Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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That Which
Speaks To The Soul, Which Causes Such Profound And Varied Emotions,
Escapes Our Measurements As It Does The Forms Of Language.
Those who
feel powerfully the charms of nature cannot venture on comparing one
with another, scenes totally different in character.
But it is not alone the picturesque beauties of the lake of Valencia
that have given celebrity to its banks. This basin presents several
other phenomena, and suggests questions, the solution of which is
interesting alike to physical science and to the well-being of the
inhabitants. What are the causes of the diminution of the waters of
the lake? Is this diminution more rapid now than in former ages? Can
we presume that an equilibrium between the waters flowing in and the
waters lost will be shortly re-established, or may we apprehend that
the lake will entirely disappear?
According to astronomical observations made at La Victoria, Hacienda
de Cura, Nueva Valencia, and Guigue, the length of the lake in its
present state from Cagua to Guayos, is ten leagues, or twenty-eight
thousand eight hundred toises. Its breadth is very unequal. If we
judge from the latitudes of the mouth of the Rio Cura and the village
of Guigue, it nowhere surpasses 2.3 leagues, or six thousand five
hundred toises; most commonly it is but four or five miles. The
dimensions, as deduced from my observations are much less than those
hitherto adopted by the natives. It might be thought that, to form a
precise idea of the progressive diminution of the waters, it would be
sufficient to compare the present dimensions of the lake with those
attributed to it by ancient chroniclers; by Oviedo for instance, in
his History of the Province of Venezuela, published about the year
1723. This writer in his emphatic style, assigns to "this inland sea,
this monstruoso cuerpo de la laguna de Valencia"* (* "Enormous body of
the lake of Valencia."), fourteen leagues in length and six in
breadth. He affirms that at a small distance from the shore the lead
finds no bottom; and that large floating islands cover the surface of
the waters, which are constantly agitated by the winds. No importance
can be attached to estimates which, without being founded on any
measurement, are expressed in leagues (leguas) reckoned in the
colonies at three thousand, five thousand, and six thousand six
hundred and fifty varas.* (* Seamen being the first, and for a long
time the only, persons who introduced into the Spanish colonies any
precise ideas on the astronomical position and distances of places,
the legua nautica of 6650 varas, or of 2854 toises (20 in a degree),
was originally used in Mexico and throughout South America; but this
legua nautica has been gradually reduced to one-half or one-third, on
account of the slowness of travelling across steep mountains, or dry
and burning plains. The common people measure only time directly; and
then, by arbitrary hypotheses, infer from the time the space of ground
travelled over.
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