PREFACE. THE celebrity which Baron Humboldt enjoys, and which he has earned by a life of laborious investigation and perilous enterprise, renders his name familiar to every person whose attention has been drawn to political statistics or natural philosophy. In the estimation of the learned no author of the present day occupies a higher place among those who have enlarged the boundaries of human knowledge. To every one, accordingly, whose aim is the general cultivation of the mental faculties, his works are recommended by the splendid pictures of scenery which they contain, the diversified information which they afford respecting objects of universal interest, and the graceful attractions with which he has succeeded in investing the majesty of science. These considerations have induced the publishers to offer a condensed account of his Travels and Researches, such as, without excluding subjects even of laboured investigation, might yet chiefly embrace those which are best suited to the purposes of the general reader. The public taste has of late years gradually inclined towards objects of useful knowledge, works of imagination have in a great mea PREFACE. THE celebrity which Baron Humboldt enjoys, and which he has earned by a life of laborious investigation and perilous enterprise, renders his name familiar to every person whose attention has been drawn to political statistics or natural philosophy. In the estimation of the learned no author of the present day occupies a higher place among those who have enlarged the boundaries of human knowledge. To every one, accordingly, whose aim is the general cultivation of the mental faculties, his works are recommended by the splendid pictures of scenery which they contain, the diversified information which they afford respecting objects of universal interest, and the graceful attractions with which he has succeeded in investing the majesty of science. These considerations have induced the publishers to offer a condensed account of his Travels and Researches, such as, without excluding subjects even of laboured investigation, might yet chiefly embrace those which are best suited to the purposes of the general reader. The public taste has of late years gradually inclined towards objects of useful knowledge,-works of imagination have in a great mea sure given place to those occupied with descriptions of nature, physical or moral,-and the phenomena of the material world now afford entertainment to many who in former times would have sought for it at a different source. Romantic incidents, perilous adventures, the struggles of conflicting armies, and vivid delineations of national manners and individual character, naturally excite a lively interest in every bosom, whatever may be the age or sex; but, surely, the great facts of creative power and wisdom, as exhibited in regions of the globe of which they have no personal knowledge, are not less calculated to fix the attention of all reflecting minds. The magnificent vegetation of the tropical regions, displaying forests of gigantic trees, interspersed with the varied foliage of innumerable shrubs, and adorned with festoons of climbing and odoriferous plants; the elevated table-lands of the Andes, crowned by volcanic cones whose summits shoot high into the region of perennial snow; the earthquakes that have desolated populous and fertile countries; the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, with its circling currents; and the varied aspect of the heavens in those distant lands,—are subjects suited to the taste of every individual who is capable of contemplating the wonderful machinery of the universe. It is unnecessary here to present an analysis of the labours of the illustrious philosopher whose footsteps are traced in this volume. Suffice it to observe, that some notices respecting his early life introduce the reader to an acquaintance with his character and motives, as the adventurous traveller, who, crossing |