102 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



gives only one a week, and as he does this at the request 

 of the Emperor who was very anxious that he should 

 give some account of the journey, he has great pleas- 

 ure in doing it. The Emperor has been so kind to him 

 and so generous to the expedition that he is only too 

 glad to express his gratitude in some way. The first 

 lecture was last evening and crammed to suffocation. 

 If our party (myself and one or two ladies who were 

 with me) had not entered in the wake of the Imperial 

 family, we should have had a poor chance for even the 

 seats reserved for us. I wish you could see these Impe- 

 rial people they are so simple and so gracious in 

 their ways. I had not seen any of them since my re- 

 turn though the Emperor had asked Agassiz to bring 

 me to see the Empress. But we had been out of town 

 and not able to go. When they came into the large 

 room where they stop before going in to the lecture, 

 the Emperor and Empress came across the room and 

 talked to me for some time about my travels, and the 

 younger daughter whom I had known before intro- 

 duced me to the Imperial Princess, who was in Europe 

 when I was here last spring. I don't tell you this as 

 any special mark of their attention to me, because 

 they would do the same for any one who had any 

 claim on their attention; but only as showing you 

 what frank and affable manners they have. The 

 Emperor had read my article [An Amazonian Picnic] 

 in the Atlantic Monthly [for March], and was very 

 pleasant about it. This is a strictly private epistle, 

 because I don't tell these little bits of egotism for the 

 benefit of anybody but my own family. 



