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diff --git a/old/67183-h/67183-h.htm b/old/67183-h/67183-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 9fc04d8..0000000 --- a/old/67183-h/67183-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10935 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - Aspects of Nature (Vol. 1 of 2), by Alexander von Humboldt—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; - margin-top: 2em; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -.small {font-size: small;} -.smaller {font-size: smaller;} -.larger {font-size: larger;} -.large {font-size: large;} -.x-large {font-size: x-large;} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} - -.annotations {margin-left: 4em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} - -.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -.break {page-break-before: always;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} -table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } -table.autotable td, -table.autotable th { padding: 4px; } - -th {text-align: center;} - -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} - -.total {border-top: thin solid; border-bottom: thin solid;} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 1%; - font-size: x-small; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - font-style: normal; - letter-spacing: normal; - text-indent: 0em; - text-align: right; - color: #999999; - background-color: #ffffff; -} - - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.btop {border-top: solid thin;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -/* Footnotes */ - -.footnote {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size: 0.9em;} - - - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -.titlepage {text-align: center; margin: auto; max-width: 32em;} -.titlepage p {text-align: center;} - -.toc {text-align: left; max-width: 40em;} - -.sig {margin-left: 4em;} - -/* Poetry */ -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry in browsers */ -/* .poetry {display: inline-block;} */ -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} -/* large inline blocks don't split well on paged devices */ -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1em;} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aspects of Nature (Vol. 1 of 2), by Alexander von Humboldt</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Aspects of Nature (Vol. 1 of 2)</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>in Different Lands and Different Climates; with Scientific Elucidations</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Alexander von Humboldt</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Elizabeth Sabine</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 16, 2022 [eBook #67183]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Henry Flower and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPECTS OF NATURE (VOL. 1 OF 2) ***</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p> - -<h1>ASPECTS OF NATURE.</h1> - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[iv]</span></p> - - -<p class="break p4 center small">Wilson and Ogilvy, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p> -<div class="chapter titlepage"> - - - -<p class="p4"> - - -<span class="x-large">ASPECTS OF NATURE,</span><br /> - -<span class="small">IN</span><br /> - -DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES;<br /> - -<span class="small">WITH</span><br /> - -Scientific Elucidations.</p> - -<p class="p2"> -<span class="small">BY</span><br /> - -<span class="large">ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.</span><br /> - -TRANSLATED BY MRS. SABINE.<br /> - -<span class="smaller">IN TWO VOLUMES.</span></p> -<p> -VOL. I.</p> - -<p class="p2"> -LONDON:<br /> -<br /> -<span class="small">PRINTED FOR</span><br /> -LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,<br /> -<span class="small">PATERNOSTER ROW; AND</span><br /> -JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.<br /> -1849. -</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="AUTHORS_PREFACE">AUTHOR’S PREFACE<br /> -<span class="small">TO THE</span><br /> -FIRST EDITION.</h2> -</div> - -<p>It is not without diffidence that I present to the public a -series of papers which took their origin in the presence of -natural scenes of grandeur or of beauty,—on the Ocean, in -the forests of the Orinoco, in the Steppes of Venezuela, -and in the mountain wildernesses of Peru and Mexico. -Detached fragments were written down on the spot and at -the moment, and were afterwards moulded into a whole. -The view of Nature on an enlarged scale, the display of the -concurrent action of various forces or powers, and the -renewal of the enjoyment which the immediate prospect of -tropical scenery affords to sensitive minds, are the objects -which I have proposed to myself. According to the design -of my work, whilst each of the treatises of which it consists -should form a whole complete in itself, one common -tendency should pervade them all. Such an artistic and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span> -literary treatment of subjects of natural history is liable to -difficulties of composition, notwithstanding the aid which it -derives from the power and flexibility of our noble language. -The unbounded riches of Nature occasion an accumulation -of separate images; and accumulation disturbs the repose -and the unity of impression which should belong to the -picture. Moreover, when addressing the feelings and -imagination, a firm hand is needed to guard the style from -degenerating into an undesirable species of poetic prose. -But I need not here describe more fully dangers which -I fear the following pages will shew I have not always -succeeded in avoiding.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, notwithstanding faults which I can more -easily perceive than amend, I venture to hope that these -descriptions of the varied Aspects which Nature assumes in -distant lands, may impart to the reader a portion of that -enjoyment which is derived from their immediate contemplation -by a mind susceptible of such impressions. As this -enjoyment is enhanced by insight into the more hidden -connection of the different powers and forces of nature, -I have subjoined to each treatise scientific elucidations and -additions.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span></p> - -<p>Throughout the entire work I have sought to indicate -the unfailing influence of external nature on the feelings, -the moral dispositions, and the destinies of man. To minds -oppressed with the cares or the sorrows of life, the soothing -influence of the contemplation of nature is peculiarly -precious; and to such these pages are more especially -dedicated. May they, “escaping from the stormy waves -of life,” follow me in spirit with willing steps to the recesses -of the primeval forests, over the boundless surface of the -Steppe, and to the higher ridges of the Andes. To them -is addressed the poet’s voice, in the sentence of the -Chorus—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Auf den Bergen ist Freiheit! Der Hauch der Grüfte</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Steigt nicht hinauf in die reinen Lüfte;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Die Welt ist vollkommen überall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wo der Mensch nicht hinkommt mit seiner Qual.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="AUTHORS_PREFACE_2_3">AUTHOR’S PREFACE<br /> - - -<span class="small">TO THE</span><br /> - -SECOND AND THIRD EDITIONS.</h2> -</div> - -<p>The twofold aim of the present work (a carefully prepared -and executed attempt to enhance the enjoyment of Nature by -animated description, and at the same time to increase in -proportion to the state of knowledge at the time the reader’s -insight into the harmonious and concurrent action of different -powers and forces of Nature) was pointed out by me nearly -half a century ago in the Preface to the First Edition. In -so doing, I alluded to the various obstacles which oppose a -successful treatment of the subject in the manner designed. -The combination of a literary and of a purely scientific -object,—the endeavour at once to interest and occupy the -imagination, and to enrich the mind with new ideas by the -augmentation of knowledge,—renders the due arrangement -of the separate parts, and the desired unity of composition, -difficult of attainment. Yet, notwithstanding these dis<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>advantages, -the public have long regarded my imperfectly -executed undertaking with friendly partiality.</p> - -<p>The second edition of the “Ansichten der Natur” was -prepared by me in Paris in 1826; and at the same time two -fresh treatises were added,—one an Essay on the Structure -and mode of Action of Volcanoes in different regions of the -earth; and the other on the “Vital Power,” bearing the -title “Lebenskraft, oder der rhodische Genius.” During -my long stay at Jena, Schiller, in the recollection of his -youthful medical studies, loved to converse with me on -physiological subjects; and the considerations in which I -was then engaged on the muscular and nervous fibres when -excited by contact with chemically different substances, often -gave a more specific and graver turn to our discourse. The -“Rhodian Genius” was written at this time: it appeared -first in Schiller’s “Horen,” a periodical journal; and it was -his partiality for this little work which encouraged me to -allow it to be reprinted. My brother, in a letter forming -part of a collection which has recently been given to the -public (Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Briefe an eine Freundin, -Th. ii. S. 39), touches tenderly on the subject of the memoir -in question, but adds at the same time a very just remark:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span> -“The development of a physiological idea is the object of -the entire treatise; men were fonder at that time than they -would now be of such semi-poetic clothing of severe scientific -truths.”</p> - -<p>In my eightieth year, I am still enabled to enjoy the -satisfaction of completing a third edition of my work, remoulding -it entirely afresh to meet the requirements of the -present time. Almost all the scientific Elucidations or -Annotations have been either enlarged or replaced by new -and more comprehensive ones. I have hoped that these -volumes might tend to inspire and cherish a love for the -study of Nature, by bringing together in a small space the -results of careful observation on the most varied subjects; -by showing the importance of exact numerical data, and the -use to be made of them by well-considered arrangement and -comparison; and by opposing the dogmatic half-knowledge -and arrogant scepticism which have long too much prevailed -in what are called the higher circles of society.</p> - -<p>The expedition made by Ehrenberg, Gustav Rose, and -myself, by the command of the Emperor of Russia, in 1829, -to Northern Asia (in the Ural and Altai mountains, and on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span> -the shores of the Caspian Sea), falls between the period of -publication of the second and third editions. This expedition -has contributed materially to the enlargement of my -views in all that regards the form of the surface of the earth, -the direction of mountain-chains, the connection of steppes -and deserts with each other, and the geographical distribution -of plants in relation to ascertained conditions of temperature. -The long subsisting want of any accurate knowledge -on the subject of the great snow-covered mountain-chains -which are situated between the Altai and the Himalaya (<i>i. e.</i> -the Thian-schan and the Kuen-lün), and the ill-judged -neglect of Chinese authorities, have thrown great obscurity -around the geography of Central Asia, and have allowed -imagination to be substituted for the results of observation -in works which have obtained extensive circulation. In the -course of the last few months the hypsometrical comparison -of the culminating summits of the two continents has almost -unexpectedly received important corrections and additions, of -which I hasten to avail myself. (Vol. i. pp. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>–<a href="#Page_58">58</a>, and <a href="#Page_92">92</a>–<a href="#Page_93">93</a>.) -The determinations of the heights of two mountains in the -eastern chain of the Andes of Bolivia, the Sorata and the -Illimani, have been freed from the errors which had placed -those mountains above the Chimborazo, but without as yet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span> -altogether restoring to the latter with certainty its ancient -pre-eminence among the snowy summits of the New World. -In the Himalaya the recently executed trigonometrical -measurement of the Kinchinjinga (28178 English feet) places -it next in altitude to the Dhawalagiri, a new and more exact -trigonometrical measurement of which has also been recently -made.</p> - -<p>For the sake of uniformity with the two previous editions -of the “Ansichten der Natur,” I have given the degrees of -temperature in the present work (unless where expressly -stated otherwise) in degrees of Reaumur’s scale. The linear -measures are the old French, in which the toise equals six -Parisian feet. The miles are geographical, fifteen to a degree -of the equator. The longitudes are reckoned from the -Observatory at Paris as a first meridian.</p> - - - -<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Berlin</span>, 1849.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTE_BY_THE_TRANSLATOR">NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.</h2> -</div> - - -<p>In the translation the temperatures are given in degrees of -Fahrenheit, retaining at the same time the original figures in -Reaumur’s scale. In the same manner the measures are -given in English feet, generally retaining at the same time -the original statements in Parisian or French feet or toises, a -desirable precaution where accuracy is important. The miles -are given in geographical miles, 60 to a degree, but in this -case the original figures have usually been omitted, the conversion -being so simple as to render the introduction of error -very improbable. In a very few instances “English miles” -appear without any farther epithet or explanation; these -have been taken by the author from English sources, and -may probably signify statute miles. The longitudes from -Greenwich are substituted for those from Paris, retaining in -addition the original statement in particular cases.</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[xix]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - - - -<table class="autotable toc" summary=""> -<tr> -<td></td> -<td class="tdr"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Author’s Preface to the First Edition</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Author’s Preface to the Second and Third Editions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_xi">xi</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Note by the Translator</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Steppes and Deserts</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="annotations">Annotations and Additions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cataracts of the Orinoco</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="annotations">Annotations and Additions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Nocturnal Life of Animals in the Primeval Forest</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_259">257</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="annotations">Annotations and Additions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Hypsometric Addenda</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p class="p2 center"> -⁂ For General Summary of the <span class="smcap">Contents</span> of the First Volume, -<i>see</i> page <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.<br /> -</p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> - - - -<p class="p4 center"> -<span class="large">ASPECTS OF NATURE</span><br /> - -IN<br /> - -<span class="larger">DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES.</span><br /> -</p> - - - - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="STEPPES_AND_DESERTS">STEPPES AND DESERTS.</h2> -</div> - - -<p>A widely extended and apparently interminable plain stretches -from the southern base of the lofty granitic crest, which, in -the youth of our planet, when the Caribbean gulf was formed, -braved the invasion of the waters. On quitting the mountain -valleys of Caraccas, and the island-studded lake of -Tacarigua<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> whose surface reflects the stems of plantains -and bananas, and on leaving behind him meads adorned -with the bright and tender green of the Tahitian sugar cane -or the darker verdure of the Cacao groves, the traveller, -looking southward, sees unroll before him Steppes receding -until they vanish in the far horizon.</p> - -<p>Fresh from the richest luxuriance of organic life, he treads -at once the desolate margin of a treeless desert. Neither -hill nor cliff rises, like an island in the ocean, to break the -uniformity of the boundless plain; only here and there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> -broken strata of limestone, several hundred square miles in -extent, appear sensibly higher than the adjoining parts. -“Banks”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> is the name given to them by the natives; as -if language instinctively recalled the more ancient condition -of the globe, when those elevations were shoals, and the -Steppes themselves were the bottom of a great Mediterranean -sea.</p> - -<p>Even at the present time nocturnal illusion still recalls -these images of the past. When the rapidly rising and -descending constellations illumine the margin of the plain, -or when their trembling image is repeated in the lower -stratum of undulating vapour, we seem to see before us a -shoreless ocean.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Like the ocean, the Steppe fills the -mind with the feeling of infinity; and thought, escaping -from the visible impressions of space, rises to contemplations -of a higher order. Yet the aspect of the clear transparent -mirror of the ocean, with its light, curling, gently foaming, -sportive waves, cheers the heart like that of a friend; but -the Steppe lies stretched before us dead and rigid, like the -stony crust<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> of a desolated planet.</p> - -<p>In every zone nature presents the phenomena of these -great plains: in each they have a peculiar physiognomy, -determined by diversity of soil, by climate, and by elevation -above the level of the sea.</p> - -<p>In northern Europe, the Heaths, which, covered with a -single race of plants repelling all others, extend from the -point of Jutland to the mouth of the Scheldt, may be regarded -as true Steppes,—but Steppes of small extent and -hilly surface, if compared with the Llanos and Pampas of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> -South America, or even with the Prairies of the Missouri<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> -and the Barrens of the Coppermine river, where range -countless herds of the shaggy buffalo and musk ox.</p> - -<p>A grander and severer aspect characterises the plains of -the interior of Africa. Like the wide expanse of the Pacific -Ocean, it is only in recent times that attempts have been -made to explore them thoroughly. They are parts of a sea -of sand, which, stretching eastward, separates fruitful regions -from each other, or encloses them like islands; as where the -Desert, near the basaltic mountains of Harudsh,<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> surrounds -the Oasis of Siwah rich in date trees, and in which the ruins -of the temple of Ammon mark the venerable site of an -ancient civilisation. Neither dew nor rain bathe these -desolate plains, or develope on their glowing surface the -germs of vegetable life; for heated columns of air, every -where ascending, dissolve the vapours, and disperse each -swiftly vanishing cloud.</p> - -<p>Where the Desert approaches the Atlantic Ocean, as between -the Wadi Nun and Cape Blanco, the moist sea air -pours in to supply the void left by these upward currents. -The mariner, steering towards the mouth of the Gambia -through a sea covered with weed, when suddenly deserted -by the east trade wind of the tropics,<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> infers the vicinity -of the widely extended heat-radiating desert. Herds of antelopes -and swift-footed ostriches roam through these vast -regions; but, with the exception of the watered Oases or -islands in the sea of sand, some groups of which have -recently been discovered, and whose verdant shores are -frequented by nomade Tibbos and Tuaricks,<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> the African<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> -Desert must be regarded as uninhabitable by man. The -more civilised nations who dwell on its borders only venture -to enter it periodically. By trading routes, which have -remained unaltered for thousands of years, caravans traverse -the long distance from Tafilet to Timbuctoo, and from -Moorzouk to Bornou; adventurous undertakings, the possibility -of which depends upon the existence of the camel, -the “ship of the desert,”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> as it is called in the traditionary -language of the eastern world.</p> - -<p>These African plains occupy an extent nearly three times -as great as that of the neighbouring Mediterranean sea. -They are situated partly within, and partly in the vicinity -of the tropics; and on this situation their peculiar character -depends. In the eastern part of the old continent, the same -geognostic phenomenon occurs in the temperate zone. On -the plateaux of central Asia, between the gold mountains or -the Altai and the Kuen-lun,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> from the Chinese wall to -beyond the Celestial mountains, and towards the sea of Aral, -there extend, through a length of many thousand miles, the -most vast, if not the most elevated, Steppes on the surface -of the globe. I have myself had the opportunity, fully -thirty years after my South American journey, of visiting a -portion of them; namely, the Calmuck Kirghis Steppes between -the Don, the Volga, the Caspian, and the Chinese -lake Dsaisang, being an extent of almost 2800 geographical -miles.</p> - -<p>These Asiatic Steppes, which are sometimes hilly and -sometimes interrupted by pine forests, possess (dispersed -over them in groups) a far more varied vegetation than that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> -of the Llanos and Pampas of Caraccas and Buenos Ayres. -The finest part of these plains, which is inhabited by Asiatic -pastoral tribes, is adorned with low bushes of luxuriant -white-blossomed Rosaceæ, and with Fritillarias, Tulips, and -Cypripedias.</p> - -<p>As the torrid zone is characterised on the whole by a disposition -in all vegetation to become arborescent, so some of -the Asiatic Steppes in the temperate zone are characterised -by the great height attained by flowering herbaceous -plants, Saussureas and other Synantheræ, and Papilionaceæ -especially a host of species of Astragalus. In traversing -pathless portions of these Steppes, the traveller, seated in -the low Tartar carriages, sees the thickly crowded plants -bend beneath the wheels, but without rising up cannot look -around him to see the direction in which he is moving. -Some of the Asiatic Steppes are grassy plains; others are -covered with succulent, evergreen, articulated soda plants: -many glisten from a distance with flakes of exuded salt which -cover the clayey soil, not unlike in appearance to fresh fallen -snow.</p> - -<p>These Mongolian and Tartarian Steppes, interrupted frequently -by mountainous features, divide the very ancient -civilisation of Thibet and Hindostan from the rude nations -of Northern Asia. They have in various ways exercised an -important influence on the changeful destinies of man. -They have compressed the population towards the south, -and have tended, more than the Himalaya, or than the snowy -mountains of Srinagur and Ghorka, to impede the intercourse -of nations, and to place permanent limits to the extension<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -of milder manners, and of artistic and intellectual cultivation -in northern Asia.</p> - -<p>But, in the history of the past, it is not alone as an -opposing barrier that we must regard the plains of Central -Asia: more than once they have proved the source from -whence devastation has spread over distant lands. The -pastoral nations of these Steppes,—Moguls, Getæ, Alani, -and Usuni,—have shaken the world. As in the course of -past ages, early intellectual culture has come like the -cheering light of the sun from the East, so, at a later period, -from the same direction barbaric rudeness has threatened -to overspread and involve Europe in darkness. A brown -pastoral race,<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> of Tukiuish or Turkish descent, the Hiongnu, -dwelling in tents of skins, inhabited the elevated Steppe of -Gobi. Long terrible to the Chinese power, a part of this -tribe was driven back into Central Asia. The shock or impulse -thus given passed from nation to nation, until it -reached the ancient land of the Finns, near the Ural mountains. -From thence, Huns, Avari, Ghazarés, and various -admixtures of Asiatic races, broke forth. Armies of Huns -appeared successively on the Volga, in Pannonia, on the -Marne, and on the Po, desolating those fair and fertile -fields which, since the time of Antenor, civilised man had -adorned with monument after monument. Thus went -forth from the Mongolian deserts a deadly blast, which -withered on Cisalpine ground the tender long-cherished -flower of art.</p> - -<p>From the salt Steppes of Asia, from the European Heaths -smiling in summer with their purple blossoms rich in honey,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> -and from the arid Deserts of Africa devoid of all vegetation, -let us now return to those South American plains of which -I have already began to trace the picture, albeit in rude -outlines.</p> - -<p>The interest which this picture can offer to the beholder -is, however, exclusively that of pure nature. Here no -Oasis recalls the memory of earlier inhabitants; no carved -stone,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> no ruined building, no fruit tree once the care of -the cultivator but now wild, speaks of the art or industry of -former generations. As if estranged from the destinies of -mankind, and riveting attention solely to the present moment, -this corner of the earth appears as a wild theatre for -the free development of animal and vegetable life.</p> - -<p>The Steppe extends from the Caraccas coast chain to the -forests of Guiana, and from the snowy mountains of Merida -(on the slope of which the Natron Lake Urao is an object of -superstitious veneration to the natives,) to the great delta -formed by the Orinoco at its mouth. To the south-west -a branch is prolonged, like an arm of the sea,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> beyond -the banks of the Meta and Vichada to the unvisited -sources of the Guaviare, and to the lonely mountain to -which the excited fancy of the Spanish soldiery gave the -name of Paramo de la Suma Paz—the seat of perfect peace.</p> - -<p>This Steppe occupies a space of 16,000 (256,000 English) -square miles. It has often been erroneously described as -running uninterruptedly, and with an equal breadth, to the -straits of Magellan, forgetting the forest-covered plain of -the Amazons which intervenes between the grassy Steppes -of the Apure and those of the river Plate. The Andes of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -Cochabamba, and the Brazilian group of mountains, send -forth, between the province of Chiquitos and the isthmus -of Villabella, some detached spurs, which advance, as it -were, to meet each other.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> A narrow plain connects -the forest lands of the Amazons with the Pampas of Buenos -Ayres. The latter far surpass the Llanos of Venezuela in -area; and their extent is so great that while their northern -margin is bordered by palm trees, their southern extremity -is almost continually covered with ice.</p> - -<p>The Tuyu, which resembles the Cassowary (the Struthio -rhea), is peculiar to these Pampas, which are also the haunt -of troops of dogs<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> descended from those introduced by the -colonists, but which have become completely wild, dwelling -together in subterranean hollows, and often attacking with -blood-thirsty rage the human race whom their progenitors -served and defended.</p> - -<p>Like the greater portion of the desert of Sahara,<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> the -northernmost of the South American plains, the Llanos, are -in the torrid zone: during one half of the year they are -desolate, like the Lybian sandy waste; during the other, -they appear as a grassy plain, resembling many of the Steppes -of Central Asia.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>It is a highly interesting though difficult task of general -geography to compare the natural conditions of distant -regions, and to represent by a few traits the results of this -comparison. The causes which lessen both heat and dryness -in the New World<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> are manifold, and in some -respects as yet only partially understood. Amongst these -may be classed the narrowness and deep indentation of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -American land in the northern part of the torrid zone, where -consequently the atmosphere, resting on a liquid base, does -not present so heated an ascending current;—the extension -of the continent towards the poles;—the expanse of ocean -over which the trade-winds sweep freely, acquiring thereby -a cooler temperature;—the flatness of the eastern coasts;—currents -of cold sea-water from the antarctic regions, which, -coming from the south-west to the north-east, first strike -the coast of Chili in the parallel of 35° south latitude, and -advance along the coast of Peru as far north as Cape Pariña, -and then turn suddenly to the west;—the numerous lofty -mountain chains rich in springs, and whose snow-clad summits, -rising high above all the strata of clouds, cause -descending currents of cold air to roll down their declivities;—the -abundance of rivers of enormous breadth, which, after -many windings, seek the most distant coast;—Steppes which -from not being sandy are less susceptible of acquiring a high -degree of heat,—impenetrable forests occupying the alluvial -plains situated immediately beneath the equator, protecting -with their shade the soil beneath from the direct influence -of the sunbeams, and exhaling in the interior of the country -at a great distance from the mountains and from the ocean -vast quantities of moisture, partly imbibed and partly -elaborated:—all these circumstances afford to the flat part -of America a climate which by its humidity and coolness -contrasts wonderfully with that of Africa. It is to the same -causes that we are to attribute the luxuriant vegetation, the -magnificent forests, and that abundant leafiness by which -the new continent is peculiarly characterised.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span></p> - -<p>If, therefore, one side of our planet has a moister atmosphere -than the other, the consideration of the present -condition of things is amply sufficient to explain the problem -presented by this inequality. The physical inquirer needs -not to clothe the explanation of these phenomena in a -mantle of geological myths. He needs not to assume that -on our planet the harmonious reconciliation of the destructive -conflict of the elements took place at different epochs in the -eastern and the western hemispheres; or that America emerged -later than the other parts of the globe from the chaotic -watery covering,<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> as an island of swamps and marshes -tenanted by alligators and serpents.</p> - -<p>There is, indeed, a striking similarity between South -America and the southern peninsula of the old continent in -the form of the outline and in the direction of the coasts; -but the nature of the soil, and the relative position of the -neighbouring masses of land, produce in Africa that extraordinary -aridity which over an immense area checks the -development of organic life. Four-fifths of South America -are situated on the southern side of the equator; or -in a hemisphere which from the greater proportion of sea -and from other causes is cooler and moister than our -northern half of the globe,<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> to which the larger part of -Africa belongs. The breadth of the South American Steppe, -measured from east to west, is only a third of that of the -African Desert. The Llanos receive the influence of the -tropical sea wind, while the African Deserts, being situated -in the same zone of latitude as Arabia and the south of -Persia, are in contact with strata of air which have blown<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -over warm heat-radiating continents. The venerable and -only lately appreciated father of history, Herodotus, in -the true spirit of an enlarged view of nature, described -the Deserts of northern Africa, of Yemen, of Kerman and -Mekran (the Gedrosia of the Greeks), and even as far as -Moultan, as forming a single connected sea of sand.