2 



to Mexico. After the sufferings to which we 

 had been exposed during several months, by 

 sailing in small boats on rivers infested by mos- 

 chettoes, the idea of a long sea-voyage had some 

 charms for the imagination. We meant to 

 return no more to South America. Sacrificing 

 the Andes of Peru to the Archipelago of the 

 Philippines, of which so little is known, we 

 adhered to our old plan of remaining a year 

 in New Spain, proceeding in the galleon from 

 Acapulco to Manilla, and returning to Europe 

 by the way of Bassora and Aleppo. It appeared 

 to us, that, when we had once left the Spanish 

 possessions in America, the fall of that ministry, 

 which with noble confidence had procured us 

 such unlimited permissions, could not be pre- 

 judicial to the execution of our enterprise. Our 

 minds were agitated by these ideas during our 

 monotonous journey across the steppes. No- 

 thing enables us better to endure the little con- 

 trarieties of life, than our attention being en- 

 gaged by the approaching accomplishment of 

 a hazardous undertaking. 



Our mules waited for us on the left bank of 

 the Oroonoko. The collections of plants, and 

 the different geological series, which we had 

 brought from the Esmeralda and the Rio Negro, 

 had greatly augmented our baggage ; and, as 

 it would have been dangerous to lose sight 

 of our herbals, we expected to make a very slow 



