LETTERS FROM BRAZIL 87 
however. Agassiz, being restless, rose at about one 
o'clock and thinking he would take a little stroll to 
refresh himself, went out in front of the house. There 
he found a dog entangled in the fence near by. He 
went to release him, and as he was engaged in his 
work of charity was saluted by a brickbat, a large 
stone meant for the side of his head, but which fortu- 
nately struck him only in the arm and gave him a se- 
vere bruise. The next morning we found that one of 
the blacks of the house, with his head full of the dis- 
appearance of the priest’s calf and the last night’s 
quarrel, I suppose, seeing a man at the fence, thought 
he was a thief after the live stock and flung a great 
stone at his head as the shortest way of finishing him 
and his depredations. If his aim had been as good as his 
arm was strong, Agassiz might never have finished his 
Amazonian journey. As it was, for a moment, he 
thought his arm was broken, but with a little arnica it 
is coming right again and the pain going off. Our 
good hosts were greatly distressed at this untimely 
disturbance of their hospitable intentions. However 
we had a very pleasant and a very amusing time not- 
withstanding our adventures, and had a good sleep 
undisturbed by mosquitoes, though I confess to lying 
awake for some time listening to the rats in the open 
ceiling above, who every now and then shook a little 
dust down on my head, suggesting the probability of 
their coming down themselves; and once I was awak- 
ened by the cat drinking out of the bath tub, which 
the negress had brought in and put down at the side 
of my hammock just before I went to sleep. 
