382 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



February 24:th. 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 you 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 

 are 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. 



