THE WBSN. 



LErrER IV. 



THE START — COSTUMS — THE WREN — THE MASON BEE — THE CHRYSIS — UARIB 

 ANTOINETTE. 



I HAVE started, my deax friend, and two things already em- 

 barrass me. In the first place, I do not know at what 

 precise distance from the point of departure we must be, to 

 entitle us to employ in oiir recitals the emphatic pretext 

 which gives so much importance to travellers — We set out, we 

 sailed, we saw, we noticed, we drank, and so forth. 



Have I any right to make use of this, the true travelling 

 language? And if I do not, wiU my journey be a real 

 journey ? 



My second difficulty is — in the accounts you no doubt pre- 

 pare for me, at the same time that I am inditing a description 

 of my journey, you have an inappreciable advantage over me. 

 If, upon reading some narration, a little extraordinary, or a 

 description somewhat supernatural, I indulge in an " Ah ! 

 ah !" or a gesture of incredulity, or even of admiration min- 

 gled with doubt, you will answer me : " Go and see it ! " It is 

 only three thousand miles off. But if, on the contrary, I 

 astonish you by anything unusual or prodigious, I have not 

 the same resource j I can only say to you — "Look for your- 



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