EXPEDITION TO THE OKINOCO. 277 



limited space will only allow of our selecting two, from which 

 we insert the following extracts : 



To William von Humboldt. 



'Cumana, South America: October 17, 1800. 



' I cannot repeat to you often enough how happy I feel in 

 this quarter of the globe, where I have already become so 

 completely acclimatised as almost to feel as if I had never 

 lived in Europe. 



' Throughout the world, there is perhaps no land where one 

 could live with more enjoyment and in greater peace and 

 security than in the Spanish colonies where I have now been 

 travelling for the last fifteen months. The climate is very 

 healthy ; the heat sets in about nine in the morning, and does not 

 last beyond seven in the evening. The nights and early mornings 

 are cooler than in Europe. The aspect of nature is extremely 

 rich and varied, while everything is on so grand a scale as to 

 convey an impression of majesty. The inhabitants are mild, 

 good-natured, and conversible, and though certainly very care- 

 less and ignorant, they are simple-hearted and without pre- 

 tension. 



' I could not possibly have been placed in circumstances more 

 highly favourable for study and for purposes of investigation 

 than those which I now enjoy. I am free from the mani- 

 fold distractions constantly arising in civilised life from the 

 claims of society, while nature unceasingly offers to my con- 

 templation the newest and most interesting objects of study. 

 The only drawback to this solitude is the want of information 

 as to the progress that scientific discovery is making in Europe, 

 and the loss of all the advantages arising from the interchange 

 of thought. 



4 The study of the various races of mankind would alone 

 form ample occupation for any observer, for not only are the 

 mixed races a subject of considerable interest, but also the 



i Indian tribes, especially such as are as yet uninfluenced by 

 civilisation. Of the various inhabitants of European descent I 

 im most attracted to the colonists settled in country districts, 

 a class of people who still preserve the simplicity of Spanish 



