SOUTH AMERICA. 243 



drenched by the pelting shower, and returned to the Third 



Journey. 



hammock, to satisfy the cravings of hunger, often on a 



poor and scanty supper. 



These vicissitudes have turned to chestnut hue a once 

 EngUsh complexion, and changed the colour of my hair, 

 before father Time had meddled with it. The detention 

 of the collection after it had fairly passed the Customs, 

 and the subsequent order from the Treasury that I should 

 pay duty for the spechnens, unless they were presented 

 to some public institution, have cast a damp upon my 

 energy, and forced, as it were, the cup of Lethe to my 

 lips, by drinking which I have forgot my former inten- 

 tion of giving a lecture in public on preparing specimens 

 to adorn museums. In fine, it is this ungenerous treat- 

 ment that has paralyzed my plans, and caused me to give 

 up the idea I once had of inserting here the newly dis- 

 covered mode of preparing quadrupeds and serpents ; 

 and without it, the account of this last expedition to the 

 wilds of Guiana is nothing but a- — fragment. 



Farewell, Gentle Reader. 



2 I 2 



