RETURN TO MANAOS. 271 



was the President, whose chief interest was of course in 

 administering the affairs of the province, in which the 

 Indians shared largely his attention ; there was the young 

 statesman, whose whole heart is in the great national 

 question of peopling the Amazons and opening it to the 

 world, and the effect this movement is to have upon fiis 

 country ; there was the able engineer, much of whose 

 scientific life has been passed in surveying the great river 

 and its tributaries with a view to their future naviga 

 tion ; and there was the man of pure science, come to 

 study the distribution of animal life in their waters, with- 

 out any view to practical questions. The speeches touched 

 upon all these different interests, and were received with 

 enthusiasm, each one closing with a toast and music ; 

 for our little band of the night before was brought in 

 to enliven the occasion. The Brazilians are very happy 

 in their after-dinner speeches, expressing themselves with 

 great facility, either from a natural gift or because speech- 

 making is an art in which they have had much practice. 

 The habit of drinking healths and giving toasts is very 

 general throughout the country, and the most informal 

 dinner among intimate friends does not conclude without 

 some mutual greetings of this kind. 



As we were taking coffee under the trees afterwards, 

 having yielded our places, in the primitive dining-room, to 

 the Indian guests, the President suggested a sunset row 

 on the lake. The hour and the light were most tempt- 

 ing, and we were soon off in the canoe, taking no boat- 

 men, the gentlemen preferring to row themselves. We 

 went through the same lovely region, half water, half 

 land, which we had passed in the morning, floating be- 

 tween patches of greenest grass, and by large forest trees, 



