210 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
a general stir of delight at this sudden and unexpected 
liberation, for the delay was serious to all. One or two 
of the passengers were merchants, to whom it was impor- 
tant to meet the steamer of the 25th at Manaos, which 
connects with other steamers all along the coast ; and the 
members of the Spanish scientific commission, if they could 
not at once transfer their effects to the other steamer, would 
not only miss the next European steamer, but must be at 
the expense and care of storing their various luggage and 
maintaining their live stock at Manaos for a fortnight. 
And lastly, to Mr. Agassiz himself it was a serious disap- 
pointment to lose two or three days out of the precious 
month for investigations at Toffe". Therefore, every face 
beamed when the kindly shock of the wind set us afloat 
again ; but the work, so vainly spent to release us, was 
but too efficient in keeping us prisoners. The anchor, 
which had been sunk in the mud at some distance, was so 
deeply buried that it was difficult to raise it, and in the 
effort to do so we grounded again. Indeed, environed 
as we were by mud and sand, it was no easy matter to 
find a channel out of them. We now remained motion- 
less all night, though the Captain was unremitting in his 
efforts and kept the men at work till morning, when, at 
about seven o'clock, the boat worked herself free at last, 
and we thought our troubles fairly over. But the old prov- 
erb "There 's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip" never 
was truer ; on starting once more we found that, in the 
strain and shock to which the ship had been submitted, 
the rudder was broken. In view of this new disaster, the 
passengers for Para gave up all hope of meeting the 
steamer at Manaos, and the rest resigned themselves to 
waiting with such philosophy as they could muster. The 
