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Alexander von Humboldt: „Travels of 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-10-neu> [abgerufen am 28.03.2024].

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Titel Travels of Baron Humboldt
Jahr 1804
Ort Kingston, New York
Nachweis
in: Plebeian 2:65 (19. September 1804), S. [4]; 2:66 (26. September 1804), S. [4]; 2:67 (3. Oktober 1804), S. [4].
Sprache Englisch
Typografischer Befund Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung.
Identifikation
Textnummer Druckausgabe: II.23
Dateiname: 1804-Baron_Humboldt-10-neu
Statistiken
Seitenanzahl: 3
Spaltenanzahl: 6
Zeichenanzahl: 23113

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)
|4| |Spaltenumbruch| From the Literary Magazine.

BARON HUMBOLDT.

The following abstract of the American travels ofthe celebrated Baron Humboldt and his companion Bonpland, has been drawn up from notes whichthe former has kindly furnished, and will super-cede the many very incorrect accounts hithertopublished relative to this interesting object. BARON HUMBOLDT, having travelledfrom the year 1790, as a naturalist, through Ger-many, Poland, France, Switzerland, and throughparts of England, Italy, Hungary, and Spain,came to Paris in 1798, when he received an in-vitation, from the directors of the national muse-um, to accompany captain Baudin in his voyageround the world. Citizen Alexander Aime Gour-jon Bonpland, a native of Rochelle, and broughtup in the Paris museum, was also to have accom-panied them; when on the point of departing,the whole plan was suspended until a favourableopportunity, owing to the re-commencement ofthe war with Austria, and 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 Marseil-les, where he had been fruitlessly two monthswaiting to proceed. Impatient at this delay, andcontinuing firm in his determination to go to E-gypt, he went to Spain, hoping to pass more rea-dily under the Spanish flag from Carthagenato Algiers and Tunis. He took with him thelarge collection of philosophical, chemical, and as-tronomical instruments, which he had purchasedin England and France. From a happy concurrence of circumstances,he obtained in February, 1789, from the court ofMadrid, a permission to visit the Spanish coloniesof the two Americas, a permission which wasgranted with a liberality and frankness, whichwas honourable 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, accompa-nied by Mr. Bonpland, who, to a profound knowl-edge in botany, and zoology, added an indefati-gable zeal. It is with this friend that Mr. Hum-boldt has accomplished his travels in the two |Spaltenumbruch|hemispheres, by land and sea, probably the mostextensive which any individual has ever under-taken. These two travellers left Corunna in the Span-ish ship Pizarro, for the Canary islands, wherethey ascended to the crater of the peak of Teyde,and made experiments on the analysis of the air.In July they arrived at the port of Cumana, in South America. In 1799, 1800, they visited thecoast of Paria, the missions of the Chaymas In-dians, the province of New Andalusia (a countrywhich had been rent by the most dreadful earth-quakes, the hottest, and yet the most healthy, inthe world) of New Barcelona, of Venezuela, andSpanish Guayana—In January, 1800, they leftCaraccas to visit the beautiful vallies of Aragua,where the great lake of Valencia recals to themind the views of the lake of Geneva, embel-lished by the majesty of the vegetation of thetropics. From Porto Cabello they crossed, tothe south, the immense plains of Caloboza, of A-pure, and of the Oronoco, also los Llanos, a des-ert similar to those of Africa, where in the shade(by the reverberation of heat) the thermometer of Reaumur rose to 35 and 37 (111 to 115 F.) de-grees. The level of the country for 2000 squareleagues does not differ five inches. The sandevery where represents the horizon of the seawithout vegetation; and its dry bosom hides thecrocodiles, and the torpid boas (a species of serpent.)The travelling here, as in all Spanish America,except Mexico, is performed on horseback—Theypassed whole days without seeing a palm-tree orthe vestige of a human dwelling. At St. Fer-nando de Apure, in the provinces of Varinas, Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland began that fatiguing na-vigation of nearly 1000 marine leagues, executedin canoes, making a chart of the country bythe assistance of chronometers, the satellites ofJupiter, and the lunar distances. They descend-ed the river Apure, which empties itself intothe Oronoco, in 7 degrees of latitude. They as-cend the last river (passing the celebrated cata-racts of Mapure and Atures) to the mouth of theGuaviare. From thence they ascended the smallrivers of Tabapa, Juamini, and Tenie. Fromthe mission of Sarita they crossed by land to thesources of the famous Rio Negro, which Conda-mine saw, where it joins the Amazon, and whichhe calls a sea of fresh water. About 30 Indianscarried their canoes through woods of Mami Le-cythis and Laurus Cinamomoides to the cano (orcreek) of Pemichin. It was by this small streamthat the travellers entered the Rio Negro, or BlackRiver, which they descended to St. Carlos, whichhas been erroneously supposed to be placed un-der the equator, or just at the frontiers of GreatPara, in the government of Brasil. A canal fromTenie to Pemichin, which from the level na-ture of the ground is very practicable, wouldpresent a fine internal communication betweenthe Cara and the province of Carracas, a commu-nication infinitely shorter than that of Cassiquiare—From the fortress of St. Carlos on the Rio Ne-gro, Mr. H. went north up that river and theCassiquiare to the Oronoco, and on this river tothe volcano Daida or the mission of the Esmeral-da, near the sources of the Oronoco: the IndiansGuaicas (or race of men almost pigmies, verywhite and very warlike) render fruitless anyattempts to reach the sources themselves. From the Esmeralda Messrs. H. and B. wentdown the Oronoco, when the water rose, to-wards its mouth at St. Thomas de la Guayana, orthe Angustura. It was during this long naviga-tion that they were in a continued state of suffer-ing, from want of nourishment, and shelter fromthe night reigns, from living in the woods, fromthe musquetoes, and an infinite variety of stinginginsects, and from the impossibility of bathing ow-ing to the fierceness of the crocodile and the littlecrab fish, and finally the miasmata of a burningclimate. They returned to Cumana by the plainsof Cari and the mission of the Carib Indians, arace of men very different from any other, andprobably, after the Pategonians, the tallest andmost robust in the world. [To be continued.] |4| |Spaltenumbruch| From the Literary Magazine.

