P R E F A C E .
f | ''HE prefent performance has undergone fo many changes in
. its form fince my return from my voyage, that the public
will excufe my delay in publifliing it, and fornc o f my friends',
will I flatter myfelf, be able to j udge, what confiderable improvements
it has received both from their friendly fhridtures, and my
own meditation and reading. The fubjeft I have treated is fo varied,
that I have been- obliged.to have recourfe in many points to the
Sages of every age: and I have either been inftrudted by them,
dr led by their hints to fome new obfervations, or obliged to diflent
from their opinions. In regard to the Phylical Geography of
our Globe I am much indebted to the Count de Buffon, and
to the ingenious Chevalier T or Bern Ber gm an ; in regard to the
Philofophical Hiftor-y of the'Human Species, I have been often
delighted with the ideas o f that: excellent Philofopher o f Bade
Mr. J s a a g I s e l in . And the works o f Dr, Bu jm en b a ch and
x ' . Dr.
