second
excursion of the _Yarmouth_ made its appearance. On this trip the
_Yarmouth_ brought about sixty passengers, the majority of whom finally
got up to La Gloria. More would have come if Nuevitas at that time had
not been a hotbed of misrepresentation regarding conditions in the new
colony. All the unfavorable features were grossly and ridiculously
exaggerated, while stories of starvation, sickness, and death were
poured into the ears of new arrivals until many an intending colonist
became convinced that it would be taking his life in his hand for him to
make even the briefest visit to La Gloria. Such is the tendency of human
nature to exaggerate, and to build a big sensation out of a small
nucleus.

People who had never seen La Gloria were the ones whose representations
seemed to be most credited in the States and by the new arrivals
therefrom. I saw a letter received by one of the company's officials at
La Gloria from a woman in Asbury Park, N. J., who was nearly crazed by
anxiety for her youngest son, who was then in the colony. She had heard
frequently from her oldest son, who had been in La Gloria with the
survey corps for several months, and he had always written very
favorably of the place, so she said, but she had lately seen an Asbury
Park man who had returned from Nuevitas and he had told a terrible story
of suffering and danger in the colony. The woman's letter showed clearly
that she discredited the accounts of her son and accepted those of the
man who had brought back a harrowing tale. Why she credited the story of
a man who never got further than Nuevitas in preference to that of her
own son, who had been at La Gloria for months, I never could understand,
especially as the latter was an intelligent and apparently perfectly
reliable young man. Doubtless mortals are predisposed to believe the
worst. I looked up the woman's youngest son, and found him well and
happy, and ready to join with his brother in speaking favorably of La
Gloria.

[Illustration: LA GLORIA, CUBA, LOOKING NORTH.

_Photograph by V. K. Van De Venter, Jan. 23, 1900._]

Meanwhile, we were living contentedly in La Gloria, enjoying excellent
health and suffering no serious discomfort, and laughing in uproarious
glee over the sensational articles which appeared in many of the
newspapers of the States. With no little surprise we learned from the
great newspapers of the United States that we were "marooned in a Cuban
swamp," suffering fr