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Alexander von Humboldt: „Baron Humboldt“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1804-Baron_Humboldt-04-neu> [abgerufen am 29.03.2024].

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Titel Baron Humboldt
Jahr 1804
Ort Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nachweis
in: United States Gazette 26:3705 (31. August 1804), S. [2–3]; 26:3709 (6. September 1804), S. [2].
Sprache Englisch
Typografischer Befund Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung.
Identifikation
Textnummer Druckausgabe: II.23
Dateiname: 1804-Baron_Humboldt-04-neu
Statistiken
Seitenanzahl: 3
Spaltenanzahl: 5
Zeichenanzahl: 23567

Weitere Fassungen
Baron Humboldt (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1804, Englisch)
Notice d’un voyage aux tropiques, exécuté par MM. Humboldt et Bonpland, en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804. Par J.-C. Delamétherie (Paris, 1804, Französisch)
Baron Humboldt (New York City, New York, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (New York City, New York, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Charleston, South Carolina, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Washington, District of Columbia, 1804, Englisch)
Travels of Baron Humboldt (Kingston, New York, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Washington, District of Columbia, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Amherst, New Hampshire, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Richmond, Virginia, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1804, Englisch)
Baron Humboldt (Dover, New Hampshire, 1804, Englisch)
Auszug aus Delametheriés vorläufiger Nachricht von der durch die Herren v. Humboldt und Bonpland in den Jahren 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 und 1804 nach den Wendekreisen unternommenen Reise (Wien, 1804, Deutsch)
Reise der Herren von Humboldt und Bonpland nach den Wendekreisen In den Jahren 1799 bis 1804. Eine gedrängte Uebersicht des Auszugs ihrer Memoiren v. J. C. Delametherie. Nach dem Französischen übertragen von Schirges Dr. (Hannover, 1805, Deutsch)
J. C. Delametherie’s vorläufige Nachricht von der durch die Herren v. Humboldt und Bonpland in den Jahren 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 und 1804 nach den Wendekreisen unternommenen Reise (Weimar, 1805, Deutsch)
Short Account of the Travels between the Tropics, by Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland, in 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. By J. C. Delametherie (London, 1805, Englisch)
J. C. Delametherie’s vorläufige Nachricht von der durch die Herren von Humboldt und Bonpland in den Jahren 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 und 1804 nach den Wendekreisen unternommenen Reise (Salzburg, 1805, Deutsch)
Account of the Travels between the Tropics of Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland, in 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. By J. C. Delamétherie (London, 1805, Englisch)
Travels in South America (Edinburgh, 1805, Englisch)
Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland en Amérique, tiré du magasin littéraire de Philadelphie, publié en juillet 1804 (Paris, 1807, Französisch)
|2| |Spaltenumbruch| From the New-York Daily Advertiser

BARON HUMBOLDT.

