DOWN THE AMAZONS. 



359 



Amazons, since made famous by his great work on the 

 Natural History of Brazil, was wrecked off the town of 

 Santarem, and nearly lost his life. In his great danger he 

 took a Yow to record his gratitude, should he live, by mak- 

 ing a gift to the church of Santarem. After his return to 

 Europe, he sent from Munich a full-length figure of Christ 

 'jpon the cross, which now hangs against the wall, with a 

 simple inscription underneath, telling in a few words the 

 story of his peril, his deliverance, and his gratitude. As a 

 work of art it has no special value, but it attracts many 

 persons to the church who never heard of Martins or his 

 famous journey ; and to Mr. Agassiz it was especially inter- 

 esting, as connected with the travels and dangers of his old 

 friend and teacher. 



After a walk through the town, which is built with more 

 care, and contains some houses having more pretensions to 

 comfort and elegance than we have seen elsewhere on the 

 Amazons, we returned to the ship for breakfast. At a later 

 hour we went on a very pleasant canoe excursion to the other 

 side of the Tapajoz, again in search of the Victoria regia, 

 said to grow in great perfection in this neighborhood. Our 

 guide was Senhor Joachim Rodriguez, to whom Mr. 

 Agassiz has been indebted for much personal kindness, as 

 well as for a very valuable collection made since we stopped 

 here on our way up the river, partly by himself and partly 

 by his son, a bright boy of some thirteen years of age. 

 Crossing to the opposite side of the river, we came upon a 

 vast field of coarse, high grass, looking like an extensive 

 meadow. To our surprise, the boatmen turned the canoe 

 into this green field, and we found ourselves apparently 

 navigating the land, for the narrow boat-path was entirely 

 concealed by the long reedy grasses and tall mallow-plants 



