Alexander bon Bunboldt,

 

HE “Personal Narrative” of this renowned
natural philosopher and traveller ig re-
plete with incidents of a romantic char-
acter; and amid the vast stores of curious

and original information which he has detailed in

his travels to the equinoctial regions of the New

Continent, we find interspersed picture-scenes of

ereat beauty and descriptive charm.

The reader may perhaps like to recall the circum-
stances under which this accomplished traveller
commenced his career. M. de Humboldt was a
Prussian gentleman of good estate, who devoted
his time and his fortune to the pursuits of a liberal
curiosity. Prompted by such motives, he began
at the age of twenty-one to travel over Europe,
and in the space of six years traversed its various
countries. Returning to Paris in 1793, he was in-
vited by the directors of the National Museum to
accompany Captain Baudin in a voyage round the