CHAPTER VIII 



BY A CROOKED ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA 



AFTER passing a month in this mag- 

 nificent island, and finding that my 

 health was not improving, I made up 

 my mind to push on to South America while 

 my stock of strength, such as it was, lasted. But 

 fortunately I could not find passage for any 

 South American port. I had long wished to 

 visit the Orinoco basin and in particular the 

 basin of the Amazon. My plan was to get ashore 

 anywhere on the north end of the continent, 

 push on southward through the wilderness 

 around the headwaters of the Orinoco, until I 

 reached a tributary of the Amazon, and float 

 down on a raft or skiff the whole length of the 

 great river to its mouth. It seems strange that 

 such a trip should ever have entered the dreams 

 of any person, however enthusiastic and full of 

 youthful daring, particularly under the disad- 

 vantages of poor health, of funds less than a 

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