4 



compared to which all we daily feel in the nar- 

 row circle of sedentary life appears insipid. The 

 taste for herborisation, the study of geology, ra- 

 pid excursions to Holland, England, and France,, 

 with the celebrated Mr. George Forster, who had 

 the happiness to accompany Captain Cook in 

 his second expedition round the globe, contri- 

 buted to give a determined direction to the plan 

 of travels which I had formed at eighteen years 

 of age. No longer deluded by the agitation of a 

 wandering life, I was anxious to contemplate 

 nature in all it's variety of wild, and stupendous 

 scenery; and the hope of collecting some facts 

 useful to the advancement of science, incessant- 

 ly impelled my wishes towards the luxuriant 

 regions spread under the torrid zone. As my 

 personal situation then prevented me from exe- 

 cuting the projects by which I was so powerfully 

 influenced, I had leisure to prepare myself dur- 

 ing six years, for the observations I purposed to 

 make on the New Continent, to visit different 

 parts of Europe, and explore the lofty chain of 

 the Alps, the structure of which I might after- 

 wards compare with that of the Andes, of Qui- 

 to, and of Peru. As I employed successively 

 intruments of different constructions, I fixed 

 my choice on those which appeared to me the 

 most exact, and the least subject to break in the 

 carriage. I had an opportunity of repeating mea- 

 surements which had been taken according to 



