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 248 of 779 - First - Home
On the 16th of July, 1799, at break of day, we beheld a verdant
coast, of picturesque aspect. The mountains of New Andalusia,
half-veiled by mists, bounded the horizon to the south. The city of
Cumana and its castle appeared between groups of cocoa-trees. We
anchored in the port about nine in the morning, forty-one days
after our departure from Corunna; the sick dragged themselves on
deck to enjoy the sight of a land which was to put an end to their
sufferings. Our eyes were fixed on the groups of cocoa-trees which
border the river: their trunks, more than sixty feet high, towered
over every object in the landscape. The plain was covered with the
tufts of Cassia, Caper, and those arborescent mimosas, which, like
the pine of Italy, spread their branches in the form of an
umbrella. The pinnated leaves of the palms were conspicuous on the
azure sky, the clearness of which was unsullied by any trace of
vapour. The sun was ascending rapidly toward the zenith. A dazzling
light was spread through the air, along the whitish hills strewed
with cylindric cactuses, and over a sea ever calm, the shores of
which were peopled with alcatras,* (* A brown pelican, of the size
of a swan. (Pelicanus fuscus, Linn.)) egrets, and flamingoes. The
splendour of the day, the vivid colouring of the vegetable world,
the forms of the plants, the varied plumage of the birds,
everything was stamped with the grand character of nature in the
equinoctial regions.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 248 of 779
Words from 67210 to 67475
of 211363
