"The savages of America inspire less interest .... Since celebrated navigators have made known
to us the inhabitants of the islands of the South Sea .... The state of half-civilization in which
" those islanders are found gives a peculiar charm to the description of their manners .... Such
pictures, no doubt, have more attraction than those which pourtray the solemn gravity of the
inhabitants of the banks of the Missouri or the Maranon."

Preface to Humboldt's Personal Narrative.