RETURN TO MANAOS. 273 
rose-colored clouds were fading into soft masses of white 
and ashen gray, and moonlight was taking the place of 
sunset. As we went up the green slope to the sitio, a 
dance on the grass was proposed, and the Indian girls 
formed a quadrille ; for thus much of civilization has 
crept into their native manners, though they throw into 
it so much of their own characteristic movements, that 
it loses something of its conventional aspect. Then we 
returned to the house, where the dancing and singing 
were renewed, while here and there groups sat about on 
the ground laughing and talking, the women smoking 
with as much enjoyment as the men. Smoking is almost 
universal among the common women here, yet is not con- 
fined to the lower classes. Many a Senhora (at least in 
this part of Brazil, for we must distinguish between the 
civilization on the banks of the Amazons and in the in- 
terior and that in the cities along the coast) enjoys her 
pipe, while she lounges in her hammock through the heat 
of the day. 
October 80$. Yesterday our party broke up. The 
Indian women came to bid us good-by after breakfast, 
and dispersed to their several homes, going off in various 
directions through the forest-paths in little groups, their 
babies, of whom there were a goodly number, astride on 
their hips, as usual, and the older children following. 
Mr. Agassiz passed the morning in packing and arranging 
his fishes, having collected in those two days more than 
seventy new species.* His studies have been the subject 
* I was indebted to the President for many valuable specimens on this 
excursion, many of the birds and fishes brought in by the Indians for the 
table being turned over to the . scientific collections. My young friends 
Dexter and James were also efficient, passing always a part of the day iu 
the woods, and assisting me greatly in the preparation and preservation of the 
12* B 
