PREFACE. IX 



measure their height, and make astronomi- 

 cal observations. Their journals, which 

 date farther back than half a century, 

 were written when geology did not exist 

 as a science, and the physical structure of 

 those giants of our Globe was yet un- 

 known. 



What has hitherto been wanting is now 

 accomplished. M. de Humboldt has in 

 this work displayed, more than in any other 

 he has yet published, his peculiar manner 

 of contemplating nature in all her over- 

 whelming greatness. The appropriate cha- 

 racter of his writings is the faculty he pos- 

 sesses of raising the mind to general ideas, 

 without neglecting individual facts ; and 

 while he appears only to address himself to 

 our reason, he has the secret of awakening 

 the imagination, and of being understood 

 by the heart. 



The general picture, which he has drawn 

 of the Isle of TenerifFe, and the geography 

 of it's plants, proves, that in objects often 



