie-Louise (who was called Marie Ludovica before her marriage),the Emperor Franz I (II) did not dare oppose the all-powerfulChancellor when it came to Leopoldine. In 1816 Metternich suggestedthe marriage of his daughter to the heir to the throne of Portugal,Brazil, and Algarde and, of course, as with Marie-Louise this wasfor political as well as personal considerations. The following isthe background to the situation. In 1807 the Portuguese court haddecamped in its entirety to Brazil. Napoleon occupied Portugal, buthimself abandoned it later. The neighbouring English took advantageof the situation, seducing the Portuguese people with their liberalpolicies. For this reason the Portuguese king, Joo VI, wasinterested in a closer liaison with the houses of Habsburg andBraganza, which promised greater security against Great Britain. BL E H E R S D I S C U S 29 FIRST DISCOVERY It was an extraordinaryday in the history of Austria in two respects when the StateChancellor and Foreign Minister, Prince Clemens Wenzel vonMetternich, who in his day wielded considerable influence at theimperial court and on Kaiser Franz I (II), sampled the very firstSacher-Torte in Vienna. It was later to become the most famous cakein the world, and the hand- written recipe has remained aclosely-guarded secret right up to the present day. Round about thesame time (1832), the assistant supervisor of the imperial naturalhistory collection, and leader of the Austrian expedition to Brazilthat had started back in 1817, became the first white man ever tohandle a discus: the Austrian Johann Baptist Nat- terer. His fishwas later (1840) described as Symphysodon discus by Jakob Heckel,along with many other species of fish discovered by Natterer (seepage 28). During his 18 year expedition to Brazil, this Austriancollected a total of 1671 fishes, 1678 reptiles and amphibians,12293 birds, 1146 mammals, 32825 insects, 1729 vials of intestinalworms, 1024 mussels, 125 eggs of various species, 430 mineralsamples, 192 skulls, 42 anatomical specimens, 242 seed samples, 216coins, and 1492 ethnographic items. But just as neither vonMetternich nor the 16-year-old bakers apprentice, Franz Sacher, whocreated the Sach- er-Torte, could have foreseen the sub- sequentworld-wide success of that confection, likewise Natterer had noidea that his discovery would one day become the most popular ofall aquarium fishes, the King of the Amazon. So what does this soinfluential State Chancel- lor von Metternich have to do with thevery first discovery of the discus, and who was he anyway? Well,let me tell you. The future Chancellor of the Austrian Empire wasborn in 1773, in the German village of Metternich, on the left bankof the Mosel, just a few kilometres from Koblenz, and was baptisedClemens Wenzeslas Lothar von Metternich-Winneburg. At that timeLouis XV still ruled in France, Maria Theresa in Austria, KatharinaII in Russia, and Friedrich II in Prussia; Napoleon Bonaparte wasonly four years old, just like Arthur Wellesley, Duke ofWellington, his eventual conqueror. When Metternich died 86 yearslater, the rulers who survived him were Victoria I, Franz-Josef I,Alexander II, and a boy had been born into the Prussian royalfamily whose destiny was to bring about the demise of the old,monarchistic Europe which the aged servant of the Austrian Empirehad supported against all change. Between these two epochs therewas hardly an event of any importance in which Metternich was notinvolved, be it as witness or active participant; there was nonotable personality during his time that he didnt know personally.Thus it was he that arranged the marriages of the Emperorsdaughters Marie-Louise and Leopoldine. The latter is of the mostinterest to us, in connection with the first discus, although in myview it was Napoleon who was to blame (or, at least, chiefly toblame) for Natterer being sent on his travels. But judge foryourself. Metternich was already well aware, when he began to drawthe threads of the marriage of Princess Leopoldines darling oldersister Marie-Louise together, that mar- riage was a favouriteinstrument of Habsburg politics. Bella gerant alii, tu felixAustria nube! (Let others wage war; you, lucky man, marry Aus-tria). And marriage between Marie- Louise and Napoleon would meanthat the Austrian princess, once established in Paris, couldmoderate the demands of the conqueror, lay his suspicions to rest.It is important to realise that in September 1808 Napoleon had helddiscussions in Erfurt with Tsar Alexander I. Pawlowitsch, his dearbroth- er and ally as he called him, and Metternich had beenpresent. And that following 1805, the Corsican tyrant had occu-pied Austria for a second time in 1809. That the existence of theAustrian Empire did not accord with Napoleons concept of worlddomination; and that the Emperors declarations of good- willtowards the French had met with other than belief... Metternich wasalso aware that by 1808 Napoleon was already 28 B L E H E R S D I SC U S FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERY NN aappoolleeoo nnBBoonnaappaarrttee 11776699-- 118822 11CCllmmeennss--WWeennzzeessllaass--LLoott hhaarr vvoonnMMeetttteerrnniicchh-- WW iinn nneebbuurrgg 11777733--11885599 3.time working at the Natural History Museum in Florence, to go onthe trip. Together with von Schreibers, Metternich suggested JohannNatterer as the scientific leader in the field. Since 1806 Nattererhad been working in the Naturalien-Cab- inet, initially as avisiting researcher (until 1808), and thereafter as an unpaidmember of staff. From the end of 1809 he received 300 florins peryear. He had already won recognition from Director von Schreibersfor his work capturing marsh and aquat- ic birds from theNeusiedlersee and the Plattensee for the impe- rial collection. Hehad collected in Croatia, Hungary, and Styria, and along theAdriatic coast. In 1808 he was commissioned to take charge of aconsignment of natural and archaeological items that had arrived inTrieste from Egypt, and accom- pany it to Vienna. On his owninitiative and mainly in his spare time he col- lected fishes andintestinal worms, the latter for his director, who was a learneddoctor who had very early in his career established a collectionrelating to the worm diseases com- mon in those days. Moreover theEmperor himself had personally awarded Natterer a certificate ofcommendation for this work, and granted him permission to work inthe Naturalien-Cabinet without remuneration (this was, of course, asignal honour...). As well as making several trips to Italy toCalabria for the Emperor, usually to bring back creatures arrivedfrom over- seas or to make collections himself, he gave privatetuition in English, Italian, and French. He was also involved inthe original repatriation of valuable items belonging to theNaturalien- Cabinet from Ofen (Budapest) in 1806. When Napoleonmarched in during 1805 everything had been evacuated as it was wellknown that the French plundered collections. Napoleon alwaysensured that scientists accompanied the rearguard of his army, andduring the Egyptian campaign this led to important discoveries suchas the famous Rosetta Stone. There were two evacuations andrepatria- tions, in 1809 and 1813, in which Natterer played asignificant part. In 1815, on the order of his Emperor, hetravelled with von Schreibers to Paris in order to organise thereturn to the Vienna Mnz- und Antikencabinet of the art treasures,libraries, and oth- er items that had been spirited away fromAustria by Napoleon in 1809. Natterers involvement with thecollections during the French years and repatriations was onereason why in 1816 he was pro- moted