TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND
MAJOR OLIVER CROMWELL JAMES
THIS LITTLE PAPER
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
Ten years ago to-day, on placing foot for the first time on Brazilian soil, at the Palace Square of Rio de Janeiro, I directed myself to the first person I met, and asked the way to the office of the "Thayer Expedition." It was an incident apparently of no importance, but it has nevertheless deeply influenced the course of my subsequent scientific life.
As if providentially, and just at the fortunate moment, I met one, not only well acquainted with Brazil and it people, but who, as the result of several years of expeditionary work in the "Far West" in the service of the United States Government, together will a long, and intimate acquaintance with the mining industries of Pennsylvania, was fitted to take a deep, and intelligent interest in my own scientific work.
To the aid and sound advice of this friend, I owe much of the success of my journey, as an attaché of the "Thayer Expedition" in 1865 and 1866.
