26 MEMOIR OF 



" to see a lady actuated by a love for insects so 

 truly heroic, as to induce her to traverse the seas for 

 the purpose of painting and describing them/' The 

 inconveniences to which she must have submitted 

 in leaving the comforts of home, and repairing to a 

 distant land, where her health was endangered by 

 exposure to a burning sun and a most unwholesome 

 climate, must indeed be admitted to imply a degree 

 of zeal of which we do not find many examples, and 

 which renders the epithet employed by the French 

 naturalist by no means inapplicable. 



The place of her destination was Dutch Guiana, 

 often called Surinam, from a river of that name on 

 which the capital (Paramaribo) is situated. As a 

 Dutch colony, it naturally afforded her advantages 

 which could not easily have been obtained else- 

 where. Its situation, too, was highly favourable to 

 the purpose she had in view. Lying between 4 

 45 " and 6 of north latitude, the temperature is 

 very high ; and as the rains are copious, and many 

 parts of the country low and marshy, vegetation 

 is sustained in the greatest luxuriance throughout 

 a great part of the year, affording appropriate places 

 of resort to many of the most gorgeous produc- 

 tions of the tropics. In this fruitful region, so po- 

 pulous in 



.- .. bees and birds, 



And fairy formed, and many-coloured things, 



her ardent curiosity found ample means of gratifica- 

 tion, and she remained nearly two years diligently 

 employed in collecting and painting insects, shells. 