to supervisory assistant inthe Naturalien-Cabinet, and ultimately was appointed scientificleader of the Brazil expedi- tion in the field. Even so, shortlybefore the departure of the expedition there was a dispute, asthere were moves to replace him with a certain naturalist fromPrague, Doctor Johann Chris- tian Mikan k.k. (of the Cabinet ofNatural Objects), a professor of botany, a suggestion he opposedvigorously. In the end the expedition party was split into twogroups, with each of them leading one part. Both groups had to fol-low the direct instructions of their respective leader, and inevery case consult him with regard to suggestions for excursionsand collections to be made. A set of Instructions for service forthe naturalists Doctor Johann Chris- tian Mikan k.k., Professor ofbotany from Prague, and Mr. Johann Nat- terer k.k.,Naturalien-Cabinet assis- tant from Vienna, appointed to theexpedition to Brazil was given to them, and was binding on all theparticipants. Inter alia, Rio de Janeiro was to be the startingpoint for all excursions. Travel plans must be made in advance,and, indeed, include details of accommoda- tion, routes, hazards,duration, details of the return journey, etc. It would appear thatno-one at the court of Vienna had very much knowledge about Braziland the jungle! Let alone the conditions in that vast country. Onlyconsider, Natterer needed more than a year just to get from thecoast to the Mato Grosso. (Some- thing my mother, along with fourchildren, managed in a month 125 years later, and which today takesonly two hours by plane.) I find the section of these instructions,Notes and comments for the expedition to Brazil, particularlyinteresting: for exam- ple, they were particularly to search forhalf savage aboriginals, long-bearded apes, gold-panningopportunities, etc. in Canta- galo, rather nearer the coast.Cantagalo is in the state of Rio de Janeiro and was already than awell known Municpio... When the frigates of the Austrian navy,Austria and Augusta, left Trieste on the 9th of April 1817, it wasthe first time in the B L E H E R S D I S C U S 31 Following theagreement made at the Vienna Congress (1815), Portugal became partof Metternichs system of alliances, as he himself perceived thatAustria would become stronger through her influence on Portugal andthe New World. (Brazil was ele- vated to the status of kingdombecause of the liaison with Por- tugal, and thus became the onlymonarchy in South America.) And Metternich knew that his Emperor,Franz I (II), desired the restoration of the monarchy in Portugal,which would effective- ly put an end to the liberalisation. And theinstrument for that could only be Leopoldine. As well asrepresenting the political and economic interests of Austria, theState Chancellor had, of course, not forgotten to think a littlefurther ahead. If only because his Emperor was a dedicated garden-er for which reason he became known to posterity as theBlumenkaiser (Emperor of flowers). Franz I (II) had greenhous- eserected and parks created. His chil- dren were also enchanted withnature, and he commissioned the creation of a garden for them inSchnbrunn, a garden which they had to look after themselves as partof their education, and which served to instruct them in botany.Leopoldine herself loved country life and nature. She maintainedher own orchard in Laxenburg the summer residence of the imperialhousehold where she herself culti- vated various berry fruits, aswell as keeping white foxes, a parrot, and ban- tams from Angola,and breeding hares. So what could be more appropriate than for herHighness and Austria to also derive some sci- entific benefit? Hetherefore suggested that a mission for the benefit of science andculture should take place in con- junction with the marriage of herHighness the Austrian princess. Of course permission was given, andthe planning for this expedition was already under way in 1816.Metternich was in overall charge, and von Schreibers, the directorof the Natu- ralien-Cabinet in Vienna, supervised the scientificside. On the 29th November 1816 the betrothal of ArchduchessLeopoldine and the son of King Joo VI, Dom Pedro, was sealed.Emperor Franz I (II) had not given his consent until the return ofthe Portuguese royal house to Lisbon was imminent. He did not findit an easy decision, but it would be the first time in the historyof the world that an emperors daughter had crossed an ocean to avirtually unexplored land. Leopoldine began to study all thecontemporary books on Brazil, as well as maps pertaining to SouthAmerica. She learnt the Portuguese language. The wedding took placeon the 13th May 1817 in the church of St Augustine in Vienna,albeit in the absence of the bride- groom, who was represented perprocurationem by the Archduke Karl. The 13th May because this wasthe birthday of Dom Joo. Leopoldine had sought in vain to make it adifferent date. She was superstitious, and moreover, her mother haddied on a 13th, her darling sister Marie Louise had taken her leaveof the imperial family on a 13th, it was on a 13th that Austria hadlost a battle against France, and many other instances. ThePortuguese ambassador from Paris, the Marqus de Marialva, who(armed with a healthy bank balance, diamonds and other preciousstones, and jewelry) had previously officially asked for the handof the Archduchess in the name of the son of Dom Joo and therebypromulgated the fiction of Brazil as a land of unsurpassed wealth,was originally supposed to represent the son at the wedding, butassigned his authority to the Archduke Karl. Nevertheless hearranged, from France, for festivities to take place over severaldays, an event that long remained in the memo- ries of theViennese. Because Metternich also wanted interna- tionalrecognition for the expedition, rather than it being merely acollecting trip for the impe- rial natural history collection, heapproached various scientists from overseas, including Alexandervon Humboldt, a visitor to his salon. The latter presented him witha long wish list... Eventually Metternich had assembled a teamtotalling 14 aca- demics, researchers, doctors, and painters. Atthe request of the Bavarian king, Max Joseph I, the expedition wasto be accompa- nied for a while by the botanist Philipp Friedrichvon Martius (1794-1868) and the zoologist Johann B. von Spix(1781-1826), a member of the Academy and Conservator of thezoological collection in Munich. The Grand Duke Ferdinand vonToscana even delegated the naturalist Joseph Raddi (1770-1829), atthat 30 B L E H E R S D I S C U S LLeeooppooll ddiinnaaAArrcciidduucchheessssaa dd AAuussttrriiaa 1177 9977--11882266JJoohh aannnn BBaappttiisstt NNaatttteerreerr,, 11778877-- 11884433FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERY 4. B L E H E R S D I S C U S 33history of Austria that ships had ventured overseas. And there werestill serious problems, such as a lack of navigational equip- ment.The only chronometer in the entire k.k. marine arsenal of Venicewas defective, and not until Gibraltar did they obtain a functionalone. There was likewise no sextant until the marine commandantfetched one of his own. Aboard the Austria were Mikan and his wife,Spix, Martius (both pictured right), and others, while Natterer andhis assistant hunter/conservator Sochor shipped on the Augusta.Both frigates were wrecked off the Adriatic coast in a storm onlythree days later. The Augusta lost all her masts and had to lay upin Pola (todays Croazia) for a long time; the Austria, on the otherhand, was soon under way again and first reached Rio de Janeiro onthe 14th June 1817. After her repairs the Augus- ta joined thePortuguese