I N T R O D U C T J O N. xxxvii 
and perhaps put in irons till more certain 
information could be obtained. Some friends 
forewarned him of his danger. He thought 
it prudent, therefore, to withdra\'V; and de- 
parted privately from Copenhagen, leaving 
behind him his wife, vv^ho did not delay to 
follow him to Holland, where (he had the 
misfortune foon after to lofe him. But he 
h:i3 left a foQ who one day will doubtlefs ful- 
fil the brilliant deftiny to which the name 
inherits fo powerfully invites him. 
,> 
The time I fpent at the Cape was not 
loft to my fiudies and purfuits. I had not 
only been able, with a part of what I had 
brought with me from my journey, to form 
an interefting colledion ; but fcarcely a *day • 
elapfed without my rambling into the coun- 
try to procure other articles by which to en- 
large it. Norliing came amifs to me: beetles, 
flies, butterflies, chryfalides, nefts, eggs, qua- 
drupeds, and birds of all kinds, had their value; 
Vol, I c and 
