THE JOURNEY TO THE AMAZON 265 



towards the end of March to study the collections at the 

 British Museum, make purchases of books, collecting appa- 

 ratus, 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, an d as it 

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

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

 object of finding a purchaser. But the Louis Philippe revolu- 

 tion 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 

 us the cases in which he had brought home his large col- 

 lection of butterflies from Java. These were stout, oblong 