fleet of two ships in Gibraltar and all three ships putinto Guanabara Bay off Rio on the 4th November 1817, where theywere welcomed with cannon, bells, and fire- works. Metternich, whohad accompanied the Arch- duchess Leopoldine to Livorno, where sheembarked, wrote letters to his family describing interesting eventsand detours during his journey across Italy. And I cannot resistincluding a few extracts here, in part because I myself have nowlived in this beautiful country for several years. He enthusesabout Padua, Ferrara, and Bologna, and then writes: Florence, 14thJune 1817: We have been here since 11 oclock yesterday morning...Everything I have seen so far exceeds my expectations. Good God!What fellows those men of the past were!.. The country isglorious... the climate is heavenly. And because the arrival of thecursed squadron as he termed the Portuguese fleet continued to bedelayed: 26th July 1817: The squadron is, happily, now at anchor inLivorno... I am off on my travels again, to the Baths of Lucca. Iplan to begin my treatment tomorrow... (He had eye problems andeven had an eye specialist with him.) Baths of Lucca, 28th July1817: I am staying in the house that Elisa (Napoleons eldestsister) had built for herself, or rather, had converted for herself(todays Vila Reale outside of Lucca). That should tell you that itis com- fortable and well located... News from Livorno... that thesquadron will weigh anchor before 15th August. Livorno, 10th August1817: I arrived here at eight in the evening. I found the entirecourt here, along with 4,000 foreigners, I saw my princess and wentto an evening entertainment. 11th August 1817: This morning I wasaboard the Portuguese warships... You cannot imagine how manypeople there are on such a warship... As well as the Austrianladies the entire Portuguese court is there... The number ofofficers of all ranks has been tripled. In addition there are aconsider- able number of cows, calves, pigs, lambs, 4,000 chickens,several hundred ducks, and 4,500 canaries, as well as large andsmall birds from Brazil; so you can imagine that Noahs Ark was justa childs toy compared with the Johann VI. (He was referring to theDom Joo VI, one of the two warships transporting the bride. Therewere a total of 1,300 men on the So Sebastio and the Dom Joo VI.The numerous ornamental birds were for the entertainment of herHighness.) 13th August 1817: Today around four I escorted herLadyship the Archduchess on board her ship... her apartment pleasedher very well... it would have been diffi- cult to have decked itout more elegantly. And then from the Baths of Lucca on the 16thAugust 1817: I have bade farewell to my Archduchess. The squadronset sail yesterday morning around half past six. Leopoldine hadalso said farewell to her much- loved sister Marie-Louise, by nowelevated to Duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla as a resultof the Vienna Congress. At that time nei- ther of them as yet hadany idea that this was the last time they would see each other.Metternich had completed his work, although he repeatedly had tointervene when there was trouble in Brazil if disputes or financialproblems arose. In fact this was the case only with Mikan, andafter barely a year the latter returned prematurely to Europe,along with other members of the expedition, some of whom wereseriously ill. In 1820 he also published a splendid volume,Delectus faunae et florae brasiliensis (The enjoyment of the floraand fauna of Brazil), notable not only for the high qual- ity ofits illustrations but also for a whole series of new descrip- 32 BL E H E R S D I S C U S JJooaann.. BBaapptt.. ddee SSppiixx11778811--11882266 PPhhiilliipppp FF.. vvoonn MMaarrttiiuuss11779944--11886688 FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERY 5. arrived fromVienna for him to return to Europe (this subse- quently happenedtwice more). He wrote to his brother that he must get to the MatoGrosso (like my mother later) and that he would from then oncontinue at his own expense. He took out a loan and thereafter senthis collections to England for sale. Whereupon he receivedpermission to continue, along with ade- quate financing, fromVienna. Metternich had without doubt realised the possibleconsequences otherwise. Natterer planned to make his way fromCuritiba to the Mato Grosso with 23 mules, five horses, and fourdogs. He had pur- chased two slaves and rented another two. Specialox-hide sacks were made which the mules could carry on one side,with a cask of brandy on the other, for preserving the animals,amphibians, and fishes that were collected. He set off in October1822 and, travelling via Gois, reached Cuiab, todays capital ofMato Grosso state, in December 1823. The trek was very arduous andlasted more than a year (it took my mother over four weeks by carthrough the green hell). B L E H E R S D I S C U S 35 tionsincluding a Metternichia, a tree-like shrub (family Solanaceae).Leopoldine, who was deeply impressed with the rich nature ofBrazil, wrote to her father on the 26th January 1818 that every dayshe made new discoveries in the plant, animal, and mineralkingdoms. And that every morning at eight she rode out hunt- ingwith Dom Pedro. She sent back live plants and animals, hides,stuffed birds, minerals, and butterflies mainly to Marie- Louiseand her father. But the scientists didnt do badly, either. DonnaLeopoldina, as the Portuguese called her, was very active. She hada Viennese Naturalien-Cabinet established at the fortress of SoCristovo this later developed into the Museo Nacional (theBrazilian National Museum). She was involved in the founding of thesplen- did Jardim Botanico in Rio, as well as the ani- mal park atSanta Cruz. But Leopoldine was not only a blessing to science andnature plant genera and species were named in her honour but alsoan energetic woman who knew how to get her way, something that hadalready caused Metternich some con- cern. She took a lively part inpolitics and Dom Pedro listened to and asked for her opin- ion ondifficult ques- tions, as his role as Emperor had not yet gone tohis head. She played an important role in the elevation of hisrank, the liberation of Brazil from the Portuguese motherland, andthe coronation of her husband as Emperor in 1822. The design of theBrazilian flag was her concept (with the southern cross in it, onlythe text: Ordem e Progresso Order and Progress was added later).She also earned long-term credit for her sorties into art andculture. Her charitable acts, her social work, her trips to thequarter of the poor (where she endeav- oured to help in person) arestill remembered today. Many Brazilian ruas (streets), praas(squares), bairros (parts of cities), cidades (entire cities), andprovincias (provinces) bear her name. Sadly she didnt even attainher 30th year. On the 11th December 1826 the talented Empress ofBrazil died apparent- ly of a broken heart. Dom Pedro had forcedher to acknowledge his mistress, Donna Domintila, whom he hadennobled, as the first lady of the court and allow her to sit onthe throne next to him. Meanwhile Natterer had many expeditionsbehind him and had despatched large collections from the regionaround Rio, So Paulo, Gois, Minas Gerais, and Rio Grande do Sulback to Austria. Originally he wanted to be in Mato Grosso by thistime, but the Brazilian government refused him access, so Martiusand Spix travelled before him into the paradise of birds, as theytermed it. In 1829, along with Dr Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz,discoverer of te 2nd Discus much laer (page XXX), a Swissichthyologist who sub- sequently emigrated to America, theypublished