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and to awaken those associations which have entwined themselves with all our youthful pleasures. Hence the interest we feel in attending such a companion is adapted rather to soothe than to charm, to please than to delight and by being thus caused to retrace the paths we have already trodden, we are enabled to re-enjoy, as it were by reflection, the days that are past-but here, all is mere retrospect !-The source of our interest is changed, when we visit the land of the ancient Israelites; there we are not only led to contemplate the past, but to feel its connection with the future; not only to witness the fulfilment of threatenings, but to look for the future accomplishment of promises; not merely to view the displays of Almighty power, but to admire the exercise of infinite mercy.

The gratification derived from contemplating natural scenery, either separately, or in connection with the physical, moral or religious condition of mankind, depends both upon the powers of him who presents those objects to the mind, and on the reader's capabilities for receiving the true impressions they are calculated to make. Hence it is, that this interest is so general and various; and hence too, that diversity of opinions which are so often formed respecting the labors of the same traveller, and which may therefore all be equally correct as the representatives of the impressions from which they arose.

Few of our readers are so totally unacquainted with the talents and attainments of M. de Humboldt, or the celebrity he has acquired by his various publications relative to the New World, as to render it necessary for us to dwell upon these topics further than to give a slight sketch of his preparations for the undertaking, and of his views and objects in its accomplishment; and this merely as enabling them more fully to appreciate the merits of the work before us, and the others which we may afterwards notice. The most cursory perusal of these works cannot fail of producing a conviction, that it would be extremely difficult to find another individual who could traverse the same regions under the same circumstances, and return with a richer freight of those treasures which nature has so profusely scattered between the tropics. Relative to his early desires, and his preparation for gratifying them, and adding to the advancement of science, the author remarks:

"From my earliest youth I had felt an ardent desire to travel into distant regions, which Europeans had seldom visited. This desire is the characteristic of a period of our existence, when life ap pears an unlimited horizon, and when we find an irresistible attraction in the impetuous agitations of the mind, and the image of

positive danger. Educated in a country which has no direct communication with the colonies of either India, living amidst mountains, remote from the coasts, and celebrated for their numerous mines, I felt an increasing passion for the sea and distant expeditions. The objects with which we are acquainted only by the animated narratives of travellers have a particular charm; imagination wanders with delight over what is vague and undefined; and the pleasures of which we are deprived seem possessed of a fascinating power, compared to which all we daily feel in the narrow circle of sedentary life appears insipid. The taste for herborization, the study of geology, rapid excursions to Holland, England and France, with the celebrated Mr. George Forster, who had the happiness to accompany Captain Cook in his second expedition round the globe, contributed to give a determined direction to the plan of travels which I had formed at eighteen years of age. No longer deluded by the agitation of a wandering life, I was anxious to contemplate nature in all its variety of wild and stupendous scenery; and the hope of collecting some facts useful to the advancement of science incessantly impelled my wishes towards the luxuriant regions spread under the torrid zone. As my personal situation then prevented me from executing the projects, by which I was so powerfully influenced, I had leisure to prepare myself during six years for the observations I proposed to make on the New Continent, to visit different parts of Europe, and explore the lofty chain of the Alps, the structure of which I might aiterwards compare with that of the Andes, of Quito and Peru. As I employed successively instruments of different constructions, I fixed my choice on those which appeared to me the most exact, and the least subject to break in the carriage. I had an opportunity of repeating measurements, which had been taken according to the most rigorous methods; and I learned from experience the extent of the errors, to which I might be exposed." p. 3.

The author's sketch of his plans and disappointments, with the manner in which his route was finally determined, sufficiently proves the unconquerable bent of his mind, and the invisible agency of a superior power, which so frequently frustrates the best digested plans of short-sighted mortals, and turns their exertions into channels of its own.

In addition to the studies of the closet and the examination of the cabinets of naturalists, M. de Humboldt traversed part of Italy in 1795; but not being able to visit Naples and Sicily he determined to return towards the close of 1797, and travelled with Mr. Leopold de Buch through several cantons of the interesting countries of Salzburgh and Styria; but when he was passing the Tyrolese Alps, the war which raged in Italy, constrained him to abandon his intention of visiting the volcanic

regions of the south of Europe. About this time he received an invitation from an enlightened traveller to accompany him on an expedition to Upper Egypt. Furnished with the best astronomical instruments, and provided with able draughtsmen, they were to "ascend the Nile, as far as Assouan, after minutely examining the positions of the Saïd, between Tentyris and the cataracts." The views of M. de Humboldt had previously been directed to the tropical regions only, but the temptation of visiting a country of such celebrity as Upper Egypt was too powerful for him to resist, and he therefore agreed to the proposal with the express condition that when they returned to Alexandria, he should be at liberty to pursue his route through Syria and Palestine. He then directed his studies with a view to this new object, and though the political situation of the East prevented it from being realized, he afterwards found them of great use in examining "the relations between the barbarous monuments of Mexico, and those belonging to the nations of the Old World." He then continues,

ma.

