THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT: WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS DISCOVERIES, AXD NOTICES OF HIS SCIENTIFIC FELLOW-LABOURERS AND CONTEMPORARIES. I am Become a name; For, always roaming with a hungry heart. Much haTe I seen and known ; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, goTernmenta, Hy self not least, but h.onour'd of them all. IlNKTION. LONDON : JAMES BLACKWOOD & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. fi PREFACE. THERE are several biographies of Humboldt, French., German, and English, but none of any importance except ^J^ Professor Klencke's. Klencke had an excellent opportunity v to make a good book, for much of his material was obtained from Humboldt himself, but he failed to do so. He seemed =. to have no idea of writing, beyond its being a means of - conveying facts. His facts are reliable, but arranged without * order or method. He says the same thing over and over ^ again, and entirely lacks the chief requisite of a biographer the art of making his subject attractive. Still, he is re- liable, and the author has made considerable use of his work, especially in the earlier portions of this volume. The first chapters, descriptive of the earlier South Ameri- can journeys, are derived from Humboldt's " Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales" As these chapters cover an impor- tant epoch in Humboldt's life, it was thought advisable to let him tell his own story, and this has accordingly been done, wherever it was practicable. It would have been easy to have rewritten this matter, but the author could not see the advantage of so doing : his book would have gained something in originality, but it would have lost much more in interest. No writer of travels, ancient or modern, can compare with Humboldt in descriptive power, especially in the " Voyage" where his words are pictures. These pictures iv PREFACE. have been faithfully transferred to the chapters mentioned, and are commended to the reader's attention. The chapters on Columbia, and Peru, and Mexico, are compiled from the " Vues des Corditteres" the " Ansichten der Natur" and the " Essai Politique sur le Royaume de Nouvette Espagne? They are not so full as the author could have wished ; for the " Voyage" which would have furnished material for them had it ever been completed, ends abruptly at Carthagena. Beyond that point the narrative of the journey ceases. Gleams of it occur, however, in Humboldt's other works, chiefly in those just mentioned, and it is by these that his progress has been traced until his return to Europe. If this portion of the Biography lacks the picturesque and adventurous element of the chapters that precede it, it has at least the merit of variety, and of being the fullest account of the last two or three years of Humboldt's eventful journey in the New World. The chapter on Central Asia is the substance of Rose's " Reise nach dem Ural." These / as far as the author remem- bers, are the principal sources to which his acknowledgments are due. His book has been written so as to suit both old and young readers. Scientific statements will, it is believed, be found accurate and ample enough for the best informed ; while to those who seek no more than an interesting and thrilling narrative, we could not conceive any history of individual effort and travel more likely to exceed their ex- pectation. And the strict truth of every thing recorded, how- ever wondrous, gives to the biography an interest in which no fable of adventure not Sindbad or Rob: oson Crusoe can equal it. ; CONTENTS. CHAPTEH I. EAELT LIFE. 1769-1799. Pa Ancestors Childhood and youth Tutors College life George Forster Dreams of Travel Geological Studies Werner The Hamburg counting-house Friendship of Goethe and Schiller Schemes of Travel Paris life Aitne" Bonpland Journey to Spain Humboldt sails for South America _ CHAPTER H. THE VOTAGE; AND VISIT TO THE CANARY ISLANDS 1799. The Canaries Ascent of Teneriffe Night in the Cavern Across the Malpays The crater Descent of the mountain At sea again The Southern Cross Tn sight of laud Disembark at Cumana. ._ ...._ CHAPTER III. EXCURSIONS ABOUT CUMANA. 1799. Bathing Journey to the Peninsula of Araya The Imposible The Burning Forest The Father-mother Ascent of Turimiquiri Cavern of the Guacharo The Cave of Souls Ghostly plants Descent of Purgatory Indians on a tramp Forest of Santa Maria Back to Cumana CHAPTER IV. TOWARDS THE ORINOCO. 17991809. Fight with a Zambo Eclipse of the sun An earthquake Porpoises and Flamingoes- Pestilent forests Ascent of the Saddle mountain The little angels Frightened by a jaguar The Cow-tree Howling monkeys Lost in the Llanos Fishing with horses The famished Indian girl Sleeping over a crocodile . PREFACE. CHAPTER V. UP THE ORINOCO 1800. sofwi jaguar In sight of the Orinoco The turtle egg harvest The Painted Rocks Mad turtles Turtle butter Animals of the Orinoco The monkey's taste in art Rocks and torrents The hairy man of the woods Insects mounting guard The mission- ary's lemonade The captive mother Ant paste Roasted monkeys Dance of Indians A mule-load of skeletons The dirt-eaters 9 CHAPTER VL TO CUBA AND BACK. 18001801. Back again to Cumana Taken by a privateer Released by an English captain- Arrive at Havanna Fishing with fish Slaughtering alcatras Land again on the South American Main Humboldt meets a fellow-countryman Change of route Resolve to penetrate to Peru Volcanoes spouting mud ........................................ 151 CHAPTER VIL COLOMBIA AND PEBU. 18011803. The travellers sail up the Bio Magdalena The falls of Teqnendama Natural bridges- Deluge of raln-JRiding on men's backs Cataracts of the Kio Vinagre Arrive at Quito Ascent of Chitnborazo Forest of Hocks Birds and butterflies Peruvian bridges of rope and wood Peruvian remains House of the Inca Ravine of the Sun Chair of the Incas Roads of the Incas Swimming postman Voyage down the Amazons Palace of Atahuallpa The blood-stained stone First view of the Pacific from the Andes Sail for Mexico _ 164 CHAPTER VIIL MEXICO. 18031804. Land at Acapulco Monument of Xochiealco City of Mexico Aztec remains Float- inggardens Ancient working of the Mexican mines Letter of Cortes to Charles V. Humboldt visits the mines Drunkenness and longevity of the Indians Volcano of Jorullo Pyramid of Cholula Montezuma Mystery of the skeletons Arrive at Havanna Take shio for Philadelphia Leave America for Europe......... 206 CHAPTER IX. PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS OF HUMBOLDT'S TRAVELS. 18041829. Arrives In Europe His scientific collections Visits his brother in Italy Life in Berlin Removes to Paris Plan of the publication of his travels and discoveries His coadjutors in the work Appearance of the first volume of his travels Extracts from preface Lady Morgan's gossip about Humboldt His diplomatic visit to the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle Enumeration of his works Visits Vesuvius Back to Prussia Humboldt and Goethe Idea of Kosmos Popular lectures Prepares fora journey to Siberia 236 PREFACE. Vli CHAPTER X JOURNEY TO CENTRAL ASIA. 1829. St. Petersburg Moscow Embarks on the Volga Ruins of Bnlgar The pine of the Continents Forests of the Ural The Siberian plague The boundary of China- Mines and Smeltings Visit to a Chinese station A feast given to a party of Mongols MiaskDiamonds in the Ural The Mountain of Storms Tartar sports The Golden Lake Kalmuck Temple Astrachan Back to St. Petersburg and to Berlin .. 271 CHAPTER XL LAST LITERARY LABOURS. 18301859. Fruits of the Asiatic journey Humboldt and Agassiz Climatology of Asia Obser- vations in the Russian empire Death of HumboMt's brother Proposed history of Columbus Humboldt made Chancellor of the Order of Merit Commencement of Kosmos Bayard Taylor's visit to Humboldt Humboldt in the streets of Berlin Kosmos completed Last illness and death His character The lessons of his life ... 293 THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. CHAPTER I. fife. 17691799. Ancestors Childhood and youth Tutors College life George Forster Dreams of travel Geological studies Werner The Hamburg counting- house Friendship of Goethe and Schiller Schemes of travel Paris life- Aime Bonpland Journey to Spain Humboldt sails for South America. THREE leagues from the good city of Berlin, near an arm of the Havel called Tegel, stands, or stood ninety years ago, the old castle of Tegel. All that we know is, that shortly before the opening of this life-history it was the residence of a Prussian commissioner of woods and forests, who had greatly beautified it by the laying out of nurseries and plan- tations. This commissioner, who^e name was Von Burgsdorf, was succeeded in 1768, or thereabouts, by Major Alexander George Von Humboldt. Major A r on Humboldt was born in 1720. His father, Hans Paul Von Humboldt, served as a captain in the army of Frederick William the First ; his mother was the daughter of the Prussian major and general adjutant, Von Schweder; it was natural therefore that he should follow the profession of arms. He served for a long time in a dragoon regiment, and was then made major, and finally adjutant to Duke 10 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. Frederick of Brunswick, who often sent him on embassies to Frederick the Great. This was in the famous Seven Years' War. When the war was over in 1765, the great Frederick made him one of his chamberlains ; he was also attendant chamberlain on Elizabeth, the newly-married princess of Prussia. His official duties compelled him to reside in Potsdam, where he probably met the lady who became his wife. A descendant of the family of Colomb, which emigrated from Burgundy, where it was celebrated for its glass-works she was the widow of a Baron Von Holwede. Major Von Humboldt persuaded her to change her weeds for the orange-wreath, so they married and settled in Potsdam. Their first child, William, was born there on the 22nd of June, 1767. They lived in Potsdam but a short time, two or three years at most ; for the marriage of the princess being at length dissolved, she had no further need of an attendant chamberlain, consequently Major Von Hum- boldfc was at liberty to change his residence, if so inclined. He exchanged Potsdam for Berlin, and lived partly there, and partly in his castle at TegeL How he became possessed of the castle is not stated. It was originally a hunting-seat of the great Elector, and a hunting establishment was kept up there under Frederick the Great. The Major's second son, Frederick Henry Alexander, was born at Berlin on the 14th of September, 1769. It was principally at Tegel, how- ever, that his childhood passed. Of the first years of his life nothing remai-kable has been related. In 1775, when his education commenced, the science of education was agitating the European world. The new method of Rousseau, which aimed at the physical as well as the mental development of its pupils, and which considered the study of natural science as important as that of metaphysics and the classics, had made many adhe- rents in Germany, and among others Joachim Heinrich Campe. Bom in 1746, Campe studied theology at Helm- LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 1 1 stadt and at Halle, and was appointed, in 1773, chaplain to the Prince of Prussia's regiment in Potsdam. He fulfilled for two years the duties of his sacred calling in that doubtful sphere of action ; and, feeling himself much more titted to teach children than men, and those men soldiers, he was transplanted by Major Von Humboldt to teach his sons at the old castle of Tegel. A ripe and varied scholar even then, he enjoyed in after life the reputation of being, next to Klopstock, the greatest philologist and critic of German style. He is the author of a German dictionary, and other works calculated to improve the language. But the books by which he is best known ai'e those of travel and adventure. The chiefest of these are his " Discovery of America," and " Robinson Crusoe." What better teacher could the boy have had, considering the work he was to do, than one who translated that mar- vellous fiction of the homely old truth-teller, De Foe the fresh, unfading, world-renowned Robinson Crusoe? It was the book of all others to fire his youthful imagination with the desire of travel, and to fill his mind with the uncon- querable spirit of adventure. It was a happy day when Joachim Heinrich Campe, philologist, critic, translator, and finally bookseller, became the tutor of Humboldt. He remained in the family a year, teaching the eldest boy the languages, and the youngest, who was then in his seventh year, whatever he was pleased to learn. Alexander was not so robust as his brother, for his health was considered delicate for many years, nor was he regarded as his equal in mental endowments. Their next tutor was a young man of twenty, poor in this world's goods, but rich in what the proverb declares to be better than houses and lauds learning. His name was Christian Kunth. He is said to have possessed an extra- ordinary knowledge of German, Latin, and French literature, and to have been deeply read in philosophy and history. 12 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF IIUMBOLDT. He taught William the languages, and Alexander the natural sciences. One studied Man in classic antiquity and art, the other the World in its maniiold forms and appearances. It seems strange, not to say impossible, for children of eight and ten to pursue such profound studies, but we must remember that these were not common children. Nor was their teacher, Kunth, a common man. Had he been he would have stopped here. But, having sense as well as learning, he took care of their bodies as well as their minds. Instead of merely cramming them with books until they be- came unwholesome monstrosities, mental pdtes de Joie gras, he gave their thoughts and limbs free play in the wind, and dew, and sunshine. They had holidays whenever they needed them ; long walks with Kunth in the woods and fields ; sails on the blue bosom of the Tegel lake; excursions to the fortress of Spandau ; and now and then a flying visit to Berlin. Or they threw aside *their books, and ran off by themselves, like the children they were, and romped and played to their heart's content. This kept the roses of health in their cheeks (Alex- ander's as yet were delicate buds), and enabled them to " bear their weight Of learning lightly, like a flower." But for this it might have been a nightshade of deadly power. Besides, their life was diversified by the coming and going of visiters : for their father was hospitable, and the castle was always open to his friends. Retiring from the world with honour, the world sought him, in the shape of its princes, statesmen, and scholars, to say nothing of generals, colonels, and the like, his old companions in arms. Among other celebrities who enjoyed the hospitalities of Tegel was Goethe, who, accompanying Duke Karl August to Berlin in May 1778, to see a grand review, strolled over Schonhausen one morning, and dined at the castle with the Major and his family. Little did the man of thirty know that he saw in the boy of nine one who was destined to LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 1 3 accomplish as much in Science as he himself in Literature. But the time came when he knew him, and admired him none more warmly. Among the most frequent of the visiters at the castle was Dr. Ernst Ludwig Heim of Spandau, -who, having attended the head-ranger, Von Burgsdorf, continued his visits, medical and friendly, to his successor, Major Von Humboldt ; and the Major stood in need of his services, for his health, which had been broken for some time, now began to fail rapidly. Day after day Dr. Heim might have been seen on horseback, with his saddle-bags full of medicine, rounding the stretch of land between Spandau and Tegel. But he could do little for the shattered constitution and the sixty years of his patient. He died in January 1779, and was buried at Tegel. After the Major's death Dr. Heim continued to come as usual, not now bringing medicine let us hope, but with a book under his arm for Kunth, or possibly for William and Alexander. Or, perhaps, it was a rare flower from his con- servatory ; for, as long ago as the days of Von Burgsdorf, he was noted for his knowledge of foreign trees and plants, and he helped the head ranger to lay out the nurseries and plantations which the Humboldts were now enjoying. He would drop in near their dinner-hour, and being pressed would remain to dinner, and often for hours, after instructing the boys in botany, and explaining to them the twenty-four classes of the system of Linnaeus. They could now know the names, classes, and characteristics of the flowers, which they had before admired ignorantly. "William was con- sidered the cleverest, because he could easily comprehend the Doctor's lessons and retain the botanical names : Alex- ander was not, or did not seem, so apt. The brothers went with the Doctor in his excursions about the neighbourhood, and in May, 1783, were present with him in Spandau, where they saw Frederick the Great reviewing his grenadiers one of his annual anmsements. 