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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Thus, At The
Straits Of Magellan, That Water Is Much Praised Which Comes In
Contact With The Roots Of The Canella Winterana.) I Could Not
Discover In Them Any Aromatic Or Extractive Matter.
The water of
the valley does not contain lime, but a little more carbonic acid
than the water of the Anauco.
The new bridge over this river is a
handsome structure. Caracas contains eight churches, five convents,
and a theatre capable of holding fifteen or eighteen hundred
persons. When I was there, the pit, in which the seats of the men
are apart from those of the women, was uncovered. By this means the
spectators could either look at the actors or gaze at the stars. As
the misty weather made me lose a great many observations of
Jupiter's satellites, I was able to ascertain, as I sat in a box in
the theatre, whether the planet would be visible that night. The
streets of Caracas are wide and straight, and they cross each other
at right angles, as in all the towns built by the Spaniards in
America. The houses are spacious, and higher than they ought to be
in a country subject to earthquakes. In 1800, the two squares of
Alta Gracia and San Francisco presented a very agreeable aspect; I
say in the year 1800, because the terrible shocks of the 26th of
March, 1812, almost destroyed the whole city, which is only now
slowly rising from its ruins. The quarter of Trinidad, in which I
resided, was destroyed as completely as if a mine had been sprung
beneath it.
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