Part 29 (1/2)
Thoroughly familiar with the A who companions as well as a valuable addition to the scientific force Agassiz left the Athe coast, especially in the anto end this journey fulfilled Agassiz's brightest anticipations Mr Thayer, whose generosity first placed the expedition on so broad a scientific basis, continued to give it his cordial support till the last specimen was stored in the Museum
The interest taken in it by the Eovernassiz's ai he had set before himself two subjects of inquiry These were, first, the fresh-water fauna of Brazil, of the greater interest to him, because of the work on the Brazilian Fishes, hich his scientific career had opened; and second, her glacial history, for he believed that even these latitudes ree, included in the ice-period The first three ave him the key to phenomena connected with both these subjects, and he followed them from there to the head-waters of the Amazons, as an Indian follows a trail The distribution of life in the rivers and lakes of Brazil, the immense number of species and their local circumscription, as distinct faunae in definite areas of the same water-basin, aical features confirlacial period could not have been less than cosmic in its influence He was satisfied that the tropical, as well as the teree, fashi+oned by ice
Just before leaving the United States he received a letter of friendly farewell froives some idea of the conditions under which he traveled, and of the results he had obtained As the letters explain each other, both are given here
FROM CHARLES SUMNER
WAshi+NGTON, March 20, 1865
MY DEAR AGassIZ,
It is a beautiful expedition that you are about to cooing forth to conquer new real them under a sway they have not yet known But science is peaceful and bloodless in her conquests May you return victorious! I am sure you will Of course you will see the Ehtened character is one of the happy accidents of governmentYou are a naturalist; but you are a patriot also If you can take advantage of the opportunities which you will surely enjoy, and plead for our country, to the end that its rights ed to endure may be appreciated, you will render a service to the cause of international peace and good-will
You are to have great enjoyine you already very happy in the scenes before you I, too, should like to see Nature in her most splendid robes; but I e!
Ever sincerely yours,
CHARLES SUMNER
TO CHARLES SUMNER
RIO NEGRO; ON BOARD THE BRAZILIAN WAR STEAMER IBICUHY, Dece of these lines tells a long and interesting story Here I a Brazilian friend, provided with all the facilities which modern iovernment, and the kindness of our coations with as much ease as if I were in e,--with this enor on deck, protected by an awning from the hot sun, and surrounded by all the luxuriance of the richest tropical vegetation
The kind reception I met at the hands of the emperor on my arrival at Rio has been followed by every possible attention and ood-will toward me personally, but usually tendered in such a way as to show that an expression of cordiality toward the United States was intended also in the friendly feeling hich everything was done to facilitate ave ent and well-educated Brazilian, the man of all others whom I should have chosen had I been consulted beforehand; and for the sixwhich we have been on our journey here, I have not been able to spend a dollar except for es for transportation of persons and baggage in public conveyances, as well as for speciovernment This is not all; e reached Para the Brazilian Steaht stop where I pleased on the way, and tarry as long as I liked instead of following the ordinary line of travel In this way I ascended the Amazons to Manaos, and from there, by the ordinary steaed stays at Manaos and at Ega, and sending out exploring parties up the Javary, the Jutay, the Ica, etc On ro and the Aher at my disposal for the remainder of my stay in the waters of the Amazons
The Ibicuhy is a pretty little war steauns On board of her, and in company with the President of the Province, I have already visited that extraordinary network of river anasto between the river Madeira and the A the Rio Negro, with the intention of going up as far as the junction of the Rio Branco with the Rio Negro That the Brazilian govern to offer such facilities for the benefit of science, during a time of hen all the resources of the nation are called upon in order to put an end to the barbarisn of the tendencies prevailing in the administration There can be no doubt that the emperor is the soul of the whole This liberality has enabledof collections, and the result of my researches has, of course, been proportionate to the facilities I have enjoyed Thus far, the whole number of fishes known from the A everything that may exist from these waters, in the Jardin des Plantes, the British Museum, the museums of Munich, Berlin, Vienna, etc; while I have collected and now hold, in good state of preservation, fourteen hundred and forty-two species, andto Para I have so many duplicates that I may make every other museum tributary to ours, so far as the fresh-water animals of Brazil are concerned This may seem very unimportant to a statesman But I am satisfied that it affords a standard by which to estimate the resources of Brazil, as they may be hereafter developed The basin of the A a tropical climate, tempered by s
Ever truly your friend,
L AGassIZ
The repose of the return voyage, after sixteen months of such uninterrupted work, and of fresh irateful to Agassiz The suan with a letter to his mother
AT SEA, July 7, 1866
DEAR MOTHER,
When you receive this letter we shall be, I hope, at Nahant, where our children and grandchildren are waiting for us To-morroe shall stop at Pernambuco, where I shall mail my letter to you by a French stearet I have passed nearly sixteen months in the uninterrupted enjoyment of this incos which have enlarged s and concerning the structure of the earth I have found traces of glaciers under this burning sky; a proof that our earth has undergone changes of telacialists have dared to suggest I ice under the equator, such as now exists on the coasts of Greenland, and you will probably have an approximate idea of the aspect of the Atlantic Ocean at that epoch
It is, however, in the basin of the Amazons especially, that my researches have been croith an unexpected success Spix and Martius, for whose journey I wrote, as you doubtless reht back from there so the results of all the travelers who have followed up the inquiry, does not a fishes the special object of my researches, to add perhaps a hundred more You will understand my surprise when I rapidly obtained five or six hundred, and finally, on leaving Para, brought away nearly two thousand,--that is to say, ten tian my journey ( This estimate was made in the field when close comparison of specimens from distant localities was out of the question The whole collection has never been worked up, and it is possible that the nureatly in excess of those previously known from the Amazons, reat part of this success is due to the unusual facilities granted overnratitude His kindness to me has been beyond all boundsHe even made for me, while he ith the army last summer, a collection of fishes from the province of Rio Grande du Sud This collection would do honor to a professional naturalist