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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During The Short Space Of Time That The Sky Was Serene At The
Zenith, I Found The Blue Of The Atmosphere Sensibly Deeper Than On
The Coasts.
It is probable that, in the months of July and August,
the difference between the colour of the sky
On the coasts and on
the summit of the Silla is still more considerable, but the
meteorological phenomenon with which M. Bonpland and myself were
most struck during the hour we passed on the mountain, was the
apparent dryness of the air, which seemed to increase as the fog
augmented.
This fog soon became so dense that it would have been imprudent to
remain longer on the edge of a precipice of seven or eight thousand
feet deep.* (* In the direction of north-west the slopes appear
more accessible; and I have been told of a path frequented by
smugglers, which leads to Caravalleda, between the two peaks of the
Silla. From the eastern peak I took the bearings of the western
peak, 64 degrees 40 minutes south-west; and of the houses, which I
was told belonged to Caravalleda, 55 degrees 20 minutes north-west.
) We descended the eastern dome of the Silla, and gathered in our
descent a gramen, which not only forms a new and very remarkable
genus, but which, to our great astonishment, we found again some
time after on the summit of the volcano of Pichincha, at the
distance of four hundred leagues from the Silla, in the southern
hemisphere.* (* Aegopogon cenchroides.) The Lichen floridus, so
common in the north of Europe, covered the branches of the befaria
and the Gualtheria odorata, descending even to the roots of these
shrubs. Examining the mosses which cover the rocks of gneiss in the
valley between the two peaks, I was surprised at finding real
pebbles, - rounded fragments of quartz.* (* Fragments of brown
copper-ore were found mixed with these pebbles, at an elevation of
1170 toises.) It may be conceived that the valley of Caracas was
once an inland lake, before the Rio Guayra found an issue to the
east near Caurimare, at the foot of the hill of Auyamas, and before
the ravine of Tipe opened on the west, in the direction of Gatia
and Cabo Blanco. But how can we imagine that these waters could
ascend as high as the Silla, when the mountains opposite this peak,
those of Ocumare, were too low to prevent their overflow into the
llanos? The pebbles could not have been brought by torrents from
more elevated points, since there is no height that commands the
Silla. Must we admit that they have been heaved up, like all the
mountains which border the coast.
It was half after four in the afternoon when we finished our
observations. Satisfied with the success of our journey, we forgot
that there might be danger in descending in the dark, steep
declivities covered by a smooth and slippery turf. The mist
concealed the valley from us; but we distinguished the double hill
of La Puerta, which, like all objects lying almost perpendicularly
beneath the eye, appeared extremely near.
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