148 Voyage of the Novara. 



principally spoken, and the President kindly proposed that 

 Dr. Schilch de Capanema, who is thoroughly versed in 

 German, should translate into that idiom the proceedings 

 as carried on in Portuguese. At the close of the sitting, the 

 commander of our Expedition and the various members 

 of the scientific commission were named associates of the 

 PalcEstra Scientifica. 



This society had projected an expedition to explore the 

 western provinces of the empire, and some of their members 

 were appointed to draw up the plan for carrying it out. The 

 arrangements for the enterprise were on the grandest scale. 

 The requisite books and scientific apparatus were ordered from 

 London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Every branch of science 

 had its representative, — an astronomer, botanist, zoologist, 

 ethnologist, &c., were to accompany the Expedition; each sec- 

 tion had a number of assistants, the astronomical as many even 

 as nine. When we arrived in Rio, the printed instructions 

 for the use of the members were just being distributed ; and 

 it was asserted that nothing but the non-arrival of the in- 

 struments from Europe prevented the departure of the 

 Expedition. In short, the preparations which were made 

 in the year 1857, justified the hope that a most brilliant 

 success would be the result of an undertaking got up on so 

 expensive a scale. The only pity is, that up till now — more 

 than three years later — the Expedition has had but little result, 

 and, according to the latest intelligence fi'om Rio, some of the 

 members in the north-east of the province of Coani cannot 