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> - -<p>In addition to the action of these hot winds, there is (so -far as we know) an absence or comparative paucity in Africa -of large rivers, of widely extended forests producing coolness -and exhaling moisture, and of lofty mountains. Of mountains -covered with perpetual snow, we know only the -western part of the Atlas,<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> whose narrow range, seen -in profile from the Atlantic, appeared to the ancient -navigators when sailing along the coast as a single -detached lofty sky-supporting mount. The eastern prolongation -of the chain extends nearly to Dakul, where -Carthage, once mistress of the seas, now lies in mouldering -ruins. As forming a long extended coast-chain, or Gætulian -rampart, the effect of the Atlas range is to intercept the cool -north breezes, and the vapours which ascend from the -Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>The Mountains of the Moon, Djebel-al-Komr,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> -(fabulously represented as forming part of a mountainous -parallel extending from the high plateaux of Habesh, an -African Quito, to the sources of the Senegal), were supposed -to rise above the limit of perpetual snow. The Cordillera -of Lupata, which extends along the eastern coast of -Mozambique and Monomotapa, as the Andes along the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> -western coast of Peru, is believed to be covered with perpetual -snow in the gold districts of Machinga and Mocanga. -But all these mountains, with the abundant waters to which -they give rise, are far remote from the immense Desert which -stretches from the southern declivity of the Atlas to the -Niger.</p> - -<p>Possibly, however, all the causes of heat and dryness -which have been enumerated may have been insufficient to -transform such considerable parts of the African plains into -a dreadful desert, without the concurrence of some revolution -of nature,—such, for instance, as an irruption of the ocean, -whereby these flat regions may have been despoiled of their -coating of vegetable soil, as well as of the plants which it -nourished. Profound obscurity veils the period of such an -event, and the force which determined the irruption. Perhaps -it may have been caused by the great “rotatory current”<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> -which sends the warmer water of the Mexican gulf over -the banks of Newfoundland and to the shores of the old -continent, and causes West India cocoa-nuts and other -tropical fruits to reach the coasts of Ireland and Norway. -There is still at least at the present time, an arm of this -current directed from the Azores to the south-east, which -sometimes produces disasters by carrying ships upon the -west coast of Africa, which it strikes at a part lined by -sand-hills. Other sea coasts (I particularly recall that of -Peru between Amotape and Coquimbo) shew that in these -hot regions of the earth, where rain never falls and where -neither Lecideas nor other Lichens<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> germinate, centuries<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -and perhaps thousands of years may elapse before the -moveable sand can afford to the roots of plants a secure -holding place.</p> - -<p>These considerations are sufficient to explain why, with -an external similarity of form, Africa and South America -present so marked a difference of character both in respect -to climate and to vegetation. But although the South -American Steppe is covered with a thin coating of mould or -fertile earth, and although it is periodically bathed by rains, -and becomes covered at such seasons with luxuriantly -sprouting herbage, yet it never could attract the surrounding -nations or tribes to forsake the beautiful mountain -valleys of Caraccas, the margin of the sea, or the wooded -banks of the Orinoco, for the treeless and springless wilderness; -and thus, previous to the arrival of European and -African settlers, the Steppe was almost entirely devoid of -human inhabitants.</p> - -<p>The Llanos are, indeed, well suited to the rearing of cattle, -but the care of animals yielding milk<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> was almost unknown -to the original inhabitants of the New Continent. -Hardly any of the American tribes have ever availed themselves -of the advantages which nature offered them in this -respect. The American race (which, with the exception of -the Esquimaux, is one and the same from 65° North to 55° -South latitude), has not passed from the state of hunters to -that of cultivators of the soil through the intermediate stage -of a pastoral life. Two kinds of native cattle (the Buffalo -and the Musk Ox) feed in the northern prairies of western -Canada and the plains of arctic America, in Quivira, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -around the colossal ruins of the Aztec fortress which rises -in the wilderness, like an American Palmyra, on the solitary -banks of the Gila. The long-horned Rocky Mountain Sheep -abounds on the arid limestone rocks of California. The Vicunas, -Huanacos, Alpacas, and Lamas, belong to South America; -but the two first named of all these useful animals, <i>i. e.</i>, the -Buffalo and the Musk Ox, have retained their natural -freedom for two thousand years, and the use of milk and -cheese, like the possession and cultivation of farinaceous -grasses,<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> has remained a distinguishing characteristic of -the nations of the old world.</p> - -<p>If some of the latter have crossed from northern Asia to -the west coast of America, and if, keeping by preference to -the cooler mountain regions,<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> they have followed the lofty -ridge of the Andes towards the south, their migration must -have taken place by ways in which they could not be accompanied -by their flocks and herds, or bring with them the -cultivation of corn. When the long shaken empire of the -Hiongnu fell, may we conjecture that the movement of this -powerful tribe may also have occasioned in the north-east of -China and in Corea a shock and an impulse which may have -caused civilized Asiatics to pass over into the new continent? -If such a migration had consisted of inhabitants of the -Steppes in which agriculture was not pursued, this hazardous -hypothesis (which has hitherto been but little favoured by -the comparison of languages) would at least explain the -striking absence of the Cereals in America. Possibly one -of those Asiatic priestly colonies whom mystic dreams -sometimes impelled to embark in long voyages, (of which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> -the history of the peopling of Japan<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> in the time of -Thsinchi-huang-ti offers a memorable example), may have -been driven by storms to the coasts of New California.</p> - -<p>If, then, pastoral life, that beneficent middle stage which -attaches nomadic hunting hordes to desirable pastures and -prepares them, as it were, for agriculture, has remained unknown -to the aboriginal nations of America, this circumstance -sufficiently explains the absence of human inhabitants -in the South American Steppes. This absence has allowed -the freest scope for the abundant development of the most -varied forms of animal life; a development limited only by -their mutual pressure, and similar to that of vegetable life in -the forests of the Orinoco, where the Hymenæa and the -gigantic laurel are never exposed to the destructive hand of -man, but only to the pressure of the luxuriant climbers -which twine around their massive trunks. Agoutis, small -spotted antelopes, cuirassed armadilloes, which, like rats, -startle the hare in its subterranean holes, herds of lazy -chiguires, beautifully striped viverræ which poison the air -with their odour, the large maneless lion, spotted jaguars -(often called tigers) strong enough to drag away a young -bull after killing him;—these and many other forms of -animal life<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> wander through the treeless plain.</p> - -<p>Thus almost exclusively inhabited by these wild animals, -the Steppe would offer little attraction or means of subsistence -to those nomadic native hordes, who, like the -Asiatics of Hindostan, prefer vegetable nutriment, if it were -not for the occasional presence of single individuals of the -fan palm, the Mauritia. The benefits of this life-supporting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -tree are widely celebrated; it alone, from the mouth of the -Orinoco to north of the Sierra de Imataca, feeds the unsubdued -nation of the Guaranis.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> When this people -were more numerous and lived in closer contiguity, not only -did they support their huts on the cut trunks of palm trees -as pillars on which rested a scaffolding forming the floor, -but they also, it is said, twined from the leaf-stalks of the -Mauritia cords and mats, which, skilfully interwoven and -suspended from stem to stem, enabled them in the rainy -season, when the Delta is overflowed, to live in the trees -like the apes. The floor of these raised cottages is partly -covered with a coating of damp clay, on which the women -make fires for household purposes,—the flames appearing at -night from the river to be suspended high in air. The -Guaranis still owe the preservation of their physical, and -perhaps also their moral, independence, to the half-submerged, -marshy soil over which they move with a light and rapid -step, and to their elevated dwellings in the trees,—a habitation -never likely to be chosen from motives of religious -enthusiasm by an American Stylites.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> But the Mauritia -affords to the Guaranis not merely a secure dwelling-place, -but also various kinds of food. Before the flower of the -male palm tree breaks through its tender sheath, and only -at that period of vegetable metamorphosis, the pith of the -stem of the tree contains a meal resembling sago, which, -like the farina of the jatropha root, is dried in thin bread-like -slices. The fermented juice of the tree forms the sweet -intoxicating palm wine of the Guaranis. The scaly fruits, -which resemble in their appearance reddish fir cones, afford,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -like the plaintain and almost all tropical fruits, a different -kind of nutriment, according as they are eaten after -their saccharine substance is fully developed, or in their -earlier or more farinaceous state. Thus in the lowest stage -of man’s intellectual development, we find the existence of -an entire people bound up with that of a single tree; like -the insect which lives exclusively on a single part of a -particular flower.</p> - -<p>Since the discovery of the New Continent, the Llanos -have become habitable to men. In order to facilitate communication -between the Orinoco country and the coasts, -towns have been built here and there on the banks of the -streams which flow through the Steppes.<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The rearing -of cattle has began over all parts of these vast regions. -Huts, formed of reeds tied together with thongs and covered -with skins, are placed at distances of a day’s journey from -each other; numberless herds of oxen, horses, and mules, -estimated at the peaceful epoch of my journey at a million -and a half, roam over the Steppe. The immense multiplication -of these animals, originally brought by man from the -Old Continent, is the more remarkable from the number of -dangers with which they have to contend.</p> - -<p>When, under the vertical rays of the never-clouded sun, -the carbonized turfy covering falls into dust, the indurated -soil cracks asunder as if from the shock of an earthquake. -If at such times two opposing currents of air, whose conflict -produces a rotatory motion, come in contact with the soil, -the plain assumes a strange and singular aspect. Like -conical-shaped clouds<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> the points of which descend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -to the earth, the sand rises through the rarified air -in the electrically charged centre of the whirling current; -resembling the loud waterspout dreaded by the experienced -mariner. The lowering sky sheds a dim, almost straw-coloured -light on the desolate plain. The horizon draws -suddenly nearer; the Steppe seems to contract, and with it -the heart of the wanderer. The hot dusty particles which -fill the air increase its suffocating heat,<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> and the east -wind, blowing over the long-heated soil, brings with it no -refreshment, but rather a still more burning glow. The -pools which the yellow fading branches of the fan palm had -protected from evaporation now gradually disappear. As in -the icy north the animals become torpid with cold, so here, -under the influence of the parching drought, the crocodile -and the boa become motionless and fall asleep, deeply buried -in the dry mud. Every where the death-threatening drought -prevails, and yet, by the play of the refracted rays of light -producing the phenomenon of the mirage, the thirsty traveller -is every where pursued by the illusive image of a cool -rippling watery mirror.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> The distant palm bush apparently -raised by the influence of the contact of unequally -heated and therefore unequally dense strata of air, -hovers above the ground, from which it is separated by a -narrow intervening margin. Half concealed by the dark -clouds of dust, restless with the pain of thirst and hunger, -the horses and cattle roam around, the cattle lowing dismally, -and the horses stretching out their long necks and -snuffing the wind, if haply a moister current may betray the -neighbourhood of a not wholly dried up pool. More saga<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>cious -and cunning, the mule seeks a different mode of -alleviating his thirst. The ribbed and spherical melon-cactus<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> -conceals under its prickly envelope a watery pith. -The mule first strikes the prickles aside with his fore feet, -and then ventures warily to approach his lips to the plant -and drink the cool juice. But resort to this vegetable -fountain is not always without danger, and one sees many -animals that have been lamed by the prickles of the cactus.</p> - -<p>When the burning heat of the day is followed by the -coolness of the night, which in these latitudes is always of -the same length, even then the horses and cattle cannot -enjoy repose. Enormous bats suck their blood like vampires -during their sleep, or attach themselves to their backs, -causing festering wounds, in which musquitoes, hippobosces, -and a host of stinging insects, niche themselves. Thus the -animals lead a painful life during the season when, under -the fierce glow of the sun, the soil is deprived of its -moisture. At length, after the long drought, the welcome -season of the rain arrives; and then how suddenly is the -scene changed!<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The deep blue of the hitherto perpetually -cloudless sky becomes lighter; at night the dark -space in the constellation of the Southern Cross is hardly -distinguishable; the soft phosphorescent light of the Magellanic -clouds fades away; even the stars in Aquila and -Ophiucus in the zenith shine with a trembling and less -planetary light. A single cloud appears in the south, like -a distant mountain, rising perpendicularly from the horizon. -Gradually the increasing vapours spread like mist over the -sky, and now the distant thunder ushers in the life-restoring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -rain. Hardly has the surface of the earth received the -refreshing moisture, before the previously barren Steppe -begins to exhale sweet odours, and to clothe itself with -Kyllingias, the many panicules of the Paspalum, and a variety -of grasses. The herbaceous mimosas, with renewed sensibility -to the influence of light, unfold their drooping slumbering -leaves to greet the rising sun; and the early song of -birds, and the opening blossoms of the water plants, join to -salute the morning. The horses and cattle now graze in -full enjoyment of life. The tall springing grass hides the -beautifully spotted jaguar, who lurking in safe concealment, -and measuring carefully the distance of a single bound, -springs, cat-like, as the Asiatic tiger, on his passing prey.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, (so the Aborigines relate), on the margin of -the swamps the moistened clay is seen to blister and rise -slowly in a kind of mound; then with a violent noise, like -the outbreak of a small mud volcano, the heaped-up earth is -cast high into the air. The beholder acquainted with the -meaning of this spectacle flies, for he knows there will issue -forth a gigantic water-snake or a scaly crocodile, awakened -from a torpid state<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> by the first fall of rain.</p> - -<p>The rivers which bound the plain to the south, the -Arauca, Apure, and Payara, become gradually swollen; and -now nature constrains the same animals, who in the first -half of the year panted with thirst on the dry and dusty -soil, to adopt an amphibious life. A portion of the Steppe -now presents the aspect of a vast inland sea.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> The -brood mares retire with their foals to the higher banks, -which stand like islands above the surface of the lake.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -Every day the space remaining dry becomes smaller. The -animals, crowded together, swim about for hours in search -of other pasture, and feed sparingly on the tops of the -flowering grasses rising above the seething surface of the -dark-coloured water. Many foals are drowned, and many -are surprised by the crocodiles, killed by a stroke of their -powerful notched tails, and devoured. It is not a rare -thing to see the marks of the pointed teeth of these monsters -on the legs of the horses and cattle who have narrowly -escaped from their blood-thirsty jaws. Such a sight reminds -the thoughtful observer involuntarily of the capability of -conforming to the most varied circumstances, with which the -all-providing Author of Nature has endowed certain animals -and plants.</p> - -<p>The ox and the horse, like the farinaceous cerealia, have -followed man over the whole surface of the globe, from -India to Northern Siberia, from the Ganges to the River -Plate, from the African sea shore to the mountain plateau -of Antisana,<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> which is higher than the summit of the -Peak of Teneriffe. The ox wearied from the plough reposes, -sheltered from the noontide sun in one country by the -quivering shadow of the northern birch, and in another by -the date palm. The same species which, in the east of -Europe, has to encounter the attacks of bears and wolves, -is exposed in other regions to the assaults of tigers and -crocodiles.</p> - -<p>But the crocodile and jaguar are not the only assailants -of the South American horses; they have also a dangerous -enemy among fishes. The marshy waters of Bera and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -Rastro<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> are filled with numberless electric eels, which can -at pleasure send a powerful discharge from any part of their -slimy yellow spotted bodies. These gymnoti are from five to -six feet in length, and are powerful enough to kill the -largest animals when they discharge their nervous organs at -once in a favourable direction.</p> - -<p>The route from Uritucu through the Steppe was formerly -obliged to be changed, because the gymnoti had increased to -such numbers in a small stream that in crossing it many -horses were drowned every year, either from the effects of -the shocks they received, or from fright. All other fishes -fly the vicinity of these formidable eels. Even the fisherman -angling from the high bank fears lest the damp line should -convey the shock to him from a distance. Thus, in these -regions, electric fire breaks forth from the bosom of the -waters.</p> - -<p>The capture of the gymnoti affords a picturesque spectacle. -Mules and horses are driven into a marsh which is closely -surrounded by Indians, until the unwonted noise and -disturbance induce the pugnacious fish to begin an attack. -One sees them swimming about like serpents, and trying -cunningly to glide under the bellies of the horses. Many -of these are stunned by the force of the invisible blows; -others, with manes standing on end, foaming and with wild -terror sparkling in their eyes, try to fly from the raging -tempest. But the Indians, armed with long poles of -bamboo, drive them back into the middle of the pool. -Gradually the fury of the unequal strife begins to slacken. -Like clouds which have discharged their electricity, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -wearied fish begin to disperse; long repose and abundant -food are required to replace the galvanic force which they -have expended. Their shocks become gradually weaker and -weaker. Terrified by the noise of the trampling horses, they -timidly approach the bank, where they are wounded by -harpoons, and cautiously drawn on shore by non-conducting -pieces of dry wood.</p> - -<p>Such is the extraordinary battle between horses and fish. -That which forms the invisible but living weapon of this -electric eel;—that which, awakened by the contact of moist -dissimilar particles,<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> circulates through all the organs of -plants and animals;—that which, flashing from the thunder -cloud, illumines the wide skyey canopy;—that which draws -iron to iron and directs the silent recurring march of the -guiding needle;—all, like the several hues of the divided -ray of light, flow from one source; and all blend again -together in one perpetually, every where diffused, force or -power.</p> - -<p>I might here close the hazardous attempt to trace a -picture of nature such as she shows herself in the Steppes. -But as on the ocean fancy not unwillingly dwells awhile on -the image of its distant shores, so, before the wide plain -disappears from our view, let us cast a rapid glance at -the regions by which the Steppes are bounded.</p> - -<p>The Northern Desert of Africa divides two races of men -who belong originally to the same part of the globe, and -whose unreconciled discord appears as ancient as the mythus -of Osiris and Typhon.<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> North of the Atlas there dwell -nations with long and straight hair, of sallow complexion and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -Caucasian features. On the south of the Senegal, towards -Soudan, live hordes of negroes in many different stages of -civilization. In Central Asia, the Mongolian Steppe divides -Siberian barbarism from the ancient civilisation of the -peninsula of India.</p> - -<p>The South American Steppes form the boundary of a -partial European cultivation.<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> To the north, between -the mountains of Venezuela and the Caribbean sea, we find -commercial cities, neat villages, and carefully cultivated -fields. Even the love of art and scientific culture, together -with the noble desire of civil freedom, have long been -awakened there. Towards the south the Steppe terminates -in a savage wilderness. Forests, the growth of thousands -of years, fill with their impenetrable fastnesses the humid -regions between the Orinoco and the Amazons. Massive -leaden-coloured granite rocks<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> narrow the bed of the -foaming rivers. Mountains and forests resound with the -thunder of the falling waters, with the roar of the tiger-like -jaguar, and with the melancholy rain-announcing howlings -of the bearded apes.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> - -<p>Where a sand-bank is left dry by the shallow current, the -unwieldly crocodiles lie, with open jaws, as motionless as -pieces of rock and often covered with birds.<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> The -boa serpent, his body marked like a chess-board, coiled up, -his tail wound round the branch of a tree, lies lurking on -the bank secure of his prey; he marks the young bull or -some feebler inhabitant of the forest as it fords the stream, -and swiftly uncoiling seizes the victim, and covering it with -mucus forces it laboriously down his swelling throat.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span><a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> - -<p>In the midst of this grand and savage nature live many -tribes of men, isolated from each other by the extraordinary -diversity of their languages: some are nomadic, wholly -unacquainted with agriculture, and using ants, gums, and -earth as food<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>; these, as the Otomacs and Jarures, seem -a kind of outcasts from humanity: others, like the Maquiritares -and Macos, are settled, more intelligent and of -milder manners, and live on fruits which they have themselves -reared.</p> - -<p>Large spaces between the Cassiquiare and the Atabapo -are only inhabited by the tapir and the social apes, and are -wholly destitute of human beings. Figures graven on the -rocks<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> shew that even these deserts were once the seat -of some degree of intellectual cultivation. They bear -witness to the changeful destinies of man, as do the unequally -developed flexible languages; which latter belong to -the oldest and most imperishable class of historic memorials.</p> - -<p>But as in the Steppe tigers and crocodiles fight with horses -and cattle, so in the forests on its borders, in the wildernesses -of Guiana, man is ever armed against man. Some -tribes drink with unnatural thirst the blood of their enemies; -others apparently weaponless and yet prepared for murder<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> -kill with a poisoned thumb-nail. The weaker hordes, when -they have to pass along the sandy margin of the rivers, -carefully efface with their hands the traces of their timid -footsteps. Thus man in the lowest stage of almost animal -rudeness, as well as amidst the apparent brilliancy of our -higher cultivation, prepares for himself and his fellow<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -men increased toil and danger. The traveller wandering -over the wide globe by sea and land, as well as the historic -inquirer searching the records of past ages, finds every -where the uniform and saddening spectacle of man at -variance with man.</p> - -<p>He, therefore, who, amidst the unreconciled discord of -nations, seeks for intellectual calm, gladly turns to contemplate -the silent life of vegetation, and the hidden activities -of forces and powers operating in the sanctuaries of -nature; or, obedient to the inborn impulse which for -thousands of years has glowed in the human breast, gazes -upwards in meditative contemplation on those celestial orbs, -which are ever pursuing in undisturbed harmony their -ancient and unchanging course.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p> -<h3 class="nobreak" id="ANNOTATIONS_AND_ADDITIONS">ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h3> -</div> - - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> p. 1.—“<i>The Lake of Tacarigua.</i>”</p> - -<p>In proceeding through the interior of South America -from the Caraccas or Venezuela shore towards the boundary -of Brazil, from the 10th degree of North latitude to the -Equator, the traveller crosses first an elevated mountain-chain -running in an east and west direction, next vast -treeless Steppes or Plains (los Llanos), which stretch from -the foot of the above-named mountains (the coast chain of -Caraccas) to the left bank of the Orinoco, and lastly the -range which occasions the Cataracts of Atures and Maypure. -This latter range of mountains, to which I have given the -name of the Sierra Parime, runs in an easterly direction -from the Cataracts to Dutch and French Guiana. It is a -mass of mountains divided into many parallel ridges, and is -the site of the fabled Dorado. It is bordered on the south -by the forest plain, through which the river of the Amazons -and the Rio Negro have formed the channels in which -their waters flow. Those who desire a fuller acquaintance -with the geography of these regions will do well to consult -and compare the great map of La Cruz-Olmedilla, bearing -date 1775, (from which almost all the more recent maps of -South America have been formed,) and the map of Columbia<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -constructed by me from my own astronomical determinations -of geographical positions, and published in 1825.</p> - -<p>The coast chain of Venezuela, geographically considered, -is a part of the chain of the Andes of Peru. The chain of -the Andes divides itself, at the great mountain junction at -the sources of the Magdalena, south of Popayan, (between -1° 55′ and 2° 20′ latitude), into three chains, the easternmost -of which terminates in the snow-covered mountains of -Merida. These mountains sink down towards the Paramo -de las Rosas into the hilly land of Quibor and Tocuyo, which -connects the coast chain of Venezuela with the Cordilleras -of Cundinamarca. The coast chain forms an unbroken -rampart from Porto Cabello to the promontory of Paria. Its -mean height hardly equals 750 toises or 4795 English feet; -yet single summits, like the Silla de Caracas (also called -Cerro de Avila), decked with the purple-flowering Befaria -the American Rose of the Alps, rise 1350 toises or 8630 -English feet above the level of the sea. The coast of Terra -Firma bears traces of devastation. We recognise everywhere -the action of the great current which, sweeping from east to -west, formed by disruption the West Indian Islands, and -hollowed out the Caribbean gulf. The projecting tongues of -land of Araja and Chuparipari, and especially the coast of Cumana -and New Barcelona, offer a remarkable spectacle to the -geologist. The precipitous Islands of Boracha, Caracas, -and Chimanas, rise like towers from the sea, and bear witness -to the terrible pressure of the waters against the mountain -chain when it was broken by their irruption. Perhaps, like -the Mediterranean, the Antillean gulf was once an inland<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -sea, which became suddenly connected with the ocean. The -islands of Cuba, Hayti, and Jamaica, still contain the remnants -of the lofty mountains of mica slate which bounded -this sea to the north. It is remarkable that where -these three islands approach each other most nearly the -highest summits are found; and we may conjecture that -the highest part of this Antillean chain was situated -between Cape Tiburon and Point Morant. The Copper -Mountains (Montañas de Cobre) near Santiago de Cuba -have not yet been measured, but their elevation is probably -greater than that of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, (1138 -toises, 7277 English feet,) which somewhat exceeds the -height of the St. Gothard Pass. My conjectures on the -valley-form of the Atlantic Ocean, and on the ancient -connection of the continents, were given more in detail -in a memoir written in Cumana, entitled Fragment d’un -Tableau Géologique de l’Amerique Meridionale (Journal de -Physique, Messidor, An. IX.) It is worthy of remark, that -Columbus himself, in his Official Reports, called attention -to the connection between the direction of the equatorial -current and the form of the coast line of the larger -Antilles. (Examen critique de l’hist. de la Géographie, -p. 104–108.)