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Louis Agassiz. 



aids and divided them up into various parties which 

 he proposed sending into the interior, one of especial 

 interest to him being a trip to the upper Rio San 

 Francisco. Here he proposed that one of the party 

 should cross the forest to the river Tocantins and 

 follow it down to the Amazon, while others were 

 to follow the valley of the Piauhy to the coast. To 

 arrange for these trips required a great amount of 

 work which would have tested the strength of a 

 much stronger man. 



During the time these preparations were being 

 made Agassiz formed collections that gave a very 

 complete idea of the fauna of the vicinity of Rio, as 

 well as a part of Minas Geraes. 



Dom Pedro took a personal interest in the work 

 and requested Agassiz to deliver a series of sci- 

 entific lectures in French, — doubtless the first of 

 the kind ever given in the country, which to his 

 great gratification were received favourably. The 

 Emperor and his family honoured him by attending 

 the lectures, and the audience was composed of the 

 intelligence and fashion of the Brazilian capital. 



After the series were completed Agassiz left Rio 

 to visit the fazenda of Senhor Lage, where he 

 wished to observe the culture of the coffee plant. 

 He spent a number of delightful days here, during 

 which he witnessed the festival of San Joao, which 

 continued an entire week and consisted principally 

 of hunting. Agassiz joined in the hunts, and, as a 

 result, each sportsman became an enthusiastic col- 

 lector for the American naturalist, who at the end of 

 the week had accumulated a large number of rare 



