atch Mr. Bourkhardt's drawing. They seemed to think
it extraordinary that any one should care to take the portrait of a
fish. The familiarity of these children of the forest with the natural
objects about them--plants, birds, insects, fishes--is remarkable. They
frequently ask to see the drawings, and, in turning over a pile
containing several hundred colored drawings of fish, they will scarcely
make a mistake; even the children giving the name instantly, and often
adding, "_He filho d'elle_,"--"It is the child of such a one,"--thus
distinguishing the young from the adult, and pointing out their
relation. The scientific work excites great wonder among the Indians,
wherever we go; and when Mr. Agassiz succeeds in making them understand
the value he attaches to his collections, he often finds them efficient
assistants.

We dined rather earlier than usual,--our chief dish being a stew of
parrots and toucans,--and left the _sitio_ at about five o'clock, in
three canoes, the music accompanying us in the smaller boat. Our Indian
friends stood on the shore as we left, giving us a farewell greeting
with cheers and waving hats and hands. The row through the lake and
igarape was delicious; and we saw many alligators lying lazily about in
the quiet water, who seemed to enjoy it, after their fashion, as much as
we did. The sun had long set as we issued from the little river, and the
Rio Negro, where it opens broadly out into the Amazons, was a sea of
silver. The boat with the music presently joined our canoe; and we had a
number of the Brazilian _modinhas_, as they call them,--songs which seem
especially adapted for the guitar and moonlight. These _modinhas_ have
quite a peculiar character. They are little, graceful, lyrical snatches
of song, with a rather melancholy cadence; even those of which the words
are gay not being quite free from this undertone of sadness. One hears
them constantly sung to the guitar, a favorite instrument with the
Brazilians as well as the Indians. This put us all into a somewhat
dreamy mood, and we approached the end of our journey rather silently.
But as we came toward the landing, we heard the sound of a band of brass
instruments, effectually drowning our feeble efforts, and saw a crowded
canoe coming towards us. They were the boys from an Indian school in the
neighborhood of Manaos, where a certain number of boys of Indian
parentage, though not all of pure descent, receive an education at the
expense