14 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. But grand reviews, country excursions, after-dinner chats on botany, and the cosey comforts of home, must soon come to an end ; for, though the widowed mother lives only in her children, she knows that they must one day be men, and go out into the world. So the best thing they can do is to go to Berlin, and pursue their studies and enlarge their experiences. They are instructed in Greek and the modern languages, William having great philological talent ; while Alexander, whose love of the natural sciences grows with his growth, continues the study of botany under the celebrated botanisb Wildenow. Kunth, who accompanies them, engages Engel, Klein, Dohn, and others, to give them complete courses of lectures on philosophy, law, and political economy. Nor do they neglect the literature of their own land and time. They read Goethe and Schiller together. William prefers " Werter," and " Don Carlos," and their art-writings : Alex- ander, while he admires these, prefers Goethe's more abstruse researches in natural history. So passes the time, now in the bustle of the capital, and now in the quiet of the old castle at home. Dear old Tegel ! it is doubly dear to them now ; feu- there their mother lives, and there lies their dead father's dust. In 17 86 they commenced their academical life in the University of Frankfort on the Oder, where they remained nearly two years, William devoting himself to the study of law, and Alexander to political economy. In 1788 they removed to the University of Gottingen. It was a staid grave place, full of earnest students and learned professors. Among the latter, we may mention three who were celebrated in their different branches of literature and science, and who helped to mould the minds of William and Alexander ; these were Blumenbach, Heyne, and Eich- horn. Eichhorn, the professor -of Arabic, was a profound scholar, especially in biblical literature, of which he may be considered the historian ; he filled the chair of Theology. LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 15 To the care of these famous professors William and Alex- ander were committed by their old tutor and friend. Kunth, and they remained under their teachings for two years. Strongly attracted by Eichhorn and Heyne, William pursued his favourite studies, philology and art, while Alexander speculated on " the ground plan of man " in the lecture-room of Blumenbach. But the person who exercised the most influence over him while at Gottingen. was the son-in-law of his teacher Heyne George Forster. Nor is this at all strange ; for the expe- rience of every day shows us that the influence of man over man outweighs that of books a thousand-fold. There are times, indeed, when even a bad man is more potent than many good books. Blumenbach, Heyne, Eichhorn, and the rest, excellent and indispensable as they were, were books, so to speak dead books to the realistic Alexander, while Forster was a live man. He had seen what they had only dreamed of. The feats of Alexander's mythical friend, Crusoe, were outdone by Forster. Not that Forster had ever been shipwrecked on a solitary island ; but he had done better he had put a girdle round the earth. Some sixteen years before, when a boy of eighteen, he had accompanied Captain Cook as a naturalist in that great navigator's second voyage round the world. Afterwards professor of natural history in Hesse Cassell and at Wilna, he was now spending the summer with his wife at the house of his father-in-law, Heyne. He had written several works on natural history, geography, philosophy, and politics, besides a history of his voyage round the world. Writing of Forster in 1844, more than fifty years after his death, Humboldt paid the following tribute to his memory : " Through him began a new era of scientific voyages, the aim of which was to arrive at a knowledge of the comparative history and geography of different countries. Gifted with delicate aesthetic feelings, and retaining a vivid impression of 16 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. the pictures with which Tahiti and the other then happy islands of the Pacific had filled his imagination, as in recent times that of Charles Darwin, George Forster was the first to depict in pleasing colours the changing stages of vegeta- tion, the relations of climate and of articles of food in their influence on the civilization of mankind, according to differ- ences of original descent and habitation. All that can give truth, individuality, and distinctiveness to the delineation of exotic nature, is united in his works. We trace, not only in his admirable description of Cook's second voyage of dis- covery, but still more in his smaller writings, the germ of that richer fruit which has since matured." Such was George Forster, who, after Campe, was the chief instrument in determining the future life of Alexander Yon Humboldt. They were fast friends during the short period of their intercourse in Gottingen ; and all the time they could spare from their customary duties was spent in each other's society. What conversations they must have had of that eventful journey round the world, and what schemes they planned for the future ! The active imagination of the young student, fresh from the reading of wonderful adventures in the New World, the chronicles of Vasco Nunes de Balboa, Pizarro, and the rest of those grand old Spaniards, was fired with the thought of making new voyages and discoveries, which should cast the old ones for ever in the shade. Voy- ages in the long swell of tropic seas, under constellations that never shine to European eyes : sailing along the dim outlines of the western continent, dark with the long belt of the pathless forests, or ragged with the peaks of inland mountains, capped with eternal snow : or up great rivers a thousand leagues in length, on, on, into the heart of the New World, the primeval solitudes of Nature ! Not the worst hours of a man's life are those that he wastes in dreams, and happy is he who can make them true, as Humboldt did. But this was recreation rather than study, and, as he went LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. J7 to the University to study, a graver mood soon succeeded. The University was rich in scientific collections, none of which were neglected by the earnest young student. When not attending the lectures of Blumenbach and Heyne, which were generally given in their own houses, he pursued his re- searches and experiments in the University Museum. To- day in the laboratory among its vials and crucibles, testing acids and gases, or in the botanic gardens, theorizing over tropical plants and trees : to-morrow in the anatomical room, surrounded by casts and models ; and many a long night in the observatory, unwinding the dances of the stars. William meanwhile was deep in the philosophy of Kant, and the aesthetic speculations of Goethe and Schiller. In the summer of 1789, Campe, who had been for some years canon and councillor in Brunswick, determined to make a trip to Paris, to be present at the funeral of French despo- tism, and it was deemed advisable for William to accompany him. They arrived in Paris on the 3rd of August. Kot being fortunate enough while there to follow Tyranny to its grave, Campe revenged his disappointment by doing what most authors wculd have done in his place he wrote patriotic letters in favour of the Revolution, which attracted much attention. Alexander remained behind, probably at Gottin- gen, pursuing his favourite studies, and constantly correspond- ing with Forster, who was then at Mayence, where he was councillor and librarian of the University. The plan of the great transatlantic journey, formed a year or two before, was laid aside for a time, in order that he might study what was then a new science Geology. He was deep in the writings of the then celebrated geologist, Abraham Gottlob Werner. In his peculiar department of science, Werner was un- doubtedly the most remarkable man of his time. The son of a poor iron-worker, he commenced his career as a minera- logist, in the Mineral ogical Academy of Freyberg, before he was out of his teens. From thence he went to Leipsic, where 18 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUJIBOLDT. he busied himself in defining the external character of minerals, experimenting, and eventually in 1774 publishing a work on the subject. Up to that time the descriptive language of mineralogists had been too indefinite to convey accurate information, or to enable those of different countries to understand each other. After publishing this work, which was long a manual, Werner returned to the Mineralogical Academy at Freyberg, and took charge of its noble cabinet of natural history. He lectured on mineralogy and the art of mining, rendering the latter intelligible to all by his simplification of the machinery, and his drawings and figures. His cabinet of minerals was unrivalled for its completeness and arrangement, numbering one hundred thousand specimens. He wrote largely in the scientific reviews of that day, the reading of which probably drew the attention of Humboldt towards him. He contributed more to extend the practical knowledge of mineralogy than any one who preceded him, although his method of classifying minerals according to their external characteristics instead of their internal essences, if we may use the phrase, was rather empirical than scientific. His geology was shallow, yet he raised the art of mining into the science of geology. Such was Abraham Gottlob Werner, over whose multifa- rious writings Alexander was now poring. That they made a deep impression on him may be gathered from the fact, that we find him, in company with his friend Forster, in the spring of 1790 making a mineralogical journey. Their route was to the Rhine, through Holland, and to England. While in England, Forster introduced him to Sir Joseph Banks, the famous President of the Royal Society. Humboldt studied the rock-formations of the countries through which he passed, especially the basaltic rocks of the Rhine, and em- bodied the result in a small work which was published in that year. It was entitled, " Mineralogical Observations on Borne Basaltic Formations of the Rhine," and was intended LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 19 to support the Neptunic theory of Werner. Forster collected materials for his magnum opus, " The Views of the Lower Uliine." In the mean time William, who had returned from Paris, vibrated between Erfurt, where he and the beautiful daughter of the president, Yon Dacheroden, to whom he was betrothed, were perfecting themselves in the art of Love, and Weimar, the residence of Schiller, with whom he was intimate. Alexander sympathized with his brother in the character which he was then playing in the delightful drama of life, but showed no inclination to appear in the same rfile himself. It was not that he loved women and society less, but that he loved solitude and wisdom more. Besides, had he not his great transatlantic journey to make 1 To do this properly it was necessary that he should have a more thorough worldly training. So while William, who was appointed councillor of legation and assessor to the court of Berlin, went thither to familiarize himself with his duties, after which he intended to marry, Alexander, choosing the department of finance, set off for Hamburg, and, entering the Commercial Academy of Busch and Ebeling, studied the practical part of book-' keeping. Ere long he was initiated into its mysteries ; but beyond the sense of satisfaction which the performance of a duty always gives, we suspect that he found no delight in them. He still pursued his mineralogical and botanical studies. Indeed, he was so fond of the latter that he would often take a tramp in mid winter to gather the mosses which only grow at that time. His stay in Hamburg was short ; for, in addition to his admiration for Werner, and his growing taste for mining, one of his acquaintances, Leopold Von Buch of Berlin, had gone to Freyberg to study mining under Werner, who had just published a new theory of the formation of metallic veins. This determined Alexander to vacate his high stool at the mercantile desk, and to set off for Freyberg. Before 20 LIFE AST) TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. going, however, he hastened to Berlin, to enjoy for a time the society of his mother, who doubtless found the old castle of Tet-l too melancholy a place to live in since the death of her husband, and the absence of her sons. William was there with his beloved Caroline, and his old tutor and friend, Kunth ; for Kunth was one of the family, if untiring de- votion to their interests could make him so. After his trip to Berlin, Alexander proceeded to Freyberg, where he remained a year, employing himself during that time in attending the lectures of Werner, in looking over his magnificent collection, and in visiting the mines in the neighboui'hood. Freyberg had a fine cathedral, and several remarkable monuments and works of art, but nothing that would have led Humboldt thither except its mines. There were over a hundred of these in the country about ; silver mines, copper mines, lead mines, and mines of cobalt. How the enthusiastic young mineralogist must have revelled in them ! In the spring of 1792 he was appointed assessor to the mining and smelting departments at Berlin ; in the latter part of the same year he was removed to Bayreuth, as super- intendent of mines, in the newly-acquired Franconian districts, and officially commissioned to remodel the mining operations there. He was general director of the mines in the princi- palities of Bayreuth and Anspach. His duties were many and arduous ; for, in addition to his scientific labours, he superintended the erection of public institutions in these districts. Humboldt spent a considerable part of his time in journeying over the country, visiting the various mines, and directing the operations of the miners. He descended into the mines for the purpose of making observations on the fun<ji that grew in the shafts, or, pursuing his journeys, he botanized by the way. If the region was mountainous he studied the rock -formations, and speculated on the Neptunic theory of his teacher Werner. Busy as he must have been at this time, LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. 