270 Voyage aux Indes Orientales 
dispatched on their various expeditions ; and if they do not always 
possess the experience of matured study, they are at the season of 
life when their zeal is ardent, and their activity and enthusiasm are 
unbounded. It is in this manner that the collections on the continent 
so long surpassed in the number of species those of this country ; 
and the expense of maintaining those travelling naturalists is in 
reality not greater, than that arising from the large prices occasion- 
ally paid for some privately procured collection, or for some rare 
specimen. Returning from the expedition, the results are placed 
in the hands of gentlemen versed by long experience in the branches 
they undertake, and, as in the present instance, they often appear 
as a series of essays by the individuals to whom they had been en- 
trusted. 
Belanger left Paris in 1825. He crossed Germany, Poland, 
Southern Prussia, Georgia, and the Persian Provinces under the 
Russian dominion, and penetrating into Persia, he embarked for 
Bombay, and finally arrived at Pondicherry in the commencement 
of 1836. Persia he crossed from Erivan to Bouchir, running over 
the most interesting parts, but travelling with a caravan, and being 
dependent on the season for crossing the Caucasian chain, the time 
spent in this country was comparatively lost. At Bombay he suf- 
fered under ill health brought on by the climate and exertion, but 
visited the Isle of Elephanta and the coast of Malabar, and made 
some additions to his collections ; but it was not till some time after 
his arrival at Pondicherry, which he made head-quarters, that the 
most profitable part of his expedition might be said really to com- 
mence. From hence he made extensive excursions, and for a time 
removed to Bengal, where he explored the riches of the Ganges. 
Again penetrating by the river Irawaddi, already known as the 
scene of the botanical labours of Wallich, he visited Pegu, endea- 
vouring to collect in his way the productions of the river and its 
tributaries. Returning to Pondicherry. he made another excursion 
to the islands and the Straits of Sunda, examining principally the 
eastern coasts of Java, in the districts of Buitenzorg and Bantam, 
where Raffles and Horsfield, Khul and Van-Hasselt, had previous- 
ly toiled in the same vocation, and finally, on account of his health, 
returned to his country by the Isles of France and Bourbon, and 
the Cape of Good Hope. The results of this expedition were by 
his own account, 25 mammalia ; 240 birds ; 60 reptiles ; 250 
fishes ; 300 mollusca j 500 insects ; and 10 Crustacea ; in all, 1385 
subjects, (it may be remarked, that those which had been met with 
in Persia were unfortunately lost before their arrival in France,) 
