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
Latter Certainly Do Not Belong To Our Atmosphere.) Does The
Periodical Recurrence Of This Great Phenomenon Depend Upon The
State Of The Atmosphere?
Or upon something which the atmosphere
receives from without, while the earth advances in the ecliptic?
Of
all this we are still as ignorant as mankind were in the days of
Anaxagoras.
With respect to the falling-stars themselves, it appears to me,
from my own experience, that they are more frequent in the
equinoctial regions than in the temperate zone; and more frequent
above continents, and near certain coasts, than in the middle of
the ocean. Do the radiation of the surface of the globe, and the
electric charge of the lower regions of the atmosphere (which
varies according to the nature of the soil and the positions of the
continents and seas), exert their influence as far as those heights
where eternal winter reigns? The total absence of even the smallest
clouds, at certain seasons, or above some barren plains destitute
of vegetation, seems to prove that this influence can be felt as
far as five or six thousand toises high.
A phenomenon analogous to that which appeared on the 12th of
November at Cumana, was observed thirty years previously on the
table-land of the Andes, in a country studded with volcanoes. In
the city of Quito there was seen in one part of the sky, above the
volcano of Cayamba, such great numbers of falling-stars, that the
mountain was thought to be in flames. This singular sight lasted
more than an hour. The people assembled in the plain of Exido,
which commands a magnificent view of the highest summits of the
Cordilleras. A procession was on the point of setting out from the
convent of San Francisco, when it was perceived that the blaze on
the horizon was caused by fiery meteors, which ran along the skies
in all directions, at the altitude of twelve or thirteen degrees.
CHAPTER 1.11.
PASSAGE FROM CUMANA TO LA GUAYRA.
MORRO OF NUEVA BARCELONA.
CAPE CODERA.
ROAD FROM LA GUAYRA TO CARACAS.
On the 16th of November, at eight in the evening, we were under
sail to proceed along the coast from Cumana to the port of La
Guayra, whence the inhabitants of the province of Venezuela export
the greater part of their produce. The passage is only a distance
of sixty leagues, and it usually occupies from thirty-six to forty
hours. The little coasting vessels are favoured at once by the wind
and by the currents, which run with more or less force from east to
west, along the coasts of Terra Firma, particularly from cape Paria
to the cape of Chichibacoa. The road by land from Cumana to New
Barcelona, and thence to Caracas, is nearly in the same state as
that in which it was before the discovery of America. The traveller
has to contend with the obstacles presented by a miry soil, large
scattered rocks, and strong vegetation. He must sleep in the open
air, pass through the valleys of the Unare, the Tuy, and the
Capaya, and cross torrents which swell rapidly on account of the
proximity of the mountains. To these obstacles must be added the
dangers arising from the extreme insalubrity of the country. The
very low lands, between the sea-shore and the chain of hills
nearest the coast, from the bay of Mochima as far as Coro, are
extremely unhealthy. But the last-mentioned town, which is
surrounded by an immense wood of thorny cactuses, owes its great
salubrity, like Cumana, to its barren soil and the absence of rain.
In returning from Caracas to Cumana, the road by land is sometimes
preferred to the passage by sea, to avoid the adverse current. The
postman from Caracas is nine days in performing this journey. We
often saw persons, who had followed him, arrive at Cumana ill of
nervous and miasmatic fevers. The tree of which the bark* furnishes
a salutary remedy for those fevers (* Cortex Angosturae of our
pharmacopaeias, the bark of the Bonplandia trifoliata.), grows in
the same valleys, and upon the edge of the same forests which send
forth the pernicious exhalations. M. Bonpland recognised the
cuspare in the vegetation of the gulf of Santa Fe, situated between
the ports of Cumana and Barcelona. The sickly traveller may
perchance repose in a cottage, the inhabitants of which are
ignorant of the febrifuge qualities of the trees that shade the
surrounding valleys.
Having proceeded by sea from Cumana to La Guayra, we intended to
take up our abode in the town of Caracas, till the end of the rainy
season. From Caracas we proposed to direct our course across the
great plains or llanos, to the Missions of the Orinoco; to go up
that vast river, to the south of the cataracts, as far as the Rio
Negro and the frontiers of Brazil; and thence to return to Cumana
by the capital of Spanish Guiana, commonly called, on account of
its situation, Angostura, or the Strait. We could not determine the
time we might require to accomplish a tour of seven hundred
leagues, more than two-thirds of that distance having to be
traversed in boats. The only parts of the Orinoco known on the
coasts are those near its mouth. No commercial intercourse is kept
up with the Missions. The whole of the country beyond the llanos is
unknown to the inhabitants of Cumana and Caracas. Some think that
the plains of Calabozo, covered with turf, stretch eight hundred
leagues southward, communicating with the Steppes or Pampas of
Buenos Ayres; others, recalling to mind the great mortality which
prevailed among the troops of Iturriaga and Solano, during their
expedition to the Orinoco, consider the whole country, south of the
cataracts of Atures, as extremely pernicious to health. In a region
where travelling is so uncommon, people seem to feel a pleasure in
exaggerating to strangers the difficulties arising from the
climate, the wild animals, and the Indians.
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