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Journal on South America, and that, too, at a moment when the very mention of those countries is apt to excite emotions of distrust, seems to make necessary some apology for its appearance. An ancient sage observed, that no one should write a history without prefacing it with an account of himself: the general indifference which at present prevails on the subject on which I am about to treat, and the moderate claims which I enjoy to the attention of the public, must excuse me for venturing to say something respecting the humble pretensions which the following pages may have to their notice.

It may not be unknown to some of my readers that I translated Alçedo's