190 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



There is little to be said of the town of Manaos. It con- 

 sists of a small collection of houses, half of which seem 

 going to decay, and indeed one can hardly help smiling 

 at the tumble-down edifices, dignified by the name of pub- 

 lic buildings, the treasury, the legislative hall, the post- 

 though a small number of species have followed us since we left Para and others 

 have a range more or less extensive. You remember, perhaps, that, when al- 

 luding to my hopes, I told you one day that I believed in the possibility of find- 

 ing 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 

 one considers that the total number known to naturalists does not reach one 

 third of what I have already collected. This result scarcely allows one to fore- 

 see the discoveries to be made whenever the affluents of the great river are 

 explored with the same care. An exploration of the Araguay for its whole 

 course, in order to teach us how many different combinations of distinct species 

 occur in succession, from its sources to its junction with the Tocantius and 

 lower down till it meets the Amazons, would be an enterprise worthy of you. 

 You have already a sort of scientific property in this river, to which you would 

 add new rights in furnishing science with this information. 



Permit me to express to you all the gratitude I feel for the interest you take 

 in my young travelling companion. Mr. Ward is worthy of it, alike from his 

 youth, his courage, and his devotion to science. Mr. Epaminondas has just 

 communicated to me your generous intentions towards myself, and your 

 purpose of sending a steamer to Manaos to take the place of the Piraja, 

 and facilitate our exploration of the Rio Negro and the Rio Madeira. I do 

 not know how to thank you enough ; all that I can say is, that this favor 

 will allow me to make an exploration of these rivers which would be other- 

 wise impossible. If the result of these researches be as favorable as my hopes, 

 the honor will be due, in the first instance, to the liberality of the Brazilian 

 government. Encouraged by the results thus far obtained, I think that, if the 

 circumstances are favorable, on arriving at Tabatinga, we shall make a push 

 into the lower part of Peru, while my companions will explore the rivers inter- 

 mediate between this town and TefFe ; so that we shall probably not return to 

 Manaos before the end of October. 



Accept, my dear Sir, the assurance of my high regard, &c., &c. 



L. Agassiz. 



