LIFE IN TEFFE. 233 



names are often very significant. I have mentioned the 

 meaning of igarape, "boat path " ; to this, when they wish 

 to indicate its size more exactly, they affix either the word 

 "assu' (large) or " mirim ' (small). But an igarap6, 

 whether large or small, is always a channel opening out of 

 the main river and having no other outlet. For a channel 

 connecting the upper and lower waters of the same river, or 

 leading from one river to another, they have another word, 

 "Parana" (signifying river), which they modify in the same 

 way, as Parana-assu or Parana-mirim. Parand-assu, the big 

 river, means also the sea. A still more significant name 

 for a channel connecting two rivers is the Portuguese word 

 " fiiro," meaning bore. 



The lake was set in the midst of long, reed-like grass, 

 and, as we approached it, thousands of white water-birds 

 rustled up from the margin and floated like a cloud above 

 us. The reason of their numbers was plain when we 

 reached the lake : it was actually lined with shrimps ; one 

 could dip them out by the bucketful. The boatmen now 

 began to drag the net, and perhaps nowhere, from any 

 single lake or pond, has Mr. Agassiz made a more valu- 

 able collection of forest fishes. Among them was a pipe- 

 fish, one of the Goniodont family, very similar to our ordina- 

 ry Syngnathus in appearance, but closely related to Acestra, 

 and especially interesting to him as throwing light on cer- 

 tain investigations of his, made when quite a young man. 

 This specimen confirmed a classification by which he then 

 associated the pipe-fish with the Garpikes and Sturgeons, 

 a combination which was scouted by the best naturalists 

 of the time, and is even now repudiated by most of them. 

 Without self-glorification, it is impossible not to be grati- 

 fied when the experience of later years confirms the pro- 



