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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Next Day, Soon
After The Observation Of Noon, We Reached The Meridian Of The Island
Of Tortugas.
It is destitute of vegetation; and like the little
islands of Coche and Cabagua is remarkable for its small elevation
above the level of the sea.
In the forenoon of the 26th we began to lose sight of the island of
Marguerita and I endeavoured to verify the height of the rocky group
of Macanao. It appeared under an angle of 0 degrees 16 minutes 35
seconds; which in a distance estimated at sixty miles would give the
mica-slate group of Macanao the elevation of about 660 toises, a
result which, in a zone where the terrestrial refractions are so
unchanging, leads me to think that the island was less distant than we
supposed. The dome of the Silla of Caracas, lying 62 degrees to the
south-west, long fixed our attention. At those times when the coast is
not loaded with vapours the Silla must be visible at sea, without
reckoning the effects of refraction, at thirty-three leagues distance.
During the 26th, and the three following days, the sea was covered
with a bluish film which, when examined by a compound microscope,
appeared formed of an innumerable quantity of filaments. We frequently
find these filaments in the Gulf-stream, and the Channel of Bahama, as
well as near the coast of Buenos Ayres. Some naturalists are of
opinion that they are vestiges of the eggs of mollusca: but they
appear to be more like fragments of fuci.
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