ent publications on the same subject with all
the avidity of an enthusiast. Nor did my labors stop here. Very early I
saw the importance of an acquaintance with aboriginal tongues, and
immediately set about mastering the researches of Humboldt and
Schoolcraft. This was easily done; for I discovered, much to my chagrin
and disappointment, that but little is known of the languages of the
Indian tribes, and that little is soon acquired. Dissatisfied with such
information as could be gleaned from books only, I applied for and
obtained an agency for dispensing Indian rations among the Cherokees and
Ouchitaws, and set out for Fort Towson in the spring of 1848.

Soon after my arrival I left the fort, and took up my residence at the
wigwam of Sac-a-ra-sa, one of the principal chiefs of the Cherokees. My
intention to make myself familiar with the Indian tongues was noised
abroad, and every facility was afforded me by my hospitable friends. I
took long voyages into the interior of the continent, encountered
delegations from most of the western tribes, and familiarized myself
with almost every dialect spoken by the Indians dwelling west of the
Rocky Mountains. I devoted four years to this labor, and at the end of
that period, with my mind enriched by a species of knowledge
unattainable by a mere acquaintance with books, I determined to visit
Central America in person, and inspect the monuments of Uxmal and
Palenque with my own eyes.

Full of this intention, I took passage on the steamship "Prometheus," in
December, 1852, bound from New York to Greytown, situated in the State
of Nicaragua; a point from which I could easily reach Chiapas or
Yucatan.

And at this point of my narrative, it becomes necessary to digress for a
moment, and relate an incident which occurred on the voyage, and which,
in its consequences, changed my whole mode of investigation, and
introduced a new element of knowledge to my attention.

It so happened that Judge E----, formerly on the Bench of the Supreme
Court of the State of New York, was a fellow-passenger. He had been
employed by the Nicaragua Transit Company to visit Leon, the capital of
Nicaragua, and perfect some treaty stipulations with regard to the
project of an interoceanic canal. Fellow-passengers, we of course became
acquainted almost immediately, and at an early day I made respectful
inquiries concerning that science to which he had of late years
consecrated his life--I mean the "Theory of