in Munich the book Selecta Genera et Species Piscium quosin Itinere per Brasiliam Annis MDCCCXVII MDC- CCXX Jussu etAuspiciis Maximiliani Joseph I. Bavaria Regis Augustissi- mi(Selected genera and species of fishes) with numerous drawings, twoof which (of cich- lids) are presented here (right-hand page). Butthey didnt find any dis- cus. It is also worth mentioning that thiswork, which appeared in Latin, listed Spix as the author anddescriber of new genera and species (eg the characiform genusLeporinus and the cichlid species Cichla monoculus), although hehad already been dead for three years. As luck would have it,Natterer also made collections in the Rio Tiet in So Paulo, inwhich all life forms except bacteria have now been extinguished bycatastrophic environmental pollution So Paulo is today in allprobability the most heavily populated city on Earth, with probablymore than 30 million inhabitants. His son-in-law Julius vonSchrckinger-Neudenburg later divided Natterers travels into 10sections (see map, page 37). By the time of the third (to the Tietand Curitiba) orders had 34 B L E H E R S D I S C U S Aus SelectaGenera et Species Piscum 1829 Dr. J. B. de Spix, Dr. L. Agassiz,Dr. F.C. Ph. de Martius. Monachii,Typyis C.Wolf. 1829 Aus SelectaGenera et Species Piscum 1829 Dr. J. B. de Spix, Dr. L. Agassiz,Dr. F.C. Ph. de Martius. Monachii,Typyis C.Wolf. 1829 Lobotesocellatus Tab. LXVIII. Habitat in Oceano Atlantico (= Astronotusocellatus) Cycla Monoculus Tab. LXIII. Habitat in Mari Brasilianae(=Cichla monoculus) The two Austrian frigates Austria (left) andAugusta by Thomas Ender (Kuperstichkabinett der Akademie derBildenden Knsten,Vienna) FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERY 6. Thehardships were so great that he fell sick with an acute infectionof the liver and had to remain there until 1825. Dur- ing thisjourney he encountered indians for the first time and acquiredlarge quantities of artefacts (like us). The Munduruk indians madetheir dance head-dresses, arm-bands, aprons, and many other itemsfrom the feathers of parrots and bare-faced curassaw (Craxfasciolata, family Cracidae, localy known as mutum see also page280). The indians generally kept these birds specially for the pur-pose, repeatedly plucking out their feathers. Natterers sixthjourney (from January 1825 to July 1829) likewise took place underan ill star. In Arraial de So Vicente his faithful companion Sochorfell ill with a very bad fever (undoubtedly malaria) and died. Inthis village of 600 souls there was no doctor, let alonemedications. Then Nat- terer himself suffered attacks of fever themalaria had him in its grasp as well. He survived only thanks tothe inter- vention of a millers wife named Gertrud, who took him toVila Bela de Santissima de Trinidade, on the Rio Guapor, where hewas cured. Natterer stayed in the Mato Grosso region and by thefabulous Guapor until July 1829, collecting and making the bulk ofhis fish drawings (two of which can be seen below), including thatof the piranha species later named after him (Serrasalmusnattereri). Although it is repeatedly stated that there are discusin the Guapor, this is not the case. Natterer found no Symphysodonthere, nor have my mother or I during our numerous collecting tripsyears later. Discus are nowhere in their range found in thevicinity of rapids or waterfalls, let alone upstream of theseobsta- cles. And the Guapor-Marmor (the lower Guapor is some- timescalled the Marmor after it is joined by the left-bank afflu- ent ofthat name) has more than 20 north of Guajar-Mirim, before, togetherwith the Rio Beni and Rio Abun, it becomes the Rio Madeira.Natterer followed the course of the Rio Guapor, the centre of whichforms the border between Brazil and Bolivia for more than athousand kilometres in this region, where it is known as the Itnez.He successfully negotiated the rapids and the perilous cataracts atTeotonio on the Rio Madeira, and reached the village of Bor- baNovember 1829. On his eighth journey (June 1830 to the begin- ningof 1831) he followed down the Rio Madeira passing to the south ofthe Island Tupinambarana, up the Amazon and the Rio Negro upstreamto So Jos de Marabitanas near to the border with Venezuela. Hesurmoun- ted the waterfalls at Uaups (nowadays So Gabriel daCachoeira) and on his journey upriv- er went some distance up threeRio Negro affluents, the Rio Iana, the Rio Xi, and the Rio Uaups.(Only the Englishman Richard Spruce (1817- 1893) managed to travelfurther up the Uaups, 20 years later see also aqua gegraphia Vol.11.) On the way back Nat- terer stopped at Barcelos, and from thisbase made the collections of the 9th section between 1831 and 1834,in the Rio Negro basin and in the Rio Branco upstream as far asForte So Joaquim. It was during this period that the discus foundits way into his net in actual fact an indian caught it for himnear the mission Morer (later called Moreira), but not, I think,with bow and arrow as they usually do (see photos and drawing onthis page and page 39). We cannot imagine what Natterer must havethought when he B L E H E R S D I S C U S 3736 B L E H E R S D I SC U S Natterers route - in red.The maps were prepared at the timeand also show the route taken by the botanist Pohl (in black). Itis also possible to see (on closer examination) Natterers 10 bases(I, II, III, IV,V,VI,VII,VIII, IX & X).The red circle is whereNatterer collected the first discus (Symphysodon discus).The blackdotted line shows the border of Brazil at that time. Par at themouth of the Amazon = Belm. IX X FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERYNatterers drawing of the piranha caught in the Rio Guapor in 1829.Natterers drawing of the flag cichlid, likewise caught in the RioGuapor in 1829. Rudolf Kner described this fish as Serrasalmusnattereri in Jakob Heckel described this fish as Heros festivus in1840. 7. B L E H E R S D I S C U S 39 held this uniquediscus-shaped fish in his hands. Moreover he never made any drawingor wrote anything about it (or perhaps any relevant papers werestolen in Belm (see below) or went up in smoke in the subsequentfire in Vienna nobody knows). Be that as it may, one thing is suretoday the prince of collectors is at least as well known inscientific and ornamental fish circles worldwide as Herr Sacheramong gourmets around the world for his cake. (With the slightdifference that the young Sach- er didnt invest as much time anddid- nt have to undergo any hardships to achieve his fame.) And bythe way, Sachers cake is today sent all over the world in boxes,just like live discus! Natterer had married a Brazilian woman,Maria de Rgo, in Barcelos (1831) and she bore him three daughters.On his tenth and last expe- dition (1834-35), accompanied by hisfamily, he lost almost all the mate- rial he had collected. Civilwar had broken out in Par. The bloody Cabanagem popular uprisingwas rag- ing in Belm and other parts of Par. The province haddeclared indepen- dence from the Portuguese crown pending theproclamation of the majority of Pedro d`Alcntara (Pedro I hadabdicated in favour of his first- born, fifteen-year-old son Pedrod`Alcntara, and a council of regents had taken control while thesuccessor to the throne remained a minor). In the city of Belm, atthe mouth of the Amazon, from where Natterer planned to embark forhome, he was robbed and lost the bulk of his mate- rial. Even hisextensive collection of live animals, destined for the imperialmenagerie, fell victim to the plunderers. They devoured thepriceless tapir and other animals on the spot! Natterer wrote, ...Ihad to leave all my things to their fate on land with three blacks,I went ashore