Digitale Ausgabe

The following abstract of the American Travelsof the celebrated Baron Humboldt and his com-panion Bonpland, has been drawn up from noteswhich the former has kindly furnished, and willsupersede the many very incorrect accounts hither-to published relative to this interesting object. Baron Humboldt, having travelled from theyear 1790, as a naturalist, through Germany, Po-land, France, Switzerland, and through parts ofEngland, Italy, Hungary, and Spain, came toParis in 1798, when he received an invitation,from the directors of the national museum, to ac-company captain Baudin in his voyage round theworld. Citizen Alexander Aime Gourjon Bon-pland, a native of Rochelle, and brought up inthe Paris museum, was also to have accompaniedthem; when on the point of departing, thewhole plan was suspended until a more favorableopportunity, owing to the re-commencement ofthe war with Austria, and to the consequent wantof funds. Mr. Humboldt, who, from 1792, had conceiv-ed the plan of travelling through India at his ownexpence, with a view of adding to the knowledgeof the sciences connected with natural history,then resolved to follow the learned men, who hadgone on the expedition to Egypt. His plan wasto go to Algiers in the Swedish frigate which car-ried the consul Skoldebrandt, to follow the cara-van which goes from Algiers to Mecca, goingthrough Egypt to Arabia, and thence by the Per-sian gulph to the English East-India establish-ments. The war which unexpectedly broke outin October, 1798, between France and the Bar-bary powers, and the troubles in the East, pre-vented Mr. Humboldt from embarking at Mar-seilles, where he had been fruitlessly two monthswaiting to proceed. Impatient at this delay, andcontinuing firm in his determination to go to Egypt, he went to Spain, hoping to pass morereadily under the Spanish flag from Carthagena to Algiers and Tunis. He took with him the largecollection of philosophical, chemical, and astro-nomical instruments, which he had purchased inEngland and France. From a happy concurrence of circumstances,he obtained, in February, 1799, from the courtof Madrid, a permission to visit the Spanish co-lonies of the two Americas, a permission whichwas granted with a liberality and frankness, whichwas honorable to the government and to a philo-sophic age. After a residence of some months atthe Spanish court, during which time the kingshowed a strong personal interest in the plan, Mr. Humboldt, in June, 1799, left Europe, accom-panied by Mr. Bonpland, who, to a profoundknowledge in botany and zoology, added an in-defatigable zeal. It is with this friend that Mr. Humboldt has accomplished, at his own expence,his travels in the two hemispheres, by land andsea, probably the most extensive which any indi-vidual has ever undertaken. These two travellers left Corunna in the Spanishship Pizarro, for the Canary Islands, where theyascended to the crater of the Peak of Teneriffe, andmade experiments on the analysis of the air. InJuly they arrived at the port of Cumana, in South-America. In 1799, 1800, they visited the coast ofParia, the missions of the Chaymas Indians, theprovince of New-Andalusia (a country which hadbeen rent by the most dreadful earthquakes, thehottest, and yet the most healthy, in the world); of New-Barcelona, of Venezuela, and of SpanishGuayana. In January, 1800, they left Caraccasto visit the beautiful vallies of Aragua , where thegreat lake of Valencia recals to the mind the views ofthe lake of Geneva, embellished by the majesty ofthe vegetation of the tropics. From Porto Cabellothey crossed, to the south, the immense plains ofCaloboza, of Apure, and of the Oronoco, also LosLlanos, a desert similar to those of Africa, where,in the shade (by the reverberation of heat)the thermometer of Reaumur rose to 35 and 37, (111to 115 F.) degrees. The level of the country for2000 square leagues does not differ five inches.The sand every where represents the horizon ofthe sea, without vegetation; and its dry bosomhides the crocodiles, and the torpid boa (a speciesof serpent.) The travelling here, as in all SpanishAmerica, except Mexico, is performed on horse-back. They passed whole days without seeing apalm-tree or the vestige of a human dwelling. At St. Fernando de Apure, in the provinces of Vari-nas, Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland began thatfatiguing navigation of nearly 1000 marine leagues,executed in canoes, making a chart of the countryby