[19]. Among the frequent visitors at the laboratory, and one to whom Mr. Agassiz was indebted for most efficient aid in making his collection of fishes from the harbor of Rio, was our friend Dr. Pacheco de Silva, who never lost an opportunity of paying us all sorts of friendly attentions. He added quite a number of luxuries to the working-room described above. Another friend who was often at the laboratory was Dr. Nägeli. Notwithstanding his large practice, he found time to assist Mr. Agassiz not only with collections but with drawings of various specimens. Being himself an able naturalist, his co-operation was very valuable. The collections were indeed enriched by contributions from so many sources that it would be impossible to enumerate them all here. In the more technical reports of the expedition all such gifts are recorded, with the names of those persons from whom the specimens were received.
[20]. The palm is the beautiful Oreodoxa oleracea.
[21]. Leuzinger’s admirable photographs of the scenery about the Corcovado, as well as from Petropolis, the Organ Mountains, and the neighborhood of Rio generally, may now be had in the print-shops of Boston and New York. I am the more desirous to make this fact known as I am indebted to Mr. Leuzinger for very generous assistance in the illustration of scientific objects.—L. A.
[22]. A commemorative tablet, set in the rocks on the dividing line between the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Geräes, recording the speech of the Emperor on the occasion of the opening of the road, testifies the appreciation in which this undertaking was held by the government of Brazil.
[23]. Since this was written the Emperor, at a large pecuniary sacrifice, has liberated all the slaves belonging to the property of the crown, and a general scheme of emancipation has been announced by the Brazilian government, the wisdom, foresight, and benevolence of which can hardly be too highly praised. If this be adopted, slavery in Brazil will disappear within the century by a gradual process, involving no violent convulsion, and perilling neither the safety of the slave nor the welfare of his master.
[24]. To the Baron de Mauá, a leader in the great improvements now going on in Brazil, the citizens of Rio de Janeiro owe their present convenient road to Petropolis, their favorite summer residence.
[25]. A species of Melastoma, with very large, conspicuous flowers.—L. A.
[26]. This is not, however, native to Brazil.
[27]. Indeed, their diversity is much greater even than that of our Oaks, and it would require a comprehensive comparison with a majority of our forest-trees to match the differences they exhibit among themselves; and their native names, far more euphonic than the systematic names under which they are entered in our scientific works, are as familiar to the Indians as those of our beeches, birches, hazels, chestnuts, poplars, or willows to our farmers. There are four essentially different forms among the palms: the tall ones, with a slender and erect stem, terminating with a crown of long feathery leaves, or with broad fan-shaped leaves; the bushy ones, the leaves of which rise as it were in tufts from the ground, the stem remaining hidden under the foliage; the brush-like ones, with a small stem, and a few rather large leaves; and the winding, creeping, slender species. Their flowers and fruits are as varied as their stock. Some of these fruits may be compared to large woody nuts, with a fleshy mass inside; others have a scaly covering; others resemble peaches or apricots, while others still are like plums or grapes. Most of them are eatable and rather pleasant to the taste. It is a thousand pities that so many of these majestic trees should have been deprived of their sonorous native names, to bear henceforth, in the annals of science, the names of some unknown princes, whom flattery alone could rescue from oblivion. The Inaja has become a Maximiliana, the Jara a Leopoldinia, the Pupunha a Guilielma, the Pachiuba an Iriartea, the Carana a Mauritia. The changes from Indian to Greek names have not been more felicitous. I would certainly have preferred Jacitara to Desmonchus, Mucaja to Acrocomia, Baccába to Œnocarpus, Tucuma to Astrocaryum. Even Euterpe for Assai is hardly an improvement.—L. A.
[28]. This observation was confirmed by our year’s travel. The Brazilians care little for a variety of vegetables, and do not give much attention to their cultivation. Those they do use are chiefly imported in cans from Europe.