472 LAST MENTION OF BONPLAND. 



sant duty of giving you some sign of life — that is to say 

 a renewed proof of my attachment to you and my inte- 

 rest in your country, and a brief account of my labours. 



" My physical strength declines, but it declines 

 slowly. My steps are more uncertain in their direction, 

 owing to a feebleness of the ligaments of the knees ; 

 but I can remain standing for an hour without being 

 fatigued. I continue work chiefly at night, being unre 

 lentingly persecuted by my correspondence, which in- 

 creases the more as one becomes an object of public 

 curiosity. What is called literary celebrity is especially 

 the result of long endurance of life. This kind of emi- 

 nence increases, therefore, in proportion as imbecility 

 becomes more manifest. I am never really ill, but often 

 incommoded, as is to be expected at the age of eighty - 

 nine. 



" Since we were only two persons in the American ex- 

 pedition (the unfortunate Carlos de Montufar, son of the 

 Marquis de Selvalegra of Quito, fell a victim to his love 

 for the liberty of his country), it is somewhat remarkable 

 that we should both have reached so advanced an age. 

 Bonpland, still much occupied with scientific labours, 

 even cherishing the hope of visiting Europe again, and 

 of bringing in person back to Paris his rich and beautiful 

 collections in botany and geology, is eighty-five years 

 old, and enjoys greater strength than I do. 



" I have just published in Germany the fourth volume 

 of Kosmos, and they are now printing the fifth volume, 

 which completes that work so imprudently begun and 

 so favourably received by the public. Gen. Sabine 

 writes me that the English translation is finished and 

 will appear immediately. The same news comes to me 



