534 
RETROSPECT 
CHAP. 
pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and the general 
aspect of the various countries we have visited has decidedly 
been the most constant and highest source of enjoyment. It 
is probable that the picturesque beauty of many parts of Europe 
exceeds anything which we beheld. But there is a growing 
pleasure in comparing the character of the scenery in different 
countries, which to a certain degree is distinct from merely 
admiring its beauty. It depends chiefly on an acquaintance 
with the individual parts of each view; I am strongly induced 
to believe that as in music, the person who understands every 
note will, if he also possesses a proper taste, more thoroughly 
enjoy the whole, so he who examines each part of a fine view 
may also thoroughly comprehend the full and combined effect 
Hence, a traveller should be a botanist, for in all views plants 
form the chief embellishment. Group masses of naked rock 
even in the wildest forms, and they may for a time afford a 
sublime spectacle, but they will soon grow monotonous. Paint 
them with bright and varied colours, as in Northern Chile, they 
will become fantastic ; clothe them with vegetation, they must 
form a decent, if not a beautiful picture. 
When I say that the scenery of parts of Europe is probably 
superior to anything which we beheld, I except, as a class by 
itself, that of the intertropical zones. The two classes cannot 
be compared together ; but I have already often enlarged on 
the grandeur of those regions. As the force of impressions 
generally depends on preconceived ideas, I may add that mine 
were taken from the vivid descriptions in the Personal Narrative 
of Humboldt, which far exceed in merit anything else which I 
have read. Yet with these high-wrought ideas my feelings 
were far from partaking of a tinge of disappointment on my 
first and final landing on the shores of Brazil. 
Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my 
mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced 
by the hand of man ; whether those of Brazil, where the 
powers of Life are predominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, 
where Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled with 
the varied productions of the God of Nature :—no one can 
stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is 
more in man than the mere breath of his body. In calling 
up images of the past, I find that the plains of Patagonia 
