Excerpt from Forward Letters Written on a Trip Around the World My trunks are packed, and I shall start this evening at nine o'clock by the Vienna express. The Ballarat leaves Brindisi next Sunday, July I 7. It is exactly ten days since I made up my mind, and so far I have not wavered one moment, in spite of, or perhaps because of the manifold oppositions I encountered from all sides. I cannot describe to you the sensation my decision created in this dear old town of Cracow. At first nobody would believe me; they laughed when I spoke of my impending journey, and I could not do otherwise than laugh too: it all seemed so absurd. But when finally they saw that I meant it, oh, ye gods What an avalanche of reproaches. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.