DON FELIX D'AZARA. 55 



NICOLAS, We had scarcely seen the light when we 

 were separated; nor have we, during the whole 

 course of our lives, met, or had any communica- 

 tion with each other, save in Barcelona, for the 

 short space of two days, and that by accident. No 

 less separated have been our paths through life. 

 You have lived in the great world, and by the 

 important offices you have held, and by your ta- 

 lents, deeds, and virtues, have become famous in 

 Spain, and out of it; whilst I, without obtaining 

 ostensible employment, and without any opportu- 

 nity of making myself known to you or others, 

 have spent the best twenty years of my life in one 

 of the remotest corners of the earth, forgotten even 

 by my friends, without books, or rational inter- 

 course, continually travelling through deserts and 

 immense and frightful woods, holding communica- 

 tion only with the birds and the wild beasts. Of 

 these I have written a history, which I now send 

 and dedicate to you, that you may become ac- 

 quainted with me, or, at all events, with the 

 nature of my labours * * *. That you may 

 be happy is the prayer of your brother FELIX. 

 Madrid, 1802." 



The author's preface supplies valuable informa- 

 tion as to the disposition in which the work was 

 prepared. " Between the twenty-fourth and thirty- 

 sixth degrees of south latitude, and the fifty-seventh 

 and sixtieth of west longitude, I did not omit to 

 describe the quadrupeds I could procure by dili- 

 gence or money. I commenced this task after 



