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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That Learned Traveller
Had Descended The River From Honda; But, Being In Want Of Astronomical
Instruments, He Had Ascertained But Four Or Five Latitudes, By Means
Of Small Dials Hastily Constructed.
The narratives of travels in
America are now singularly multiplied.
Political events have led
numbers of persons to those countries: and travellers have perhaps too
hastily published their journals on returning to Europe. They have
described the towns where they resided, and landscape scenery
remarkable for beauty; they have furnished information respecting the
inhabitants and the different modes of travelling in barks, on mules
or on men's backs. These works, several of which are agreeable and
instructive, have familiarized the nations of the Old World with those
of Spanish America, from Buenos Ayres and Chili as far as Zacatecas
and New Mexico. But unfortunately, in many instances, the want of a
thorough knowledge of the Spanish language and the little care taken
to acquire the names of places, rivers and tribes, have occasioned
extraordinary mistakes.
During the six days of our stay at Carthagena our most interesting
excursions were to the Boca Grande and the hill of Popa; the latter
commands the town and a very extensive view. The port, or rather the
bahia, is nearly nine miles and a half long, if we compute the length
from the town (near the suburb of Jehemani or Xezemani) to the Cienega
of Cacao. The Cienega is one of the nooks of the isle of Baru,
south-west of the Estero de Pasacaballos, by which we reach the
opening of the Dique de Mahates.
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