Sixty-one letters from Emma Juliana (Gray) Smith and John P. George Smith while on an expedition in Brazil to collect various specimens of animal, insect, and plant life, giving detailed descriptions of their journey to Brazil; their life in Brazil, including housing, food, servants, family life, the English church, and illness; dress and other customs of the various classes of Brazilians, including "the blacks," both slave and free; effects of the English attitude toward slavery in Brazil; expeditions to various parts of Brazil to collect specimens; the collection and preparation of speciments; difficulties of transportation; internal affairs at the British Museum; unrest during elections in Brazil; and celebrations in honor the birth of an heir to Pedro II of Brazil.
