v 



X PREFACE. 



viewed by others he has seen what they 

 had failed to discern ; and in almost the 

 whole of the remainder of his travels he 

 pursues alone the difficult path of scientific 

 discovery. From the Canary Islands he 

 passes to Cumana, New Andalusia, and 

 the missions of the Indians, Chay mas, the 

 province of the Caraccas, the banks of the 

 Apure and the Rio Negro, to the limits of 

 Brazil, New Grenada, the Andes of Po- 

 payan, Porto, Quito, and Peru, the wes- 

 tern part of the Amazons, Mexico, and the 

 Isle of Cuba. How majestic is nature in 

 the forest and on the banks of the Oroono- 

 ko ! the communications of which flood 

 wdth that of the Amazons M. de Humboldt 

 has astronomically laid down and deter- 

 mined. 



This great work will now soon be ter- 

 minated. M. de Humboldt remains in Paris 

 for this purpose, with the permission of 

 his own government. 



In becoming his interpreter in the text 



