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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Its Edges, A Little Translucid, Give It
Some Resemblance To The Hornstone, So Common In Secondary
Limestones.* (* In Switzerland, The
Hornstone passing into common
jasper is found in kidney-stones, and in layers both in the Alpine
and Jura limestone,
Especially in the former.) It is remarkable
that we find the schistose jasper which in Europe characterizes the
transition rocks,* (The transition-limestone and schist.) in a
limestone having great analogy with that of Jura. In the study of
formations, which is the great end of geognosy, the knowledge
acquired in the old and new worlds should be made to furnish
reciprocal aid to each other. It appears that these black strata
are found also in the calcareous mountains of the island of
Boracha.* (* We saw some of it as ballast, in a fishing boat at
Punta Araya. Its fragments might have been mistaken for basalt.)
Another jasper, that known by the name of the Egyptian pebble, was
found by M. Bonpland near the Indian village of Curacatiche or
Curacaguitiche, fifteen leagues south of the Morro of Barcelona,
when, on our return from the Orinoco, we crossed the llanos, and
approached the mountains on the coast. This stone presented
yellowish concentric lines and bands, on a reddish brown ground. It
appeared to me that the round pieces of Egyptian jasper belonged
also to the Barcelona limestone. Yet, according to M. Cordier, the
fine pebbles of Suez owe their origin to a breccia formation, or
siliceous agglomerate.
At the moment of our setting sail, on the 19th of November, at
noon, I took some altitudes of the moon, to determine the longitude
of the Morro. The difference of meridian between Cumana and the
town of Barcelona, where I made a great number of astronomical
observations in 1800, is 34 minutes 48 seconds. I found the dip of
the needle 42.20 degrees: the intensity of the forces was equal to
224 oscillations.
From the Morro of Barcelona to Cape Codera, the land becomes low,
as it recedes southward; and the soundings extend to the distance
of three miles. Beyond this we find the bottom at forty-five or
fifty fathoms. The temperature of the sea at its surface was 25.9
degrees; but when we were passing through the narrow channel which
separates the two Piritu Islands, in three fathoms water, the
thermometer was only 24.5 degrees. The difference would perhaps be
greater, if the current, which runs rapidly westward, stirred up
deeper water; and if, in a pass of such small width, the land did
not contribute to raise the temperature of the sea. The Piritu
Islands resemble those shoals which become visible when the tide
falls. They do not rise more than eight or nine inches above the
mean height of the sea. Their surface is smooth, and covered with
grass. We might have thought we were gazing on some of our own
northern meadows. The disk of the setting sun appeared like a globe
of fire suspended over the savannah; and its last rays, as they
swept the earth, illumined the grass, which was at the same time
agitated by the evening breeze.
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