EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
The increasing interest attached to all that part of the 
American Continent situated within and near the tropics, 
has suggested the publication of the present edition of 
Humboldt’s celebrated work, as a portion of the Scientific 
Library. 
Prior to the travels of Humboldt and Bonpland, the 
countries described in the following narrative were but 
imperfectly known to Europeans. For our partial acquaint- 
ance with them we were chiefly indebted to the early 
navigators, and to some of the followers of the Spanish 
Conquistadores. The intrepid men whose courage and 
enterprise prompted them to explore unknown seas for the 
discovery of a New World, have left behind them narratives 
of their adventures, and descriptions of the strange lands 
and people they visited, which must ever be perused with 
curiosity and interest ; and some of the followers of Pizarro 
an< I L°rt ez > as well as many learned Spaniards who pro- 
ceeded to South America soon after the conquest, were the 
authois of historical and other works of high value. But 
these writings of a past age, however curious and inte- 
icsting, are deficient in that spirit of scientific investigation 
which enhances the importance and utility of accounts of 
travels in distant regions. In more recent times, the re- 
searches of La Condamine tended in a most important 
degree to promote geographical knowledge ; and he, as well 
as other eminent botanists who visited the coasts of South 