21 he wrote largely for the scientific journals and periodicals, contributing to them the result of his experiments on the physical and chemical laws of metallurgy, and on the suscep- tibility of plants, their modes of nourishment, colour, etc. He also published a work of local botany, a " Flora of Crypto- gamic Plants in the Neighbourhood of Freyberg," and dedi- cated it to his former teacher, Wildenow. In 1794- he accompanied the provincial minister, Von Hardenberg, on a political mission to the Rhine. He also made several tours through the Alp districts and Silesia, and an official trip into Prussian Poland. Not being able yet to begin his great journey, he contented himself with these small ones slight studies, as it were, for the great picture that was to be. In 1795 he resigned his situation as director of mines, and went to Vienna, where he renewed his passion for botany,' studying to great advantage an excellent collection of exotic plants which he found there, and enjoying the society of the geologist Freiesleben. He also studied galvanism, and made a variety of interesting experiments. He planned an excur- sion into Switzerland with Freie&lebeu, but postponed it to make an Italian journey. The war, which was then raging, confined him to Upper Italy, so that he was obliged to return without visiting the volcanic regions of Naples and Sicily. Shortly before leaving Eayreuth he had received a letter from his brother William, "who. having finished his role as a lover, had now assumed that of a husband, telling him that the health of their mother was failing. She is ill at Tegel, the letter ran (it was dated in June, 1795) but we, William and Caroline, will remain with her until the spring. On his return from Italy another letter reached him one of those mournful letters which every man sooner or later receives. It bore the escutcheon of death a black seal. There was a new grave at Tegel. His mother was dead. In the beginning of the year 1797 he went to Jena, where 22 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. his brother William was then residing. Here he found Freiesleben and Goethe. Goethe was so much interested in his studies in anatomy, that he devoted the rest of his stay in Jena to that science. On his return to Weimar he wrote to Schiller " I have spent the time with Humboldt agree- ably and usefully : my natural-history studies have been roused from their winter sleep by his presence." And Schiller wrote back shortly after " Although the whole family of Humboldt, down to the servant, lie ill with ague, they still speak only of great journeys." But, sick or well, Humboldt's studies went on. He con- tinued his experiments on galvanism, turning his attention chiefly to the laws of muscular irritation, and the disposition of the nerves of living animals when under the galvanic in- fluence. He wrote a work on the subject, "Experiments on Nervous and Muscular Irritation," and sent it to his old teacher Blumenbach, who published it for him, with notes and comments of his own. The brothers went to Berlin in May to settle the family inheritance, previous to making a journey together into Italy. "William's share was the old castle at Tegel; Alexander's the estate of Ringenwalde in Neumark. He sold it to the poet Franz Von Kleist, to procure the necessary funds for his great journey. The unsettled state of affairs in Italy preventing the con- templated journey, William ancl his family determined to proceed to Paris. Alexander went with them as far as Saltzburg, where he was induced to stay a while by his friend Leopold Von Buch. Buch, who had just published a scientific work, " Outlines of a Mineralogical Description of Landeck," had been one of his fellow-students in the Minera- logical Academy at Freyberg, and was like him a believer in the Neptunic theory of Werner. Humboldt afterwards called him " the greatest geologist of the age." A scientific trip was proposed, and the pair started off on foot, armed LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 23 -with their geological hammers, and a change of linen. They travelled through several cantons of Saltzburg and Styria, and reached the Tyrolese Alps. While on this Bohemian trip Humboldt made the acquaintance of Lord Bristol, an English nobleman who had visited the coasts of Greece and Illyria, and had planned an expedition to Upper Egypt. The party were to be provided with astronomical instruments and able draughtsmen, and were to ascend the Nile as far as Assouan, after examining minutely the positions of the Said between Tentyris and the cataracts. The expedition was to occupy eight months. Humboldt consented to join it, on condition that he should be allowed to continue the journey over Palestine and Syria, and went to Paris to make the necessary preparations. He arrived at Paris in the spring of 1798, and was warmly welcomed by his brother William, whose house was a rallying- point for all his educated countrymen. The family led a pleasant life during their stay in the capital : gave dinner parties, literary teas, etc., and enjoyed themselves at the Parisian theatres. The Humboldts were surrounded by celebrities of all sorts artists, poets, statesmen, and savans. Among others who patronised them was the celebrated Madame de Stael, who called William, who had praised her works highly it is scarcely necessary to say, "La, plus grande capacite de I' Europe." Had the flattering Corinne christened Alexander so, she would not have been far from the truth. The political aspect of Europe destroyed the plan of the Egyptian journey, as it had already done the Italian one. and Lord Bristol having been arrested at Milan, it was given up. Another scheme, however, was soon set afoot, for Humboldt now learned that the National Museum of France was prepar- ing an expedition under the command of Captain Baudin. The purpose of this expedition was to visit the Spanish possessions of South America, from the mouth of the river Plata to the kingdom of Quito, and the isthmus of Panama. It was to 24 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. visit the archipelago of the Pacific, explore the coasts of New Holland, from Van Dieman's Land to that of Nuyts, after which the vessels were to stop at Madagascar, and return by the Cape of Good Hope. Humboldt had but little confidence in Baudin, who had given cause of discontent to the court of Vienna when he was commissioned to conduct to Brazil the botanist, Van der Schott ; but, as he could not hope with his own resources to make a voyage of such extent, he determined to take the chances of the expedition. He obtained per- mission to embark, with his instruments, in one of the vessels destined for the South Sea, reserving to himself the right to leave Captain Baudin whenever he thought proper. Michaux and Bonpland were to accompany the expedition as naturalists. The war breaking out afresh in Italy and Germany, and the French government needing the funds for something more urgent than science, it was postponed to an indefinite period. The failure of the expedition was no interruption to the friendship which Humboldt had formed with Bonpland. Aim6 Bonpland, the naturalist, then in his twenty-fifth year, was a native of Rochelle, in France. His father was a physician, and he studied the same profession ; but the revolutionary authorities got hold of him before he could finish his studies, and made him a surgeon of a man-of-war. When peace was restored he went to Paris, and became a pupil of the cele- brated Corvisart, who had established a clinical school at the hospital of La Charite. It was at this tune that Humboldt and he met. They were friends at once. Understanding anatomy and botany better than Humboldt did, he gave him further instructions in those studies, receiving from him in exchange a knowledge of natural history and mineralogy. Humboldt's friendship with Bonpland, the society that he met at the house of his brother William, and his own scientific attainments, soon introduced him to the notice of the natural- ists and mathematicians of Paris. He mingled with the most eminent French savans as their equal. He pursued his LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 25 experiments before and after the failure of the expedition of Baudin, working in concert with Gay Lussac, with whom he undertook eudiometric investigations of the chemical analysis of the atmosphere. The result of their labours was embodied in a joint production, " Researches on the Composition of the Atmosphere." He also wrote a work on subterranean gases, the fruit of his experience in the mines of Bayreuth and Anspach. In the autumn there was a prospect of another expedition. The Swedish consul, Skioldebrand, was at Paris on his way to embark at Marseilles, on a special mission from his govern- ment with presents to the Dey of Algiers. He had resided a long time on the coast of Africa, and being highly respected by the government of Algiers, he could, he thought, easily procure permission for Humboldt to visit the chain of the Atlas mountains. A portion of these mountains had been visited by M. Desfontaines ; but no mineralogist had yet examined them. Besides this inducement the consul de- spatched every year a vessel for Tunis, where the pilgrims embarked for Mecca, and he promised Humboldt to convey him by this means to Egypt. The opportunity was too good to be lost. Humboldt completed his collection of instruments, and purchased works relating to the countries he intended to visit, and bidding adieu to his brother and Frau Caroline, not forgetting the delicate Caroline, junior, the handsome but naughty William, and the amiable Theodore with his blue eyes and light hair, he repaired to Marseilles with his friend Bonpland. They impatiently awaited the Swedish frigate, which was expected at the end of October ; several times a day they climbed the mountain of Notre Dame de la Garde, which commands an extensive outlook on the Medi- terranean, eagerly watching every sail on the horizon. Two months passed, and no frigate came. The papers at length informed them that she had suffered severely in a storm on the coast of Portugal, and had been obliged to enter the port 26 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. of Cadiz to refit. She would not be at Marseilles till spring. Still persisting in their intention of visiting Africa, they found a small vessel of Kagusa on the point of setting sail for Tunis, and agreed with the captain for their passage. Before the vessel sailed they learned that the government of Tunis, inimical to la grande nation, was persecuting its residents in Barbary, and that every person coming from a French port was thrown into a dungeon. The journey was abandoned. Not to be baffled, however, they resolved to pass the winter in Spain, in hopes of embarking the next spring, either at Carthagena or Cadiz. They crossed Catalonia and Valencia, visiting the ruins of Tarragona and ancient Saguntum. They made an excursion from Barcelona to Montserrat, and saw the hermits that inhabit its lofty peaks. Humboldt ascertained by astro- nomical observations the position of several points important for the geography of Spain, and determined by the barometer the heights of the central plain. The inclination of the needle, and the intensity of the magnetic forces, came in for a share of his attention. They arrived at Madrid in March, 1799, and Humboldt was presented to the king at Aranjuez by the minister from the court of Saxony, who was himself a mineralogist. The king received him graciously. He explained to his majesty the motives which led him to undertake his journey to the New World, and presented a memoir on the subject to the secretary of state. Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo, the minister, supported Humboldt's demand, and obtained for the travellers two passports, one from the first secretary of the state, the other from the council of the Indies. The good time had come at last. ''Never," says Humboldt, "had so extensive a permission been granted to any traveller, and never had any foreigner been honoured by more confidence ou the part of the Spanish government." The savans of Madrid offered the travellers great induce- LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 27 ments to stay awhile among them. They could have spent a long time usefully as well as pleasantly in the Spanish capital ; but, bearing in mind their previous disappointments, they departed about the middle of May en route for Corunna, from whence they intended to embark for Cuba. Arriving at Corunna they sought Don Raphael Clavijo, the superiutendant of the dockyards, to whom they had re- commendations from the Spanish minister, and the chief secretary of state. He advised them to embark on board the frigate Pizarro, which was soon to sail for Cuba, in company with the Alcudia, the packet-boat of the month of May, which had been detained by an English fleet then blockading the port ; in order to cut off the communication between Spain and her colonies. They followed his advice, and arrange- ments were made to receive their instruments on board the Pizarro. Don Raphael ordered the captain to stop at TenerifFe as long as Humboldt should deem necessary, that the travellers might visit the port of Orotava, and ascend the peak. The time of departure drawing near, Humboldt wrote farewell letters to his friends in Germany and Paris. As before leaving Paris he had agreed with Captain Baudin, that if the expedition for discoveries in the Pacific, which seemed to be adjourned for several years, should take place at an earlier period, he would endeavour to return from Algiers and join it, at some port in France or Spain ; he now wrote him that if the government persisted in sending him by Cape Horn, he would meet him at Montevideo, Chili, or Lima, or wherever else he should touch in the Spanish colonies. This done, he was ready to bid the Old World a lieu. The English squadron was still off the harbour, but a storm coming up on the 5th of June, it was obliged to quit the coast, and make for the open sea. They seized the opportu- nity and set sail, cheered by a pleasing prophecy, from those who saw the Pizarro weigh anchor, that they would certainly 28 LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. be captured in three days. They sailed at two o'clock in the afternoon. The wind was contrary, and they made several tacks before they could get out of the harbour. At half-past six they passed the lighthouse of Corunna, the famous Tower of Hercules. At sunset the wind increased, and the sea ran high. The shores of Europe lessened in the distance. The last thing they saw that night was the light of a fishing hut at Sisarga. It faded. The land diappeared. The sea was before them, the wide waste Sea ! CHAPTER II. &\t Engage; snit $isii ta % CHarg"|slsnbs. 1799. The Canaries Ascent of Teneriffe Night in the cavern Across the Malpays The crater Descent of the mountain At sea again The southern cross In sight of land Disembark at Cumana. AT sunset on the third day they saw from the mast-head an English convoy sailing along the coast, and steering towards the south-east. To avoid it they altered their course. From that moment no light was allowed in the great cabin, for fear of their being seen at a distance. Humboldt and Bonpland were obliged to make use of dark lanterns to examine the temperature of the water. From the time of their sailing until they reached the 36th degree of latitude, they saw no organic beings except sea swallows and dolphins ; they even looked in vain for sea- weeds and mollusca. On the sixth day, however, they entered a zone where the waves were covered with a prodigious quantity of medusae. The sea was nearly becalmed, but the medusae were bound towards the south-east, with a rapidity four times greater than that of the current. Between the island of Madeira and the coast of Africa, they had slight breezes and dead calms, which were favourable for the magnetic observations that occupied Humboldt during the passage. The travellers were never weary of admiring the beauty of the nights ; nothing could be compared to the transparency and serenity of the African sky. They were 30 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. struck with the innumerable quantity of falling stars, which appeared at every instant. The farther progress they made towards the south, the more frequent was this phenomenon, especially near the Canaries. Forty leagues east of the island of Madeira, a swallow perched on the topsail yard. It was so fatigued that it suffered itself to be caught by the hand. The Pizarro had orders to touch at the isle of Lancerota, one of the seven great Canary Islands ; and at five in the afternoon of the 16th of June, that island appeared so dis- tinctly in view that Humboldt was able to take the angle of altitude of a conic mountain, which towered majestically over the other summits. The current drew them toward the coast more rapidly than they wished. As they advanced, they discovered at first the island of Forteventura, famous for its numerous camels ; and a short time after saw the island of Lobos, in the channel which separated Forteventura from Lancerota. They spent part of the night on deck. The moon illumined the volcanic summits of Lancerota, the flanks of which, covered with ashes, reflected a silver light. Antares threw out its resplen- dent rays near the lunar disk, which was but a few degrees above the horizon. The night was beautifully serene and cool. The phosphorescence of the ocean seemed to augment the mass of light diffused through the air. After midnight, great black clouds rising behind the volcano shrouded at intervals the moon, and the beautiful constellation of the Scorpion. They beheld lights carried to and fro on shore, which were probably those of fishermen preparing for their labours. Humboldt and Bonpland had been occasionally employed during their passage in reading the old voyages of the Spaniards, and these moving lights recalled to their fancy those which Pedro Gutierrez, page of Queen Isabella, saw in the isle of Guanahani, on the memorable night of the dis- covery of the New World. LIFE AND TRAVELS OF IIUMBOLDT. 