The following abstract of the American Travels ofthe celebrated Baron Humboldt and his companion Bonpland, has been drawn up from notes which theformer has kindly furnished, and will supercede themany very incorrect accounts hitherto published rela-tive to this interesting object. Baron Humboldt, having travelled from the year1790, as a naturalist, through Germany, Poland,France, Switzerland, and through parts of England,Italy, Hungary, and Spain, came to Paris in 1798,when he received an invitation, from the directors ofthe national museum to accompany captain Baudin inhis voyage round the world. Citizen Alexander AimeGourjon Bonpland, a native of Rochelle, and broughtup in the Paris museum, was also to have accompaniedthem; when on the point of departing, the wholeplan was suspended until a more favourable opportuni-ty, owing to the re-commencement of the war withAustria, and the consequent want of funds. Mr. Humboldt, who, from 1792, had conceivedthe plan of travelling through India at his own ex-pense, with a view of adding to the knowledge of thesciences connected with natural history, then resolvedto follow the learned men, who had gone on the expe-dition to Egypt. His plan was to go to Algiers inthe Swedish frigate which carried the consul Skolde-brandt, to follow the caravan which goes from Al-giers to Mecca, going through Egypt to Arabia, andthence by the Persian golph to the English East-Indiaestablishments. The war which unexpectedly brokeout in October, 1798, between France and the Bar-bary powers, and the troubles in the East, preventedMr. Humboldt from embarking at Marseilles, wherehe had been fruitlessly two months waiting to proceed.Impatient at this delay, and continuing firm in hisdetermination to go to Egypt, he went to Spain,hoping to pass more readily under the Spanish flag |3| |Spaltenumbruch|from Carthagena to Algiers and Tunis. He took withhim the large Collection of philosophical, chymical,and astronomical instruments, which he had purchasedin England and France. From a happy concurrence of circumstances, heobtained, in February, 1789, from the court of Ma-drid, a permission to visit the Spanish colonies of thetwo Americas, a permission which was granted witha liberality and frankness, which was honourable tothe government and to a philosophick age. After aresidence of some months at the Spanish court, duringwhich time the king showed a strong personal interestin the plan, Mr. Humboldt, in June, 1799, left Eu-rope, accompanied by Mr. Bonpland, who, to a pro-found knowledge in botany and zoology, added an in-defatigable zeal. It is with this friend that Mr. Hum-boldt has accomplished, at his own expense, his travelsin the two hemispheres, by land and sea, probably themost extensive which any individual has ever under-taken. These two travellers left Corunna in the Spanishship Pizarro, for the Canary Islands, where they ascen-ded to the crater of the Peak of Teyde, and made ex-periments on the analysis of the air. In July theyarrived at the port of Cumana, in South America. In1799, 1800, they visited the coast of Paria, the mis-sions of the Chaymas Indians, the province of NewAndalusia (a country which had been rent by the mostdreadful earthquakes, the hottest, and yet the mosthealthy, in the world) of New Barcelona, of Venezue-la, and Spanish Guayana. In January, 1800, theyleft Caraccas to visit the beautiful vallies of Aragua ,where the great lake of Valencia recals to mind theviews of the lake of Geneva, embellished by the ma-jesty of the vegetation of the tropics. From PortoCabello they crossed to the south, the immense plainsof Caloboza, of Apure, and of the Oronoco, also losLlanos, a desert similar to those of Africa, where inthe shade (by the reverberation of heat) the thermo-meter of Reaumur rose to 35 and 37 (111 to 115 F.)degrees. The level of the country for 2000 squareleagues does not differ 5 inches. The sand every whererepresents the horizon of the sea, without vegetation;and its dry bosom hides the crocodiles, and the torpidboas (a species of serpent.) The travelling here, as inall Spanish America, except Mexico, is performed onhorseback. They passed whole days without seeing apalm tree or the vestige of a human dwelling. At St. Fernando de Apure, in the provinces of Varinas,Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland began that fatiguingnavigation of nearly 1000 marine leagues, executed incanoes, making a chart of the country by the assist-ance of chronometers, the satellites of Jupiter, andthe lunar distances. They descended the river Apure,which empties itself into the Oronoco, in 7 degreesof latitude.—They ascend the last river (passing thecelebrated cataracts of Mapure and Atures) to themouth of the Guaviare. From thence they ascendedthe small rivers of Tabapa, Juamini, and Tenie.From the mission of Sarita they crossed by land tothe sources of the famous Rio Negro, which Conda-mine saw, where it joins the Amazon, and which hecalls a sea of fresh water. About 30 Indians carriedthe canoes through woods of Mami Lecythis and Lau-rus Cinamomoides to the cano (or creek) of Pemichin.It was by this small stream that the travellers enter-ed the Rio Negro, or Black River which they des-cended to St. Carlos, which has been erroneously sup-posed to be placed under the equator, or just at thefrontiers of Great Para, in the government of Brasil.A canal from Tenie to Pemichin, which from the levelnature of the ground is very practicable, would pre-sent a fine internal communication between the Paraand the province of Carracas, a