Introduction 
doubt, a misfortune in itself, and a severe test 
for his vigorous constitution. But it was also a 
blessing in disguise, inasmuch as it prevented 
him from carrying out his foolhardy plan of 
penetrating the tropical jungles of South 
America along the Andes to a tributary of the 
Amazon, and then floating down the river on 
a raft to the Atlantic. As readers of the jour- 
nal will perceive, he clung to this intention even 
during his convalescence at Cedar Keys and in 
Cuba. In a letter dated the 8th of Novem- 
ber he describes himself as "just creeping about 
getting plants and strength after my fever.” 
Then he asks his correspondent to direct let- 
ters to New Orleans, Louisiana. "I shall have 
to go there,” he writes, "for a boat to South 
America. I do not yet know to which point in 
South America I had better go.” His hope to 
find there a boat for South America explains 
an otherwise mystifying letter in which he re- 
quested his brother David to send him a cer- 
tain sum of money by American Express order 
to New Orleans. As a matter of fact he did not 
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