CONTENTS

Page
Publisher’s Preface v
   
Author’s Preface, to the First Edition ix
   
Author’s Preface, to the Second and Third Editions xi
   
Summary of Contents xvii
   
Steppes and Deserts 1
Illustrations and Additions 22
   
Cataracts of the Orinoco 153
Illustrations and Additions 174
   
Nocturnal Life of Animals in the Primeval Forest 191
Illustrations and Additions 202
Hypsometric Addenda 204
   
Ideas for a Physiognomy of Plants 210
Illustrations and Additions 232
   
On the Structure and Mode of Action of Volcanos in different parts of the Earth 353
Illustrations and Additions 376
   
Vital Force, or The Rhodian Genius 380
Illustration and Note 386
   
The Plateau of Caxamarca, the Ancient Capital of the Inca Atahuallpa, and First View of the Pacific from the Ridge of the Andes 390
Illustrations and Additions 421
   
Index 437

FAC-SIMILE OF THE HAND-WRITING OF BARON HUMBOLDT.

EXTRACTS OF A LETTER TO THE PUBLISHER.