IV PREFACE. 



suLstance of the " Yoyage " is given^ for the worh extendi 

 to three octavo wlunies^ of four or five hundred pages 

 each. It would have heen easy to have rewritten this mat- 

 ter^ hut the author could not see the advantage of so doing : 

 his hooJc would have gained something in originality^ hut 

 it would have lost much more in interest. No writer of 

 travels^ ancient or modern^ can compare with Humholdt in 

 descri2ytive p>ower^ especially in the " Voyage," where his 

 words are pictures. These pictures have heen faithfully 

 transferred to the chapters mentioned^ and are commended 

 to the reader's attention. 



The chapters on Colomhia and Peru^ and Mexico^ are 

 made upfront the "Yues des CordiDeres," the "Ansicbcen 

 der Natur," and the "Essai politique sur le Royaume de 

 Kouvelle Espagne.'' They are not so complete as the 

 author could have wished^ hut that is rather HumholdVs 

 fault than his own ^ for the "Yoyage" which would have 

 furnished material for them., had it ever heen completed.^ 

 ends abruptly at Carthagena. Beyond that point the 

 narrative of the journey ceases. Gleams of it occur, 

 however, in JSumholdPs other works, chiefly in those just 

 mentioned, and it is hy these that his progress has heen 

 traced until his return to Europe. If this portion of the 

 Biography lachs the picturesque and adventurous element 

 of the chapters that precede it, it has at least the merit of 

 variety, and of heing the fullest account of the last two or 

 three years of HumholdVs eventful journey in the New 

 "World. The works specified above having been translated 

 into English, the trwislations have heen generally used. 



