CHAPTER XV. 



AGASSIZ IN BRAZIL. 



Failing Health — Brazilian Trip — Naturalists of the Party — Arrival 

 in Brazil — Courtesy of Dom Pedro — Lectures in French before 

 the Emperor — Visit to Coffee Plantation — Strange Ant Nests — 

 Hunting in Brazil — Attempt to Observe the Tapir — Curious 

 Animals — Ant-eaters, Sloths, etc. 



" " — - ^j^^ ^^^^ Agassiz 



was fifty-eight years of 

 age. Few men had ac- 

 comphshed so much, yet 

 if questioned the great 

 naturalist would have ex- 

 pressed remorse that he 

 had done so little. He 

 saw the book of nature 

 spread before him, God*s 

 word expressed in every 

 leaf, fish, or fossil, in 

 every mountain stream 

 or glacier, and considered it a sacred duty to preach 

 this great sermon of God, the maker of nature, and 

 his work to all mankind. How impassioned was 

 his teaching the world knows. Time was all too 

 short for him ; every hour had its duty and must 



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