CHAPTER VII 

 Azucar to tKe Coast 



Saturday, May 16th. As the rainy season had 

 begun in earnest and an afternoon deluge could 

 with certainty be expected, we decided to hurry- 

 back to the mine before another torrential rain 

 should make the trails too bad for travel. A longer 

 sojourn at Azucar, with a visit to Pefia Blanca, 

 would have been desirable, but the expedition 

 schedule forbade more than three days for this 

 particular inland trip. 



The chief grievance of the student traveler of 

 to-day is lack of time. The great naturalists of 

 a generation or two ago, Wallace, Bates, Belt, 

 Gosse, and many others of lesser reputation, who 

 have left us fascinating accounts of their travels, 

 spent years in the countries they explored. None 

 can appreciate better than ourselves the inadequacy 

 of a month or two in western Cuba for any real 

 acquaintance with its natural history. A hasty 



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