Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

the changing scenes of a revolution, it was only then that Ihad the first vision of a twilight country which was to becomethe province of Sulaco, with its high shadowy Sierraand its misty Campo for mute witnesses of events flowingfrom the passions of men short-sighted in good and evil.Such are in very truth the obscure origins of ‘Nostromo’—thebook. From that moment, I suppose, it had tobe. Yet even then I hesitated, as if warned by the instinct ofself-preservation from venturing on a distant and toilsomejourney into a land full of intrigues and revolutions. But ithad to be done.It took the best part of the years 1903-4 to do; with manyintervals of renewed hesitation, lest I should lose myself inthe ever-enlarging vistas opening before me as I progresseddeeper in my knowledge of the country. Often, also, whenI had thought myself to a standstill over the tangled-up affairsof the Republic, I would, figuratively speaking, packmy bag, rush away from Sulaco for a change of air and writea few pages of the ‘Mirror of the Sea.’ But generally, as I’vesaid before, my sojourn on the Continent of Latin America,famed for its hospitality, lasted for about two years. On myreturn I found (speaking somewhat in the style of CaptainGulliver) my family all well, my wife heartily glad to learnthat the fuss was all over, and our small boy considerablygrown during my absence.My principal authority for the history of Costaguanais, of course, my venerated friend, the late Don Jose Avellanos,Minister to the Courts of England and Spain, etc.,etc., in his impartial and eloquent ‘History of Fifty Years of