It is not possible for me to give here at length the narrative of the separate journeys undertaken by my young companions. To do them any justice, their reports should be illustrated by the accompanying maps, geological sections, &c., which are more appropriate in a special scientific account. I trust that I shall hereafter find resources for publishing all these materials in a fitting manner; but, in the mean while, I should do a wrong to my own feelings as well as to my assistants, did I not add to this volume such a sketch of their separate work as will show with how much energy, perseverance, and intelligence they carried out the instructions I had given them. It will be remembered by the reader that one object was kept constantly in view throughout this expedition,—namely, that of ascertaining how the fresh-water fishes are distributed throughout the great river-systems of Brazil. All the independent journeys, of which short sketches are given in this summary, were laid out with reference to this idea; the whole expedition being, in fact, a unit so far as its purpose and general plan were concerned. In this sense my own exploration, and those of all my assistants, belong together, as parts of one connected scheme.
That detachment of the party which was conducted by Mr. Orestes St. John left Rio de Janeiro on the 9th of June, 1865. This company consisted of Messrs. St. John, Allen, Ward, and Sceva. The first two were to reach the Atlantic coast by way of the Rio San Francisco and the Rio Paranahyba; while Mr. Ward was to descend the Tocantins to the Amazons, and Mr. Sceva to remain for some time in the fossiliferous region about Lagoa Sancta for the purpose of collecting. As far as Juiz de Fora they followed the road described in the foregoing narrative. Thence they crossed the Serra do Mantiqueira to Barbacena, and kept on from that place through Lagoa Dourada and Prados across the Rio Carandahy to the divide separating the head-waters of the Rio Grande on the south from those of the Rio Paraopeba on the north. They crossed the Paraopeba just above the water gap of the Serras of Piedade and Itatiaiassu, traversing the former Serra into the mountain valley in which the village of Morro Velho is situated. They thus found themselves successively in the basins of the Rio Parahyba, the Rio La Plata, and the Rio San Francisco; all these great streams being fed by rivulets which arise in this vicinity. On leaving the mountainous districts they continued their route through alternate campos and wooded tracts to Gequitibá, passing through Saburá, Santa Luzia, Lagoa Sancta, and Sette Lagoas.
At Lagoa Sancta, as had been previously agreed, Mr. Sceva left the party, with the purpose of exploring the caves of that region in search of fossil bones, and making skeletons of mammalia. He remained for some time in this neighborhood, and brought away a number of specimens, though he did not succeed in finding many fossils, the caves having been already despoiled of their fossil remains by Dr. Lund, whose indefatigable researches in this direction are so well known. Mr. Sceva, however, made very valuable collections of other kinds, and I am indebted to him for numerous carefully prepared specimens of Brazilian mammalia, which now await mounting in the Museum. On leaving Lagoa Sancta, Mr. Sceva returned to Rio de Janeiro, taking his collections with him. He passed some days there, in order to repack and put in safety his own specimens as well as those which had been sent back to Rio by other members of the party. He then proceeded to Canta-Gallo, and passed the remainder of the time in collecting and preparing specimens from that part of the country, until he joined me subsequently at Rio just before we returned to the United States. His contributions to our stores were exceedingly valuable, both on account of the localities from which they came and from the care with which they were put up.
Mr. Ward had already separated from his fellow-travellers at Barbacena, on his way to the Tocantins, taking the route by Ouro-Preto and Diamantina. And in order to keep together the adventures of the little band who left Rio in company, I may give here a short sketch of his journey, before completing the account of the route pursued by Messrs. St. John and Allen. After leaving the valley of the Rio Parahyba and crossing the Mantiqueira the party found itself in the water-basin of the Rio Grande, one of the principal tributaries of the Rio Parana, which, emptying into the Rio La Plata, reaches the ocean below Buenos Ayres. Eastward of this basin, on the ocean-side of the great ridge which bounds the valley of the Rio San Francisco, arise several large rivers,—the Rio Doce, the Rio Mucury, and the Rio Jequitinhonha. It was one of my most earnest desires to secure the means of comparing their inhabitants with each other and with those of the great rivers flowing north and east. As will be seen hereafter, Mr. Hartt, with the assistance of Mr. Copeland, had undertaken to explore the lower course of these rivers; but it was equally important that specimens should be obtained from their head-waters. While, therefore, Mr. St. John and his companion pursued their way across the region drained by the head-waters of the Rio San Francisco, Mr. Ward crossed the mountains, passing from one river-basin into another, in order to examine as many of the tributaries of the Rio Doce and the Rio Jequitinhonha as possible. To him I owe the materials necessary for a general comparison of the river faunæ in these different basins. His journey was a laborious and a lonely one. Separating from his companions at Barbacena he kept on by Ouro-Preto and Santa Barbara into the basin of the Rio Doce, which he followed nearly to the point where the Rio Antonio empties into it. This part of the journey gave him an opportunity of making a collection not only in the head-waters of the Rio Doce, but in one of its principal tributaries also. Thence crossing the Serra das Esmeraldas Mr. Ward entered the water-basin of the Rio Jequitinhonha, commonly called Rio Belmonte on the maps, and after passing Diamantina explored several arms of this great stream. The collections he made in this region are of special interest with reference to those gathered by Messrs. Hartt and Copeland on the lower course of the same rivers, and in many other streams along the Atlantic coast between Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. Having accomplished this part of his journey, Mr. Ward crossed the San Francisco at Januaria, making a number of excursions in that vicinity; then passing in a northwesterly direction over the ridges which separate the valley of the San Francisco from that of the Tocantins, he followed the whole course of this great stream to the Amazons. It was a daring and adventurous journey to be accomplished with no other companionship than that of the camarado who served him as guide, or the Indian boatmen who rowed his canoe, and it was a day of rejoicing for our whole party when we heard, in the month of January, 1866, of his safe arrival in Pará, whence he embarked a few weeks later for the United States.
