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 Farther Progress We Made Towards The
South, The More Frequent Was This Phenomenon, Especially Near The
Canaries.
I have observed during my travels, that these igneous
meteors are in general more common and luminous in some
Regions of
the globe than in others; but I have never beheld them so
multiplied as in the vicinity of the volcanoes of the province of
Quito, and in that part of the Pacific ocean which bathes the
volcanic coasts of Guatimala. The influence which place, climate,
and season appear to exercise on the falling stars, distinguishes
this class of meteors from those to which we trace stones that drop
from the sky (aerolites), and which probably exist beyond the
boundaries of our atmosphere. According to the observations of
Messrs. Benzenberg and Brandes, many of the falling stars seen in
Europe have been only thirty thousand toises high. One was even
measured which did not exceed fourteen thousand toises, or five
nautical leagues. These measures, which can give no result but by
approximation, deserve well to be repeated. In warm climates,
especially within the tropics, falling stars leave a tail behind
them, which remains luminous 12 or 15 seconds: at other times they
seem to burst into sparks, and they are generally lower than those
in the north of Europe. We perceive them only in a serene and azure
sky; they have perhaps never been below a cloud. Falling stars
often follow the same direction for several hours, which direction
is that of the wind. In the bay of Naples, M. Gay-Lussac and myself
observed luminous phenomena very analogous to those which fixed my
attention during a long abode at Mexico and Quito. These meteors
are perhaps modified by the nature of the soil and the air, like
certain effects of the looming or mirage, and of the terrestrial
refraction peculiar to the coasts of Calabria and Sicily.
When we were forty leagues east of the island of Madeira, a
swallow* (* Hirundo rustica, Linn.) perched on the topsail-yard. It
was so fatigued, that it suffered itself to be easily taken. It was
remarkable that a bird, in that season, and in calm weather, should
fly so far. In the expedition of d'Entrecasteaux, a common swallow
was seen 60 leagues distant from Cape Blanco; but this was towards
the end of October, and M. Labillardiere thought it had newly
arrived from Europe. We crossed these latitudes in June, at a
period when the seas had not for a long time been agitated by
tempests. I mention this last circumstance, because small birds and
even butterflies, are sometimes forced out to sea by the
impetuosity of the winds, as we observed in the Pacific ocean, when
we were on the western coast of Mexico.
The Pizarro had orders to touch at the isle of Lancerota, one of
the seven great Canary Islands; and at five in the afternoon of the
16th of June, that island appeared so distinctly in view that I was
able to take the angle of altitude of a conic mountain, which
towered majestically over the other summits, and which we thought
was the great volcano which had occasioned such devastation on the
night of the 1st of September, 1730.
The current drew us toward the coast more rapidly than we wished.
As we advanced, we discovered at first the island of Forteventura,
famous for its numerous camels;* (* These camels, which serve for
labour, and sometimes for food, did not exist till the Bethencourts
made the conquest of the Canaries. In the sixteenth century, asses
were so abundant in the island of Forteventura, that they became
wild and were hunted. Several thousands were killed to save the
harvest. The horses of Forteventura are of singular beauty, and of
the Barbary race. - "Noticias de la Historia General de las Islas
Canarias" por Don Jose de Viera, tome 2 page 436.) and a short time
after we saw the small island of Lobos in the channel which
separates Forteventura from Lancerota. We spent part of the night
on deck. The moon illumined the volcanic summits of Lancerota, the
flanks of which, covered with ashes, reflected a silver light.
Antares threw out its resplendent rays near the lunar disk, which
was but a few degrees above the horizon. The night was beautifully
serene and cool. Though we were but a little distance from the
African coast, and on the limit of the torrid zone, the centigrade
thermometer rose no higher than 18 degrees. The phosphorescence of
the ocean seemed to augment the mass of light diffused through the
air. After midnight, great black clouds rising behind the volcano
shrouded at intervals the moon and the beautiful constellation of
the Scorpion. We beheld lights carried to and fro on shore, which
were probably those of fishermen preparing for their labours. We
had been occasionally employed, during our passage, in reading the
old voyages of the Spaniards, and these moving lights recalled to
our fancy those which Pedro Gutierrez, page of Queen Isabella, saw
in the isle of Guanahani, on the memorable night of the discovery
of the New World.
On the 17th, in the morning, the horizon was foggy, and the sky
slightly covered with vapour. The outlines of the mountains of
Lancerota appeared stronger: the humidity, increasing the
transparency of the air, seemed at the same time to have brought
the objects nearer our view. This phenomenon is well known to all
who have made hygrometrical observations in places whence the chain
of the Higher Alps or of the Andes is seen. We passed through the
channel which divides the isle of Alegranza from Montana Clara,
taking soundings the whole way; and we examined the archipelago of
small islands situated northward of Lancerota. In the midst of this
archipelago, which is seldom visited by vessels bound for
Teneriffe, we were singularly struck with the configuration of the
coasts. We thought ourselves transported to the Euganean mountains
in the Vicentin, or the banks of the Rhine near Bonn.
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