31 From some notions which the captain of the Pizai*ro had collected in au old Portuguese itinerary, he thought himself opposite to a small fort, situated north of Teguisa, the capital of the island of Lancerota. Mistaking a rock of basalt for a castle, he saluted it by hoisting a Spanish flag, and sent a boat with an officer to inquire of the commandant whether any English vessels were ci*uising in the roads. He was not a little surprised to learn that the land which he had con- sidered as a prolongation of the coast of Lancerota, was the small island of Graciosa, and that for several leagues there was not an inhabited place. Humboldt and Bonpland took advantage of the boat to survey the land, which enclosed a large bay. The small portion of the island which they traversed resembled a promontory of lava. The rocks were naked, with, no marks of vegetation, and scarcely any of vege- table soil. The wind having freshened a little towards the morning of the 18th, they succeeded in passing the channel. From the time of their departure from Graciosa, the horizon continued so hazy that they did not discover the island of Canary, notwithstanding the height of its mountains, till the evening of the 18th. On the morning of the 19th, they dis- covered the point of Naga ; but the land, obscured by a thick mist, presented forms that were vague and confused. As they approached the road of Santa Cruz, they observed that the mist, driven by the winds, drew nearer to them. The sea was strongly agitated, as it most commonly is in those latitudes. The vessel anchored after several soundings, for the mist was so thick that they could scarcely distinguish objects at a few cables' distance ; but at the moment they began to salute the place, the fog was instantly dispelled. The peak of Teyde appeared in a break above the clouds, and the first rays of the sun, which had not yet risen, illumined the summit of the volcano. Humboldt and Bonpland hastened to the prow of the 32 LIFJE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. vessel to behold the magnificent spectacle, and at the same instant saw four English vessels lying to, and very near the stern. They had passed without being perceived, and the same mist which had concealed the peak from their view, had saved them from the risk of being carried back to Europe. The Pizari-o stood in as close as possible to the fort, to be under its protection. It was on this shore, that, in the landing attempted by the English, two years before, in July, 1797, the great Kelson had his arm carried off by a cannon-ball. The recommendation of the court of Madrid procured for the travellers the most satisfactory reception at Santa Cruz. The captain-general gave them immediate permission to ex- amine the island, and Colonel Armiaga, who commanded a regiment of infantry, received them into his house with great hospitality. They could not enough admire the banana, the papaw tree, and other plants, which they had hitherto seen only in hot-houses, cultivated in his garden in the open air. In the evening they went to herborize along the rocks, but were little satisfied with their harvest, for the drought and dust had almost destroyed vegetation. The few plants that they saw, chiefly succulent ones, which draw their nourishment from the air rather than the soil on which they grow, re- minded them, by their appearance, that this group of islands belonged to Africa, and even to the most arid part of that arid continent. Though the captain of the Pizarro had orders to stop long enough at TenerifFe to give the naturalists time to scale the summit of the peak, if the snows did not prevent their ascent, they received notice, on account of the blockade of the English ships, not to expect longer delay than four or five days. They consequently hastened their departure for the port of Orotava, which was situated on the western declivity of the volcano, where they were sure of procuring guides ; for they could find no one at Santa Cruz who had mounted the peak. LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 33 On the 20th of June, before sunrise, they began their ex- cursion by ascending to the Villa de Laguna. The road by which they ascended was on the right of a torrent, which in the raiuy season formed fine cascades. IS ear the town they met some white camels. The town itself, at which they soon arrived, was situated in a small plain, surrounded by gardens, and protected by a hill which was crowned by a wood of laurels, myrtle, and arbutus. It was encircled by a great number of chapels. Shaded by trees of perpetual verdure, and erected on small eminences, these chapels added to the picturesque effect of the landscape. The interior of the town was not equal to its external appearance. The houses were solidly built, but very antique, and the streets seemed deserted. Our botanists, however, did not complain of the antiquity of the edifices, for the roofs and walls were covered with Canary house-leek, and elegant tvichomanes. Before they reached Orotava they visited, at a little dis- tance from the port, a botanic garden, which had been laid out at a great expense some years before by the Marquis de Nava. There they found M, Le Gros, the French vice- consul, who had often scaled the summit of the peak, and who served them as a guide. They began their ascent on the morning of the 21st. M. Le Gros, M. Lalande, secretary to the French consulate at Santa Cruz, and an English gardener at Durasno, joined them on this excursion. The day was not fine, for the summit of the peak, which was generally visible at Orotava from sunrise till ten o'clock, was covered with thick clouds. They passed along a lofty aqueduct, lined with a great number of fine ferns, and visited several gardens, in which the fruit-trees of the north of .Europe were mingled with orange-trees, pomegranate, and date trees. Here they saw the famous dragon-tree of M. Frauqui. Although they had been made acquainted with it, from the narratives of many travellers, they were not the less struck with its enormous 34 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. magnitude. They were told that the trunk of this tree, which is mentioned in several very ancient documents, was as gigantic in the fifteenth century as when they saw it. Its height appeared to them to be about fifty or pixty feet ; its circumference near the roots was forty-five feet. The trunk was divided into a great number of branches, which rose in the form of a candelabrum, and were terminated by tufts of leaves. On leaving Orotava, a narrow and stony pathway led them through a beautiful forest of chestnut-trees to a site covered with brambles, some species of laurels, and arborescent heaths. The trunks of the latter grew to an extraordinary size, and were loaded with flowers. They now stopped to take in their provision of water under a solitary fir-tree. They continued to ascend till they came to the rock of La Gayta and to Portillo : traversing this narrow pass between two basaltic hills, they entered the great plain of Spartium. They spent two hours and a half in crossing the Llano del Retama, which appeared like an immense sea of sand. As far as the rock of Gayta, or the entrance of the exten- sive Llano del Retama, the peak of Teneriffe was covered with beautiful vegetation. There were no traces of recent devastation. They might have imagined themselves scaling the side of some volcano, the fire of which had been extin- guished for centuries ; but scarcely had they reached the plain covered with pumice-stone, when the landscape changed its aspect, and at every step they met with large blocks of obsidian thrown out by the volcano. Every thing here spoke perfect solitude. A few goats and rabbits bounded across the plain. The barren region of the peak was nine square leagues; and as the lower regions viewed from this point retrograded in the distance, the island appeared an immense heap of torrefied matter, hemmed round by a scanty border of vegetation. From the Llano del Retama they passed through narrow LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 35 defiles, and small ravines hollowed at a very remote time by the torrents, first arriving at a more elevated plain, then at the place where they intended to pass the night. This sta- tion bore the name of the English Halt. Two inclined rocks formed a kind of cavern, which afforded a shelter from the winds. Though in the midst of summer, and under an Africau sky, they suffered from cold during the night. The thermometer descended there as low as to 41. Their guides made up a large fire with the dry branches of retama. Having neither tents nor cloaks, Humboldt and Bonpland lay down on some masses of rock, and were incommoded by the flame and smoke which the wind drove towards them. They had attempted to form a kind of screen with cloths tied together, but their enclosure took fire, which they did not perceive till the greater part had been consumed by the flames. As the temperature diminished, the peak became covered with thick clouds. The approach of night inter- rupted the play of the ascending cxirrent, which, during the day, rose from the pl?.ins towards the high regions of the atmosphere ; and the air, in cooling, lost its capacity of sus- pending water. A strong northerly wind chased the clouds ; the moon at intervals shooting through the vapours, exposed its disk on a firmament of the darkest blue ; and the view of the volcano threw a majestic character over the nocturnal scenery. Sometimes the peak was entirely hidden from their eyes by the fog, at other times it broke upon them in terrific proximity; and, like an enormous pyramid, threw its shadow over the clouds rolling beneath their feet. About three in the morning, by the sombre light of a few fir torches, they started on their journey to the summit of the Sugar-loaf. They scaled the volcano on the north-east side, where the declivities were extremely steep ; and after two hours' toil reached a small plain, which, on account of its elevated position, bore the name of Alta Vista. This was the station of the neveros, those natives whose occupa- 30 LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. tion it was to collect ice and snow, which they sold in the neighbouring towns. Their mules, better practised in climb- ing mountains than those hired by travellers, reach Alta Vista, and the neveros are obliged to transport the snow to that place on their backs. Above this point commenced the Malpays, a term by which is designated here, as well as in every other country subject to volcanoes, a ground destitute of vegetable mould, and covered with fragments of lava. Day was beginning to dawn when the travellers left the ice-cavern. They observed, during the twilight, a pheno- menon which is not unusual on high mountains, but which the position of the volcano they were scaling rendered very striking. A layer of white and fleecy clouds concealed from them the sight of the ocean, and the lower region of the island. This layer did not appear above five thousand feet high ; the clouds were so uniformly spread, and kept so perfectly a level, that they wore the appearance of a vast plain covered with snow. The colossal pyramid of the peak, the volcanic summits of L^ncerota, of Forteventura, and the isle of Palma, were like rocks amidst this vast sea of vapours, and their black tints were in fine contrast with the whiteness of the clouds. While they were climbing over the broken lava of the Malpays, they perceived a very curious optical phenomenon, which lasted some minutes. They thought they saw on the east side small rockets thrown into the air. Luminous points, about seven or eight degrees above the horizon, appeared first to move in a vertical direction; but their motion was gradually changed into a horizontal oscillation. Their fellow- travellers, their guides even, were astonished at this phe- nomenon, without either Humboldt or Bonpland having made any remark on it to them. The travellers thought, at first sight, that these luminous points, which floated in the air, indicated some new eruption of the great volcano of Lancerota ; for they recollected that Bouguer and La Con- LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. o7 damine, in scaling the volcano of Pichincha, were witnesses of the eruption of Cotopaxi. But the illusion soon ceased, and they found that the luminous points were the images of several stars magnified by the vapours. These images re- mained motionless at intervals; they then seemed to rise perpendicularly, descended sideways, and returned to the point whence they had departed. This motion lasted one or t\vo seconds. Though they had no exact means of mea- suring the extent of the lateral shifting, they did not the lass distinctly observe the path of the luminous point It did not appear double from an effect of mirage, and left no trace of light behind. Bringing, with the telescope of a small sextant, the stars into contact with the lofty summit of a mountain in Lancerota, Humboldt observed that the oscillation was constantly directed towards the same point, which was towards that part of the horizon where the disk of the sun was to appear ; and that, making allowance for the motion of the star in its declination, the image returned always to the same place. These appearances of lateral refraction ceased long before daylight rendered the stars quite invisible. The road, which they were obliged to clear for themselves across the Malpays, was extremely fatiguing. The ascent was steep, and the blocks of lava rolled from beneath their feet. At the peak the lava, broken into sharp pieces, left hollows, in which they risked falling up to their waists. Unfortunately the listlessness of their guides contributed to increase the difficulty of this ascent. Models of the phleg- matic, they had wished to persuade Humboldt and Bonpland on the preceding evening not to go beyond the station of the rocks. Every ten minutes they sat down to rest themselves, and when unobserved they threw away the specimens of obsidian and pumicestone, which the geologists had care- fully collected. They discovered at length that none of the guides had ever visited the summit of the volcano. 