130 



advanced thus far on my way to Peru," &c. Intelligence of the 

 declining state of a beloved parent's health, induced our friend 

 to sacrifice his own inclinations and his ardent thirst for science 

 to filial duty. He could not have accomplished the Peruvian 

 journey but by an absence of several more years from his 

 friends; and he therefore altered his plans, and instead of 

 terminating his travels at Buenos Ayres, decided on proceed- 

 ing to Para, and thence embarking for England. This, too, 

 was necessarily a work of time. " The conveyance of collec- 

 tions, baggage, and instruments, over a country like this," 

 says he, " is attended by difficulties that nothing but patience 

 can. overcome; especially as I travel in the same solitary, 

 unassisted manner as in Africa. How different are the fea- 

 tures of nature in South America and in the Highlands of 

 Scotland ! I often think of the pleasant excursion we made 

 there together. In this country of illiteracy, no one is found to 

 whom notions of science are intelligible. Here nature has 

 done much — man nothing: here she offers him innumer- 

 able objects of admiration and study, and strews gold and 

 diamonds beneath his feet, yet he continues vegetating in 

 the darkness of ignorance and in extreme poverty, the conse- 

 quence of laziness alone." 



Mr. Burchell still journeyed northward from Goyaz, and in 

 November, 1828, reached Porto-Real. Here he remained till 

 the proper season for embarking and descending the river, 

 (which is at all times rendered dangerous by numerous rocky 

 falls, rapids, and whirlpools,) making considerable collections 

 on ground over which no scientific traveller had ever passed. 

 He completed a survey of the whole length of this voyage, 

 fixed by numerous astronomical observations, and finally 

 arrived at the city of Para, in June, 1829, where he waited 

 till the following February for a convenient opportunity of 

 embarking for England. 



In a letter written to us from Fulham, dated October, 

 1830, he says, " I hope that the time will soon come when I 

 may enter upon the great and interesting task of arranging 

 my collections. For I now possess about 15,000 species of 

 plants, all gathered by my own hands in their natural places 



