PREFACE. 



impressions as to the social and political condition of 

 the different regions which I visited, suggested to an 

 unprejudiced visitor by the daily incidents of a 

 traveller's life. 



Those who may be tempted to undertake a tour in 

 South America will find that by a judicious choice of 

 route, according to the season selected for travelling, 

 they may visit all the accessible parts of the continent 

 with perfect ease, and with no more risk of injury to 

 health, or of bodily discomfort, than they incur in a 

 summer excursion in Europe. The chief precaution 

 to be observed is to make the visit to Brazil fall in 

 the cool and dry season, extending from mid-May to 

 September. It may also be well to mention that, 

 while the cost of passage and expenses on board, for 

 a journey of about 18,400 miles by sea, somewhat 

 exceeded ^170, my expenses during about ten weeks 

 on land, without any attempt at economy, did not 

 exceed ^100. 



The reader may regard as superfluous the rather 

 frequent references to the meteorology of the various 

 parts of the continent which I was able to visit. But, 

 if he will consider the importance of the two main 

 elements — temperature and moisture — in regulating 

 the development of organic life in past epochs, and 

 the influence which they now exercise on the character 

 of the human population, he will admit that a student 

 of nature could not fail to make them the objects of 

 frequent attention, the more especially as many erro- 

 neous impressions as to the climate of various parts 



