Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Juels, Niels

JUELS, Niels (yoo'-els), Swedish geographer, b. in Westrogothia in 1729; d. in Upsala in 1793. He was the son of a poor miner, and worked for some time in the mines of Dalecarlia. At the age of nineteen he joined a Dutch merchant-vessel that was bound for South America, but deserted on reaching Buenos Ayres. He was successively a servant, trader, ranchman, and merchant, and for two years remained a prisoner among the Charruas Indians. In 1758 he was converted by Father Quesada, vicar of the cathedral of Buenos Ayres, who took an interest in him and employed his leisure time in giving him lessons. Juels obtained through his influence a brevet of lieutenant in the Spanish army in 1760. In the following year he wedded the daughter of a prosperous Portuguese merchant, who died soon afterward, leaving him all her property. Juels then devoted twenty years to travel in South and North America, Europe, and India, returning to Stockholm in 1784. He settled in Upsala, where he received from the university the honorary diploma of LL. D., and obtained letters of nobility from Gustav III. The remainder of his life was devoted to scientific pursuits. Among his works are “Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Geographie” (Upsala, 1787); “En Resa till Norra Amerika” (2 vols., 1787); “En Resa till Södra Amerika” (2 vols., 1789); “En Resa till India” (1789); “Bes Krifning om Amerikanska Maysen” (1790); “Södra Amerikanska Särgoter” (1791); and “Compendium Universi completens geographica descriptio” (1793).