AUTHOK'S PREFACE, 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



With some diffidence, I here present to the public a series 

 of papers which originated in the presence of the noblest 

 objects of nature, — on the Ocean, — in the forests of the 

 Orinoco, — in the Savannahs of Venezuela, — and in the soli- 

 tudes of the Peruvian and Mexican Mountains. Several 

 detached fragments, written on the spot, have since been 

 wrought into a whole. A survey of nature at large, — proofs 

 of the co-operation of forces, — and a renewal of the enjoyment 

 which the immediate aspect of the tropical countries affords 

 to the susceptible beholder, — are the objects at which I aim. 

 Each Essay was designed to be complete in itself; and one 

 and the same tendency pervades the whole. This scsthetic 

 mode of treating subjects of Natural History is fraught with 

 great difficulties in the execution, notwithstanding the mar- 

 vellous vigour and flexibility of my native language. The 

 wonderful luxuriance of nature presents an accumulation of 

 separate images, and accumulation disturbs the harmony and 

 effect of a picture. When the feelings and the imagina- 

 tion are excited, the style is apt to stray into poetical prose. 

 But these ideas require no amplification here, for the fol- 

 lowing pages afford but too abundant examples of such devia- 

 tions and of such want of unity. 



Notwithstanding these defects, which I can more easily 