with the Englishman and to my house, where I foundevery- thing in the greatest state of confu- sion; almost all mychests had been broken open and the contents scat- tered;everything of value my clothes, three airguns, eight firearms,pistols, 600 florins, and many other items stolen. Almost all themenagerie had been killed apart from a few mon- keys, parrots, andparakeets, includ- ing the tapir, all the turtles, every- thingthat was edible. My blacks had several times narrowly escapeddeath. At great risk... every day I returned to the house to getthe rest of my things together and pack, and at night I slept onthe corvette. Because of lack of time and porters I had to leavesome of my things behind, including a large chest with two 12-footsawfishes and other large fishes that I had collected along the seacoast during the months of February and March... Luckily for us,the discus was among the items rescued and thus put to sea aboard aship of the Eng- lish navy along with Natterer and his family on15th September 1835. After 18 years in Brazil he arrived, alongwith his wife and three daugh- ters, in Vienna on the 13th August1836 (Leopoldines unlucky num- ber). But the uprooting was too muchfor his Brazilian wife. Frau Natterer and two of their daughtersdied. Only Gertrude the third daughter, named after her fatherssaviour from the Mato Grosso survived. The first discus wasdescribed by Heckel four years later in his work Johann Natterersneue Flussfische Brasiliens nach den Beobachtungen undMittheilungen des Entdeckers beschrieben. Erste Abteilung, dieLabroiden. (Johann Natterers new river fishes from Brazil,described from the observations and specimens of the discoverer.Part 1, the 38 B L E H E R S D I S C U S On the opposite page(above) is the most famous Brazilian ichthyologist, Prof. Her- aldoBritski (left in the photo, with H. Bleher (with a broken arm)right, visiting the Museo de Zoologia in So Paulo after anexpedition to the Ama- zonas), holding a Sym- physydon discus thatwas shot with an indi- an arrow in the Rio Trombetas. (A detail isshown on this page, below.) But under nor- mal circumstances theindians never kill discus, as they regard them as sacred and asymbol of fertility (see Bleher & Linke, 1991a: videoThe Worldof Discus I), although they have been known to shoot them with bowand arrow for the white man, as can be seen in the engraving fromthe book Selecta Genera et Species Piscium (1829). (How else werethe natural- ists of those times to obtain their material?). Onpage 38 (below) we see the holotype of Symphysodon discus Heckel,1840. Natterer specimen which was used for the descrip- tion of thegenus and species that remain undisputed to the present day. Unlikeso many species, the Heckel discus has not undergone any change inits scientific name, which has remained unchallenged for more than160 years. FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERY 8. ranks of the greatichthyologists through his work on the mon- umental amount ofmaterial that the frigate Novara had brought back in 1859 from herthree-year circumnavigation of the world. To assist him in this,the professor of zoology engaged a young law student who hadchanged tack to enter the field of natural history (apparently thefate of all Austrian ichthyologists!). His name was FranzSteindachner (1834-1919), and he was des- tined to become one ofthe best known of all ichthyologists inter- nationally. Theystudied 1,600 specimens from 550 species, their work subsequentlyappearing in a major publication, Reise der stereichischen FregatteNovara um die Erde, a year after Kners death in 1868. As a resultof his outstanding work, Steindachner was appoint- ed to the postof head of the fish collections, which had remained vacant sinceHeckels death. In the period from 1859 to 1868 he published no lessthan 55 ichthyological works (about 900 pages), including one onSternarchogiton nattereri (Stein- dachner, 1868). This was fol-lowed by further species named in honour of their discoverer, whichstill remain valid today. In 1876, Corydoras nattereri, Leporinusnattereri, Copella nat- tereri, Achiropsis nattereri, andThalassophryne nattereri. And in the years that followed,Anchoviella nattereri (Stein- dachner, 1879), Trachydoras nattereri(Steindachner, 1881), Aphyocharax nattereri (Steindachner, 1882),and Farlowella nat- tereri Steindachner, 1910. Interestingly thisextraordinary man made collections in South America for the secondtime in 1903, at the age of 69 (his first visit was during theHassler Expedition, which covered almost all of the New World, inthe company of the world-famous ichthy- ologist Jean Louis RodopheAgassiz (1807-1873), Swiss by birth but living in America). Hedidnt bring any discus back from this trip or, if he did, I canfind no information on it. What I have discovered, however, is thathe was possibly distantly involved with the second discus discoveryearlier than Jobert (see next page). But whether or notSteindachner, who at Agassizs invita- tion travelled to America in1868 to study the collections of the Thayer Expedition, saw anydis- cus there, remains unknown. THE SECOND DISCUS Credit for thediscovery of the second discus has usually been given to aFrenchman, Clment Jobert, who fancied himself as an architect,although he was really a naturalist and doctor of physiolo- gy. Butit now looks as if he was- nt after all the second discover- er ofthe discus as previously assumed. The famous Thayer Expedition (NewYork-Brazil-New York, 1865-66), financed by the Boston merchantNathaniel Thayer and led by Louis Agassiz, returned from Brazilwith some 34,000 fish specimens. The expe- dition had collected at156 sites including around Ega (= Teff; both place-names are cited,but they are one and the same Tef- f (nowadays Tef) was formerlycalled Eda and Ega ), where Agassiz and his colleagues appar- entlynetted green discus at the site THAYER138 (the label reads: LAGOTEFF?; EDA, col- lectors L. Agassiz et al., collection date 14IX-22 X 1865). Agassizs companions included Jacques Burkhardt(1808-1867) (the man with the white beard, right), his personalartist, who on the 4th October 1865 painted an adult green discus(see on page 41), along with a younger specimen which does not yetshow the typ- ical red dots, but whose anal fin clearlydemonstrates that it is likewise a Green. These are the first knowncolour illustrations of a discus. Thus Agassiz and his companions(centre) must have had these fishes in their hands in 1865, at theplace where the Rio Tef enters the B L E H E R S D I S C U S 41Labroids.) (See also Chapter 2: Heck- els work). Unfortunately theprince of collec- tors didnt live long after the publica- tion ofthis work on the cichlids, but died of a pulmonary embolism on 17thJune 1843 very likely the price of the almost unimaginablehardships he had undergone in the Brazilian jun- gle without havingpublished his main work on the ornithology of the region. And, ofcourse, with no idea that he would still be honoured, albeitposthumously, in his native land today. His fellow-countryman,Rudolf Kner (1810-1869), was the first to immortalise Natterer.This son of a high-ranking government official from Linz hadplanned to become a doctor, but his talents as a naturalist wererecognised while he was still at boarding school, at the age ofjust 15. He nevertheless acceded to the wishes of his father andstudied medicine, graduating as a general practitioner and surgeonin 1835. During his stud- ies in Vienna Kner had, however, hadregular contact with the k.k. Natu- ralien-Cabinet, and inparticular with Johann Jakob Heckel, helping unpaid, of course withthe