A E Brehm
BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED, LONDON, GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.
FROM
NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR
FROM
North Pole to Equator
STUDIES OF WILD LIFE AND SCENES
IN MANY LANDS
BY THE NATURALIST-TRAVELLER
ALFRED EDMUND BREHM
AUTHOR OF “BIRD-LIFE”, “TIERLEBEN”, ETC. ETC.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
MARGARET R. THOMSON
EDITED BY
J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A., F.R.S.E.
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WITH EIGHTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS
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LONDON
BLACKIE & SON, Limited, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.
GLASGOW AND DUBLIN
1896
[Pg v]
PREFACE
TO THE GERMAN EDITION.
Six years have passed since the grave at Renthendorfclosed over the remains of my esteemed father, whose death—alltoo early—was as great a loss to Science as to thosewho loved and honoured him. It was strange that hiseventful and adventurous life, in the course of which hevisited and explored four quarters of the globe, should haveended at the little spot in green Thuringia where he wasborn. He had just reached his fifty-fifth year when his lips,so apt in speech, were silenced, and the pen which he held somasterfully dropped from his hand. He was full of great plansas to various works, and it is much to be regretted that thenotes which he had collected towards the realization of thesewere too fragmentary for anyone but their author to utilize.But the manuscripts which he left contained many a treasure,and it seemed to me a duty, both to the author and to allfriends of thoughtful observation, to make these available tothe reading public.
The following pages form the first book of the kind, andcontain the most valuable part of the legacy—Alfred EdmundBrehm’s lectures, once so universally popular. I believe that,in giving these pages to the world, I am offering a gift whichwill be warmly welcomed, and I need add no commendatorywords of mine, for they speak adequately for themselves.Writing replaces spoken words very imperfectly, and my[Pg vi]father, who was never tied down to his paper, may oftenhave delivered the same matter in different forms accordingto the responsiveness of his audience, abbreviating here,expanding there—yet to anyone who has heard him thefollowing pages will recall his presence and the tones of hissonorous voice; everyone will not only recognize in them theindividuality of the author of the Tierleben (Animal Life)and Bird Life, but will learn to know him in a new and