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Antiqua
Antiqua (mit lang-s); Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung.
(The following extracts are made from an abſtractof Baron Humboldt’s Travels in America)
Baron
the year 1790, as a naturaliſt, through
Germany, Poland, France, Switzerland,
and through parts of England, Italy, Hun-
gary, and Spain, came to Paris in 1798,
when he received an invitation, from the
directors of the national muſeum, to ac-
company captain
round the world.—Citizen
Aime Goujon Bonpland
chelle, and brought up in the Paris muſe-
um, was allo to have accompanied them;
when on the point of departing, the whole
plan was ſuſpended until a more favour-
able opportunity, owing to the recom-
mencement of the war with Auſtria, and
to the conſequent want of funds.
Mr.
conceived the plan of travelling through
India
at his own expenſe, with a view of
adding to the
knowledge of the ſciences
connected with natural
hiſtory, then re-
ſolved to follow the learned men,
who had
gone on the expedition to
plan was to go to
frigate which carried the conſul
from
ſian gulph
to the Engliſh Eaſt-India eſtab-
liſhments. The war which unexpectedly
broke out in
October 1798, between France
and the Barbary powers, and the
troubles
in the Eaſt, prevented Mr.
from embarking at Marſeilles, where he
had been fruitleſsly two months waiting
to proceed.
Impatient at this delay, and
continuing firm in his
determination to go
to
more readily under the Spaniſh flag from
Carthagena to
took with him the large collection of phi-
loſophical,
chemical, and aſtronomical in-
ſtruments which he
had purchaſed in Eng-
land and France.
From a happy concurrence of circum-
ſtances, he obtained, in February, 1799,
from the court of Madrid, a permiſſion
which was granted with a liberality and
frankneſs, which was honorable to the gov-
ernment and to a philoſophic age. After
a reſidence of ſome months at the Spaniſh
court, during which time the king ſhowed
a ſtrong perſonal intereſt in the plan, Mr.
companied by Mr.
profound knowledge of botany and zoo-
logy, added an indefatigable zeal. It is
with this friend that Mr.
accompliſhed, at his own expenſe, his
travels in the two hemiſpheres, by land
and ſea, probably the moſt extenſive which
any individual has ever undertaken.
Theſe two travellers left
Spaniſh ſhip
iſlands, where
they aſcended to the crater
of the Peak of Teyde, and
made experi-
ments on the analyſis of the air. In July
they arrived at the port of Cumana, in
viſited the coaſt of Paria, the
miſſions of
the Chaymas Indians, the provinces
of
New Andaluſia (a country which had
been rent by the moſt dreadful earth-
quakes, the
hotteſt, and yet the moſt
healthy; in the world)
of
of
Venezuela, and of Spaniſh Guayana.—
In January,
1800, they left Caraccas to
viſit the beautiful vallies
of
the great
lake of Valencia recals to the
mind the views of the lake of
Geneva, em-
beliſhed by the majeſty of the
vegetation
of the tropics. From Porto Cabello they
croſſed, to the ſouth, the immenſe
plains
of Calabozo, of
oco, alſo los
Llanos, a deſert ſimilar to
thoſe of
the reverberation of heat) the thermome-
ter of
Reamur roſe to 35 and 37 (111. to
115 F.) degrees. The
country is perfectly
level for 2000 ſquare leagues. The
ſand
every where repreſents the horizon of
the
ſea, without vegetation; and its dry
boſom hides the crocodiles, and the torpid
boa (a ſpecies of ſerpent.) The travelling
here, as in all
Mexico, is
performed on horſeback.—
They paſſed
whole days without ſeeing a
palm-tree or the
veſtige of a human dwel-
ling. At
provinces of
and
gation of nearly 1000 marine leagues exe-
cuted in canoes, making a chart of the
country
by the aſſiſtance of chronometers,
the
ſatellites of Jupiter, and the lunar diſ-
tances.
They deſcended the
which empties itſelf into the Oronoco, in 7
degrees of latitude. They aſcended the
laſt river (paſſing the celebrated cataracts
of Maypure and
the Guaviare. From thence they aſcended
the ſmall rivers of
Temi. From the
miſſion of Sarita they
croſſed by
land to the ſources of the
famous Rio Negro, which
ſaw, where it joins the
he calls a ſea of
freſh water. About 30
Indians carried the canoes
thro’ the woods
of Mami, Lecythis, and Laurus Cina-
momoides, to the cano (or creek) of
Pimichin. It
was by this ſmall ſtream that
the travellers
entered the Rio Negro, or
Black River, which they
deſcended to St.
Carlos, which has been
erroneouſly ſuppoſed
to be placed under the
the frontiers of Great Para, in the govern-
ment
of Braſil.
[After continuing to deſcribe at conſiderable
length the travels of the Baron through various parts
of
It was on the weſtern deſcent of the
firſt time, had the pleaſure of ſeeing the
ſides, formerly watered by the canals of
the Yngas at Santa Guerma, and Lima.
They remained ſome months in this in-
tereſting capital of Peru, of which the in-
habitants are diſtinguiſhed by the vivacity
of their genius, and the liberality of their
ideas.
Mr.
obſerve the end of the paſſage of
Mercury
over the ſun’s diſk, in the
port of Callao.
He was aſtoniſhed to find, at
ſuch a diſ-
tance from Europe, the moſt
recent pro-
ductions in chemiſtry, mathematics, and
medicine: and he found great activity of
mind
in the inhabitants, who, in a climate
where it never either
rains or thunders,
have been falſely accuſed of
indolence.
