BARON HUMBOLDT.

(The following extracts are made from an abstract of Baron Humboldt's Travels in America)

Baron Humboldt, having travelled from the year 1790, 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 of the national museum, to accompany captain Baudin in his voyage round the world.--Citizen Alexander Aime Goujon Bonpland, a native of Rochelle, and brought up in the Paris museum, was allo to have accompanied them; when on the point of departing, the whole plan was suspended until a more favourable opportunity, owing to the recommencement of the war with Austria, and to the consequent want of funds.

Mr. Humboldt, who, from 1792, had 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 resolved to follow the learned men, who had gone on the expedition to Egypt.--His plan was to go to Algiers in the Swedish frigate which carried the consul Skoldebrandt, to follow the caravan which goes from Algiers to Mecca, going through Egypt to Arabia, and thence by the Persian gulph to the English East-India establishments.

The war which unexpectedly broke out in October 1798, between France and the Barbary powers, and the troubles in the East, prevented Mr.

Humboldt 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 Egypt, he went to Spain, hoping to pass more readily under the Spanish flag from Carthagena to Algiers and Tunis.

He took with him the large collection of philosophical, chemical, and astronomical instruments which he had purchased in England and France.

From a happy concurrence of circumstances, 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 government 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. Humboldt, in June, 1799, left Europe, accompanied by Mr. Bonpland, who, to a profound knowledge of botany and zoology, added an indefatigable zeal.

It is with this friend that Mr.

Humboldt has 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 Corunna in the Spanish ship Pizarro, for the Canary islands, where they 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 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 earthquakes, the hottest, and yet the most healthy; in the world) of New Barcelona, of Venezuela, and of Spanish Guayana.-- In January, 1800, they left Caraccas to visit the beautiful vallies of Aragua, where the great lake of Valencia recals to the mind the views of the lake of Geneva, embelished by the majesty of the vegetation of the tropics.

From Porto Cabello they crossed, to the south, the immense plains of Calabozo, of Apure, and of the Oronoco, also los Llanos, a desert similar to those of Africa; where in the shade (by the reverberation of heat) the thermometer 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 Spanish America, except Mexico, is performed on horseback.-- They passed whole days without seeing a palm-tree or the vestige of a human dwelling. At St.

Fernando de Apure, in the provinces of Varinas, Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland began that fatiguing navigation of nearly 1000 marine leagues executed in canoes, making a chart of the country by the assistance of chronometers, the satellites of Jupiter, and the lunar distances.

They descended the river Apure, which empties itself into the Oronoco, in 7 degrees of latitude.

They ascended the last river (passing the celebrated cataracts of Maypure and Atures) to the mouth of the Guaviare.

From thence they ascended the small rivers of Tabapa, Juamini, and Temi.

From the mission of Sarita they crossed by land to the sources of the famous Rio Negro, which Condamine saw, where it joins the Amazon, and which he calls a sea of fresh water.

About 30 Indians carried the canoes thro' the woods of Mami, Lecythis, and Laurus Cinamomoides, 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 equator, or just at the frontiers of Great Para, in the government of Brasil.

[After continuing to describe at considerable length the travels of the Baron through various parts of South-America, the abstract concludes as follows:]

It was on the western descent of the Andes that these voyagers, for the first time, had the pleasure of seeing the Pacific Ocean.

They followed its barren sides, formerly watered by the canals of the Yngas at Santa Guerma, and Lima.

They remained some months in this interesting capital of Peru, of which the inhabitants are distinguished by the vivacity of their genius, and the liberality of their ideas.

Mr. Humboldt had the good fortune to 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 distance from Europe, the most recent productions 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 alarming explosion on the 6th January, 1803.

They immediately set off to visit it a second time, when the unexpected intelligence of the speedy departure of the frigate Atalanta determined them to return, after being seven days exposed to the dreadful attacks of the musquitoes of Babaoya and Ujibar.

They had a fortunate passage, by the Pacific Ocean, to Acapulco, the western port of the kingdom of New Spain, famous for the beauty of its harbour, (which appears to have been formed by earthquakes,) for the misery of its inhabitants, and for its climate, which is equally hot and unhealthy.

Mr. Humboldt had originally the intention to remain only a few months in Mexico, and to hasten his return to Europe; his voyage had already been too much protracted, his instruments; particularly 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 phenomena under aspects, which are no longer interesting at the moment of publishing the result of your labours.

Mr. Humboldt hoped to be in 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 inhabitants, 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 Acapulco to Tasco, celebrated for its mines, as interesting as they are ancient.

They rise, by small degrees, from the ardent valley of Mescala and Papagayo, where the thermometer of Reaumur stands, in the shade 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 Texochtitlan, 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, Popocatepec, 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 Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving, 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 government which has created them.

After remaining some months in the valley of Mexico, and after fixing the longitude 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 by Queretaro and Salamanca to Guanaxoato, 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 universe.

This mine alone gives to its proprietor 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 bottom 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 February, 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.

Humboldt observed the meredian height of the sun.

In fine, after some residence at Xalappa, they embarked at Vera Cruz, for the Havannah.

They resumed the collections 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 result of this expedition.

Mr. Humboldt gives the highest praises to the liberal protection granted to his researches by the Spanish government.

Baron Humboldt was born in Prussia, on the 14th of September, 1763.