4 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



and a few additional passengers, all of whom seem to think 

 the lecture a pleasant break in the monotony of a sea voy- 

 age. To-day the subject was naturally suggested by the sea- 

 weeds of the Gulf Stream, so recently caught and so crowded 

 with life, — "A lecture on the Gulf Stream in the Gulf 

 Stream," as one of the listeners suggests. It was opened, 

 however, by a few words on the exceptional character of the 

 position of this scientific commission on board the Colorado. 



" Fifty years ago, when naturalists carried their investiga- 

 tions to distant lands, either government was obliged to pro- 

 vide an expensive outfit for them, or, if they had no such 

 patronage, scanty opportunities grudgingly given might be 

 granted them on ordinary conveyances. Even if such ac- 

 commodation were allowed them, their presence was looked 

 upon as a nuisance : no general interest was felt in their 

 objects ; it was much if they were permitted, on board some 

 vessel, to have their bucket of specimens in a corner, which 

 any sailor might kick over, unreproved, if it chanced to stand 

 in his way. This ship, and the spirit prevailing in her com- 

 mand, opens to me a vista such as I never dreamed of till I 

 stood upon her deck. Here, in place of the meagre chances 

 I remember in old times, the facilities could hardly be greater 

 if the ship had been built as a scientific laboratory. If any 

 such occasion has ever been known before, if any naturalist 

 has ever been treated with such consideration, and found 

 such intelligent appreciation of his highest aims, on board 

 a merchant-ship fitted up for purposes of trade, I am not 

 aware of it. I hope the first trip of the Colorado will be re- 

 membered in the annals of science. I, at least, shall know 

 whom to thank for an opportunity so unique. This voyage, 

 and the circumstances connected with it, are, to me, the 

 signs of a good time coming ; when men of different inter- 



