276 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



CHAPTEK IX. 



MANAOS AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD. 



Photographic Establishment. — Indian Portraits. — Excursion to the 

 "Great Cascade." — Its Geological Formation. — Bathing Pool. — 

 Parasitic Plants. — Return by the Igarape. — Public Ball. — Severity 

 in Recruiting, and its Effects. — Collecting Parties. — Scenes of In- 

 dian Life. — F£;te Champetre at the " Casa dos Educandos." — Prison 

 at Manaos. — Prison Discipline on the Amazons. — Extracts from 

 Presidential Reports on this Subject. — Prison at Teffe. — General 

 Character of Brazilian Institutions. — Emperor's Birthday. — Illu- 

 minations AND Public Festivities. — Return of Collecting Parties. — 

 Remarks on the Races. — Leave Manaos for Mauhes. 



Saturday^ November 4:th. — Manaos. This week has been 

 rather uneventful. Mr. Agassiz is prevented from undertak- 

 ing new expeditions by the want of alcohol. The next steam- 

 er will bring a fresh supply from Par4 ; and meanwhile, 

 being interrupted in his collections, he is making a study 

 of the various intermixture of races, Indians and Negroes, 

 with their crossings, of which a great number are found 

 here. Our picturesque barrack of a room, which we 

 have left for more comfortable quarters in Mr. Honorio's 

 house, serves as a photographic saloon, and here Mr. Agassiz 

 is at work half the day with his young friend Mr. Hunne- 

 well, who spent almost the whole time of our stay in Rio 

 in learning photography, and has become quite expert in 

 taking likenesses. The grand difficulty is found in the 

 prejudices of the people themselves. There is a prevalent 

 superstition among the Indians and Negroes that a portrait 

 absorbs into itself something of the vitality of the sitter, 

 and that any one is liable to die shortly after his picture 

 is taken. This notion is so deeply rooted that it has been 



