Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/69

Rh of her inexhaustible fecundity, were investigated with a nice and scrutinizing eye. It would seem as if, in opposition to art, she has been desirous to manifest, on these mountains, that she needs not the aid of the feeble arm of man, to shew the extent of her vigour and magnificence. Ten years of unceasing application, and of profound study, have been followed by the acquisition of immense botanical riches, and have supplied, in the mother country, the materials for the great work entitled the Flora of Peru.

Emulous of the glory and virtues of his august father, the present sovereign of Spain has afforded an equal protedtion to natural history. A new expedition, commanded by Don Alexandro Malespina, reached Peru in 1790, and explored, as well by sea as by land, every part of the kingdom, principally with a view to accelerate the progress then making in botanical researches. At the same time, the best adapted means have

merely