In Camps in the Caribbees: The Adventures of a Naturalist in the Lesser Antilles (1880), lamenting the disorder and lack of cleanliness of the culinary facilities in one of his rustic campsites on the island of Dominica, Frederick Albion Ober notes:

Occasionally the thought obtrudes itself, "They do not have things like this in the States." This often makes me sad, but I raise my eyes, perhaps, and look out over the green slope, down upon the valley bursting with palms, and beyond the hills to the peaceful sea smiling in the sunshine; and I exult in the thought that these enjoyments far outweigh the little annoyances I have described.

His prolific output indicates that travel did indeed provide Ober with abundant recompense for inconveniences and difficulties of all sorts. His voluminous works, in turn, provide readers with an interesting window on a fascinating period of American history. Ober's...