78 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



while by the side of the river, where a pretty cascade rushes 

 over the stones, and a rustic house built for the same 

 memorable occurrence makes a pleasant resting-place. In 

 the afternoon a heavy rain kept us within doors, but we 

 were not sorry, for we were in danger of having a surfeit 

 of pleasure, and quiet was very grateful. 



A great part of our last day at Juiz de Fora was spent 

 at the hospitable house of Mr. Halfeld, the German en- 

 gineer who has gained an honorable distinction by his 

 explorations in the interior. His work on the Rio San 

 Francisco was well known to Mr. Agassiz, so that they 

 found themselves at once on familiar ground, and Mr. 

 Halfeld was able to give him a great deal of valuable 

 information respecting the prospects of the present expe- 

 dition, especially that department of it which will go to 

 the Amazons by way of the Rio San Francisco and the 

 Tocantins. He has also an interesting collection of objects 

 of natural history, and cordially offered his assistance in 

 obtaining the fishes of the neighborhood. As for the 

 collections, they had been going on famously during our 

 whole visit. We had hardly been in Juiz de Fora twenty- 

 four hours before a dozen collectors were actively at work. 

 All the urchins of the neighborhood and many of the 

 Germans employed on the road lent a helping hand. 

 Even the ladies did their full share, and Mr. Agassiz 



was indebted to our friend Mrs. K for some of the 



most interesting specimens from this locality. No doubt 

 such as were left of the " bixos ' of Juiz de Fora must 

 have congratulated themselves on our departure the follow- 

 ing morning. 



We enjoyed our return over the same road scarcely less 

 than our first introduction to it ; but the latter part of 



