The evening scene at the “Sitio” was always very pretty. After dinner, when the customary “boa noite,” the universal greeting at the close of the day, had been exchanged, the palm-mats, spread over the platforms, had each their separate group, Indians or negroes, children, members of the family or guests, the central figure being usually that of Major Coutinho, who was considered to be especially successful in the making of coffee and who generally had a mat to himself, where he looked, as the blue flame of his alcohol lamp flickered in the wind, not unlike a magician of old, brewing some potent spell. Little shallow cups, like open antique lamps, filled with oil and having a bit of wick hanging over the edge, were placed about the floors, and served to light the interior of the porch, though after a glimmering and uncertain fashion. On Monday morning we left the “Sitio” and returned to Teffé, where Mr. Agassiz had the pleasure of receiving all his collections, both those he had sent on before him and those which accompanied us, in good condition.
October 9th.—Alexandrina turns out to be a valuable addition to the household, not only from a domestic, but also from a scientific point of view. She has learned to prepare and clean skeletons of fish very nicely, and makes herself quite useful in the laboratory. Besides, she knows many paths in the forest, and accompanies me in all my botanizing excursions; with the keen perceptions of a person whose only training has been through the senses, she is far quicker than I am in discerning the smallest plant in fruit or flower, and now that she knows what I am seeking, she is a very efficient aid. Nimble as a monkey, she thinks nothing of climbing to the top of a tree to bring down a blossoming branch; and here, where many of the trees shoot up to quite a height before putting out their boughs, such an auxiliary is very important. The collections go on apace, and every day brings in new species; more than can be easily cared for,—far more than our artist can find time to draw. Yesterday, among other specimens, a hollow log was brought in, some two feet and a half in length, and about three inches in diameter, crowded with Anojas (a common fish here) of all sizes, from those several inches long to the tiniest young. The thing was so extraordinary that one would have been inclined to think it was prepared in order to be passed off as a curiosity, had not the fish been so dexterously packed into the log from end to end, that it was impossible to get them out without splitting it open, when they were all found alive and in perfectly good condition. They could not have been artificially jammed into the hollow wood, in that way, without injuring them. The fishermen say that this is the habit of the family; they are often found thus crowded into dead logs at the bottom of the river, making their nests as it were in the cavities of the wood.[[73]]
October 14th.—Mr. Agassiz has a corps of little boys engaged in catching the tiniest fishes, so insignificant in size that the regular fishermen, who can never be made to understand that a fish which is not good to eat can serve any useful purpose, always throw them away. Nevertheless, these are among the most instructive specimens for the ichthyologist, because they often reveal the relations not only between parent and offspring, but wider relations between different groups. Mr. Agassiz’s investigations on these little fish here have shown repeatedly that the young of some species resemble closely the adult of others. Such a fish, not more than half an inch long, was brought to him yesterday. It constitutes a new genus, Lymnobelus, and belongs to the bill-fish family, Scomberesoces, with Belone and others,—that long, narrow type, with a long beak, which has such a wide distribution over the world. In the Northern United States, as well as in the Mediterranean, it has a representative of the genus Scomberesox, in which the jaws of its long snout are gaping; in the Mediterranean, and almost everywhere in the temperate and torrid zones, Belones are found in which, on the contrary, the bill is closed; in Florida and on the Brazilian coast, as well as in the Pacific, species of Hemirhamphus occur in which the two jaws are unequal, the upper one being very short and the lower one enormously long, while the Amazonian bill-fish has a somewhat different cut of the bill from either of those mentioned above, though both jaws are very long, as in Belone. When, then, the young of this Amazonian species was brought to Mr. Agassiz, he naturally expected to find it like its parent. On the contrary, he found it far more like the species of Florida and the Brazilian coast, having the two jaws unequal, the upper one excessively short, the lower enormously long, showing that the Amazonian species, before taking on its own characteristic features, passes through a stage resembling the permanent adult condition of the Hemirhamphus. It is interesting to find that animals, which have their natural homes so far from each other that there is no possibility of any material connection between them, are yet so linked together by structural laws, that the development of one species should recall the adult form of another.