INTRODUCTION. 
iv 
As the ship steamed from her docks at Hoboken a distinguished 
party, close friends of the Ex-President, crowded the steamer, 
many of them following her to Sandy Hook in chartered boats in 
paying their respects to the man who had ruled over the destinies 
of this nation for seven years. 
Daily bulletins from the steamer, en route to Naples with its 
distinguished passenger and his son Kermit, were chronicled in 
newspapers throughout the world. Other steamships plying the 
ocean received marconigrams daily telling the passengers about the 
progress of the voyage. At Gibraltar, the little British possession 
at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, a cordial reception was 
tendered to Col. Roosevelt. 
While the former President insisted that he was traveling in 
strict incognito and surely not in any sense as a public man, prob¬ 
ably the most elaborate and royal reception was tendered him upon 
his arrival at Naples that has ever been given any public dignitary 
or private individual at that port. 
During his stay in Italy Col. Roosevelt visited the site of 
Messina destroyed by earthquake, fire and tidal wave on Decem¬ 
ber 28, 1908, when 200,000 people lost their lives. Through the 
Ex-President the thanks of the people of Italy were extended, 
flashed by the electric-wires encircling the globe to the remotest 
corners of the earth, for the generosity of the United States govern¬ 
ment in so promptly sending substantial aid. 
In the Tropics the Animal World is full of wonders, and 
very fascinating. Birds and Insects with colors rivalling the 
hues of the rainbow; graceful Fishes flashing through the water; 
Animals ponderous as the Elephant, others nimble as the Squirrel 
and others coated with furs of finest texture and richest beauty— 
what an assemblage is here presented of the marvels of the Tropics. 
The work describes the Four-Handed Animals which bear the 
closest resemblance to men; Apes, including the huge Gorilla, 
Baboons, and Monkeys whose mischievous pranks amuse both old 
and young. The reader passes from one captivating sight to another 
and is entranced at every step. He visits the monsters in their 
native jungles. In the trees above him, Birds of Paradise and 