collec- tions. And during this time the gradu- ate inagriculture (against his will) and the doctor (against his will)became close friends (See Chapter 2: Heckels work). In the sameyear that Natterer returned from Brazil, Kner even took up aposition as assistant to Heckel at the royal museum, on a salarythat was, as he said, ...zum Leben zu wenig, zum Sterben zu viel(too little to live on, but too much to die on). In 1840, whenHeckels work was published, they made a collecting trip to Dalma-tia to investigate the riverine fish fau- na. Hardly had theyreturned when Kner was invited to take up the post of Professor ofNatural History and Agri- culture at the University of Lemberg. Buthis new position made no differ- ence to his attachment toichthyology and his friendship with his mentor, Heckel. Far fromit. Kner did the first good drawing (left) of Natterers remarkablediscus in 1842 - Heckel had provided only a rough sketch with hisdescription (page 135). Kners drawing was the first reasonablyaccu- rate illustration of the species Sym- physodon discus. Eightyears later Kner returned to Vienna and in 1849 took up the new- lycreated chair of zoology at Vienna University. From then on heagain had access to the ichthyological collec- tions and began towork on the parts with which he was most familiar and the Schtzevon Johann Natterer (treasures of Johann Natterer) which had thusfar remained unstudied (apart from Heckels work). First of all hepublished Die Panzer- welse des k.k. Hof-Naturalien-Cabinetes zuWien (1853), which was followed by Die Hypostomiden Zweite Haupt-gruppe der Panzerfische (1854), which contained numerous newdescriptions and remains the standard work on these catfishes tothe present day. After several publications on South Americancatfishes, following Heckels death in 1857 Kner worked on Nat-terers characins, immortalizing the prince for the first time withthe piranha species most commonly kept today, Pygocentrus nattereriKner 1858. He described two new genera (Rhytio- dus and Bryconops)and a total of 36 new species, including Chalceus opali- nus, whichwas subsequently recate- gorised as Brycon nattereri Gnther 1864(ex Kner). Kner then joined the 40 B L E H E R S D I S C U S RudolfKner, the well-known Austrian ichthyologist (top), painted thefirst Heckel discus (S. discus) (above) in 1842. Meanwhile in 1865,during the Thayer Expedition, J. Burkhardt painted the first greendiscus (plus a juvenile) (right-hand page), although he didnt knowit was a Green at the time. FIRST DISCOVERY FIRST DISCOVERY THESECOND DISSCUS 9. quently studied by Pellegrin were collected atSantarm (1), Teff (2), and Caldern (1). A further specimen col-lected at Barra do Rio Negro (= S. discus), was not includ- ed inPellegrins description. However, during my researches into Jobert(with the aid of the world-famous characin expert Jacques Gry) Icame across a num- ber of very interesting stories that I wouldlike to relate briefly here. Dr. Clment Jobert was interested inarchitecture (as a hobby?), and decided to build a miniatureversion of the Chateau de Versailles at Tef, on the edge of LagoTef, right in the middle of what was then the deepest Brazilianjungle. Apparently the mind-blowing heat and almost 100% humidityproved too much for him (and perhaps led to his early death (alltraces of him dis- appear after 1881), the fate of so manyexplorers before and after him). Be that as it may, he did in factstart to translate his dream into real- ity, as evidenced by thepres- ence on the lake shore even today of frescos and palatialsteps leading up to the Pre- fecture. And the original structure ofthe chateau itself or, rather, its beginnings is still standing,and has been occupied by Jesuits for more than 100 years. It wasthe first massive (stone) building by the lake, and the stone musthave been brought from far away by lancha - there is (was) nothingbut sand and jungle in the vicinity of Tef. Traces of the fabu-lous castle can still be seen in the sculptures hewn from stone.The architect as I will call him was, however, also interested insomething quite different: the produc- tion of the curare poison ofthe Tikuna indians (also written as Ticuna, Tecuna, or Tukuna). Hevisited this tribe in the vicinity of Tabatinga, where he alsofound a discus a Blue? which Pellegrin described 25 years later asvar. aequifascia- ta, as mentioned above (but this specimen cannotbe found anywhere see Chap- ter 2: Pellegrins description). Aproposof which, it is interesting to note that Har- ald Schultz is alsosaid to have caught the so-called Blue discus at Tabatinga albeitsome 80 years later. Moreover Schultz too sought out this indiantribe, only somewhat further to the north-east, and made a filmabout it (see also discoveries in the 20th century, below). Back inBelm de Par fol- lowing his researches in Tabatinga, Jobert wroteas follows to French toxicolo- gists Sur la prparation du curare(on the preparation of curare), describing in detail how the Tecunaindians (as B L E H E R S D I S C U S 43 lake of the same name,without realis- ing that they were a second species. Burkhardtpainted some 2000 fishes in watercolours. These detailed paint-ings remained unpublished and after many years were passed to theichthy- ologist George S. Myers around 1940, with the words...maybe you can find something interesting among these paintings,otherwise I am sure you have a fire once in a while in Califor-nia... And it was not until a few years ago that they resurfaced inCam- bridge, Massachusets (in the Museum of Comparative Zoology atHarvard University, where most of the fishes from the ThayerExpedition are stored). His discus painting can now be displayedfor the first time in this book. Jobert, meanwhile, netted afurther two green discus some 13 years later, in the same place(or, at least, some- where around Lago Tef), and also collectedadditional specimens else- where (the precise number is in ques-tion see Chapter 2: Pellegrins descrip- tion). Unfortunately notvery much is known about Dr. Clment Jobert. Even in his birthplaceof Lyon there are today no records to be found of his birth ordeath. There is no biography, and the Internet has no entries underhis name (except under curare, see below), although he was awell-known physiologist. All that remains is a number of his works,published between 1870-1881, in museum libraries. Jobert studiedthe sensory organs of various animals (mainly those of mammals,including humans) from 1870 to 1876 and the respiratory organs ofterrestrial crabs (1875). He published material on the opticalorgans of cirrhipeds (with Georges Pochet in 1876); and, after (ordur- ing?) his time in Brazil, on the curare poison (1878) anddiseases affecting Brazilian coffee pickers (1878). He alsoresearched the evolution of insect genera (1881). But he wrote onlythree papers on fishes: in 1870, on the evolution of their sensoryorgans; in 1877 on the evolution of their respira- tory systems;and in 1878 on the anatomical and physiological factors that led tothe evolution of the respi- ratory organs in fishes. He undertookone or more (?) research expeditions to Brazil in the 1870s andmade col- lections in cooperation with the Brazilian government. Hetravelled to Rio Grande do Sul and the mysteri- ous Serra doEstrello (= Mountains of the Stars, not found on any map, butpossibly a contemporary name for the mountains around Petropolis),bring- ing back inter alia a new species of characin which hisfellow-country- man Pellegrin described in 1909, naming a newsubgenus after its dis- coverer Characidium (Jobertina)interruptum. But more of that later. However, he spent the longesttime