There is a Spanish proverb, “Never leave a river before you or your baggage behind.” One evening Mr. Field and Mr. Church forgot this, and crossed, leaving the mules with their packs to follow in the morning. During the night the river rose, and three weeks passed before it was possible to bring over the baggage train, the weary travellers meanwhile ruefully contemplating from day to day, from the opposite bank, their inaccessible possessions.
In an Aspinwall paper of October, 1853, this was printed:
“Among the passengers arrived yesterday in the steamship Bogota from Guayaquil are Messrs. Cyrus W. Field and F. E. Church, of New York, who have been travelling for the last six months in South America.
“They say that the scenery in some parts of the Andes is grand and beautiful beyond description; and that words cannot express the kindness and hospitality with which they have been treated; that gold in large quantities can be obtained in Antioquia, and from the beds of many of the small streams that run down the Andes into the Pacific or the Amazon; and that the soil on the plains of Bogota and in the valley of the Cauca is very rich; and that they have been so much pleased with their journey that they intend soon to return to the land of beautiful flowers and birds, and to the continent for which the Almighty has done so much and man so little.
“The following are some of the places of interest that they have visited: Falls of Tequendama, Natural Bridge of Icononzo at Pandi; silver mines of Santa Aña; emerald mines of Muzo; volcanoes of Puracé, Pichincha, and Cotopaxi; cities of Mompox, Bogota, Ibaque, Cartago, Buga, Cali, Popagan, Pasto, and Quito.
“They left Quito on the 9th of September. Stopped two days at Cotopaxi, four at Chimborazo, and eight at Guayaquil, and will leave in the next steamer for the United States.”
Of the sail from Aspinwall to New York it was written:
“The voyage was pleasant, but every day’s run was studied with nervous anxiety by Mr. Field. He had hurried home in order to be in Stockbridge on October 31st, the day on which his father and mother were to celebrate their golden wedding; the steamer was delayed by stormy weather, and he did not arrive in New York until late in the afternoon of the 29th.”
His family had watched almost as eagerly for his coming. Not only were they anxious to see him, but their going to Stockbridge depended upon it, and that could not be delayed beyond the morning of the 30th.
Mr. Field brought back a very miscellaneous assortment of the spoils of travel; among them were some of the grass cloaks worn in South America. He often amused his children by putting on these cloaks, and one day they suggested that their father should show himself in this novel costume to his sister, then living in the old home in Seventeenth Street. Without thinking of the effect this might produce on the way, he at once left his house, and had gone but a short distance when he found that he was followed by a number of persons that soon swelled into a crowd and gave chase, until at last he was obliged to take refuge in the home of a friend.