Should the reader of the following highly interesting letters meet with some passages deficient in that ease of expression, or that connectedness of construction to which his ear and his taste are accustomed, he is requested to bear in mind that the originals are the compositions of men, who, though intelligent observers of the facts they describe, and strongly actuated by the feelings to which they give expression, were yet far from being accomplished masters of the use of the pen.

The Spanish scholar will readily perceive that the inaccuracies of the original, both in spelling and grammar, the frequent use of obsolete words, and the disjointed character of the sentences, must have rendered it a matter of no inconsiderable difficulty to avoid a certain harshness of style, in the endeavour to give a correct version of the author's meaning. In the execution of his task, however, the Editor has never hesitated to sacrifice ease to accuracy, where the two were incompatible with each other.

Since writing the following introduction to these letters, the Editor has seen those passages in Kosmos which refer to Columbus and to the antecedent voyages to the New World, and is happy to find the remarks of the illustrious Humboldt in this latter work in no way contradictory to the statements in the Geographie du nouveau Continent, to which the Editor has been indebted in the progress of the following pages.