</p> - -<p>The northern and most cultivated part of the province of -Caraccas is a country of mountains. The coast chain is -divided like the Swiss Alps into several subordinate chains -enclosing longitudinal valleys. The most celebrated of these -is the pleasant valley of Aragua, which produces a great -quantity of indigo, sugar, cotton, and, what is most remarkable,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -European wheat. The southern margin of this -valley adjoins the beautiful lake of Valencia, whose old -Indian name is Tacarigua. The contrast between its opposite -shores gives it a striking resemblance to the Lake of -Geneva. It is true that the bare mountains of Guigue and -Guiripa have less grandeur of character than the Savoy -Alps; but, on the other hand, the opposite bank of the -Tacarigua lake, which is thickly clothed with plantains, -mimosas, and triplaris, far surpasses in picturesque beauty -the vineyards of the Pays de Vaud. The lake is about -thirty geographical miles in length, and is full of small -islands, which, as the loss of water by evaporation exceeds -the influx, are increasing in size. Within some years sand-banks -have even become real islands, and have received -the significant name of the “Newly Appeared,” Las Aparecidas. -On the island of Cura the remarkable species of -Solanum is cultivated which has edible fruit, and which -Wildenow has described in the Hortus Berolinensis (1816, -Tab. xxvii.) The height of the Lake of Tacarigua above -the sea is almost 1400 French feet, (according to my -measurement exactly 230 toises, or 1470 English feet,) less -than the mean height of the valley of Caraccas. The lake -has several kinds of fish (see my Observations de Zoologie -et d’Anatomie comparée, T. ii p. 179–181), and is one of -the most pleasing natural scenes which I know in any -part of the globe. In bathing, Bonpland and myself were -often alarmed by the appearance of the Bava, an undescribed -crocodile-like lizard, three or four feet in length, of repulsive -aspect, but harmless to men. We found in the lake a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -Typha (Cats-tail), identical with the European Typha angustifolia; -a singular fact, and important in reference to the -geography of plants.</p> - -<p>Two varieties of sugar-cane are cultivated near the lake, -in the valleys of Aragua: the common sugar-cane of the -West Indies, Caña criolla; and the cane recently introduced -from the Pacific, Caña de Otaheiti. The verdure of the -Tahitian cane is of a much lighter and more agreeable tint, -and a field of it can readily be distinguished at a great distance -from a field of the common cane. The sugar-cane of -Tahiti was first described by Cook and George Forster, who -appear, however, from the excellent memoir of the latter -upon the edible plants of the islands of the Pacific, to have -been but little acquainted with its valuable qualities. Bougainville -brought it to the Isle of France, from whence it -was conveyed to Cayenne, and since 1792 it has been taken -to Martinique, Hayti, and several of the smaller West Indian -Islands. It was carried with the bread-fruit tree to Jamaica -by the brave but unfortunate Captain Bligh, and was introduced -from the Island of Trinidad to the neighbouring coast -of Caraccas, where it became a more important acquisition -than the bread-fruit, which is never likely to supersede a -plant so valuable and affording so large an amount of -sustenance as the plantain. The Tahitian sugar-cane is much -richer in juice than the common cane, said to be originally -a native of the east of Asia. On an equal surface of ground -it yields a third more sugar than the caña criolla, which has -a thinner stalk and smaller joints. As, moreover, the West -India islands begin to suffer great want of fuel, (in Cuba<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -the wood of the orange tree is used for sugar boiling,) the -thicker and more woody stalk of the Tahitian cane is an -important advantage. If the introduction of this plant had -not taken place almost at the same time as the commencement -of the bloody negro war in St. Domingo, the prices of -sugar in Europe would have risen still higher than they did, -in consequence of the ruinous effects of those troubles on -agriculture and trade. It was an important question, -whether the cane of the Pacific, when removed from its -native soil, would gradually degenerate and become the -same as the common cane. Experience hitherto has decided -against any such degeneration. In Cuba a caballeria -(nearly 33 English acres) planted with Tahitian sugar-cane -produces 870 hundred weight of sugar. It is singular that -this important production of the islands of the Pacific is only -cultivated in those parts of the Spanish colonies which are -farthest from the Pacific. The Peruvian coast is only -twenty-five days’ sail from Tahiti, and yet, at the period of -my travels in Peru and Chili, the Tahitian cane was unknown -there. The inhabitants of Easter Island, who suffer much -from deficiency of fresh water, drink the juice of the sugar-cane, -and (a very remarkable physiological fact) also sea water. -In the Society, Friendly, and Sandwich Islands, the light -green, thick-stalked sugar-cane is always the one cultivated.</p> - -<p>Besides the Caña de Otaheiti and the Caña Criolla, a -reddish African variety, called Caña de Guinea, is cultivated -in the West Indies: its juice is less in quantity than that -of the common Asiatic cane, but is said to be better suited -for making rum.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>In the province of Caraccas the dark shade of the cacao -plantations contrasts beautifully with the light green of the -Tahitian sugar cane. Few tropical trees have such thick -foliage as the Theobroma cacao. It loves hot and humid -valleys: great fertility of soil and insalubrity of atmosphere -are inseparable from each other in South America as well as -in Asia; and it has even been remarked that as increasing -cultivation lessens the extent of the forests, and renders the -soil and climate less humid, the cacao plantations become -less flourishing. For these reasons these plantations are -diminishing in number and extent in the province of -Caraccas, and increasing rapidly in the more eastern provinces -of New Barcelona and Cumana, and particularly in -the moist woody district between Cariaco and the Golfo -Triste.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> p. 2.—“<i>‘Banks’ is the name given by the natives -to this phenomenon.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Llanos of Caraccas are occupied by a great and -widely extended formation of conglomerate of an early -period. In descending from the vallies of Aragua, and -crossing over the most southern ridge of the coast chain -of Guigue and Villa de Cura towards Parapara, one finds -successively, gneiss and mica slate;—a probably silurian -formation of clay slate and black limestone;—serpentine and -greenstone in detached spheroidal masses;—and, lastly, close -to the margin of the great plain, small hills of augitic -amygdaloid and porphyritic slate. These hills between -Parapara and Ortiz appear to me like volcanic eruptions on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -the ancient sea-shore of the Llanos. Farther to the north -are the celebrated grotesque-shaped cavernous rocks of -Morros de San Juan; they form a kind of rampart, have -a crystalline grain like upheaved dolomite, and are rather to -be regarded as parts of the shore of the ancient gulf than as -islands. I term the Llanos a gulf, for when we consider -their small elevation above the present sea level, their form -open as it were to the equatorial current sweeping from east -to west, and the lowness of the eastern coast between the -mouth of the Orinoco and the Essequibo, we can scarcely doubt -that the sea once overflowed the whole basin between the -coast chain of Caraccas and the Sierra de la Parime, and -beat against the mountains of Merida and Pamplona; (as it is -supposed to have overflowed the plains of Lombardy, and beat -against the Cottian and Pennine Alps). The strike or -inclination of the American Llanos is also directed from -west to east. Their height at Calabozo, 400 geographical -miles from the sea, is barely 30 toises (192 English feet); -being 15 toises (96 English feet) less than that of Pavia, -and 45 toises (288 English feet) less than that of Milan, in -the plains of Lombardy between the Alps and Apennines. -The form of the surface of this part of the globe reminds -one of Claudian’s expression, “curvata tumore parvo planities.” -The horizontality of the Llanos is so perfect that in -many portions of them no part of an area of more than 480 -square miles appears to be a foot higher than the rest. If, -in addition to this, we imagine to ourselves the absence of -all bushes, and even in the Mesa de Pavones the absence of -any isolated palm-trees, it will afford some idea of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -singular aspect of this sea-like desert plain. As far as the -eye can reach, it can hardly rest on a single object a few -inches high. If it were not that the state of the lowest -strata of the atmosphere, and the consequent changes of -refraction, render the horizon continually indeterminate and -undulating, altitudes of the sun might be taken with the -sextant from the margin of the plain as well as from the -horizon at sea. This great horizontality of the former sea -bottom makes the “banks” more striking. They are -broken strata which rise abruptly from two to three feet above -the surrounding rock, and extend uniformly over a length -of from 40 to 48 English geographical miles. The small -streams of the Steppes take their rise on these banks.</p> - -<p>In passing through the Llanos of Barcelona, on our return -from the Rio Negro, we found frequent traces of earthquakes. -Instead of the banks standing <i>higher</i> than the -surrounding rock, we found here solitary strata of gypsum -from 3 to 4 toises (19 to 25 English feet) <i>lower</i>. Farther -to the west, near the junction of the Caura with the Orinoco, -and to the east of the mission of S. Pedro de Alcantara, an -extensive tract of dense forest sank down in an earthquake -in 1790, and a lake was formed of more than 300 toises -(1918 English feet) diameter. The tall trees (Desmanthus, -Hymenæas, and Malpighias) long retained their foliage and -verdure under the water.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> p. 2.—“<i>We seem to see before us a shoreless ocean.</i>”</p> - -<p>The prospect of the distant Steppe is still more striking, -when the spectator has been long accustomed in the dense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -forests both to a very restricted field of view, and to the -aspect of a rich and highly luxuriant vegetation. Ineffaceable -is the impression which I received on our return -from the Upper Orinoco, when, from the Hato del Capuchino, -on a mountain opposite to the mouth of the Rio Apure, we -first saw again the distant Steppe. The sun had just set; -the Steppe appeared to rise like a hemisphere; and the light -of the rising stars was refracted in the lowest stratum of air. -The excessive heating of the plain by the vertical rays of -the sun causes the variations of refraction,—occasioned by -the effects of radiation, of the ascending current, and of the -contact of strata of air of unequal density,—to continue -through the entire night.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> p. 2.—“<i>The naked stony crust.</i>”</p> - -<p>Immense tracts of flat bare rock form peculiar and -characteristic features in the Deserts both of Africa and -Asia. In the Schamo, which separates Mongolia and the -mountain chains of Ulangom and Malakha-Oola from the -north-west part of China, these banks of rock are called -Tsy. They are also found in the forest-covered plains of -the Orinoco, surrounded by the most luxuriant vegetation -(Relation Hist. t. ii. p. 279). In the middle of these flat -tabular masses of granite and syenite of some thousand feet -diameter, denuded of all vegetation save a few scantily distributed -lichens, we find small islands of soil, covered with -low and always flowering plants which give them the appearance -of little gardens. The monks of the Upper Orinoco -regard these bare and perfectly level surfaces of rock, when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -they are of considerable extent, as peculiarly apt to cause -fevers and other illnesses. Several missionary villages have -been deserted or removed elsewhere in consequence of this -opinion, which is very widely diffused. Supposing the -opinion correct, is such an influence of these flat rocks or -laxas to be attributed to a chemical action on the atmosphere, -or merely to the effect of increased radiation?</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> p. 2.—“<i>The Llanos and Pampas of South America, -and the Prairies of the Missouri.</i>”</p> - -<p>The physical and geognostical views entertained respecting -the western part of North America have been rectified -in many respects by the adventurous journey of Major -Long, the excellent writings of his companion Edwin James, -and more especially by the comprehensive observations of -Captain Frémont. These, and all other recent accounts, -now place in a clear light what, in my work on New Spain, -I could only put forward as conjecture, on the subject of -the mountain ridges and plains to the north. In the -description of nature as well as in historical inquiries, -facts long remain isolated, until by laborious investigation -they are brought into connection with each other.</p> - -<p>The east coast of the United States of North America -runs from south-west to north-east, in the same direction as -that followed in the southern hemisphere by the Brazilian -coast from the river Plate to Olinda. In the two hemispheres -two ranges of mountains exist at a short distance -from the eastern coast; they are more nearly parallel to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -each other than they are to the more westerly chain, called -in South America the Cordilleras of Peru and Chili, and -in North America the Rocky Mountains. The Brazilian -system of mountains forms an isolated group, of which the -highest summits (the Itacolumi and Itambe) do not rise -above the height of 900 toises (5755 English feet). The -most easterly ridges, which are nearest to the Atlantic, follow -a uniform direction from SSW. to NNE.; more to the -west the group becomes broader, but diminishes considerably -in height. The Parecis hills approach the rivers Itenes -and Guaporé, and the mountains of Aguapehi (to the -south of Villabella) approach the lofty Andes of Cochabamba -and Santa Cruz de la Sierra.</p> - -<p>There is no immediate connection between the eastern and -western chains,—the Brazilian mountains, and the Cordilleras -of Peru,—for the low province of Chiquitos, which is a -longitudinal valley running from north to south, and opening -into the plains both of the Amazons and of the river -Plate, separates Brazil on the east from the Alto Peru on -the west. Here, as in Poland and Russia, an often almost -imperceptible rise of ground (called, in Slavonian, Uwaly) -forms the separating water-line between the Pilcomayo and -the Madeira, between the Aguapehi and the Guaporé, and -between the Paraguay and the Rio Topayos. The swell of -the ground runs to the south-east from Chayanta and Pomabamba -(lat. 19°-20°), traverses the province of Chiquitos, -which, since the expulsion of the Jesuits, has again become -almost a terra incognita, and forms, to the north-east, -where there are only detached mountains, the “divortia<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -aquarum” at the sources of the Baures and near Villabella, -lat. 15°-17°.</p> - -<p>This line of separation of the waters is important in relation -to facilities of intercourse, and to the increase of cultivation -and civilisation: more to the north (2°-3° N. lat.), a similar -line divides the basin of the Orinoco from that of the Amazons -and the Rio Negro. These risings or swellings in the -plains (called, by Frontin, terræ tumores) might be regarded -as undeveloped systems of mountains, which would have connected -two apparently isolated groups (the Sierra Parime -and the Brazilian mountains) with the Andes of Timana and -Cochabamba. These relations, which have been hitherto but -little attended to, are the ground of the division which I -have made of South America into three basins; viz. those -of the lower Orinoco, of the Amazons, and of the Rio de -la Plata. The first and last of these are steppes or prairies; -the middle basin, that of the Amazons, between the Sierra -Parime and the Brazilian group of mountains, is a forest-covered -plain or <i>Hylæa</i>.</p> - -<p>If we wish to trace, in equally few lines, a sketch of the -natural features of North America, let us cast our eyes first -on the mountain chain which, running from south-east to -north-west, at first low and narrow, and increasing both in -breadth and height from Panama to Veragua, Guatimala, -and Mexico (where it was the seat of a civilisation which -preceded the arrival of Europeans), arrests the general equatorial -current of the waters of the ocean, and opposes a -barrier to the more rapid commercial intercourse of Europe -and Western Africa with the eastern parts of Asia. North<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -of the 17th degree of latitude and the celebrated isthmus -of Tehuantepec, the mountains, quitting the coast of the -Pacific, and following a more direct northerly course, become -an inland Cordillera. In North Mexico, the “Crane -Mountains” (Sierra de las Grullas) form part of the Rocky -Mountain chain. Here rise, to the west, the Columbia and -the Rio Colorado of California; and, to the east, the Rio Roxo -de Natchitoches, the Candian, the Arkansas, and the Platte -or shallow river, a name which has latterly been ignorantly -transformed into that of a silver-promising river Plate. -Between the sources of these rivers (from N. lat. 37° 20′ to -40° 13′) rise three lofty summits (formed of a granite containing -much hornblende and little mica), called Spanish -Peak, James’s or Pike’s Peak, and Big Horn or Long’s -Peak. (See my Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne, -2me édit. t. i. pp. 82 and 109.) The elevation of these -peaks exceeds that of any of the summits of the Andes of -North Mexico, which, indeed, from the 18th and 19th -parallels of latitude, or from the group of Orizaba and Popocatepetl -(respectively 2717 toises or 17374 English feet, -and 2771 toises or 17720 English feet,) to Santa Fé and -Taos, never reach the limits of perpetual snow. James -Peak, in lat. 38° 40′, is supposed to be 1798 toises, or -11497 English feet; but of this elevation only 1335 toises -(8537 English feet) has been measured trigonometrically, -the remaining 463 toises, or 2960 English feet, being dependent, -in the absence of barometrical observations, on -uncertain estimations of the declivity of streams. As a -trigonometrical measurement can hardly ever be undertaken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> -from the level of the sea, measurements of inaccessible -heights must generally be partly trigonometrical, and partly -barometrical. Estimations of the fall of rivers, of their -rapidity and of the length of their course, are so deceptive, -that the plain at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, nearest to -the summits above spoken of, was estimated, previous to the -important expedition of Capt. Frémont, sometimes at 8000, -and sometimes at 3000 feet. (Long’s Expedition, vol. ii. -pp. 36, 362, 382, App. p. xxxvii.) It was from a similar -deficiency of barometrical measurements that the true elevation -of the Himalaya continued so long uncertain: but now -the resources which belong to the cultivation of science -have increased in India to such a degree, that Captain -Gerard, when on the Tarhigang, near the Sutlej, north of -Shipke, at an elevation of 19411 English feet, after breaking -three barometers, had still four equally correct ones remaining. -(Critical Researches on Philology and Geography, -1824, p. 144.)</p> - -<p>Frémont, in the expedition which he made in the years -1842–1844 by order of the Government of the United -States, found the highest summit of the whole chain of the -Rocky Mountains to the north north-west of Spanish, James’s, -Long’s, and Laramie Peaks. This snowy summit, of which -he measured the elevation barometrically, belongs to the -group of the Wind River mountains. It bears on the large -map, edited by Colonel Abert, Chief of the Topographical -Office at Washington, the name of Frémont’s Peak, and is -situated in 43° 10′ lat. and 110° 13′ W. long. from -Greenwich, almost 5½° north of Spanish Peak. Its height,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -by direct measurement, is 12730 French, or 13568 English -feet. This would make Frémont’s Peak 324 toises (or -2072 English feet) higher than the elevation assigned by -Long to James’s Peak, which, according to its position, -appears to be identical with Pike’s Peak in the map above -referred to. The Wind River mountains form the divortia -aquarum, or division between the waters flowing towards -either ocean. Captain Frémont (in his Official Report of -the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the -year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the years -1843–44, p. 70,) says, “We saw, on one side, countless -mountain lakes, and the sources of the Rio Colorado which -carries its waters through the gulf of California to the -Pacific; and, on the other side, the deep valley of the Wind -river, where are situated the sources of the Yellowstone -river, one of the principal branches of the Missouri which -unites with the Mississippi at St. Louis. To the north-west, -rise, covered with perpetual snow, the summits called -the Trois Tetons, where the true source of the Missouri -itself is situated, not far from that of the head water of the -Oregon or Columbia, or the source of that branch of it -called Snake River or Lewis Fork.” To the astonishment of -the adventurous travellers, they found the top of Frémont’s -Peak visited by bees: perhaps, like the butterflies seen by -me, also among perpetual snow but in much more elevated -regions in the Andes of Peru, they had been carried thither -involuntarily by ascending currents of air. I have seen -in the Pacific, at a great distance from the coast, large -winged lepidopterous insects fall on the deck of the ship,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -having, no doubt, been carried far out to sea by land -winds.</p> - -<p>Frémont’s map and geographical investigations comprehend -the extensive region from the junction of the Kanzas river -with the Missouri, to the falls of the Columbia and to the -missions of Santa Barbara and Pueblo de los Angeles in -New California; or a space of 28 degrees of longitude, -and from the 34th to the 45th parallel of latitude. Four -hundred points have been determined hypsometrically by -barometric observations, and, for the most part, geographically -by astronomical observations; so that a district which, -with the windings of the route, amounts to 3600 geographical -miles, from the mouth of the Kanzas to Fort Vancouver -and the shores of the Pacific (almost 720 miles more than -the distance from Madrid to Tobolsk), has been represented -in profile, shewing the relative heights above the level of -the sea. As I was, I believe, the first person who undertook -to represent, in geognostic profile, the form of entire -countries,—such as the Iberian peninsula, the highlands of -Mexico, and the cordilleras of South America, (the semi-perspective -projections of a Siberian traveller, the Abbé -Chappe, were founded on mere and generally ill-judged -estimations of the fall of rivers),—it has given me peculiar -pleasure to see the graphical method of representing the -form of the earth in a vertical direction, or the elevation of -the solid portions of our planet above its watery covering, -applied on so grand a scale as has been done in Frémont’s -map. In the middle latitudes of 37° to 43° the Rocky -Mountains present, besides the higher snowy summits<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -comparable with the Peak of Teneriffe in elevation, lofty -plains of an extent hardly met with elsewhere on the surface -of the earth, and almost twice as extensive in an east -and west direction as that of the Mexican plateaux. From -the group of mountains, which commences a little to the -west of Fort Laramie to beyond the Wahsatch mountains, -there is an uninterrupted swelling of the ground from -5300 to 7400 English feet above the level of the -sea. A similar elevation may even be said to occupy -the whole space from 34° to 45° between the Rocky -Mountains proper and the Californian snowy coast chain. -This space, a kind of broad longitudinal valley like that of -the lake of Titiaca, has been called, by Joseph Walker, -a traveller well acquainted with these western regions, and -by Captain Frémont, “The Great Basin.” It is a terra -incognita of at least 128000 square miles in extent, arid, -almost entirely without human inhabitants, and full of -salt lakes, the largest of which is 4200 English feet -above the level of the sea, and is connected with the -narrow lake of Utah. (Frémont, Report of the Exploring -Expedition, pp. 154 and 273–276.) The last-mentioned -lake receives the abundant waters of the “Rock River;” -Timpan Ogo, in the Utah language. Father Escalante, in -journeying, in 1776, from Santa Fé del Nuevo Mexico to -Monterey in New California, discovered Frémont’s “Great -Salt Lake,” and, confounding lake and river, gave it the -name of Laguna de Timpanogo. As such I inserted it in -my map of Mexico; and this has given rise to much uncritical -discussion on the assumed non-existence of a great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -inland salt lake in North America,—a question previously -raised by the well-informed American geographer, Tanner. -(Humboldt, Atlas Mexicain, planche 2; Essai Politique sur -la Nouvelle Espagne, T. i. p. 231, T. ii. pp. 243, 313, and -420; Frémont, Upper California, 1848, p. 9; and, also, -Duflot de Mofras, Exploration de l’Oregon, 1844, T. ii. -p. 40.) Gallatin says expressly, in the Memoir on the -Aboriginal Races in the Archæologia Americana, vol. ii. -p. 140, “General Ashley and Mr. J. S. Smith have found -the lake Timpanogo in the same latitude and longitude -nearly as had been assigned to it in Humboldt’s Atlas of -Mexico.”</p> - -<p>I have dwelt on the remarkable swelling of the ground -in the region of the Rocky Mountains, because, doubtless, -by its elevation and extent, it exercises an influence hitherto -but little considered, on the climate of the whole continent -of North America, to the south and east. In the extensive -continuous plateau, Frémont saw the waters covered -with ice every night in the month of August. Nor is -the elevation of this region less important as respects the -social state and progress of the great United States of -North America. Although the elevation of the line of the -separation of the waters nearly equals that of the passes of -the Simplon (6170 French, or 6576 English feet), of the -St. Gothard (6440 French, or 6865 English feet), and of -the St. Bernard (7476 French, or 7969 English feet), yet -the ascent is so gradual, as to offer no obstacle to the use -of wheel carriages of all kinds in the communication between -the basins of the Missouri and the Oregon; in other words,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -between the states on the Atlantic Sea Board opposite -Europe, and the new settlements on the Oregon and -Columbia opposite China. The itinerary distance from -Boston to Astoria on the Pacific at the mouth of the -Columbia, is, according to the difference of longitude, -2200 geographical miles, or about one-sixth less than the -distance of Lisbon from the Ural near Katharinenburg. -From the gentleness of the ascent of the high plateau which -leads from the Missouri to California and to the basin of -the Oregon,—(from the River and Fort Laramie, on the -northern branch of the Platte River, to Fort Hall on the -Lewis Fork of the Columbia, all the camping places of -which the height was measured were from upwards of -five to seven thousand, and at Old Park even 9760 -French, or 10,403 English feet);—it has not been easy -to determine the situation of the culminating point, or -“divortia aquarum.” It is south of the Wind River -mountains, nearly midway between the Mississipi and the -coast of the Pacific, at an elevation of 7027 French, or -7490 English feet; therefore only 450 French, or 480 -English, feet lower than the Pass of the great St. Bernard. -The immigrants call this point “the South Pass.” (Frémont’s -Report, pp. 3, 60, 70, 100, 129). It is situated in -a pleasant district, in which the mica slate and gneiss rock -are found covered with many species of Artemisia, particularly -Artemisia tridentata (Nuttall), asters, and cactuses. -Astronomical determinations give the latitude 42° 24′, and -the longitude 109° 24′ W. from Greenwich. Adolph Erman -has already called attention to the circumstance that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -direction of the great chain of the Aldan mountains in the -east of Asia, which divides the streams flowing into the -Lena from those which flow towards the Pacific, if prolonged -on the surface of the globe in the direction of a great -circle, passes through several summits of the Rocky Mountains, -between the parallels of 40° and 55°. “Thus an -American and an Asiatic chain of mountains appear to -belong to one great fissure, following the direction of a -great circle, or the shortest course from point to point.” -(Compare Erman’s Reise um die Erde, Abth. I. Bd. iii. S. -8, Abth. II. Bd. i. S. 386, with his Archiv für wissenschaftliche -Kunde von Russland, Bd. vi. S. 671).</p> - -<p>The Rocky Mountains which sink down towards the -Mackenzie River which is covered a large portion of the year -with ice, and the highlands from which single snow-clad -summits rise, are altogether distinct from the more westerly -and higher mountains of the coast, or the chain of the -Californian Maritime Alps, the Sierra Nevada de California. -However ill selected the now generally used name of the -Rocky Mountains, to designate the most northerly continuation -of the Mexican Central Chain, it does not appear to -me desirable to change it, as has been often proposed, for -that of the Oregon Chain. Although these mountains do -indeed contain the sources of Lewis’s, Clark’s, and North -Fork, the three chief branches which form the mighty -Oregon, or Columbia River, yet this river also breaks -through the Californian chain of snow-clad Maritime -Alps. The name of Oregon District is also employed -politically and officially for the smaller territory west of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -Coast Chain, where Fort Vancouver and the Walahmutti -settlements are situated, and therefore it is the more -desirable not to give the name of Oregon either to the -Central or the Coast Chain. This name is connected with -a most singular mistake of an eminent geographer, M. -Malte Brun: reading on an old Spanish map, “And it is -not yet known, (y aun se ignora) where the source of this -river” (the river now called the Columbia) “is situated,” -he thought he recognised in the word ignora the name of -Oregon. (See my Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne, -T. ii. p. 314).</p> - -<p>The rocks which, where the Columbia breaks through -the Chain, form the Cataracts, mark the continuation of the -Sierra Nevada de California from the 44th to the 47th -degree of latitude. (Frémont, Geographical Memoir upon -Upper California, 1848, p. 6.) This northern continuation -comprises the three colossal summits of Mount Jefferson, -Mount Hood, and Mount St. Helen’s, which rise more than -14540 French or 15500 English feet above the level of -the sea. The height of this Coast Chain, or Range, far -exceeds, therefore, that of the Rocky Mountains. “During -a journey of eight months’ duration which was made along -the Maritime Alps,” says Captain Frémont, in his Report, -p. 274, “we had snowy peaks always in view; we had -surmounted the Rocky Mountains by the South Pass at an -elevation of 7027 (7490 E.) feet, but we found the passes -of the Maritime Alps, which are divided into several parallel -ranges, more than 2000 feet higher;” therefore, only about -1170 feet (1247 E.) below the summit of Etna. It is extremely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -remarkable, and reminds us of the difference between the -eastern and western cordilleras of Chili, that it is only the -chain of mountains nearest to the sea (the Californian -range), which has still active volcanoes. The conical mountains -of Regnier and St. Helen’s are seen to emit smoke -almost constantly, and on the 23rd of November 1843, -Mount St. Helen’s sent forth a quantity of ashes which -covered the banks of the Columbia for forty miles like snow. -To the volcanic Coast Range also belong, (in Russian -America in the high north), Mount St. Elias, 1980 toises -high, according to La Perouse, and 2792 toises, according -to Malaspina (12660 and 17850 E. feet), and Mount Fair -Weather, (Cerro de Buen Tempo) 2304 toises, or 14732 -E. feet high. Both these mountains are supposed to be -still active volcanoes. Frémont’s expedition, (which was -important alike for its botanical and geological results), -collected volcanic products, such as scoriaceous basalt, -trachyte, and even obsidian, in the Rocky Mountains, and -found an extinct volcanic crater a little to the east of -Fort Hall, (lat. 43° 2′, long. 112° 28′ W.); but there -are no signs of volcanoes still active, that is to say, -emitting at times lava or ashes. We are not to confound -with such activity the still imperfectly explained phenomenon -of “smoking hills;” “côtes brûlées,” or “terrains ardens,” -as they are called by the English settlers, and by natives -speaking French. An accurate observer, M. Nicollet, says, -“ranges of low conical hills are covered with a thick black -smoke almost periodically, and often for two or three -years together. No flames are seen.” This phenomenon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -shews itself principally in the district of the Upper Missouri, -and still nearer to the eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains, -where a river bears the native name of Mankizitah-Watpa, -or the “river of the smoking earth.” Scoriaceous -pseudo-volcanic products, such as a kind of porcelain jasper, -are found in the vicinity of the “smoking hills.” Since -the expedition of Lewis and Clark an opinion has become -prevalent that the Missouri deposits real pumice on its -banks. Fine cellular whitish masses have been confounded -with pumice. Professor Ducatel was disposed to ascribe -this appearance, which was principally observed in the chalk -formation, to a “decomposition of water by sulphuric -pyrites, and to a reaction on beds of lignite.” (Compare -Frémont’s Report, p. 164, 184, 187, 193, and 299, with -Nicollet’s Illustration of the Hydrographical Basin of the -Upper Mississipi River, 1843, p. 39–41.)