630 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



The story of this expedition has been told 

 in the partly scientific, partly personal diary 

 published after Agassiz's return, under the 

 title of " A Journey in Brazil," and therefore 

 a full account of it here would be mere repe- 

 tition. He was absent sixteen months. The 

 first three were spent in Rio de Janeiro, and 

 in excursions about the neighborhood of her 

 beautiful bay and the surrounding mountains. 

 For greater efficiency and promptness he di- 

 vided his party into companies, each working 

 separately, some in collecting, others in geo- 

 logical surveys, but all under one combined 

 plan of action. 



The next ten months were passed in the 

 Amazonian region. This part of the journey 

 had the charm of purely tropical scenery, and 

 Agassiz, who was no less a lover of nature 

 than a naturalist, enjoyed to the utmost its 

 beauty and picturesqueness. Much of the 

 time he and his companions were living on 

 the great river 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 which break its broad expanse 

 into narrow channels, their improvised work- 

 ing room was overshadowed by the lofty wall 



