882 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
February 24f7i. Para, Nazareth. Our time has passed 
so quietly here that it gives me nothing to record. Mr. 
Agassiz has found himself in such absolute need of rest, 
after having arranged and put in order for transportation to 
two or three days that I begin once more to occupy myself as usual. I con- 
fess that nothing but the presentiment of regrets which would have pursued 
me to the end of my days has prevented me from returning directly to the 
United States. Even now I find it difficult to take up the most simple oc- 
cupations. And yet I am not ill ; I am only exhausted by incessant work, 
and by the contemplation, each day more vivid and impressive, of the grandeur 
and beauty of this tropical nature. I need to look for a time upon the sombre 
and monotonous aspect of a pine forest. 
How good you are, Sire, to think of me in the midst of the vital affairs 
which absorb your attention, and how considerate are your acts ! The New 
Year's present you announce enchants me.* The prospect of being able 
to add some comparisons of the fishes from the basin of the Uruguay to such 
as I have already made between the Amazonian species and those of the rivers 
on the eastern coast of Brazil has a special attraction for me. It will be the 
first step towards a knowledge of the types of the temperate zone in South 
America. I wait with increasing impatience for the moment when I shall be 
able to examine them. In the mean while allow me to give yon a rapid 
sketch of the results thus far obtained in my voyage on the Amazons. 
I will not return to the surprising variety of species of fishes contained in 
this basin, though it is very difficult for me to familiarize myself with the 
idea that the Amazons nourishes nearly twice as many species as the Med- 
iterranean, and a larger number than the Atlantic, taken from one pole to 
the other. I can no longer say, however, with precision, what is the exact 
number of species which we have procured from the Amazons, because, on 
retracing my steps as I descended the great river, I have seen fishes about 
to lay their eggs which I had seen at first under other conditions, and vice 
versa ; and without consulting the collections made six months ago, and which 
arc not now accessible to me, it is often impossible for me to determine from 
memory whether they are the same species, or different ones which escaped 
my observation in my first examination. However, I estimate the total 
number of species which I actually possess at eighteen hundred, and it may be 
* The Emperor had written to Mr. Agassiz that, during the time when he 
took command of the Brazilian army on the Rio Grande, he had caused col- 
lections of fishes to be made for him from several of the southern rivers. 
