a mirror, gave
back the picture. Every tawny figure at the oars, every flutter of the
crimson and blue streamers, every fold of the green and yellow national
flag at the prow, was as distinct below the surface as above it. The
fairy boat, for so it looked floating between glowing sky and water, and
seeming to borrow color from both, came on apace, and as it approached
our friends greeted us with many a _Viva!_ to which we responded as
heartily. Then the two canoes joined company, and we went on together,
taking the guitar sometimes into one and sometimes into the other, while
Brazilian and Indian songs followed each other. Anything more national,
more completely imbued with tropical coloring and character, than this
evening scene on the lake, can hardly be conceived. When we reached the
landing, the gold and rose-colored clouds were fading into soft masses
of white and ashen gray, and moonlight was taking the place of sunset.
As we went up the green slope to the _sitio_, a dance on the grass was
proposed, and the Indian girls formed a quadrille; for thus much of
outside civilization has crept into their native manners, though they
throw into it so much of their own characteristic movements that it
loses something of its conventional aspect. Then we returned to the
house, where while here and there groups sat about on the ground
laughing and talking, and the women smoking with as much enjoyment as
the men. Smoking is almost universal among the common women here, nor is
it confined to the lower classes. Many a senhora, at least in this part
of Brazil, (for one must distinguish between the civilization upon the
banks of the Amazons and in the interior, and that in the cities along
the coast,) enjoys her pipe while she lounges in her hammock through the
heat of the day.

The following day the party broke up. The Indian women came to bid us
good by after breakfast, and dispersed in various directions, through
the forest paths, to their several homes, going off in little groups,
with their babies, of whom there were a goodly number, astride on their
hips, and the older children following. Mr. Agassiz passed the morning
in packing and arranging his fishes, having collected in these two days
more than seventy new species: such is the wealth of life everywhere in
these waters. His studies had been the subject of great curiosity to the
people about the _sitio_; one or two were always hovering around to look
at his work, and to w