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Equinoctial Regions of America

Alexander von Humboldt

BOHN'S SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.

HUMBOLDT'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE

VOLUME 1.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS TO THE EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS OF AMERICA
DURING THE YEARS 1799-1804

BY

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT AND AIME BONPLAND.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

AND EDITED BY

THOMASINA ROSS.

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOLUME 1.

LONDON.

GEORGE BELL & SONS.
1907.
LONDON: PORTUGAL ST., LINCOLN'S INN.
CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER AND CO.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

The increasing interest attached to all that part of the American
Continent situated within and near the tropics, has suggested the
publication of the present edition of Humboldt's celebrated work,
as a portion of the SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.

Prior to the travels of Humboldt and Bonpland, the countries
described in the following narrative were but imperfectly known to
Europeans. For our partial acquaintance with them we were chiefly
indebted to the early navigators, and to some of the followers of
the Spanish Conquistadores. The intrepid men whose courage and
enterprise prompted them to explore unknown seas for the discovery
of a New World, have left behind them narratives of their
adventures, and descriptions of the strange lands and people they
visited, which must ever be perused with curiosity and interest;
and some of the followers of Pizarro and Cortez, as well as many
learned Spaniards who proceeded to South America soon after the
conquest, were the authors of historical and other works of high
value. But these writings of a past age, however curious and
interesting, are deficient in that spirit of scientific
investigation which enhances the importance and utility of accounts
of travels in distant regions. In more recent times, the researches
of La Condamine tended in a most important degree to promote
geographical knowledge; and he, as well as other eminent botanists
who visited the coasts of South America, and even ascended the
Andes, contributed by their discoveries and collections to augment
the vegetable riches of the Old World. But, in their time, geology
as a science had little or no existence. Of the structure of the
giant mountains of our globe scarcely anything was understood;
whilst nothing was known beneath the earth in the New World, except
what related to her mines of gold and silver.

It remained for Humboldt to supply all that was wanting, by the
publication of his Personal Narrative. In this, more than in any
other of his works, he shows his power of contemplating nature in
all her grandeur and variety.

The researches and discoveries of Humboldt's able coadjutor and
companion, M. Bonpland, afford not only a complete picture of the
botany of the equinoctial regions of America, but of that of other
places visited by the travellers on their voyage thither. The
description of the Island of Teneriffe and the geography of its
vegetation, show how much was discovered by Humboldt and Bonpland
which had escaped the observation of discerning travellers who had
pursued the same route before them. Indeed, the whole account of
the Canary Islands presents a picture which cannot be contemplated
without the deepest interest, even by persons comparatively
indifferent to the study of nature.

It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to remind the reader that since
the time when this work was first published in Paris, the
separation of the Spanish Colonies from the mother-country,
together with subsequent political events, have wrought great
changes in the governments of the South American States, as well as
in the social condition of their inhabitants. One consequence of
these changes has been to render obsolete some facts and
observations relating to subjects, political, commercial, and
statistical, interspersed through this work. However useful such
matter might have been on its original publication, it is wholly
irrelevant to the existing state of things, and consequently it has
been deemed advisable to omit it. By this curtailment, together
with that of some meteorological tables and discussions of very
limited interest, the work has been divested of its somewhat
lengthy and discursive character, and condensed within dimensions
better adapted to the taste and requirements of the present time.

An English translation of this work by Helen Maria Williams, was
published many years ago, and is now out of print. Though faultless
as respects correctness of interpretation, it abounds in foreign
turns of expression, and is somewhat deficient in that fluency of
style without which a translated work is unsatisfactory to the
English reader. In the edition now presented to the public it is
hoped that these objections are in some degree removed.

A careful English version is given of all the Spanish and
Portuguese terms, phrases, and quotations which occur in this work.
Though the author has only in some few instances given a French
translation of these passages, yet it is presumed that the
interpretation of the whole in English will not be deemed
superfluous; this new edition of the "Personal Narrative" having
been undertaken with the view of presenting the work in the form
best suited for the instruction and entertainment of the general
reader.

T.R.

London, December 1851.

***

MEASURES:

In this narrative, as well as in the Political Essay on New Spain,
all the prices are reckoned in piastres, and silver reals (reales
de plata). Eight of these reals are equivalent to a piastre, or one
hundred and five sous, French money (4 shillings 4 1/2 pence
English). Nouv. Esp. volume 2 pages 519, 616 and 866.

The magnetic dip is always measured in this work, according to the
centesimal division, if the contrary be not expressly mentioned.

