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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In The New
World, On The Coasts Of New Andalusia, The Laguna Del Obispo
(Bishop's Lake) Is Formed Exactly Like The Port Of Ferrol.
The most
curious geological phenomena are often repeated at immense
distances on the surface of continents; and naturalists who
Have
examined different parts of the globe, are struck with the extreme
resemblance observed in the rents on coasts, in the sinuosities of
the valleys, in the aspect of the mountains, and in their
distribution by groups. The accidental concurrence of the same
causes must have everywhere produced the same effects; and amidst
the variety of nature, an analogy of structure and form is observed
in the arrangement of inanimate matter, as well as in the internal
organization of plants and of animals.
Crossing from Corunna to Ferrol, over a shallow, near the White
Signal, in the bay, which according to D'Anville is the Portus
Magnus of the ancients, we made several experiments by means of a
valved thermometrical sounding lead, on the temperature of the
ocean, and on the decrement of caloric in the successive strata of
water. The thermometer on the bank, and near the surface, was from
12.5 to 13.3 degrees centigrades, while in deep water it constantly
marked 15 or 15.3 degrees, the air being at 12.8 degrees. The
celebrated Franklin and Mr. Jonathan Williams* (* Author of a work
entitled "Thermometrical Navigation," published at Philadelphia.)
were the first to invite the attention of naturalists to the
phenomena of the temperature of the Atlantic over shoals, and in
that zone of tepid and flowing waters which runs from the gulf of
Mexico to the banks of Newfoundland and the northern coasts of
Europe. The observation, that the proximity of a sand-bank is
indicated by a rapid descent of the temperature of the sea at its
surface, is not only interesting to the naturalist, but may become
also very important for the safety of navigators. The use of the
thermometer ought certainly not to lead us to neglect the use of
the lead; but experiments sufficiently prove, that variations of
temperature, sensible to the most imperfect instruments, indicate
danger long before the vessel reaches the shoals. In such cases,
the frigidity of the water may induce the pilot to heave the lead
in places where he thought himself in the most perfect safety. The
waters which cover the shoals owe in a great measure the diminution
of their temperature to their mixture with the lower strata of
water, which rise towards the surface on the edge of the banks.
The moment of leaving Europe for the first time is attended with a
solemn feeling. We in vain summon to our minds the frequency of the
communication between the two worlds; we in vain reflect on the
great facility with which, from the improved state of navigation,
we traverse the Atlantic, which compared to the Pacific is but a
larger arm of the sea; the sentiment we feel when we first
undertake so distant a voyage is not the less accompanied by a deep
emotion, unlike any other impression we have hitherto felt.
Separated from the objects of our dearest affections, entering in
some sort on a new state of existence, we are forced to fall back
on our own thoughts, and we feel within ourselves a dreariness we
have never known before. Among the letters which, at the time of
our embarking, I wrote to friends in France and Germany, one had a
considerable influence on the direction of our travels, and on our
succeeding operations. When I left Paris with the intention of
visiting the coast of Africa, the expedition for discoveries in the
Pacific seemed to be adjourned for several years. I had agreed with
captain Baudin, that if, contrary to his expectation, his voyage
took place at an earlier period, and intelligence of it should
reach me in time, I would endeavour to return from Algiers to a
port in France or Spain, to join the expedition. I renewed this
promise on leaving Europe, and wrote to M. Baudin, that if the
government persisted in sending him by Cape Horn, I would endeavour
to meet him either at Monte Video, Chile, or Lima, or wherever he
should touch in the Spanish colonies. In consequence of this
engagement, I changed the plan of my journey, on reading in the
American papers, in 1801, that the French expedition had sailed
from Havre, to circumnavigate the globe from east to west. I hired
a small vessel from Batabano, in the island of Cuba, to Portobello,
and thence crossed the isthmus to the coast of the Pacific; this
mistake of a journalist led M. Bonpland and myself to travel eight
hundred leagues through a country we had no intention to visit. It
was only at Quito, that a letter from M. Delambre, perpetual
secretary of the first class of the Institute, informed us, that
captain Baudin went by the Cape of Good Hope, without touching on
the eastern or western coasts of America.
We spent two days at Corunna, after our instruments were embarked.
A thick fog, which covered the horizon, at length indicated the
change of weather we so anxiously desired. On the 4th of June, in
the evening, the wind turned to north-east, a point which, on the
coast of Galicia, is considered very constant during the summer.
The Pizarro prepared to sail on the 5th, though we had intelligence
that only a few hours previously an English squadron had been seen
from the watch-tower of Sisarga, appearing to stand towards the
mouth of the Tagus. Those who saw our ship weigh anchor asserted
that we should be captured in three days, and that, forced to
follow the fate of the vessel, we should be carried to Lisbon. This
prognostic gave us the more uneasiness, as we had known some
Mexicans at Madrid, who, in order to return to Vera Cruz, had
embarked three times at Cadiz, and having been each time taken at
the entrance of the port, were at length obliged to return to Spain
through Portugal.
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