up the Rio Negro. 



141 



suggestions simply illustrate the compass of his 

 mind and the generalship that characterised all his 

 movements. In science he was a leader of the forces, 

 certainly in America, and was now in a foreign land 

 marshalling them with marked ability, his conquests 

 being the subjugation of ignorance and the dissemi- 

 nation of facts. 



It was while descending the Amazon that Agassiz 

 first saw myriads of floating islands drifting 

 down the river — shrubs, trees, great palms, all bound 

 together by entangled vines, — often half an acre in 

 extent, sometimes bearing animals upon them. 

 On many were cranes, herons, and other wading birds, 

 and the captain of the steamer informed Agassiz 

 that upon one occasion, when lying at anchor at 

 Parana, he saw a floating island come down bearing 

 two deer upon it, which he captured as the island 

 struck the ship. At another time a large and power- 

 ful jaguar was seen floating along on one of these 

 islands toward the sea. The lands overflowed were 

 prolific places for the collector, the blades of grass 

 and stalks often being covered with insects of all 

 kinds and descriptions, which found safety here. 

 As the steamer continued down the river it took on 

 more and more the appearance of a menagerie. 

 Parrots, half a dozen monkeys, a pair of deer, several 

 tame iguanas, a sloth, and numerous smaller animals 

 making up the collection. 



Agassiz in his lectures thus described the life in 

 the forest : " Through such a forest, where the animal 

 life was no less rich and varied than the vegetation, 

 our boat ghded slowly for hours. The number and 