One flasco contains 70 or 80 cubic inches, Paris measure.

112 English pounds = 105 French pounds; and 160 Spanish pounds = 93
French pounds.

An arpent des eaux et forets, or legal acre of France, of which 1.
95 = 1 hectare. It is about 1 1/4 acre English.

A tablon, equal to 1849 square toises, contains nearly an acre and
one-fifth: a legal acre has 1344 square toises, and 1.95 legal acre
is equal one hectare.

For the sake of accuracy, the French Measures, as given by the
Author, and the indications of the Centigrade Thermometer, are
retained in the translation. The following tables may, therefore,
be found useful.

TABLE OF LINEAR MEASURE.

1 toise = 6 feet 4.73 inches.
1 foot = 12.78 inches.
1 metre = 3 feet 3.37 inches.

(Transcriber's Note: The 'toise' was introduced by Charlemagne
in 790; it originally represented the distance between the
fingertips of a man with outstretched arms, and is thus the same
as the British 'fathom'. During the founding of the Metric System,
less than 20 years before the date of this work, the 'toise' was
assigned a value of 1.949 meters, or a little over two yards. The
'foot'; actually the 'French foot', or 'pied', is defined as
1/6 of a 'toise', and is a little over an English foot.)

CENTIGRADE THERMOMETER REDUCED TO FAHRENHEIT'S SCALE.

Cent. Fahr. Cent. Fahr. Cent. Fahr. Cent. Fahr.
100 212 65 149 30 86 -5 23
99 210.2 64 147.2 29 84.2 -6 21.2
98 208.4 63 145.4 28 82.4 -7 19.4
97 206.6 62 143.6 27 80.6 -8 17.6
96 204.8 61 141.8 26 78.8 -9 15.8
95 203 60 140 25 77 -10 14
94 201.2 59 138.2 24 75.2 -11 12.2
93 199.4 58 136.4 23 73.4 -12 10.4
92 197.6 57 134.6 22 71.6 -13 8.6
91 195.8 56 132.8 21 69.8 -14 6.8
90 194 55 131 20 68 -15 5
89 192.2 54 129.2 19 66.2 -16 3.2
88 190.4 53 127.4 18 64.4 -17 1.4
87 188.6 52 125.6 17 62.6 -18 -0.4
86 186.8 51 123.8 16 60.8 -19 -2.2
85 185 50 122 15 59 -20 -4
84 183.2 49 120.2 14 57.2 -21 -5.8
83 181.4 48 118.4 13 55.4 -22 -7.6
82 179.6 47 116.6 12 53.6 -23 -9.4
81 177.8 46 114.8 11 51.8 -24 -11.2
80 176 45 113 10 50 -25 -13
79 174.2 44 111.2 9 48.2 -26 -14.8
78 172.4 43 109.4 8 46.4 -27 -16.6
77 170.6 42 107.6 7 44.6 -28 -18.4
76 168.8 41 105.8 6 42.8 -29 -20.2
75 167 40 104 5 41 -30 -22
74 165.2 39 102.2 4 39.2 -31 -23.8
73 163.4 38 100.4 3 37.4 -32 -25.6
72 161.6 37 98.6 2 35.6 -33 -27.4
71 159.8 36 96.8 1 33.8 -34 -29.2
70 158 35 95 0 32 -35 -31
69 156.2 34 93.2 -1 30.2 -36 -32.8
68 154.4 33 91.4 -2 28.4 -37 -34.6
67 152.6 32 89.6 -3 26.6 -38 -36.4
66 150.8 31 87.8 -4 24.8 -39 -38.2

***

VOLUME 1.

CONTENTS.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR.

CHAPTER 1.1.

PREPARATIONS.--INSTRUMENTS.--DEPARTURE FROM SPAIN.--
LANDING AT THE CANARY ISLANDS.

CHAPTER 1.2.

STAY AT TENERIFE.--JOURNEY FROM SANTA CRUZ TO OROTAVA.--EXCURSION
TO THE SUMMIT OF THE PEAK OF TEYDE.

CHAPTER 1.3.

PASSAGE FROM TENERIFE TO SOUTH AMERICA.--
THE ISLAND OF TOBAGO.--ARRIVAL AT CUMANA.

CHAPTER 1.4.

FIRST ABODE AT CUMANA.--BANKS OF THE MANZANARES.

CHAPTER 1.5.

PENINSULA OF ARAYA.--SALT-MARSHES.--
RUINS OF THE CASTLE OF SANTIAGO.

CHAPTER 1.6.

