I/O 33 



\^ir 4 — 



PREFACE. 



I OFFER this book of Wanderings" with a he- 

 sitating hand. It has little merit, and must 

 make its way through the world as well as it can. 

 It will receive many a jostle as it goes along, and 

 perhaps is destined to add one more to the number 

 of slain, in the field of modern criticism. But if 

 it fall, it may still, in death, be useful to me ; 

 for should some accidental rover take it up, and, 

 in turning over its pages, imbibe the idea of 

 going out to explore Guiana, in order to give 

 the world an enlarged description of that noble 

 country, I shall say, fortem ad fortia misi," 

 and demand the armour ; that is, I shall lay 

 claim to a certain portion of the honours he will 

 receive, upon the plea, that I was the first mover 

 of his discoveries ; for, as Ulysses sent Achilles 

 to Troy, so I sent him to Guiana. I intended 



a 