TRAVELS OF BARON HUMBOLDT.

---continued.--- AFTER remaining some months at New-Bar-celona and Cumana, the travellers arrived at theHavanna, after a tedious and dangerous naviga-tion, the vessel being in the night upon the pointof striking upon the Vibora rocks. Mr. H. re-mained three months in the island of Cuba, wherehe occupied himself in ascertaining the longitudeof the Havanna, and in constructing stoves on thesugar plantations, which have since been prettygenerally adopted. They were on the point ofsetting off for Vera Cruz, meaning, by the way ofMexico and Acupulco, to get to the Philippineislands, and from thence, if it was possible, byBombay and Aleppo to Constantinople, whensome false reports relative to Baudin’s voyage a-larmed them, and made them change their plan.The Gazettes held out the idea that this navigatorwould proceed from France to Buenos Ayres, andfrom thence, by Cape Horn, for Chili and the coastof Pera. Mr. Humboldt had promised to Mr. Baudin, and to the museum at Paris, that where-ver he might be, he would endeavor to join theexpedition, as soon as he should know of its hav-ing been commenced. He flattered himself thathis researches, and those of his friend Bonpland,might be more useful to science, if united to thelabors of the learned men who would accompanyCapt. Baudin. These considerations induced Mr. Humboldt to send his manuscripts, for 1799 and 1800, directto Europe, and to freight a small schooner at Ban-tabana, intending to go to Carthagena, and fromthence, as quickly as possible, by the isthmus ofPanama, to the South Sea. He hoped to findCapt. 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 manu-scripts and collections they had already made tothe risk of this proposed navigation. These ma-nuscripts, of the fate of which Mr. H. remainedignorant during three years, and until his arrivalin Philadelphia, arrived safe, but one third partof the collection was lost by shipwreck. Fortu-nately except the insects of the Oronoco and RioNegro, they were only duplicates; but unhappi-ly friar John Gonzales, monk of the order of St. Francis, the friend to whom they were entrusted,perished with them. He was a young man fullof ardor, who had penetrated into this unknownworld of Spanish Guayana further than any otherEuropean. 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 mouth of the Attracto.The vessel put into the river Sinn, where no bo-tanist had ever before visited, and they had a verydifficult passage up to Carthagena. The seasonbeing too far advanced for the South Sea naviga-tion, the project of crossing the isthmus was aban-doned: and animated with the desire of being ac-quainted with the celebrated Mutis, and admir-ing his immensely rich collection 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 a chart. |Spaltenumbruch| From Honda our travellers ascended throughforests of oaks, of melastamo, and of cinchona (thetree 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.—The superb collection of Mutis, the majestic cata-ract of the Tequendama (falls of 98 toises height)the mines of Mariquita, St. Ana and of Tipaquira,the natural 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 themonth of September, 1801. At this time, notwithstanding the rainy seasonhad commenced, they undertook the journey toQuito, and passed the Andes of Quindieu, whichare snowy mountains covered with wax palm-trees (palmiers a cire) with passe flores (passionflower) of the growth of trees storax and bambu-sa, (bamboo). They were, during thirteen days,obliged to pass on foot through places dreadfullyswampy, and without any traces of vegetation. From the village of Carthago, in the valley ofCauca, they followed the course of the Cocho, thecountry of palatina, which was there found inround pieces of basalte and green rock and fossilwood. They pass by Buga to Popayan, a bish-op’s see, and situated near the volcanoes of Sotaraand Purace, the most picturesque situation, andenjoying the most delicious climate in the world,the thermometer of Fahrenheit keeping constantlyat 63 to 72. They ascended to the crater of thevolcano of Purace, whose mouth, in the middle ofsnow, throws out vapors of sulphureous hydro-gene, with continued and frightful rumbling. From Popayan they passed by the dangerousdefile of Almager, avoiding the infectious andcontagious valley of Patia, to Posto, and from thistown, even now situate at the foot of a burningvolcano, by Tuqueras and the province of Pastos,a flat portion of country, fertile in European grain,but elevated more than 1500 to 1600 toises abovethe towns of Ibarra and Quito. They arrived, in January, 1802, at this beauti-ful capital, celebrated by the labors of the illus-trious Gondamine, of Boudin, Godin, Dr. GeorgeJuan and Ulloa, and still more celebrated by thegreat amiability of its inhabitants, and their happyturn for 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 se-conds) its fertility, and the manners of its inhabit-ants, combined to render it one of the most inter-esting spots in the universe. After three vain at-tempts, they twice succeeded in ascending to thevolcano of Pinchincha, taking with them electro-nomers, barometers and hygrometers. Conda-mine could only stop here a few seconds, and thatwithout instruments. In his time, this immensecrater was cold and filled with snow. Our tra-vellers found it inflamed; distressing informationfor the town of Quito, which is distant from itonly 5000 to 6000 toises. They made separate visits to the snowy andporphyritic mountains of Antisana, Cotopaxi, Tun-garague 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 Con-damine. The geodesial measurements provedthat some mountains particularly the volcano ofTungarague, has considerably lowered since 1750,which result agrees with the observations made tothem by the inhabitants. Circumstances were so favorable to the effortsof our travellers, that at Antisane they ascended2200 French feet, and at Chimborazo, on June22, 1802, nearly 3200 feet higher than Conda-mine was able to carry his instruments. Theyascended to 3036 toises elevation above the levelof the sea, the blood starting from their eyes, lipsand gums. An opening; of 80 toises deep, andvery wide, prevented them from reaching the top,from which they were only distant 134 toises. It was at Quito that Mr. Humboldt received aletter from the National Institute of France, infor-ming him, that Capt. Baudin had proceeded bythe Cape of Good Hope, and that there was nolonger any hope of joining him. [to be continued.] |4| |Spaltenumbruch| From the Literary Magazine.

