104 THE EEV. J. G. WOOD. 



itself was the principal difficulty. Few travellers have , 

 wandered through the wilds and forests of British Gruiana, 

 and those who have done so seem for the most part to 

 have been somewhat neglectful of its natural history. 

 All the existing books upon the subject, however, wer/ 

 consulted in the course of a few days' hard work in tl/e 

 library of the British Museum ; and then came int^*- 

 views and communications with the officials of fhe 

 various natural history departments in the same institu- 

 tion, the leading members of the Zoological Soc&ty, 

 and a number of others who happened to possess special 

 information upon the subject. And so at length, by flint 

 of careful and persevering work, all the strange creaijires, 

 plants, and trees mentioned in the " Wanderings " fcvere 

 successfully identified, and a short account of theii life- 

 history procured for the " Explanatory Index." The 

 "Wanderings" themselves were left perfectly untoiched, 



in accordance with the often-expressed wish o 

 author. But a short biography of the cel( 



traveller was prefixed to the book, and an account of 

 his original system of taxidermy written by ^ 



: day 



conclusion ; and the book went to press on the h 

 of October. 



Its passage through the printers' hands, he 

 was somewhat delayed ; and although towards t 

 of November the proofs were coming in daily, 

 not until the 1 1th of December that 'the last) sheet 

 appeared,, and the index could be drawn up ; ajd the 

 book had to be on the counters of the booksellersfcefore 

 Christmas ! On that day we had but little tijie for 



their 

 rated 



of 



ever, 

 end 



was 