</p> - -<p>If, in concluding these few general considerations on the -physical geography of North America, we once more turn -our attention to the spaces which separate the two diverging -coast chains from the central chain, we find, in striking -contrast, on the one hand, the arid uninhabited plateau -of above five or six thousand feet elevation, which in -the west intervenes between the central chain and the -Californian Maritime Alps which skirt the Pacific; and on -the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, between them and -the Alleghanies, (the highest summits of which, Mount -Washington and Mount Marcy, are, according to Lyell, -6240 and 5066 French, or 6652 and 5400 English feet -above the level of the sea,) the vast, well-watered, and fertile<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -low plain or basin of the Mississipi, the greater part of which -is from 400 to 600 French feet above the level of the sea, -or about twice the elevation of the plains of Lombardy. -The hypsometric conformation of this eastern region, <i>i. e.</i> the -altitude of its several parts above the sea, has been elucidated -by the valuable labours of the highly-talented French astronomer, -Nicollet, of whom science has been deprived by a -too early death. His large and excellent map of the Upper -Mississipi, constructed in the years 1836–1840, is based on -240 astronomically determined latitudes, and 170 barometric -measurements of elevation. The plain which contains the -basin of the Mississipi is one with the Northern Canadian -plain, so that one low region extends from the Gulf of -Mexico to the Arctic Sea. (Compare my Rélation Historique -T. iii. p. 234, and Nicollet’s Report to the Senate of -the United States, 1843, p. 7 and 57.) Where the plain is -undulating, and where, between 47° and 48° of latitude, low -hills (côteaux des prairies, and côteaux des bois, in the still -un-English nomenclature of the natives) occur in connected -ranges, these ranges and gentle swellings of the ground -divide the waters which flow towards Hudson’s Bay from -those which seek the Gulf of Mexico. Such a dividing line -is formed north of Lake Superior by the Missabay Heights, -and more to the west by the “Hauteurs des Terres,” in -which were first discovered, in 1832, the true sources of the -Mississipi, one of the largest rivers in the world. The -highest of these ranges of hills hardly attains an elevation -of 1400 to 1500 (1492 to 1599 English) feet. From -St. Louis, a little to the south of the junction of the Missouri<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -and the Mississipi, to the mouth of the latter river at -Old French Balize, it has only a fall of 357 (380 English) -feet in an itinerary distance of more than 1280 geographical -miles. The surface of Lake Superior is 580 (618 English) -feet above the level of the sea, and its depth near Magdalen -Island is 742 (791 English) feet; its bottom, therefore, -is 162 (173 English) feet below the surface of the ocean. -(Nicollet, p. 99, 125, and 128.)</p> - -<p>Beltrami, who separated himself from Major Long’s expedition -in 1825, boasted of having discovered the source of -the Mississipi in Lake Cass. The river in the upper part of -its course passes through four lakes, of which Lake Cass is -the second. The uppermost is the Istaca Lake (in lat. 47° -13′ and long. 95° 0′), and was first recognised as the true -source of the Mississipi in the expedition of Schoolcraft and -Allen in 1832. This afterwards mighty river is only 17 -feet wide and 15 inches deep when it issues from the -singular horse-shoe-shaped Lake of Istaca. It was not until the -scientific expedition of Nicollet, in 1836, that a clear knowledge -of the localities was obtained and rendered definite by -astronomically determined positions. The height of the -sources of the Mississipi, viz. of the remotest affluent -received by the Lake of Istaca from the dividing ridge or -“Hauteur de Terre,” is 1575 (1680 English) feet above the -level of the sea. In the immediate vicinity, and indeed on -the southern slope of the same dividing ridge, is Elbow Lake, -in which the smaller Red River of the North, which after -many windings flows into Hudson’s Bay, has its origin. The -Carpathian mountains present similar circumstances in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -proximity and relative positions of the sources of rivers -which send their waters respectively to the Black Sea and to -the Baltic. Twenty small lakes, forming narrow groups to -the south and west of Lake Istaca, have received from M. -Nicollet the names of distinguished European astronomers, -adversaries as well as friends. The map thus becomes a -kind of geographical album, reminding one of the botanical -album of Ruiz and Pavon’s Flora Peruviana, in which the -names of new genera of plants were adapted to the Court -Calendar, and to the various changes taking place in the -Oficiales de la Secretaria.</p> - -<p>To the east of the Mississipi dense forests still partially -prevail; but to the west of the river there are only Prairies, -in which the buffalo (Bos americanus), and the musk ox -(Bos moschatus), feed in large herds. Both these animals, -(the largest of the New World) serve the wandering -Indians, the Apaches Llaneros and the Apaches Lipanos, for -food. The Assiniboins sometimes kill in a few days from -seven to eight hundred bisons in what are called “bison -parks,” artificial enclosures into which the wild herds are -driven. (Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, Reise in das innere -Nord-America, Bd. i. 1839, S. 443.) The American bison, -or buffalo, called by the Mexicans Cibolo, which is frequently -killed merely for the sake of the tongue, a much-prized dainty, -is by no means a mere variety of the Aurochs of the Old -Continent; although some other kinds of animals, as the -elk (Cervus alces) and the reindeer (Cervus tarandus), and -even, in the human race, the short-statured polar man, are -common to the northern parts of both continents, evidencing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -their former long continued connection. The Mexicans -call the European ox in the Aztec dialect “quaquahue,” a -horned animal, from quaquahuitl, a horn. Some very large -horns of cattle found in the ancient Mexican buildings not -far from Cuernavaca, to the south-west of the city of Mexico, -appear to me to have belonged to the musk ox. The Canadian -bison can be tamed to agricultural labour. It breeds -with the European cattle, but it was long uncertain whether -the hybrid was fruitful. Albert Gallatin, who, before he -appeared in Europe as a distinguished diplomatist, had -obtained by personal inspection great knowledge of the uncultivated -parts of the United States, assures us that “the -mixed breed was quite common fifty years ago in some of -the north-western counties of Virginia; and the cows, the -issue of that mixture, propagated like all others.” “I do -not remember,” he adds, “the grown bison being tamed, -but sometimes young bison calves were caught by dogs, and -were brought up and driven out with the European cows.” -At Monongahela all the cattle were for a long time of this -mixed breed: but complaints were made that they gave very -little milk. The favourite food of the bison or buffalo is -Tripsacum dactyloides (called buffalo grass in North Carolina), -and an undescribed species of clover nearly allied to -Trifolium repens, and designated by Barton as Trifolium -bisonicum.</p> - -<p>I have already called attention elsewhere (Cosmos, vol. ii. -note 455, English ed.) to the circumstance that, according -to a statement of the trustworthy Gomara, (Historia General -de las Indias, cap. 214) there was still living in the sixteenth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -century, in the north-west of Mexico, in 40° latitude, -an Indian tribe, whose principal riches consisted in herds of -tame bisons (bueyes con una giba). But notwithstanding -the possibility of taming the bison, notwithstanding the -quantity of milk it yields, and notwithstanding the herds of -lamas in the Cordilleras of Peru, no pastoral life or pastoral -people were found when America was discovered, and there -is no historical evidence of this intermediate stage in the life -of nations ever having existed there. It is worthy of remark -that the American buffalo or bison has exerted an influence -on the progress of geography in trackless mountainous -regions. These animals wander in the winter, in search of -a milder climate, in herds of several thousands to the -south of the Arkansas River. In these migrations their -size and unwieldiness make it difficult for them to pass -over high mountains. When, therefore, a well-trodden -buffalo path is met with, it is advisable to follow it, as being -sure to conduct to the most convenient pass across the -mountains. The best routes through the Cumberland -Mountains, in the south-west parts of Virginia and Kentucky, -in the Rocky Mountains between the sources of the -Yellow Stone and the Platte, and between the southern -branch of the Columbia and the Rio Colorado of California, -were thus marked out beforehand by buffalo paths. The -advance of settlement and cultivation has gradually driven -the buffalo from all the Eastern states: they formerly -roamed on the banks of the Mississipi and of the Ohio far -beyond Pittsburg. (Archæologia Americana, vol. ii., 1836, -p. 139.)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>From the granitic cliffs of Diego Ramirez,—in the deeply -indented and intersected Tierra del Fuego, which contains -on the east silurian schists and on the west the same schists -altered by the metamorphic action of subterranean fire, -(Darwin’s Journal of Researches into the Geology and -Natural History of the Countries visited in 1832–1836 by -the Ships Adventure and Beagle, p. 266),—to the North -Polar Sea, the Cordilleras extend in length more than 8000 -geographical miles. They are the longest though not the -loftiest chain on our planet; being raised from a cleft running -in the direction of a meridian from pole to pole, and exceeding -in linear distance the interval which in the Old Continent -separates the Pillars of Hercules from the Icy Cape of -the Tchuktches in the north-east of Asia. Where the Andes -divide into several parallel chains, it is remarked that the -ranges nearest the sea are usually those which exhibit most -volcanic activity; but it has also been observed repeatedly, -that when the phenomena of still active subterranean fire -disappear in one chain, they break out in another chain -running parallel to it. Generally speaking, the volcanic -cones are found in a direction corresponding with that of -the axis of direction of the entire chain; but in the elevated -highlands of Mexico the active volcanoes are placed along a -transverse cleft running from sea to sea in the east and west -direction. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, T. ii. p. 173.) -Where, by the elevation of mountain masses in the -ancient corrugation or folding of the crust of the earth, -access has been opened to the molten interior, that interior -continues to act, through the medium of the cleft,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -upon the upheaved wall-like mass. That which we now call -a mountain chain has not arrived at once at its present -state: rocks, very different in the order of succession in -reference to age, are found superimposed upon each other, -and have penetrated to the surface by early formed channels. -The various nature of the formations is due to the outpouring -and elevation of eruptive rocks, as well as to the slow -and complicated process of metamorphic action taking place -in clefts filled with vapours and favourable to the conduction -of heat.</p> - -<p>For a long time past, from 1830 to 1848, the following -have been regarded as the culminating or highest points of -the Cordilleras of the New Continent.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The Nevado de Sorata, also called Ancohuma or -Tusubaya, (S. lat. 15° 52′) a little to the south of the -village of Sorata or Esquibel, in the eastern Bolivia -Range: elevation 3949 toises, or 23692 Parisian, or -25250 English feet.</p> - -<p>The Nevado de Illimani, west of the Mission of -Yrupana (S. lat. 16° 38′) in the same mountain range -as Sorata: elevation 3753 toises, or 22518 Parisian, or -24000 English feet.</p> - -<p>The Chimborazo (S. lat. 1° 27′) in the province of -Quito: elevation 3350 toises, or 20100 Parisian, or -21423 English feet.</p> -</div> - -<p>The Sorata and Illimani were first measured by a distinguished -geologist, Mr. Pentland, in 1827, and also in -1838. Since the publication, in June 1848, of his great -map of the basin of the lake of Titicaca, we know that the -above-mentioned elevations of these two mountains are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -respectively 3960 and 2851 English feet, too great. -The map gives to the Sorata 21286, and to the Illimani -21149 English feet. A more exact calculation of the trigonometrical -operations of 1838 has led Mr. Pentland to -these new results. There are, according to him, in the -western Cordillera four peaks of from 21700 to 22350 -English feet. The highest of these, the peak of Sahama, -would thus be 926 English feet higher than the Chimborazo, -and but 850 English feet lower than the Volcano -of Acongagua, measured by the expedition of the Beagle -(Fitz Roy’s Narrative, Vol. ii. p. 481.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> p. 3.—“<i>The Desert near the basaltic mountains -of Harudsh.</i>”</p> - -<p>Near the Egyptian Natron Lakes, (which in the time of -Strabo had not yet been divided into six reservoirs), there -is a range of hills which rises steeply on the northern side, -and runs from east to west past Fezzan, where it finally -appears to join the chain of the Atlas. It divides in -north-eastern Africa, as the Atlas does in north-western -Africa, the inhabited maritime Lybia of Herodotus from -the land of the Berbers, or Biledulgerid, abounding in wild -animals. From the limits of Middle Egypt the whole region -south of the 30th degree of North latitude is a sea of sand, -in which are dispersed islands, or Oases, containing springs -of water and a flourishing vegetation. The number of these -Oases, of which the ancients only reckoned three, and which -Strabo compared to the spots on a panther’s skin, has -been considerably augmented by the discoveries of modern -travellers. The third Oasis of the ancients, now called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -Siwah, was the Nomos of Ammon; a residence of priests, -a resting place for caravans, and the site of the temple -of the horned Ammon and the supposed periodically cool -fountain of the Sun. The ruins of Ummibida, (Omm-Beydah), -belong incontestibly to the fortified caravanserai -at the temple of Ammon, and therefore to the most ancient -monuments which have come down to us from the early -dawn of civilization. (Caillaud, Voyage à Syouah, p. 14; -Ideler in den Fundgruben des Orients, Bd. iv. S. 399–411).</p> - -<p>The word Oasis is Egyptian, and synonymous with -Auasis and Hyasis (Strabo, lib. ii. p. 130, lib. xvii. -p. 813, Cas.; Herod. lib. iii. cap. 26, p. 207, Wessel). -Abulfeda calls the Oases, el-Wah. In the later times of -the Cæsars, malefactors were sent to the Oases; being -banished to these islands in the sea of sand, as the Spaniards -and the English have sent criminals to the Falklands or -to New Holland. Escape by the ocean is almost easier -than through the desert. The fertility of the Oases is -subject to diminution by the invasion of sand.</p> - -<p>The small mountain-range of Harudsh is said to consist -of basaltic hills of grotesque form (Ritter’s Afrika, 1822, -S. 885, 988, 993, and 1003). It is the Mons Ater of -Pliny; and its western extremity or continuation, called -the Soudah mountains, has been explored by my unfortunate -friend, the adventurous traveller Ritchie. This eruption -of basalt in tertiary limestone, rows of hills rising abruptly -from dike-like fissures, appears to be analogous to the -outbreak of basalt in the Vicentine territory. Nature -often repeats the same phenomena in the most distant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -parts of the earth. In the limestone formations of the -“white Harudsh” (Harudje el-Abiad), which perhaps -belong to the old chalk, Hornemann found an immense -number of fossil heads of fish. Ritchie and Lyon remarked -that the basalt of the Soudah mountains, like that of the -Monte Berico, was in many places intimately mixed with -carbonate of lime,—a phenomenon probably connected with -eruption through limestone strata. Lyon’s map even mentions -dolomite in the neighbourhood. Modern mineralogists have -found syenite and greenstone in Egypt, but not basalt. -Possibly the material of some of the ancient Egyptian vases, -which are occasionally found of true basalt, may have been -taken from these western mountains. May “Obsidius lapis” -also have been found there? or are basalt and obsidian to be -sought for near the Red Sea? The strip of volcanic or -eruptive formations of the Harudsh, on the margin of the -African desert, reminds the geologist of the augitic vesicular -amygdaloid, phonolite, and greenstone porphyry, which are -only found at the northern and western boundaries of the -Steppes of Venezuela and of the plains of the Arkansas, -as it were on the hills of the ancient coast line. (Humboldt, -Relation Historique, tom. ii. p. 142; Long’s Expedition to -the Rocky Mountains, vol. ii. pp. 91 and 405.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> p. 3.—“<i>When suddenly deserted by the east wind -of the tropics in a sea covered with weed.</i>”</p> - -<p>It is a remarkable phenomenon, well known among -sailors, that in the vicinity of the African coast (between -the Canaries and the Cape de Verde Islands, and particularly -between Cape Bojador and the mouth of the Senegal),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -a west wind often takes the place of the general east or -trade-wind of the tropics. It is the wide expanse of the -desert of Sahara which causes this westerly wind. The air -over the heated sandy plain becomes rarefied and ascends, -the air from the sea rushes in to supply the void so formed, -and thus there sometimes arises a west wind, adverse to -ships bound to the American coast, which are made in this -manner to feel the vicinity of the heat-radiating desert -without even seeing the continent to which it belongs. -The changes of land and sea breezes, which blow alternately -at certain hours of the day or night on all coasts, are due -to the same causes.</p> - -<p>The accumulation of sea-weed in the neighbourhood of -the African coast has been often spoken of by ancient -writers. The locality of this accumulation is a problem -which is intimately connected with our conjectures respecting -the extent of Phœnician navigation. The Periplus, which -has been ascribed to Scylax of Caryanda, and which, -according to the researches of Niebuhr and Letronne, was -very probably compiled in the time of Philip of Macedon, -describes beyond Cerne a quantity of fucus forming a weed-covered -sea—a kind of “Mar de Sargasso;” but the locality -indicated appears to me to differ very much from that -assigned in the work entitled “De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus,” -which long bore, unduly, the great name of Aristotle. -(Compare Scyl. Caryand. Peripl. in Hudson, vol. ii. p. 53, -with Aristot. de Mirab. Auscult. in opp. omnia ex. rec. -Bekkeri, p. 844, § 136.) The pseudo-Aristotle says, -“Phœnician mariners, driven by the east wind, came in four -days’ sail from Gades to a part where they found the sea<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> -covered with reeds and sea-weed (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">θρύον καὶ φῦκος</span>.) The -sea-weed is uncovered at ebb and covered at flood tide.” -Is he not here speaking of a shallow place between the -34° and 36° of latitude? Has a shoal disappeared in -consequence of volcanic eruption? Vobonne speaks of -rocks north of Madeira. (Compare also Edrisi, Geog. -Nub., 1619, p. 157.) In Scylax it is said, “The sea beyond -Cerne is unnavigable on account of its great shallowness, -its muddiness, and the great quantity of sea grasses. The -sea grass lies a span thick, and is full of points at the top, -so that it pricks.” The sea-weed found between Cerne,—(the -Phœnician station for laden vessels, Gaulea, or, according -to Gosselin, the small island of Fedallah, on the north-western -coast of Mauritania),—and Cape de Verde, does -not now by any means form a great sea meadow, or connected -tract of fucus, a “mare herbidum,” such as exists -beyond the Azores. In the poetic description of the coast -by Festus Avienus, (Ora Maritima, v. 109, 122, 388, and -408), in the composition of which, as Avienus himself says, -(v. 412) he availed himself of the journals of Phœnician -ships, the obstacle presented by the sea-weed is referred to -in a very circumstantial manner; but its site is placed much -farther north, towards Ierne, the “Sacred Island.”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sic nulla late flabra propellunt ratem,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sic segnis humor æquoris pigri stupet.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Adjicit et illud, plurimum inter gurgites</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exstare fucum, et sæpe virgulti vice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Retinere puppim....</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hæc inter undas multa cæspitem jacet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eamque late gens Hibernorum colit.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>In remarking that the fucus and the mud or mire, -(<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">πηλός</span>), the shallowness of the sea, and the perpetual calms, -are always spoken of by the ancients as characteristics of -the western ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, one is -disposed, more particularly on account of the mention of -the <i>calms</i>, to ascribe something to Punic artifice,—to the -desire of a great trading people to deter others, by the -apprehension of dangers and difficulties, from entering into -competition with them in western navigation and commerce. -But even in the genuine writings of Aristotle (Meteorol. ii. -p. 1, 14,) he maintains this same opinion of the absence of -wind in those regions, and seeks the explanation of what -he erroneously supposes to be a fact of observation, but -which is more properly a fabulous mariner’s tale, in an -hypothesis concerning the depth of the sea. In reality, -the stormy sea between Gades and the islands of the Blest or -Fortunate Islands, (between Cadix and the Canaries), is very -unlike the sea farther to the south between the tropics, -where the gentle trade winds blow, and which is called -very characteristically by the Spaniards, el Golfo de las -Damas, the Ladies’ Gulf. (Acosta Historia natural y moral -de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 4.)</p> - -<p>From very careful researches by myself, and from the -comparison of the logs or journals of many English and -French vessels, I infer that the old and indefinite expression, -Mar de Sargasso, includes two banks of fucus, of which -the greater and easternmost one, of a lengthened shape, is -situated between the parallels of 19° and 34° N. lat., in a -meridian of 7 degrees to the west of the Island of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> -Corvo, one of the Azores; while the lesser and westernmost -bank, of a roundish form, is situated between the -Bermudas and the Bahamas, (lat. 25°-31°, long. 66°-74°.) -The longer axis of the small bank which is crossed by -ships going from Baxo de Plata (Caye d’Argent, Silver -Cay) on the north of St. Domingo, to the Bermudas, -appears to have a N. 60° E. direction. A transverse band -of Fucus natans, running in an East and West direction -between the parallels of 25° and 30°, connects the greater and -lesser banks. I have had the gratification of seeing these inferences -approved by my honoured friend Major Rennell, and -adopted by him in his great work on Currents, where he has -further supported and confirmed them by many new and additional -observations. (Compare Humboldt, Relation Historique, -tom. i. p. 202, and Examen critique, tom. iii. p. 68–99, -with Rennell’s Investigation of the Currents of the Atlantic -Ocean, 1832, p. 184.) The two groups of sea-weed, -included together with the transverse connecting band -under the old general name of the Sargasso Sea, occupy -altogether a space exceeding six or seven times the area of -Germany.</p> - -<p>Thus it is the vegetation of the ocean which offers the -most remarkable example of an assemblage of “social -plants” of a single species. On terra firma, the savannahs -or prairies, or grassy plains of America, the heaths (ericeta), -and the forests of the North of Europe and Asia, consisting -of coniferous trees, birches, and willows, offer a less degree -of uniformity than do those thalassophytes. Our heaths -show, in the north, in addition to the prevailing Calluna<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -vulgaris, Erica tetralix, E. ciliaris, and E. cinerea; and -in the south, Erica arborea, E. scoparia, and E. mediterranea. -The uniformity of the aspect offered by the Fucus -natans is greater than that of any other assemblage or -association of plants. Oviedo calls the fucus banks -“meadows,” praderias de yerva. Considering that the -island of Flores was discovered in 1452, by Pedro Velasco, -a native of the Spanish port of Palos, by following the -flight of certain birds from the island of Fayal, it seems -almost impossible, seeing the proximity of the great fucus -bank of Corvo and Flores, that a part of these oceanic -meadows should not have been seen before Columbus, by -Portuguese ships driven by storms to the westward. Yet -the astonishment of the companions of Columbus in 1492, -when surrounded by sea-weed uninterruptedly from the 16th -of September to the 8th of October, shews that the magnitude -of the phenomenon at least was previously unknown -to the sailors. The anxieties excited by the accumulation -of sea-weed, and the murmurs of his companions in reference -thereto, are not indeed mentioned by Columbus in the -extracts from the ship’s journal given by Las Casas. He -merely speaks of the complaints and murmurs respecting -the danger to be feared from the weak but constant East -winds. It is only the son, Fernando Colon, who, in -writing his father’s life, endeavoured to depict the fears -of the sailors in a dramatic manner.</p> - -<p>According to my researches, Columbus crossed the great -fucus bank in 1492, in lat. 28½°, and in 1493, in lat. 37°, -both times in the long. of from 38° to 41° W. This is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> -deducible with tolerable certainty from Columbus’s recorded -estimation of the ship’s rate, and the “distance daily -sailed over;” derived indeed, not from casting the log, but -from data afforded by the running out of half-hour sand-glasses -(ampolletas). The first certain and definite mention -of a log (catena della poppa) which I have been able to -discover, is in the year 1521, in Pigafetta’s journal of Magellan’s -Voyage round the World. (Cosmos, vol. ii. p. -259, and Note 405, English ed.) The determination of the -ship’s place, while Columbus was engaged in traversing the -great meadows of sea-weed, is the more important, because we -learn from it that for three centuries and a half the situation -of this great accumulation of thalassophytes, whether resulting -from the local character of the bottom of the sea, or -from the direction of the Gulf stream, has remained the -same. Such evidences of the permanency of great natural -phenomena arrest the attention of the physical inquirer -with double force, when they present themselves in the ever-moving -oceanic element. Although the limits of the fucus -banks oscillate considerably, in correspondence with the -variations of the strength and direction of the prevailing -winds, yet we may still in the middle of the 19th century -take the meridian of 41° W. from Paris (38° 38′ W. from -Greenwich) as the principal axis of the “great bank.” In -the vivid imagination of Columbus, the idea of the position -of this bank was intimately connected with the -great physical line of demarcation, which, according to him, -divided the globe into two parts, with the changes of -magnetic variation, and with climatic relations. Columbus,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -when uncertain respecting his longitude, (February 1493), directed -himself by the appearance of the first floating streamers -of weed (de la primera yerva) on the eastern margin of the -great Corvo bank. The physical line of demarcation was, -by the powerful influence of the Admiral, converted on the -4th of May, 1493, into a political line, being made the -celebrated “line of demarcation” between the Spanish and -Portuguese rights of possession. (Compare my Examen -Critique, tom. iii. p. 64–99, and Cosmos, English ed. vol. ii. -p. 279–280.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> p. 3.—“<i>The Nomadic Tibbos and Tuaricks.</i>”</p> - -<p>These two nations inhabit the deserts between Bornou, -Fezzan, and Lower Egypt. They were first made known to -us with some exactness by Hornemann’s and Lyon’s travels. -The Tibbos or Tibbous roam through the eastern, and the -Tuaticks (Tueregs) through the western, parts of the great -desert. The first are called by the other tribes, from being -in continual movement, “birds.” The Tuaricks are distinguished -into those of Aghadez and those of Tagazi. They -are often engaged as conductors of caravans, and in trade. -Their language is the same as that of the Berbers; and they -belong unquestionably to the number of the primitive -Lybian nations. The Tuaricks present a remarkable physiological -phenomenon. Different tribes among them are, -according to the climate, white, yellowish, and even almost -black; but all are without woolly hair or Negro features. -(Exploration scientifique de l’Algérie, T. ii. p. 343.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> p. 4.—“<i>The Ship of the Desert.</i>”</p> - -<p>In oriental poems, the camel is called the land-ship, or -the ship of the Desert (Sefynet-el-badyet); Chardin, Voyages, -nouv. éd. par Langlès, 1811, T. iii. p. 376.</p> - -<p>But the camel is not merely the carrier of the desert, and -the link which, rendering communication between different -countries possible, connects them with each other: he is -also, as Carl Ritter has shewn in his excellent memoir on -the sphere of diffusion of these animals, the principal and -essential condition of the nomadic life of nations in the -patriarchal stage of national development, in the hot parts -of our planet where rain is either altogether wanting or very -infrequent. No animal’s life is so closely associated by -natural bonds with a particular stage of the developement of -the life of man,—a connection historically established for -several thousand years,—as the life of the camel among the -Bedouin tribes (Asien, Bd. viii. Abth. i. 1847, S. 610 und -758). “The camel was entirely unknown to the cultivated -Carthaginian nation through all the centuries of their -flourishing existence, until the destruction of their city. -The Marusians first brought it into military use, in -the train of armies, in Western Lybia, in the times -of the Cæsars; perhaps in consequence of its employment -in commercial operations in the valley of the Nile -by the Ptolemies. The Guanches, the inhabitants of the -Canary Islands and probably related to the Berber race, -were not acquainted with the camel before the 15th century,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -when it was introduced by Norman conquerors and settlers. -In the probably very limited communication of the Guanches -with the Coast of Africa, the small size of the boats would -prevent the transport of large animals. The true Berber -race, diffused throughout the interior of Northern Africa, -and to which the Tibbos and Tuaricks, as already mentioned, -belong, owes doubtless to the use of the camel -throughout the Lybian desert and its Oases, not only the -advantages of intercommunication, but also the preservation -of its national existence to the present day. On the other -hand, the negro races never, of their own accord, made any -use of the camel; it was only in company with the conquering -expeditions and proselyting missions of the Bedouins, -carrying their prophet’s doctrines over the whole of Northern -Africa, that the useful animal of the Nedjid, of the Nabatheans, -and of all the countries inhabited by Aramean races, spread -to the westward and was introduced among the black population. -The Goths took camels as early as the fourth -century to the Lower Istros (the Danube), and the Ghaznevides -conveyed them in much larger numbers as far as India -and the banks of the Ganges.” We must distinguish two -epochs in the diffusion of the camel throughout the northern -part of the African continent; one under the Ptolemies, -operating through Cyrene on the whole of the north-west of -Africa; and the Mohammedan epoch of the conquering -Arabs.