2 TRAVELSTHROU6H 



contemplation of nature yielded to me as 1 wrote 

 them down ; and, according to your defire, I will, 

 as I proceed in my journey through Italy, defcribe 

 to you its natural curiofities, efpecially thofe which 

 belong to Oryctography and phyfical Geography. 

 The many other curiofities of this admirable coun- 

 try have been defcribed by others. But I fhall 

 ufe the freedom which you have allowed me, and 

 write without fpending much time in an attention 

 to elegance. You will kindly forgive me if I mould 

 now and then involuntarily be wrong. You know, 

 by your own experience, that a crowding multi- 

 tude of objects very often diftracls and weakens 

 the attention of the beft Naturalifts, and that tra- 

 velling leaves neither time nor opportunity for ex- 

 periments and methodical difiertations. I write to 

 a friend, whofe kindnefs I have experienced ; and 

 as you intend to travel in Italy, you will eafity cor- 

 rect my errors ; my purpofe is, to tell you what I 

 have feen j and what probably will be left unfeen 

 by me, or infufficiently examined. 



When you have fet out from Vienna, you fee, 

 on both fides, in Hungary, Auftria, and Steyer- 

 marckj long chains of connected and calcareous 

 hills, formed like waves, which, all the way from 

 Vienna to Wippach, I paflfed or had near me. Now 

 and then they rife remarkably high, or ftretch into 

 the country, divided by great valleys and wide-ex- 

 tended plains, which are watered and interfered by 



rivers. 



