APPENDIX. 535 
Mr. "Ward had already separated from his fellow-travellers at 
Barbacena, on his way to the Tocantins, taking the route by Ouro- 
Preto and Diamantina. And in order to keep together the adven- 
tures of the little band who left Rio in company, I may give here 
a short sketch of his journey, before completing the account of 
the route pursued by Messrs. St. John and Allen. After leaving 
the valley of the Rio Parahyba and crossing the Mantiqueira the 
party found itself in the water-basin of the Rio Grande, one of the 
principal tributaries of the Rio Parana, which, emptying into the 
Rio La Plata, reaches the ocean below Buenos Ayres. Eastward 
of this basin, on the ocean-side of the great ridge which bounds the 
valley of the Rio San Francisco, arise several large rivers, the 
Rio Doce, the Rio Mucury, and the Rio Jequitinhonha. It was 
one of my most earnest desires to secure the means of comparing 
their inhabitants with each other and with those of the great rivers 
flowing north and east. As will be seen hereafter, Mr. Hartt, 
with the assistance of Mr. Copeland, had undertaken to explore the 
lower course of these rivers; but it was equally important that 
specimens should be obtained from their head-waters. "While, 
therefore, Mr. St. John and his companion pursued their way 
across the region drained by the head-waters of the Rio San Fran- 
cisco, Mr. Ward crossed the mountains, passing from one river- 
basin into another, in order to examine as many of the tributaries 
of the Rio Doce and the Rio Jequitinhonha as possible. To him 
I owe the materials necessary for a general comparison of the river 
faunae in these different basins. His journey was a laborious and a 
lonely one. Separating from his companions at Barbacena he kept 
on by Ouro-Preto and Santa Barbara into the basin of the Rio 
Doce, which he followed nearly to the point where the Rio Antonio 
empties into it. This part of the journey gave him an opportunity 
of making a collection not only in the head-waters of the Rio 
Doce, but in one of its principal tributaries also. Thence crossing 
the Serra das Esmeraldas Mr. Ward entered the water-basin of the - 
Rio Jequitinhonha, commonly called Rio Belmonte on the maps, 
