LIFE AND WRITINGS OF M, DE MAHTIUS. 367 



cation on the Zoology, and the latter a similar one on the Botany of 

 Brazil. Unfortunately the health of M. Spix had suffered severely 

 from the tropical climate and the fatigues of the expedition. He died 

 in a very few years after his return ; though not till he had completed 

 five works in folio and in quarto, comprising the most important classes 

 of the Animal Kingdom. From that time the whole burden fell on 

 the shoulders of M. de Martins, who singly executed the second and 

 third volumes of the * Narrative of the Journey,' and who published 

 (besides the botanical works which I shall shortly mention) the * Fishes/ 

 with the assistance of M. Agassiz, and the 'Insects' with the help of 

 M, Perty. Such were his activity and his tact, that he inspired his 

 fellow-workers with his own zeal, and while sacrificing his private for- 

 tune, he roused the interest of princes and the public, and produced in 

 thirty-five years a series of publications of the highest class of merit. 



I 



A glance at these works will show that this statement is no exaor^era- 

 tion. 



The Narrative (' Keise in Brasilien') consists of three quarto volumes, 

 accompanied by a highly curious atlas in folio. The frontispiece of 

 this atlas, which M. de Martius published with the second volume, is 

 characteristic of the author, and of that brilliant epoch when Munich 



was first adorned with monuments, and became an Italian city north 

 of the Alps : it is a work of art, showing the universal (^^ humanitaire*') 

 and yet fanciful genius of Germany. Those who know Kaulbach's 

 grand composition of the Tower of Babel will understand my descrip- 

 tion. The Past and the Present of South America are allegorically 

 represented. The Equator, under the image of a Divinity, presides 

 over the scene; with one hand he commands the outpouring of the 

 copious waters which are to form the Rivers Orinoco, Amazon, and La 

 Plata ; in the other he holds a gigantic kind of lens, by which he con- 

 centrates the rays of light on a Goddess, who typifies young America ; 

 she, leaning against the Andes, appears as if amazed at her own strength, 

 and but little disposed to use it ; beneath her, gnomes wielding mining- 

 tools work in the earth ; and all around her a multitude of plants and 

 animals peculiar to South America, display in their Abundance the 

 double energy of heat and moisture. At the foot of the page the his- 

 tory of America is portrayed in a very striking manner : warriors, armed 

 with helmets and cuirasses, pursue on horseback, accompanied by blood- 

 hounds, the miserable natives, who fall before the swords and muskets 



