These  vicissitudes  have  turned  to  chestnut  hue  a  once
English  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  specimens,  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
intention  of  giving  a  lecture  in  public  on  preparing  spe-
cimens to  adorn  museums.  In  fine,  it  is  this  ungenerous
treatment  that  has  paralysed  my  plans,  and  caused  me
to  give  up  the  idea  I  once  had  of  inserting  here  the
newly  discovered  mode  of  preparing  quadrupeds  and
serpents  ;  and  without  it,  the  account  of  this  last  expedi-
tion to  the  wilds  of  Guiana  is  nothing  but  a — fragment.
Farewell,  Gentle  Eeader.
FOURTH   JOURNEY.  211


FOURTH  JOURNEY.
' '  Nunc  hue,  nunc  illuc  et  utrinque  sine  ordine  curro."


COURTEOUS  reader,  when  I  bade  thee  last  farewell,  I
thought  these  wanderings  were  brought  to  a  final  close ;
afterwards  I  often  roved  in  imagination  through  distant
countries  famous  for  natural  history,  but  felt  no  strong
inclination  to  go  thither,  as  the  last  adventure  had  ter-
minated in  such  unexpected  vexation.  The  departure
of  the  cuckoo  and  swallow,  and  sumine,  birds  of  passage,
for  warmer  regions,  once  so  interesting  to  me,  now
scarcely  caused  me  to  turn  my  face  to  the  south ;  and  I
continued  in  this  cold  and  dreary  climate  for  three  years.
