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 acquaintance 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 and cortez, as well as many learned spaniards who proceeded to south america soon after the conquest, were the authors of historical and other works of high value. but these writings of a past age, however curious and interesting, 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 researches 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 america, and even ascended the andes, contributed by their discoveries and collections to augment the vegetable riches of the old world. but, in their time, geology as a science had little or no existence. of the structure of the giant mountains of our globe scarcely anything was understood; whilst nothing was known beneath the earth in the new world, except what related to her mines of gold and silver.
it remained for humboldt to supply all that was wanting, by the publication of his personal narrative. in this, more than in any other of his works, he shows his power of contemplating nature in all her grandeur and variety.
the researches and discoveries of humboldt’s able coadjutor and companion, m. bonpland, afford not only a complete picture of the botany of the equinoctial regions of america, but of that of other places visited by the travellers on their voyage thither. the description of the island of teneriffe and the geography of its vegetation, show how much was discovered by humboldt and bonpland which had escaped the observation of discerning travellers who had pursued the same route before them. indeed, the whole account of the canary islands presents a picture which cannot be contemplated without the deepest interest, even by persons comparatively indifferent to the study of nature.
it is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to remind the reader that since the time when this work was first published in paris, the separation of the spanish colonies from the mother-country, together with subsequent political events, have wrought great changes in the governments of the south american states, as well as in the social condition of their inhabitants. one consequence of these changes has been to render obsolete some facts and observations relating to subjects, political, commercial, and statistical, interspersed through this work. however useful such matter might have been on its original publication, it is wholly irrelevant to the existing state of things, and consequently it has been deemed advisable to omit it. by this curtailment, together with that of some meteorological tables and discussions of very limited interest, the work has been divested of its somewhat lengthy and discursive character, and condensed within dimensions better adapted to the taste and requirements of the present time.
an english translation of this work by helen maria williams, was published many years ago, and is now out of print. though faultless as respects correctness of interpretation, it abounds in foreign turns of expression, and is somewhat deficient in that fluency of style without which a translated work is unsatisfactory to the english reader. in the edition now presented to the public it is hoped that these objections are in some degree removed.
a careful english version is given of all the spanish and portuguese terms, phrases, and quotations which occur in this work. though the author has only in some few instances given a french translation of these passages, yet it is presumed that the interpretation of the whole in english will not be deemed superfluous; this new edition of the “personal narrative” having been undertaken with the view of presenting the work in the form best suited for the instruction and entertainment of the general reader.
t.r.
london, december 1851.