38 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. After three hours' walking, they reached, at the extremity of the Malpays, a small plain, called La Rambleta, from the centre of which the Sugar-loaf took its rise. They had yet to scale the steepest part of the mountain, the Sugar-loaf, which formed the summit. The slope of this small cone, covered with volcanic ashes and fragments of pumicestone, was so steep that it would have been almost impossible to reach the top, had they not ascended by an old current of lava, the debris of which had resisted the ravages of time. These debris formed a wall of scorious rock, which stretched into the midst of the loose ashes. They ascended the Sugar- loaf by grasping the half-decomposed scoriae, which often broke in their hands. They employed nearly half an hour to scale a hill, the perpendicular height of which was scarcely five hundred and forty feet. When they gained the summit of the Sugar-loaf they were surprised to find scarcely room enough to seat themselves conveniently. They were stopped by a small circular wall of porphyritic lava, with a base of pitchstone, which con- cealed from them the view of the crater. The west wind blew with such violence that they could scarcely stand. It was eight in the morning, and they suffered severely from the cold, though the thermometer kept a little above freezing- point. The wall, which surrounded the crater like a parapet, was so high, that it would have been impossible to reach the crater itself, if, on the eastern side, there had not been a breach, which seemed to have been the effect of -a flowing of very old lava. They descended through this breach toward the bottom of the funnel, the figure of which was elliptic. The greatest breadth of the mouth appeared to them to be three hundred feet, the smallest two hundred feet. The external edges of the crater were almost perpendicular. They descended to the bottom of the crater on a train of broken lava, from the eastern breach of the enclosure. The LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 39 heat was perceptible only in a few crevices, which gave vent to aqueous vapours with a peculiar buzzing noise. Some of these funnels or crevices were on the outside of the enclosure, on the external brink of the parapet that surrounded the crater. Humboldt plunged the thermometer into them, and saw it rise rapidly to 154 and 167. He also sketched on the spot a view of the interior edge of the crater as it pre- sented itself in the descent by the eastern track. The top of the circular wall exhibited those curious rami- fications which are found in coke. The northern edge was most elevated. Towards the soiith-west the enclosure was considerably sunk, and an enormous mass of 'scorious lava seemed glued to the extremity of the brink. The rock was perforated on the west, and a large opening gave a view of the horizon of the sea. Seated on the brink of the crater, Humboldt dug a hole some inches deep, into which he placed the thermometer, which rapidly rose to 107. Some sulphureous crystals which he gathered here, consumed the paper in which he wrapt them, and a part of his mineralogical journal besides. From the outer edge of the crater the admiring travellers turned their eyes towards the north-east, where the coasts were studded with villages and hamlets. At their feet were masses of vapour constantly drifted by the winds. A uniform stratum of clouds had been pierced in several places by the effect of the small currents of air, which the earth, heated by the sun, began to send towards them. The port of Orotava, its vessels at anchor, the gardens and the vineyards encircling the town, showed themselves through an opening which seemed to enlarge every instant. From the summit of these solitary regions their eyes wandered over an in- habited world. They enjoyed the striking contrast between the bare sides of the peak, its steep declivities covered with scoriae, its elevated plains destitute of vegetation, and the smiling aspect of the cultured country beneath. They beheld 40 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUAIBOLDT. the plants divided by zones, as the temperature of the atmo- sphere diminished with the elevation of the site. Below the Sugar loaf, lichens began to cover the scorious and lustrous lava ; and violets rose on the slope of the volcano at eight ' thousand five hundred feet of height. Tufts of retama, loaded with flowers, adorned the valleys hollowed out by the torrents, and encumbered with the effects of the lateral eruptions. Below the retama, lay the region of ferns, bor- dered by the tract of the arborescent heaths. Forests of laurel, rhamnus, and arbutus divided the ericas from the rising grounds planted with vines and fruit-trees. A rich carpet of verdure extended from the plain of spartium, and the zone of the alpine plants even to the groups of the date- tree and the musa, at the feet of which the ocean appeared to roll. The seeming proximity in which, from the summit of the peak, they beheld the hamlets, the vineyards, and the gardens on the coast, was increased by the prodigious trans- parency of the atmosphere. In spite of the great distance, they could plainly distinguish not only the houses, the sails of the vessels, and the trunks of the trees, but they could discern the vivid colouring of the vegetation of the plains. Notwithstanding the heat which they felt in their feet on the edge of the crater, the cone of ashes remains covered with snow during several months in winter. It was probable that under the cap of snow considerable hollows were found, like those existing under the glaciers of Switzerland, the temperature of which was constantly less elevated than that of the soil on which they reposed. The cold and violent wind, which blew from the time of sunrise, induced them to seek shelter at the foot of the Sugar-loaf. Their hands and faces were neai'ly frozen, while their boots were burnt by the soil on which they walked. They descended in the space of a few minutes the Sugar-loaf which they had scaled with so much toil ; and this rapidity was in part involuntary, for they often rolled down on the ashes. It was with regret that LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 41 they quitted this solitude, this domain where Nature reigned in all her majesty. They traversed the Malpays but slowly; for their feet found no sure foundation on the loose blocks of lava. Nearer the station of the rocks, the descent became extremely difficult ; the compact short-swarded turf was so slippery, that they were obliged to incline their bodies continually backward in order to avoid falling. In the sandy plain of retama, the thermometer rose to 72 ; and this heat seemed to them suffocating in comparison with the cold, which they had suffered from the air on the summit of the volcano. They were absolutely without water ; for their guides, not satisfied with drinking clandestinely their little supply of Malmsey wine, had broken their water jars. They at length enjoyed the refreshing breeze in the beautiful region of the arborescent erica and fern, and were enveloped in a thick bed of clouds, stationary at three thousand six hundred feet above the plain. The clouds having dispersed, they remarked a phenomenon which after- wards became familiar to them on the declivities of the Cordilleras. Small currents of air chased trains of cloud with unequal velocity, and in opposite directions : they bore the appearance of streamlets of water in rapid motion and flowing in all directions, amidst a great mass of stagnant water. As the travellers approached the town of Orotava, they met great flocks of canaries. These birds, well known in Europe and America, were in general uniformly jp-een. Some, however, had a yellow tinge on their backs ; their note was the same as that of the tame canary. Towards the close of the day they reached the port of Orotava, where they received the unexpected intelligence that the Pizarro would not set sail till the 24th or 25th. If they could have calculated on this delay, they might either have lengthened their stay on the peak, or have made an excursion to the volcano of Chahorra. As it was, they passed the D 42 LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLBT, following day in visiting the environs of Orotava, and enjoying its agreeable society. They were present on the eve of St. John at a pastoral fete. In the beginning of the evening the slope of the volcano exhibited on a sudden a most extraordinary spectacle. The shepherds, in conformity to a custom, no doubt introduced by the Spaniards, had lighted the fires ot St. John. The scattered masses of fire, and the columns of smoke driven by the wind, formed a fine contrast with the deep verdure of the forests which covered the sides of the peak. Shouts of joy resounding from afar, were the only sounds that broke the silence of nature in these solitary regions. They left Santa Cruz on the 25th of June, and directed their course towards South America. From the time they entered the torrid zone, they were never weary of admiring at night the beauty of the southern sky, which, as they advanced to the south, opened new constellations to their view. " We feel," says Humboldt, writing of himself at this time " we feel an indescribable sensation when, on approach- ing the equator, and particularly on passing from one hemi- sphere to the other, we see those stars which we have contemplated from our infancy, progressively sink, and finally disappear. Nothing awakens in the traveller a livelier remembrance of the immense distance by which he is separated from his country, than the aspect of an unknown firmament. The grouping of the stars of the first magnitude, some scattered nebulas, rivalling in splendour the milky-way, and tracts of space remarkable for their extreme blackness, give a peculiar physiognomy to the southern sky. This sight fills with admiration even those who, uninstructed in the several branches of physical science, feel the same emotion of delight in the contemplation of the heavenly vault, as in the view of a beautiful landscape or a majestic site. A traveller needs not to be a botanist to recognise the torrid zone by the mere aspect of its vegetation. Without having Peak of Teneriffe. LIFE AXD TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 43 acquired any notions of astronomy, without any acquaintance with the celestial charts of Flamstead and De la Caille, he feels he is not in Europe when he sees the immense constellation of the Ship, or the phosphorescent Clouds of Magellan, arisa on the horizon. The heavens and the earth, every thing in the equinoctial regions, presents an exotic character." The lower regions of the air were loaded with vapours for some days. They saw distinctly for the first time the Southern Cross only on the night of the 4th of July, in the sixteenth degree of latitude. It was strongly inclined, and appeared from time to time between the clouds, the centre of which, furrowed by uncondensed lightnings, reflected a silvery light. The pleasure the travellers felt on discovering the Southern Cross was warmly shared by those of the crew who had visited the colonies. In the solitude of the seas, we hail a star as a friend from whom we have long been separated. The Portuguese and the Spaniards are peculiarly susceptible of this feeling ; a religious sentiment attaches them to this constellation, the form of which recalls the sign of the faith planted by their ancestors in the deserts of the New World. The two great stars which mark the summit and the foot of the Cross having nearly the same right ascension, it follows that the constellation is almost perpendicular at the moment when it passes the meridian. This circumstance is known to the people of every nation situated beyond the tropics, or in the southern hemisphere. It has been observed at what hour of the night, in different seasons, the Cross is erect or inclined. It is a timepiece which advances very regularly nearly four minutes a day, and no other group of stars affords to the naked eye an obsevation of time so easily made. Often afterward did Humboldt and Bonpland hear their guides exclaim in the savannas of Venezuela, or 44 LIFE A3TD TRAVELS OP HTTMBOLDT. in the desert extending from Lima to Truxillo, " Midnight is past, the Cross begins to bend ! " It reminded them of that affecting scene where Paul and Virginia, seated near the source of the river of Lataniers, conversed together for the last time, and where the old man, at the sight of the Southern Cross, warned them that it was time to separate. On the morning of the 13th, high land was seen from the mast-head, though not clearly, as it waa surrounded with a thick fog. The wind blew hard, and the sea was very rough. Large drops of rain fell at intervals, and every indication menaced tempestuous weather. When the sun rose, and the fog had cleared away, they saw the island of Tobago. It was a heap of rocks carefully cultivated. The dazzling whiteness of the stone formed an agreeable contrast to the verdure of some scattered tufts of trees. Cylindrie and very lofty cactuses crowned the top of the mountains, and gave a peculiar physiognomy to this tropical landscape. The wind slackened after sunset, and the clouds disappeared as the moon reached the zenith. The number of falling stars was considerable on this and the following nights. On the morning of the 1 5th they perceived a very low islet, covered with a few sandy downs, on which they could discover with their glasses no trace of habitation or culture. Cylindrical cactuses rose here and there in the form of can- delabra. The soil, almost destitute of vegetation, seemed to have a waving motion, in consequence of the extraordinary refraction which the rays of the sun underwent in traversing the strata of air in contact with plains strongly heated. Under every zone, deserts and sandy shores appear like an agitated sea, from the effect of mirage. At daybreak on the 16th of July, 1799, forty-one days after their departure from Corunna, they beheld a verdant coast of picturesque aspect. The mountains of New Anda- lusia, half- veiled by mists, bounded the horizon to the south. LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. 45 The city of Cumana and its castle appeared between groups of cocoa-trees. They anchored in the port about nine in the morning : the sick dragged themselves on deck to enjoy the sight of a land which was to put an end to their sufferings. The eyes of the naturalists were fixed on the groups of cocoa- trees which bordered the river : their trunks, more than sixty feet high, towered over eveiy object in landscape. The plain was covered with tufts of cassia, caper, and arborescent mimosas, which spread their branches in the form of an umbrella. The pinnated leaves of the palms were conspicuous on the azure sky, the clearness of which was unsullied by any trace of vapour. The sun was ascending rapidly towards the zenith. A dazzling light was spread through the air, along the whitish hills, which were strewed with cactuses, and over a sea ever calm, the shores of which were peopled with brown pelicans, egrets, and flamingoes. The splendour of the day, the vivid colouring of the vegetable world, the forms of the plants, the varied plumage of the birds, every thing was stamped with the grand character of nature in the equinoctial regions. CHAPTER III. feursiotts Hfr 1799. Bathing Journey to the Peninsula of Araya The Tmposible -The Burning Forest The Father-mother Ascent of Turimiquiri Cavern of the Gua- charo The Cave of Souls Ghostly Plants Descent of Purgatory Indians on a Tramp Forest of Santa Maria Back to Cumana. THE captain of the Pizarro conducted Humboldt and Bonpland to Don Vincente Emparan, the governor of the province, that they might present to him the passports which had been furnished them by the Secretary of State at Madrid. He received them with much cordiality, and expressed his great satisfaction at the resolution they had taken to remain for some time in the province, which at that period was but little known, even by name, in Europe. Sefior Emparan was a lover of science, and the public marks of consideration which he gave them during a long abode in his government, contributed greatly to procure them a favourable welcome in every part of South America. The city of Cumana occupied the ground lying between 'the castle of San Antonio and the small rivers of Manzanares and Santa Catalina. The banks of the Mauzanares were very pleasant, and were shaded by mimosas, erythrinas, ceibas, and other trees of gigantic growth. The children of Cumana passed a considerable part of their lives in its waters ; all the inhabitants, even to the women of the most opulent families, LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 47 knew Low to swim ; and in a country where man was so near the state of nature, one of the first questions asked on meeting in the morning was, whether the water was cooler than it was on the preceding evening. One of the modes of bathing was curious. Every evening Humboldt and Bon- pland visited a family in the suburb of the Guayquerias. In a fine moonlight night, chairs were placed in the water ; the men and women were lightly clothed, and the family and strangers, assembled in the river, passed some hours in smoking cigars, and