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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The Vexation Of Seeing The Stars Disappear In A Misty Sky Was The
Only Disappointment We Felt In The Valley Of Caripe.
The aspect of
this spot presents a character at once wild and tranquil, gloomy
and attractive.
In the solitude of these mountains we are perhaps
less struck by the new impressions we receive at every step, than
with the marks of resemblance we trace in climates the most remote
from each other. The hills by which the convent is backed, are
crowned with palm-trees and arborescent ferns. In the evenings,
when the sky denotes rain, the air resounds with the monotonous
howling of the alouate apes, which resembles the distant sound of
wind when it shakes the forest. Yet amid these strange sounds,
these wild forms of plants, and these prodigies of a new world,
nature everywhere speaks to man in a voice familiar to him. The
turf that overspreads the soil: the old moss and fern that cover
the roots of the trees; the torrents that gush down the sloping
banks of the calcareous rocks; in fine, the harmonious accordance
of tints reflected by the waters, the verdure, and the sky;
everything recalls to the traveller, sensations which he has
already felt.
The beauties of this mountain scenery so much engaged us, that we
were very tardy in observing the embarrassment felt by our kind
entertainers the monks. They had but a slender provision of wine
and wheaten bread; and although in those high regions both are
considered as belonging merely to the luxuries of the table, yet we
saw with regret, that our hosts abstained from them on our account.
Our portion of bread had already been diminished three-fourths, yet
violent rains still obliged us to delay our departure for two days.
How long did this delay appear!
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