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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It Is Kept In Better Order Than The Old Road, Which Led
From The Port Of Vera Cruz To Perote, On The Eastern Declivity Of
The Mountains Of New Spain.
With good mules it takes but three
hours to go from the port of La Guayra to Caracas; and only two
hours to return.
With loaded mules, or on foot, the journey is from
four to five hours. The road runs along a ridge of rocks extremely
steep, and after passing the stations bearing respectively the
names of Torre Quemada, Curucuti, and Salto, we arrive at a large
inn (La Venta) built at six hundred toises above the level of the
sea. The name Torre Quemada, or Burnt Tower, indicates the
sensation that is felt in descending towards La Guayra. A
suffocating heat is reflected from the walls of rock, and
especially from the barren plains on which the traveller looks
down. On this road, as on that from Vera Cruz to Mexico, and
wherever on a rapid declivity the climate changes, the increase of
muscular strength and the sensation of well-being, which we
experience as we advance into strata of cooler air, have always
appeared to me less striking than the feeling of languor and
debility which pervades the frame, when we descend towards the
burning plains of the coast. But such is the organization of man;
and even in the moral world, we are less soothed by that which
ameliorates our condition than annoyed by a new sensation of
discomfort.
From Curucuti to Salto the ascent is somewhat less laborious. The
sinuosities of the way render the declivity easier, as in the old
road over Mont Cenis. The Salto (or Leap) is a crevice, which is
crossed by a draw-bridge. Fortifications crown the summit of the
mountain. At La Venta the thermometer at noon stood at 19.3
degrees, when at La Guayra it kept up at the same hour at 26.2
degrees. La Venta enjoys some celebrity in Europe and in the United
States, for the beauty of its surrounding scenery. When the clouds
permit, this spot affords a magnificent view of the sea, and the
neighbouring coasts. An horizon of more than twenty-two leagues
radius is visible; the white and barren shore reflects a dazzling
mass of light; and the spectator beholds at his feet Cabo Blanco,
the village of Maiquetia with its cocoa-trees, La Guayra, and the
vessels in the port. But I found this view far more extraordinary,
when the sky was not serene, and when trains of clouds, strongly
illumined on their upper surface, seemed projected like floating
islands on the ocean. Strata of vapour, hovering at different
heights, formed intermediary spaces between the eye and the lower
regions. By an illusion easily explained, they enlarged the scene,
and rendered it more majestic. Trees and dwellings appeared at
intervals through the openings, which were left by the clouds when
driven on by the winds, and rolling over one another.
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