up our idea of riding here direct because they assured us we could get a steam launch from Amapala to Corinto so we rode three days to San Lorenzo on the Pacific side and took an open boat from there to Amapala。 It was rowed by four men who walked up a notched log and then fell back dragging the sweeps back； with the weight of their bodies。
It was a moonlight night and they looked very picturesque rising and sinking back and outlined against the sky。 They were naked to the waist and rowed all night and I had a good chance to see them as I had to lie on the bottom of the boat on three mahogany logs。 By ten the next day we were too cramped to stand it； so we put ashore on a deserted island and played Robinson Crusoe。 We had two biscuits and a box of sardines among five of us but we found oysters on the rocks and knocked a lot off with clubs and stones and the butts of our guns。 They were very good。 We also had a bath until a fish ran into me about three feet long and cut two gashes in my leg。 We reached Amapala about four in the afternoon。 It was an awful place； dirt and filth and no room to move about； so we chartered an open boat to sail or row to Corinto sixty miles distant。 You see； we could not go back to Tegucigalpa until the steamer arrived which is to take us South of Panama and we could not go to Manaqua either and for the same reason that we had sent back our mule train and we would not wait in Amapala partly because of fever which had been there and partly because we wanted to get to Corinto where they have ice and to see Manaqua。 The boat was about as long as the Vagabond and twice as deep and a foot or two more across her beam。 There were four of us； five of the crew and two natives who wanted to make the trip and who we took with us。 It was pretty awful。 The old tub rocked like a milk shake and I was never so ill in my life； we all lay packed together on the ribs of the boat and could not move and the waves splashed over us but we were too ill to care。 The next day the sun beat in on us and roasted us like an open furnace。 The boat was a pit of heat and outside the swell of the Pacific rose and fell and reflected the sun like copper。 We reached Corinto in about twenty four hours and I was never so glad to get any place before。 The town turned out to greet us and some Englishmen ran to ask from what boat we had been ship wrecked。 They would not believe we had taken the trip for any other reason。 They helped us very kindly and would not let us drink all the iced water we wanted and sent us in to bathe in a place surrounded by piles to keep out the sharks and by a roof to shelter one from the sun。 Corinto proved to be all that Amapala was not； clean； cool with very excellent food and broad beds of matting。 I liked it better than any place at which we have been； we came on here the next day to see the President and found the city hot； dusty and of no interest。 There is an excellent hotel however and we had a talk with the President who was a much better chap than Bonilla being older and more civilized。 Of course there is absolutely no reason or excuse for us if we do not get control of this canal。 If only that it would allow our ships of war to pass from Ocean to Ocean instead of going around the horn。 The women are really beautiful but that has nothing to do with the canal。 Tomorrow morning we return to Corinto as Somers and I like it best。 Griscom would like to go on across by the route of the canal which would be a good thing were we certain of meeting a steamer at Simon or Greytown； but the Minister who went last month that way had to wait there sixteen days。 So； we will probably leave Corinto on the 17th or 20th； there are two steamers； one that stops at ports and one that does not。 They both arrive together。 I do not know which we will take butthis letter will go with me。 Up to date I think the trip will make a good story but it will have to be a personal one about the three of us for the country as it stands is uninteresting to the general reader for the reason that it DUPLICATES itself in everything。 But with our photographs and a humorous story； it ought to be worth reading and I have picked enough curious things to make it of some value。
February 15；Corinto。
We are back here now and rid of that dusty； dirty city。 You would be amused if you saw this place and tried to understand why we prefer it to any place we have seen。 There is surf bathing at a half mile distant and a good hotel with a great bar where a Frenchman gives us ice and the sea captains and agents for mines and plantations in the interior gather to play billiards。 Outside there are rows of handsome women with decollete gowns and shining black hair and colored silk scarfs selling fruit and down the one street which faces the bay are a double row of palms and the store where two American boys have a phonograph。 They are the only Americans I have met who have or are taking a dollar out of this country。 They play the guitar and banjo very well。 One of them was on the Princeton glee club and their stories of how they have toured Central America are very amusing。 Lots of Love。
