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INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



CHAPTER V. 



Daguerreotype Apparatus. — Setup as Ladies' Daguerreotype Por- 

 trait Takers. — Preparations. — A pretty young Lady to begin 

 with. — Preliminaries. — A Chapter of Contingencies. — Success 

 of the first Experiment. — Other successful Experiments. — A 

 Change of Fortune. — Give up this Business. — An Incident. — 

 Take up the Practice of Surgery. — Operation for Strabismus. 

 — Details. — First Subject. — A great Gathering of Squint Eyes. 

 — A troublesome Patient. — A little Hero. — Extraordinary In- 

 stance of Fortitude. — A Military Patient. — A Female Patient. 

 — Practice of Surgery abandoned. — Instability of Fame. 



But the reader must not suppose that our only 

 business in Merida was the investigation of antiqui- 

 ties ; we had other operations in hand which gave 

 us plenty of employment. We had taken with us a 

 Daguerreotype apparatus, of which but one speci- 

 men had ever before appeared in Yucatan. Great 

 improvements had been since made in the instrument, 

 and we had reason to believe that ours was one of 

 the best ; and having received assurances that we 

 might do a large business in that line, we were indu- 

 ced to set up as ladies' Daguerreotype portrait ta- 

 kers. It was a new line for us, and rather venture- 

 some, but not worse than for the editor of a news- 

 paper to turn captain of a steamboat ; and, besides, 

 it was not hke banking — we could not injure any 

 one by a failure. 



Having made trials upon ourselves until we were 

 tired of the subjects, and with satisfactory results, we 

 considered ourselves sufficiently advanced to begin ; 

 and as we intended to practice for the love of the 