communication infi-nitely shorter than that of Cassiquiare. From the for-tress of St. Carlos on the Rio Negro, Mr. H. wentnorth up that river and the Cassiquiare to the Oronoco,and on this river to the volcano Daida or the missionof the Esmeralda, near the sources of the Oronoco;the Indians, Guaicas (or race of men almost pigmies,very white and very warlike) render fruitless any at-tempts to reach the sources themselves. After remaining some months at New Barcelona and Cumana, the travellers arrived at the Havanna,after a tedious and dangerous navigation, the vesselbeing in the night on the point of striking upon the Vibora rocks. Mr. H. remained three months in theisland of Cuba, where he occupied himself in ascer-taining the longitude of the Havanna, and in con-structing stoves on the sugar plantations, which havesince been pretty generally adopted. They were onthe point of setting off for Vera Cruz, meaning, bythe way of Mexico and Acapulco, to go to the Philip-pine Islands, and from thence, if it was possible, byBombay and Aleppo, to Constantinople, when somefalse reports relative to Baudin’s voyage alarmed them,and made them change their plan. The gazettes heldout the idea that this navigator would proceed fromFrance to Buenos Ayres and from thence, by CapeHorn, for Chili and the coast of Peru. Mr. Hum-boldt had promised to Mr. Baudin and to the Museumof Paris, that wherever he might be, he would endea-vour to join the expedition, as soon as he should knowof its having been commenced. He flattered himselfthat his researches, and those of his friend Bonpland,might be more useful to science, if united to the la-bours of the learned men who would accompany cap-tain Baudin. These considerations induced Mr. Humboldt tosend his manuscripts, for 1799 and 1800, direct toEurope, and to freight a small schooner at Bantabano,intending to go to Carthagena, and from thence, asquickly as possible, by the Isthmus of Panama, to theSouth Sea. He hoped to find captain Baudin atGuayaquil, or at Lima, and with him to visit New-Holland, and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, equallyinteresting in a moral point of view, as by the luxuri-ance of their vegetation. From the Esmeralda Messrs. H. and B. went downthe Oronoco, when the water rose, towards its mouthat St. Thomas de la Guayana, or the Angostura. Itwas during this long navigation that they were in acontinued state of suffering, from want of nourishmentand shelter from the night rains, from living in thewoods, from the mosquettoes, and an infinite varietyof stinging insects, and the impossibility of bathing,owing to the fierceness of the crocodile and the littlecarib fish, finally the miasmata of a burning climate.They returned to Cumana by the plains of Cari andthe mission of the Carib Indians, a race of men verydifferent from any other, and probably, after the Pata-gonians, the tallest and most robust in the world. It appeared imprudent to expose the manuscriptsand collections already made to the risks of this pro-posed navigation. These manuscripts, of the fate ofwhich Mr. H. remained ignorant during three years,and until his arrival in Philadelphia, arrived safe, butone third part of the collection was lost by shipwreck.Fortunately, except the insects of the Oronoco andRio Negro they were only duplicates; but unhappily,friar John Gonzales, monk of the order of St. Francis,the friend to whom they were entrusted, perished withthem. He was a young man full of ardour, who had |Spaltenumbruch|penetrated into this unknown world of Spanish Guay-ana further than any other European. Mr. Humboldt left Batabano in March 1801, andpassed to the south of the Island of Cuba, on whichhe determined many geographical positions. The pas-sage was rendered very long by calms, and the cur-rents carried the little schooner too much to the west,to the mouths of the Attracto. The vessel put intothe river Sinu, where no botanist had ever before visit-ed, and they had a very difficult passage up to Car-thagena. The season being too far advanced for theSouth Sea navigation, the project of crossing the isth-mus was abandoned; and animated by the desire ofbeing acquainted with the celebrated Mutis, and ad-miring his immensely rich collections of objects of na-tural history, Mr. H. determined to pass some weeksin the woods of Tobaco, and to ascend (which tookforty days) the beautiful river Madalaine of thesource of which he has sketched a chart. From Honda, our travellers proceed through forestsof oaks, of melaslomo, and of cinchona, (the treewhich affords the Peruvian bark,) to St. Fe de Bogo-ta, capital of the kingdom of New Grenada, situatedin a fine plain, elevated 1360 toises (of six Frenchfeet) about the level of the sea. The superb collec-tions of Mutis, the majestic cataract of the Tequen-dama (falls of 98 toises height) the mines of Mari-quita, St. Ana, and of Tipaquira, the natural bridgeof Scononza, (three stones thrown together in themanner of an arch, by an earthquake,) these curiousobjects stopped the progress of Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland until the month of September 1801. At this time, notwithstanding the rainy season hadcommenced, they undertook the journey to Quito,and passed the Andes of Quindin, which are snowymountains covered with wax palm-trees, (palmers acire,) with passe flores, (passion flower) of the growthof trees, storax, and bambusa (bamboo.) They were,during 13 days, obliged to pass on foot throughplaces dreadfully swampy, and without any traces ofpopulation. (To be continued.)
