at national question of
peopling the Amazonian region and opening it to the world, and in the
effect this movement is to have upon his country;--there was the able
engineer, whose scientific life has been passed in surveying the great
river and its tributaries with a view to their future navigation;--and
there was the man of pure science, come to study the distribution of
animal life in their waters, with no view to practical questions. The
speeches touched upon all these interests, and were received with
enthusiasm, each one closing with a toast and music, for our little band
of the night before had been brought in to enliven the scene. The
Brazilians are very happy in their after-dinner speeches, and have great
facility in them, whether from a natural gift or from much practice. The
habit of drinking healths and giving toasts is very general throughout
the country; and the most informal dinner among intimate friends does
not conclude without some mutual greetings of this kind.

As we were sitting under the trees afterwards, having yielded our places
in the primitive dining-room to the Indian guests, the President
suggested a sunset row on the lake. The hour and the light were most
tempting; and we were soon off in the canoe, taking no boatmen, the
gentlemen preferring to row themselves. We went through the same lovely
region, half water, half land, over which we had passed in the morning,
floating between patches of greenest grass, and large forest-trees, and
blackened trunks standing out of the lake like ruins. We did not go very
fast nor very far, for our amateur boatmen found the evening warm, and
their rowing was rather play than work; they stopped, too, every now and
then, to get a shot at a white heron or into a flock of paroquets or
ciganas, whereby they wasted a good deal of powder to no effect. As we
turned to come back, we were met by one of the prettiest sights I have
ever seen. The Indian women, having finished their dinner, had taken the
little two-masted canoe, dressed with flags, which had been prepared for
the President's reception, and had come out to meet us. They had the
music on board, and there were two or three men in the boat; but the
women were some twelve or fifteen in number, and seemed, like genuine
Amazons, to have taken things into their own hands. They were rowing
with a will; and as the canoe drew near, with music playing and flags
flying, the purple lake, dyed in the sunset and smooth as