INTRODUCTION. 3 



vinces, that enjoy such a degree of warmth as is most 

 friendly to life and vegetation, the dominion of cold 

 continues, and winter reigns, though only during a 

 short period, with extreme severity. If we pass 

 from the continent of America into the torrid zone, 

 we shall perceive the frigid character of the new 

 world extending its unconquerable influence even to 

 this region of the globe, and mitigating the excess of 

 its fervour. While the negro on the coast of 

 Africa is scorched with unremitting heat, the in- 

 habitant of Peru breathes an air equally mild and 

 temperate, beneath a canopy of gray clouds, which 

 intercepts the fierce beams of the sun, without ob- 

 structing his kindly warmth. Throughout the 

 eastern coast of America, the climate, though assi- 

 milating more to that of the torrid zone, in the 

 elder continents, is nevertheless considerably milder. 

 In treading her vast savannas, the traveller never 

 complains of that intolerable heat which perpetually 

 arrests his progress in those parts of Africa and 

 Asia which lie in the same latitude. It is, there- 

 fore, obvious that neither the elephant nor camel 

 are required in this milder portion of the globe, but 

 instead of these the llama overspreads her fertile 

 plains; nor are there wanting in the depth of her 

 interminable forests, on the rugged flanks of the 

 vast Andes, on the shores of her sea-like Plata, 

 Orinoco, and Amazon, creatures, though perhaps 

 less specifically numerous than those of the ancient 

 continents, yet equally serving the purposes of man. 



Another reason may also be assigned for the 

 apparent smallness of their numbers. 



Natural history is the boast of modern times. 



B 2 



