VOYAGE UP THE COAST TO PARA'. 



127 



by the interruption of the regular trips on this line. Wt» 

 are promised better accommodations after a few days, how- 

 ever, as many of the passengers will drop off at Bahia and 

 Pernambuco. 



July — Bahia. Half the enjoyment of life borrows 

 intensity from contrast, and to this principle we certainly 

 owe a part of our pleasure to-day. After three half sea- 

 sick days on a dirty, crowded steamer, the change is de- 

 lightful to a breezy country house, where we are received 

 with that most gracious hospitality which relieves both 

 host and guests of the sense of entertaining or being 

 entertained. Here I have been sitting under the deep 

 shade of a huge mango-tree, with a number of the " Re- 

 vue des Deux Mondes " on my knee, either reading or 

 listening lazily to the rustle of the leaves or the cooing 

 of the pigeons as they patter up and down on the tiled 

 floor of the porch near by, or watching the negroes as 

 they come and go with trays of vegetables or baskets 

 of fruit and flowers on their heads, for the service of 

 the house. In the mean time, Mr. Agassiz is engaged in 

 examining the collections made by Mr. Dexter and Mr. 

 Thayer during their visit here. They have been aided 

 most cordially by our friend Mr. Antonio de Lacerda, at 

 whose hospitable house we are staying, and where we 

 found our travelling companions quite domesticated. He 

 received them on their arrival, and has given them every 

 facility during their stay here for the objects they had in 

 view, his own love of natural history, to which he devotes 

 every spare hour from his active business life, rendering 

 him an efficient ally. He has a large and very valuable 

 collection of insects, admirably arranged and in excellent 

 preservation. They are also greatly indebted to Mr. Nicolai, 