MOUNTAINS OF NEW ANDALUCIA.--VALLEY OF THE CUMANACOA.--
SUMMIT OF THE COCOLLAR.--MISSIONS OF THE CHAYMA INDIANS.

CHAPTER 1.7.

CONVENT OF CARIPE.--CAVERN OF THE GUACHARO.--NOCTURNAL BIRDS.

CHAPTER 1.8.

DEPARTURE FROM CARIPE.--MOUNTAIN AND FOREST OF SANTA MARIA.--
MISSION OF CATUARO.--PORT OF CARIACO.

CHAPTER 1.9.

PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION AND MANNERS OF THE CHAYMAS.--THEIR LANGUAGE.--
FILIATION OF THE NATIONS WHICH INHABIT NEW ANDALUCIA.--
PARIAGOTOS SEEN BY COLUMBUS.

CHAPTER 1.10.

SECOND ABODE AT CUMANA.--EARTHQUAKES.--EXTRAORDINARY METEORS.

CHAPTER 1.11.

PASSAGE FROM CUMANA TO LA GUAYRA.--MORRO OF NUEVA BARCELONA.--
CAPE CODERA.--ROAD FROM LA GUAYRA TO CARACAS.

CHAPTER 1.12.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE PROVINCES OF VENEZUELA.--
DIVERSITY OF THEIR INTERESTS.--CITY AND VALLEY OF CARACAS.--
CLIMATE.

CHAPTER 1.13.

ABODE AT CARACAS.--MOUNTAINS IN THE VICINITY OF THE TOWN.--
EXCURSION TO THE SUMMIT OF THE SILLA.--INDICATIONS OF MINES.

CHAPTER 1.14.

EARTHQUAKES AT CARACAS.--CONNECTION OF THOSE PHENOMENA WITH THE
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS.

CHAPTER 1.15.

DEPARTURE FROM CARACAS.--MOUNTAINS OF SAN PEDRO AND OF LOS TEQUES.--
LA VICTORIA.--VALLEYS OF ARAGUA.

***

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR.

Many years have elapsed since I quitted Europe, to explore the
interior of the New Continent. Devoted from my earliest youth to
the study of nature, feeling with enthusiasm the wild beauties of a
country guarded by mountains and shaded by ancient forests, I
experienced in my travels, enjoyments which have amply compensated
for the privations inseparable from a laborious and often agitated
life. These enjoyments, which I endeavoured to impart to my readers
in my 'Remarks upon the Steppes,' and in the 'Essay on the
Physiognomy of Plants,' were not the only fruits I reaped from an
undertaking formed with the design of contributing to the progress
of natural philosophy. I had long prepared myself for the
observations which were the principal object of my journey to the
torrid zone. I was provided with instruments of easy and convenient
use, constructed by the ablest makers, and I enjoyed the special
protection of a government which, far from presenting obstacles to
my investigations, constantly honoured me with every mark of regard
and confidence. I was aided by a courageous and enlightened friend,
and it was singularly propitious to the success of our participated
labour, that the zeal and equanimity of that friend never failed,
amidst the fatigues and dangers to which we were sometimes exposed.

Under these favourable circumstances, traversing regions which for
ages have remained almost unknown to most of the nations of Europe,
I might add even to Spain, M. Bonpland and myself collected a
considerable number of materials, the publication of which may
throw some light on the history of nations, and advance the study
of nature.

I had in view a two-fold purpose in the travels of which I now
publish the historical narrative. I wished to make known the
countries I had visited; and to collect such facts as are fitted to
elucidate a science of which we as yet possess scarcely the
outline, and which has been vaguely denominated Natural History of
the World, Theory of the Earth, or Physical Geography. The last of
these two objects seemed to me the most important. I was
passionately devoted to botany and certain parts of zoology, and I
flattered myself that our investigations might add some new species
to those already known, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms;
but preferring the connection of facts which have been long
observed, to the knowledge of insulated facts, although new, the
discovery of an unknown genus seemed to me far less interesting
than an observation on the geographical relations of the vegetable
world, on the migrations of the social plants, and the limit of the
height which their different tribes attain on the flanks of the
Cordilleras.

