VOYAGE TO EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS. 333 



great scientific works on botany, zoology, and astronomy, 

 and a profound political essay on the resources of a king- 

 dom ; but with, the exception of a few slight sketches in 

 his " Picturesque Atlas," nothing that showed his marvel- 

 lous power of description, or could be considered as an ap- 

 proach to a narrative of his travels. He was making up 

 for lost time now, if an epoch so fruitful in books can be 

 called lost time, delighting his heart and wearying his 

 fingers with his task. He wrote, and wrote, and wrote, 

 turning the quires and reams of blank paper, with which 

 our fancies have furnished him, into pages of the neatest 

 manuscript that ever came from an author's study. His 

 fingers, indeed, might ache, but he was never tired of his 

 labour of love. Neither was he discouraged at the good- 

 natured banter of Arago, who told him that he did not 

 know how to write. " You write without end, mon cher 

 ami, but that is not a book ; it is a picture without a 

 frame." 



The first volume of his travels appeared in 1814. It 

 was entitled " A Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of 

 the New Continent." 



We shall not criticise this remarkable book, of which 

 the reader has by this time formed an opinion, but let 

 Humboldt speak for himself, by culling a few paragraphs 

 from his introduction. It is one of his most masterly 

 productions, fresh, clear, and philosophical, with a charm- 

 ing vein of autobiography. 



" Many years have elapsed since I quitted Europe, to 

 explore the interior of the New Continent. Devoted 

 from my earliest youth to the study of nature, feeling 

 with enthusiasm the wild beauties of a country guarded 

 by mountains and shaded by ancient forests, I expe- 



