48 



A Yorkshire Botanist. 



Amongst the material left by Spruce when he died, was a 

 large account book, in which had been carefully written 

 eight chapters of ' Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and 

 Andes, being records of travel on the Amazon and its tribu- 

 taries, the Trombetas, Rio Negro, Uaupes, Cosiquiari, Pacimoni, 

 Huallaga, and Pastasa ; as also to the Cataracts of the Orinoco, 

 along the eastern side of the Andes of Peru and Ecuador, 

 and the shores of the Pacific, during the years 1849-1864.' 

 Dr. Wallace informs us that with considerable condensation, 

 this constitutes the first six chapters of the present work. The 

 ' condensing,' however, has been achieved by omitting geo- 

 graphical and historical items of little general interest. Other- 

 wise the narrative is exactly as Spruce left it, his north country 

 or archaic words and expressions being preserved, though these 

 were often ' queried ' by the printer's reader. The value of 

 the narrative has been increased by the insertion, in square 

 brackets, of explanatory notes by Dr. A. Russel Wallace. This 

 editor has also, for the convenience of non-botanical readers, 

 placed lengthy passages of purely botanical, etc. nature, in 

 smaller type, so that the general reader will readily know 

 which portions to ' skip.' The illustrations are mostly from 

 Spruce's own drawings. There is an excellent portrait of 

 Spruce as a frontispiece, and a complete list of his works is 

 also given, together with a biography. 



Perhaps the greatest recommendation we can give to these 

 two volumes is the following expression of its value by Dr. 

 Russel Wallace, than whom we could have no better authority : 

 ' I have myself so high an opinion of my friend's work, both 

 literary and scientific, that I venture to think the present volumes 

 will take their place among the most interesting and instructive 

 books of the nineteenth century.' 



And what could be more appropriate for these volumes, 

 than the following well-known lines by Byron : — 



To sit on rocks, to roam o'er flood and fell, 



To slowly pace the forest's shade and sheen ; 

 Where things that own no man's dominion dwell, 



And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been ; 

 To climb the trackless mountain all unseen, 



With the wild flocks that never need a fold ; 



Alone o'er crags and foaming falls to lean ; 



This is not solitude ; 'tis but to hold 

 Converse with Nature's charms, and yiew her stores unroll' d. 



Sir Joseph Hooker stated, 'Spruce's monumental work 

 "Hepaticae Amazonicae et Andinas," is his crowning one that 

 will ever live.' T. S. 



Naturalist, 



