mortal Sundays did I spend, rod in hand, trying to catch bream,
chubs, etc. I did get a few, but they were not worth sending. Now
it is all over for this year, and we may as well put on mourning
for them; but I promise you that as soon as the spring opens I will
go to work, and you shall have all you want. If, in spite of
everything, your hopes are not realized, I shall be very sorry, but
rest assured that it is not my fault. . .

TO HIS SISTER CECILE.

MUNICH, October 29, 1828.

. . .I have never written you about what has engrossed me so
deeply; but since my secret is out, I ought not to keep silence
longer. That you may understand why I have entered upon such a work
I will go back to its origin. In 1817 the King of Bavaria sent two
naturalists, M. Martius and M. Spix, on an exploring expedition to
Brazil. Of M. Martius, with whom I always spend my Wednesday
evenings, I have often spoken to you. In 1821 these gentlemen
returned to their country laden with new discoveries, which they
published in succession. M. Martius issued colored illustrations of
all the unknown plants he had collected on his journey, while M.
Spix brought out several folio volumes on the monkeys, birds, and
reptiles of Brazil, the animals being drawn and colored, chiefly
life-size, by able artists. It had been his intention to give a
complete natural history of Brazil, but to the sorrow of all
naturalists he died in 1826. M. Martius, desirous to see the
completion of the work which his traveling companion had begun,
engaged a professor from Erlangen to publish the shells, and these
appeared last year. When I came to Munich there remained only the