the assistance of chronometers, the satellites ofJupiter, and the lunar distances. They descendedthe river Apure, which empties itself into the Oro-noco, in seven degrees of latitude. They ascendedthe last river (passing the celebrated cataracts ofMapure and Atures) to the mouth of the Guaviare.From thence they ascended the small rivers of Tabapa, Juamini, and Tenie. From the mission ofSarita they crossed by land to the sources of thefamous Rio Negro, which Condamine saw, whereit joins the Amazon, and which he calls a sea offresh water. About thirty Indians carried the ca-noes through woods of Mami Lecythis and Laurus 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 de-scended to St. Carlos, which has been erroneouslysupposed to be placed under the equator, or justat the frontiers of Great Para, in the governmentof Brasil. A canal from Tenie to Pemichin, whichfrom the level nature of the ground is very practi-cable, would present a fine internal communicationbetween the Para and the province of Carracas, acommunication infinitely shorter than that of Cas-siquiare. From the fortress of St. Carlos on theRio Negro, Mr. H. went north up that river andthe Cassiquiare to the Oronoco, and on this river tothe volcano Daida or the mission of the Esmeralda,near the sources of the Oronoco. The Indians,Guaicas (a race of men almost pigmies, verywhite and very warlike) render fruitless any at-tempts to reach the sources themselves. From the Esmeralda Messrs. H. and B. wentdown the Oronoco, when the waters rose, towardsits mouths at St. Thomas de la Guayana, or the An-gostura. It was during this long navigation that theywere in a continued state of suffering, from wantof nourishment, and shelter from the night rains,from living in the woods, from the mosquetoes, andan infinite variety of stinging insects, and from theimpossibility of bathing, owing to the fierceness of |Spaltenumbruch|the crocodile and the little carib fish, and finallythe miasmata of a burning climate. They returnedto Cumana by the plains of Caritana, the missionof the Carib Indians, a race of men very differentfrom any other, and probably, after the Patagoni-ans, the tallest and most robust in the world. After remaining some months at New Barcelona and Cumana, the travellers arrived at the Havan-na, after a tedious and dangerous navigation, thevessel being in the night on the point of strikingupon the Vibora rocks. Mr. H. remained threemonths in the island of Cuba, where he occupiedhimself in ascertaining the longitude of the Havan-na, and in constructing stoves on the sugar planta-tions, which have since been pretty generally adopted.They were on the point of setting off for VeraCruz, meaning, by the way of Mexico and Aca-pulco, to go to the Philipine Islands, and fromthence, if it was possible, by Bombay and Aleppo,to Constantinople, when some false reports relativeto Baudin’s voyage alarmed them, and made themchange their plan. The gazettes held out the ideathat this navigator would proceed from France toBuenos-Ayres, and from thence, by Cape Horn,for Chili and the coast of Peru. Mr. Humboldt had promised to Mr. Baudin and to the Museum ofParis, that wherever he might be, he would en-deavour to join the expedition, as soon as he shouldknow of its having been commenced. He flatteredhimself that his researches, and those of his friend Bonpland, might be more useful to science, ifunited to the labours of the learned men who wouldaccompany captain Baudin. These considerations induced Mr. Humboldt tosend his manuscripts, for 1799 and 1800, directto Europe, and to freight a small schooner at Ban-tabano, intending to go to Carthagena, and fromthence, as quickly as possible, by the Isthmus ofPanama, to the South Sea. He hoped to find cap-tain Baudin at Guayaquil, or at Lima, and withhim to visit New-Holland, and the Islands of thePacific Ocean, equally interesting in a moral pointof view, as by the luxuriance of their vegetation. It appeared imprudent to expose the manuscriptsand collections already made to the risks of thisproposed navigation. These manuscripts, of thefate of which Mr. H. remained ignorant duringthree years, and until his arrival in Philadelphia,arrived safe, but one third part of the collection waslost by shipwreck. Fortunately, except the in-sects of the Oronocco and of the Rio Negro they were on-ly duplicates; but unhappily, friar John Gonzales,monk of the order of St. Francis, the friend towhom they were entrusted, perished