THE VOYAGE OF THE HASSLER 163 



by our attentive host, who would superintend every- 

 thing himself, though there were plenty of servants, 

 and who talked politics and science and literature 

 between all the dishes. 



TO MRS. QUINCY A. SHAW 



Panama, July 13 

 We have had a quiet fortnight in Panama, for the 

 most part staying on board the ship in harbor, though 

 we went once for a day or two to a station house be- 

 longing to the railroad about half across the isthmus. 

 It was lovely to be again in the midst of a tropical 

 vegetation, — the last time I shall ever see it, I sup- 

 pose, and indeed I hope, for IVe no desire to roam 

 any more. Still it was a pleasure to see the same bril- 

 liant flowers, and to see the same rich vines and 

 massive forest, and even to hear the same woodland 

 sounds that used to surround us at Esperanga's cot- 

 tage on the Amazons. Ask Louis if he remembers that 

 he had a peculiar whistle and that I used to make him 

 repeat it for me, because it reminded me of a bird 

 that had a wailing note, which I used often to hear 

 deep in the forest when I was staying in the Indians' 

 houses on the Amazons. I heard it the other evening 

 here in the same way, as if it came from some deep 

 recess of the woods, — a long falling note with a cer- 

 tain sadness in it. It carried me strangely back to the 

 life we led there with all its wild picturesqueness. 



Good-bye, may God bless you and yours, and keep 

 us all in His love together. 



