he faithful animal, after vainly waiting at home for his master's
return, had probably followed his traces. I stood still, and called
him. He sprang towards me with leaps and barks, and a thousand
demonstrations of unaffected delight. I took him in my arms--for he was
unable to follow me--and carried him home.

There I found everything exactly in the order in which I had left 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.

[Illustration: Peter at Home.]

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
wonderful history, thinking that, when I have left this world, it may
afford valuable instruction to the living. As for thee, Chamisso, if
thou wouldst live amongst thy fellow-creatures, learn to value thy
shadow more than gold; if thou wouldst only live to thys