From Lagoa Sancta, where they parted from Mr. Sceva, Messrs. St. John and Allen kept on to Januaria together, but at this point Mr. Allen, whose health had been failing from the time he left Rio de Janeiro, found himself unable to prosecute the journey farther, and he resolved to strike across the country to Bahia, taking in charge the collections they had brought together thus far. After a short rest at Januaria, he made his way to Chique-Chique on the Rio San Francisco; and his separate journal begins from the time he left this point, on his journey to Bahia. It gives a very full account of the physical features of the region through which he passed, of the geographical character of the soil, and of the distribution of plants and animals, including many original observations concerning the habits of birds, with a detailed itinerary of the route through Jacobina, Espelto, and Caxoeira. Prostrated by illness as he was, he has nevertheless furnished a report the character of which shows how completely his interest in the work overcame the lassitude of disease.
From Januaria Mr. St. John followed the San Francisco to the Villa do Barra, where he made a short stay, and then resumed his journey by land through the valley of the Rio Grande to the Villa da Santa Rita, thence to Mocambo and across the table-land separating the basin of the Rio San Francisco from that of the Rio Paranahyba. At Paranaguá he remained several days, and made a considerable collection from this vicinity. Thence he followed the valley of the Rio Gurugueia to Manga, one hundred and twenty leagues from Paranaguá. At Manga he embarked on one of the singular river-boats made of the leafstalks of the Buriti palm, and descended the Paranahyba to the villa of San Gonçallo. Here he stayed for some time to collect, and forwarded from this vicinity a considerable number of specimens, chiefly reptiles, birds, and insects. His next station was at Therezina, the capital of the province of Piauhy, where he made one of the most interesting collections of the whole journey from the waters of the Rio Poty. The Poty is a tributary of the Paranahyba, into which it empties below Therezina. In examining this collection, I was particularly struck with the general similarity of the fishes contained in it to those of the Amazons. They exhibit throughout the same kind of combination of genera and families, although the species are entirely distinct. Thus, from a zoölogical point of view, the basin of the Parahyba, though completely separated from it by the ocean, would seem to belong to the Amazonian basin, as it unquestionably does from a geological point of view. The character of the drift deposits along the Rio Gurugueia and the Rio Paranahyba shows this area to have been continuous with the basin in which the Amazonian drift was deposited; and the similarity of their zoölogical features is but another evidence, from an entirely different source, of the extensive denudations which have isolated these regions from one another by removing the tracts which formerly made them a unit.
From Therezina Mr. St. John proceeded to Caxias, and finally arrived in Maranham, by the way of the Rio Itapicurú, on the 8th January, 1866; having completed a journey of more than seven hundred leagues in seven months, over a route the greater part of which had never been examined from a zoölogical or geological point of view. His collections, though necessarily limited by the difficulty of transport and the insufficient provision of alcohol, were very valuable, and arrived at their destination in good condition. Of his geological observations I have said little; but it is from him I have obtained the data which have enabled me to compare the basin of Piauhy with that of the Amazons. He made careful geological surveys wherever he was able to do so, and has recorded the result of his observations in a manner which shows that he never lost sight of the general relations between the great structural features of the country through which he passed. At Maranham, the intermittent fever, under which Mr. St. John had been suffering during the latter part of his journey, culminated in a severe illness, from which he recovered under the care of Dr. Braga, who took him into his own house, and did not allow him to leave his roof until he was restored to health. From Maranham Mr. St. John joined me at Pará, where I had an opportunity of comparing notes with him on the spot.