in the Amazon region, from which he brought back in 1878 whatM. Len Vaillant described in 1880 as a mag- nifique collection(magnificent collec- tion). And this included three or fourspecimens of discus which Pellegrin described in 1904 asSymphysodon dis- cus Heckel var. aequifasciata var. nov. (seeChapter 2: Pellegrins Description). Jobert collected mainly (orexclusive- ly) in seven places: in Par (= Belm) and on the islandof Maraj; in the mouth region of the Xingu; around Santarm; Manaosand Barra do Rio Negro (= Manaus); around Teff (= Tef); Tonantins(on the Solimes); and in Caldern (= Caldero or Tabatinga). The fourdiscus subse- 42 B L E H E R S D I S C U S Jobert, theseconddiscoverer of the discus thearchitect started building a residenceresembling the palace of Versailles on the shore of LagoTef, astructure full of wonderful, lavish, and artistic ideas.Today onlythe walls and various sculptures remain (top, right, &centre).The palace built by theSun KingLouis XIV in 1678 was thepattern for many others, for example King Ludovic IIs Linderhof,Frederick the Great of Prussias Sans Souci in Potsdam, and PrinceMikls EsterhzysHungarianVersailles", Fertd. Their names becameimmortalised - but Jobert is remembered only in the names of a fewfishes such as Jobertina (above). THE SECOND DISSCUS THE SECONDDISSCUS 10. B L E H E R S D I S C U S 45 he calls them) produce thecurare poison: Le Dr Jobert a pu faire prparer devant lui lun desmeilleurs curares amricains, celui des Indiens Tecunas, au Caldero(Brsil), non loin de la frontire pruvienne. Cest un poi- sonpurement vgtal. Les lments principaux de la prparation sont: 1LUrari uva, plante grimpante, du type des Strychnes (peut-tre leStrychnos castal- nae de M. de Weddell); 2 LEko ou Pani du Maharo,plante grimpante offrant les caractres des Menisper- maces(peut-tre le Cocculus toniferus de M. de Weddell). Les lmentsacessoires sont: 3 Une Arode, le Taja; 4 LEon ou Mucura-ea-ha(Didelphys cancrivora?), qui a le port dune Amaran- tace); 5 TroisPipraces (du genre Artanthe?) 6 Le Tau-ma-gere ou Langue de Toucan.Ces plants ont t photographies par M. Jobert, qui en rapportera deschantillons en Europe et pourra en donner une dtermina- tion plusexacte. Voici comment les Indiens procdrent la prparation dupoison: Ils rclrent la premire pour corce, fort mince, des rameauxles plus dvelopps de lUrari et de lEko, et mlangrent ces rpuresdans la proportion de 4 parties de la premire pour 1 partie de laseconde. Ce mlange, ptri la main, plac ensuite dans un entonnoir enfeuille de palmier, fut puis leau froide, quon reversa sept ou huitfois. Le liquide prit alors une teinte rouge. LIndien le fitbouillir avec des frag- ments de tige de Taja et de Mucura, pendantenviron six heures, jusqua lamener une consistance paisse. Onajouta ce liquide la rpure des ... ? (Dr Jobert was able to observethe prepa- ration of several American curares, those of the Tecunaindians at Caldero (Brazil), not far from the frontier with Peru.Curare is a strictly vegetable poison. The main ingredients in itspreparation are as follows: 1. The Urari uva, a climbing plant ofthe nightshade type (perhaps the Strychnos castal- nae of M. deWeddell); 2. The Eko or Pani du Maharo, a climbing plant exhibitingthe characteristics of the Menispermaceae (perhaps the Cocculustoniferus of M. de Weddell). The secondary ingredients are asfollows: 3. An aroid, the Taja; 4. The Eon or Mucura-ea-ha(Didelphys cancrivora?), which has the habit of the Ama-rantaceae); 5. Three Piperaceae (genus Artanthe?) 6. TheTau-ma-gere or Langue de Toucan. These plants were photographed byM. Jobert, who brought samples back to Europe and was thus able toprovide a more precise determination. Here is the way the indiansprepare the poi- son: First of all they finely scrape the mostdeveloped stems of the Urari and the Eko in order to obtain theirbark, which is then mixed in the ratio of four parts of the formerto one part of the latter. This mixture is kneaded by hand and thenplaced in a funnel made from a palm leaf and squeezed out into coldwater, which is passed through seven or eight times. The liquidthereby takes on a red colour. The indian boils pieces of Taja andMucura stem in this liquid for about six hours until a thick con-sistency is achieved. The next ingredient to be added to the liquidis the bark of the... (The text ends at this point.)) Jobert was inall probability the first to reveal the millennia-old secret of theindians the composition of the poison with many names differenttribes or dialects variously pronounce it woorari, woorara, curari,curu- ru, ourari, wourali, or similar. And this brings me to theEuropean dis- coverer of this indian arrow-poison, Sir Wal- terRalegh (sometimes spelt Raleigh) (1552- 1618). This courtier, poet,explorer, and adventurer travelled the Orinoco on two occasions, insearch of El Dorado. As early as 1595 he brought the poison (butnot Eldorado!) back from his first expedition. This remarkable all-rounder, a knight of noble blood and long-time favourite of QueenElizabeth I as well as Captain of her Royal Guard (and lover?), wasin 1592 impris- oned by Her Majesty in the Tower of London when shelearnt of his secret marriage to Elizabeth Throckmorton, a maid ofhonour at the court. However, he was soon released again to resolvea dispute over a cap- tured carraque (a Portuguese galleon) filledwith treasure only he could deal with the matter, as the expeditionhad been planned by him. And in 1595 he began his quest for ElDorado. The fol- lowing year, after returning, without having foundhis goal, with just a few pieces of gold and the arrow poi- son, hepublished his first book, Discovery of Guiana, in which he wrote asfollows on the subject: The fourth are called Aro- ras, and are asblack as negroes, but have smooth hair; and these are very valiant,or rather desperate, people, and have the most strong poison ontheir arrows, and most dangerous, of all nations, of which I willspeak somewhat, being a digression not unnecessary. There wasnothing where- of I was more curious than to find out the trueremedies of these poisoned arrows. For besides the mortality of thewound they make, the party shot endureth the most insufferabletorment in the world, and abideth a most ugly and lamentable death,sometimes dying stark mad, sometimes their bowels breaking out oftheir bellies; which are presently dis- coloured as black as pitch,and so unsavory as no man can endure to cure or to attend them. Andit is more strange to know that in all this time there was neverSpaniard, either by gift or torment, that could attain to the trueknowledge of the cure, although they have martyred and put toinvented torture I know not how many of them. But everyone of theseIndians know it not, no, not one among thousands, but theirsoothsayers and priests, who do conceal it, and only teach it butfrom the father to the son. Sir Walter never found out either.Around 1600 he was proclaimed Governor of Jer- sey, but his luckwas running out. Because of political unrest over Essexs purportedtreason and execution, and because his enemies claimed he wasagainst the accession of James I (in 1603), he fell from favour. Hewas removed from office, stripped of his property, and accusedwithout any actu- al proof of plotting treason with Spain. Inaddition he had supposedly plotted to kill the king and enthroneArabella Stuart in his place. But he was reprieved from thescaffold and instead sent back to the Tower. Here he devotedhimself to science and literature, and began his never completedHistory of the World. 