A Journey In Brazil

"A Journey in Brazil" by Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, Louis Agassiz. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

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Reprint of the original, first published in 1869.

Excerpt from A Journey in Brazil In the winter of 1865 it became necessary for me, on account of some disturbance of my health, to seek a change of scene and climate, with rest from work. Europe was proposed; but though there is much enjoyment for a naturalist in contact with the active scientific life of the Old World, there is little intellectual rest. Toward Brazil I was drawn by a lifelong desire. After the death of Spix, when a student of twenty years of age, I had been employed by Martins to describe the fishes they had brought back with them from their celebrated Brazilian journey. From that time, the wish to study this fauna in the regions where it belongs had been an ever-recurring thought with me; a scheme deferred for want of opportunity, but never quite forgotten. The fact that the Emperor of Brazil was deeply interested in all scientific undertakings, and had expressed a warm sympathy with my efforts to establish a great zoological museum in this country, aiding me even by sending collections made expressly under his order for the purpose, was an additional incentive. I knew that the head of the government would give me every facility for my investigations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Louis Agassiz sheds insight into Brazil's history: his travels took place in the 1860s, when the country was undergoing great change as an Empire and grappling with its this development. The author offers accounts of a Brazil now lost to time; observations of the urban culture and life, and the natural habitat of the countryside and forests, offer immense insight into the era. Most of the text is written as a narrative diary, wherein Agassiz observes and describes traversing colonial-era Rio de Janeiro, the city of Manaus, the Amazon river, various villages, and the vast rainforests. As a zoologist, Agassiz's interest in the wildlife present in Brazil form a recurring theme. However, the text is careful not to dwell on matters obscure or scientific; while the author at work, he also covers matters of culture and day-to-day life. Anecdotes include Brazil's Emperor Pedro II arranging room chairs that he sits equally with other attendees - reasoning that science does not distinguish people by position.