Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We Visited The Ruins Of Tarragona And Those Of Ancient
Saguntum; And From Barcelona We Made An Excursion To Montserrat,
The Lofty Peaks Of Which Are Inhabited By Hermits, And Where The
Contrast Between Luxuriant Vegetation And Masses Of Naked And Arid
Rocks, Forms A Landscape Of A Peculiar Character.
I employed myself
in ascertaining by astronomical observations the position of
several points important for the geography of Spain, and determined
by means of the barometer the height of the central plain.
I
likewise made several observations on the inclination of the
needle, and on the intensity of the magnetic forces.
On my arrival at Madrid I had reason to congratulate myself on the
resolution I had formed of visiting the Peninsula. Baron de Forell,
minister from the court of Saxony, treated me with a degree of
kindness, of which I soon felt the value. He was well versed in
mineralogy, and was full of zeal for every undertaking that
promoted the progress of knowledge. He observed to me, that under
the administration of an enlightened minister, Don Mariano Luis de
Urquijo, I might hope to obtain permission to visit, at my own
expense, the interior of Spanish America. After the disappointments
I had suffered, I did not hesitate a moment to adopt this idea.
I was presented at the court of Aranjuez in March 1799 and the king
received me graciously. I explained to him the motives which led me
to undertake a voyage to the new world and the Philippine Islands,
and I presented a memoir on the subject to the secretary of state.
Senor de Urquijo supported my demand, and overcame every obstacle.
I obtained two passports, one from the first secretary of state,
the other from the council of the Indies. Never had so extensive a
permission been granted to any traveller, and never had any
foreigner been honoured with more confidence on the part of the
Spanish government.
Many considerations might have induced us to prolong our abode in
Spain. The abbe Cavanilles, no less remarkable for the variety of
his attainments than his acute intelligence; M. Nee, who, together
with M. Haenke, had, as botanist, made part of the expedition of
Malaspina, and who had formed one of the greatest herbals ever seen
in Europe; Don Casimir Ortega, the abbe Pourret, and the learned
authors of the Flora of Peru, Messrs. Ruiz and Pavon, all opened to
us without reserve their rich collections. We examined part of the
plants of Mexico, discovered by Messrs. Sesse, Mocino, and
Cervantes, whose drawings had been sent to the Museum of Natural
History of Madrid. This great establishment, the direction of which
was confided to Senor Clavijo, author of an elegant translation of
the works of Buffon, offered us, it is true, no geological
representation of the Cordilleras, but M. Proust, so well known by
the great accuracy of his chemical labours, and a distinguished
mineralogist, M. Hergen, gave us curious details on several mineral
substances of America. It would have been useful to us to have
employed a longer time in studying the productions of the countries
which were to be the objects of our research, but our impatience to
take advantage of the permission given us by the court was too
great to suffer us to delay our departure. For a year past, I had
experienced so many disappointments, that I could scarcely persuade
myself that my most ardent wishes would be at length fulfilled.
We left Madrid about the middle of May, crossed a part of Old
Castile, the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia, and reached Corunna,
whence we were to embark for Cuba. The winter having been
protracted and severe, we enjoyed during the journey that mild
temperature of the spring, which in so southern a latitude usually
occurs during March and April. The snow still covered the lofty
granitic tops of the Guadarama; but in the deep valleys of Galicia,
which resemble the most picturesque spots of Switzerland and the
Tyrol, cistuses loaded with flowers; and arborescent heaths clothed
every rock. We quitted without regret the elevated plain of the two
Castiles, which is everywhere devoid of vegetation, and where the
severity of the winter's cold is followed by the overwhelming heat
of summer. From the few observations I personally made, the
interior of Spain forms a vast plain, elevated three hundred toises
(five hundred and eighty-four metres) above the level of the ocean,
is covered with secondary formations, grit-stone, gypsum, sal-gem,
and the calcareous stone of Jura. The climate of the Castiles is
much colder than that of Toulon and Genoa; its mean temperature
scarcely rises to 15 degrees of the centigrade thermometer.
We are astonished to find that, in the latitude of Calabria,
Thessaly, and Asia Minor, orange-trees do not flourish in the open
air. The central elevated plain is encircled by a low and narrow
zone, where the chamaerops, the date-tree, the sugar-cane, the
banana, and a number of plants common to Spain and the north of
Africa, vegetate on several spots, without suffering from the
rigours of winter. From the 36th to 40th degrees of latitude, the
medium temperature of this zone is from 17 to 20 degrees; and by a
concurrence of circumstances, which it would be too long to
explain, this favoured region has become the principal seat of
industry and intellectual improvement.
When, in the kingdom of Valencia, we ascend from the shore of the
Mediterranean towards the lofty plains of La Mancha and the
Castiles, we seem to discern, far inland, from the lengthened
declivities, the ancient coast of the Peninsula. This curious
phenomenon recalls the traditions of the Samothracians, and other
historical testimonies, according to which it is supposed that the
irruption of the waters through the Dardanelles, augmenting the
basin of the Mediterranean, rent and overflowed the southern part
of Europe. If we admit that these traditions owe their origin, not
to mere geological reveries, but to the remembrance of some ancient
catastrophe, we may conceive the central elevated plain of Spain
resisting the efforts of these great inundations, till the draining
of the waters, by the straits formed between the pillars of
Hercules, brought the Mediterranean progressively to its present
level, lower Egypt emerging above its surface on the one side, and
the fertile plains of Tarragona, Valencia, and Murcia, on the
other.
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