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THE NATURALIST’S LIBRARY PDF

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, DON Peink wigan. 2 ot Laprevad to theSotueatass lavtti TYRE HATO RAIST'S WL a. fap 5 : MA ROHR DEE ABs gg eee BPE come KGIT wa Lizans eeuoom, samba waCHELEY 82 TTREF StHEET MEMO DON FELIX D'AZARA. ‘Tur citcumetates of not the slightest skyfch, of the ustrious eubject of our present Memoir having Dithertot appeared in the English tongue, affords sufficient, indueament or onr cndosvouring to, pre sent a chort account’ ofthis life for the gratificstion of our readers. Other considerations, however, searcely less powerful, also influence ws. Though the namo of Azara must bo familiar fo many, the circumstances of his clequored and Béhourahle bis tory are known but to few, fle was a Spanish egldier, who, from a variety of incidents, waa looy detaiuod in tHe deopest recesses of the South Ame rican provinees ; and whilst there, actively employed jn the public service of his country, he most metito- Tiovely iapprovod hfs singular opportynities, and, wel taught, carned,ghat reputation as a Naturalist for which fo is co distinguished. Some accountythi tory, of his oventfal i and his interesting writi can séurcely fail to meet with a weleome reeption, & 18 MEMGL? OF tf Dow Faiax v'Azara wa. born at Barbunales, near Balbastro, in the province of Aragon, in Spain, on the Lath of May, in the year 1746. [fs parents, Alexander YAzara and Marie de Perera, spent a rural life, on their own propxty, far removed from the more ugitating scenes of the world, contented and hapvy in their retirement, ‘They had two sons, whosg carly education they supcrintended, ere they sent them to the neighbouring seminaries; whence they were speedily called to engage in pullic life, whore, in their eoverd: departments, they both ac-, yuired very considcrable honour ar Jlistinetion. Don FeJ'x first studied in the un:versity of Ia- esca, and was then sent to the military ueademy of Barcelona. During the course of his cducasion, he “soargely revisited his patormal roof, A few days previous to hia birth, his brothct, Don Joseph Nieo- las, who was then fifteen years of age, had been sent to tho univemity of Salamanca, Thus the brothers never met till the year 1765, when Don Nicolas having chtained, throngh the influence of the minister, Ricardos, the situation of Agent of the king to the court uf Romo in certain ecclesiastical matters, passed through Barcelona, and first saw, and scarvely more than saw, his brother. They wore then again separated for the long period of thirty-five years. A year before this interview, at theage of eightecn, ‘Von Felix had commences’ his mifitary career, and had boen appointed cadet (thet is, a gentleman volanteer, acting as a common soldier, to Jeam the _ pon niflix wixzana, 19 art of gvar) in theGalician regiment of infantry, on the dst. Septembes, 1764. On the 3d Novernber, 1767, ho wae yaaetted ensign in tho engineer corps ; and on the 28th September, 175, he was promoted to the rank of lieutqnant. Ttwas when holding this rauk, that he Lorena = past in the Spanish gftack wpe Algiers, Among ‘the first of those who disembarked, he was struck by a large ball, of copper, and was left ns dead upon the spot, The attestions howsvyr, of a friond, ani the boldness of a sailor, who extracted the bull withhig-- knife, revivjd him ; but he afterwards experienced no common degroe of suffering, and erefong the third part of one of his ribs was extracted. Five yeara clapsed before the wpund was healed, and five years later it again brofe out in America, wht ap-nditt™ tional portion of the rib was discharged. On the Sth of February, 1776, he attained the rank of captain. The: following year, the courts of Spain and Portugal, which were always af, war coheomning the limits of their respective,fioveessions in South America, having fixed. the basis of a treaty, which was speedily afterwards ratified, commissioners were appointed by both parties, to determine on the spot the limits of the two countries, couformably to the conditions of the treaty. “ Being at St. Sc- bastian,” says Thon Felix, “iu 198), with the rauk of Yientenanisooloncl of enginoers, I received ala Ting the night, an offer from: the Ginerdl, w set + off immediately for Lisbon, there to present myself to gur ambassador. I set off zat daybreak, with-

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