384 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



Par4, one of the many festas said to be gradually dying 

 out, and to be already shorn of much of their ancient glory. 

 It represented a scene from the passion of Christ. The 



races, are always a mixture of the two primitive types, and never the simple re- 

 production of the characters of one or the other progenitor, as is the case among 

 the races of domestic animals. 



I will say nothing of my other collections, which have been made for the 

 most part by my young companions, rather with a view to enrich our Museum 

 than to solve scientific questions. But I cannot allow this occasion to pass 

 without expressing my lively gratitude for all the facilities, in my explorations, 

 which I have owed to the kindness of your Majesty. From the President to 

 the most humble employes of the provinces I have visited, all have competed 

 with each other to render my work more easy ; and the steamship company of 

 the Amazons has shown an extreme liberality towards me. Finally, Sire, the 

 generosity with which you have placed at my disposition a vessel of war has 

 allowed me to make collections which, with less ample and rapid means of trans- 

 port, must have remained utterly inaccessible to me. Permit me to add, that, 

 of all the favors with which your Majesty has crowned this voyage, the most 

 precious has been the presence of Major Coutinho, whose familiarity with all 

 which concerns the Amazons has been an inexhaustible source of important in- 

 formation and of useful directions ; by means of which the loss of time in unre- 

 munerative excursions has been avoided. His co-operation during this journey 

 has been most laborious ; he has applied himself to zoology as if the physical 

 sciences had not hitherto been the special object of his study, while at the 

 same time he has made numerous thermometric, barometric, and astronomical 

 observations, which will furnish important additions to what is already known 

 concerning the meteorology and topography of these provinces. We have, for 

 instance, been the first to carry the barometer into the midst of the hills of Al- 

 meyrim, of Monte Ale'gre and Erere, and to measure their highest summits. 

 The study of the formation of the valley of the Amazons has naturally occu- 

 pied me, though in a secondary degree, from the first day of my arrival.* 







But it is time that I should close this long letter, begging your Majesty to 

 pardon me for putting your patience to so hard a trial. 



Your Majesty's most humble and most affectionate servant, 



L. AGASSIZ. 



* The rest of this letter is omitted, as its substance is contained in Chapter 

 XIII., on the Physical History of the Amazons. 



