106 ZOOLOGY 



should have to search long to find a parallel. No better 

 example could be found of the force of innate ability. 

 There are few passages in the literature of exploration 

 as charming as this description of the first day in a 

 Brazilian forest : 



'The day has passed delightfully. Delight itself, 

 however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a 

 naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by him- 

 self in a Brazilian forest. The elegance of the grasses, 

 the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the 

 flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, but above all the 

 general luxuriance of the vegetation, filled me with ad- 

 miration. A most paradoxical mixture of sound and 

 silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The 

 noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard 

 even in a vessel anchored, several hundred yards from 

 the shore ; yet within the recesses of the forest a uni- 

 versal silence appears to reign. To a person fond of 

 natural history, such a day as this brings with it a 

 deeper pleasure than he can ever hope to experience 

 again. After wandering about for some hours, I re- 

 turned to the landing place ; but, before reaching it, I 

 was overtaken by a tropical storm. I tried to find 

 shelter under a tree, which was so thick that it would 

 never have been penetrated by common English rain ; 

 but here, in a couple of minutes, a little torrent flowed 

 down the trunk. It is to this violence of the rain that 

 we must attribute the verdure at the bottom of the 

 thickest woods ; if the showers were like those of a 

 colder clime, the greater part would be absorbed or 

 evaporated before it reached the ground." 



Thus, throughout the voyage, aesthetic enjoyment 

 and keen analysis went hand in hand, and i-t is not sur- 

 prising that the scientific results were great. 