|2| |Spaltenumbruch|

BARON HUMBOLDT.

(Concluded) From the village of Carthago, in the valley ofCauca, they followed the course of the choco, thecountry of Palatina, which was there found in roundpieces of basalte and green rock (grein stein of Wer-ner), and fossil wood. They pass by Buga to Pop-ayan, a bishop’s see, and situated near the volcanoesof Sotara and Purace, a most picturesque situation,and enjoying the most delicious climate in the world,the thermometer of Reamur keeping constantly at 16to 18 (68 to 72 Fahr.) They ascended to the craterof the volcano of purace, whose mouth, in the middleof snow, throws out vapours of sulphureous hydrogene,with continued and frightful rumbling. From Popayan they passed by the dangerous defilesof Almager, avoiding the infected and contagiousvalley of Patia, to Posto, and from this town, evennow situated at the foot of a burning volcano, byTuqueras and the province of Pastos, a flat portion ofcountry, fertile in European grain, but elevated morethan 1500 to 1600 toises above the towns of Ibarra and Quito. They arrived, in January, 1802, at this beautifulcapital, celebrated by the labours of the illustrious Condamine, of Bouger, Godin, Dr. George Juan,and Ulloa, and still more celebrated by the greatamiability of its inhabitants, and their happy turn forthe arts. They remained nearly a year in the kingdom ofQuito; the height of its snow-capped mountains, itsterrible earthquakes (that of February 7, 1797, swal-lowed up 42,000 inhabitants, in a few seconds), its fer-tility, and the manners of its inhabitants, combinedto render it the most interesting spot in the universe.After three vain attempts, they twice succeeded inascending to the crater of the volcano of Pichincha,taking with them electrometers, barometers, and hy-drometers. Condamine could only stop here a fewminutes, and that without instruments. In his time,this immense crater was cold and filled with snow.Our travellers found it inflamed; distressing informa-tion for the town of Quito, which is distant from itonly 5000 to 6000 toises. They made separate visits to the snowy and por-phyritic mountains of Antisana, Cotopaxi, Tunga-raque, and Chimborazo, the last the highest point ofour globe. They studied the geological part of theCordillera of the Andes, on which subject nothinghas been published in Europe, mineralogy (if the ex-pression may be used) having been created, as itwere, since the time of Condamine. The geodesicalmeasurements proved that some mountains, particu-larly the volcano of Tungaraque, has considerablylowered since 1750, which result agrees with the ob-servations made to them by the inhabitants. During the whole of this part of the journey,they were accompanied by Mr. Charles Montufar, son ofthe marquis of Selva-alegree, of Quito, a person zealousfor the progress of science, and who is, at his own ex-pense, rebuilding the pyramids of Saraqui, the extre-mity of the celebrated bases of the triangles of theSpanish and French academicians. This interestingyoung man having followed Mr. Humboldt in the re-mainder of his journey through Peru and the kingdomof New Spain, is now on his passage with him to Europe. Circumstances were so favourable to the efforts ofthe three travellers, that at Antisana they ascended2200 French feet, and at Chimborazo, on June 22,1802, nearly 3200 feet higher than Condamine was a-ble to carry his instruments. They ascended to 3036toises elevation above the level of the sea, the bloodstarting from their eyes, lips, and gums. An open-ing, of 80 toises deep, and very wide, prevented themfrom reaching the top, from which they were only dis-tant 134 toises. It was at Quito that Mr. Humboldt received a let-ter from the National Institute of France, informinghim; that captain Baudin had proceeded by the Capeof Good Hope, and that there was no longer any hopeof joining him. After having examined the country overturned bythe earthquake of Riobamba, in 1797, they passedby the Andes of Assuay to Cuenza. The desire