[iii]
[iv]
Wilson and Ogilvy, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London.
[v]
ASPECTS OF NATURE,
IN
DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES;
WITH
Scientific Elucidations.
BY
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.
TRANSLATED BY MRS. SABINE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,
PATERNOSTER ROW; AND
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1849.
[vi]
[vii]
It is not without diffidence that I present to the public aseries of papers which took their origin in the presence ofnatural scenes of grandeur or of beauty,—on the Ocean, inthe forests of the Orinoco, in the Steppes of Venezuela,and in the mountain wildernesses of Peru and Mexico.Detached fragments were written down on the spot and atthe moment, and were afterwards moulded into a whole.The view of Nature on an enlarged scale, the display of theconcurrent action of various forces or powers, and therenewal of the enjoyment which the immediate prospect oftropical scenery affords to sensitive minds, are the objectswhich I have proposed to myself. According to the designof my work, whilst each of the treatises of which it consistsshould form a whole complete in itself, one commontendency should pervade them all. Such an artistic and[viii]literary treatment of subjects of natural history is liable todifficulties of composition, notwithstanding the aid which itderives from the power and flexibility of our noble language.The unbounded riches of Nature occasion an accumulationof separate images; and accumulation disturbs the reposeand the unity of impression which should belong to thepicture. Moreover, when addressing the feelings andimagination, a firm hand is needed to guard the style fromdegenerating into an undesirable species of poetic prose.But I need not here describe more fully dangers whichI fear the following pages will shew I have not alwayssucceeded in avoiding.
Nevertheless, notwithstanding faults which I can moreeasily perceive than amend, I venture to hope that thesedescriptions of the varied Aspects which Nature assumes indistant lands, may impart to the reader a portion of thatenjoyment which is derived from their immediate contemplationby a mind susceptible of such impressions. As thisenjoyment is enhanced by insight into the more hiddenconnection of the different powers and forces of nature,I have subjoined to each treatise scientific elucidations andadditions.
[ix]
Throughout the entire work I have sought to indicatethe unfailing influence of external nature on the feelings,the moral dispositions, and the destinies of man. To mindsoppressed with the cares or the sorrows of life, the soothinginfluence of the contemplation of nature is peculiarlyprecious; and to such these pages are more especiallydedicated. May they, “escaping from the stormy wavesof life,” follow me in spirit with willing steps to the recessesof the primeval forests, over the bo