</p> - -<p>It has long been a question, whether those domestic -animals which have been the earliest companions of mankind—oxen, -sheep, dogs, and camels—are still to be met with in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -state of original wildness. The Hiongnu, in Eastern -Asia, belong to the nations who earliest tamed and trained -wild camels as domestic animals. The compiler of the -great Chinese work, Si-yu-wen-kien-lo, (Historia Regionum -occidentalium, quæ Si-yu vocantur, visu et auditu cognitarum,) -affirms that in the middle of the 18th century wild -camels, as well as wild horses and wild asses, still wandered -in East Turkestan. Hadji Chalfa, in his Turkish Geography, -written in the 17th century, speaks of the frequent -chase of the wild camel in the high plains of Kashgar, -Turfan, and Khotan. Schott translates, from a Chinese -author, Ma-dschi, that wild camels are to be found in the -countries to the north of China and west of the Hoang-ho, -in Ho-si or Tangut. Cuvier alone (Règne Animal, T. i. p. -257), doubts the present existence of wild camels in the -interior of Asia. He believes they have merely “become -wild;” because Calmucks, and others having Buddhistic religious -affinities with them, set camels and other animals at -liberty, in order “to acquire to themselves merit for the other -world.” According to Greek witnesses of the times of -Artemidorus and Agatharchides of Cnidus, the Ailanitic -Gulf of the Nabatheans was the home of the wild Arabian -camel. (Ritter’s Asien, Bd. viii. s. 670, 672, and 746.) -The discovery of fossil camel bones of the ancient world by -Captain Cautley and Doctor Falconer, in 1834, in the sub-Himalaya -range of the Sewalik hills, is peculiarly deserving -of notice. These bones were found with other ancient bones -of mastodons, of true elephants, of giraffes, and of a -gigantic land tortoise (Colossochelys), twelve feet in length<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -and six feet in height. (Humboldt, Cosmos, Engl. ed. vol. -i. p. 268.) This camel of the Ancient World has received -the name of Camelus sivalensis, but does not show any considerable -difference from the still living Egyptian and -Bactrian camels with one and two humps. Forty camels have -very recently been introduced into Java, having been brought -there from Teneriffe. (Singapore Journal of the Indian -Archipelago, 1847, p. 206.) The first experiment has been -made in Samarang. In like manner, reindeer have only -been introduced into Iceland from Norway in the course -of the last century. They were not found there when the -island was settled, notwithstanding the proximity to East -Greenland, and the existence of floating masses of ice. (Sartorius -von Waltershausen physisch-geographische Skizze von -Island, 1847, S. 41.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> p. 4.—“<i>Between the Altai and the Kuen-lün.</i>”</p> - -<p>The great highland, or, as it is commonly called, the mountain -plateau of Asia, which includes the lesser Bucharia, Songarei, -Thibet, Tangut, and the Mogul country of the Chalcas and -Olotes, is situated between the 36th and 48th degrees of -latitude, and the meridians of 81° and 118° E. long. It is -an erroneous view to represent this part of the interior of Asia -as a single undivided mountainous gibbosity, continuous like -the elevated plains of Quito and Mexico, and elevated from -seven to nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. That -there is not in this sense any undivided mountain plateau in -the interior of Asia, has already been shewn by me in my -“Researches respecting the Mountains of Northern India.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -(Humboldt, Premier Mémoire sur les Montagnes de l’Inde, -in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, T. iii. 1816, p. -303; Second Mémoire, T. xiv. 1820, p. 5–55.)</p> - -<p>My views concerning the geographical range of plants, -and the mean degree of temperature requisite for certain -kinds of cultivation, had early led me to entertain considerable -doubts as to the continuity of a great Tartarian plateau -between the Himalaya and the Altai. Writers continued to -characterise this plateau as it had been described by Hippocrates -(De Ære et Aquis, § xcvi. p. 74), as “the high and -naked plains of Scythia, which, without being crowned with -mountains, rise and extend to beneath the constellation -of the Bear.” Klaproth has the undeniable merit of -having been the first to make us acquainted with the true -position, extent, and direction of two great and entirely distinct -chains of mountains—the Kuen-lün and the Thian-schan, -in a part of Asia which is better entitled to the name -of “central” than Kashmeer, Baltistan, and the Sacred -Lakes of Thibet, (the Manasa and the Ravanahrada). The -importance of the Celestial Mountains, the Thian-schan, -had indeed been already surmised by Pallas, without his -being aware of their volcanic nature; but this highly-gifted -investigator of nature, hampered by the then prevailing -hypothesis of a dogmatic and fantastic geology, firmly -believing in “chains of mountains radiating from a centre,” -saw in the Bogdo Oola (the Mons Augustus, or culminating -point of the Thian-schan) such a “central node, from -whence all the Asiatic mountain chains diverge in rays, and -which dominates over all the rest of the continent!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>The erroneous idea of a single vast elevated plain occupying -the whole of central Asia, the “Plateau de la Tartarie,” -took its rise in France, in the latter half of the 18th century. -It was the result of historical combinations, and of a -not sufficiently attentive study of the writings of the celebrated -Venetian traveller, as well as of the naïve relations of -those diplomatic monks who, in the 13th and 14th centuries, -(thanks to the unity and extent of the Mogul empire at that -time) were able to traverse almost the whole of the interior -of the continent, from the ports of Syria and of the Caspian -Sea to the shores of the Pacific on the east coast of China. -If a more exact acquaintance with the language and ancient -literature of India had dated farther back among us than -half a century, the hypothesis of this central plateau, occupying -the wide space between the Himalaya and the south of -Siberia, would no doubt have had adduced in its support an -ancient and venerable authority from that source. The -poem of the Mahabharata appears, in the geographical -fragment Bhischmakanda, to describe “Meru” not so much -as a mountain as an enormous elevation of the land, which -supplies with water at once the sources of the Ganges, those -of the Bhadrasoma (Irtysh), and those of the forked Oxus. -These physico-geographical views were intermingled in -Europe with ideas of other kinds, and with mythical reveries -relating to the origin of mankind. It was said that the elevated -regions from which the waters first retreated, (geologists -in general were long averse to the theory of elevation), must -also have received the first germs of civilisation. Hebraizing -systems of geology, and views connected with the Deluge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -and supported by local traditions, favoured these assumptions. -The intimate connection between time and space, between -the beginnings of social order and the plastic character of -the surface of the earth, lent to the supposed “uninterrupted -Plateau of Tartary” a peculiar importance, and an almost -moral interest. Acquisitions of positive knowledge, the -late matured fruit of scientific travels and direct measurements, -as well as of a fundamental study of Asiatic languages -and literature especially those of China, have gradually -demonstrated the inaccuracies and exaggerations of those -wild hypotheses. The mountain plains (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὁροπέδια</span>) of Central -Asia are no longer regarded as the cradle of civilization and -the primitive seat of all arts and sciences. The ancient -nation of Bailly’s Atlantis, happily described by d’Alembert -as “having taught us everything but their own name and -existence,” has vanished. The supposed inhabitants of the -Oceanic Atlantis had already been treated, in the time of -Posidonius, in a no less derisive manner. (Strabo, lib. ii. -p. 102; and lib. xiii. p. 598, Casaub.)</p> - -<p>A plateau of considerable but very unequal elevation, -having the names of Gobi, Scha-mo (sand desert), Scha-ho -(sand river), and Hanhai, runs in a SSW.-NNE. direction, -with little interruption, from Eastern Thibet towards -the mountain knot of Kentei south of Lake Baikal. -This swelling of the ground is probably anterior to the -elevation of the mountain chains by which it is intersected; -it is situated, as already remarked, between 79° and 116° -long. from Paris, (81° and 118° E. from Greenwich). -Measured at right angles to its longitudinal axis, its breadth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -is, in the south between Ladak, Gertop, and H’lassa, (the -seat of the great Lama,) 720 geographical miles; between -Hami in the Celestial Mountains, and the great bend of the -Hoang-ho near the In-schan chain, hardly 480; and in -the north, between the Khanggai, where the great city of -Karakhorum once stood, and the chain of Khin-gan-Petscha, -which runs north and south (in the part of the Gobi traversed -in travelling from Kiachta by Urga to Pekin) 760 -geographical miles. The whole extent of this swelling -ground, which must be carefully distinguished from the far -more elevated mountain range to the east, may be approximately -estimated, taking its inflections into account, at -about three times the area of France. The map of the -mountain ranges and volcanoes of Central Asia (Carte der -Bergketten und Vulkane von Central-Asien), constructed -by me in 1839, but not published until 1843, shows in the -clearest manner the hypsometric relations between the -mountain ranges and the Gobi plateau. It was founded on -the critical employment of all the astronomical determinations -accessible to me, and on a vast amount of orographic -description, in which Chinese literature is beyond measure -rich, examined at my request by Klaproth and Stanislas -Julien. My map marks the <i>mean</i> direction and the height -of the mountain chains, and represents the leading features -of the interior of the continent of Asia, from 30° to 60° -degrees of north latitude, and between the meridians of -Kherson and Pekin. It differs materially from any previously -published map.</p> - -<p>The Chinese have enjoyed a threefold advantage towards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -the collection of so great an amount of orographic data in the -highlands of Asia, and more especially in the regions (hitherto -so little known in the west), north and south of the Celestial -mountains, between the In-schan, the mountain lake -Khuku-noor, and the banks of the Ili and the Tarim. -The three advantages I allude to are,—the military expeditions -towards the west, (under the dynasties of Han and -Thang 122 years before our era, and again in the ninth -century when conquerors advanced as far as Ferghana and to -the borders of the Caspian), together with the more peaceful -conquests of Buddhistic pilgrims;—the religious interest -attaching to certain lofty mountain summits on account of -sacrifices to be periodically offered there;—and the early -and general use of the compass in giving the directions of -mountains and of rivers. The knowledge and use of -the “South pointing” of the magnetic needle twelve centuries -before our era, has given to the orographic and -hydrographic descriptions of countries by the Chinese, a -great superiority over the descriptions of the same kind -which Greek or Roman writers have bequeathed to us, -and which are besides extremely few. The acute and -sagacious Strabo, was alike imperfectly acquainted with the -direction of the Pyrenees, and with those of the Alps and of the -Apennines. (Compare Strabo, lib. ii. p. 71 and 128; lib. -iii, p. 137; lib. iv. p. 199 and 202; lib. v. p. 211, Casaub.)</p> - -<p>To the lowlands belong almost the whole of Northern Asia -to the north-west of the volcanic chain of the Thian-schan;—the -Steppes to the north of the Altai and of the Sayan -chain;—the countries which extend from the mountains of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -Bolor, or Bulyt-Tagh, (“cloud mountains” in the Uigurian -dialect) which follow a north and south direction, and -from the upper Oxus, (whose sources were found by the -Buddhistic pilgrims Hiuen-thsang and Song-yun in 518 -and 629, by Marco Polo in 1277, and by Lieutenant -Wood in 1838, in the Pamer Lake, Sir-i-kol, Lake -Victoria), towards the Caspian; and from Tenghir or the -Balkhash Lake through the Kirghis Steppe, towards the -sea of Aral and the southern extremity of the Ural mountains. -As compared with high plains of 6,000 to 10,000 -feet above the level of the sea, it may well be permitted to -use the expression of “lowlands” for flats of little more -than 200 to 1200 feet of elevation. The lowest of the -last two numbers corresponds nearly to the altitude of -the town of Mannheim, and the highest to that of Geneva -and Tubingen. If the word plateau, so often misemployed -in modern works on geography, is to have its use extended -to elevations which hardly present any sensible difference in -climate and vegetation, the indefiniteness of the expressions -“highlands and lowlands,” which are only relative -terms, will deprive physical geography of the means of -expressing the idea of the connection between elevation -and climate, between the profile or relief of the ground -and the decrease of temperature. When I found myself -in Chinese Dzungarei, between the boundary of Siberia -and Lake Dsaisang, at an equal distance from the Icy Sea -and from the mouth of the Ganges, I might well consider -myself in Central Asia. The barometer, however, soon -taught me that the plains through which the Upper -Irtysh flows, between Ustkamenogorsk and the Chinese<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -Dzungarian Post, Chonimailachu, (sheep-bleating,) are -scarcely raised 850, or at the most 1170, feet above the level -of the sea. Pansner’s older barometric measurements -(which, however, were not published until after my expedition), -are confirmed by mine. Both refute the hypothesis -of Chappe, relative to the supposed high elevation of the banks -of the Irtysh, in Southern Siberia; an hypothesis based on -estimations of river declivities. Even further to the East, -Lake Baikal is only 222 toises, or 1420 English feet, above -the level of the sea.</p> - -<p>In order to connect the idea of the <i>relation</i> of -the terms <i>lowlands</i> and <i>highlands</i> and of the various -gradations in the height of elevated plains or undulating -grounds, with actual examples ascertained by measurement, -I have subjoined a table, forming an ascending scale of such -districts in different parts of the Globe. What I have -said above respecting the mean height of those Asiatic -plains, which I have termed lowlands, may be compared -with the following numbers:—</p> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<th colspan="2"></th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>English feet.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Plateau</td> -<td class="tdl">of Auvergne</td> -<td class="tdr">170</td> -<td class="tdr">1087</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Bavaria</td> -<td class="tdr">260</td> -<td class="tdr">1663</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Castille</td> -<td class="tdr">350</td> -<td class="tdr">2239</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Mysore</td> -<td class="tdr">460</td> -<td class="tdr">2942</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Caraccas</td> -<td class="tdr">480</td> -<td class="tdr">3070</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Popayan</td> -<td class="tdr">900</td> -<td class="tdr">5756</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">round Lake Tzana (in Abyssinia)</td> -<td class="tdr">950</td> -<td class="tdr">6076</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of the Orange River (in South Africa)</td> -<td class="tdr">1000</td> -<td class="tdr">6395</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Axum (in Abyssinia)</td> -<td class="tdr">1100</td> -<td class="tdr">7034</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Mexico</td> -<td class="tdr">1170</td> -<td class="tdr">7483</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of Quito</td> -<td class="tdr">1490</td> -<td class="tdr">9528</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">of the Province de los Pastos</td> -<td class="tdr">1600</td> -<td class="tdr">10231</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">round Lake Titiaca</td> -<td class="tdr">2010</td> -<td class="tdr">12853</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>No portion of the so-called Desert of Gobi (parts of -which contain fine pastures) has been so thoroughly -explored in respect to the differences of elevation as the -zone, of nearly 600 geographical miles in breadth, between -the sources of the Selenga and the great Wall of China. -A very exact series of barometric levellings was executed -under the auspices of the Academy of St. Petersburgh by -two distinguished Savans, the astronomer George Fuss, and -the botanist Bunge. In the year 1832 they accompanied -the mission of Greek monks to Pekin, to establish there -one of the magnetic stations recommended by me. The -mean height of this part of Gobi does not amount, as had -been too hastily inferred from the measurement of neighbouring -summits by the Jesuits Gerbillon and Verbiest -to from 7500 to 8000 French (8000 to 8500 English) -feet, but only to little more than half that height, or -barely 4000 French or 4264 English feet. Between Erghi, -Durma, and Scharaburguna, the ground is only 2400 French, -or 2558 English, feet above the level of the sea, or hardly -300 French (320 English) feet higher than the plateau of -Madrid. Erghi is situated midway, in lat. 45° 31′, long. -111° 26′ E. from Greenwich. There is here a depression -of more than 240 miles in breadth, in a SW. and NE. -direction. An ancient Mogul tradition marks it as the -bottom of a former inland sea. There are found in it -reeds and saline plants, mostly of the same kinds as those -on the low shores of the Caspian. In this central part of -the desert there are small salt lakes, from which salt is -carried to China. According to a singular opinion very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -prevalent among the Moguls, the ocean will one day return -and establish its empire anew in Gobi. One is reminded -of the Chinese tradition of the <i>bitter lake</i>, in the interior -of Siberia, mentioned by me in another work. (Humboldt, -Asie Centrale, tom. ii. p. 141; Klaproth, Asia -Polyglotta, p. 232.) The valley or basin of Kashmeer, -so enthusiastically extolled by Bernier, and but too moderately -praised by Victor Jacquemont, has also given occasion -to great hypsometric exaggerations. By a careful -barometrical measurement, Jacquemont found the height -of the Wulur Lake in the valley of Kashmeer, not far -from the chief city Sirinagur, 836 toises, or 5346 English -feet. Uncertain determinations by the boiling point -of water gave Baron Carl von Hügel a result of 910, and -Lieutenant Cunningham only 790 toises. (Compare my Asie -Centrale, tom. iii. p. 310, with the Journal of the Asiatic -Society of Bengal, vol. x. 1841, p. 114.) Kashmeer,—respecting -which, in Germany particularly, so much interest has been -felt, but the delightfulness of whose climate is considerably -impaired by four months of winter snow in the streets of -Sirinagur (Carl von Hügel, Kaschmir, Bd. ii. S. 196),—is not -situated, as is often supposed, upon the ridge of the Himalaya, -but is a true cauldron-shaped valley (Kesselthal, Caldera,) on -the southern declivity of those mountains. On the south-west, -where the rampart-like elevation of the Pir Panjal -separates it from the Punjaub, the snow-covered summits -are crowned, according to Vigne, with formations of -basalt and amygdaloid. The latter formation has received -from the natives the characteristic name of “schischak<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -deyu,” marked by the devil’s small-pox. (Vigne, Travels -in Kashmeer, 1842, vol. i. p. 237–293.) The beauty of -its vegetation has from the earliest times been very differently -described, according as the visitor came from the rich and -luxuriant vegetation of India, or from the northern regions -of Turkestan, Samarcand, and Ferghana.</p> - -<p>It is also only very recently that clearer views have been -obtained respecting the elevation of Thibet; the level of the -plateau having long been most uncritically confounded with -the summits which rise from it. Thibet occupies the -interval between the two great chains of the Himalaya and -the Kuen-lün, forming the raised ground of the valley -between them. It is divided from east to west, both by -the natives and by Chinese geographers, into three portions. -Upper Thibet, with its capital city H’lassa, probably 1500 -toises (9590 English feet) above the level of the sea;—Middle -Thibet, with the town of Leh or Ladak (1563 toises, -or 9995 English feet);—and Little Thibet, or Baltistan, -called the Thibet of Apricots, (Sari Boutan), in which are -situated Iskardo (985 toises, or 6300 English feet), Gilgit, -and south of Iskardo but on the left bank of the Indus, -the plateau of Deotsuh, measured by Vigne, and found to -be 1873 toises, or 11,977 English feet. On examining all -the notices that we possess respecting the three Thibets, (and -which will have received in the present year a rich augmentation -by the boundary expedition under the auspices of -the governor-general, Lord Dalhousie), we soon become convinced -that the region between the Himalaya and the Kuen-lün -is no unbroken plain or table land, but that it is intersected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -by mountain groups, undoubtedly belonging to wholly -distinct systems of elevation. There are, properly speaking, -very few plains; the most considerable are those between -Gertop, Daba, Schang-thung (Shepherd’s Plain) the native -country of the Shawl-goat, and Schipke (1634 toises, 10,450 -English feet);—those round Ladak, which have an elevation -of 2100 toises, or 13430 English feet, and must not be -confounded with the depression in which the town is -situated;—and lastly, the plateau of the Sacred Lakes -Manasa and Ravanahrada (probably 2345 toises), which -was visited so early as 1625 by Pater Antonio de Andrada. -Other parts are entirely filled with crowded mountainous -elevations, “rising,” as a recent traveller expresses it, “like -the waves of a vast ocean.” Along the rivers, the Indus, the -Sutlej, and the Yaru-dzangbo-tschu which was formerly -regarded as identical with the Brahma-putra, points have -been measured which are only between 1050 and 1400 -toises (6714 and 8952 English feet) above the level of the -sea; so also with respect to the Thibetian villages of Pangi, -Kunawur, Kelu, and Murung. (Humboldt, Asie Centrale, -T. iii. p. 281–325.) From many carefully collected measurements -of elevation I think I may conclude that the plateau -of Thibet, between 73° and 85° E. long., does not reach a -mean height of 1800 toises (11510 English feet); this is -hardly equal to the height of the fertile plain of Caxamarca -in Peru, and is 211 and 337 toises (1350 and 2154 English -feet) less than the height of the plateau of Titicaca, and the -street pavement of the Upper Town of Potosi (2137 toises, -13,665 English feet).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>That outside of the Thibetian highlands and of the Gobi, -the boundaries of which have been defined above, there are -in Asia, between the parallels of 37° and 48°, considerable -depressions and even true lowlands, where one boundless -uninterrupted plateau was formerly imagined to exist, -is shewn by the cultivation of plants which cannot thrive -without a certain degree of heat. An attentive study of the -travels of Marco Polo, in which the cultivation of the vine -and the production of cotton in northern latitudes are -spoken of, had long called the attention of the acute Klaproth -to this point. In a Chinese work, entitled “Information -respecting the recently-subdued Barbarians (Sin-kiang-wai-tan-ki-lio),” -it is said, “the country of Aksu, somewhat to -the south of the Celestial Mountains (the Thian-schan), near -the rivers which form the great Tarim-gol, produces grapes, -pomegranates, and numberless other excellent fruits; also -cotton (Gossypium religiosum), which covers the fields like -yellow clouds. In the summer the heat is exceedingly great, -and in winter there is here, as at Turfan, neither severe cold -nor heavy snow.” The district round Khotan, Kashgar, -and Yarkand, still pays its tribute in home-grown cotton as -it did in the time of Marco Polo. (Il Milione di Marco -Polo, pubbl. dal Conte Baldelli, T. i. p. 32 and 87.) In -the Oasis of Hami (Khamil), above 200 miles east of Aksu, -orange trees, pomegranates, and vines whose fruit is of a -superior quality, grow and flourish.</p> - -<p>The products of cultivation which are thus noticed -imply the existence of only a small degree of elevation, and -that over extensive districts. At so great a distance from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -any coast, and in those easterly meridians where the cold of -winter is known to exceed that of corresponding latitudes -nearer our own part of the world, a plateau which should be -as high as Madrid or Munich might indeed have very hot -summers, but would hardly have, in 43° and 44° latitude, -extremely mild winters with scarcely any snow. Near the -Caspian, 83 English feet below the level of the Black Sea, -at Astrachan in 46° 21′ lat., I saw the cultivation of the -vine greatly favoured by a high degree of summer heat; but -the winter cold is there from -20° to -25° Cent. (-4° to --13° Fahr.) It is therefore necessary to protect the vines -after November, by sinking them deep in the earth. Plants -which live, as we may say, only in the summer, as the vine, -the cotton bush, rice, and melons, may indeed be cultivated -with success between the latitudes of 40° and 44° on plains -of more than 500 toises (3197 English feet) elevation, being -favoured by the powerful radiant heat; but how could the -pomegranate trees of Aksu, and the orange trees of Hami, -whose fruit Père Grosier extolled as distinguished for its goodness, -bear the cold of the long and severe winter which would -be the necessary consequence of a considerable elevation of the -land? (Asie Centrale, T. ii. p. 48–52, and 429.) Carl Zimmerman -(in the learned Analysis of his “Karte von Inner -Asien,” 1841, S. 99) has made it appear extremely probable -that the Tarim depression, <i>i. e.</i> the desert between the mountain -chains of the Thian-schan and the Kuen-lün, where the -Steppe river Tarim-gol empties itself into the Lake of Lop, -which used to be described as an alpine lake, is hardly 1200 -(1279 English) feet above the level of the sea, or only twice<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -the height of Prague. Sir Alexander Burnes also assigns -to that of Bokhara only an elevation of 1190 English -feet. It is earnestly to be desired, that all doubt respecting -the elevation of the plateaux of middle Asia, south of 45° -of latitude, should finally be set at rest by direct barometric -measurements, or by determinations of the boiling point of -water made with more care than is usually given to them. -All our calculations respecting the difference between the -limits of perpetual snow, and the maximum elevation of vine -cultivation in different climates, rest at present on too -complex and uncertain elements.</p> - -<p>In order to rectify in the smallest space that which was -said in the last edition of the present work, relatively to the -great mountain systems which intersect the interior of -Asia, I subjoin the following general review. We begin -with the four parallel chains, which follow with tolerable -regularity an east and west direction, and are connected -with each other at a few detached points by transverse -elevations. Differences of direction indicate, as in the -Alps of western Europe, a difference in the epoch of elevation. -After the four parallel chains (the Altai, the Thian-schan, -the Kuen-lün, and the Himalaya), we have to -notice chains following the direction of meridians, viz. -the Ural, the Bolor, the Khingan, and the Chinese chains, -which, with the great bend of the Thibetian and Assamo-Bermese -Dzangbo-tschu, run north and south. The -Ural divides a part of Europe but little elevated above -the level of the sea from a part of Asia similarly circumstanced. -The latter was called by Herodotus, (ed. Schweighaüser,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -T. v. p. 204) and even as early as Pherecydes of -Syros, a Scythian or Siberian Europe, including all the -countries to the north of the Caspian and of the Iaxartes; -in this view it would be a continuation of Europe “prolonged -to the north of Asia.”</p> - -<p>1. The great mountain system of the Altai, (the “gold -mountains” of Menander of Byzantium, an historical -writer who lived as early as the 7th century, the Altaï-alin -of the Moguls, and the Kin-schan of the Chinese), forms -the southern boundary of the great Siberian lowlands; and -running between 50° and 52½° of north latitude, extends -from the rich silver mines of the Snake Mountains, and the confluence -of the Uba and the Irtysh, to the meridian of Lake -Baikal. The divisions and names of the “Great” and the -“Little Altai,” taken from an obscure passage of Abulghasì, -are to be altogether avoided. (Asie Centrale, T. i. p. 247.) -The mountain system of the Altai comprehends (<i>a</i>) the Altai -proper, or Kolywanski Altai, the whole of which is under -the Russian sceptre; it is west of the transverse opening of -the Telezki Lake, which follows the direction of the meridian; -and in ante-historic times probably formed the eastern shore -of the great arm of the sea, by which, in the direction of the -still existing groups of lakes, Aksakal-Barbi and Sary-Kupa -(Asie Centrale, T. ii. p. 138), the Aralo-Caspian basin was -connected with the Icy sea:—(<i>b</i>) East of the Telezki chain -which follows the direction of the meridian, the Sayani, -Tangnu, and Ulangom or Malakha chains, all running -tolerably parallel with each other and in an east and west -direction. The Tangnu, which sinks down and terminates<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -in the basin of the Selenga, has from very ancient times -formed a boundary between the Turkish race to the south -and the Kirghis (Hakas, identical with <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Σάκαι</span>) in the north. -(Jacob Grimm, Gesch. der deutschen Sprache, 1848, Th. i. -S. 227.) It is the original seat of the Samoieds or Soyotes, -who wandered as far as the Icy Sea, and who were long -regarded in Europe as a nation belonging exclusively to the -coasts of the Polar Sea. The highest snow-clad summits of -the Altai of Kolywan are the Bielucha and the Katunia-Pillars. -The height of the latter is about that of Etna. -The Daurian highland, to which the mountain knot of -Kemtei belongs, and on the eastern side of which is the -Jablonoi Chrebet, divides the depressions of the Baikal -and the Amur.</p> - -<p>2. The mountain system of the Thian-schan, or Celestial -Mountains, the Tengri-tagh of the Turks (Tukiu) and of -the kindred race of the Hiongnu, is eight times as long, in -an east and west direction, as the Pyrenees. Beyond,—<i>i. e.