Excerpt from An American in Amazonia

It is in the beginning of the Summer vacation season that the salaried man or woman is liable to be seen in groups and heard in chorus discussing with associates their separate prospective leaves of absence, for thirty days with pay, and if a Government employee, an extension for sixty or ninety days, on account of sick leave also with pay, to enable them to recuperate at the seashore or mountains, or perhaps to enjoy a trip to Europe, or the Mediterranean or Nile.

A luncheon party comprising an official, a scientist, a retired missionary and the writer, were discussing this question, the former two outlining an itinerary along the beaten path of Euro pean tourists, the missionary expressing a preference for a visit to the Holy Land, or up the Nile. When the writer suggested that he purposed going to the Equator and the Amazon for the benefit of his health they gave him the laugh for selecting for a health resort this so-called zone of unhealthiness, to which he responded as follows: Relatively, the mortality in any one sec tion of the United States was greater than at Para, the seaport of the Amazon, where I lived for several years and which I pro pose re-visiting a third time to attend the opening of the Brazilian National Exposition, at Rio Janeiro, in August, 1908.

The party separated with mock farewells and sympathetic glances toward the ben'ighted traveller to the unknown lands of the south as that bourne from whence no traveller returns.

The missionary, charitably delayed with a view to doing some personal home missionary work, looking to convincing the misguided traveller of the error of his ways, mildly suggesting that July and August certainly seemed to be out of season for south-ern travelling, wholly overlooking the climatic conditions that make the months of July and August the most agreeableof the winter months in the latitude of Rio or south of the Equa tor. Which corresponds to our summer in the United States. He persisted, however, that the winter season. As he called it, would assuredly be more sensible for a visit to Para, when it was further explained that there was no winter in Para. Where it is alwavs lune in the land of to - morrow, every day being alike hot.

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