Introduction 



doubt, a misfortune In itself, and a severe test 

 for his vigorous constitution. But it was also a 

 blessing in disguise, inasmuch as it prevented 

 him from carrying out his foolhardy plan of 

 penetrating the tropical jungles of South 

 America along the Andes to a tributary of the 

 Amazon, and then floating down the river on 

 a raft to the Atlantic. As readers of the jour- 

 nal will perceive, he clung to this intention even 

 during his convalescence at Cedar Keys and in 

 Cuba. In a letter dated the 8th of Novem- 

 ber he describes himself as "just creeping about 

 getting plants and strength after my fever." 

 Then he asks his correspondent to direct let- 

 ters to New Orleans, Louisiana. "I shall have 

 to go there," he writes, "for a boat to South 

 America. I do not yet know to which point in 

 South America I had better go." His hope to 

 find there a boat for South America explains 

 an otherwise mystifying letter in which he re- 

 quested his brother David to send him a cer- 

 tain sum of money by American Express order 

 to New Orleans. As a matter of fact he did not 

 [ xxi ] 