During the first two months of his stay in Rio de Janeiro, Mr. Hartt was chiefly occupied with Mr. St. John in examining sections of the Dom Pedro Railroad, of which he prepared a very clear and careful geological survey, with ample illustrations. On the 19th of June, 1865, he left the city to explore the coast between the Rio Parahyba do Sul and Bahia; being accompanied by Mr. Edward Copeland, one of our volunteers, who gave him very efficient assistance in collecting, during the whole time they remained together. At Campos, on the Rio Parahyba, they obtained a large number of fishes, beside other specimens. From that point they went up the Rio Muriahy for some distance, and then, returning to Campos, ascended the Rio Parahyba to San Fidelis, where they again added largely to their collections. Taking mules at San Fidelis, they traversed the forest northward to Bom-Jesu, on the Rio Itabapuana, and then descended that river, stopping to collect at Porto da Limeira and at the Barra. Thence they followed the coast to Victoria; and it was their intention to have proceeded northward to the Rio Doce, but, for want of mules and money (their supplies having given out), they were obliged to make Nova Almeida, their farthest point. Thence they returned by way of Victoria to Rio de Janeiro in a sailing-vessel. In the course of this journey they obtained valuable collections both on the Rio Itapemérim and at Guarapary. Mr. Hartt also made a careful study of the geology of the coast, the result of which forms an interesting portion of his report.
On their return to Rio, Mr. Hartt and Mr. Copeland were detained for some time by the failure of a steamer. They occupied themselves in the mean while in various work for the expedition, making excursions in the vicinity, and collecting in the harbor of Rio. Disappointed in the steamer, they started on board a sailing-vessel, and had a slow and tedious voyage to San Matheos, collecting on their way wherever the stopping of the vessel enabled them to do so. Neither did Mr. Hartt neglect, on every such occasion, to examine the coast, and the phenomena connected with its general rise, of which he obtained unquestionable evidence. From San Matheos, where they made considerable collections, they took conveyance to the Rio Doce, and ascended this river for ninety miles to the first fall, Porto de Souza. Descending its course again to Linhares, they explored the river and lake of Juparanaā, and then returned to San Matheos; making large marine collections at Barra Secca, half-way between the Rio Doce and San Matheos. Thence they proceeded to the Rio Mucury, stopping a few days at its mouth to collect, and then ascending the river to Santa Clara. Here Mr. Copeland remained, and secured a fine collection of fishes; while Mr. Hartt crossed over the river Peruhype to the Colonia Leopoldina. On his return he was detained for some days by illness, but was soon able to resume his journey; and he and Mr. Copeland then went on with Mr. Schïeber[[108]] to Philadelphia, in the province of Minas Geraes, collecting on the way at the Rio Urucu, and afterwards at Philadelphia. Along the coast, and indeed throughout his whole journey, Mr. Hartt continued his geological observations, which he carefully recorded. From Philadelphia he and his companion proceeded by land to Calháo, on the Rio Arassuahy; making a detour from Alahú to Alto dos Bois, in order to study the drift and the geological structure of the elevated Chapadas. At Calháo they also made good collections of fishes. Returning to Calháo from a visit to Minas Novas and a study of its gold-mines, Mr. Hartt descended the Rio Jequitinhonha three hundred and sixty miles to the sea. Mr. Copeland had preceded him in order to make an excursion to Caravellas; and they met again at Cannavieiras.
At Cannavieiras they made good collections, and then ascended the Rio Pardo to its first fall, fishing and geologizing along their route. They visited also Belmonte, and then went southward to Porto Seguro, where they stayed for several days, collecting corals and marine invertebrates. Here, as at several other points along the coast, Mr. Hartt made a careful examination of the stone-reefs. His researches on these “recifes,” which constitute so remarkable a feature along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, are exceedingly interesting; and I do not know that any geologist has made a more careful and connected examination of them. He believes them to be formed by the solidification of beach ridges; the lower part of which being cemented by the lime dissolved from the shells contained in them remains intact, while the upper portion was carried off by storms; thus leaving a solid wall running along the coast, broken through here and there, and divided from the land by a narrow channel. He studied the coast reefs both at Santa Cruz and at Porto Seguro, and ascertained their southward extension to the Abrolhos. From Porto Seguro Messrs. Hartt and Copeland went northward to Bahia, touching at several points along the coast, and thence returned to Rio de Janeiro, whence we sailed together for the United States in the month of July, 1866.