vi 



PEEFACE. 



relationship to that of the whole earth; when no geologist dares to 

 advance conclusions without knowing what his brethren have brought 

 forth ; when no zoologist can publish the fauna, no botanist the flora, of 

 a district without examining the surrounding regions ; when philologists 

 no longer attempt explanations without having examined the whole range of 

 human speech, — artists have, in contradistinction to this general tendency 

 towards universality, remained essentially " local." The fact that North 

 America may now be reached within a week, at less expense than Italy, 

 and the antipodes in forty days, seems to be quite lost upon them, and the 

 treasures there to be found are doomed to be hidden until laid bare by the 

 wand of some future artistic magician. 



Well may we exclaim, Are all the virgin forests destined to perish by 

 the axe before one master hand will attempt to preserve their grandeur 

 on canvas for the instruction of posterity ? Are our descendants to possess 

 nothing save the bare descriptions of the gigantic trees of Western America? 

 When every vestige of them shall have disappeared, will it be believed that 

 in our days there existed vegetable monsters, whose ages were not calcu- 

 lated by hundreds but by thousands of years, whose summits overtopped 

 those of our highest cathedrals, and rivalled the pinnacles of the great pyra- 

 mids ? Are we to have nothing save miserable daubs of the dazzling au- 

 tumnal changes of colour undergone by the flora of Canada and the United 

 States ? Is the majestic grandeur of a coral reef under the bright skies of the 

 South Sea no theme of inspiration? Are the beauties of a coral bed, 

 reflected through the crystal waters of the ocean, with all the manifold 

 form, colour, vegetable and animal life, a veritable " sea-scape" out of the 

 region of the land-scape painter ? 



There is every reason to suppose that art itself would be as greatly 

 benefited as science is by their votaries extending the sphere of their 

 studies. In order to seize upon the features peculiar to a country, one 

 must be able to compare them with those of others. To appreciate at 



