Introduction 



Florida friends who nursed him through his 

 long and serious illness. In 1898, while travel- 

 ing through the South on a forest-inspection 

 tour with his friend Charles Sprague Sargent, 

 he took occasion to revisit the scenes of his early- 

 adventures. It may be of interest to quote 

 some sentences from letters written at that 

 time to his wife and to his sister Sarah. "I 

 have been down the east side of the Florida 

 peninsula along the Indian River/' he writes, 

 *' through the palm and pine forests to Miami, 

 and thence to Key West and the southmost 

 keys stretching out towards Cuba. Returning, 

 I crossed over to the west coast by Palatka to 

 Cedar Keys, on my old track made thirty-one 

 years ago, in search of the Hodgsons who 

 nursed me through my long attack of fever. 

 Mr. Hodgson died long ago, also the eldest 

 son, with whom I used to go boating among 

 the keys while slowly convalescing." 



He then tells how he found Mrs. Hodgson 

 and the rest of the family at Archer. They had 

 long thought him dead and were naturally very 

 [ xxiii ] 



