for the life; active, strong, and blessed with an excellent constitution: his physical strength was beyond the average—a result of the gymnastic sports in which he had taken pleasure in his youth, and of his habitual sobriety. He had never had an attack of fever, nor any other illness; and he resisted for four years the effects of a tropical climate, incredible fatigue, bad food, and nights passed in forests, without any apparent loss of health or strength, which is doubtless to be attributed to his never taking spirits, and wine only very sparingly.

His intellectual and moral qualities did not seem less to promise success; both a savant and an artist, he was also an indefatigable hunter, and had a degree of kindness mingled with his courage which was sure to gain the good-will of the uncivilized people among whom he had to live. In all these respects M. Mouhot fulfilled the expectations of the savans of England and of his numerous friends, as is evident by the rich collections made by him in so short a time, by the cordial welcome which he met with throughout his travels, by the respect paid to him by all learned men, and by the unanimous feelings of regret at his death, both in England and on the Continent. Although a Protestant, he inspired sincere friendships among the Catholic missionaries in Siam and the other countries he visited from 1858 to 1861, friendships which are clearly shown in his journal and letters.

We shall not say much about his travels; they form the subject of this work, which, even in its unfinished state, we trust will present much important information to the geographer and archæologist, to the naturalist and linguist. Many capable of judging have already hastened to pay their tribute of praise to the traveller who has enriched such various branches of science, and displayed to the world the riches of the extreme East.

M. Mouhot dedicated the last four years of his life to exploring the interior of Siam; he first travelled through that country, then through Cambodia, and afterwards re-ascended the Mekong as far as the frontiers of Laos; visited one of the savage and independent tribes inhabiting the district between those two countries and Cochin China; then, after having crossed the great lake Touli-Sap, he explored the provinces of Ongcor and Battambong, where he discovered splendid ruins, especially the Temple of Ongcor the Great, which is nearly perfect, and perhaps unparalleled in the world.

Passing from the basin of the Mekong into that of the Menam, he saw mountains of which the principal peak was more than 6000 feet high. He returned occasionally to Bangkok, the capital of Siam, in order to make preparations for fresh expeditions. The loss, by the wreck of the Sir James Brooke, of a very valuable collection, did not discourage him; but he set about at once to replace it. At the time of his death, which happened on 10th November, 1861, he was en route for the provinces south-west of China, when, having already penetrated far into the interior, he was attacked by the jungle fever, and died after twenty-two days’ illness. His energetic mind, full of the task he had to perform, remained clear to the end, and a few last words were written by him, his strength of will overcoming his weakness.

He set out for Louang-Prabang on 15th October, and on the 18th halted at H—— (the name is unfinished in the manuscript); the next day he felt the first symptoms of the fever to which he fell a victim. From the 29th October he wrote nothing. The last words in the journal, “Have pity on me, O my God,” show the religious principles which had guided his life.

All that we know of his last days and his lamentable end, was learned from his two native servants, who were strongly attached to him; and through Sir R. Schomburgh, the English Consul at Bangkok, and Dr. Campbell, Surgeon R.N., who was attached to the British consulate, and who returned shortly afterwards to England, when he placed all the papers, notes, and drawings left by M. Mouhot in the hands of his widow and of M. Charles Mouhot, whose task it has been to arrange this legacy as methodically as possible, considering the great difficulty of finding the connecting links of his various descriptions.

The ‘Athenæum’ and the ‘Illustrated London News’[1] both inserted an account of the death of M. H. Mouhot; and the latter journal justly designated his death as another addition to the long list of martyrs to science. It likewise gave a short sketch of the discoveries and scientific services of this intrepid traveller.

Ornithology, entomology, and other branches of natural history, were represented in the collection sent by M. Mouhot to his agent, Mr. S. Stevens, of Bloomsbury Street, London, and were the subject of several papers by Dr. Gray, Dr. Gunter, Dr. Louis Pfeiffer, and other naturalists, members of the Zoological Society of London, and published in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History.’ At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on the 10th of March, 1862, Sir R. Murchison seized the occasion of reading some letters from the traveller relating to the topography of Cambodia, to pay a tribute of gratitude to his merit as a zoological collector and explorer. “His loss,” he observed, “will be much felt by men of science, and a long time may elapse before another man will be found bold enough to follow his steps in that country of virgin forests and fever, and to the exploring of which he sacrificed his home, his health, and his life.”

Mr. Stevens, in acquainting the brother of the traveller with the fact of his having received a new zoological collection which had been consigned to him, says, “I can truly say that the insects and shells equal, if they do not surpass, any in the most beautiful collections I have ever received, and show clearly what a marvellously rich country for the naturalist lies between Siam and Cochin-China.” A splendid scarabæus was also sent to Mr. Stevens, who remarks, that “this insect was described in the ‘Zoological Review’ of Paris under the name of Mouhotia gloriosa, as a mark of respect to the late M. Mouhot, and stated to be one of the most magnificent known.”

The Society of Montbéliard hastened, on the first news of his death, to write to his brother, and the letter contains these words:—“His work was left unfinished, but it was gloriously commenced, and his name will not perish!”

Amidst all these eulogiums of a life, short but well spent, one of the most touching is a letter from M. Marie Ch. Fontaine, missionary at Saigon in Cochin-China, who was in Paris in August, 1862, and saw in a newspaper the death of the man whom he had met in Siam and Cambodia, which was soon confirmed by a letter from his brother. This worthy missionary addressed to M. Charles Mouhot a letter, of which the whole should be read; we only extract the following passage:—“I learned, when on my mission, the death of my father, and then that of my mother. I assure you that these two cruel blows scarcely made more impression on me than the news of the death of a man whose equal I had not met with during the twenty years that I have inhabited that country; and to hear of his dying without any help, and having no one near him but his servants throughout his illness, in a country so barbarous, was more than sufficient to make tears flow at the memory of this good and benevolent friend. Be assured, my dear Sir, that my sentiments are shared by all here who knew M. Mouhot. The natives themselves must have felt regret at his