11 
with Pines {Pinus occidentalis) and with the Mahogany (Swietenia Mahagoni ) of the warmer regions of the 
Isla de Pinos in the south of Cuba, and in the Pinal of the Cayo de Moya in the north of Cuba, which 
Christopher Columbus already mentions ‘ with astonishment’ in his Journal of Navigation of November 1492. 
Types which we call northern, supposing them to belong exclusively to cold and temperate regions, appear 
again with the same facies, but in very different species, in the tropical regions of America and the Indian 
Archipelago. It is this circumstance which occasioned me to say in one of my earliest works, that the 
inhabitants of the equator, where the climates follow each other on the plateaux as on different stories, have the 
privilege of contemplating at the same time all the stars which glisten in the vault of heaven, and almost all the 
forms of vegetable life. 
The view of the volcano of Tolima, which may be enjoyed from several points of the eastern side 
of Quindiu, has supplied the subject of one of your most picturesque sketches in Plate III. The volcano, 
which is of a very regular shape, and like the Cayambe de Quito, rises in the form of a truncated cone, forms 
the background of the landscape ; while in the foreground, the soil is perceived to be encumbered with a most 
luxuriant growth of the tree-fern, the Heliconia and Passiflores, which climb to the top of the trees. It is a 
great advantage of your collection, that, through the care of an excellent botanist. Dr. Klotzsch, my friend and 
colleague at the Academy of Berlin, you have been able to add to your drawings the botanical names of a great 
number of species, and this with the greatest accuracy. As this learned man is Director of the great collection 
of the Herbarium, he has been able to consult the reports of M. Bonpland and myself, in which we have 
indicated the localities, as also the descriptions given by M. Kunth, in our ‘Nova Genera et Species Plantarum.’ 
In your beautiful drawing, the vast snowy masses appear in the horizon through a clearing in the forest. They 
stand out against the azure of the tropical sky at an apparent but illusive proximity. A formidable eruption of 
the volcano of Tolima took place on the 12th March, 1595, and devastated the entire province of Mariquita, 
since which time it seemed almost extinguished. A celebrated chemist, M. Boussingault, accompanied by 
M. Goudot, the botanist, ascended it to the height of 13,240 feet, which is very near to the region of perpetual 
snow, in order to examine the composition of the vapours emanating from the clefts of tr achy tic rock, which has 
itself emerged from the bosom of a formation of micaceous and amphibolic schist. Recently the volcano has 
again been in activity. It deserved a place in your work and in my views of the Cordilleras, all the more, as it 
seems to me to be the loftiest summit of the whole northern hemisphere of the New Continent. I made a 
trigonometrical measurement of the Tolima in the valley of the Carvajal, on the west ofibague, and found it 
384 feet higher than the Popocatepetl, the great volcano of Mexico. 
Descending with you, my dear Sir, from the heights of the Cordilleras, to the lower regions of the valley of 
the Magdalena, I take much pleasure in bearing the same testimony to the truth with which you have seized its 
character. Having passed fifty-six dull days in navigating this great river, I had sufficient time to become 
acquainted with the distribution of its vegetation. The affectionate interest which I take in yourself, induces 
me to advise you to leave to your interesting drawings, so excellently drawn upon stone, that character of 
sketches which they have had in their original state. All later additions to objects of which we received happy 
inspirations, take off a little from the spirit of the drawing. I do not mean to say that the technical perfection 
of a drawing carefully finished on the spot, may not add to the effect and to the truth of the character of the 
landscape ; but a traveller in his rapid progress through places difficult of access, is very seldom in a position to 
finish his sketches at leisure. The travels in a beautiful part of the East, which you were so happy as to make 
before your journey to New Granada, have fortunately prepared you to seize with talent in different zones the 
aspect of the forms which are the real elements of the beauty of a landscape. 
Potsdam, May 1853. 
