eler. But he lacked that intrepid quality possessed by, LITTLE 

 say, Lewis and Clarke. He had too much brain too JOURNEYS 

 fine a nerve-quality to face the forest alone. Bonpland 

 made good all that he lacked. He used to call Bon- 

 pland his "Treasure." And surely such a friend is a 

 treasure, indeed. Bonpland was a linguist, as most of 

 the Swiss are. He was a mountain climber, and had 

 been a soldier and sailor, and he knew enough of liter- 

 ature and science so he was an interesting companion. 

 He was small in stature, lithe, immensely strong, ab- 

 solutely fearless, and had left behind him neither fam- 

 ily nor friends to mourn his loss. To Humboldt he was 

 guide, teacher, protector and friend. Bonpland was the 

 soul of unselfishness. 



Perhaps a certain quality of man attracts a certain 

 quality of friend I really am not sure. But this I know, 

 that while Alexander von Humboldt had few personal 

 friends, he always had just those which his nature re- 

 quired his friends were hands, feet, eyes and ears for 

 him, to quote his own words. 



This voyage on the " Pizarro " occupied five years. 

 The travelers visited Teneriffe, Cuba, Mexico, and 

 skirted the coast of South America, making many lit- 

 tle journeys inland. They climbed mountains that had 

 never been scaled before ; they ascended rivers where 

 white men had never been, and pushed their way 

 through jungle and forest to r ,visit savage tribes who 

 fled before them in terror thinking they were gods. 

 On the return trip they visited the United States ; 

 spending some weeks in Washington, where they were 



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