RETURN TO MANAOS. 271 
was the President, whose chief interest was of course in 
administering the affairs of the province, in which the 
Indians shared largely his attention ; there was the young 
statesman, whose whole heart is in the great national 
question of peopling the Amazons and opening it to the 
world, and the effect this movement is to have upon his 
country ; there was the able engineer, much of whose 
scientific life has been passed in surveying the great river 
and it's tributaries with a view to their future naviga- 
tion ; and there was the man of pure science, come to 
study the distribution of animal life in their waters, with- 
out any view to practical questions. The speeches touched 
upon all these different interests, and were received with 
enthusiasm, each one closing with a toast and music ; 
for our little band of the night before was brought in 
o o 
to enliven the occasion. The Brazilians are very happy 
in their after-dinner speeches, expressing themselves with 
great facility, either from a natural gift or because speech- 
making is an art in which they have had much practice. 
The habit of drinking healths and giving toasts is very 
general throughout the country, and the most informal 
dinner among intimate friends does not conclude without 
some mutual greetings of this kind. 
As we were taking coffee under the trees afterwards, 
having yielded our places, in the primitive dining-room, to 
the Indian guests, the President suggested a sunset row 
on the lake. The hour and the light were most tempt- 
ing, and we were soon off in the canoe, taking no boat- 
men, the gentlemen preferring to row themselves. We 
went through the same lovely region, half water, half 
land, which we had passed in the morning, floating be- 
tween patches of greenest grass, and by large forest trees, 
