172 Humboldt's Letters. 



very often guided by the light of your researches, I 

 feel especially indebted to you, and am most desir- 

 ous that the manner in which my own investigation 

 is conducted may receive your approbation. It will 

 indeed be one of the best and most satisfactory results 

 of my labors. 



As I have been supplied with a large body of 

 unpublished and original documents for the Peruvian 

 conquest, I shall occupy myself with this immediately. 

 But I feel a great want at the outset of your friendly 

 hand to aid me. For although your great work 

 the Atlas Pittoresque sheds much light on scattered 

 points, yet as your Voyage aux regions equinoxiales 

 stops short of Peru, I shall have to grope my way 

 along through the greater part without the master's 

 hand, which, in the Nouvelle Espagne, led me on so 

 securely. 



The Peruvian subject will, I think, occupy less time 

 and space than the Mexican, and when it is finished 

 I propose to devote myself to a history of the Reign 

 of Philip the Second. For this last I have been long 

 amassing materials, and a learned Spaniard has explored 

 for me the various collections, public and private, in 

 England, Belgium, France, and is now at work for me 

 in Spain. In Ranke's excellent history : " Fttrsten und 

 Volker von Sttd-Europa," I find an enumeration of 

 several important MSS., chiefly Venetian relations, of 