with them.He was a young man full of ardor, who had pene-trated into this unknown world of Spanish Guayanafurther than any other European. Mr. Humboldt left Batabano in March, 1801,and passed to the south of the island of Cuba, onwhich he determined many geographical positions.The passage was rendered very long by calms,and the currents carried the little schooner toomuch to the west, to the mouths of the Attracto.The vessel put into the river Sinu, where nobotanist had ever before visited, and they had avery difficult passage up to Carthagena. The sea-son being too far advanced for the South Sea navi-gation, the project of crossing the isthmus wasabandoned; and animated by the desire of beingacquainted with the celebrated Mutis, and admir-ing his immensely rich collections of objects of na-tural history, Mr. H. determined to pass someweeks in the woods of Turbaco, and to ascend(which took forty days) the beautiful river of Ma-dalaine, of the course of which he sketched achart. From Honda, our travellers ascended throughforests of oaks, of melastomo, and of cinchona,(the tree which affords the Peruvian bark), to St.Fe de Bogota, capital of the kingdom of New Gre-nada, situated in a fine plain, elevated 1360 toises(of six French feet) above the level of the sea. Thesuperb collections of Mutis, the majestic cataractof the Tequendama (falls of 98 toises height) themines of Mariquita, St. Ana, and of Tipaquira, thenatural bridge of Scononza (three stones throwntogether in the manner of an arch, by an earth-quake) these curious objects stopped the progressof Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland until the monthof September, 1801. At this time, notwithstanding the rainy seasonhad commenced, they undertook the journey toQuito, and passed the Andes of Quindiu, whichare snowy mountains covered with wax palm-trees,(palmiers a cire), with passe flores (passion flower)of the growth of trees, storax, and bambusa (bam-boo). They were, during 13 days, obliged topass on foot through places dreadfully swampy,and without any traces of population. (To be continued.)

(concluded.) |Spaltenumbruch| From the village of Carthago, in the valley ofCauca, they followed the course of the Choco, thecountry of Platina, which was there found inround pieces of basalte and green rock (greinstein of Werner), and fossil wood. They passby Buga to Popayan, a bishop’s see, and situatednear the volcanoes of Sotara and Purace, a mostpicturesque situation, and enjoying the most deli-cious climate in the world, the thermometer ofReamur keeping constantly at 16 to 18, (68 to 72Fahr.) They ascended to the crater of the volca-no of Purace, whose mouth, in the middle ofsnow, throws out vapours of hydrogene, with con-tinued and frightful rumbling. From Popayan they passed by the dangerous de-files of Almager, avoiding the infected and conta-gious valley of Patia, to Posto, and from this town,even now situated at the foot of a burning volcano,by Tuqueras and the province of Pastos, a flat por-tion of country, fertile in European grain, but ele-vated more than 1500 to 1600 toises above thetowns 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 turnfor the arts. They remained nearly a year in the kingdom ofQuito. The height of its snow-capped mountains;its terrible earthquakes (that of February 7, 1797,swallowed up 42,000 inhabitants, in a few seconds);its fertility, and the manners of its inhabitants,combined to render it the most interesting spot inthe universe. After three vain attempts, theytwice succeeded in ascending to the crater of thevolcano of Pichincha, taking with them electrome-ters, barometers, and hygrometers. Condamine could only stop here a few minutes, and that with-out instruments. In his time, this immense craterwas cold and filled with snow. Our travellersfound it inflamed; distressing information for thetown of Quito, which is distant from it only 5000to 6000 toises. They made separate visits to the snowy and por-phyritic mountains of Antisana, Cotopaxi, Tunga-rague, and Chimborazo, the last the highestpoint of our globe. They studied the geologicalpart of the Cordillera of the Andes, on which sub-ject nothing has been published in Europe; mine-ralogy, (if the expression may be used) havingbeen created, as it were, since the time of Conda-mine. The geodesical measurements proved thatsome mountains, particularly the volcano of Tun-garague, has considerably lowered since 1750,which result agrees with