eyes, I put my wife off with an excuse about a
spasm at my heart. And, indeed, it was no lie to
say so, for this visitation gave me a terrible shock.

Anne insisted on my seeing the doctor. "It
must be something dreadful, if not dangerous,
that could make you look in that way; you had
an awful face, James, for a moment."

I begged her not to talk about it, assured her
that it was a thing of very rare recurrence with
me, and that there was no cure for it. But this did
not pacify her, and this morning no peace could
be had until Dr. Hutchinson was sent for and she
had given the old gentleman her own account
of me. He said he would talk to me by-and-by.
And when he got me by myself, I cannot tell
how it was, but he absolutely contrived to worm
the facts out of me, and I was fool enough to
let him do it. He looked at me very oddly,
with a sort of suspicious scrutiny in his eye; but
I understood him, and said, laughing, " No,
doctor, no, there is nothing wrong here,"
tapping my forehead as I spoke.

"I should say not, except this fancy for
seeing ghosts," replied he, dryly. But I
perceived, all the time he was with me, that I was
the object of a furtive and carefully dissembled
observation, which was excessively trying. I
could with difficulty keep my temper under it,
and I believe he saw the struggle.

I fancy he wanted to have some talk with Anne
by herself; but I prevented that, by never losing
sight of him until he was safely off the premises.
If he proposed a private interview while I was
out alone, I prevented that, too, by immediately
ordering Anne to pack up our traps, and
coming back to town that very day. I have not
been well since. I feel out of spirits, bored,
worried, sick of everything. If the feeling
does not leave me, in spite of all Anne may say,
I shall take that offer to go to South America,
and start by the next packet. I should like to
see Dr. Hutchinson's face when he calls at our
lodgings to visit his patient, and finds the bird
flown.

London, August 20, 1830.
This wretched state of things does not cease.
One day I feel in full, firm, clear possession of
my soul; and the next, perhaps, I am hurried to
and fro with the most tormenting fancies. I
see shadows of Honor wherever I turn, and she
is no longer motionless as before, but beckons
me with her hand, until I tremble in every
limb. My heart is sick almost to death. For
three days now, I have had no rest. I cannot
sleep at nights for hideous dreams; and Anne
watches me stealthily, I see, and never remains
alone with me longer than she can help. I can
perceive that she is afraid of me, and that she
suspects something, without exactly knowing
what. To-day she must needs suggest my
seeing a doctor here, and when I replied that I
was going to South America, she told me I was
not fit for it, in such a contemptuous tone of
provocation that I lifted my hand and struck
her. Then she quailed, and while shrinking
under my eyes, she said, "James, your conduct
is that of a madman!" Since then, I know she
sits with me in silent terror, longing to escape
and find some one to listen to her grievances.
But I shall keep strict ward that she does nothing
of the kind. I will not have my foes of
my own household, and no spying relatives shall
come between us to put asunder those whom
God has joined together.

Acapulco, March 17, 1831.

It is six months since I wrote the above. In
the interval I have been miserably ill,
grievously tormented both in mind and body; but
now that I have got safely away from them all,
with the Atlantic between myself and my
wicked wife, whose conduct towards me I
will never forgive, I can collect my powers of
mind, and bend them again to my work. Burton
came out in the same ship with me to engage
in the same enterprise. After a few days' rest
we intend setting out on our journey to the
mining districts, where we are to act. My head
feels perfectly light and clear, all my impressions
are distinct and vivid again, and I can
get through a hard day's close study without
inconvenience. There was nothing but my
miserable liver to blame, and when that was set
right, all my imaginary phantoms disappeared.
Umpleby said it had been coming on gradually
for months, and that there was nothing at all
extraordinary in my delusions; my diseased
state was one always so attended more or
less. And Anne, in her cowardly malignity,
would have consigned me for life to a lunatic
asylum! It was Umpleby who saved me, and
I have put his name down in my will for a
handsome remembrance. As for Anne, she has
chosen to return to her family, and they may
keep her; she will never see my face again, of
my free will, as long as I live.

The picturesqueness of this place is not
noteworthy in any high degree. The harbour is
enclosed by a chain of mountains, and has two
entrances formed by the island of Roquetta;
the castle of St. Diego commands the town and
the bay, standing on a spur of the hills. Burton
has been to and fro on his rambles ever since
we landed; but I find the heat too great for
much exertion, and when we begin our journey
into the interior I shall have need of all my
forces; therefore, better husband them now.

Mexico, April 24, 1831.

We are better off here than we anticipated.
Burton has found an old fellow-pupil engaged
as engineering tutor in the School of Mines, and
there are civilised amusements which we neither
of us had any hope of finding. The city is full
of ancient relics, and Burton is on foot exploring,
day by day. I prefer the living interests of
this strange place, and sometimes early in the
morning I betake myself to the market-place,
and watch the Indians dress their stalls. No
matter what they sell, they decorate their shops
with fresh herbs and flowers until they are
sheltered under a bower of verdure. They display
their fruit in open basket-work, laying the