The natural sciences are connected by the same ties which link
together all the phenomena of nature. The classification of the
species, which must be considered as the fundamental part of
botany, and the study of which is rendered attractive and easy by
the introduction of natural methods, is to the geography of plants
what descriptive mineralogy is to the indication of the rocks
constituting the exterior crust of the globe. To comprehend the
laws observed in the position of these rocks, to determine the age
of their successive formations, and their identity in the most
distant regions, the geologist should be previously acquainted with
the simple fossils which compose the mass of mountains, and of
which the names and character are the object of oryctognostical
knowledge. It is the same with that part of the natural history of
the globe which treats of the relations plants have to each other,
to the soil whence they spring, or to the air which they inhale and
modify. The progress of the geography of plants depends in a great
measure on that of descriptive botany; and it would be injurious to
the advancement of science, to attempt rising to general ideas,
whilst neglecting the knowledge of particular facts.

I have been guided by these considerations in the course of my
inquiries; they were always present to my mind during the period of
my preparatory studies. When I began to read the numerous
narratives of travels, which compose so interesting a part of
modern literature, I regretted that travellers, the most
enlightened in the insulated branches of natural history, were
seldom possessed of sufficient variety of knowledge to avail
themselves of every advantage arising from their position. It
appeared to me, that the importance of the results hitherto
obtained did not keep pace with the immense progress which, at the
end of the eighteenth century, had been made in several departments
of science, particularly geology, the history of the modifications
of the atmosphere, and the physiology of animals and plants. I saw
with regret, (and all scientific men have shared this feeling) that
whilst the number of accurate instruments was daily increasing, we
were still ignorant of the height of many mountains and elevated
plains; of the periodical oscillations of the aerial ocean; of the
limit of perpetual snow within the polar circle and on the borders
of the torrid zone; of the variable intensity of the magnetic
forces, and of many other phenomena equally important.

Maritime expeditions and circumnavigatory voyages have conferred
just celebrity on the names of the naturalists and astronomers who
have been appointed by various governments to share the dangers of
those undertakings; but though these eminent men have given us
precise notions of the external configuration of countries, of the
natural history of the ocean, and of the productions of islands and
coasts, it must be admitted that maritime expeditions are less
fitted to advance the progress of geology and other parts of
physical science, than travels into the interior of a continent.
The advancement of the natural sciences has been subordinate to
that of geography and nautical astronomy. During a voyage of
several years, the land but seldom presents itself to the
observation of the mariner, and when, after lengthened expectation,
it is descried, he often finds it stripped of its most beautiful
productions. Sometimes, beyond a barren coast, he perceives a ridge
of mountains covered with verdure, but its distance forbids
examination, and the view serves only to excite regret.

Journeys by land are attended with considerable difficulties in the
conveyance of instruments and collections, but these difficulties
are compensated by advantages which it is unnecessary to enumerate.
It is not by sailing along a coast that we can discover the
direction of chains of mountains, and their geological
constitution, the climate of each zone, and its influence on the
forms and habits of organized beings. In proportion to the extent
of continents, the greater on the surface of the soil are the
riches of animal and vegetable productions; the more distant the
central chain of mountains from the sea-shore, the greater is the
variety in the bosom of the earth, of those stony strata, the
regular succession of which unfolds the history of our planet. As
every being considered apart is impressed with a particular type,
so, in like manner, we find the same distinctive impression in the
arrangement of brute matter organized in rocks, and also in the
distribution and mutual relations of plants and animals. The great
problem of the physical description of the globe, is the
determination of the form of these types, the laws of their
relations with each other, and the eternal ties which link the
phenomena of life, and those of inanimate nature.

Having stated the general object I had in view in my expeditions, I
will now hasten to give a slight sketch of the whole of the
collections and observations which we have accumulated, and the
union of which is the aim and end of every scientific journey. The
maritime war, during our abode in America, having rendered
communication with Europe very uncertain, we found ourselves
compelled, in order to diminish the chance of losses, to form three
different collections. Of these, the first was embarked for Spain
and France, the second for the United States and England, and the
third, which was the most considerable, remained almost constantly
under our own eyes. Towards the close of our expedition, this last
collection formed forty-two boxes, containing an herbal of six
thousand equinoctial plants, seeds, shells, insects, and (what had
hitherto never been brought to Europe) geological specimens, from
the Chimborazo, New Grenada, and the banks of the river Amazon.

