Travel to the inland city of Bogota in Colombia was not easy in 1858. Item 166 is a letter written by S.L. Finley to his brother, describing the journey. Finley had been hired to install a "machine" in a Bogota theater, evidently some sort of lighting. Finley first describes the 14-day trip up the Magdalena River, maneuvering through constantly changing dangerous sand banks, crocodiles, mosquitoes and sand flies, and a burning sun. Two days into the ride, he came down with "river fever," something which he says can kill people in two hours, while smallpox was raging all along the Magdalena's banks. Once up the river, he begins an overland journey, where he rides a mule over a high and treacherous road, at times filled with rocks, others with mud. Sometimes the mule is up to his belly in mud, and at one point rolls Finley in it. He finally reaches Bogota, which he says would be filled with sickness were it not for the 16-inch wide, 6-to-8-inch deep streams that run down the middle of every street to carry off the filth. Today we would call those open sewers. $400.

 

Item 441 is a photograph of Nachez…Son of Cochise & wife. Chief of Chiricahua Apache, attributed to Ben Wittick, circa 1884. Nachez succeeded his father and older brother as leader of his tribe, the last chief of the free Chiricahua. For several years he lived at peace with the whites, but later joined up with Geronimo in attempts to break out of the reservation. He was captured in 1886 and spent most of his remaining years, like Geronimo, imprisoned, before finally being allowed to return to a reservation in New Mexico. $1,250.

 

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