Abstract

Agassiz in Brazil

The article focuses on the book "A Journey in Brazil," by Louis Agassiz. The novelty of this work consists almost wholly in its scientific details. The reader must not look in it for exciting adventures, wild explorations, unusual hardships, or--speaking only of the narrative--other than twice told tales of travellers. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of persons will read of Brazil for the first time in these pages, and to such it is enough to say that Agassiz has reported very faithfully the general aspect of the country. In chapter sixteen Agassiz gives his general impressions of Brazil, compared with those of other travellers, they show that he was neither blind nor disposed to extenuate, as a guest of both Emperor and people, the well-known national defects.