in talking, according to the custom of the country, of the extreme dryness of the season, of the abundant rains in the neighbouring districts, and particularly of the extravagances of which the ladies of Cumana accused those of Caracas and Havanna. The company were luckily under no apprehensions from the small crocodiles, which were extremely scarce, and which approached men without attack- ing them. These animals are three or four feet long. Humboldt never met with them in the Manzanares, but found a great number of dolphins, which sometimes ascended the river in the night, and frightened the bathers by spouting water. The first excursion of the travellers was to the peninsula of Araya. They embarked on the Rio Manzanares on the 19th of August, about two in the morning. The principal objects of this excursion were, to see the ruins of the castle of Araya, to examine the salt-works, and to make a few geo- logical observations on the mountains iorming the narrow peninsula of Maniquarez. The night was delightfully cool ; swarms of phosphorescent insects glistened in the air, and over the groves of mimosa which bordered the river. When, on descending the river, they drew near planta- tions, they saw bonfires kindled by the negroes. A light and undulating smoke rose to the tops of the palm-trees, and imparted a reddish hue to the disk of the moon. It was on a Sunday night, and the slaves were dancing to the music of 48 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. the guitar. The bark in which they passed the gulf oi" Cariaco was very spacious. Large skins of the jaguar, or American tiger, were spread for their repose during the night. Though they had been scarcely two months yet in the torrid zone, they had already become so sensible to the smallest variation of temperature, that the cold prevented them from sleeping. They landed at Araya, and examined the salt-works, and, having finished their operations, departed at sunset to sleep at an Indian hut, some miles distant, near the ruins ot the castle of Araya. Night overtook them while they were in a narrow path, bordered on one side by the sea, and on the other by a range of perpendicular rocks. The tide was rising rapidly, and narrowed the road at every step. They at length arrived at the foot of the old castle of Araya, where they enjoyed a prospect that had in it something melancholy and romantic. The ruins stood on a bare and arid mountain, which was crowned with agave, cactus, and thorny mimosas, and bore less resemblance to the works of man than to masses of rock which were ruptured at the early revolutions of the globe. In the morning the son of their Indian host conducted them to the village of Maniquarez. On their way they examined the ruins of Santiago, the structure of which was remarkable for its extreme solidity. The walls of freestone, five feet thick, had been blown up by mines ; but they still found masses of seven or eight hundred feet square, which had scarcely a crack in them. Their guide showed them a cistern, thirty feet deep, which, though much damaged, furnished water to the inhabitants of the peninsula of Araya. After having examined the environs of Maniquarez, they embarked at night in a fishing-boat for Cumana. The small crazy boats employed by the natives here, bore testimony to the extreme calmness of the sea in these regions. The boat of the travellers, though the best they could procure, was so LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HCMBOLDT. 49 leaky, that the pilot's son was constantly employed in baling out the water with a calabash shell Their first visit to the peninsula of Araya was soon suc- ceeded by an excursion to the mountains of the missions of the Chayma Indians. On the 4th of September, at five in the morning, they began their journey. On account of the extreme difficulties of the road, they had been advised to reduce their baggage to a very small bulk. Two beasts of burden were sufficient to carry their provision, their instruments, and the paper necessary to dry their plants. The morning was deliciously cool. The road, which led to Curnanagoa, ran along the right bank of the Manzanares, passing by the hospital of the Capuchins. On leaving Cumana they enjoyed, during the short duration of the twilight, from the top of the hill of San Francisco, an extensive view over the sea, the plain covered with golden flowers, and the mountains of the Brigantine. After walking two hours, they arrived at the foot of the high chain ot the interior mountains, which stretched from east to west ; from the Brigantiue to the Cerro de San Lorenzo. There, new rocks appeared, and with them another aspect of vegetation. Every object assumed a more majestic and picturesque character. The soil, watered by springs, was furrowed in every direction ; trees of gigantic height, covered with lianas, rose from the ravines ; their bark, black and burnt by the double action of the light and the oxygen of the atmosphere, contrasted with the fresh verdure of the pothos and dracontium, the tough and shining leaves of which were sometimes several feet long. From the top of a hill of sandstone they had a magnificent view of the sea, of Cape Macanao, and the peninsula of Maniquarez. At their feet an immense forest extended to the edge of the ocean. The tops of the trees, intertwined with lianas, and crowned with long wreaths of flowers, formed 50 LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. a vast carpet of verdure, the dark tint of which augmented the splendour of the aerial light. In proportion as they penetrated into the forest, the barometer indicated the progressive elevation of the land. The trunks of the trees here presented a curious phenomenon, for a gramineous plant, like a liana, eight or ten feet high, formed festoons, which crossed the path, and swung about with the wind. They halted in the afternoon on a small flat known by the name of Quetepe. A few small houses had been erected near a spring, well known by the natives for its coolness and great salubrity. They found the water delicious. As they advanced towards the south-west, the soil became dry and sandy. They climbed a group of mountains which separated the coast from the vast plains, or savannas, bor- dered by the Orinoco. That part of the group, over which passed the road to Cumanac.oa, was destitute of vegetation, and had steep declivities both on the north and the south. It was known by the name of the Imposible, because it was believed that, in case of hostile invasion, this ridge of mountains would be inaccessible to the enemy, and would offer an asylum to the inhabitants of Cumana, The view from the Imposible was finer and more extensive than that from the table-land of Quetepe. Humboldt distinguished clearly by the naked eye the flattened top of the Brigantine, the landing-place, and the roadstead of Cumana. The rocky coast of the penins\ila of Araya was discernible in its whole length. The travellers were particularly struck with the extraordinary configuration of a port known by the name of Laguna Grande. A vast basin, surrounded by high moun- tains, communicated with the gulf of Cariaco by a narrow channel which admitted of the passage of only one ship at a time. This port was capable of containing several squadrons at once. It was an uninhabited place, but annually frequented LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 51 by vessels which carried mules to the West Indian islands. Humboldt traced the sinuosities of this arm of the sea, which, like a river, had dug a bed between perpendicular rocks destitute of vegetation. The prospect here reminded him of the fanciful landscape which Leonardo da Vinci has made the background of his famous portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of Francisco del Giacondo. They left the Imposible early in the morning of the 5th of September. The path was dangerous for their beasts, being in most places but fifteen inches broad, and bordered by precipices. When they quitted it, it was to enter a thick forest traversed by many small rivers. They walked for some hours in the shade of this forest with scarcely a glimpse of the sky. In this place they were struck for the first time with the sight of nests in the shape of bottles, or small bags, suspended from the branches of the lowest trees, and attesting the wonderful industry of the orioles, that mingled their warbling with the hoarse cries of the parrots and the macaws. They left the forests, and, taking a narrow path with many wind- ings, came into an open but humid country. Here the evaporation catised by the action of the sun was so great that they were wet as with a vapour bath. The road was bordered with a kind of bamboo, more than forty feet in height. Nothing could exceed its elegance. Its smooth and glossy trunk generally bent towards the banks of rivulets, and it waved with the lightest breath of air. The road led them to the small village of San Fernando, which was situated in a narrow plain, and surrounded by steep rocks. This was the first mission they saw in America. The huts of the Chayma Indians, though separated from each other, were not surrounded by gardens. The streets, which were wide and very straight, crossed each other at right angles. The walls of the huts were made of clay, strengthened by lianas. The uniformity of these huts, the 52 LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. grave and taciturn air of their inhabitants, and the extreme neatness of the dwellings, reminded Humboldt of the esta- blishments of the Moravian brethren. Besides their own gardens, every Indian family helped to cultivate the garden of the community, which was situated at some distance from, the village. In this garden the adults of each sex worked one hour in the morning, and one in the evening. The great square of San Fernando, in the centre of the village, contained the church, the dwelling of the missionary, and a very humble-looking edifice pompously called the King's house. This was a caravanserai, destined for travellers ; and, as our travellers often experienced, infinitely valuable in a country where the name of an inn was unknown. The missionary of San Fernando was a Capuchin, a native of Aragon, far advanced in years, but strong and healthy. His extreme corpulency, his hilarity, the interest he took in battles and sieges, ill accorded with the ideas we form of the melancholy reveries and the contemplative life of missionaries. Though extremely busy about a cow which was to be killed next day, the old monk received Humboldt and Bonpland with kindness, and permitted them to hang up their ham- mocks in a gallery of his house. Seated, without doing any thing the greater part of the day, in an arm-chair of red wood, he complained bitterly of what he called the indolence and ignorance of his countrymen. The sight of Humboldt's instruments and books, and the dried plants of Bonpland, drew from him a sarcastic smile ; and he acknowledged, with the -naivete peculiar to the inhabitants of those countries, that of all the enjoyments of life, without excepting sleep, none was comparable to the pleasure of eating good beef In the village of Arenas, at which they next arrived, lived a labourer, Francisco Lozano, who presented a curious physiological phenomenon. This man had suckled a child with his own milk. The mother having fallen sick, thtf father, to quiet the infant, took it into bed, and pressed it to LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. 53 his bosom, Lozano, then thirty-two years of age, had never before remarked that he had milk : but the irritation of the nipple, sucked by the child, caused the accumulation of that liquid. The milk was thick, and very sweet. Astonished afc the increased size of his breast, the father suckled his child two or three times a day during five months. He drew on himself the attention of his neighbours ; but he never thought, as he probably would have done in Europe, of deriving any advantage from the curiosity he excited. Humboldt and Bonpland saw the certificate, which had been drawn up on the spot, to attest this remarkable fact, eyewitnesses of which were then living. They assured them that, during this suckling, the child had no other nourishment than the milk of his father. Lozano, who was not at Arenas duiing their journey in the missions, came to them afterwards at Cumana. He was accompanied by his son, then thirteen or fourteen years of age. Bonpland examined with attention the father's breasts, and found them wrinkled like those of a woman who has given suck. He observed that the left breast in particular was much enlarged; which Lozano explained from the cii-cumstance, that the two breasts did not furnish milk in the same abundance. Don Vincente Emparan sent a circumstantial account of this phenomenon to Cadiz. As they approached the southern bank of the basin of Cumanagoa, they enjoyed the view of the Turimiquiri. An enormous wall of rocks, the remains of an ancient cliff, rose in the midst of the forests. Farther to the west, at Cerro del Cuchivano, the chain of mountains seemed as if broken by the effects of an earthquake. The crevice, which was more than nine hundred feet wide, was surrounded by per- pendicular rocks, and filled with trees, the interwoven branches of which found no room to spread. It appeared like a mine opened by the falling in of the earth. Two caverns opened into this crevice, whence at times there issued flames, which might be seen at a great distance in the night ; 54 LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUHBOLDT. judging by the elevation of the rocks, above which these fiery exhalations ascended, Humboldt was led to think that they rose several hundred feet. In an excursion which they made at Rinconado, the tra- vellers attempted to penetrate into the crevice, wishing to ex- amine the rocks which seemed to contain in their bosom the cause of these extraordinary conflagrations ; but the strength of the vegetation, the interweaving of the lianas and thorny plants, hindered their progress. Happily the inhabitants of the valley themselves felt a warm interest in their researches, less from the fear of a volcanic explosion, than because their minds were impressed with the idea that the crevice con- tained a gold mine ; and, although the travellers expressed their doubts of the existence of gold in a secondary limestone, they insisted on knowing " what the German miner thought of the richness of the vein." Ever since the time of Charles V. and the government of the Welsers, the Alfingers, and the Sailers, at Coro and Caracas, the people of Terra Firma had entertained a great confidence in the Germans with respect to all that related to the working of mines. "Wher- ever Humboldt went in South America, when the place of his birth was known, he was shown samples of ore. In these colonies every Frenchman was supposed to be a physician, and every German a miner. The farmers, with the aid of their slaves, opened a path across the woods to the first fall of the Rio Juagua ; and on the 10th of September, Humboldt and Bonpland made their excursion to the crevice. On entering it they recognised the proximity of panthers by a porcupine recently embuwelled. For greater security the Indians returned to the farm, and brought back some dogs of a very small breed. The travellers were assured, that in the event of meeting a jaguar in a nar- row path he would spring on the dog rather than on a man. They did not proceed along the brink of the torrent, but on the slope of the rocks which overhung the water. They LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 55 walked on the side of a precipice from two to three hundred feet deep, on a kind of very narrow cornice ; when the cor- nice was so narrow that they could find no place for their feet, they descended into the torrent, crossed it by fording, and then climbed the opposite wall. These descents were very fatiguing, and it was not safe to trust to the lianas, which hung like great cords from the tops of the trees. The creeping and parasite plants clung but feebly to the branches which they embraced ; the united weight of their stalks was considerable, and the travellers ran the risk of pulling down a whole mass of verdure, if, in walking on a sloping