ofcomparing the barks (cinchona) discovered by Mr. Mutis, at Santa Fe de Bogota, and with those of Po-payan, and the cuspa and cuspare of New Andalusia,and of the river Caroni (named falsely Cortex Angus-tura) with the cinchona, (barks) of Loxa and Peru;they preferred deviating from the beaten track fromCuenza to Lima; but they passed with immense diffi-culties in the carriage of their instruments and collec-tions, by the forest (Paramo) of Saragura to Loxa,and from thence to the province of Saen de Bracamo-ros. They had to cross thirty-five times, in two days,the river Guancabamba, so dangerous for its suddenfreshes. They saw the ruins of the superb Yngaroad comparable to the finest roads in France, andwhich went upon the ridge of the Andes from Cuscoto the Assuay, accommodated with fountains and ta-verns. They descended the river Chamaya, which led theminto that of the Amazones, and they navigated thislast river down to the cataracts of Tomeperda, oneof the most fertile, but one of the hottest, climates ofthe habitable globe. From the Amazone river theyreturned to the south-east by the Cordillera of the Andes to Montar, where they found they had passedthe magnetic equator, the inclination being 0, althoughat seven degrees of south latitude. They visited themines of Hualguayoc, where native silver is found atthe height of 2000 toises. Some of the veins of thesemines contain petrified shells, and which, with thoseof Pasco and Huantajayo, are actually the richest ofPeru. From Caxamarca they descended to Truxillo,in the neighbourhood of which are found the ruins ofthe immense Peruvian city, Mansiche. It was on this western descent of the Andes thatthe three voyagers, for the first time, had the pleasureof seeing the Pacifick Ocean. They followed itsbarren sides, formerly watered by the canals Yngasat Santa Guerma, and Lima. They remained somemonths in this interesting capital of Peru, of whichthe inhabitants are distinguished by the vivacity oftheir genius, and the liberality of their ideas. Mr. Humboldt had the good fortune to observe theend of the passage of Mercury over the sun’s disk,in the port of Callao. He was astonished to find, atsuch a distance from Europe, the most recent produc-tions in chemistry, mathematicks, and medicine; andhe found great activity of mind in the inhabitants,who in a climate where it never either rains or thun-ders, have been falsely accused of indolence. From Lima our travellers passed by sea to Guaya-quil, situated on the brink of a river, where thegrowth of the palm tree is beautiful beyond descrip-tion. They every moment heard the rumbling of thevolcano of Cotopaxi, which made an alarming explo-sion on the 6th January, 1803. They immediatelyset off to visit it a second time, when the unexpectedintelligence of the speedy departure of the frigateAtalanta determined them to return, after being seven |Spaltenumbruch|days exposed to the dreadful attacks of the musquetoesof Babaoya and Ujibar. They had a fortunate passage, by the Pacific O-cean, to Acapulco, the western port of the Kingdomof New Spain, famous for the beauty of its harbour,which appears to have been formed by earthquakes, forthe misery of its inhabitants, and for its climate,which is equally hot and unhealthy. Mr. Humboldt had originally the intention to re-main only a few months in Mexico, and to hastenhis return to Europe; his voyage had already been toomuch protracted, his intruments, particularly thechronometers, began to be out of order, and everyeffort that he made to have new ones sent to himproved of no avail; add to this consideration, thatthe progress of science is so rapid in Europe, that,in a journey that lasts four or five years, great risk isrun of contemplating the different phenomena underaspects, which are no longer interesting at the mo-ment of publishing the result of your labours. Mr. Humboldt hoped to be in France in August or Sep-tember, 1803, but the attractions of a country, sobeautiful and so varied, as is that of the kingdom