After our journey to the Orinoco, we left a part of these
collections at the island of Cuba, intending to take them on our
return from Peru to Mexico. The rest followed us during the space
of five years, on the chain of the Andes, across New Spain, from
the shores of the Pacific to the coasts of the Caribbean Sea. The
conveyance of these objects, and the minute care they required,
occasioned embarrassments scarcely conceiveable even by those who
have traversed the most uncultivated parts of Europe. Our progress
was often retarded by the necessity of dragging after us, during
expeditions of five or six months, twelve, fifteen, and sometimes
more than twenty loaded mules, exchanging these animals every eight
or ten days, and superintending the Indians who were employed in
driving the numerous caravan. Often, in order to add to our
collections of new mineral substances, we found ourselves obliged
to throw away others, which we had collected a considerable time
before. These sacrifices were not less vexatious than the losses we
accidentally sustained. Sad experience taught us but too late, that
from the sultry humidity of the climate, and the frequent falls of
the beasts of burden, we could preserve neither the skins of
animals hastily prepared, nor the fishes and reptiles placed in
phials filled with alcohol. I enter into these details, because,
though little interesting in themselves, they serve to show that we
had no means of bringing back, in their natural state, many objects
of zoology and comparative anatomy, of which we have published
descriptions and drawings. Notwithstanding some obstacles, and the
expense occasioned by the carriage of these articles, I had reason
to applaud the resolution I had taken before my departure, of
sending to Europe the duplicates only of the productions we
collected. I cannot too often repeat, that when the seas are
infested with privateers, a traveller can be sure only of the
objects in his own possession. A very few of the duplicates, which
we shipped for Europe during our abode in America, were saved; the
greater part fell into the hands of persons who feel no interest
for science. When a ship is condemned in a foreign port, boxes
containing only dried plants or stones, instead of being sent to
the scientific men to whom they are addressed, are put aside and
forgotten. Some of our geological collections taken in the Pacific
were, however, more fortunate. We were indebted for their
preservation to the generous activity of Sir Joseph Banks,
President of the Royal Society of London, who, amidst the political
agitations of Europe, unceasingly laboured to strengthen the bonds
of union between scientific men of all nations.

In our investigations we have considered each phenomenon under
different aspects, and classed our remarks according to the
relations they bear to each other. To afford an idea of the method
we have followed, I will here add a succinct enumeration of the
materials with which we were furnished for describing the volcanoes
of Antisana and Pichincha, as well as that of Jorullo: the latter,
during the night of the 20th of September, 1759, rose from the
earth one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight French feet above
the surrounding plains of Mexico. The position of these singular
mountains in longitude and latitude was ascertained by astronomical
observations. We took the heights of the different parts by the aid
of the barometer, and determined the dip of the needle and the
intensity of the magnetic forces. Our collections contain the
plants which are spread over the flanks of these volcanoes, and
specimens of different rocks which, superposed one upon another,
constitute their external coat. We are enabled to indicate, by
measures sufficiently exact, the height above the level of the
ocean, at which we found each group of plants, and each volcanic
rock. Our journals furnish us with a series of observations on the
humidity, the temperature, the electricity, and the degree of
transparency of the air on the brinks of the craters of Pichincha
and Jorullo; they also contain topographical plans and geological
profiles of these mountains, founded in part on the measure of
vertical bases, and on angles of altitude. Each observation has
been calculated according to the tables and the methods which are
considered most exact in the present state of our knowledge; and in
order to judge of the degree of confidence which the results may
claim, we have preserved the whole detail of our partial
operations.

It would have been possible to blend these different materials in a
work devoted wholly to the description of the volcanoes of Peru and
New Spain. Had I given the physical description of a single
province, I could have treated separately everything relating to
its geography, mineralogy, and botany; but how could I interrupt
the narrative of a journey, a disquisition on the manners of a
people, or the great phenomena of nature, by an enumeration of the
productions of the country, the description of new species of
animals and plants, or the detail of astronomical observations. Had
I adopted a mode of composition which would have included in one
and the same chapter all that has been observed on one particular
point of the globe, I should have prepared a work of cumbrous
length, and devoid of that clearness which arises in a great
measure from the methodical distribution of matter. Notwithstanding
the efforts I have made to avoid, in this narrative, the errors I
had to dread, I feel conscious that I have not always succeeded in
separating the observations of detail from those general results
which interest every enlightened mind. These results comprise in
one view the climate and its influence on organized beings, the
aspect of the country, varied according to the nature of the soil
and its vegetable covering, the direction of the mountains and
rivers which separate races of men as well as tribes of plants; and
finally, the modifications observable in the condition of people
living in different latitudes, and in circumstances more or less
favourable to the development of their faculties. I do not fear
having too much enlarged on objects so worthy of attention: one of
the noblest characteristics which distinguish modern civilization
from that of remoter times is, that it has enlarged the mass of our
conceptions, rendered us more capable of perceiving the connection
between the physical and intellectual world, and thrown a more
general interest over objects which heretofore occupied only a few
scientific men, because those objects were contemplated separately,
and from a narrower point of view.