ground, they supported their weight by the lianas. The farther they advanced the thicker the vegetation became. In several places the roots of the trees had burst the rock, by inserting themselves into the clefts that separated the beds. They had some trouble to carry the plants which they gathered at every step. The cannas, the heliconias with fine purple flowers, the costuses, and other plants of the Amomum family, attained here eight or ten feet in height; and their fresh tender verdure, their silky gloss, and the extraordinary de- velopment of the parenchyma, formed a striking contrast with the brown colour of the arborescent ferns, the foliage of which was delicately shaped. The Indians made incisions with their large knives in the trunks of the trees, and fixed Humboldt's attention on the beautiful red and gold-coloured woods. The supposed gold mine of this crevice, which was the object of their examination, was nothing but an excavation cut into a black stratum of marl, which contained pyrites in abundance. The marly strata crossed the torrent; and, as the water washed out metallic grains, the natives imagined, ou account of the brilliancy of the pyrites, that the torrent bore down gold. Nor could Humboldt convince them to the contrary ; for they continued to pick up secretly every bit of pyrites they saw sparkling in the water. The melancholy proverb, " All that glitters is not gold," seemed never to have 56 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. reached them. Leaving this mythical gold mine, they follo\ved the course of the crevice, -which stretched along a narrow canal overshadowed by lofty ti*ees. They had suffered great fatigue, and were quite drenched by frequently crossing the torrent when they reached the caverns. A wall of rock rose there perpendicularly to the height of five thousand feet. In the middle of this section, and in a position unfortunately inaccessible to man, two caverns opened in the form of crevices. The naturalists were assured by their guides that they were inhabited by nocturnal birds. The party reposed at the foot of the cavern where the flames were seen to issue. The natives discussed the danger to which the town of Cumana9oa would be exposed in case the crevice should become an active volcano, while Humboldt and Bonpland speculated on the causes of the phenomenon. On the 12th of September they continued their journey to the convent of Caripe, the principal settlement of the Chayma missions. Their first stopping-place was a solitary farm, situated on a small plain among the mountains of Cocallar. Nothing could be compared to the majestic tranquillity which the aspect of the firmament presented in this solitary region. Tracing with the eye, at nightfall, the meadows which bounded the horizon, the plain covered with verdure and gently undulated, they thought they beheld from afar the surface of the ocean supporting the starry vault of heaven. The tree under which they were seated, the luminous insects flying in the air, the constellations which shone in the south ; every object seemed to tell them how far they were from their native land. If amidst this exotic nature they heard from the depth of the valley the tinkling of a bell, or the lowing of herds, the remembrance of their country was awakened suddenly. The sounds were like distant voices resounding from beyond the ocean, and with magical power transporting them from one hemisphere to the other. LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 57 On the following morning they made the ascent of the Turimiquiri. The view on this mountain was vast and picturesque. From the summit to the ocean they perceived chains of mountains extended in parallel lines from east to west, and bounding longitudinal valleys. These valleys were intersected at right angles by an infinite number of small ravines, scooped out by the torrents. The ground in general was a gentle slope as far as the Imposible ; farther on, the precipices became bold, and continued so to the shore of the gulf of Cariaco. They seemed to look down into the bottom of a funnel, in which they could distinguish, amidst tufts of scattered trees, the Indian village of Aricagua. Towards the north, a narrow slip of land, the peninsula of Araya, formed a dark stripe on the sea, which, being illumined by the rays of the sun, reflected a strong light. Beyond the peninsula the horizon was bounded by Cape Macanao, the black rocks of which rose amid the waters like an immense bastion. At last the travellers reached the convent of Caripe. It was backed with an enormous wall of perpendicular rock, covered with thick vegetation : the stone, which was of resplendent whiteness, appeared only here and there between the foliage. In a small square in front of the convent was a cross of Brazil wood, surrounded with benches for the infirm monks. They were telling their beads when Humboldt and Bonpland arrived. They were received with great hospitality by the monks of Caripe. The building had an inner court surrounded by an arcade, like the convents in Spain. This enclosed place was highly convenient for setting up their instruments and making observations. They found a numerous society in the convent. Young monks, recently arrived from Spain, were just about to settle in the Missions, while old infirm mission- aries sought for health in the fresh and salubrious air of the mountains of Caripe. Humboldt was lodged in the cell of the superior, which contained a pretty good collection of 58 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. books. He found there the Teatro Critico of Feijoo, the Lettres Edifiantes, and the Traite cFElectrictie by Abbe Nollet. It seemed as if the progress of knowledge had advanced even in the forests of America. But that which conferred the most celebrity on the valley of Caiipe, was the great cavern of the Guacharo. In a country where the people loved the marvellous, a cavern which gave birth to a river, and was inhabited by thousands of nocturnal birds, the fat of which was employed in the Missions to dress food, was an everlasting object of conversation and discussion. The cavern, which the natives called "a mine of fat," was not in the valley of Caripe itself, but three short leagues distant from the convent. Humboldt and Bonpland set out for it on the 18th of Sep- tember, accompanied by the alcaldes or Indian magistrates, and the greater part of the monks of the convent. A nar- row path led them at first towards the south, across a fine plain, covered with beautiful ttirf. They then turned west- ward, along the margin of a small river which issued from the mouth of the cavern. They ascended sometimes in the water, which was shallow, sometimes between the torrent and a wall of rocks, on a soil extremely slippery and miry. The falling down of the earth, the scattered trunks of trees, over which the mules could scarcely pass, and the creeping plants that covered the ground, rendered this part of the road fatiguing. They were within four hundred paces of the cavern, and yet they could not perceive it. The torrent ran in a crevice hollowed out by the waters, and they went on under a cornice, the projection of which prevented them from seeing the sky. The path wound in the direction of the river ; and at the last turning they came suddenly before the immense opening of the grotto. Pierced in the vertical profile of a rock, the entrance faced the south, and formed an arch eighty feet broad, and seventy-two feet high. The rock which surmounted the grotto was covered with LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 59 trees of gigantic height. Plants rose in its clefts, and creep- ing vines, waving in the wind, were interwoven in festoons before the mouth of the cavern. Nor did this luxury of vegetation embellish the external arch merely ; it appeared even in the vestibule of the grotto. They saw with astonish- ment plantain-leaved heliconias eighteen feet high, the praga palm-tree, and arborescent arums, following the course of the river even to those subterranean places. The vegetation continued in the cave of Caripe, and did not disappear till, penetrating into the interior, they had advanced thirty or forty paces from the entrance. They measured the way by means of a cord, and went on about four hundred and thirty feet without being obliged to light their torches. Daylight penetrated far into this region, because the grotto formed but one single channel, keeping the same direction. Where the light began to fail, they heard from afar the hoarse sounds of the nocturnal birds. The noise of these birds was horrible. Their shrill and piercing cries struck upon the vaults of the rocks, and were repeated by the subterranean echoes. The Indians showed fche travellers the nests of the guacharos by fixing a torch to the end of a long pole. These nests were fifty or sixty feet high above their heads, in holes in the shape of funnels, with which the roof of the grotto was pierced like a sieve. The noise increased as they advanced, and the birds were scared by the light of the torches. When this noise ceased for a few minutes around them, they heai'd at a distance the plaintive cries of the birds roosting in other ramifications of the cavern. It seemed as if different groups answered each other alternately. The Indians were in the habit of entering this cavern once a year, near midsummer. They went armed with poles, with which they destroyed the greater part of the nests. At that season several thousand birds were killed ; and the old ones, as if to defend their brood, hovered over the heads of the 60 LIFE AXD TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. Indians, uttering terrible cries- The young, which fell to the ground, were opened on the spot for their fat. At the period commonly called, at Caripe, the oil harvest, the Indians built huts with palm-leaves near the entrance, and even in the porch of the cavern. There, with a fire of brushwood, they melted in pots of clay the fat of the young birds just killed. This fat was known by the name of the butter of the guacharo. As the travellers continued to advance into the cavern, they followed the banks of the river which issued from it, and was from twenty-eight to thirty feet wide. They walked on the banks, as far as the hills formed of calcareous incrusta- tions permitted them. Where the torrent wound among high masses of stalactites, they were often obliged to descend into its bed, which was only two feet deep. They learned that this subterranean rivulet was the origin of the river Caripe, which, at the distance of a few leagues, where it joined the small river of Santa Maria, was navigable for canoes. They found on the banks of the subterranean rivulet a great quantity of palm-tree wood, the remains of trunks, on which the Indians climbed to reach the nests hanging from the roofs of the cavern. The rings formed by the vestiges of the old footstalks of the leaves, furnished as it were the steps of a ladder perpendicularly placed. They had great difficulty in persuading the Indians to pass beyond the anterior portion of the grotto, the only part which they annually visited to collect the fat. The whole authority of the monks was necessary to induce them to advance as far as the spot where the torrent formed a small subterranean cascade. The natives connected mystic ideas with .this cave, inhabited by nocturnal birds ; they believed that the souls of their ancestors sojourned in the deep re- cesses of the cavern. "Man," said they, "should avoid places which are enlightened neither by the sun nor by the moon." "To go and join the guacharos," was with them LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. 61 a phrase signifying to rejoin their fathers to die. The magicians and the poisoners performed their nocturnal tricks at the entrance of the cavern, to conjure the chief of the evil spirits. At the point where the river formed the subterranean cascade, a hill covered with vegetation, which was opposite to the opening of the grotto, presented a very picturesque aspect. It was seen at the extremity of a straight passage, one thousand four hundred and fifty feet in length. The stalactites descending from the roof, and resembling columns suspended in the air. were relieved on a background of verdure. The opening of the cavern appeared singularly contracted when the travellers saw it, about the middle of the day, illumined by the vivid light reflected at once from the sky, the plants, and the rocks. The distant light of day formed a strange contrast with the darkness which sur- rounded them in the vast cavern. They discharged their guns at a venture, wherever the cries of the nocturnal birds, and the flapping of their wings, led them to suspect that a great number of nests were crowded together. After several fruitless attempts, Bonpland succeeded in killing a couple of guacharos, which, dazzled by the light of the torches, seemed to pursue him. This circumstance afforded Humboldt the means of making a drawing of this bird, which had previously been unknown to naturalists. In this part of the cavern the rivulet deposited a blackish mould. They could not discover whether it fell through the cracks which communicated with the surface of the ground above, or was washed down by the rain-water penetrating into the cavern. They walked in thick mud to a spot where they beheld with astonishment the progress of subterranean vegetation. The seeds which the birds had carried into the grotto to feed their young, had sprung up wherever they could fix in the mould which covered the incrustations. Blanched stalks, with some half-formed leaves, had risen to 62 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. the height of two feet. It was impossible to ascertain the species of these plants, their form, colour, and aspect having been changed by the absence of light. These traces of orga- nization amidst darkness, forcibly excited the curiosity of the natives, who examined them with silent meditation in- spired by a place they seemed to dread. They regarded these subterranean plants, pale and deformed, as phantoms banished from the face of the earth. To Humboldt the scene recalled one of the happiest periods of his youth his abode in the mines of Freyberg, where he had made experiments on the effects of blanching. The missionaries, with all their authority, could not prevail on the Indians to penetrate farther into the cavern. As the roof became lower, the cries of the guacharos were more and more shrill. The travellers were obliged to yield to the pusillanimity of their guides, and retrace their steps. On turning back to go out of the cavern, they followed the course of the torrent. Before their eyes became dazzled with the light of day, they saw on the outside of the grotto the water of the river sparkling amid the foliage of the trees which shaded it. It was like a picture placed in the distance, the mouth of the cavern serving as a frame. Having at length reached the entrance, they seated themselves on the bank of the rivulet, to rest after their fatigues. They were glad to be beyond the hoarse cries of the birds, and to leave a place where darkness did not offer even the charm of silence and tranquillity. From the valley of Caripe the travellers proceeded across a ridge of hills, and over a vast savanna, to the table-land of Guardia de San Augustin. Beyond this was a slope, extremely slippery and steep, to which the missionaries had given the name of the Descent of Purgatory. "When they looked down from the top to the bottom of the hill, the road seemed inclined more than 60. The mules in going down drew their hind-legs near to their fore-legs, and, lowering LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 63 their cruppers, let themselves slide at a venture. They soon entei'ed a thick forest, known by the name of the Montaua de Santa Maria. Here they descended without intermission for seven hours. It was difficult to conceive a more tremendous descent ; it was absolutely a road of steps, a kind of ravine, in which, during the rainy season, impetuous torrents dashed from rock to rock. The steps were from two to three feet high, and the beasts of burden, after measuring with their eyes the space necessary to let their load pass between the