102 ELIZABETH CARY 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. 
