132 



Louis Agassiz. 



crown our efforts. It is certain that from this time 

 forth, the number of fishes inhabiting the Amazons 

 greatly exceeds all that has hitherto been imag- 

 ined, and that their distribution is very limited on 

 the whole, though a small number of species have fol- 

 lowed us since we left Para and others have a range 

 more or less extensive. You remember, perhaps, 

 that, when alluding to my hopes, I told you one day 

 that I believed in the possibility of finding from two 

 hundred and fifty to three hundred species of fish in 

 the whole basin of the Amazons, even now, having 

 passed over less than one third of the main stream, 

 and only diverged here and there to some points 

 beyond its shores, I have already obtained more than 

 three hundred. It is incredible, above all, if you 

 consider that the total number known to naturalists 

 does not reach one third of what I have already col- 

 lected. This result scarcely allows one to foresee the 

 discoveries to be made whenever the afifluents of the 

 great river are explored with the same care." 



At every point during this trip there was some- 

 thing to interest the naturalist. 



At Coari on the Coari River the travellers were 

 much amused at the manner of passing wood aboard 

 the steamer. Ten men having formed in a line a log 

 was passed from one to the other and counted as it 

 was received, seven logs a minute, according to 

 Agassiz's estimate, finding their way into the hold 

 of the steamer, which explained why the wooding 

 up stops were of so long duration. At TefT6 one 

 of the most interesting discoveries was made, prov- 

 ing that some fishes carry their young in their mouths 



