CHAPTER XX 



IN LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO SINGAPORE 



Among the letters preserved and kindly returned to me by 

 Dr. Spruce is one partly written on board ship on my way 

 home, giving an account of my somewhat adventurous voyage 

 while it was fresh in my memory, and containing some details 

 not given in the narrative in my " Travels on the Amazon." 

 I will therefore print it here, as no part of it has yet been 

 made public. 



" Brig, Jordeson, N. Lat. 49 ° 30', W. Long. 20 . 



" Sunday, September 19, 1852. 

 " My Dear Friend, 



" Having now some prospect of being home in a 

 week or ten days, I will commence giving you an account of 

 the peculiar circumstances which have already kept me at sea 

 seventy days on a voyage which took us only twenty-nine days 

 on our passage out. I hope you have received the letter sent 

 you from Para, dated July 9 or 10, in which I informed you 

 that I had taken my passage in a vessel bound for London, 

 which was to sail in a few days. On Monday, July 12, I went 

 on board with all my cargo, and some articles purchased or 

 collected on my way down, with the remnant (about twenty) 

 of my live stock. 1 After being at sea about a week I had a 

 slight attack of fever, and at first thought I had got the yellow 

 fever after all. However, a little calomel set me right in a 

 few days, but I remained rather weak, and spent most of my 

 time reading in the cabin, which was very comfortable. On 

 Friday, August 6, we were in N. Lat. 30 30', W. Long. 52 °, 



1 These consisted of numerous parrots and parrakeets, and several 

 uncommon monkeys, a forest wild-dog, etc. 



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