TRAVELS OF BARON HUMBOLDT.

--- continued. --- AFTER having examined the country overturn-ed by the earthquake of Riobamba, in 1797, theypassed by the Andes of Assua to Cuenza. Thedesire of comparing the barks (cinchona) discov-ered by Mutis, at Santa Fe de Bagota, and withthose of Popayan, and the cuspa and cuspare ofNew Andalusia, and of the river Carona (namedfalsely Cortex Augustura,) with the cinchona(barks) of Loxa and Peru, they preferred devia-ting from the beaten track from Cuenza to Lima;but they passed with immense difficulties in thecarriage of their instruments and collections, bythe forest (paramo) of Saragura to Loxa, andfrom thence to the province of Saen de Braca-moros. They had to cross thirty-five times, intwo days, the river Guancabamba, so dangerousfor its freshets. They saw the ruins of the su-perb Ynga road, comparable to the finest roads inFrance, and which went upon the ridge of the Andes from Cusco to the Assuay, accommoda-ted with fountains and taverns. They descended the river Chamaya, which ledthem into that of the Amazones, and they navi-gated this last river down to the cataracts of Tome-perda, one of the most fertile, but one of the hot-est climates in the habitable globe. From the Amazone river they returned to the south-eastby the Cordilleras of the Andes to Montar, wherethey found they had passed the magnetic equator,the inclination being nothing, although at sevendegrees of south latitude. They visited the minesof Haulguayoc, where native silver is found atthe height of 2000 toises. Some of the veins ofthese mines contain petrified shells, and which,with those of Pasco and Huantajayo, are actuallythe richest of Peru. From Caxamarca they de-scended to Truxillo, in the neighborhood of whichare found the ruins of the immense Peruvian city,Mansiche. It was on this western descent of the Andes that the three voyagers, for the first time, hadthe pleasure of seeing the Pacific Ocean. Theyfollowed its barren sides, formerly watered by thecanals of the Yngas at Santa, Guerma, and Lima.They remained some months in this interestingcapital of Peru, of which the inhabitants are dis-tinguished by the vivacity of their genius, andthe liberality of their ideas. Mr. Humboldt had the good fortune to ob-serve the end of the passage of Mercury over thesun’s disk, in the port of Callao. He was aston-ished to find at such a distance from Europe, themost recent productions in chemistry, mathemat-ics, and medicines; and he found great activityof mind in the inhabitants, who, in a climatewhere it never either rains or thunders, have beenfalsely accused of indolence. From Lima our travellers passed by sea to Gua-yaquil, situated on the brink of a river, wherethe growth of the palm tree is beautiful beyonddescription. They every moment heard the rum-bling of the volcano of Cotopaxi, which made analarming explosion on the 6th of January, 1803.They immediately set off to visit it a second time,when the unexpected intelligence of the speedydeparture of the frigate Atlanta determined themto return, after being seven days exposed to thedreadful attacks of the musquitoes of Babaoya andUjibar. 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 unheal-thy. Mr. Humboldt had originally the intention toremain only a few months in Mexico, and to has-ten his return to Europe; his voyage had alreadybeen too much protracted, his instruments, parti-cularly the chronometers, began to be out of or-der, and every effort that he made to have newones sent to him proved of no avail; add to thisconsideration, that the progress of science is sorapid in Europe, that, in a journey that lasts fouror five years, great risk is run of contemplatingthe different phenomena under aspects, which |Spaltenumbruch| are no longer interesting at the moment of pub-lishing the result of your labors. Mr. Humboldt hoped to be in France in August or September,1803, but