There I found everything exactly in the order in which I had left it; and returned by degrees, as my increasing strength allowed me, to my old occupations and usual mode of life, from which I was kept back a whole year by my fall into the Polar Ocean.  And this, dear Chamisso, is the life I am still leading.  My boots are not yet worn out, as I had been led to fear would be the case from that very learned work of Tieckius—­De rebus gestis Pollicilli.  Their energies remain unimpaired; and although mine are gradually failing me, I enjoy the consolation of having spent them in pursuing incessantly one object, and that not fruitlessly.

So far as my boots would carry me, I have observed and studied our globe and its conformation, its mountains and temperature, the atmosphere in its various changes, the influences of the magnetic power; in fact, I have studied all living creation—­and more especially the kingdom of plants—­more profoundly than any one of our race.  I have arranged all the facts in proper order, to the best of my ability, in different works.  The consequences deducible from these facts, and my views respecting them, I have hastily recorded in some essays and dissertations.  I have settled the geography of the interior of Africa and the Arctic regions, of the interior of Asia and of its eastern coast.  My Historia stirpium plantarum utriusque orbis is an extensive fragment of a Flora universalis terrae and a part of my Systema naturae.  Besides increasing the number of our known species by more than a third, I have also contributed somewhat to the natural system of plants and to a knowledge of their geography.  I am now deeply engaged on my Fauna, and shall take care to have my manuscripts sent to the University of Berlin before my decease.

I have selected thee, my dear Chamisso, to be the guardian of my wonderful history, thinking that, when I have left this world, it may afford valuable instruction to the living.  As for thee, Chamisso, if thou wouldst live amongst thy fellow-creatures, learn to value thy shadow more than gold; if thou wouldst only live to thyself and thy nobler part—­in this thou needest no counsel.

APPENDIX.

[From the prefatory matter prefixed to time Berlin edition, 1839, from which the present translation is made.]

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.

The origin of “Peter Schlemihl” is to be ascribed in a great degree to circumstances that occurred in the life of the writer.  During the eventful year of 1813, when the movement broke out which ultimately freed Germany from the yoke of her oppressor, and precipitated his downfall, Chamisso was in Berlin.  Everyone who could wield a sword hastened then to employ it on behalf of Germany and of the good cause.  Chamisso had not only a powerful arm, but a heart also of truly German mould; and yet he was placed in a situation so peculiar as to isolate