it; and returned by degrees, as my increasing strength allowed me,
to my old occupations and usual mode of life, from which I was kept
back a whole year by my fall into the Polar Ocean. And this, dear
Chamisso, is the life I am still leading. My boots are not yet worn
out, as I had been led to fear would be the case from that very
learned work of Tieckius--De rebus gestis Pollicilli. Their
energies remain unimpaired; and although mine are gradually failing
me, I enjoy the consolation of having spent them in pursuing
incessantly one object, and that not fruitlessly.

So far as my boots would carry me, I have observed and studied our
globe and its conformation, its mountains and temperature, the
atmosphere in its various changes, the influences of the magnetic
power; in fact, I have studied all living creation--and more
especially the kingdom of plants--more profoundly than any one of
our race. I have arranged all the facts in proper order, to the
best of my ability, in different works. The consequences deducible
from these facts, and my views respecting them, I have hastily
recorded in some essays and dissertations. I have settled the
geography of the interior of Africa and the Arctic regions, of the
interior of Asia and of its eastern coast. My Historia stirpium
plantarum utriusque orbis is an extensive fragment of a Flora
universalis terrae and a part of my Systema naturae. Besides
increasing the number of our known species by more than a third, I
have also contributed somewhat to the natural system of plants and
to a knowledge of their geography. I am now deeply engaged on my
Fauna, and shall take care to have my manuscripts sent to the
University of Berlin before my decease.

I have selected thee, my dear Chamisso, to be the guardian of my