DICK。
S。 S。 BarracoutaOff San Juan
February 21； 1895。 DEAR MOTHER：
Today I believe is the 21st。 We are out two days from Corinto off San Juan on the boundary of Costa Rica and lie here some hours。 Then we go on without stopping to Panama arriving there about the 25th。 On the 28th we take the steamer to Caracas。 We will be at Caracas a week and then go straight home。 But in the meanwhile we will have got one mail at Colon when we go there to take the boat for Caracas and glad I will be to get it。 We have had a summary of the news in the Panama Star and a bundle of Worlds telling all about the trolley strike and that is all except Dad's cable at Tegucigalpa that we have heard in nearly two months。 I am very sorry that the distances have turned out so much longer than we expected and that we had that unfortunate ten days wait for the steamer。 I know you want me home and I would like to be there but I do not think I ought to go without seeing Caracas。 It helps the book so much too if one runs it into South America for no one in the States thinks much of Central and does not want to read about it。 At least I know I never did。 We have had a most amusing time with the two phonograph chaps。 One of them has been an advertising agent and a deputy sheriff and chased stage coach robbers and kept a hard…ware store and is only twenty…five and the other has not had quite as much experience but has been to Princeton； he is 23。 The mixture of narratives which change from tricks of the hard…ware trade to dances at Buckingham Palace and anecdotes of Cliff House supper parties at San Francisco are very interesting。 I am going to write a book for them and call it 〃Through Central America with a Phonograph〃 or 〃Who We Did； and How We Done Them。〃 We sing the most beautiful medleys and contribute to the phonograph。 I had to protest against them announcing 〃Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down her Back〃 by Richard Harding Davis and Somerset kicked at their introducing 〃God Save the Queen〃 as sung by 〃His Grace the Duke of Bedford〃 which they insist in thinking his real title and his name； if he would only confess the truth。 You cannot have any idea of how glad I am that I took this trip； just this particular trip； not for any interest it will be to the gentle reader but for the benefit it has been to me。 All the things I was nervous about have been done and should I get nerves again as I suppose I always will in one form or another I can get rid of them by remembering how I got rid of them before during this most peculiar excursion。 For though I and we all told the truth about being well； we were in a most trying place at times and the ride we took and the sail to get away from possible fever was very much of a strain。 I do not see how Griscom kept up as he did for he was an invalid and very nervous when he started。 But he showed great sporting blood。 It was much better having three than two and he furnished us with much amusement at which he never complains。 His artlessness and his bad breaks which keep us filled with terror make the most entertaining narratives and he tells them on himself and then keeps on making new ones。 One night Jeffs came down with fever through bathing in the mountain streams； a practice which did not hurt us but which natives of the country cannot do in safety； and I confess I was scared。 Jeffs pulled through in a few days。 It was odd that the man who had lived here eleven years should have been the only one to give up throughout the whole trip and he was a good sport； too。
I will have the Central American stories all done or nearly so by the time we reach New York which is one of the comforts of this over abundance of sea voyages。 I have the lottery story nearly written and am wondering now if Bissell will let me publish it。 Would it not be a good idea to have Dad； if he knows him； explain about how I went South to write it and just what it is and get his official sanction or shall I write or get the Harper's to write when I get back。 The lottery people in joke offered 10；000 if they could write the story themselves。 And sometimes I wish they would for it is the hardest kind of work。 I do not want to advertise their old game and yet I cannot help doing it； in a way。 We put in at Punta Arenas and I found a woman looking at us with an opera glass and shortly after she sent out to say she knew me and that she wanted me to come up。 It seemed I met her in Elizabeth； New Jersey with Eddie Coward where she was playing in private theatricals。 Since then as a punishment no doubt she has lived here and her husband is Minister of the Navy with one gun boat。 This trip is very hot and I sleep on deck and look up at the stars and the light on the jib and the smoke spoiling the firmament。 It makes you feel terribly far away from the centre of civilization in front of the fire and you all trying to make out where we are at。 I hope you know more about it than we do。
It is the worst country for getting about that I ever heard of。 It has revived my interest and belief in all such beautiful things as buried trea