VOYAGE UP THE COAST TO PARA'. 127 
by the interruption of the regular trips on this line. 
are promised better accommodations after a few days, how- 
ever, as many of the passengers will drop off at Bahia and 
Pernambuco. 
July "2Sth. Bahia. Half the enjoyment of life borrows 
intensity from contrast, and to this principle we certainly 
owe a part of our pleasure to-day. After three half sea- 
sick days on a dirty, crowded steamer, the change is de- 
lightful to a breezy country house, where we are received 
with that most gracious hospitality which relieves both 
host and guests of the sense of entertaining or being 
entertained. Here I have been sitting under the deep 
shade of a huge mango-tree, with a number of the " Re- 
vue des Deux Mondes ' on my knee, either reading or 
listening lazily to the rustle of the leaves or the cooing 
of the pigeons as they patter up and down on the tiled 
floor of the porch near by, or watching the negroes as 
they come and go with trays of vegetables or baskets 
of fruit and flowers on their heads, for the service of 
the house. In the mean time, Mr. Agassiz is eno'ao-ed in 
/ o o o 
examining the collections made by Mr. Dexter and Mr. 
Thayer during their visit here. They have been aided 
most cordially by our friend Mr. Antonio de Lacerda, at 
whose hospitable house we are staying, and where we 
found our travelling companions quite domesticated. He 
received them on their arrival, and has given them every 
facility during their stay here for the objects they had in 
view, his own love of natural history, to which he devotes 
every spare hour from his active business life, rendering 
him an efficient ally. He has a large and very valuable 
collection of insects, admirably arranged and in excellent 
preservation. They are also greatly indebted to Mr. Nicolai, 
