270 Voyage aux hides Orientates 



dispatched on their various expeditions ; and if they do not always 

 possess the experience of matured study, they are at the season of 

 life when their zeal is ardent, and their activity and enthusiasm are 

 unbounded. It is in this manner that the collections on the continent 

 so long surpassed in the number of species those of this country ; 

 and the expense of maintaining those travelling naturalists is in 

 reality not greater, than that arising from the large prices occasion- 

 ally paid for some privately procured collection, or for some rare 

 specimen. Returning from the expedition, the results are placed 

 in the hands of gentlemen versed by long experience in the branches 

 they undertake, and, as in the present instance, they often appear 

 as a series of essays by the individuals to whom they had been en- 

 trusted. 



Belanger left Paris in 1825. He crossed Germany, Poland, 

 Southern Prussia, Georgia, and the Persian Provinces under the 

 Russian dominion, and penetrating into Persia, he embarked for 

 Bombay, and finally arrived at Pondicherry in the commencement 

 of 1836. Persia he crossed from Erivan to Bouchir, running over 

 the most interesting parts, but travelling with a caravan, and being 

 dependent on the season for crossing the Caucasian chain, the time 

 spent in this country was comparatively lost. At Bombay he suf- 

 fered under ill health brought on by the climate and exertion, but 

 visited the Isle of Elephanta and the coast of Malabar, and made 

 some additions to his collections ; but it was not till some time after 

 his arrival at Pondicherry, which he made head-quarters, that the 

 most profitable part of his expedition might be said really to com- 

 mence. From hence he made extensive excursions, and for a time 

 removed to Bengal, where he explored the riches of the Ganges. — 

 Again penetrating by the river Irawaddi, already known as the 

 scene of the botanical labours of Wallich, he visited Pegu, endea- 

 vouring to collect in his way the productions of the river and its 

 tributaries. Returning to Pondicherry, he made another excursion 

 to the islands and the Straits of Sunda, examining principally the 

 eastern coasts of Java, in the districts of Buitenzorg and Bantam, 

 where Raffles and Horsfield, Khul and Van-Hasselt, had previous- 

 ly toiled in the same vocation, and finally, on account of his health, 

 returned to his country by the Isles of France and Bourbon, and 

 the Cape of Good Hope. The results of this expedition were by 

 his own account, 25 mammalia ; 240 birds ; 60 reptiles ; 250 

 fishes ; 300 mollusca ; 500 insects ; and 10 Crustacea ; in all, 1385 

 subjects, (it may be remarked, that those which had been met with 

 in Persia were unfortunately lost before their arrival in France,) 



