INTRODUCTION 



Twelve years have elapsed since I quit- 

 ted Europe, to examine the interior of the 

 new continent. Devoted from my earliest 

 youth to the study of nature, feeling with 

 enthusiasm the savage beauties of a coun- 

 try guarded by mountains, and shaded by 

 ancient forests, I experienced in my travels 

 such enjoyments, as have amply compen- 

 sated for the privations inseparable from 

 a laborious, and often agitated life. These 

 enjoyments, which I endeavoured to im- 

 part to my readers in my Remarks upon 

 the Steppes, and in the Essay on the Phy- 

 siognomy of Plants, were not the only 

 fruits I have reaped from an undertaking, 

 formed with the design of contributing to 

 the progress of natural philosophy. I had 

 long prepared myself for these observations 

 which were the principal objects of my 

 vol. i. b 



