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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We Ascended During Three Quarters Of
An Hour, Sometimes In The Water, Which Was Shallow, Sometimes
Between The Torrent And A Wall Of Rocks, On A Soil Extremely
Slippery And Miry.
The falling down of the earth, the scattered
trunks of trees, over which the mules could scarcely pass, and the
creeping plants that covered the ground, rendered this part of the
road fatiguing.
We were surprised to find here, at scarcely 500
toises above the level of the sea, a cruciferous plant, Raphanus
pinnatus. Plants of this family are very rare in the tropics; they
have in some sort a northern character, and therefore we never
expected to see one on the plain of Caripe at so inconsiderable an
elevation. The northern character also appears in the Galium
caripense, the Valeriana scandens, and a sanicle not unlike the S.
marilandica.
At the foot of the lofty mountain of the Guacharo, we were only
four hundred paces from the cavern, without yet perceiving the
entrance. The torrent runs in a crevice hollowed out by the waters,
and we went on under a cornice, the projection of which prevented
us from seeing the sky. The path winds in the direction of the
river; and at the last turning we came suddenly before the immense
opening of the grotto. The aspect of this spot is majestic, even to
the eye of a traveller accustomed to the picturesque scenery of the
higher Alps. I had before this seen the caverns of the peak of
Derbyshire, where, lying down flat in a boat, we proceeded along a
subterranean river, under an arch two feet high.
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