</i> -west of its intersection with the transverse or north and -south chain of the Bolor and Kosuyrt, the Thian-schan bears -the names of Asferah and Aktagh, is rich in metals, and has -open fissures, which emit hot vapours, luminous at night, -and which are used for obtaining sal-ammoniac. (Asie -Centrale, T. ii. p. 18–20.) East of the transverse Bolor and -Kosyurt chain, there follow successively in the Thian-schan,—the -Kashgar Pass (Kaschgar-dawan); the Glacier Pass of -Djeparle, which leads to Kutch and Aksu in the Tarim basin; -the volcano of Pe-schan, which sent forth fire and streams of -lava at least as late as the middle of the seventh century; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -great snow-covered massive elevation Bogdo-Oola; the Sol-fatara -of Urumsti, which furnishes sulphur and sal-ammoniac -(nao-scha), and is situated in a coal district; the still active -volcano of Turfan (or volcano of Ho-tscheu or Bischbalik), -almost midway between the meridians of Turfan (Kune-Turpan), -and of Pidjan. The volcanic eruptions of the -Thian-schan chain, recorded by Chinese historians, reach -as far back as the year 89, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, when the Hiongnu -of the sources of the Irtysh were pursued by the Chinese -army as far as Kutch and Kharaschar (Klaproth, Tableau -hist. de l’Asie, p. 108). The Chinese General, Teu-hian, -surmounted the Thian-schan, and saw “the Fire Mountains -which send out masses of molten rock that flow for -many Li.”</p> - -<p>The great distance from the sea of the volcanoes of the -interior of Asia is a remarkable and solitary phenomenon. -Abel Rémusat, in a letter to Cordier (Annales des Mines, T. -v. 1820, p. 137), first directed the attention of geologists to -this fact. The distance, for example, in the case of the volcano -of Pe-schan, to the north, or to the Icy Sea at the mouth of the -Obi, is 1528 geographical miles; to the south, or to the -mouths of the Indus and the Ganges, 1512 geographical -miles; to the west, 1360 geographical miles to the Caspian -in the Gulf of Karaboghaz; and to the east, 1020 geographical -miles to the shores of the sea of Aral. The active -volcanoes of the New World were previously supposed to -offer the most remarkable instances of such phenomena at a -great distance from the sea; their distance, however, is only -132 geographical miles in the case of the volcano of Popocatepetl<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -in Mexico, and only 92, 104, and 156 geographical -miles in those of the South American volcanoes Sangai, -Tolima, and de la Fragua, respectively. I exclude from -these statements all extinct volcanoes, and all trachytic mountains -which have no permanent connection with the interior of -the earth. (Asie Centrale, T. ii. p. 16–55, 69–77, and 341–356.) -East of the volcano of Turfan, and of the fertile -Oasis of Hami rich in fine fruit, the chain of the Thian-schan -gives place to the great elevated tract of Gobi which -follows a S.W. and N.E. direction. This interruption of -the mountain chain, caused by the transverse intersection of -the Gobi, continues for more than 9½ degrees of longitude; -but beyond it the mountains recommence in the somewhat -more southerly chain of the In-schan, or the Silver Mountains, -running (north of the Pe-tscheli) from west to east -almost to the shores of the Pacific near Pekin, and forming -a continuation of the Thian-schan. As I have viewed the -In-schan as an easterly prolongation (beyond the interruption -of the Gobi) of the cleft above which the Thian-schan stands, so -one might possibly view the Caucasus as a westerly prolongation -of the same, beyond the great basin of the Aral and Caspian -Seas or the depression of Turan. The mean parallel of latitude -or axis of elevation of the Thian-schan oscillates between -40⅔° and 43° N. lat.; that of the Caucasus, according to -the map of the Russian Etat-Major (running rather E.S.E. -and W.N.W.), is between 41° and 44° N. lat. (Baron von -Meyendorff, in the Bulletin de la Societé géologique de -France, T. ix. 1837–1838, p. 230.) Of the four parallel -chains which traverse Asia from east to west, the Thian-schan<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -is the only one in which no summits have yet had -their elevation above the sea determined by measurement.</p> - -<p>3. The mountain system of the Kuen-lün (Kurkun or -Kulkun), if we include in it the Hindu-Coosh and its western -prolongation in the Persian Elbourz and Demavend, is, next -to the American Cordillera of the Andes, the longest line of -elevation on the surface of our planet. Where the north-and-south -chain of Bolor intersects the Kuen-lün at right -angles, the latter takes the name of the Thsung-ling (Onion -Mountains), which is also given to a part of the Bolor at the -eastern angle of intersection. The Kuen-lün, forming the -northern boundary of Thibet, runs very regularly in an east -and west direction, in the latitude of 36°. In the meridian -of H’lassa an interruption takes place from the great mountain -knot which surrounds the alpine lake of Khuku-noor, -the Sing-so-hai, or Starry Sea, so celebrated in the mythical -geography of the Chinese. The somewhat more northerly -chains of Nan-schan and Kilian-schan may almost be regarded -as an easterly prolongation of the Thian-schan. -They extend to the Chinese wall near Liang-tscheu. West -of the intersection of the Bolor and Kuen-lün (the Thsung-ling) -I think I have been the first to shew (Asie Centrale, -T. i. p. 23, and 118–159; T. ii. p. 431–434 and 465) that -the corresponding direction of the axes of the Kuen-lün and -the Hindu-Coosh (both being east and west, whereas the -Himalaya is south-east and north-west) makes it reasonable -to regard the Hindu-Coosh as a continuation, not of the -Himalaya, but of the Kuen-lün. From the Taurus in Lycia -to Kafiristan, through an extent of 45 degrees of longitude,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -this chain follows the parallel of Rhodes, or the diaphragm -of Dicearchus. The grand geognostical view of Eratosthenes -(Strabo, Lib. ii. p. 68; Lib. xi. p. 490 and 511; -and Lib. xv. p. 689), which is farther developed by Marinus -of Tyre, and Ptolemy, and according to which “the continuation -of the Taurus in Lycia extends across the whole -of Asia to India, in one and the same direction,” appears to -have been partly founded on statements which reached the -Persians and Indians from the Punjaub. “The Brahmins -affirm,” says Cosmas Indicopleustes, in his Christian Topography, -(Mountfauçon, Collectio nova Patrum, T. ii. p. 137) -“that a line drawn from Tzinitza (Thinæ) across Persia and -Romania, exactly cuts the middle of the inhabited earth.” It -is deserving of notice that Eratosthenes had so early remarked -that this longest axis of elevation in the Old Continent, in -the parallels of 35½° and 36°, points directly through the -basin (or depression) of the Mediterranean to the Pillars of -Hercules. (Compare Asie Centrale, T. i. p. 23 and 122–138; -T. ii. p. 430–434, with Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 222 and -438, p. 188, and note 292, Engl. ed.) The easternmost part of -the Hindu-Coosh is the Paropanisus of the ancients, the -Indian Caucasus of the companions of Alexander. The now -generally used term of Hindu-Coosh, belongs, as may be seen -from the Travels of the Arab Ibn Batuta (English version, -p. 97), to a single mountain pass on which many Indian -slaves often perished from cold. The Kuen-lün, like the -Thian-schan, shews igneous outbreaks or eruptions at many -hundred miles from the sea. Flames, visible at a great -distance, issue from a cavity in the Schin-khieu Mountain.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -(Asie Centrale, T. ii. p. 427 and 483, where I have followed -the text of Yuen-thong-ki, translated by my friend Stanislas -Julien.) The highest summit measured in the Hindu-Coosh, -north-west of Jellalabad, is 3164 toises above the -sea (20132 English feet); to the west, towards Herat, the -chain sinks to 400 toises (2558 English feet), until, north -of Teheran, it rises again to a height of 2295 toises (14675 -English feet) in the volcano of Demavend.</p> - -<p>4. The mountain system of the Himalaya. The normal -direction of this system is east and west when followed from -81° to 97° E. long. from Greenwich, or through more than -fifteen degrees of longitude from the colossal Dhawalagiri -(4390 toises, 28071 English feet) to the breaking through -of the long-problematical Dzangbo-tschu river (the Irawaddy, -according to Dalrymple and Klaproth), and to the chains -running north and south which cover the whole of Western -China, and in the provinces of Sse-tschuan, Hu-kuang, and -Kuang-si form the great mountain group of the sources of -the Kiang. The next highest culminating point to the -Dhawalagiri, of this east and west part of the Himalaya, is -not, as has been hitherto supposed, the eastern peak of the -Schamalari, but the Kinchinjinga. This mountain is -situated in the meridian of Sikhim, between Bootan and -Nepaul, and between the Schamalari (3750? toises, 23980 -English feet) and the Dhawalagiri: its height is 4406 toises, -or 26438 Parisian, or 28174 English feet. It was first -measured accurately by trigonometrical operations in the present -year, and as the account of this measurement received -by me from India says decidedly, “that a new determination<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -of the Dhawalagiri leaves to the latter the first rank among -all the snow-capped mountains of the Himalaya,” the -height of the Dhawalagiri must necessarily be greater than -that of 4390 toises, or 26340 Parisian, 28071 English feet, -hitherto ascribed to it. (Letter of the accomplished botanist -of Sir James Ross’s Antarctic Expedition, Dr. Joseph -Hooker, written from Dorjiling, July 25, 1848.) The -turning point in the direction of the axis of the Himalaya -range is not far from the Dhawalagiri, in 79° E. long. from -Paris (81° 22′ Greenwich). From thence to the westward -the Himalaya no longer runs east and west, but from SE. -to NW., connecting itself, as a great cross vein, between -Mozuffer-abad and Gilgit south of Kafiristan, with a -part of the Hindu-Coosh. Such a bend or change in the -direction or strike of the axis of elevation of the Himalaya -(from E-W. to SE-NW.), doubtless points, as in the -western part of our European Alps, to a difference in the -age or epoch of elevation. The course of the Upper Indus, -from the sacred lakes Manasa and Ravana-hrada (at an -elevation of 2345 toises, 14995 English feet) in the vicinity -of which the great river rises, to Iskardo and to the -plateau of Deo-tsuh, (at an elevation of 2032 toises, 12993 -English feet) measured by Vigne, follows in the Thibetian -highlands the same north-westerly direction as the Himalaya. -Here is the summit of the Djawahir, long since well -measured and known to be 4027 toises (25750 English -feet) in elevation, and the valley of Kashmeer, where at an -elevation of only 836 toises, (5346 English feet), the Wulur -Lake freezes every winter, and, from the perpetual calm, no -wave ever curls its surface.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>Having thus described the four great mountain systems -of Asia, which in their normal geognostic character are -chains coinciding with parallels of latitude, I have next to -speak of the series of elevations coinciding nearly with meridians, -(or more precisely, having a SSE.-NNW. direction), -which, from Cape Comorin opposite to the Island of Ceylon -to the Icy Sea, alternate between the meridians of 66° and -77° E. long. from Greenwich. To this system, of which -the alternations remind us of <i>faults in veins</i>, belong the -Ghauts, the Soliman chain, the Paralasa, the Bolor, and the -Ural. The interruptions of the series of elevations are so -arranged that, beside their alternate position in respect to -longitude, each new chain begins in a degree of latitude to -which the preceding chain had not quite reached. The importance -which the Greeks (although probably not before -the second century) attached to these chains induced Agathodemon -and Ptolemy (Tab. vii. and viii.) to represent to -themselves the Bolor, under the name of Imaus, as an axis -of elevation extending as far as 62° N. lat. into the low -basin of the Lower Irtisch and the Obi. (Asie Centrale, -T. i. p. 138, 154, and 198; T. ii. p. 367.)</p> - -<p>As the perpendicular elevation of mountain summits -above the level of the sea (unimportant as in the eyes of the -geologist the circumstance of the greater or lesser corrugation -of the crust of the earth may be), is still, like all that is -difficult of attainment, an object of popular curiosity, the -following historical notice of the gradual progress of hypsometric -knowledge may here find a suitable place. When I -returned to Europe in 1804 after a four years’ absence, not -a single Asiatic snowy summit either in the Himalaya, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -Hindu-Coosh, or the Caucasus, had been measured with any -exactness; and I could not therefore compare my determinations -of the height of perpetual snow in the Cordilleras of -Quito, or the mountains of Mexico, with any corresponding -determinations in the East. The important journey of -Turner, Davis, and Saunders, to the highlands of Thibet, -does indeed belong to the year 1783, but Colebrooke justly -remarks, that the elevation given by Turner to the Schamalari -(lat. 28° 57′, long. 89° 30′, a little to the north of Tassisudan) -rests on foundations as slight as those of the so-called -measurements of the heights seen from Patna and the -Kafiristan by Colonel Crawford and Lieutenant Macartney. -(Compare Turner, in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xii. p. 234, -with Elphinstone’s Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, -1815, p. 95, and Francis Hamilton, Account of Nepal, -1819, p. 92.) The excellent observations and writings of -Webb, Hodgson, Herbert, and the brothers Gerard, have -thrown great and certain light on the elevation of the colossal -summits of the Himalaya; yet, in 1808, the hypsometric -knowledge of this great Indian chain was still so -uncertain that Webb wrote to Colebrooke: “The height of -the Himalaya still remains a problem. I find, indeed, that -the summits visible from the high plain of Rohilcund are -21000 English feet above that plain, but we do not know -the absolute height above the sea.”</p> - -<p>It was not until the beginning of the year 1820 that it -began to be reported in Europe, that not only were there in -the Himalaya, summits much higher than those of the -Cordilleras, but also that Webb had seen in the Pass of Niti,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> -and Moorcroft in the Thibetian plateau of Daba and the -Sacred Lakes, fine pastures and flourishing fields of corn, at -altitudes far exceeding the height of Mont Blanc. These -accounts were received in England with much incredulity, -and were met by doubts respecting the influence of refraction. -I have shown the groundlessness of these doubts in -two memoirs (Sur les Montagnes de l’Inde), printed in the -Annales de Chimie et de Physique. The Tyrolese jesuit, P. -Tiefenthaler, who in 1766 penetrated into the provinces of -Kemaun and Nepal, had already divined the importance of -the Dhawalagiri. We read on his map, “Montes Albi, -qui Indis Dolaghir, nive obsiti.” Captain Webb always uses -the same name. Until the measurements of the Djawahir -(lat. 30° 22′, long. 79° 58′, altitude 4027 toises, or 25750 -English feet) and of the Dhawalagiri (lat. 28° 40′, long. 83° -21′, altitude 4390? toises, 28072 English feet) were made -known in Europe, the Chimborazo (3350 toises, or 21421 -English feet), according to my trigonometric measurement, -(Recueil d’Observations astronomiques, T. i. p. 73) was still -everywhere regarded as the highest summit on the surface of -the earth. The Himalaya now appeared, according as the -comparison was made with the Djawahir or the Dhawalagiri, -676 toises (4323 English feet), or 1040 toises (6650 -English feet), higher than the Chimborazo. Pentland’s -South American travels, in the years 1827 and 1838, fixed -attention (Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, 1830, -p. 320 and 323) on two snowy summits of Upper Peru, -east of the Lake of Titicaca, which were supposed to surpass -the height of the Chimborazo respectively by 598 and 403<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -toises, (3824 and 2577 English feet.) I have remarked -above, pp. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>–<a href="#Page_54">54</a>, that the latest calculation of the measurements -of the Sorata and Illimani shews this view to be incorrect. -The Dhawalagiri (on the declivity of which, in the -valley of the Ghandaki, the Salagrana Ammonites, so celebrated -among the Brahmins as symbols of one of the incarnations -of Vishnu, are collected) therefore still shews a -difference between the culminating points of the Old and -the New Continents of more than 6200 Parisian, or 6608 -English feet.</p> - -<p>The question has been raised, whether there may not -exist behind the southernmost more or less perfectly measured -chain, other still greater elevations. Colonel George -Lloyd, who in 1840 edited the important observations -of Captain Alexander Gerard and his brother, entertains an -opinion that in the part of the Himalaya which he calls -somewhat vaguely “the Tartaric chain,” (meaning therefore -in north Thibet towards the Kuen-lün, and perhaps in Kailasa -of the sacred lakes, or beyond Leh) there are summits of -from 29000 to 30000 English feet,—one or two thousand -feet higher therefore than the Dhawalagiri. (Lloyd and -Gerard, Tour in the Himalaya, 1840, vol. i. p. 143 and 312; -Asie Centrale, T. iii. p. 324.) So long as actual measurements -are wanting, one cannot decide respecting such possibilities; -as the indication, from which the natives of Quito, long -before the arrival of Bouguer and La Condamine, recognised -the superior altitude of the Chimborazo (namely, from the -portion of its height above the region of perpetual snow -being greater than in any of the other mountains), might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> -prove very deceptive in the temperate zone of Thibet, where -radiation is so active in the table-land, and where the lower -limit of perpetual snow does not form a regular line at an -equal elevation, as it does in the tropics. The greatest -elevation above the level of the sea ever attained by human -beings on the declivity of the Himalaya, is 3035 toises, or -18210 Parisian, or 19409 English feet, reached by Captain -Gerard, with seven barometers, on the mountain of Tarhigang, -a little to the north-west of Schipke. (Colebrooke, in -the Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. vi. p. 411.) -This happens to be exactly the same height as that reached -by myself on the 23rd of June, 1802, and thirty years later -by my friend Boussingault, on the 16th of December, 1831, -on the declivity of the Chimborazo. The unattained summit -of the Tarhigang is, however, 197 toises, or 1260 English -feet, higher than that of the Chimborazo.</p> - -<p>The passes across the Himalaya, leading from Hindostan -into Chinese Tartary, or rather into Western Thibet, more -particularly between the rivers of Buspa and Schipke or -Langzing Khampa, are from 2400 to 2900 toises, or 15346 -to 18544 English feet. In the chain of the Andes I found -the pass of Assuay, between Quito and Cuenca on the -Ladera de Cadlud, having a similar elevation, being 2428 -toises, or 15526 English feet, high. A great part of the -mountain plains of the interior of Asia would be buried -throughout the year in perpetual snow and ice, if it were -not, that by the great radiation of heat from the Thibetian -plateau, by the constant serenity of the sky, by the rarity of -the formation of snow in the dry atmosphere, and by the powerful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -solar heat peculiar to the eastern continental climate, the -limit of perpetual snow is wonderfully raised on the northern -slope of the Himalaya,—perhaps to 2600 toises, or 16625 -English feet above the level of the sea. Fields of barley -(Hordeum hexastichon) are seen in Kunawur up to 2300 -toises, or 14707 English feet; and another variety of barley -called Ooa, and allied to Hordeum cœleste, even much higher. -Wheat succeeds extremely well in the Thibetian highlands -up to 1880 toises, or 12022 English feet. On the northern -declivity of the Himalaya, Captain Gerard found the upper -limit of the higher birch woods ascend to 2200 toises, 14068 -English feet; and small bushes which serve the inhabitants -for fuel to warm their huts, attain, in the latitude of -30¾° and 31° of north latitude, a height of 2650 toises -(16945 English feet), or almost 200 toises (1279 English -feet) higher than the limit of perpetual snow under the -equator. From the data hitherto collected it would follow, -that we may take the lower limit of perpetual snow on the -northern side of the Himalaya, on the average, and in round -numbers, at 2600 toises, or about 16600 English feet; -whilst on the southern declivity of the Himalaya the snow-line -sinks to 2030 toises, or about 13000 English feet.</p> - -<p>But for this remarkable distribution of temperature in the -upper strata of the atmosphere, the mountain plain of -Western Thibet would be uninhabitable to the millions who -dwell there. (Compare my Examination of the Limit of -Perpetual Snow on the two declivities of the Himalaya, in -the Asie Centrale, T. ii. p. 435–437; T. iii. p. 281–326,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> -and in Kosmos, Engl. ed. vol. i. note 403; S. 483 of the -original.)</p> - -<p>A letter which I have just received from India from Dr. -Joseph Hooker, who is engaged in meteorological and -geological researches, as well as those connected with the -geography of plants, says: “Mr. Hodgson, who we regard -here as the geographer best acquainted with the hypsometric -relations of the snow ranges, completely recognises the -correctness of your statement in the third part of the -Asie Centrale, respecting the reason of the inequality in the -height of the limit of perpetual snow on the northern and -southern declivities of the Himalaya. In the ‘trans Sutlej -region’ in 36° lat. we often saw the snow limit only commence -at an altitude of 20000 English feet, while in the -passes south of the Brahmaputra, between Assam and Burman, -in 27° lat., where the most southern Asiatic snowy -mountains are situated, the limit of perpetual snow sinks -to 15000 English feet.” I believe we ought to distinguish -between the extreme and the mean heights, but in both we -see manifested in the clearest manner the formerly contested -differences between the Thibetian and the Indian declivities.</p> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<th colspan="3">My statements respecting the mean height of the Snow-line in the Himalaya. (Asie Centrale, tom. iii. p. 326.)</th> -<th colspan="3">Extremes according to Dr. Joseph Hooker’s letter.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<th></th> -<th>Paris feet. </th> -<th> Eng. feet.</th> -<th></th> -<th> Paris feet. </th> -<th> Eng. feet.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Northern declivity </td> -<td class="tdc">15600 </td> -<td class="tdc">16626</td> -<td class="tdl">Northern declivity </td> -<td class="tdc">18764 </td> -<td class="tdc">20000</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Southern „ </td> -<td class="tdc">12180 </td> -<td class="tdc">12981</td> -<td class="tdl">Southern „ </td> -<td class="tdc">14073 </td> -<td class="tdc">15000</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">Difference </td> -<td class="tdc total">3420 </td> -<td class="tdc total">3645</td> -<td class="tdc">Difference </td> -<td class="tdc total">4691 </td> -<td class="tdc total">5000</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>The local differences vary still more, as may be seen from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -the list of extremes given in my Asie Centrale, T. iii. p. -295. Alexander Gerard saw the snow limit ascend, on the -Thibetian declivity of the Himalaya, to 19200 Parisian feet -(20465 English); and on the southern Indian declivity, -Jacquemont once saw it, north of Cursali on the Jumnotri, -even as low as 10800 Parisian (11,510 English) feet.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> p. 6.—“<i>A brown Pastoral Race, the Hiongnu.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Hiongnu (Hiong-nou), who Deguignes, and with -him many historians, long considered to be the Huns, -inhabited that vast region of Tartary which is bounded on -the east by Uo-leang-ho (the present Mantschu dominion), -on the south by the Chinese wall, on the west by the -U-siün territory, and on the north by the country of the -Eleuthes. But the Hiongnu belong to the Turkish, and -the Huns to the Finnish or Uralian race. The <i>northern</i> -Huns, a rude pastoral people, unacquainted with agriculture, -were dark brown (sunburnt); the southern Huns or Haja-telah, -(called by the Byzantines Euthalites or Nepthalites, -and dwelling along the eastern shore of the Caspian), had a -fairer complexion. The latter cultivated the ground, and -possessed towns. They are often called the white, or fair -Huns, and d’Herbelot even declares them to be Indo-Scythians. -On Punu, the Leader or Tanju of the Huns, -and on the great drought and famine which, about 46 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, -caused a part of the nation to migrate northwards, (see -Deguignes, Histoire gén. des Huns, des Turcs, &c., 1756, -T. i. pt. i. p. 217; pt. ii. p. 111, 125, 223, 447.) All the -accounts of the Huns taken from the above-mentioned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> -celebrated work have been subjected to a learned and strict -examination by Klaproth. According to the result of this -research the Hiongnu belong to the widely diffused Turkish -races of the Altai and Tangnu Mountains. The name -Hiongnu, even in the third century before the Christian era, -was a general name for the Ti, Thu-kiu or Turks, in the -north and north-west of China. The southern Hiongnu overcame -the Chinese, and in conjunction with them destroyed -the empire of the northern Hiongnu. These latter fled to -the west, and this flight seems to have given the first -impulse to the migration of nations in Middle Asia. The -Huns, who were long confounded with the Hiongnu, (as the -Uigures with the Ugures and the Hungarians), belonged, according -to Klaproth, to the Finnish race of the Ural mountains -between Europe and Asia, a race which was variously -mingled with Germans, Turks, and Samoieds. (Klaproth, Asia -Polyglotta, p. 183 and 211; Tableaux Historiques de l’Asie, -p. 102 and 109.) The Huns (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Οὖννοι</span>) are first named by Dionysius -Perigetes, a writer who was able to obtain more accurate -information respecting the interior of Asia, because, as a -learned man born at Charax on the Arabian Gulf, Augustus -had sent him back to the East to accompany thither his -adopted son Caius Agrippa. Ptolemy, a century later, -writes the word (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Χοῦνοι</span>) with a strong aspiration, which, as -St. Martin observes, is found again in the geographical -name of Chunigard.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> p. 7.—“<i>No carved Stone.</i>”</p> - -<p>On the banks of the Orinoco near Caicara where the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -forest region joins the plain, we have indeed found representations -of the sun, and figures of animals, cut on -the rocks: but in the Llanos themselves no traces of these -rude memorials of earlier inhabitants have been discovered. -It is to be regretted that we have not received any more -complete and certain information respecting a monument -which was sent to France to Count Maurepas, and which, -according to Kalm, had been found by M. de Verandrier in -the Prairies of Canada 900 miles west of Montreal, in the -course of an expedition intended to reach the Pacific. -(Kalm’s Reise, Th. iii. S. 416.) This traveller found in the -middle of the plain enormous masses of stone, placed in an -upright position by the hand of man, and on one of them -was something which was taken to be a Tartar inscription. -(Archæologia: or Miscellaneous Tracts, published by the -Society of Antiquaries of London, vol. viii., 1787, p. 304.) -How is it that so important a monument has remained -unexamined? Can it really have contained alphabetical -writing? or is it not far more probably a pictorial history, -like the supposed Phœnician inscription on the bank of the -Taunton River? I consider it, however, very probable -that these plains were once traversed by civilised nations: -pyramidal sepulchral mounds, and entrenchments of extraordinary -length, found in various places between the Rocky -Mountains and the Alleghanies, and on which Squier and -Davis (in the “Ancient Monuments of the Mississipi -Valley”) are now throwing a new light, appear to confirm this -supposition. (Relation Hist., T. iii. p. 155.) Verandrier had -been sent on his expedition by the Chevalier de Beauharnois,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> -the French Governor-general of Canada, in 1746. Several -Jesuits in the city of Quebec assured Kalm that they had -themselves had the supposed inscription in their hands: it -was engraved upon a small tablet which had been let into a -pillar of cut stone, in which position it was found. I have -asked several of my friends in France to search out this -monument, in case it should really be in existence in the -collection of Count Maurepas, but without success. I -find older, but equally doubtful, statements as to the -existence of alphabetical inscriptions belonging to the primitive -nations of America, in Pedro de Cieça de Leon, -Chronica del Peru, P. i. cap. 87 (losa con letras en los -edificios de Vinaque); in Garcia, Origen de los Indios, -1607, lib. iii. cap. 5, p. 258; and in Columbus’s Journal -of his first voyage, in Navarrete, Viages de los Espanoles, -T. i. p. 67. M. de Verandrier moreover affirmed, (and -earlier travellers had also thought they had observed -the same thing), that in the prairies of Western Canada, -throughout entire days’ journeys, traces of the ploughshare -were discoverable; but the total ignorance of the primitive -nations of America with regard to this agricultural implement, -the want of draft cattle, and the great extent of -ground over which the supposed furrows are found,—all -lead me to conjecture that this singular appearance of a -ploughed field has been produced by some effect of water -on the surface of the earth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> p. 7.—“<i>Like an arm of the Sea.</i>”</p> - -<p>The great Steppe, which extends from east to west from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -the mouth of the Orinoco to the snowy mountains of -Merida, turns to the south in the 8th degree of latitude, -filling the space between the eastern declivity of the high -mountains of New Granada, and the Orinoco, the course -of which is, in this part, from south to north. This latter -portion of the Llanos, which is watered by the Meta, the -Vichada, the Zama, and the Guaviare, connects the valley -of the Amazons with the valley of the Lower Orinoco. -The word Paramo, which I often employ in these pages, -signifies in Spanish America all those mountainous regions -which are elevated from 1800 to 2200 toises above the -level of the sea (11500 to 14000 English feet in round numbers), -and in which an ungenial, rough, and misty climate -prevails. Hail and snow fall daily for several hours in the -upper Paramos, and furnish a beneficial supply of moisture -to the alpine plants; a supply not arising from a large -absolute quantity of aqueous vapour in these high regions, -but from the frequency of showers, (hail and snow being so -termed as well as rain), produced by the rapidly changing -currents of air, and the variations of the electric tension. -The arborescent vegetation of these regions is low and -spreading, consisting chiefly of large flowering laurels and -myrtle-leaved alpine shrubs, whose knotty branches are -adorned with fresh and evergreen foliage. Escallonia tubar, -Escallonia myrtilloides, Chuquiragua insignis, Aralias, Weinmannias, -Frezieras, Gualtherias, and Andromeda reticulata, -may be regarded as representatives of the physiognomy of -this vegetation. To the south of the town of Santa Fé de -Bogota is the Paramo de la Suma Paz; a lonely mountain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -group, in which, according to Indian tradition, vast -treasures are buried. The torrent which flows under -the remarkable natural bridge of the rocky ravine of -Icononzo rises in this Paramo. In my Latin memoir -entitled “De distributione geographica Plantarum secundem -cœli temperiem et altitudinem montium, 1817,” -I have sought to characterise those mountain regions: -“Altitudine 1700–1900 hexapod. Asperrimæ solitudines, -quæ a colonis hispanis uno nomine Paramos appellantur, -tempestatum vicissitudinibus mire obnoxiæ, ad quas -solutæ et emollitæ defluunt nives; ventorum flatibus ac -nimborum grandinisque jactu tumultuosa regio, quæ æque -per diem et per noctes riget, solis nubila et tristi luce fere -nunquam calefacta. Habitantur in hac ipsa altitudine sat -magnæ civitates, ut Micuipampa Peruvianorum, ubi thermometrum -centes. meridie inter 5° et 8°, noctu—0°.4 consistere -vidi; Huancavelica, propter cinnabaris venas celebrata, -ubi altitudine 1835 hexap. fere totum per annum temperies -mensis Martii Parisiis.” (Humboldt de distrib. geogr. -Plant, p. 104.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> p. 8.—“<i>The Andes and the eastern mountains -send forth detached spurs which advance towards -each other.