From Lima our travellers paſſed by ſea
to Guayaquil, ſituated on the brink of a
river, where the growth of the palm tree
is beautiful beyond deſcription. They
every moment heard the rumbling of the
volcano of Cotopaxi, which made an a-
larming exploſion on the 6th January, 1803.
They immediately ſet off to viſit it a
ſecond time, when the unexpected intelli-
gence of the ſpeedy departure of the
frigate Atalanta determined them to re-
turn, after being ſeven days expoſed to the
dreadful attacks of the muſquitoes of
baoya
They had a fortunate paſſage, by the
Pacific Ocean, to
port of the kingdom of New Spain, famous
for the beauty of its harbour, (which ap-
pears to have been formed by earthquakes,)
for the miſery of its inhabitants, and for
its climate, which is equally hot and un-
healthy.
Mr.
tention to remain only a few months in
Mexico, and to haſten his return to Eu-
rope; his voyage had already been too
much protracted, his inſtruments; particu-
larly the chronometers, began to be out of
order, and every effort that he made to
have new ones ſent to him proved of no
avail; add to this conſideration, that the
progreſs of ſcience is ſo rapid in Europe,
that, in a journey that laſts four or five
years, great riſk is run of contemplating
the different
which are no longer intereſting at the
moment of publiſhing the reſult of your
labours. Mr.
France in Auguſt or September, 1803, but
the attractions of a country, ſo beautiful
and ſo varied, as is that of the kingdom of
New Spain, the great hoſpitality of its in-
habitants, and the fear of the yellow fever,
ſo fatal, from June to November, for thoſe
who come from the mountainous part
of the country, led him to ſtay a year in
this kingdom.
Our travellers aſcended from
to Taſco, celebrated for its mines, as inter-
eſting as they are ancient. They riſe, by
ſmall degrees, from the ardent valley of
Meſcala and Papagayo, where the ther-
mometer of
conſtantly from 28 to 31 (95 to 101
Fah.), in a region 6 or 700 toiſes above
the level of the ſea, where you find the
oaks, the
pines, and the fougere (fern) as
large as trees, and where the
European
grains are cultivated. They paſſed
by
Taſco; by Cuerna Vaca, to the capital of
Mexico—This city of 150,000 inhabitants,
is placed upon the ancient ſite of Texoch-
titlan,
between the lakes of Tezucco and
Xochimilco, lakes which have
leſſened
ſomewhat ſince the
Spaniards have opened
the canal of Hucheutoca, in ſight
of two
ſnow-topped mountains, of which one, Po-
pocatepec, is even now an active volcano,
ſurrounded by a great number of walks,
ſhaded
with trees, and by Indian 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 fineſt towns in Europe. Great
ſcientific eſtabliſhments, ſuch as the Acade-
my of Painting, Sculpture, and Engrav-
ing, the College of Mines, (owning to the
liberality of the Company of Miners of
Mexico), and the Botanic Garden, are
inſtitutions which do honour to the govern-
ment which has created them.
After remaining ſome months in the
valley of Mexico, and after fixing the lon-
gitude of the capital, which had been laid
down with an error of nearly two degrees,
our travellers viſited the mines of Moran
and Real del Monte, and the Cerro of
Oyamel, where the ancient Mexicans had
the manufactory of knives made of the
obſidian ſtone. They ſoon after paſſed
ato, a town of fifty thouſand inhabitants,
and celebrated for its mines, more rich
than thoſe of Potoſi have ever been. The
mine of the count of Valenciana, which is
1840 French feet perpendicular depth,
is the deepeſt and richeſt mine of the uni-
verſe. This mine alone gives to its pro-
prietor nearly ſix hundred thouſand dollars
annual and conſtant profit.
From Guanaxoato they returned by
the valley of St. Jago to
Valladolid, in the
ancient kingdom of Michuacan, one of the
moſt fertile and charming provinces of the
kingdom. They deſended from Paſcuaro
towards the coaſt of the Pacific Ocean to
the plains of Serullo, where, in 1759, in
one night, a volcano
aroſe from the level,
ſurrounded by two
thouſand ſmall
mouths, from whence ſmoke
ſtill continues
to iſſue. They arrived
almoſt to the bot-
tom of the crater of the great volcano
of
Serullo, of which they analized the air,
and found it ſtrongly impregnated with
carbonic
acid.—They returned to Mexico
by the valley of Toluca,
and viſited the
volcano, to the higheſt point of
which
they aſcended, 14.400 French feet above
the level of the ſea.
In the months of January and Febru-
ary, 1804, they purſued
their reſearches
on the eaſtern deſcent of
the Cordilleras,
they meaſured the mountains Novados
de
la Puebla, Popocatyce, Izazihuatle, the
great peak of Orizaba, and the Cofre de
Perote; upon the top
of this laſt Mr.
of the ſun. In fine, after ſome
reſidence at
Xalappa, they embarked at Vera Cruz, for
the Havannah. They reſumed the col-
lections they had left there in 1801, and
by the way of
Philadelphia, embarked for
France, in July, 1804, after
ſix years of
abſence and labours. A collection
of
6000 different ſpecies of plants (of which
a greater part are new) and numerous
mineralogical, aſtronomical, chemical,
and moral
obſervations, have been the re-
ſult of this
expedition. Mr.
gives the higheſt praiſes to the liberal pro-
tection granted to his reſearches by the
Spaniſh government.
Baron
on the 14th of September, 1763.