HUMBOLDT’S TRAVELS THROUGH SPANISH AMERICA.

The following letter from this enterpriſing philoſopher to Fourcroy has lately been publiſhed in one of the French journals:

“Guyara, January 25, 1800.

“As the yellow fever, which deſolates this part of South America, obliges us to make our ſtay here as ſhort as poſſible, I ſnatch this opportunity of ſending you a few lines, and repeating, from the middle of the torrid zone, how much my thoughts are occupied with you and your illuſtrious colleagues, among whom I met with ſuch a flattering reception during my laſt ſtay at Paris.

Since our departure from Saint Croix in Teneriffe, where I deſcended into the crater of the volcano, the atmoſpheric air being there at 0·8 of R. and at 0·19 of oxygen, I have written to you twice.

I have ſent to Delambre and Lalande an extract of my aſtronomical labours; the longitude of ſome important places; an obſervation of the eclipſe on the 28th of October laſt; immerſions of the ſatellites, and reſearches reſpecting the intenſity of light of the auſtral ſtars, meaſured by means of diaphragms.

I have addreſſed to the Inſtitute a chemical memoir on the phoſphoreſcence of the ſea; obſervations on a particular gas furniſhed by the fruit of the coffea arabica when expoſed to the ſun; on a ſnow white feld-ſpar, which, when moiſtened, abſorbs all the moiſture of the atmoſphere; experiments on the milk of the cecropia peltata and the euphorbia curaſſavica, which will form a ſupplement to your excellent memoir on the cahout-chouc, and to that of our friend Chaptal; and on the air which circulates in vegetables.

“The cruiſers which cover the ſeas here make me apprehend that a part of my letters may not have reached you; though I ſent them ſometimes by way of Guadaloupe, and ſometimes by that of Spain.

Theſe few lines I have ſent by an American veſſel, which will fail in a few days for Boſton; and, though they cannot reach you but through Hamburgh, they will, perhaps, be leſs liable to miſcarry.

People here are accuſtomed to make four or five duplicates of their letters.

But how can I find time, when I have ſo many things to obſerve, arrange, and calculate?

“I ſhall confine myſelf, therefore, to letting you once more know that I ſtill enjoy the beſt health poſſible, and that I am treated with the utmoſt kindneſs by the inhabitants of theſe countries: that the paſſports and letters of recommendation from the Spaniſh government procure me every facility for making reſearches uſeful to the ſciences: that none of my inſtruments, even the moſt delicate, ſuch as barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, Bordas’ dipping needle, &c. are deranged: and that, at the extremity of the miſſionary eſtabliſhments among the Chayma Indians, in the mountains of Toumiriquiri, I have my laboratory mounted as if I were in the Hotel Boſton, in the Rue du Colombier.

My fellow-traveller, Bonpland, educated in the Jardin des Plantes, becomes every day more valuable to me.

To an extenſive knowledge of botany and comparative anatomy he unites indefatigable zeal.

I hope one day to reſtore him to his country, worthy of attracting public attention.

Never did any foreigner enjoy ſuch permiſſion as that granted to me by the king of Spain.

This idea alone is capable of exciting us to redouble our activity.

During the ſeven months we have been in this beautiful continent, we have dried (with duplicates) nearly 4000 plants, written more than 800 deſcriptions of new ſpecies or ſpecies little known, particularly new genera of palms, cryptogamia, bifaria, melaſtoma; collected inſects and ſhells, and made many drawings reſpecting the anatomy of marine worms; with obſervations on magnetiſm, electricity, humidity, the temperature of the atmoſphere, and the quantity of oxygen it contains.

We have meaſured that immenſe and high chain of mountains extending to the coaſt of Paria, and examined their volcanoes, which vomit forth kindled inflammable air, ſulphur, and hydro-ſulphurous water.

We have alſo collected many ſeeds, which we ſhall ſend off in three or four weeks for Europe, addreſſed to the Jardin des Plantes.

We have ſpent five months in the interior of New Andaluſia and on the coaſts of Paria, where we experienced very violent earthquakes in the end of laſt year.

One part of theſe countries is ſtill inhabited by the ſavage Indians, and others have began to be cultivated only within ſive or ſix years.

