APPENDIX. 403 



Alexander's birthday as a fete day. Notwithstanding the debili- 

 tating effect of two severe attacks of illness, his health became so 

 entirely re-established by his simple and regular mode of life, that, 

 in a letter dated June 14, 1836, he alluded seriously to a project of 

 returning to Paris. It seemed to him that an important duty con- 

 nected with his visit there would be the addition of Notes to 

 Humboldt's ' Travels in America.' Only five volumes of this work 

 had reached him, but these ' had filled his mind with a crowd of 

 recollections.' While enjoying the mild breezes of a southern 

 clime loaded with the scent of orange blossoms, he compassionates 

 his friend doomed to a dreary existence at Berlin, and recalls the 

 time when they had together rejoiced in the magnificent climates of 

 Ibague at the foot of the Cordilleras, of the Islands of the Hyeres, 

 and of the coast of Caleja, between Barcelona and Valencia. After 

 a stay at Paris, he proposed making an expedition to Algiers, 

 which he thought would be well worth visiting. 



On returning from Europe in the year 1854, Herr von Gulich 

 conveyed to Bonpland several presents from Humboldt, consisting 

 of books and many likenesses of himself. These were most accept- 

 able gifts, and in contemplating the portraits it was with no small 

 pleasure that, in the altered features of the grey-haired man, 

 Bonpland could still trace the once familiar countenance of his 

 former intimate companion. The idea of returning to Europe was 

 &till the cherished wish of his heart. Once more to hold Humboldt 

 in his embrace and revel with him in recollections of the past, was 

 a desire that sometimes seized him with a passionate longing. 

 ' Quelques heures d'entrevue,' he exclaimed (October 2, 1854), 

 ' nous donneraient il me semble dix annees d 'existence ! ' He 

 derived great pleasure from a perusal of 'Cosmos' and the 'Tableaux 

 de la Nature ; ' he fancied as he read that he heard the voice of his 

 old fellow-traveller sounding in his ears, and bitterly bemoaned 

 his separation from him : ' Man needs a true friend to whom the 

 feelings of his heart can be unburdened.' 



Bonpland continued to follow with sympathetic interest the 

 changes both social and political which were taking place in his 

 native land. On August 8, 1856, he announced to Herr von Gulich 

 that his herbarium was almost ready to be despatched to Paris, and 

 that he should like to be the bearer of it himself, that he might 

 present it to the emperor in person for the enrichment of the 

 Museum. His interest had been keenly excited by the achievements 

 of Louis Napoleon, the events of the Russian war, the revolutions 

 that had taken place in European politics since 1816, and the intro- 

 duction of railways a mode of locomotion to which he was still a 

 stranger. But amid all, renewed intercourse with Humboldt stood 



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