86 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
our boat was lying. I accordingly returned with him 
to the house and was already on friendly terms with 
the Senhoras and the children of the family when 
Agassiz arrived bringing my bag for the night. At 
about eight o’clock we were just about to sit down to 
dinner when we were called to the open door by the 
sound of angry voices in loud altercation that seemed 
to threaten blows before long, and were just in time 
to witness a village comedy that seemed to me more 
as if it had come off the stage than as if it belonged 
to real life. The village priest and the village doctor, 
who was also county judge and administered justice 
as well as physic, were having a free fight in the square 
for the entertainment of the neighbors who rushed 
out to see the fun. The priest’s calf had strayed away; 
he sent his man to catch him; the Doctor of Law and 
Medicine said nobody should capture live stock in the 
square without his express consent and permission; 
and the two physicians of the soul and of the body 
(who were also, as we found, leaders of the two politi- 
cal parties in this remote little settlement) were shak- 
ing their fists in each other’s faces and pouring out 
floods of abuse upon each other. At last some of our 
party collared the doctor and brought him in by main 
force to join our dinner and cool down his wrath, 
which kept exploding in sputtering speeches to the 
company at intervals for long afterwards. Dinner 
over, the large sitting-room was prepared for our 
accommodation, — the preparation consisting of two 
hammocks and a looking glass, and we presently 
turned in for the night. Our adventures were not over, 