In what words ſhall I deſcribe to you the majeſty of the vegetation here; the foreſts of Ceiba, Hura, Hymenea, which the rays of the ſun never penetrate; the variety of the animals; the ſuperb plumage of the birds; the apes, the tigers; the hideous aſpect of the crocodiles (caimans) which ſwarm in the rivers, and of which ſome are thirty feet in length?

From Cumana we proceeded to Caraccas, where we remained during the month of November and part of December:

A charming capital ſituated in a valley which has 426 toiſes of elevation; and, though in latitude 10° 31′, enjoys the coolneſs, and I might ſay the cold, of Paris!

From this place we aſcended to the ſummit of the famous Silla de Caraccas, or Sierra de Avila, where, at the height of 1316 toiſes, we diſcovered beautiful cryſtals of titanium. I found alſo dendrites ſimilar to thoſe of manganeſe, which are oxyd of titanium.

We ſhall proceed hence for Varina and the ſnow-covered mountains of Merida, the cataracts of Rio Nigro, and the unknown world of Oronoco, in order to return by Guyana to Cumana, from which we ſhall ſet out for the Havannah and Mexico.

“We ſhall take care to tranſmit the ſeeds we have collected for the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the Muſeum, and Sir Joſeph Banks, as we agreed with Juſſieu ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒.

“How much I lament the fate of Dolomieu, detained a priſoner in Sicily!

If he ſhould return, communicate to him the following fact: — It is more than three years ſince I announced to Lametherie, that, in the primitive mountains of Italy, France, Swiſſerland, Poland, and I can now add Spain, there exiſts a paralleliſm of direction between the ſtrata of foliaceous granites, ſlate, micaceous ſchiſts, corneous ſchiſts:

that theſe ſtrata incline (ſink down) towards the north-weſt, and that their direction makes with the axis of the globe an angle of 45° 57′: that this inclination and direction in no manner depend on the form and direction of the mountains: that it is not any way affected by the valleys, but that it announces a cauſe much greater, and more general: that it depends on a phenomenon of attraction which has acted at the time of the conſolidation of the globe.

Having travelled over the greater part of Europe on foot, and with ſextants and compaſſes, I have a very extenſive collection of obſervations on that ſubject.

My manuſcript on the identity of ſtrata in the conſtruction of the globe, is in the hands of my brother.

I was employed on it ſince 1791, but it will not appear till I have ſeen more of the globe.

To my great aſtoniſhment, I have obſerved in the Cordillera of Paria, New Andaluſia, New Barcelona, and Venzuela, that in the new world, near the equator, the ſtrata follow the ſame laws and the ſame paralleliſm.

“You remember the laſt ingenious obſervations of Coulomb on the air which iſſues with exploſion from the trunks of trees when they are pierced.

I have made experiments on the cluſea roſea, in which (in the interior of the pneumatochimiſer, veſſels of Hedwig, the vaſa cochleata of Malpighi,) there circulates an immenſe quantity of air.

This air contains as far as [Formel] of oxygen.

The leaves of the ſame tree, when expoſed to the ſun under water, do not give a cubic mellimetre of air.

This air, which circulates, certainly ſerves, as in the animal body, to coagulate the fihrous part by abſorption of oxygen.

The cluſea is a milky plant, and elaſtic gluten is formed in it.

“Though the purity of the atmoſpheric air amounts here, particularly in the night, to 0·305 of oxygen, I have found that the air contained in the pods and capſules of equinoctial plants, for inſtance the paullinia, is more azotous than our atmoſpherie air.

It does not exceed 0·24 or 0·25 of oxygen.

The air in the culmi geniculati here, has only 0·15 of oxygen.

All this proves that the air which circulates is purer, and that the air which is in a ſtate of reſt, depoſited in the capſules or utriculi, is leſs pure than atmoſpheric air.

The former is recently produced by the organs which decompoſe the water: it proceeds to thoſe parts where it ought to ſerve, by its abundance of oxygen, to precipitate the fibrous principle to form the fibrous tiſſue.

The other is the reſiduum of a gas which has already diſcharged theſe functions.

ALEX.

HUMBOLDT.”