"An expedition of discoveries in the Southern Ocean, under the direction of Captain Baudin, was then preparing in France. The first plan was great, bold, and worthy of being executed by a more enlightened commander. The purpose of this expedition was to visit the Spanish possessions of South America, from the mouth of the river Plata to the kingdom of Quito, and the isthmus of PanaAfter traversing the Archipelago of the great Ocean, and exploring the coasts of New Holland, from Van Diemen's Land to that of Nuyts, both vessels were to stop at Madagascar, and return by the Cape of Good Hope. I was at Paris when the preparations for this voyage were begun, and obtained permission to embark, with the instruments I had collected, in one of the vessels destined for the South Sea, reserving to myself the liberty of leaving Captain Baudin whenever I thought proper. M. Michaux, who had already visited Persia, and a part of North America, and M. Bonpland, with whom I formed a friendship that still unites us, were appointed to accompany this expedition as naturalists.

"I had flattered myself during several months with the idea of sharing in labors directed to so great and honorable an object, when the war, which broke out in Germany and Italy, determined the French government to withdraw the funds granted for their voyage of discovery, and adjourn it to an indefinite period. Cruelly deceived in my hopes, seeing the plans which I had been forming during many years of my life overthrown in a single day, I sought at any risk the speediest means of quitting Europe, and engaging in some enterprise which might console me for my disappointment." p. 6.

M. de Humboldt then became acquainted with Mr. Skiol

debrand, the Swedish Consul who was appointed to convey presents from his court to the Dey of Algiers, and passed through Paris to embark at Marseilles. The Consul had already resided a long time on the coasts of Africa, and was highly respected by the government of Algiers, and therefore could easily procure M. de Humboldt permission to examine the Alpine regions of Barbary; and as he sent a vessel annually from 'Tunis with the pilgrims who embarked for Mecca, he promised to convey our author by the same means to Egypt. Thus he thought himself upon the point of executing the plan of visiting the East, which he had formed before his arrival in France. He therefore hastily completed his collection of instruments, and works relative to the countries which were to be the objects of his visit; and separated himself from his brother, whose advice and example, he says, had always exercised a great influence over the direction of his thoughts. M. de Humboldt then left Paris for the purpose of visiting Algiers and Egypt; but in consequence of one of those vicissitudes which so often sway the affairs of human life, he returned from the river Amazons and Peru, without ever having touched the African continent. The Swedish frigate Jaramas, which was destined to convey the Consul and his friends to Algiers, was to have arrived at Marseilles about the end of October, but after having anxiously waited for two months, they received information that she had suffered greatly in a storm off the coast of Portugal, was obliged to put into Cadiz to refit, and that it would be spring before she could reach Marseilles. This delay was ill-suited to the ardent minds of our author and his friend M. Bonpland; and they agreed with the captain of a small vessel which was on the point of sailing for Tunis for their passage. The vessel was to sail the next day, but some slight arrangements that were necessary for the preservation of their instruments happily prevented it; and during this interval they learned that the government of Tunis then committed every person coming from a French port to a dungeon. They then resolved to pass the winter in Spain, in hopes of embarking either at Carthagena or Cadiz in spring, if the political state of the east should permit.

On their arrival at Madrid, M. de Humboldt met with great kindness from Baron de Forell, minister from the court of Saxony, who was a zealous promoter of every undertaking which tended to facilitate the progress of knowledge. He suggested the idea, that through the enlightened Spanish minister, Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo, he might obtain permission to visit, at his own expense, the interior of Spanish America. The disappointments

which M. de Humboldt had already experienced, did not leave him a moment's hesitation relative to this subject, respecting which he observes,

"I was presented to the court of Aranjuez in March 1799. The king received me graciously. I explained to him the motives which led me to undertake a voyage to the New Continent and the Philippine islands, and I presented a memoir on the subject to the secretary of state. Mr. d'Urquijo supported my demand and overcame every obstacle. I obtained two passports, one from the first secretary of state, the other from the council of the Indies. Never had so extensive a permission been granted to any traveller, and never had any foreigner been honored with more confidence on the part of the Spanish government. To dissipate every doubt, which the viceroys or captains general, the royal authority in America, might entertain with respect to the nature of my labors, the passport of the primera secretaria de estado stated, that I was authorised to make free use of my instruments of physic and geodesy, that I might make astronomical observations through the whole of the Spanish dominions, measure the height of mountains, examine the productions of the soil, and execute all operations which I should judge useful for the progress of the sciences. The purpose of our journey being merely scientific, we succeeded in conciliating the friendship of the natives, and that of the Europeans. entrusted with the administration of these vast countries. During the five years that we travelled throughout the new continent, we did not perceive the slightest mark of distrust; and we remember with pleasure, that amidst the most painful privations, and whilst we were struggling against the obstacles that arose from the savage state of those regions, we never had to complain of the injustice of p. 14.

man.

How different was the conduct of the Spanish government on this occasion from what it had been in any former instance! To what can this sudden change of conduct be attributed, except to the more liberal and enlightened views of the minister? For when this high office was filled by men who had no knowledge of the sciences, and with whom bigotry supplied the place of information, and prejudice that of liberality, it was natural that a mysterious secrecy should be spread over those vast dominions which had once been the theatre of her cruelties, and were then the source of her supposed riches. But when this elevated station was held by a man like Don de Urquijo, whose mind had been expanded by knowledge, and his heart warmed by zeal for the progress of the sciences, the narrow and mistaken policy of former times vanished, and the natural result was that generous confidence.