durinrj the year 1829-30. ■ 03 



Petersburg, and Berlin, and the Institute of France, confident 

 in the predilection of M. de Humboldt for our glorious country. 

 MM. Ledebour, Meyer, and P-ungc, had preceded M. de 

 Humboldt in Siberia. Their travels have furnished us with 

 precious information, as have also those of MM. Hoffmann and 

 Helmerssen in the south of the. Ural mountains, and of MM. 

 Krman, Hanstcen, and Dowc, intrusted with a magnetic expe- 

 dition in the same countries. 



Wc have yet to mention M. Dobcll, author of Travels in 

 hamtchatka and Siberia, who had been previously for some 

 years in China. There are some interesting observations in his 

 works concerning that vast empire, which has frequently been 

 an object of attention with the Asiatic Society of Paris, not only 

 in a philological, but also under a geographical point of view. 



I had almost forgotten to mention M. Parrot, who has visited 

 Mount Ararat, and whose observations have been published in 

 several scientific works. 



I now come to the consideration of the voyages of circum- 

 navigation ; and, without recurring to those of MM. Frejcinet, 

 Duperrey, and Dumont d'Urville, who are occupied in publish- 

 ing the accounts of their labours, and who have found in the 

 public approbation the recompense of their fatigues, I shall 

 only remark, that France has at present no navigator employed 

 on a mission similar to that which these officers have accom- 

 plished. M. Mathieu, captain of a frigate, was, however, in- 

 tended for an expedition of this nature, when the attack of 

 Algiers was resolved on. The services of France called him 

 before that place, and he was compelled to give up the naviga- 

 tion of distant seas to face dangers of another kind. 



But among the foreigners navigating the vast seas which 

 separate the American continent from Asia and Hew Holland, 

 and in which exist thousands and thousands of groups of 

 islands, a great number of which have as yet been but partially 

 visited by Europeans, and which Mr. Ellis has endeavoured to 

 make better known by his researches into the natural history, 

 mythology, traditions, and manners, of the native inhabitants, I 

 shall mention Captaiu Litke, who has made many observations 

 in the Carolines, and discovered several unknown islands; and 

 Captain Kolff, a. Dutchman, who has traversed the southern 

 archipelago of the Moluccas, and the south-west coast of New 

 Guinea. Wc may also hope to obtain valuable information 

 from the American navigators, who, although much devoted 

 to their commercial speculations, do not, however, neglect 

 scientific researches. We owe the same eulogy to two 

 Frenchmen, Captain Darlue of Marseilles, who, after having 