</i>”</p> - -<p>The vast region situated between the eastern coast of -South America and the eastern declivity of the Andes is -narrowed by two mountain masses, which partially divide -from each other the three valleys or plains of the Lower -Orinoco, of the Amazons, and of the River Plate. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -most northern mountains, called the group of the Parime, -are opposite to the Andes of Cundinamarca which project -far to the east, and assume in the 66th and 68th degrees of -longitude the form of high mountains, connected by the -narrow ridge of Pacaraima with the granite hills of French -Guiana. On the map of Columbia constructed by me from -my own astronomical observations, this connection is clearly -marked. The Caribs, who penetrated from the missions of -the Caroni to the plains of the Rio Branco, and as far as the -Brazilian boundary, crossed in the journey the ridges of -Pacaraima and Quimiropaca. The second mountain mass, -which divides the valley of the Amazons from the River -Plate, is the Brazilian group. In the province of Chiquitos -(west of the Parecis range of hills), it approaches the promontory -of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. As neither the -group of the Parime which causes the great cataracts -of the Orinoco, nor the Brazilian group of mountains, are -absolutely connected with the Andes, the plains of Venezuela -have a direct connection with those of Patagonia. -(See my geognostical view of South America, in Relat. -Hist. T. iii. p. 188–244.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> p. 8.—“<i>Troops of dogs.</i>”</p> - -<p>European dogs have become wild in the grassy plains or -Pampas of Buenos Ayres. They live in society, and in -hollows in which they hide their young. If the society -becomes too numerous, some families detach themselves and -form new colonies. The European dog, which has become -wild, barks as loud as the original American hairy race.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> -Garcilaso relates, that before the arrival of the Spaniards the -Peruvians had dogs, “perros gozques.” He calls the -native dog, Allco: it is called at present in the Quichua -language, to distinguish him from the European dog, -“Runa-allco,” “Indian dog” (dog of the inhabitants of -the country). The hairy Runa-allco seems to be a mere -variety of the shepherd’s dog. He is small, with long hair, -(usually of an ochry yellow, with white and brown spots,) -and with upright sharp-pointed ears. He barks a great -deal, but seldom bites the natives, however disposed to -be mischievous to the whites. When the Inca Pachacutec, -in his religious wars with the Indians of Xauxa and -Huanca (the present valley of Huancaya and Jauja), conquered -them, and converted them forcibly to the worship of -the sun, he found them paying divine honours to dogs. -Priests blew on the skulls of dogs, and the worshippers -ate their flesh. (Garcilaso de la Vega, Commentarios -Reales, P. i. p. 184.) This veneration of dogs in the -valley of Huancaya is probably the reason why skulls and -even entire mummies of dogs have been found in the -Huacas, or Peruvian graves belonging to the earliest epoch. -Von Tschudi, the author of an excellent Fauna Peruviana, -has examined these skulls, and believes them to belong to a -peculiar species of dog which he calls Canis ingæ, and which -is different from the European dog. The Huancas are still -called derisively by the inhabitants of other provinces, “dog-eaters.” -Among the natives of the Rocky Mountains, -cooked dog’s flesh is set before strangers as a feast of honour. -Near Fort Laramie, (one of the stations of the Hudson’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> -Bay Company for the fur trade with the Sioux Indians), -Captain Frémont attended a feast of this description. (Frémont’s -Exploring Expedition, 1845, p. 42.)</p> - -<p>The Peruvian dogs had a singular part to play in eclipses -of the moon: they were beaten until the eclipse was over. -The Mexican Techichi, a variety of the common dog, which -latter was called in Anahuac Chichi, was completely dumb. -Techichi signifies literally stone-dog, from the Aztec, Tetl, a -stone. The Techichi was eaten according to the old Chinese -fashion. The Spaniards found this food, before the introduction -of European cattle, so indispensable, that almost the -whole race was gradually extirpated. (Clavigero, Storia antica -del Messico, 1780, T. i. p. 73.) Buffon confounds the -Techichi with the Koupara of Guiana. (T. xv. p. 155.) -The latter is identical with the Procyon or Ursus cancrivorus, -the Raton crabier, or crab-eating Aquaraguaza -of the Patagonian coast. (Azara sur les quadrupèdes -du Paraguay, T. i. p. 315.) Linnæus, on the other hand, -confounds the dumb variety of dogs with the Mexican -Itzcuintepotzotli, a kind of dog still only imperfectly described, -said to be distinguished by a short tail, a very -small head, and a large hump on the back. The name -signifies humped-dog, and is formed from the Aztec, -itzcuintli (another word for dog), and tepotzotli, humped, a -humpback. I was particularly struck in America, and -especially in Quito and generally in Peru, with the great -number of black dogs without hair, called by Buffon -“chiens turcs” (Canis ægyptius, Linn.) Even among the -Indians this variety is common, but it is generally despised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -and ill-treated. All European breeds of dogs perpetuate -themselves very well in South America, and if the dogs there -are not so handsome as those in Europe, the reason is partly -want of care, and partly that the handsomest varieties (such -as fine greyhounds and the Danish spotted breed) have never -been introduced there.</p> - -<p>Herr von Tschudi makes the singular remark, that -in the Cordilleras, at elevations of 13000 feet, tender -races of dogs and the European domestic cat are exposed -to a particular kind of mortal disease. “Innumerable -attempts have been made to keep cats as domestic animals -in the town of the Cerro de Pasco, 13228 French (or -14100 English) feet above the level of the sea, but such -attempts have failed, both cats and dogs dying at the end of -a few days in fits, in which the cats were taken at first with -convulsive movements, then tried to climb the walls, fell -back exhausted and motionless, and died. In Yauli I had -several opportunities of observing this chorea-like disease; -it seems to be a consequence of the absence of sufficient -atmospheric pressure.” In the Spanish colonies, the hairless -dog was looked upon as of Chinese origin, and called -Perro Chinesco, or Chino. The race was supposed to have -come from Canton or from Manila: according to Klaproth, -it has certainly been extremely common in China since very -early times. Among the animals indigenous to Mexico -there was an entirely hairless, dog-like, but very large wolf, -called Xoloitzcuintli (from the Mexican xolo or xolotl, -servant or slave). On American dogs, see Smith Barton’s -Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, P. i. p. 34.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>The result of Tschudi’s researches on the American indigenous -races of dogs is the following. There are two kinds -almost specifically different: 1. The Canis caraibicus of -Lesson, quite without hair, except a small bunch of white -hair on the forehead and at the point of the tail, of a slate -grey colour, and silent; it was found by Columbus in the -Antilles, by Cortes in Mexico, and by Pizarro in Peru, -where it suffers from the cold of the Cordilleras, but is still -abundant in the warmer parts of the country, under the -name of perros chinos. 2. The Canis ingæ, with pointed -nose and pointed ears; this kind barks: it is now employed -in the care of cattle, and shews many varieties of colours, -from being crossed with European breeds. The Canis -ingæ follows man to the high regions of the Cordilleras. -In ancient Peruvian graves his skeleton is sometimes found -resting at the feet of the human mummy. We know how -often the carvers of monuments in our own middle ages -employed the figure of a dog in this position, as an emblem -of fidelity. (J. J. v. Tschudi, Untersuchungen über die -Fauna Peruana, S. 247–251.) At the very beginning of -the Spanish conquests European dogs became wild in the -islands of San Domingo and Cuba. (Garcilaso, P. i. 1723, -p. 326.) In the prairies between the Meta, the Arauca, and -the Apure, voiceless dogs, (perros mudos,) were eaten in the -16th century. Alonso de Herrara, who, in 1535, undertook -an expedition to the Orinoco, says the natives called them -“Majos” or “Auries.” A well-informed traveller, -Giesecke, found the same non-barking variety of dog in -Greenland. The Esquimaux dogs pass their lives entirely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -in the open air; at night they scrape holes for themselves -in the snow; they howl like wolves, in accompaniment with -a dog that sits in the middle of the circle and sets them off. -In Mexico the dogs were subjected to an operation to make -them fatter and better eating. On the borders of the -province of Durango, and farther to the north on the slave -lake, the natives, formerly at least, conveyed their tents of -buffalo skins on the backs of large dogs when changing -their place of residence with the change of season. All -these traits resemble the customs of the inhabitants of -eastern Asia. (Humboldt, Essai polit. T. ii. p. 448; Relation -hist. T. ii. p. 625.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> p. 8.—“<i>Like the greater part of the Desert of -Sahara, the Llanos are in the torrid zone.</i>”</p> - -<p>Significant denominations,—particularly such as refer to -the form in relief of the earth’s surface, and which have -arisen at a period when there was only very uncertain -information respecting the countries in question and their -hypsometric relations,—have led to various and long-continued -geographical errors. The ancient denomination -of the “Greater and Lesser Atlas” (Ptol. Geogr. lib. iii. -cap. 1) has exercised the prejudicial influence here alluded to. -No doubt the snow-covered western summits of the Atlas -in the territory of Morocco may be regarded as the Great -Atlas of Ptolemy; but where is the limit of the Little Atlas? -Is the division into two Atlas chains, which the conservative -tendencies of geographers have preserved for 1700 years, -to be still maintained in the territory of Algiers, and even -between Tunis and Tlemse? Are we to seek between the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -coast and the interior for parallel chains constituting a -greater and a lesser Atlas? All travellers familiar with -geognostical views, who have visited Algeria since it has -been taken possession of by the French, contest the meaning -conveyed by the generally received nomenclature. Among -the parallel chains, that of Jurjura is generally supposed -to be the highest of those which have been measured; -but the well-informed Fournel, (long Ingenieur en chef des -Mines de l’Algérie), affirms that the mountains of Aurès, -near Batnah, which were still found covered with snow at -the end of March, are higher. Fournel denies the -existence of a Little and a Great Atlas, as I do that of a -Little and a Great Altai (Asie Centrale, T. i. p. 247–252). -There is only one Atlas, formerly called Dyris by the Mauritanians, -and this name is to be applied to the “foldings,” -(“rides”) or succession of crests which form the division -between the waters flowing to the Mediterranean, and those -which flow towards the Sahara lowland. The strike or -direction of the Eastern Mauritanian portion of the Atlas -is from east to west; that of the elevated Atlas of Morocco -from north-east to south-west. The latter rises into summits -which, according to Renou, (Exploration Scientifique de -l’Algérie de 1840 à 1842, publiée par ordre du Gouvernement, -Sciences Hist. et Geogr. T. viii. 1846, p. 364 and 373), -attain an elevation of 10,700 Fr. (11400 Eng.) feet; -exceeding, therefore, the height of Etna. A singularly -formed highland of an almost square shape, (Sahab el -Marga), bounded on the south by higher elevations, is -situated in 33° lat. From thence towards the sea to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -the west, about a degree south of Mogador, the Atlas -declines in height: this south-westernmost part bears the -name of Idrar-N-Deren.</p> - -<p>The northern Mauritanian boundaries of the widely -extended low region of the Sahara, as well as its southern -limits towards the fertile Soudan, are still but little known. -If we take on a mean estimation the parallels of 16½° and -32½° as the outside limits, we obtain for the Desert, -including its Oases, an area of more than 118500 square -German geographical miles; or between nine and ten times -the area of Germany, and almost three times that of the -Mediterranean exclusive of the Black Sea. From the -best and most recent intelligence, for which we are indebted -to the French Colonel Daumas and MM. Fournel, Renou, -and Carette, we learn that the desert of Sahara is composed -of several detached basins, and that the number and the -population of the fertile Oases is very much greater than had -been imagined from the awfully desert character of the -route between Insalah and Timbuctoo, and that from -Mourzouk in Fezzan, to Bilma, Tirtuma, and Lake -Tschad. It is now generally affirmed that the sand covers -only the smaller portion of the great lowland. A similar -opinion had been previously propounded by the acutely -observant Ehrenberg, my Siberian travelling companion, -from what he had himself seen (Exploration Scientifique de -l’Algérie, Hist. et Geogr. T. ii. p. 332). Of larger wild -animals, only gazelles, wild asses, and ostriches are to be -met with. “Le lion du désert,” says M. Carette, (Explor. -de l’Alg. T. ii. p. 126–129; T. vii. p. 94 and 97), “est -un mythe popularisé par les artistes et les poètes. Il<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> -n’existe que dans leur imagination. Cet animal ne sort -pas de sa montagne où il trouve de quoi se loger, s’abreuver -et se nourrir. Quand on parle aux habitans du désert de -ces bêtes féroces que les Européens leur donnent pour -compagnons, ils repondent avec un imperturbable sang -froid, il y a donc chez vous des lions qui boivent de l’air -et broutent des feuilles? Chez nous il faut aux lions de -l’eau courante et de la chair vive. Aussi des lions ne -paraissent dans le Zahara que là où il y a des collines -boisées et de l’eau. Nous ne craignons que la vipère -(lefa) et d’innombrables essaims de moustiques, ces derniers -là où il y a quelque humidité.”</p> - -<p>Whereas Dr. Oudney, in the course of the long journey -from Tripoli to Lake Tschad, estimated the elevation of the -southern Sahara at 1637 English feet, to which German -geographers have even ventured to add an additional -thousand feet, the Ingenieur Fournel has, by careful -barometric measurements based on corresponding observations, -made it tolerably probable that a part of the northern -desert is below the level of the sea. That portion of the -desert which is now called “le Zahara d’Algérie” advances -to the chains of hills of Metlili and el-Gaous, where the -northernmost of all the Oases,—that of el-Kantara, fruitful -in dates,—is situated. This low basin, which touches the -parallel of 34° lat., receives the radiant heat of a stratum -of chalk, (full of the shells of Inoceramus), inclined at an -angle of 65° towards the south (Fournel sur les Gisemens -de Muriate de Soude en Algérie, p. 6 in the Annales des -Mines, 4me Série, T. ix., 1846, p. 546). “Arrivés a -Biscara,” (Biskra), says Fournel, “un horizon indéfini<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -comme celui de la mer se déroulait devant nous.” Between -Biscara and Sidi Ocba the ground is only 228 (243 Eng.) -feet above the level of the sea. The inclination increases -considerably towards the south. In another work, (Asie -Centrale, T. ii. p. 320), where I have brought together -everything relating to the depression of some portions of -continents below the level of the sea, I have already noticed -that according to Le Père the “bitter lakes” on the -isthmus of Suez, when they have a little water,—and, -according to General Andréossy, the Natron lakes of -Fayoum,—are also lower than the level of the Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>Among other manuscript notices of M. Fournel, I -possess a vertical geological profile, which gives all the -inflexions and inclinations of the strata, representing a -section of the surface the whole way from Philippeville on -the coast to the Desert of Sahara, at a spot not far from -the Oasis of Biscara. The direction of the line on which -the barometric measurements were taken is south 20° west; -but the elevations determined are projected, as in my Mexican -profiles, on a different plane,—a north-south one. Ascending -uninterruptedly from Constantine, at an elevation of -332 toises (2122 Eng. feet), the culminating point is found -between Batnah and Tizur, at an elevation of only 560 -toises (3580 Eng. feet). In the part of the desert situated -between Biscara and Tuggurt, Fournel has had a series of -Artesian wells dug with success (Comptes Rendus de l’Acad. -des Sciences, t. xx. 1845, p. 170, 882, and 1305). We -learn from the old accounts of Shaw, that the inhabitants of -the country knew of a subterranean supply of water, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -relate fabulous tales of a “sea under the earth (bahr tôht -el-erd).” Fresh waters flowing between clay and marl strata -of the old cretaceous and other sedimentary deposits, under -the action of hydrostatic pressure form gushing fountains -when the strata are pierced (Shaw, Voyages dans plusieurs -parties de la Berbérie, t. i. p. 169; Rennell, Africa, Append. -p. lxxxv). That fresh water in this part of the world -should often be found near beds of rock salt, need not -surprise geologists acquainted with mines, since Europe -offers many analogous phenomena.</p> - -<p>The riches of the desert in rock-salt, and the fact of -rock-salt having been used in building, have been known -since the time of Herodotus. The salt zone of the Sahara -(zone salifère du désert), is the southernmost of three zones, -stretching across Northern Africa from south-west to north-east, -and believed to be connected with the beds or deposits -of rock-salt of Sicily and Palestine, described by Friedrich -Hoffman and by Robinson. (Fournel, sur les Gisements de -Muriate de Soude en Algérie, p. 28–41; Karsten über das -Vorkommen des Kochsalzes auf der Oberfläche der Erde, -1846, S. 497, 648, and 741.) The trade in salt with -Soudan, and the possibility of cultivating dates in the Oases, -formed by depressions caused probably by falls or subsidences -of the earth in the gypsum beds of the tertiary -cretaceous or keuper promotions, have alike contributed -to enliven the Desert, at least to some extent, by human -intercourse. The high temperature of the air, which -makes the day’s march so oppressive, renders the coldness -of the nights, (of which Denham complained so often in -the African Desert, and Sir Alexander Burnes in the Asiatic),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -so much the more striking. Melloni, (Memoria sull’ abassamento -di temperatura durante le notti placide e serene, -1847, p. 55), ascribes this cold, produced doubtless by the -radiation from the ground, less to the great purity and -serenity of the sky, (irrigiamento calorifico per la grande -serenità di cielo nell’ immensa e deserta pianura dell’ Africa -centrale), than to the profound calm, the nightly absence -of all movement in the atmosphere. (Consult also, respecting -African meteorology, Aimé in the Exploration de -l’Algérie, Physique génerale, T. ii., 1846, p. 147.)</p> - -<p>The southern declivity of the Atlas of Morocco sends to -the Sahara, in lat. 32°, a river, the Quad-Dra (Wady-Dra), -which for the greater part of the year is nearly dry, and -which Renou (Explor. de l’Alg. Hist. et Geogr., T. viii. -p. 65–78) considers to be a sixth longer than the Rhine. It -flows at first from north to south, until, in lat. 29° N. and -long. 5° W., it turns almost at right angles to its former -course, runs to the west, and, after passing through -the great fresh water Lake of Debaid, enters the sea at -Cape Nun, in lat. 28° 46′ N. and long. 11° 08′ W. This -region, which was so celebrated formerly in the history of -the Portuguese discoveries of the 15th century, and was -afterwards wrapped in profound geographical obscurity, is -now called on the coast “the country of the Sheikh Beirouk,” -(a chief independent of the Emperor of Morocco.) -It was explored in the months of July and August 1840, -by Captain Count Bouet-Villaumez of the French Navy, -by order of his government. From the official Reports -and Surveys which have been communicated to me in -manuscript, it appears evident that the mouth of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -Quad-Dra is at present very much stopped up with sand, -having an open channel of only about 190 English feet wide. -A somewhat more easterly channel in the same mouth is -that of the still very little known Saguiel el-Hamra, which -comes from the south, and is supposed to have a course of -at least 600 geographical miles. One is astonished at the -length of these deep, but commonly dry river beds. They -are ancient furrows, such as I have seen in the Peruvian -desert at the foot of the Cordilleras, between those mountains -and the coast of the Pacific. In Bouet’s manuscript -“Relation de l’Expédition de la Malouine,” the mountains -which rise to the north of Cape Nun are estimated -at the great elevation of 2800 metres (9185 English feet).</p> - -<p>Cape Nun is usually supposed to have been discovered -in 1433, by the Knight Gilianez, acting under the command -of the celebrated Infante Henry Duke of Viseo, and founder -of the Academy of Sagres, which was presided over by -the pilot and cosmographer Mestre Jacomè of Majorca; -but the Portulano Mediceo, the work of a Genoese Navigator -in 1351, already contains the name of Cavo di Non. -The passage round this Cape was then as much dreaded as -that of Cape Horn has since been, although it is 23′ north -of the parallel of Teneriffe, and could be reached in a few -days’ voyage from Cadiz. The Portuguese proverb, “quem -passa o Cabo di Num, ou tornarà ou não,” could not deter -the Infante, whose heraldic French motto, “talent de bien -faire,” expressed his noble, enterprising, and vigorous character. -The name of the Cape, in which a play of words -on the negative particle has long been supposed, does not -appear to me to have had a Portuguese origin. Ptolemy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -placed on the north-west coast of Africa a river Nuius, in -the Latin version Nunii Ostia. Edrisi speaks of a town, -Nul, or Wadi Nun, somewhat more to the south, and three -days’ journey in the interior: Leo Africanus calls it Belad -de Non. Long before the Portuguese squadron of Gilianez, -other European navigators had advanced much beyond, -or to the southward of, this Cape. The Catalan, Don Jayme -Ferrer, in 1346, as we learn from the Atlas Catalan published -by Buchon at Paris, had advanced as far as the Gold -River, (Rio do Ouro), in lat. 23° 56′; and Normans, at the -end of the 14th century, as far as Sierra Leone in lat. -8° 30′. The merit of having been the first to cross the -equator on the western coast of Africa belongs, however, -like that of so many other memorable achievements, to the -Portuguese.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> p. 8.—“<i>As a grassy plain, resembling many -of the Steppes of Central Asia.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Llanos of Caraccas and of the Rio Apure and the -Meta, over which roam large herds of cattle, are, in the -strictest sense of the term, “grassy plains.” Their prevalent -vegetation, belonging to the two families of Cyperaceæ -and Gramineæ, consists of various species of Paspalum, -P. leptostachyum and P. lenticulare; of Kyllingia, K. -monocephala (Rottb.), K. odorata; of Panicum, P. granuliferum, -P. micranthum; of Antephora; Aristida; Vilfa; -and Anthistiria, A. reflexa, and A. foliosa. Only here and -there are found, interspersed among the Gramineæ, a few -herbaceous dicotyledonous plants, consisting of two very -low-growing species of Mimosa, (Sensitive Plant), Mimosa<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -intermedia, and Mimosa dormiens, which are great favourites -with the wild horses and cattle. The natives give to this -group of plants, which close their delicate feathery leaves -on being touched, the expressive name of Dormideras—sleepy -plants. For many square miles not a tree is seen; -but where solitary trees are found, they are, in moist -places, the Mauritia Palm; in arid districts, a Proteacea, -described by Bonpland and myself, the Rhopala complicata -(Chaparro bobo), which Wildenow regarded as an Embothrium; -also the highly useful Palma de Covija, or de -Sombrero; and our Corypha inermis, an umbrella palm allied -to Chamærops, which is used to cover the roofs of huts. -How far more varied is the aspect of the Asiatic plains! -Throughout a large portion of the Kirghis and Calmuck -Steppes, which I have traversed from the Don, the Caspian, -and the Orenburg Ural river the Jaik, to the Obi and -the Upper Irtysh near Lake Dsaisang, through a space of -40 degrees of longitude, I have never seen, as in the -Llanos, the Pampas, and the Prairies, an horizon like that -of the ocean, where the vault of heaven appears to rest on -the unbroken plain. At the utmost this appearance presented -itself in one direction, or towards one quarter of the -heavens. The Asiatic Steppes are often crossed by ranges -of hills, or clothed with coniferous woods or forests. Even -in the most fruitful pastures the vegetation is by no means -limited to grasses; there is a great variety of herbaceous -plants and shrubs. In spring-time small snow-white and -red-flowering rosaceæ and amygdaleæ (Spiræa, Cratægus, -Prunus spinosa, and Amygdalus nana) present a smiling -aspect. I have already mentioned the tall and luxuriant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -Synantheræ (Saussurea amara, S. salsa, Artemisias, and -Centaureas), and of leguminous plants, species of Astragalus, -Cytisus, and Caragana. Crown Imperials, (Fritillaria -ruthenica, and F. meleagroides), Cypripedias, and tulips, -rejoice the eye by the bright variety of their colours.</p> - -<p>A contrast to the pleasing vegetation of these Asiatic plains -is presented by the desolate salt Steppes, particularly by the -part of the Barabinski Steppe which is at the foot of the -Altai mountains, and by the Steppes between Barnaul and the -Serpent Mountain and the country on the east of the Caspian. -Here Chenopodias, some species of Salsola and Atriplex, Salicornias -and Halimocnemis crassifolia, (each species growing -“socially”), form patches of vegetation on the muddy ground. -See Göbel’s Journey in the Steppes of the South of Russia -(Reise in die Steppe des südlichen Russlands, 1838, Th. ii. -S. 244 and 301). Of the 500 phanerogamous species -which Claus and Göbel collected in the Steppes, the Syrantheræ, -the Chenopodeæ, and the Cruciferæ, were more -numerous than the grasses; the latter being only <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>11</sub> of the -whole, and the former <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>7</sub>th and <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>9</sub>th. In Germany, from the -mixture of hill and plain districts, the Glumaceæ (<i>i. e.</i> the -Gramineæ, Cyperaceæ, and Juncaceæ collectively), form -<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>7</sub>th; the Synantheræ or Compositæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub>th; and the Cruciferæ -<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub>th of all our German phanerogamia. In the most northern -parts of the flat Siberian lowlands, the fine map of -Admiral Wrangell shews that the extreme northern limit of -tree and shrub vegetation (Coniferæ and Amentaceæ) is, in -the portion towards the Behring’s Straits side, in 67¼° lat.; -and more to the west, towards the banks of the Lena, in -71°, which is the parallel of the north cape of Lapland.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> -The plains which border the Icy Sea are the domain of -cryptogamous plants. They are called Tundras (Tuntur in -Finnish): they are swampy districts extending farther than -the eye can reach, partly covered with a thick carpet of -Sphagnum palustre and other mosses, and partly with a dry -snow-white covering of Cenomyce rangiferina (Rein-deer -moss), Stereocaulon paschale, and other lichens. Admiral -Wrangell, in describing his perilous expedition to the new -Siberian islands so rich in fossil wood, says: “These Tundras -accompanied me to the extreme arctic coast. Their -soil has been frozen for thousands of years. In the dreary -uniformity of landscape, the eye of the traveller, surrounded -by rein-deer moss, dwells with pleasure on the smallest patch -of green turf showing itself now and then on a moist -spot.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> p. 8.—“<i>The causes which lessen both heat and -dryness in the New World.</i>”</p> - -<p>I have tried to bring together in a brief and compendious -manner the various causes which produce greater moisture -and a less degree of heat in America; it will of course be -understood that the question respects the <i>general</i> hygrometric -state of the atmosphere, and the temperature of the New -Continent as a <i>whole</i>. Single districts, such as the island of -Margarita, the Coasts of Cumana and Coro, are as hot and as -dry as any part of Africa. It must also be remarked that -the maximum of heat at certain hours of a summer’s day has -been found, on a series of years, to be almost equal at very -different parts of the earth’s surface, on the Neva, the Senegal, -the Ganges, and the Orinoco; being approximately between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -27° and 32° Reaumur (93° and 104° Fahrenheit), and generally -not higher,—providing the observation be made in the shade, -at a distance from all solid bodies which could radiate heat -to the thermometer, not in an air filled with hot particles -of dust or sand, and not with spirit thermometers, which -absorb the light. It is probably to fine grains of sand -floating in the air, and forming centres of radiant heat, that -we must ascribe the dreadful temperature of 40° to 44°.8 -Reaumur (122° to 133° Fah.) in the shade, to which my -unhappy friend Ritchie, who perished there, and Captain -Lyon, were exposed for weeks in the Oasis of Mourzouk. -The most remarkable instance of very high temperature, -in an air probably free from dust, has been recorded by an -observer who knew well how to place and to correct all his -instruments with the greatest degree of accuracy. Rüppell -found 37°.6 Reaumur, (110°.6 Fahrenheit,) at Ambukol in -Abyssinia, with a clouded sky, strong south-west wind, and -an approaching thunderstorm. The <i>mean</i> annual temperature -of the tropics, or of the proper climate of palms, is, on -land, between 20°.5 and 23°.8 Reaumur (or 78°.2 and -85°.5 Fahrenheit) without any considerable difference -between the observations collected in Senegal, Pondichery, -and Surinam. (Humboldt, Mémoire sur les lignes -isothermes, 1817, p. 54. Asie Centrale, T. iii. Mahlmann, -Table iv.)</p> - -<p>The great coolness, I might almost say cold, which prevails -for a considerable part of the year within the tropics on the -coast of Peru, causing the thermometer to sink to 12° -Reaumur (59° Fahrenheit), is, as I have noticed elsewhere, -by no means to be ascribed to the vicinity of the snow-covered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> -Andes, but rather to the fogs (garua) which veil -the solar disk, and to a <i>cold sea current</i> which, commencing -in the antarctic regions and coming from the south-west, -strikes the coast of Chili near Valdivia and Conçeption, and -thence streams rapidly along the coast to the northward, as -far as Cape Pariña. On the coast, near Lima, the temperature -of the Pacific is 12°.5 Reaumur (60°.2 Fahr.), whilst -in the same latitude out of the current it is 21° R. (79°.2 -Fahr.) It is singular that so striking a fact should have -remained unnoticed until my visit to the shores of the -Pacific, in October 1802.