the observations made tothem by the inhabitants. During the whole of this part of the journey,they were accompanied by Mr. Charles Montufar,son of the marquis of Selva-Alegre, of Quito, aperson zealous for the progress of science, and whois, at his own expence, re-building the pyramids ofSaraqui, the extremity of the celebrated bases ofthe triangles of the Spanish and French academi-cians. This interesting young man having follow-ed Mr. Humboldt in the remainder of his journeythrough Peru and the kingdom of New-Spain, isnow on his passage with him to Europe. Circumstances were so favorable 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 ableto 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, preventedthem from reaching the top, from which they wereonly distant 134 toises. It was at Quito that Mr. Humboldt received aletter from the National Institute of France, in-forming him, that Capt. Baudin had proceeded bythe Cape of Good-Hope, and that there was nolonger any hope of joining him. After having examined the country overturnedby the earthquake of Riobamba, in 1797, theypassed by the Andes of Assuay to Cuenza. Thedesire of comparing the barks, (cinchona) disco-vered by Mr. Mutis, at Santa Fe de Bogota, andwith those of Popayan, and the cuspa and cuspareof New-Andalusia, and of the river Caroni (namedfalsely Cortex Augustura), with the cinchona(bark) of Loxa and Peru, they preferred deviatingfrom the beaten track from Cuenza to Lima; butthey passed with immense difficulties in the carri-age of their instruments and collections, by the fo-rest (paramo) of Saragura to Loxa, and fromthence to the province of Saen de Bracamoros.They had to cross thirty-five times, in two days,the river Guancabamba, so dangerous for its sud-den freshes. They saw the ruins of the superbYnga road, comparable to the finest roads inFrance, and which went upon the ridge of the Andes from Cusco to the Assuay, accommodatedwith fountains and taverns. They descended the river Chamaya, which ledthem into that of the Amazons, and they navigatedthis last river down to the cataracts of Tomeperda,one of the most fertile, but one of the hottest, cli-mates of the habitable globe. From the Amazonriver they returned to the south-east by the Cordil-leras of the Andes to Montar, where they foundthey had passed the magnetic equator, the inclina-tion being 0, although at seven degrees of southlatitude. They visited the mines of Hualguayoc,where native silver is found at the height of 2000toises. Some of the veins of these mines containpetrified shells, and which, with those of Pascoand Huantajayo, are actually the richest of Peru.From Caxamarca they descended to Truxillo, inthe 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 plea-sure of seeing the Pacific Ocean. They followedits barren sides, formerly watered by the canals ofthe Yngas at Santa, Guerma, and Lima. They re-mained some months in this interesting capital ofPeru, of which the inhabitants are distinguishedby the vivacity of their genius, and the liberalityof their ideas. Mr. Humboldt had the good fortune to observethe end of the passage of Mercury over the sun’sdisk, in the port of Callao. He was astonished tofind, at such a distance from Europe, the most re-cent productions in chemistry, mathematics, andmedicine; and he found great activity of mind in |Spaltenumbruch| the inhabitants, who, in a climate where it nevereither rains or thunders, have been falsely accusedof indolence. From Lima our travellers passed by sea to Gua-yaquil, situated on the brink of a river, where thegrowth of the palm-tree is beautiful beyond des-cription. They every moment heard the rumblingof the volcano of Cotopaxi, which made an alarm-ing explosion on the 6th of January, 1803. Theyimmediately set off to visit it a second time, whenthe unexpected intelligence of the speedy depar-ture of the frigate Atalanta determined them toreturn, after being seven days exposed to thedreadful attacks of the mosquitoes of Babaoya and Ujibar. They had a fortunate passage, by the PacificOcean, to Acapulco, the western port of the king-dom of New Spain, famous for the beauty of itsharbour, which appears to have been formed byearthquakes, for the misery of its inhabitants, andfor its climate, which is equally hot and un-healthy. 