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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The Force Of This Current Augments
As We Approach The New Continent; It Is Modified By The
Configuration Of The Coasts Of Brazil And Guiana, And Not By The
Waters Of The Orinoco And The Amazon, As Some Have Supposed.
From the time we entered the torrid zone, we were never weary of
admiring, at night, the beauty of the southern sky, which, as we
advanced to the south, opened new constellations to our view.
We
feel an indescribable sensation when, on approaching the equator,
and particularly on passing from one hemisphere to the other, we
see those stars, which we have contemplated from our infancy,
progressively sink, and finally disappear. Nothing awakens in the
traveller a livelier remembrance of the immense distance by which
he is separated from his country, than the aspect of an unknown
firmament. The grouping of the stars of the first magnitude, some
scattered nebulae, rivalling in splendour the milky way, and tracts
of space remarkable for their extreme blackness, give a peculiar
physiognomy to the southern sky. This sight fills with admiration
even those who, uninstructed in the several branches of physical
science, feel the same emotion of delight in the contemplation of
the heavenly vault, as in the view of a beautiful landscape, or a
majestic site. A traveller needs not to be a botanist, to recognize
the torrid zone by the mere aspect of its vegetation. Without
having acquired any notions of astronomy, without any acquaintance
with the celestial charts of Flamsteed and De La Caille, he feels
he is not in Europe, when he sees the immense constellation of the
Ship, or the phosphorescent Clouds of Magellan, arise on the
horizon. The heavens and the earth, - everything in the equinoctial
regions, presents an exotic character.
The lower regions of the air were loaded with vapours for some
days. We saw distinctly for the first time the Southern Cross only
on the night of the 4th of July, in the sixteenth degree of
latitude. It was strongly inclined, and appeared from time to time
between the clouds, the centre of which, furrowed by uncondensed
lightnings, reflected a silvery light. If a traveller may be
permitted to speak of his personal emotions, I shall add, that on
that night I experienced the realization of one of the dreams of my
early youth.
When we begin to fix our eyes on geographical maps, and to read the
narratives of navigators, we feel for certain countries and
climates a sort of predilection, which we know not how to account
for at a more advanced period of life. These impressions, however,
exercise a considerable influence over our determinations; and from
a sort of instinct we endeavour to connect ourselves with objects
on which the mind has long been fixed as by a secret charm. At a
period when I studied the heavens, not with the intention of
devoting myself to astronomy, but only to acquire a knowledge of
the stars, I was disturbed by a feeling unknown to those who are
devoted to sedentary life.
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