trunks of the trees, leaped from ome rock to another. Afraid of missing their mark, the travellers saw them stop a few minutes to scan the ground, and bring to- gether their four feet like wild-goats. If the animal did not reach the nearest block of stone, he sank half his depth into the soft ochreous clay, that filled up the interstices of the rock. When the blocks were wanting, enormous roots served as supports for the feet of men and beasts. Some of these roots were twenty inches thick, and they often branched out from the trunks of the trees much above the level of the soil. The Creoles had sufficient confidence in the address and instinct of the mules, to remain in their saddles during this long and dangerous descent. Fearing fatigue less than they did, and being accustomed to travel slowly, for the purpose of gathering plants and examining the nature of the rocks, Humboldt and Bonpland preferred going down on foot. The weather was cloudy. The sun at times illumined the tops of the trees, and, though sheltered from its rays, they felt an oppressive heat Thunder rolled at a distance ; the clouds seemed suspended on the tops of the lofty moun- tains of the Guacharo ; and the plaintive howling of the monkeys denoted the proximity of a storm. They stopped to observe these monkeys,, which, to the number of thirty or forty, crossed the road, passing in a file from one tree to another over the horizontal and intersecting branches. "While 64 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. the travellers were observing their movements, they saw a troop of Indians going towards the mountains of Caripe. They were without clothing, as the natives of this country generally are. The women, laden with rather heavy burdens, closed the march. The men were all armed, and even the youngest boys had bows and arrows. They moved on in silence, with their eyes fixed on the ground. The travellers endeavoured to learn from them whether they were yet far from the Mission of Santa Cruz, where they intended passing the night. They were overcome with fatigue, and suffered from thirst. The heat increased as the storm drew near, and they had not met with a single spring on their way. The words, si patre, no patre, which the Indians continually repeated, led them to think they understood a little Spanish. In the eyes of a native every white man was a monk ; for, in the Missions, the colour of the skin characterized the monk more than the colour of the garment. In vain they ques- tioned the Indians respecting the length of the way : they answered, si and no, without the travellers being able to attach any precise sense to their replies. This made them the more impatient, as their smiles and gestures indicated their wish to direct them ; and the forest seemed at every step to become thicker and thicker. At length they separated from the Indians ; their guides were able to follow them only at a distance, because the beasts of burden fell at every step in the ravines. After journeying for several hours, continually descending on blocks of scattered rock, they found themselves unex- pectedly at the outlet of the forest of Santa Maria. A savanna stretched before them farther than the eye could reach. On the left was a narrow valley, extending as far as the mountains ot the Guacharo, and covered with a thick forest. Looking downward, the eyes of the travellers rested on the tops of the trees, which, at eight hundred feet below the road, formed a carpet of verdure of dark and uniform LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 65 tint. They passed the night at one of the King's houses already mentioned. They were desirous of continuing their journey eastward still farther; but learning that the roads were impassable in consequence of the- torrents of rain that had fallen, and that they would be likely to lose the plants which they had already gathered, they resolved to embark at Cariaco, and return to Cumana by the gulf, instead of passing between the island of Margareta and the isthmus of Araya. They accordingly started from the mission of Catuaro, and proceeded to the town of Cariaco, where they embarked in a canoe on the morning of the 24th. Quitting the town, they sailed west- ward along the river of Carenicuar, which ran through gardens and plantations of cotton-trees. They saw the Indian women on the banks washing their clothes with the fruit of the soap- berry. Contrary winds beset them in the gulf of Cariaco. The rain fell in torrents, and the thuuder rolled very near. Swarms of flamingoes, egrets, and cormorants filled the air, seeking the shore, whilst the alcatras alone continued peace- ably to fish in the middle of the gulf. They landed till evening, and then resumed their voyage under a misty sky. In the morning they saw the vultures perching on the cocoa- trees, in flocks of forty or fifty. At last they reached Cumana, CHAPTER IV. Cflfaarbs tyt nvaca. 17991800. Fight with a Zainbo Eclipse of the sun An earthquake Porpoises and Flamingoes Pestilent forests Ascent of the Saddle mountain The little angels Frightened by a jaguar The Cow-tree Howling monkeys Lost in the Llanos Fishing with horses The famished Indian girl Sleeping over a crocodile. HUMBOLDT and Bonpland remained a month at Cumana, employing themselves in preparing for a visit to the Orinoco and the Kio Negro. They had to choose such instruments as could be most easily transported in narrow boats ; and to engage guides for an inland journey of ten months, across a country without communication with the coasts. The astronomical determination of places being the most im- portant object of this undertaking, Humboldt felt desirous not to miss the observation of an eclipse of the sun, which was to be visible at the end of October ; and in consequence preferred remaining till that period at Cumana, where the sky was generally clear and serene. It was now too late to reach the banks of the Orinoco before October ; and the high valleys of Caracas promised less favourable opportunities on account of the vapours which accumulated round the neigh- bouring mountains. He was, however, near being compelled by a deplorable occurrence to renounce, or at least delay for a long time his LIFE AXD TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. 67 journey to the Orinoco. On the 27th of October, the day before the eclipse, he and Bonpland went as usual to take the air on the shore of the gulf, and to observe the instant of high water, which in those parts was only twelve or thirteen inches. It was eight in the evening, and the breeze was not yet stirring. They crossed the beach which separated the suburb of the Guayqueria Indians from the landing-place. Here Humboldt heard some one walking behind them, and on turning he saw a tall Zambo, naked to the waist. He held almost over Humboldt's head a stick of palm-tree wood, enlarged to the end like a club. Humboldt avoided the stroke by leaping towards the left; but Bon- pland; who walked on his right, was less fortunate. He did not see the Zambo as soon as Humboldt did, and received a stroke above the temple, which levelled him to the ground. The travellers were alone, without arms, half a league from any habitation, on a vast plain bounded by the sea. The Zambo, instead of attacking Humboldt, moved off slowly to pick up Bonpland's hat, which, having somewhat deadened the violence of the blow, had fallen off and lay at some distance. Alarmed at seeing his companion on the ground, and for some moments senseless, Humboldt thought of him only. He helped Bonpland to raise himself, and pain and anger doubled his strength. They ran towards the Zambo, who, either from cowardice, or because he perceived at a distance some men on the beach, did not wait for them, but ran off in the direction of a little thicket of cactus. He chanced to fall in running, and Bonpland, who reached him first, seized him round the body. The Zambo drew a long knife ; and in this unequal struggle the travellers would infallibly have been wounded, if some Biscayan merchants, who were taking the air on the beach, had not come to their assistance. The Zambo, seeing himself surrounded, thought no longer of defence. He again ran away, and they pursued him through the thorny cactuses. At length, tired out, he 68 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. took shelter in a cow-house, whence he suffered himself to be quietly led to prison. Bonpland was seized with fever during the night ; but, being endowed with great energy and fortitude, he continued his labours the next day. The stroke of the club had extended to the top of his head, and he felt its effect for the space of two or three months. When stooping to collect plants, he was sometimes seized with giddiness, which led him to fear that an internal abscess was forming. Happily these apprehensions were unfounded, and the symptoms gradually disappeared. During a few days which preceded and followed the eclipse of the sun, very remarkable atmospherical phenomena were observable. From the 10th of October to the 3rd of November, at nightfall a reddish vapour arose in the horizon, and covered in a few minutes, with a veil more or less thick, the azure vault of the sky. Sometimes, in the midst of the night, the vapours disappeared in an instant ; and at the moment when Humboldt had arranged his instruments, clouds of brilliant whiteness collected at the zenith, and extended towards the horizon. On the 18th of October these clouds were so remarkably transparent, that they did not hide stars even of the fourth magnitude. He could dis- tinguish so perfectly the spots of the moon, that it might have been supposed its disk was before the clouds. After the 28th of October, the reddish mist became thicker than it had previously been. The heat of the nights seemed stifling, though the thermometer rose only to 78. The breeze, which generally refreshed the air from eight or nine o'clock in the evening, was no longer felt. The atmosphere was burning hot, and the parched and dusty ground was cracked on every side. On the 4th of November, about two in the afternoon, large clouds of peculiar blackness enveloped the high mountains of the Brigantine and the Tataraqual. They extended by degrees as far as the zenith. LIFE AND TRAVELS OP HUMBOLDT. 69 About four in the afternoon, Humboldfc and Bonpland heard thunder over their heads at an immense height, not regularly rolling, but with a hollow and often interrupted sound. At the moment of the strongest electric explosion, at twelve minutes past four, there were two shocks of earthquake, which followed each other at the interval of fifteen seconds. The people ran into the streets, uttering loud cries. Bon- pland, who was leaning over a table examining plants, was almost thrown on the floor. Humboldt felt the shock very strongly, though he was lying in a hammock. Some slaves, who were drawing water from a well eighteen or twenty feet deep, near the river Manzanares, heard a noise like the explosion of a strong charge of gunpowder. The noise seemed to come from the bottom of the well. A few minutes before the first shock there was a very violent blast of wind, followed by electrical rain, falling in great drops. The sky remained cloudy, and the blast of wind was followed by a dead calm, which lasted all night. The sunset presented a picture of extraordinary magnificence. The thick veil of clouds was rent asunder, as in shreds, quite near the horizon ; the sun appeared at 12 of latitude on a sky of indigo-blue. Its disk was enormously enlarged, dis- torted, and undulated towards the edges. The clouds were gilded j and fascicles of divergent rays, reflecting the most brilliant rainbow hues, extended over the heavens. A great crowd of people assembled in the public square. This celestial phenomenon, the earthquake, the thunder which accompanied it, the red vapour seen during so many days, all were regarded as the effect of the eclipse. About nine in the evening there was another shock, much slighter than the former, but attended with a subterraneous noise. In the night between the 3rd and 4th of November, the reddish vapour was so thick that Humboldt could not distinguish the situation of the moon, except by a beautiful halo of 20 diameter. 70 LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. The travellers had frequent visits from persons who wished to know whether their instruments indicated new. shocks for the next day ; and alarm was great and general when on the 5th, exactly at the same hour as on the preceding day, there was a violent gust of wind, attended by thunder and a few drops of rain. No shock was felt. The wind and storm returned during five or six days at the same hour, almost at the same minute. The reddish vapour disappeared after the 7th of Novem- ber. The atmosphere resumed its former purity, and the firmament appeared, at the zenith, of that deep blue tint peculiar to climates where heat, light, and a great equality of electric charge, seem all to promote the most perfect dissolu- tion of Avater in the air. Humboldt observed, on the night of the 7th, the immersion of the second satellite of Jupiter. The belts of the planet were more distinct than he had ever seen them before. The night of the 1 1 th was cool, and extremely fine. From half-past two in the morning, the most extraordinary luminous meteors were seen in the direction of the east. Bonpland, who had risen to enjoy the freshness of the air, perceived them first. Thousands of bolides and falling stars succeeded each other during the space of four hours. No trace of clouds was to be seen. From the first appearance of the phenomenon, there was not in the firmament a space equal in extent to three diameters of the moon, which was not filled every instant with bolides and falling stars. The first were fewer in number ; but, as they were of different sizes, it was impossible to fix the limit between these two classes of phenomena. All these meteors left luminous traces fiom 5 to 10 in length. The phosphorescence of these traces, or luminous bands, lasted seven or eight seconds. The phenomenon ceased by degrees after four o'clock, and the bolides and falling stars became less frequent, though Humboldt still distinguished some to the north-east by their LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HUMBOLDT. 71 whitish light, and the rapidity of their movement, a quarter of an hour after sunrise. On the evening of the 1 6th of November the travellers set sail from Cumana for La Guayra, descending the little river of Manzanares, the windings of which were marked by cocoa- nut-trees. At high water they passed the bar at its mouth. The evening breeze gently swelled the waves in the gulf of Caricao. The moon had not risen ; but that part of the milky way which extended from the feet of the Centaur towards the constellation of Sagittarius, seemed to pour a silvery light over the surface of the ocean. The white rock, crowned by the castle of San Antonio, appeared from time to time between the high tops of the cocoa-trees which bordered the shore, and the voyagers soon recognised the coasts only by the scattered lights of the Guayqueria fishermen. As they advanced towards the shoal that surrounded Cape Arenas, ..they enjoyed one, of those varied sights which the great phosphorescence of the sea so often displays in those climates. Bands of porpoises followed their bark. Fifteen or sixteen of these animals swam at equal distances from each other. "When turning on their backs, they struck the surface of the water with their broad tails ; they diffused a brilliant light, which seemed like flames issuing from the depth of the ocean. Each band of porpoises, ploughing the surface of the waters, left behind it a track of light, the more striking as the rest of the sea was not phosphorescent. The voyagers found themselves at midnight between some barren and rocky islands, which uprose like bastions in the middle of the sea, and formed the group of the Caracas and Chinianas, The moon was above the horizon, and lighted up these cleft rocks, which were bare of vegetation, and of fantastic aspect. As they came near this group of mountainous islands they were becalmed ; and at sunrise small currents drifted them towards Boracha, the largest of them. The temperature of