5 



the most rigorous methods ; and I learnt from 

 experience, the extent of the errors to which I 

 might be exposed. 



I had traversed a part of Italy in 1795 ; but 

 had not been able to visit the volcanic regions of 

 Naples and Sicily ; and I regretted leaving Eu- 

 rope without having seen Vesuvius, Stromboli, 

 and iEtna. I felt, that in order to form a pro- 

 per judgment of a great number of geological 

 phenomena, especially of the nature of the rocks 

 of trap formation, it became necessary to 

 have examined strictly the phenomena offered by 

 burning volcanoes. I determined therefore to 

 return to Italy in the month of November, 1797. 

 I made a long stay at Vienna, where the fine 

 collections of exotic plants, and the friendship 

 of Messrs. de Jacquin, and of Mr. Joseph Van 

 der Schott were highly useful to my preparatory 

 studies. I travelled with Mr. Leopold de Buch, 

 who has since published an excellent work on 

 Lapland, through several cantons of Salzburgh 

 and Styria, countries alike interesting to the 

 landscape-painter and the geologist ; but at the 

 moment I was passing the Tyrolian Alps, the 

 war which raged in Italy obliged me to abandon 

 the project of going to Naples. 



A short time before, a person who was passi- 

 onately fond of the fine arts, and who had visited 

 the coasts of Greece and Illyria to inspect their 

 monuments, made me a proposal to accompany 



