On leaving Spain I had promised to join his expedition wherever I could reach it. Bonpland, as active and optimistic as usual, and I immediately decided to split our herbals into three lots to avoid the risk of losing what had taken so much trouble to collect on the banks of the Orinoco, Atabapo and Río Negro. We sent one collection by way of England to Germany, another via Càdiz to France, and the third we left in Havana. We had reason to congratulate ourselves on this prudence. Each collection contained virtually the same species; if the cases were taken by pirates there were instructions to send them to Sir Joseph Banks or to the natural history museum in Paris. Luckily I did not send my manuscripts to Càdiz with our friend and fellow traveler Father Juan Gonzalez, who left Cuba soon after us but whose vessel sank off Africa, with the loss of all life. We lost duplicates of our herbal collection, and all the insects Bonpland had gathered. For over two years we did not receive one letter from Europe; and those we got in the following three years never mentioned earlier letters. You may easily guess how nervous I was about sending a journal with my astronomical observations and barometrical measurements when I had not had the patience to make a copy. After visiting New Granada, Peru and Mexico I happened to be reading a scientific journal in the public library in Philadelphia and saw: 'M. de Humboldt's manuscripts have arrived at his brother's house in Paris via Spain. I could scarcely suppress an exclamation of joy.

I met the Swedish Consul Skiöldebrand, who passed through Paris on his way to embark in Marseille on a missionto bring gifts to the Dey of Algiers. That respectable gentleman had lived for a long time on the African coast and, as he was well known in theAlgerian Court, could get me authorization to visit the Atlas mountains. Every year he despatched a ship to Tunis, which brought pilgrims to Mecca, and he promised to let me go to Egypt that way. I did not hesitate to seize that chance and was convinced Icould carry out the plan I had hatched before my arrival in France. Up until then no geologist had ever exploredthe high mountain ranges that in Morocco reach the perpetual snows. Iquickly completed my collection of instruments and obtained books thatdealt with the countries I was to visit. I said good-bye to my brother, whose example and advice had helped guidemy thinking. He approved of my motives for wanting to abandon Europe; a'secret voice told me we would see each other again. I left Paris eager toembark for Algeria and Egypt, andchance - so often playing a decisive role in human lives - had it that Iwould see my brother again after returning from the Amazon and Peru, putting a foot on African soil.