Dear Sir,

Allow me at present to trouble you with a few general observations on natural history, which I had an opportunity of making while on a botanical excursion, with my friend Mr Anderson, to the Dutch colony of Demerary. Guiana is a country but little known in Europe, though its animals and vegetables have added considerably to the catalogue of natural productions. It is not however the organic kingdom which I mean at present to touch upon; all I aim at is to give you some idea of the face of the country, as leading to the knowledge of its formation and present state. It is not a field for the mineralogist, as its interior is unexplored. But to the geologist, who wishes to trace revolutions of the latest date, it is not uninteresting to contemplate such a recent and singular country as Guiana.