the attractions of a country, so beautifuland so varied, as is that of the kingdom of NewSpain, the great hospitality of its inhabitants, andthe fear of the yellow fever, so fatal, from Juneto November, for those who came from the moun-tainous parts of the country, led him to stay a yearin this kingdom. Our travellers ascended from Acapulco to Tas-co, celebrated for its mines, as interesting as theyare ancient. They rise by small degrees, fromthe ardent valley of Mescala and Papagayo, wherethe thermometer of Reaumur stands, in the shade,constantly from 28 to 31 (95 to 101 Fah.) in aregion 6 or 700 toises above the level of the sea,where you find the oaks, the pines, and the four-gere (fern) as large as trees, and where the Euro-pean grains are cultivated. They passed by Tasco,by Cuerna Vacca, to the capital of Mexico. Thiscity of 150,000 inhabitants, is placed upon the an-cient site of Texochtitlan, between the lakes ofTezcuco and Xochimilco, lakes which have les-sened somewhat since the Spaniards have openedthe canal of Hacheutoca, in sight of two snow-topped mountains, of which one, Hopocatepec, iseven now an active volcano, surrounded by agreat number of walks shaded with trees, and byIndian villages. This capital of Mexico, situated 1160 toises above the sea, in a mild and temperate climate,may doubtless be compared to some of the finesttowns in Europe. Great scientific establishments,such the Academy of painting, sculpture, engra-ving, the college of mines, (owing to the liberal-ity of the company of miners of Mexico,) and theBotanic Garden, are institutions which do honorto the government which has created them. After remaining some months in the valley ofMexico, and after fixing the longitude of the cap-ital, which had been laid down with an error ofnearly two degrees, our travellers visited themines of Moran and Real del Monte and theCerro of Oyamel, where the ancient Mexicanshad the manufactory of knives made of the obsid-ian stone. They soon after passed by Queretaroand Salamanca to Guanaxoato, a town of fiftythousand inhabitants, and celebrated for its mines,more rich than those of Potosi have ever been.The mine of the count Valenciana, which is 1840French feet perpendicular depth, is the deepestand richest mine of the universe. This mine a-lone gives to its proprietor nearly six hundredthousand dollars annual and constant profit. From Guanaxoato they returned to the valleyof St. Jago to Valadolid, in the ancient kingdom ofMichuacan, one of the most fertile and charmingprovinces of the kingdom. They descended fromPascuaro towards the coast of the Pacific Oceanto the plains of Serullo, where, in 1759, in onenight, a volcano arose from the level, surroundedby two thousand small mouths, from whencesmoke still continues to issue. They arrived al-most to the bottom of the crater of the volcano ofSerullo, of which they analized the air, and foundit strongly impregnated with carbonic acid. Theyreturned to Mexico by the valley of Teluca, andvisited the volcano to the highest point of whichthey ascended 14,400 French feet above the lev-el of the sea. In the months of January and February, 1804,they pursued their researches on the eastern de-scent of the Cordilleras, they measured the moun-tains Merados, de la Puebla, Popocatyce, Izazi-huatli, the great peak of Orizaba, and the Coferde Perote; upon the top of this last, Mr. Hum-boldt observed the meridian height of the sun.In fine, after some residence at Xalappa, theyembarked at Vera Cruz, for the Havannah.They resumed the collections they had left therein 1801, and by the way of Philadelphia, embark-ed for France, in July, 1804, after six years of ab-sence and labours. A collection of 6000 differ-ent 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 gran-ted to his researches by the Spanish government. Baron Humboldt was born in Prussia, on the14th of September, 1769.