78 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
while by the side of the river, where a pretty cascade rushes 
over the stones, and a rustic house built for the same 
memorable occurrence makes a pleasant resting-place. In 
the afternoon a heavy rain kept us within doors, but we 
were not sorry, for we were in danger of having a surfeit 
of pleasure, and quiet was very grateful. 
A great part of our last day at Juiz de Fora was spent 
at the hospitable house of Mr. Halfeld, the German en- 
gineer who has gained an honorable distinction by his 
explorations in the interior. His work on the Rio San 
Francisco was well known to Mr. Agassiz, so that they 
found themselves at once on familiar ground, and Mr. 
Halfeld was able to give him a great deal of valuable 
information respecting the prospects of the present expe- 
dition, especially that department of it which will go to 
the Amazons by way of the Rio San Francisco and the 
Tocantins. He has also an interesting collection of objects 
of natural history, and cordially offered his assistance in 
obtaining the fishes of the neighborhood. As for the 
collections, they had been going on famously during our 
whole visit. We had hardly been in Juiz de Fora twenty- 
four hours before a dozen collectors were actively at work. 
All the urchins of the neighborhood and many of the 
Germans employed on the road lent a helping hand. 
Even the ladies did their full share, and Mr. Agassiz 
was indebted to our friend Mrs. K for some of the 
most interesting specimens from this locality. No doubt 
such as were left of the " bixos ' of Juiz de Fora must 
have congratulated themselves on our departure the follow- 
ing morning. 
We enjoyed our return over the same road scarcely less 
than our first introduction to it ; but the latter part of 