44 B L E H E R S D I S C U S Top: a woodcutdating from 1848 showingTicuna indian women, in typical costume,dancing. Jobert visited theTicuna at Caldero which was also wherehe collected a discus and studied the curare poison in which theindians dipped their blow-pipe darts in order to kill their prey(above). Jobert established that they derived the poison fromStrychnos castalnae, Cocculus toxiferus, and Didelphys cancrivora,a plant of the arum family they called taja , and three species ofPiperaceae (Artanthe spp.). They extracted the sap from theseplants (without the bark) and boiled it in water (sometimes mixedwith poison from snakes, ants, and frogs) for 2 days, and then letit dry out. SSiirr WWaalltteerr RRaalleegghh 11555522--11661188CChhaarrlleess MMaarriiee ddee llaa CCoonnddaammiinnee11770011--11777744 THE SECOND DISSCUS THE SECOND DISSCUS 11. B L EH E R S D I S C U S 47 Ralegh was released in 1616 and shortlythereafter headed off to the Orinoco again, in search of gold. Hewas warned to leave the Spanish colonists in peace. This expeditionwas blessed with neither gold nor discus (of course, there are noSymphysodon in the Orinoco system see Chapter 3: Distribution), andhence a failure. But his companion, Laurence Kemys, captured aSpan- ish settlement, and after Ralegh returned to his native landthe Spanish ambadassor asked the English crown to punish him (forsomething that he hadnt done). Before he was finally executed atthe Tower of London in 1618, Ralegh fingered the headsmans axe anddeclared, This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for alldiseases. It appears his last thoughts were of curare. Perhaps hewas thinking about the contrast of curare being a slow painfuldeath... Unusually for those days, his wife was allowed to claimhis head, which she had embalmed and kept constantly with her for29 years, until her own death. Before returning to Jobert, thesecond discoverer, I would like to make another digression, thistime on a very well-known French- man, de la Condamine, an officerwith a passion for the lathe. He was a bit touched as Jobert withhis Ver- sailles constantly preoccu- pied with the possibility ofcontrolling and thus automating the turning process by fittingtemplates to the lathe, for example to produce portrait medallions.Tradi- tion has it that he invented an apparatus for mass-producingcameos using portrait templates. He also developed, inter alia, atechnique for the automated engraving of patterns on flat sur-faces. His lectures on his work to the French Academy of Sci- encesare preserved in the annals of the Academy. Charles Marie de laCondamine (1701-1774), was, however, primarily a mathematician,physicist, explorer, and geographer. La Condamine was sent toEcuador in 1735 to measure the Earth at the Equator. He was thefirst European to make a sci- entific study of the Amazon region(he even collected about 30 fish species in Lago Tef but no discus)and he mapped the Amazon by following it by raft from the Andes toits mouth. La Condamine had already made adventurous expeditions toAlge- ria, Alexandria, Palestine, Cyprus, and Constantinople. InEurope at that time learned people were still debating whether thepolar circumference of the Earth was greater than the equatorial.The King of France and the French Royal Acad- emy of Sciences hadcommissioned two expeditions in order to answer this question. Onewas shipped to Lapland (under the leadership of the Swedishphysicist Anders Celsius) and the sec- ond to Ecuador. La Condamineinitially set off with the second group, along with Louis Godin andthe mathematician Pierre Bouguer. When, in 1735, they landed inColombia they had to cross the Isthmus of Panama on foot in orderto sail on to Ecuador. La Condamine marched through the rainforestwith Pedro Vin- cente Maldonado, the local Governor and amathemati- cian. They sailed up the riv- er Esmeraldas and climbedover the Andes, reaching Quito, in Ecuador, on the 4th June, 1736,and com- pleting all their measure- ments by 1739. When the newscame from Lapland that the polar survey was finished and had provedthat the Earth was flattened at the poles, La Condamine decided toremain in South America. For an additional four years he explored,per- formed scientific research, and mapped part of the Andes andthe Amazon, finally returning to France in 1745. His 10 yearadventure was documented in his Journal du Voy- age fait par lordredu Roi lequateur, published in 1751, in which he also mentions hisexperiences with curare. La Con- damine also originated the idea ofvaccination against smallpox (later developed by Edward Jenner),which he had suffered as a child. I am telling the story of theseadventurous pioneers here not just because they by and largeachieved something unique, but also because, like so many, theyfailed to receive the laurels they had earned far from it. Andbecause they performed a certain amount of scientific research, farin advance of everyone else, even though neither of them broughtback discus (although La Condamine did follow the discus route formany years). Or maybe they did and we simply dont know it... We doknow, however, that Natterers was the first recorded discoveryalbeit just one individual. And almost 30 years later Agassiz andhis companions were second. But Joberts three or four specimenswere the ones described as the sec- ond (sub)species, although hewas the third to collect discus. In fact the architect did notreceive the honour he deserved until after his death (it is wellknown that people often do not become famous until they are dead).In 1880 M. Lon Vaillant published on the freshwater rays thatJobert had collect- ed in Caldern; on species of Siluridaeincluding a species that he named Otocinclus joberti after itscollector (the species was later transferred to the genusHypoptopoma); and many more but I do not know whether Jobert everknew of this. Then, in 1902, Pellegrin wrote a lengthy paper on thecich- lids from Joberts collection (Cichlids du Bresil rapports parM. Jobert), in which he mentioned the Symphysodon discus Heckel itincluded, without going into further detail. This was, however,rectified two years later when, as already men- tioned, hedescribed these fishes as a new variety, aequifasciata. And in 1909he published a work on a characin of the family Characidae from theSerra do Estrello, which he described as Characidium (Jobertina)interruptum. The crowning accolade came in 1977 when Jacques Gryelevated the subgenus to generic status. Though, of course, Jobertwas no longer around to know of this, or indeed that in 1993 andlater the name was dis- puted and synonymised by some authors. Butthat is science (or rather, scien- tists). Dr. Clment Joberts dis-cus have now gone to their eternal home in the vaults beneath theMuse dHis- toire Naturelle de Paris, in France, where they restalongside numerous other cichlids, including Ptero- phyllum altum,likewise described by Pellegrin in 1904 which, however, has neverbeen found syntopic with discus in nature. 46 B L E H E R S D I S CU S The three discus shown here are the original specimens thatJobert collected in 1878 (there was supposedly also a fourthspecimen from Caldern).The fish on the left-hand page has thelocality given as Santarm (Nr. 02-130[1]) it is quite clearly ablue discus! The specimens above came fromTeff (02-134-135[2]) andare definitely greens.The adult fish (top) exhibits the typicalpattern of markings in the anal fin, and the appreciably smallerspecimen fromTeff (above) as yet has no markings, as is typicalinTef wild-caughts; they first appear at an age of 8-12 monthsoften even later. THE SECOND DISSCUS THE SECOND DISSCUS

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