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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The Ground Was Covered With
Wounded Birds Struggling In Death.
At our arrival a profound calm
prevailed in this secluded spot; now, everything seemed to say:
Man
has passed this way.
The sky was veiled with reddish vapours, which however dispersed in
the direction of south-west; we hoped, but in vain, to discern the
heights of the island of Pinos. Those spots have a charm in which most
parts of the New World are wanting. They are associated with
recollections of the greatest names of the Spanish monarchy - those of
Christopher Columbus and of Hernan Cortez. It was on the southern
coast of the island of Cuba, between the bay of Xagua and the island
of Pinos, that the great Spanish Admiral, in his second voyage, saw,
with astonishment, "that mysterious king who spoke to his subjects
only by signs, and that group of men who wore long white tunics, like
the monks of La Merced, whilst the rest of the people were naked."
"Columbus in his fourth voyage found in the Jardinillos, great boats
filled with Mexican Indians, and laden with the rich productions and
merchandise of Yucatan." Misled by his ardent imagination, he thought
he had heard from those navigators, "that they came from a country
where the men were mounted on horses,* and wore crowns of gold on
their heads." (* Compare the Lettera rarissima di Christoforo Colombo,
di 7 di Julio, 1503; with the letter of Herrera, dated December 1.
Nothing can be more touching and pathetic than the expression of
melancholy which prevails in the letter of Columbus, written at
Jamaica, and addressed to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
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