xvi INTRODUCTION. 



cliapel, regarding that as a point which was central, and 

 from which an inflnence might be exerted northward a.s 

 well as sonthward. Frequent communications from Mr. 

 Ilicks have fanned the South- American spirit on this 

 ground for a long time, and rendered the Lyceum of 

 Natural History the more willing to imdertake an expe- 

 dition in that direction ; so tliat, when Prof. Orton, with 

 whom a correspondence had been opened by the Lyceum 

 on the subject of an expedition, expressed a decided pref- 

 erence for South America, the thing was at once agreed to. 



It is obvious that the expedition, by dividing as it did 

 at New York, was able to secure far more important re- 

 sults than could have accrued from a joint expedition. It 

 is especially obvious that the branch of the expedition 

 which struck the northern shore of the continent, explor- 

 ing first the Orinoco, and then the Rio Negro at least 

 eight hundred miles farther than Humboldt had done, has 

 performed a very valuable service in the interest of geog- 

 raphy, natural science, and ethnology. 



Prof. Orton lias published an interesting account of 

 his observations in connection with the western branch of 

 the expedition. The northern branch now gives its report 

 to the world. Some independent observations made by a 

 member of the western branch of the expedition will also 

 accompany the pi*esent volume. 



We have no Royal Geographical, Geological, or Astro- 

 nomical Societies in this country ; but no doubt many 

 curious eyes will be eager to read, and many interested 

 ears to listen, while our young friends tell the story of 

 their explorations, and their adventures in a region purely 

 tropical, where every thing in Nature and man differs so 

 widely from any thing we see — a region, too, for the most 

 part, until recently, almost unknown. 



A. Hopkins. 



Williams College, December, 1870. 



