LETTERS FROM BRAZIL 69 



by a brief stay in Rio before the company sailed for home 

 on July 2, 1866. 



Mrs. Agassiz was the self-appointed clerk of the ex- 

 pedition, keeping a careful journal of daily events, which 

 she sent as letters to her family, taking complete notes 

 of a course of lectures which Agassiz delivered on ship- 

 board for the benefit of the young men of his party, and 

 recording the less minute results of Agassiz's scientific ob- 

 servations, which he daily gave her, for he knew, as he said, 

 "that she would allow nothing to be lost that was worth 

 preserving." This varied material was later woven to- 

 gether into a narrative in the form of a journal with sup- 

 plementary notes, combining personal experience and 

 scientific facts; it was essentially the common work of Agas- 

 siz and Mrs. Agassiz and was published under their joint 

 names in 1867 with the title, A Journey in Brazil. So com- 

 plete a record of the sixteen months in Brazil is preserved 

 in this book that a full account of them here would be su- 

 perfluous. A sketch of the manner of life that they led is 

 given by Mrs. Agassiz in a few words in the biography of 

 Agassiz: "Much of the time Agassiz and his companions 

 were living on the great river [the Amazon] itself, and the 

 deck of the steamer was by turns laboratory, dining-room, 

 and dormitory. Often as they passed close under the banks 

 of the river, or between the many islands that break its 

 broad expanse into narrow channels, their improvised work- 

 ing room was overshadowed by the lofty wall of vegetation, 

 which lifted its dense mass of trees and soft drapery of 

 vines on either side. Still more beautiful was it when they 

 left the track of the main river for the water-paths hidden 

 in the forest. Here they were rowed by Indians in *mont- 



