Alcide d'Oriigny. 51 



lu Peru he became in turn an ardent antiquary and studied tlie 

 relics of the ancient civilizations, in the cradles of the Inca race/ 

 He visited the ancient Missions founded by the Jesuits beyond 

 the Cordillera in the eighteenth century, a romantic account of 

 Avhich is given by Labonnefon. He spent eight months in 

 Patagonia and took part in the siege of Carmen, which enabled 

 him to correct many wild impressions that had been rife con- 

 cerning the Patagonian race. He lived among the Guarayo 

 Indians, and brought back with him as an anthropological specimen 

 a boy of the tribe, whom he " traded " with his grandfather for a 

 scythe, a hatchet, and a knife. But we can no longer occupy 

 ourselves even with these cursory observations upon this remark- 

 able voyage. Accompanied by the mule train which bore his vast 

 collections, he regained the western coast and embarked on board 

 the ' Philanthrope ' for Europe on July 3, and left South America 

 on September 3, 1833. The "philanthropic" captain charged 

 him 100/. for his passage home. He visited several districts on 

 the way — Islay, Callao, Lima and Valparaiso, which he left 

 on October 3, rounding Cape Horn, and landed in France on 

 February 2, 1834."'^ The six years had not passed by without 

 being punctuated by occasional severe attacks of home-sickness, 

 and of these attacks he has left us some touching and lyrical expres- 

 sions. The return to France, when " the lighthouse of Cordouan 

 announced the Mouth of the Gironde," made amends for all. 

 " All my past sufferings," he says, " were forgotten. I was about 

 to see my family once more. ... A new existence was dawning 

 for me." He never spoke a truer word. He came to grips at 

 once with the world of men, he embarked forthwith upon the vast 

 mass of work which occupied his life ; he began a life-long series 

 of dissensions and disputes, inevitable to the career of so bold and 

 obstinate an innovator, and so unsparing a critic ; he entered in a 

 word upon a life strewn with many disappointments and dis- 

 illusionments, which was to end at the early age of fifty-five. In 

 the following year the Societe Geologique de France awarded him 

 their Grand Prix, the Medaille d'Or, of the Society. 



I do not think an apology is needed for having so long delayed 

 the consideration of that branch of his work which has the more 

 peculiar interest for us — the Memoir upon the Foraminifera of 

 South America. The account of the voyage was, as we have seen, 

 published by the Government on the recommendation of the 

 Academie des Sciences, and was dedicated to King Louis-Philippe. 

 Section V, on the Foraminifera, consists of ^^j pp. and nine most 

 beautiful plates, in large folio ; it is fortunately the most accessible 

 of all d'Orbigny's works on the group. 



^ He even named a Foraminifer Rosalina inca. 



- A map of South America with the whole of d'Orbigny's journey traced upon 

 it is given by Labonnefon (XXII., p. 9), giving all the dates of his Stations. 



E 2 



