JUexaufcer toon IJnmbollbt. 



HE "Personal Narrative" of this renowned 

 natural philosopher and traveller is re- 

 plete with incidents of a romantic char- 

 acter ; and amid the vast stores of curious 

 and original information which he has detailed in 

 his travels to the equinoctial regions of the New 

 Continent, we find interspersed picture-scenes of 

 great beauty and descriptive charm. 



The reader may perhaps like to recall the circum- 

 stances under which this accomplished traveller 

 commenced his career. M. de Humboldt was a 

 Prussian gentleman of good estate, who devoted 

 his time and his fortune to the pursuits of a liberal 

 curiosity. Prompted by such motives, he began 

 at the age of twenty-one to travel over Europe, 

 and in the space of six years traversed its various 

 countries. Returning to Paris in 1793, he was in- 

 vited by the directors of the National Museum to 

 accompany Captain Baudin in a voyage round the 



