PREFACE TO THE EIRST EDITION 



I OFFER this book of Wanderings with a hesitating 

 hand. It has little merit, and must make its way through 

 the world as well as it can. It will receive many a jostle 

 as it goes along, and perhaps is destined to add one more 

 to the number of slain, in the field of modern criticism. 

 But if it fall, it may still, in death, be useful to me ; for, 

 should some accidental rover take it up, and, in turning 

 over its pages, imbibe the idea of going out to explore 

 Guiana, in order to give the world an enlarged descrip- 

 tion of that noble country, I shall say, " fortem ad fortia 

 misi," and demand the armour ; that is, I shall lay claim 

 to a certain portion of the honours he will receive, upon 

 the plea, that I was the first mover of his discoveries ; 

 for, as Ulysses sent Achilles to Troy, so I sent him to 

 Guiana. I intended to have written much more at 

 length; but days, and months, and years, have passed 

 away, and nothing has been done. Thinking it very 

 probable that I shall never have patience enough to sit 

 down and Write a full account of all I saw and examined 



