PREFACE. 



A TOUR round the South American continent, which 

 was completed in so short a time as five months, may 

 not appear to deserve any special record ; yet I am 

 led to hope that this little book may serve to induce 

 others to visit a region so abounding in sources of 

 enjoyment and interest. There is no part of the 

 world where, in the same short space of time, a 

 traveller can view so many varied and impressive 

 aspects of nature ; while he whose attention is mainly 

 given to the progress and development of the social 

 condition of mankind will find in the condition of the 

 numerous states of the continent, and the manners 

 and habits of the many different races that inhabit it, 

 abundant material to engage his attention and excite 

 his interest 



Although, as the title implies, the aim of my 

 journey was mainly directed to the new aspects of 

 nature, organic and inorganic, which South America 

 superabundantly presents to the stranger, I have not 

 thought it without interest to give in these pages the 



