Having been urged to prepare a new edition of this work for a wider circle than that contemplated in the former one, I have thought it advisable to condense those portions which, treating of abstruse scientific questions, presuppose a larger amount of Natural History knowledge than an author has a right to expect of the general reader. The personal narrative has been left entire together with those descriptive details likely to interest all classes, young and old, relating to the great river itself, and the wonderful country through which it ?ows, — the luxuriant primaeval forests that clothe almost every part of it, the climate, productions, and inhabitants.