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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Columbus Gave Them The Name They Bear, In
1494, When, On His Second Voyage, He Struggled During Fifty-Eight Days
With The Winds And Currents Between The Island Of Pinos And The
Eastern Cape Of Cuba.
He describes the islands of this archipelago as
verdant, full of trees and pleasant* (verdes, llenos de arboledas, y
graciosos).
(* There exists great geographical confusion, even at the
Havannah, in reference to the ancient denominations of the Jardines
del Rey and Jardines de la Reyna. In the description of the island of
Cuba, given in the Mercurio Americano, and in the Historia Natural de
la Isla de Cuba, published at the Havannah by Don Antonio Lopez Gomez,
the two groups are placed on the southern coast of the island. Lopez
says that the Jardines del Rey extend from the Laguna de Cortez to
Bahia de Xagua; but it is historically certain that the governor Diego
Velasquez gave his name to the western part of the chain of rocks of
the Old Channel, between Cayo Frances and Le Monillo, on the northern
coast of the island of Cuba. The Jardines de la Reyna, situated
between Cabo Cruz and the port of the Trinity, are in no manner
connected with the Jardines and Jardinillos of the Isla de Pinos.
Between the two groups of the chain of rocks are the flats (placeres)
of La Paz and Xagua.)
A part of these so-styled gardens is indeed beautiful; the voyager
sees the scene change every moment, and the verdure of some of the
islands appears the more lovely from its contrast with chains of
rocks, displaying only white and barren sands. The surface of these
sands, heated by the rays of the sun, seems to be undulating like the
surface of a liquid. The contact of layers of air of unequal
temperature produces the most varied phenomena of suspension and
mirage from ten in the morning till four in the afternoon. Even in
those desert places the sun animates the landscape, and gives mobility
to the sandy plain, to the trunks of trees, and to the rocks that
project into the sea like promontories. When the sun appears these
inert masses seem suspended in air; and on the neighbouring beach the
sands present the appearance of a sheet of water gently agitated by
the winds. A train of clouds suffices to seat the trunks of trees and
the suspended rocks again on the soil; to render the undulating
surface of the plains motionless; and to dissipate the charm which the
Arabian, Persian, and Hindoo poets have celebrated as "the sweet
illusions of the solitary desert."
We doubled Cape Matahambre very slowly. The chronometer of Louis
Berthoud having kept time accurately at the Havannah, I availed myself
of this occasion to determine, on this and the following days, the
positions of Cayo de Don Cristoval, Cayo Flamenco, Cayo de Diego Perez
and Cayo de Piedras. I also employed myself in examining the influence
which the changes at the bottom of the sea produce on its temperature
at the surface. Sheltered by so many islands, the surface is calm as a
lake of fresh water, and the layers of different depths being distinct
and separate, the smallest change indicated by the lead acts on the
thermometer. I was surprised to see that on the east of the little
Cayo de Don Cristoval the high banks are only distinguished by the
milky colour of the water, like the bank of Vibora, south of Jamaica,
and many other banks, the existence of which I ascertained by means of
the thermometer. The bottom of the rock of Batabano is a sand composed
of coral detritus; it nourishes sea-weeds which scarcely ever appear
on the surface: the water, as I have already observed, is greenish;
and the absence of the milky tint is, no doubt, owing to the perfect
calm which pervades those regions. Whenever the agitation is
propagated to a certain depth, a very fine sand, or a mass of
calcareous particles suspended in the water, renders it troubled and
milky. There are shallows, however, which are distinguished neither by
the colour nor by the low temperature of the waters; and I believe
that phenomenon depends on the nature of a hard and rocky bottom,
destitute of sand and corals; on the form and declivity of the
shelvings; the swiftness of the currents; and the absence of the
propagation of motion towards the lower layers of the water. The cold
frequently indicated by the thermometer, at the surface of the high
banks, must be traced to the molecules of water which, owing to the
rays of heat and the nocturnal cooling, fall from the surface to the
bottom, and are stopped in their fall by the high banks; and also to
the mingling of the layers of very deep water that rise on the
shelvings of the banks as on an inclined plane, to mix with the layers
of the surface.
Notwithstanding the small size of our bark and the boasted skill of
our pilot, we often ran aground. The bottom being soft, there was no
danger; but, nevertheless, at sunset, near the pass of Don Cristoval,
we preferred to lie at anchor. The first part of the night was
beautifully serene: we saw an incalculable number of falling-stars,
all following one direction, opposite to that from whence the wind
blew in the low regions of the atmosphere. The most absolute solitude
prevails in this spot, which, in the time of Columbus, was inhabited
and frequented by great numbers of fishermen. The inhabitants of Cuba
then employed a small fish to take the great sea turtles; they
fastened a long cord to the tail of the reves (the name given by the
Spaniards to that species of Echeneis*). (* To the sucet or guaican of
the natives of Cuba the Spaniards have given the characteristic name
of reves, that is, placed on its back, or reversed. In fact, at first
sight, the position of the back and the abdomen is confounded.
Anghiera says:
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