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 beentoo much protracted, his instruments, particularlythe chronometer, began to be out of order, andevery effort that he made to have new ones sent tohim proved of no avail; add to this considera-tion, that the progress of science is so rapid in Eu-rope, that, in a journey that lasts four or five years,great risk is run of contemplating the differentphenomena under aspects which are no longer in-teresting at the moment of publishing the result ofyour labours. Mr. Humboldt hoped to be in Francein August or September, 1803; but the at-tractions of a country, so beautiful and so varied,as is that of the kingdom of New Spain, the greathospitality of its inhabitants, and the fear of theyellow fever, fatal from June to November, forthose who come from the mountainous parts of thecountry, led him to stay a year in this kingdom. Our travellers ascended from Acapulco to Tasco,celebrated for its mines, as interesting as they areancient. They rise, by small degrees, from theancient valley of Mescala and Papagayo, wherethe thermometer of Reaumur stands, in the shade,constantly from 28 to 31 (95 to 101 Fahr.) in aregion 6 or 700 toises above the level of the sea,where you find the oaks, the pines, and the fou-gere, (fern) as large as trees, and where the Eur-opean grains are cultivated. They passed byTasco, by Cuerna Vacca, to the capital of Mexi-co. This city, of 150,000 inhabitants, is placedupon the ancient scite of Texochtitlan, betweenthe lakes of Tezcuco and Xochimilco, lakes whichhave lessened somewhat since the Spaniards haveopened the canal of Hacheutoca, in sight of twosnow-topped mountains, of which one, Hopoca-tepec, is even now an active volcano, surroundedby a great number of walks, shaded with trees,and by Indian villages. This capital of Mexico, situated 1160 toisesabove the sea, in a mild and temperate climate,may doubtless be compared to some of the finesttowns in Europe. Great scientific establishments,such as the Academy of Painting, Sculpture, andEngraving, the College of Mines, (owing to theliberality of the Company of Miners of Mexico),and the Botanic Garden, are institutions whichdo honour to the government which has createdthem. After remaining some months in the valley ofMexico, and after fixing the longitude of thecapital, which had been laid down with an errorof nearly two degrees, our travellers visited themines of Moran and Real del Monte, and theCerro of Oyamel, where the ancient Mexicans hadthe manufactory of knives made of the obsidianstone. They soon after passed by Queretaro andSalamanca to Guanaxoato, a town of fifty thousandinhabitants, and celebrated for its mines, morerich than those of Potosi have ever been. Themine of the count of Valenciana, which is 1840French feet perpendicular depth, is the deepestand richest mine of the universe. This minealone gives to its proprietor nearly six hundredthousand dollars annual and constant profit. From Guanaxoato they returned by the val-ley of St. Jago to Valladolid, in the ancientkingdom of Michuacan, one of the most fertile andcharming provinces of the kingdom. They de-scended from Pascuaro towards the coast of thePacific Ocean to the plains of Serrullo, where,in 1759 , in one night, a volcano arose from thelevel, surrounded by two thousand small mouths,from whence smoke still continues to issue.They arrived almost to the bottom of the craterof the great volcano of Serrullo, of which theyanalysed the air, and found it strongly impregna-ted with carbonic acid. They returned to Mex-ico by the valley of Toluca, and visited thevolcano, to the highest point of which they ascen-ded, 14,400 French feet above the level of thesea. In the months of January and February, 1804,they pursued their researches on the easterndescent of the Cordilleras, they measured themountains Merados, de la Puebla, Popocatyce,Izazihuatli, the great peak of Orizaba, and theCofre de Perote; upon the top of this last Mr. Humboldt observed the meridian height of thesun. In fine, after some residence at Xalappa,they embarked at Vera Cruz, for the Havanna.They resumed the collections they had left therein 1801, and by the way of Philadelphia, em-barked for France, in July 1804, after six years ofabsence and labours. A collection of 6000 dif-ferent species of plants (of which a great part arenew) and numerous mineralogical, astronomical,chemical, and moral observations, have been theresult of this expedition. Mr. Humboldt givesthe highest praises to the liberal protection grantedto his researches by the Spanish government. Baron Humboldt was born in Prussia, on the14th of September, 1769.