IT 



PREFACE. 



ios, and are not yet 'occupied by Portuguese settlers. He who 

 would wish to study the aborigines, can only find them in their 

 ancient state in these woods. Can it then be surprising that this 

 region, which, besides, presents rich treasures to the botanist and 

 entymologist, should prove the most attractive to a traveller who 

 was not inclined to spend many years in so warm a climate ? 



The greatest inconvenience a traveller has to encounter in 

 Brazil, is the impossibility of obtaining maps and charts. Arrow- 

 smith's map is full of errors, — considerable rivers on the east 

 coast are not marked, while, on the contrary, some are given 

 where none exist; and thus the best map of Brazil is almost 

 useless. To supply this deficiency, the Portuguese government 

 lately ordered a survey of the coast to be made, in order that all 

 dangers to which ships are exposed .in those parts might be made 

 known. 



Two Germans, M. Freyreiss and M. Sellow, who are inclined to re- 

 main some years, in Brazil, and, still farther, to explore the country, 

 have in the king of Portugal a generous protector. Persons better 

 qualified for executing the task they have undertaken, could not 

 easily be found, as they are intimately acquainted with the lan- 

 guage and manners of the country, and well prepared by several 

 years of previous travels. I had the advantage of their company in 

 part of my excursion, and have to thank M. Freyreiss for much 

 interesting information. This gentleman intends to transmit to me 

 an account of his further travels and observations in natural history, 

 and I shall esteem myself happy in having the opportunity of lay- 

 ing his discoveries before the lovers of scientific investigation. This 

 book is, therefore, only the forerunner of more important commu- 

 nications, and farther observations will soon supply the deficiencies 

 unavoidable in the following sheets. 



N. B. — The Part now published consists of the First Volume of the 

 Author's Work, which is all that, at this däte, (May 1820,) has ap- 

 peared in Germany. As soon as the Second Volume appears, it shall 

 be presented to the British Public in the same style as the present 

 Number, 



