PEEFACE. 



The various haps and mishaps herein related oc- 

 curred at a time so remote that now, in retrospection, 

 they appear to me hke the doings of some one else, 

 or at least of my own in another state of existence ; 

 for I was then nineteen years younger than at the 

 moment of penning these lines. The world was all 

 before me, "mine but to conquer, and alluring Hope 

 was ever beckoning me on from one achievement to 

 another. 



My exploration of Crusoe's isle was not altogether 

 fortuitous, since I had it in mind for many years and 

 had already equipped myself for the attempt by pre- 

 vious endeavor in related fields. Sent out to make 

 an ornithological investigation of the Lesser Antilles, 

 under" the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, I 

 found myself at the termination of my labors craving 

 new worlds to conquer and a wider range of observa- 

 tion. Then occurred to me the dream of my youth, 

 my determination to search out the truth respecting a 

 hero of my earlier years, one Robinson Crusoe, mari- 

 ner, who, it appeared to me, had long lain under a 



