[Chap, xviiij THE JOURNEY TO THE AMAZON 265 



the most agreeable for new-comers and the best for making 

 collections. We arranged, therefore, to meet in London 

 towards the end of March to study the collections at the 

 British Museum, make purchases of books, collecting apparatus, 

 and outfit, arrange with an agent to receive and dispose of 

 our collections, and make inquiries as to our passage. 



By a curious coincidence we found that Mr. Edwards, 

 whose book had determined us to go to the Amazon, was in 

 London exhibiting a very fine ivory crucifix of Italian work- 

 manship. We called upon him in a street out of Regent 

 Street, and we had an interesting talk about the country. 

 He kindly gave us letters of introduction to some of his 

 American friends in Para, among others, to Mr. Leavens at 

 the Saw Mills, with whom we went on our short expedition 

 up the Tocantins river. We also saw the crucifix, which was 

 certainly a very fine work of art, carved out of an unusually 

 large mass of ivory. Mr. Edwards, who, though a little older 

 than myself, is still alive, writes to me (October 23, 1904) that 

 the crucifix was the work of a monk of St. Nicholas, Genoa, 

 and was purchased by Mr. C. Edwards Lester, United States 

 consul in that city. A brother of our Mr. Edwards purchased 

 it for ten thousand dollars, and exhibited it successfully in 

 many American cities. He died, however, in 1847, and as it 

 was necessary to sell it, our Mr. Edwards, who was his executor, 

 brought it to London, and was exhibiting it with the object 

 of finding a purchaser. But the Louis Philippe revolution in 

 France occurred just at the time he arrived in London, and 

 caused such disturbances and excitement throughout Europe 

 as to be very unfavourable for the disposal of works of art, 

 and he was obliged to take it back to America. In a year or 

 two it was sold to the Catholics, and he thinks it is now in 

 one of their churches at Cleveland, Ohio. Nearly forty years 

 later I had the pleasure of visiting Mr. Edwards at his residence 

 in Coalburgh, West Virginia, as will be referred to in its proper 

 place. 



Among the interesting visits we paid while in London 

 was one to Dr. Horsfield at the India Museum, who showed 



