CHANGE OF PLANS FOR UNITED STATES. 379 



ted that I should be unable to visit the regions 

 which attracted me the most from a geolog- 

 ical point of view, and asking him if it would 

 be possible to interest the king in this jour- 

 ney and obtain means from his majesty for a 

 longer stay on the other side of the Atlantic. 

 I have just received a delightful and most 

 unexpected reply. The king will grant me 

 15,000 francs for this object, so that I shall, 

 in any event, be able to make the journey. 

 All the more do I desire to make it in your 

 society, and I think by combining our forces 

 we shall obtain more important results ; but I 

 am glad that I can do it without being a bur- 

 den to you. Before answering Humboldt, I 

 am anxious to know whether your plans are 

 definitely decided upon for this summer, and 

 whether this arrangement suits you. . . . 



The pleasant plan so long meditated was 

 not to be fulfilled. The prince was obliged 

 to defer the journey and never accomplished 

 it. This was a great disappointment to Agas- 

 siz. 



" Am I then to go without you," he writes ; 

 " is this irrevocable ? If I were to defer my 

 departure till September would it then be pos- 

 sible for you to leave Rome ? It would be 



