: JOURNEY TO SPAIN. 21 
this period, was subsequently of great use to him 
in his researches in the New Continent. An ex- 
pedition of discovery to the southern hemisphere, 
under the direction of Captain Baudin, then pre- 
paring in France, and with which MM. Michaux 
and Bonpland were to be associated as naturalists, 
held out to him the hope of gratifying his desire of 
exploring unknown regions. But the war which 
broke out in Germany and Italy compelled the go- 
vernment to withdraw the funds allotted to this 
enterprise. Becoming acquainted with a Swedish 
consul who happened to pass through Paris, with 
the view of embarking at Marseilles on a mission 
to Algiers, he resolved to embrace the opportunity 
thus offered of visiting Africa, in order to examine 
_ the lofty chain of mountains in the empire of Moroc- 
co, and ultimately to join the body of scientific men 
attached to the French army in Egypt. Accom- 
panied by his friend Bonpland, he therefore betook 
himself to Marseilles, where he waited for two 
months the arrival of the frigate which was to con- 
vey the consul to his destination. At length, learn- 
ing that this vessel had been injured by a storm, he 
resolved to pass the winter in Spain, in hopes of 
finding another the following spring. 
On his way to Madrid, he determined the geo- 
graphical position of several important parts, and 
ascertained the height of the central plain of Castile. 
In March 1799 he was presented at the court of 
Aranjuez, and graciously received by the king, to 
whom he explained the motives which induced him 
to undertake a voyage to the New Continent. Be- 
ing seconded in his application by the representations 
of an enlightened minister, Don Mariano Luis de 
