Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
- Page 128 of 779 - First - Home
A few goats and
rabbits only bound across the plain.
The barren region of the peak
is nine square leagues; and as the lower regions viewed from this
point retrograde in the distance, the island appears an immense
heap of torrefied matter, hemmed round by a scanty border of
vegetation.
From the region of the Spartium nubigenum we passed through narrow
defiles, and small ravines hollowed at a very remote time by the
torrents, first arriving at a more elevated plain (el Monton de
Trigo), then at the place where we intended to pass the night. This
station, which is more than 1530 toises above the coast, bears the
name of the English Halt (Estancia de los Ingleses* (* This
denomination was in use as early as the beginning of the last
century. Mr. Eden, who corrupts all Spanish words, as do most
travellers in our own times, calls it the Stancha: it is the
Station des Rochers of M. Borda, as is proved by the barometrical
heights there observed. These heights were in 1803, according to M.
Cordier, 19 inches 9.5 lines; and in 1776, according to Messrs.
Borda and Varela, 19 inches 9.8 lines; the barometer at Orotava
keeping within nearly a line at the same height.)), no doubt
because most of the travellers, who formerly visited the peak, were
Englishmen. Two inclined rocks form a kind of cavern, which affords
a shelter from the winds. This point, which is higher than the
summit of the Canigou, can be reached on the backs of mules; and
here has ended the expedition of numbers of travellers, who on
leaving Orotava hoped to have ascended to the brink of the crater.
Though in the midst of summer, and under an African sky, we
suffered from cold during the night.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 128 of 779
Words from 34607 to 34911
of 211363