[[74]] The story of the Acaras, the fish which carries its young in its mouth, grows daily more wonderful. This morning Mr. Agassiz was off before dawn, on a fishing excursion with Major Estolano, and returned with numerous specimens of a new species of that family. These specimens furnished a complete embryological series, some of them having their eggs at the back of the gills, between the upper pharyngeals and the branchial arches, others their young in the mouth in different stages of development, up to those a quarter of an inch long and able to swim about, full of life and activity, when removed from the gills and placed in water. The most advanced were always found outside of the gills, within the cavity formed by the gill-covers and the wide branchiostegal membrane. In examining these fishes Mr. Agassiz has found that a special lobe of the brain, similar to those of the Triglas, sends large nerves to that part of the gills which protects the young; thus connecting the care of the offspring with the organ of intelligence. The specimens of this morning seem to invalidate the statement of the fishermen, that the young, though often found in the mouth of the parent, are not actually developed there, but laid and hatched in the sand. The series, in these specimens, was too complete to leave any doubt that in this species at least the whole process of development is begun and completed in the gill-cavity.
October 17th.—Teffé. Yesterday, to our great pleasure, our companions, Mr. James and Mr. Talisman, returned from their canoe expedition on the rivers Iça and Hyutahy, bringing most valuable collections. Mr. Agassiz has felt some anxiety about their success, as, in consequence of their small supply of alcohol, for preserving specimens, which was, nevertheless, all he could spare from the common store, a great deal of judgment in the choice of specimens was required in order to make a truly characteristic collection. The commission could not have been better executed, and the result raises the number of species from the Amazonian waters to more than six hundred, every day showing more clearly how distinctly the species are localized, and that this immense basin is divided into numerous zoölogical areas, each one of which has its own combination of fishes. Our stay at Teffé draws to a close, and to-day begins the great work of packing, in preparation for the arrival of the steamer at the end of the week. These days are the most laborious of all; on leaving every station, all the alcoholic specimens have to be overhauled, their condition ascertained, the barrels, kegs, and cans examined, to make sure that the hoops are fast, and that there are no leakages. Fortunately, there are some of our party who are very dexterous as coopers and joiners, and at these times the laboratory is turned into a workshop. We were reminded of the labors of the day by a circular distributed at breakfast this morning:—
“Sir:—The ‘United Coopers’ Association’ will meet in the laboratory after breakfast. You are particularly requested to attend.
“Teffé, Oct. 17th, 1865.”
And at this moment the laboratory rings with click of hammer, and nails, and iron hoops. As usual, there are a number of uninvited spectators watching the breaking up of the scientific establishment, which has been, during the past month, a source of constant entertainment to the vagrant population of Teffé. In this country of open doors and windows one has not the same protection against intrusion as in a colder climate, and we have had a constant succession of curious visitors hanging about our premises.
I have dwelt especially on the fish collection; but we do not go away empty-handed in other respects. Mr. Dexter has prepared a large number of the forest birds for mounting,—papagaios, toucans, and a great variety of smaller species of very brilliant plumage, not to speak of the less showy water-birds. He has been often in the woods shooting, with Mr. Hunnewell and Mr. Thayer, and has employed several sportsmen of the place to assist him. Turtles, jacarés, and snakes are also largely represented in the collections; and Mr. Agassiz has obtained, by purchase, a large and well-preserved collection of insects, made by a Frenchman during a several years’ residence in this little town. In Teffé and its neighborhood we constantly tread in the footsteps of the English naturalist, Mr. Bates, “Senhor Henrique,” as the people call him here, whose charming book, “The Naturalist on the Amazons,” has been a very pleasant companion to us in our wanderings.[[75]]
Head of Alexandrina.