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ler. Another source of perplexity peculiar to the Spaniards and Germans is the indiscriminate use of certain letters. The Spaniard, for example, confounds the band the v; the and the ; the j, the g, and the r; and they write the same word sometimes with one of these letters and sometimes with another. It is necessary to give this caution to the reader, who, were he to meet with Xuan de Grixalba in one place, and Juan de Grijalva in another, might not at first perceive the identity. M. Pinkerton, who seems to plume himself not a little on his orthography, observes, that the Spanish, French, and Italian writers, write Motezuma; the English alone Montezuma; and he of course must follow the Spanish, French, and Italian writers. Why the English are bound to follow the orthography of these nations it is not so easy to conceive, any more than that they should follow the English, the proper orthography

being neither Motezuma nor Montezuma, but Moteuczoma. M. de Humboldt sometimes inserts the n and sometimes leaves it out.

A considerable part of the Essay on New Spain has not yet arrived in this country; but, when it does arrive, no time will be lost in communicating it to the public, if the portion now presented shall meet with a favourable reception. The most important of the maps and drawings in the part which we have received appear in the present publication, but on a more economical scale. Of the maps and physical sections it is sufficient to say, that they have been executed under the care of Mr. Lowry, whose well known taste and skill so justly entitle him to the public confidence. It would have been foolish to attempt to imitate the magnificence of the original; but it will be found that nothing of essential importance has been omitted.

The

publishers wished to spare no necessary expense in the present publication; but they were averse from increasing the price of a book intended for general circulation by an ostentatious and injudicious splendour.

ΤΟ

HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY

CHARLES IV.

KING OF SPAIN AND THE INDIES.

SIRE,

HAVING enjoyed in the distant regions subject to your sceptre the protection and kind offices of your Majesty during a long succession of years, I fulfil only a sacred duty in laying at the foot of your throne the homage of my profound and respectful gratitude.

I had the good fortune to be introduced to your Majesty in 1779 at Aranjuez. You deigned to applaud the zeal of a private individual, whom the love of science conducted to the banks of the Orinoco and the summits of the Andes.

It is through the confidence which your Majesty's favours have inspired in me that I venture to place your august name at the head of this work. It contains the description of a vast kingdom, the prosperity of which is dear to your heart.

None of the monarchs who have occupied the Castilian throne have contributed more liberally than your Majesty to the obtaining accurate information regarding the state of that valuable portion of the globe, which in both hemispheres yields obedience to the Spanish laws. The coasts of America have been surveyed by able astronomers with a munificence worthy of so great a sovereign. Accurate maps of these coasts, and even minute plans of several military positions, have been published at the expense of your Majesty; and you gave orders that there should be annually published in a Peruvian journal at Lima a state of the commerce, finances, and population. There was still wanting a statistical essay on the kingdom of New Spain. I digested

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