The Anfwer of the Royal Academy. 151 



to a time which it always wifhes may be as 

 diftant as poffible ; I fhould find fufficient oc- 

 casion here to turn my difcourfe upon the abi- 

 lities you have fh^wn on your travels in foreign 

 countries ; but your own writings fufficiently 

 explain my thoughts. Give me leave how- 

 ever to fay, that the public thankfully acknow- 

 ledges the courage you have exerted amidft 

 fo many difficulties, for the enlargement of 

 knowledge-, and reckons you among the fmall 

 number of travellers, who have opened a 

 field, (which before had never been attended 

 to) and in a country too whofe natural hif- 

 tory has lain till this time in the greatefl ob- 

 fcurity. 



Your excellent journal, the curious trea- 

 tifes with which you have feveral times en- 

 riched the memoirs of the Royal Academy, 

 and the fpeech which you have juft now pro- 

 nounced, undoubtedly (hew, that I do not 

 embellifh mine with flattery. It is now a 

 long time fmce you have acquired the friend- 

 ship of the Royal Academy ; but fmce it is 

 defirous of obtaining your confidence more 

 fully, and of employing that mature judgment 

 (which you have by travel fo confiderably en- 

 L 4 riched) 



