PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF RIO DE JANEIRO 4b7 



Captain Taylor sent his boat at once to our steamer, and 

 we were soon on his deck, received so cordially by him and 

 his officers, and by a party of American friends who were 

 making a visit to his ship, that it seemed like an anticipa- 

 tion of our arrival at home. There is nothing so pleasant 

 as an unexpected meeting with one's own fellow-citizens on 

 coming into a foreign port, and this was a delightful sur- 

 prise to us. 



We are again in our old quarters in the Rua Direita, 

 and, except that our fellow-travellers are all scattered, it 

 would seem as if we had stepped back a year. Since our 

 return, Mr. Agassiz has been arranging and despatching to 

 the United States the numerous specimens which have been 

 sent in during our absence. Among them is the large and 

 very complete collection made for him by the Emperor last 

 summer, when in command of the army at the South. It 

 contains fishes from several of the southern fresh-water 

 basins, and includes a great number of new species. Taken 

 in connection with the Amazonian collections and those 

 from the interior, it affords material for an extensive com- 

 parison of the faunae of the southern and northern fresh- 

 waters in Brazil. 



Our excursions since our return have been only in the 

 neighborhood of the city to Petropolis and the Dom Pedro 

 Railroad. We are surprised, on returning to this road 

 while our Amazonian impressions are fresh in our minds, 

 to find that the vegetation, the richness of which amazed us 

 when we first arrived in Brazil, looks almost meagre in com- 

 parison to that with which we have since been familiar. It 

 is dwarfed, to our eye, by the still more luxuriant growth 

 of the north. 



Yesterday was Mr. Agassiz's birthday, again made very 