ofNew Spain, the great hospitality of its inhabitants,and the fear of the yellow fever, fatal, from June toNovember, for those who come from the mountainousparts of the country, led him to stay a year in thiskingdom. Our travellers ascended from Acapulco to Tasco,celebrated for its mines, as interesting as they are an-cient. They rise, by small degrees, from the ardentvalley of Mescala and Papagayo, where the thermo-meter of Reaumur stands, in the shade, constantlyfrom 28 to 31 (95 to 101 Fah.), in a region 6 or 700toises above the level of the sea, where you find theoaks, the pines, and the fougere (fern) as large astrees, and where the European grains are cultivated.They passed by Tasco, by Cuerna Vacca, to the capi-tal of Mexico. This city of 150,000 inhabitants, isplaced upon the ancient site of Texochtitlan, betweenthe lakes of Tezcuco and Xochimilco, lakes whichhave lessened somewhat since the Spaniards have open-ed the canal of Hucheutoca, in sight of two snow-topped mountains, of which one, Hopocatepec, is evennow an active volcano, surrounded by a great numberof walks, shaded with trees, and by Indian villages. This capital of Mexico, situated 1160 toises abovethe sea, in a mild and temperate climate, may doubt-less be compared to some of the finest towns in Eu-rope. Great scientific establishments, such as the a-cademy of painting, sculpture, and engraving, the col-lege of mines, [owning to the liberality of the companyof miners of Mexico] and the botanick garden, are in-stitutions which do honour to the government whichhas created them. After remaining some months in the valley of Mex-ico, and after fixing the longitude of the capital,which had been laid down with an error of nearly twodegrees, our travellers visited the mines of Moran andReal del Monte, and the Cerro of Oyamel, where theancient Mexicans had the manufactory of knivesmade of the obsidian stone. They soon after passedby Queretaro and Salamanca to Guanaxoato, a townof fifty thousand inhabitants, and celebrated for itsmines, more rich than those of Potosi have ever been.The mine of the count of Valenciana, which is 1840French feet perpendicular depth, is the deepest andrichest mine of the universe. This mine alone givesto its proprietor nearly six hundred thousand dollarsannual and constant profit. From Guanaxoato they returned by the valley ofSt. Jago to Valladolid, in the ancient kingdom of Mi-choacan, one of the most fertile and charming pro-vinces of the kingdom. They descended from Pascu-ara towards the coast of the Pacifick Ocean to theplains of Serullo, where, in 1759, in one night, a vol-cano arose from the level, surrounded by two thousandsmall mouths, from whence smoke still continues to is-sue. They arrived almost to the bottom of the craterof the great volcano of Serullo, of which they ana-lysed the air, and found it strongly impregnated withcarbonick acid. They returned to Mexico by the val-ley of Teluca, and visited the volcano, to the highestpoint of which they ascended, 14,400 French feet a-bove the level of the sea. In the months of January and February, 1804,they pursued their researches on the eastern descent ofthe Cordilleras, they measured the mountains Mora-dos de la Puebla, Popocatyce, Izazihuatli, the greatpeak of Orizaba, and the Cofre de Perote; upon thetop of this last Mr. Humboldt observed the meredianheight of the sun. In fine, after some residence atXalappa, they embarked at Vera Cruz, for the Havan-ah. They resumed the collections they had left therein 1801, and by the way of Philadelphia, embarked forFrance, in July, 1804, after six years of absence andlabours. A collection of 6000 different species of plants(of which a great part are new) and numerous mine-ralogical, astronomical, chemical, and moral observa-tions, have been the result of this expedition. Mr. Humboldt gives the highest praises to the liberal pro-tection granted to his researches by the Spanish government. Baron Humboldt was born in Prussia, on the 14thof September, 1769.