Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We Hastened To Visit The Governor, Don Vicente Emparan, Whose
Recommendations And Constant Solicitude Had Been So Useful To Us
During The Long Journey We Had Just Terminated.
He procured for us, in
the centre of the town, a house which, though perhaps too lofty in a
country exposed to violent earthquakes, was extremely useful for our
instruments.
We enjoyed from its terraces a majestic view of the sea,
of the isthmus of Araya, and the archipelago of the islands of
Caracas, Picuita and Borracha. The port of Cumana was every day more
and more closely blockaded, and the vain expectation of the arrival of
Spanish packets detained us two months and a half longer. We were
often nearly tempted to go to the Danish islands which enjoyed a happy
neutrality; but we feared that, if we left the Spanish colonies, we
might find some obstacles to our return. With the ample freedom which
in a moment of favour had been granted to us, we did not consider it
prudent to hazard anything that might give umbrage to the local
authorities. We employed our time in completing the Flora of Cumana,
geologically examining the eastern part of the peninsula of Araya, and
observing many eclipses of satellites, which confirmed the longitude
of the place already obtained by other means. We also made experiments
on the extraordinary refractions, on evaporation and on atmospheric
electricity.
The living animals which we had brought from the Orinoco were objects
of great curiosity to the inhabitants of Cumana.
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