T a 
2 BERTHOLD SEEMANN,. 
the coast of Ecuador, on January 24th, 1846. Leaving England in — 
August, Mr. Seemann went by way of Madeira and the West Indies, and 
disembarked at Chagres to cross the Isthmus of Panama, at that tim 
journey of some days. When he reached the city of Panama, in Sep- 
tember, he found that the * Herald’ and her consort the * Pandora’ had not 
returned from Vancouver’s Island. Seemann profited by the delay to 
explore the greater part of the Isthmus, and collected materials which 
enabled him to produce the most complete general description of that 
country ever published. He discovered not only a number of new plants 
and animals, but also some curious hieroglyphies in Veraguas, on which 
he afterwards read a paper before the Archzological Institute of Great 
Britain ; it has since been shown that there is a remarkable correspondence 
between these New World antiquities and the ancient rock inscriptions of 
Northumberland and other parts of Great Britain. When, in the be- 
ginning of 1847, H.M.S. Herald returned from the North, Mr. Seemann 
joined her on January 17th, and remained with her until the completion 
of her voyage round the world, during which three cruises to the Arctie 
regions, vid Behring's Strait, were made. Seemann thus had the oppor- 
tunity of exploring nearly the whole west coast of America, frequently 
making long journeys inland. His explorations in Peru and Ecuador, 
when he was accompanied by Mr. (now Captain) Bedford Pim, R.N., led 
him from Payta through the Peruvian deserts, and across the Cordillera of 
the Andes to Loja, Cuenca, and Guayaquil, and familiarized him with the 
magnificent scenery, vegetation, and population of a large section of the 
former empire of the Incas. Subsequently, he traversed several of the 
western states of Mexico, starting from Mazatlan, crossing the Siérra 
Madre, and pushing on to Durango and the borders of Chihuahua. At 
that time, the Comanche and Alpache Indians were very troublesome, and 
Seemann narrowly escaped with his life. In 1848, the fate of Sir John 
Franklin began to excite apprehension in England, and the * Herald,’ ac- 
companied by the * Plover,’ was directed to proceed to the Arctic regions, 
by way of Behring's Strait, to search for the missing voyagers. This gave 
an entirely new character to the expedition, which, up to this time, had 
been used simply for making hydrographical studies of the west coast of 
America. Three times did the ‘ Herald? proceed to the Arctic regions, 
the second year, joined by the * Enterprise’ and * Investigator, making 
valuable discoveries at each visit; a new island was discovered between 
Asia and America, and the vessel attained a higher latitude than any 
other had previously accomplished on that side of America. Mr. Seemann 
availed-himself of these opportunities to collect materials for a Flora of the 
extreme north-west of Arctic America, and for the anthropology of the 
Esquimaux. In her various voyages, the ‘ Herald’ visited repeatedly Kam- 
tchatka and the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands ; and in 1850 she began 
4 
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"U CM 
her homeward course, touching and remaining for some time at Hongkong, "T 
Singapore, Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, and Ascension, reaching ^ . 
