ILLUSTRATIONS (6). SOURCES OF THE ORINOCO. 177 



for from him, was the sole inducement which inspired me 

 with a fixed determination to press forward towards the 

 goal which I had now reached. The emaciated figures of 

 my Indian companions and my faithful guides proclaimed 

 more fully than any words could do, what difficulties we had 

 had to surmount, and had surmounted." After citing ex- 

 pressions so gratifying, I must be permitted to subjoin 

 the opinions I expressed regarding this great undertaking 

 promoted by the Royal Geographical Society of London, in my 

 Preface to the German edition of Robert Schomburgk's Ac- 

 count of his Travels, published in 1841. " Immediately 

 after my return from Mexico, I indicated the direction and 

 the routes by which the unknown portion of the South 

 American Continent between the sources of the Orinoco, the 

 mountain chain of Pacaraima, and the sea-shore near Esse- 

 quibo, might be explored. These wishes, so strongly expressed 

 in the personal narrative of my journey, have at length, after 

 the lapse of nearly half a century, been for the most part 

 fulfilled. I rejoice that I have been spared to see so important 

 an enlargement of our geographical knowledge ; I rejoice too in 

 seeing a courageous and well-conducted enterprise, requiring 

 the most devoted perseverance, executed by a young man, 

 to whom I feel bound no less by the ties of similarity of pur- 

 suits than those of country. These circumstances were alone 

 able to overcome the aversion and disinclination which I en- 

 tertain, perhaps unjustly, for introductory prefaces by a dif- 

 ferent hand than that of the author himself. But I could 

 not resist the impulse of expressing thus publicly my sincere 

 esteem for the accomplished traveller who, led on by the 

 meritorious idea of penetrating from east to west, from the 

 Valley of the Essequibo to Esmeralda, has succeeded, after 

 five years of efforts and of sufferings (the extent of which 

 I well appreciate from my own experience), in attaining 

 the object of his ambition. Courage for the sudden accom- 

 plishment of a hazardous undertaking is easier to find, and 

 implies less inward strength, than the resolution to endure 

 with resignation long-continued physical sufferings, excited 

 by absorbing mental interest; and still to press forward, un- 

 dismayed by the certainty of having to retrace his steps 

 under equally great privations and with enfeebled powers. 

 Serenity of mind, which is almost the first requisite for an 



N 