</p> - -<p>The variations of temperature of different regions depend -in a great degree on the character of the bottom of the -“aerial ocean,” or on the nature of the floor or base, -whether land or sea, continental or oceanic, on which the -atmosphere rests. Seas, often traversed by currents of -warmer or colder water, (oceanic rivers), have an effect very -different from that of continental masses, whether unbroken -or articulated, or of islands, which latter may be regarded -as shallows in the aerial ocean, and which, notwithstanding -their small dimensions, exert, often to a great distance, a -notable influence on the climate of the sea. In continental -masses we must distinguish between sandy deserts devoid of -vegetation, savannahs or grassy plains, and forest-covered -districts. In Upper Egypt and in South America, Nouet -in the former, and myself in the latter, found respectively -at noon the temperature of the ground composed of granitic -sand 54°.2 and 48°.4 Reaumur (154° and 141° Fahr.) Many -careful observations in Paris have given, according to Arago, -40° and 42° Reaumur, 122° and 126°.5 Fahrenheit. (Asie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -Centrale, T. iii. p. 176.) The Savannahs, which between -the Missouri and the Mississipi are called Prairies, and -which appear in South America as the Llanos of Venezuela -and the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, are covered with small -monocotyledonous plants of the family of Cyperaceæ, and -with grasses of which the thin pointed stalks or ears, and -the delicate lanceolate leaves or blades, radiate towards the -unclouded sky, and possess an extraordinary power of “emission.” -Wells and Daniell (Meteor. Essays, 1827, p. 230 -and 278) have even seen in our latitude, where the atmosphere -has so much less transparency, the thermometer sink -6°.5 or 8° of Reaumur (14°.5 or 18° Fahrenheit), on -being placed on the grass. Melloni, in a memoir, “Sull -abassamento di temperatura durante le notti placide e -serene,” 1847, p. 47 and 53, has shewn how in a calm -state of the atmosphere, which is a necessary condition of -strong radiation and of the formation of dew, the cooling of -the grassy surface is also promoted by the particles of air -which are already cooled sinking to the ground as being the -heaviest. In the vicinity of the equator, under the clouded -sky of the Upper Orinoco, the Rio Negro, and the Amazons -River, the plains are clothed with dense primeval forests; but -to the north and south of this wooded region there extend -from the zone of palms and lofty dicotyledonous trees, in -the northern hemisphere, the Llanos of the Lower Orinoco -the Meta and the Guaviare, and in the southern hemisphere -the Pampas of the Rio de la Plata and of Patagonia. The -space thus occupied by Savannahs or grassy plains in South -America is at least nine times as great as the area of France.</p> - -<p>The wooded region acts in a threefold manner in diminishing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -the temperature by cooling shade, by evaporation, and -by radiation. Forests,—which in our temperate zone -consist of trees living together in “society,” <i>i. e.</i>, many -individuals of one, or of a few kinds, of the families of -Coniferæ or Amentaceæ, oaks, beeches, and birches, but in -the tropics, of an immense variety of trees living separately -or “unsocially,”—protect the ground from the direct rays -of the sun, evaporate fluids elaborated by the trees themselves, -and cool the strata of air in immediate contact with them by -the radiation of heat from their appendicular organs or -leaves. The latter are far from being all parallel with each -other; they are, on the contrary, variously inclined to the -horizon, and, according to the law developed by Leslie and -Fourier, the influence of this inclination upon the quantity -of heat emitted by radiation is such, that the power of -radiation (pouvoir rayonnant) of a measured surface <i>a</i>, -having a given oblique direction, is equal to the “pouvoir -rayonnant” which would belong to a surface of the size -of <i>a</i>, projected on a horizontal plane. Now in the initial -condition of radiation, of all the leaves which form the -summit of a tree and partly cover each other, those are -first cooled which are directed without any intervening -screen towards the unclouded sky. The cooling result -(or the exhaustion of heat by emission) will be the more -considerable the greater the thinness of the leaves. A -second stratum of leaves has its upper surface turned to the -under surface of the first stratum, and will give out more -heat by radiation towards that stratum than it can receive -by radiation from it. The result of this unequal exchange -will thus be a loss of temperature for the second stratum<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -of leaves also. A similar operation will continue from -stratum to stratum until all the leaves of the tree, by -greater or less radiation as modified by their diversity of -position, have passed into a state of stable equilibrium of -which the law can be deduced by mathematical analysis. -In this manner, in the long and clear nights of the equinoctial -zone, the forest air contained in the intervals between -the strata of leaves becomes cooled by the process of -radiation; and by reason of the great quantity of its thin -appendicular organs or leaves, a tree, the horizontal section -of whose summit would measure for example 2000 square -feet, would act in diminishing the temperature of the air -equivalently to a space of bare or turf-covered ground -several thousand times greater than 2000 square feet (Asie -Centrale, T. iii. p. 195–205). I have sought thus to -develop in detail the complicated effects which make up the -total action of extensive forests upon the atmosphere, because -they have been so often touched upon in reference to the -important question concerning the climates of ancient -Germany and Gaul.</p> - -<p>As in the old continent European civilization has had -its principal seats on a western coast, it could not but be -early remarked that, under equal degrees of latitude, the -opposite eastern coast of the United States was several -degrees colder in mean annual temperature than Europe, -which is, as it were, a projecting western peninsula to Asia, -as Brittany is to the rest of France. But in this remark -it was forgotten that these differences decrease from the -higher to the lower latitudes in such manner that they -almost entirely disappear from 30° downwards. For the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -west coast of the new continent, exact thermometric observations -are still almost entirely wanting; but the mildness -of the winters in New California shews that the west coasts -of America and Europe, under the same parallels of latitude, -probably differ little from each other in mean annual temperature. -The subjoined table shows what are the corresponding -mean annual temperatures, in the same geographical -latitudes, of the west coast of Europe and the east coast of -the New Continent.</p> - -<table class="autotable" summary="" border="1"> -<tr> -<th rowspan="2">Similar degrees of latitude. </th> -<th rowspan="2">East Coast of America. </th> -<th rowspan="2">West Coast of Europe. </th> -<th colspan="3">Reaumur. </th> -<th colspan="3">Fahrenheit.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<th colspan="2">Mean temperature of the year, of winter, and of summer. </th> -<th>Differences of annual temperature of East coast of America and West coast of Europe. </th> -<th colspan="2">Mean temperature of the year, of winter, and of summer. </th> -<th>Differences of annual temperature of East coast of America and West coast of Europe.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">57° 10′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Nain</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">-2°.8 </td> -<td class="tdr">-14°.4</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="6">9°.2</td> -<td rowspan="3">25°.8 </td> -<td class="tdr">-0°.5</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="6">20°.7</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">6°.1</td> -<td class="tdr">45°.8</td> - -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">57° 41′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Gottenburg</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">6°.4 </td> -<td class="tdr">-0°.2</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">46°.4 </td> -<td class="tdr">-31°.5</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">13°.5</td> - -<td class="tdr">62°.4</td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="9"> </td></tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">47° 34′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">St. John’s</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">2°.7 </td> -<td class="tdr">-4°.0</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="9">5°.8</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">38°.0</td> -<td class="tdr">23°.0</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="9">13°.0</td></tr> - -<tr> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -</tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr">9°.8</td> - -<td class="tdr">54°.0</td> - -</tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">47° 30′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Ofen (or Buda)</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">8°.2 </td> -<td class="tdr">-0°.4</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">50°.5 </td> -<td class="tdr">31°.0</td></tr> - -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdr">16°.8</td> - -<td class="tdr">69°.8</td> - -</tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">48° 50′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Paris</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">8°.7 </td> -<td class="tdr">2°.6</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">51°.6 </td> -<td class="tdr">37°.8</td></tr> - -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdr">14°.5</td> -<td class="tdr">64°.6</td> - -</tr><tr><td colspan="9"> </td></tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">44° 39′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Halifax</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">5°.1 </td> -<td class="tdr">-3°.5</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="6">6°.1</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">43°.5 </td> -<td class="tdr">24°.2</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="6">13°.7</td></tr> - -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">13°.8</td> - -<td class="tdr">63°.0</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">44° 50′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Bordeaux</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">11°.2 </td> -<td class="tdr">4°.8</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">57°.2 </td> -<td class="tdr">42°.8</td> -</tr> -<tr> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">17°.4</td> -<td class="tdr">71°.2</td> -</tr> -<tr><td colspan="9"> </td></tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">40° 43′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">New York</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">9°.1 </td> -<td class="tdr">0°.1</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="15">3°.4</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">52°.5 </td> -<td class="tdr">32°.2</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="15">8.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> - - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">18°.2</td> -<td class="tdr">73°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">39° 57′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Philadelphia</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">9°.0 </td> -<td class="tdr">0°.1</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">52°.2 </td> -<td class="tdr">32°.2</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">18°.1</td> -<td class="tdr">72°.8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">38° 53′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Washington</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">10°.2 </td> -<td class="tdr">1°.8</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">55°.0 </td> -<td class="tdr">36°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">17°.4</td> -<td class="tdr">71°.2</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">40° 51′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Naples</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">12°.9 </td> -<td class="tdr">7°.8</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">61°.0 </td> -<td class="tdr">49°.5</td> -</tr><tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">19°.1</td> -<td class="tdr">75°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">38° 52′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Lisbon</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">13°.1 </td> -<td class="tdr">9°.0</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">61°.5 </td> -<td class="tdr">52°.2</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">17°.4</td> -<td class="tdr">71°.2</td> -</tr> -<tr><td colspan="9"> </td></tr> - -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">29° 48′</td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">St. Augustin</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">17°.9 </td> -<td class="tdr">12°.2</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="6">0.2</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">72°.2 </td> -<td class="tdr">59°.5</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="6">0°.4</td> -</tr><tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">22°.0</td> -<td class="tdr">81°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">30° 2′</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Cairo</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">17°.7 </td> -<td class="tdr">11°.8</td> -<td class="tdr" rowspan="3">71°.8 </td> -<td class="tdr">58°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> - -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">23°.4</td> -<td class="tdr">84°.7</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>In the column of temperatures in the preceding table the -first number represents the temperature of the year; that -which stands in place of a numerator the mean winter -temperature; and that which stands in the place of a denominator -the mean summer temperature. Besides the great -difference of mean annual temperature, there is also a -striking difference between the two coasts in respect to the -distribution of that temperature into the different seasons of -the year, and it is this distribution which is most influential -both on our feelings and on the processes of vegetation. Dove -remarks generally, that the summer temperature of America -is lower under equal degrees of latitude than that of Europe: -(Temperatur tafeln nebst Bemerkungen über die Verbreitung -der Wärme auf der Oberfläche der Erde, 1848, S. 95.) -The climate of St. Petersburgh, (or to speak more correctly -the mean annual temperature of that city which is in lat. -59° 56′), is found on the east coast of America in lat. 47½°, -or 12½° more to the south; in like manner we find the -climate of Konigsberg, (lat. 54° 43′), at Halifax, (lat. -44° 39′). The temperature of Toulouse, (lat. 43° 36′) -corresponds to that of Washington (lat. 38° 53′).</p> - -<p>It would be very hazardous to lay down any general -statements respecting the temperature in the territory of -the United States of America, as we must distinguish in -that territory three regions:—1, the Atlantic States east of -the Alleghanies; 2, the Western States in the wide basin -between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, through -which flow the Mississipi, the Ohio, the Arkansas, and the -Missouri; 3, the high plains between the Rocky Mountains,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -and the Maritime Alps of New California through which -the Oregon or Columbia River finds a passage. Since the -highly honourable establishment, by John Calhoun, of uninterrupted -observations of temperature, made on an uniform -plan at 35 military posts, and reduced to daily, monthly, -and annual means, we have arrived at more just climatic -views than those which were so generally received in the -time of Jefferson, Barton, and Volney. These meteorological -stations or observatories extend from the point of -Florida and Thompson’s Island, (Key West), lat. 24° 33′, -to the Council Bluffs on the Missouri; and if we reckon -amongst them Fort Vancouver, lat. 45° 37′, they include -differences of longitude of 40°.</p> - -<p>It cannot be affirmed that, on the whole, the mean annual -temperature of the second or middle region is higher than -that of the first or Atlantic region. The further advance of -certain plants towards the north, on the west of the Alleghany -mountains, depends partly on the nature of those -plants, and partly on the different distribution of the same -annual quantity of heat. The wide valley of the Mississipi -enjoys at its northern and southern extremities the warming -influence of the Canadian Lakes, and of the Mexican Gulf -stream. The five lakes, (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, -and Ontario), occupy a space of 92,000 English square miles. -The climate is much milder and more equable in the neighbourhood -of the lakes; for example, at Niagara, (lat. -43° 15′), the mean winter temperature is only half a degree -of Reaumur (1°.2 Fahrenheit) below the freezing point, -while at a distance from the lakes, in lat. 44° 53′, at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -confluence of the river St. Peter’s with the Mississipi, the -mean winter temperature of Fort Snelling is -7°.2 Reaumur, -or 15°.9 Fahrenheit (see Samuel Forry’s excellent Memoir -on “the Climate of the United States,” 1842, p. 37, 39, -and 102.) At this distance from the Canadian Lakes, -(whose surface is from 500 to 600—530 to 640 English—feet -above the level of the sea, whilst the bottom of the -lakes Michigan and Huron is about five hundred feet below -it), recent observations have shewn the climate of the -country to possess a proper continental character, <i>i. e.</i>, -hotter summers and colder winters. “It is proved,” says -Forry, “by our thermometrical data, that the climate west -of the Alleghany Chain is more excessive than that of the -Atlantic side.” At Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas River -which falls into the Mississipi in lat. 35° 47′, with a mean -annual temperature hardly equal to that of Gibraltar, the -thermometer in the shade, and without any reflected heat -from the ground, has been seen, in August 1834, to rise -to 37°.7 Reaumur, or 117° Fahrenheit.</p> - -<p>The statement so often repeated, although unsupported -by any thermometric measurements, that since the first -European settlements in New England, Pennsylvania, and -Virginia, the eradication of many forests on both sides -of the Alleghanies had rendered the climate more equable, -(<i>i. e.</i>, milder in winter and cooler in summer), is now generally -doubted or disbelieved. Series of trustworthy thermometric -observations in the United States hardly extend so far -back as 78 years. We see in the Philadelphia observations,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -that from 1771 to 1824, the mean annual temperature has -hardly increased 1°.2 Reaumur, (or 2°.8 Fahrenheit),—a -difference which is attributed to the increased size of the -town, to its greater population, and to the numerous steam-engines. -The difference may possibly be merely accidental, -for I find in the same period an increase of mean winter -cold, amounting to 0°.9 Reaumur, or 2° Fahrenheit; the -three other seasons had become somewhat warmer. Three-and-thirty -years’ observations at Salem in Massachusetts -shew no alteration at all: the annual means oscillate, -within a degree of Fahrenheit, about the mean of the -whole number of years; and the winters of Salem, instead -of having become milder, as supposed from the destruction -of the forests in the course of the thirty-three years, have -become colder by 1°.8 Reaumur, or 4° Fahrenheit. (Forry, -p. 97, 101, and 107.)</p> - -<p>As the east coast of the United States is comparable in -respect to mean annual temperature in equal latitudes to -the Siberian and Chinese coasts of the old continent, so -also the west coasts of Europe and America have been very -properly compared together. I will only take a few -examples from the western region on the shores of the -Pacific, for two of which (Sitka in Russian America, and -Fort George, in the same latitudes respectively as Gottenburg -and Geneva) I am indebted to Admiral Lütke’s -voyage of circumnavigation. Iluluk and Danzig are nearly -on the same parallel, and although the mean temperature of -Iluluk, owing to its insular climate and to a cold sea-current,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -is somewhat lower than that of Danzig, yet the -winter temperature of the American station is milder than -that of the port on the Baltic.</p> - -<table border="1" class="autotable tdr" summary=""> -<tr> -<th></th> -<th>Latitude.</th> -<th> Longitude.</th> -<th colspan="2"> Reaumur.</th> -<th colspan="2"> Fahrenheit.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Sitka</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 57° 3′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 135° 16′ W.</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 5°.6</td> -<td>0°.6</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 44°.5</td> -<td> 33°.4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>10°.2</td> -<td> 55°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Gottenburg</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 57° 41′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 11° 59′ E.</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 6°.4</td> -<td>-0°.2</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 46°.4</td> -<td> 31°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>13°.5</td> -<td> 62°.4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Fort George</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 46° 18′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 122° 58′ W.</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 8°.1</td> -<td>2°.6</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 50°.3</td> -<td> 37°.9</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">12°.4</td> -<td class="tdl"> 60°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Geneva</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 46° 12′</td> -<td rowspan="3">(Alt. 1298 E. ft.)</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 7°.9</td> -<td>0°.7</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 49°.8</td> -<td> 33°.6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>14°.0</td> -<td> 63°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Kherson</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 46° 38′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 32° 39′ E.</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 9°.4</td> -<td>-3°.1</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 53°.2</td> -<td> 25°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>17°.3</td> -<td> 71°.0</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>Snow is hardly ever seen on the banks of the Oregon or -Columbia river, and ice on the river lasts only a very few -days. The lowest temperature which Mr. Ball once observed -there in the winter of 1833 was 6½° of Reaumur below -the freezing point, or 17.4° Fahrenheit (Message from the -President of the United States to Congress, 1844, p. 160; -and Forry, Clim. of the U. States, p. 49, 67, and 73). -A cursory glance at the summer and winter temperatures -above given, shews that on and near the west coast, a true -insular climate prevails. The winter cold is less than in -the western parts of the old continent, and the summers -are much cooler. The most striking contrast is presented<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -by comparing the mouth of the Oregon with Forts Snelling -and Howard, and the Council Bluffs, in the interior of -the Mississipi and Missouri basin (Lat. 44°-46°),—where, -to speak in the language of Buffon, we find an -<i>excessive</i>, or true <i>continental</i> climate,—a winter cold, -on single days, of -28°.4 and -30°.6 Reaumur (-32° -and -37° Fahr.), followed by mean summer temperatures -of 16°.8 and 17°.5 Reaumur (69° and 71°.4 Fahr.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> p. 10.—“<i>As if America had emerged later from -the chaotic watery covering.</i>”</p> - -<p>An acute enquirer into nature, Benjamin Smith Barton, -said long since with great truth, (Fragments of the Natural -History of Pennsylvania, P. i. p. 4), “I cannot but deem -it a puerile supposition, unsupported by the evidence of -nature, that a great part of America has probably later -emerged from the bosom of the ocean than the other -continents.” The same subject was touched on by myself -in a memoir on the primitive nations of America (Neue -Berlinische Monatschrift, Bd. xv. 1806, S. 190). “Writers -generally and justly praised have repeated but too often -that America is in every sense of the word a New Continent. -Her luxuriance of vegetation, the abundant waters of her -enormous rivers, the unrepose of her powerful volcanoes, -all (say they) proclaim that the still trembling earth, from -the face of which the waters have not yet dried off, is here -nearer to the chaotic primordial state than in the Old -Continent. Such ideas appeared to me, long before I -commenced my travels, alike unphilosophical and contrary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> -to generally acknowledged physical laws. Fantastic -images of terrestrial youth, and unrepose associated on the -one hand,—and on the other, those of increasing dryness, -and inertia in maturer age,—could only have presented -themselves to minds more inclined to draw ingenious or -striking contrasts between the two hemispheres, than to -strive to comprehend, in one general view, the construction -of the entire globe. Are we to regard the south of Italy -as more modern than its northern portions, because the -former is almost incessantly disquieted by earthquakes and -volcanic eruptions? Besides, what small phenomena are -the volcanoes and earthquakes of the present day, in comparison -with those revolutions of nature which the geologist -must suppose to have accompanied, in the chaotic state -of the earth, the elevation, solidification, disruptions, and -cleavings of the mountain masses? Diversity of causes -must produce diversity in the operations of natural forces, -in countries remote as well as near. Perhaps the volcanoes -of the new continent, (of which I still reckon above 28 in -a state of activity), have only continued to burn longer -than others, because the lofty mountain ridges, on which -they have broken forth in rows or series above long subterranean -fissures, are nearer to the sea, and because this -proximity seems, with a few exceptions, to affect the energy -of the subterranean fires in some way not yet sufficiently explained. -Besides, both earthquakes and fire-emitting mountains -have periods of activity alternating with periods of -repose. At the present moment,” (I wrote thus 42 years -ago!) “physical disquiet and political calm reign in the New<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -Continent, while in the Old the desolating strife of nations -disturbs the enjoyment of the repose of nature. Perhaps a -time is coming when, in this singular contrast between -physical and moral forces, the two sides of the Atlantic -will change parts. Volcanoes are quiescent for centuries -before they burst forth anew; and the idea that in the -so-called older countries, a certain peace must prevail in -nature, is founded on a mere play of the imagination. -There exists no reason for assuming one entire side of -our planet to be older or newer than the other. Islands -are indeed raised from the bed of the ocean by volcanic -action, and gradually heightened by coral animals, as the -Azores and many low flat islands of the Pacific; and these -may indeed be said to be newer than many Plutonic -formations of the European central chain. A small district -of the earth, surrounded, like Bohemia and Kashmeer, (and -like many of the vallies in the Moon), by annular mountains, -may, by partial inundations, be long covered with water; and -after the flowing off of this lake or inland sea, the ground -on which vegetation begins gradually to establish itself -might be said, figuratively, to be of recent origin. Islands -have become connected with each other by the elevation -of fresh masses of land; and parts of the previously dry -land have been submerged by the subsidence of the -oscillating ground; but submersions so general as to -embrace a hemisphere, can, from hydrostatic laws, only be -imagined as extending at the same time over all parts of the -earth. The sea cannot permanently overflow the boundless -plains of the Orinoco and the Amazons, without also overwhelming<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -the plains adjoining the Baltic. The sequence -and identity of the sedimentary strata, and of the organic -remains of plants and animals belonging to the ancient -world enclosed in those strata, shew that several great -depositions have taken place almost simultaneously over -the entire globe.” (For the fossil vegetable remains in the -coal formation in North America and in Europe, compare -Adolph Brongniart, Prodrome d’une Hist. des Végétaux -Fossiles, p. 179; and Charles Lyell’s Travels in North -America, vol. ii. p. 20).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> p. 10.—“<i>The Southern Hemisphere is cooler and -moister than our Northern half of the globe.</i>”</p> - -<p>Chili, Buenos Ayres, and the southern parts of Brazil and -Peru, have all, as a result of the narrowness of the continent -of South America as it tapers towards the south, a -true “insular climate;” or a climate of cool summers and -mild winters. As far as the 48th or 50th parallel of -latitude this character of the Southern Hemisphere may -be regarded as an advantage, but farther on towards the -Antarctic Pole, South America gradually becomes an inhospitable -wilderness. The difference of latitude of the -southern terminating points of Australia, (including Van -Diemen Island), of Africa, and of America,—gives -to each of these continents a peculiar character. The -Straits of Magellan are between the 53d and 54th degrees -of latitude, and yet in December and January, when the -sun is 18 hours above the horizon, the temperature sinks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -to 4° Reaumur, or 41° Fahrenheit. Snow falls almost -daily, and the highest atmospheric temperature observed -by Churruca (1788) in December, (the summer of those -regions), was not above 9° R., or 52°.2 Fahr. The Cabo -Pilar, whose towering rock, though only 218 toises, or -1394 English feet high, may be regarded as the southern -termination of the chain of the Andes, is almost in the -same latitude as Berlin. (Relacion del Viage al Estrecho -de Magallanes, apendice, 1793, p. 76.)</p> - -<p>While in the Northern Hemisphere all the continents -attain a sort of mean limit towards the Pole, coinciding -pretty regularly with the parallel of 70° the terminating -points in the Southern Hemisphere,—of America, in the -deeply indented and intersected Tierra del Fuego,—of -Australia,—and of Africa,—are respectively 34°, 46½°, -and 56° distant from the south pole. The temperature -of the very unequal extents of ocean, which divide these -southern points from the icy pole, contributes very materially -to modify their climates. The areas of dry land in -the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are to each other -in the proportion of 3 to 1. But this inferiority in extent -of continental masses in the Southern Hemisphere, as -compared with the Northern, belongs much more to the -temperate than to the torrid zone. In the temperate zones -of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the ratio -is as 13 to 1; in the torrid zones as 5 to 4. The great -inequality in the distribution of the dry land exercises a very -sensible influence on the strength of the ascending aerial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -current which turns towards the southern pole, and on -the temperature of the Southern Hemisphere. Some of -the noblest forms of tropical vegetation, for example the -tree-ferns, advance south of the equator as far as the parallels -of 46°, and of even 53°; whereas north of the equator they -are not found beyond the tropic of Cancer. (Robert Brown, -Appendix to Flinders’ Voyage, p. 575 and 584; Humboldt, -de distributione geographica Plantarum, p. 81–85.) -Tree-ferns thrive extremely well at Hobart Town in Van -Diemen Island, (lat. 42° 53′), where the mean annual temperature -is 9° Reaumur, or 52°.2 Fahrenheit, and is therefore -1°.6 Reaumur, or 3°.6 Fahrenheit, less than that of -Toulon. Rome is almost a degree of latitude farther from -the equator than Hobart Town, and has an annual temperature -of 12°.3 R., or 59°.8 Fahr.;—a winter temperature -of 6°.5 R., or 46°.4 Fahr.,—and a summer temperature -of 24° R., or 86° Fahr.; these three values being in Hobart -Town 8°.9, 4°.5, and 13°.8 R., or 52°.0, 42°.2, and 63°.0 -Fahr. In Dusky Bay, New Zealand, tree-ferns grow in -S. lat. 46° 8′, and in the Auckland and Campbell Islands, -even in 53° S. lat. (Jos. Hooker, Flora Antarctica, 1844, -p. 107.)</p> - -<p>In the Archipelago of Tierra del Fuego,—where, in the -same latitude as Dublin, the mean winter temperature is -0°.4 Reaumur, (33° Fah.) and the mean summer temperature -only 8° R., or 50° Fahr.,—Captain King found the -“vegetation thriving most luxuriantly in large woody-stemmed -trees of Fuchsia and Veronica”; while this vigour of vegetation, -which, especially on the western coast of America<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -in 38° and 40° of south latitude, is so picturesquely -described by Charles Darwin, suddenly disappears south -of Cape Horn, on the rocks of the Southern Orkney and -Shetland Islands, and of the Sandwich Archipelago. These -Islands, but scantily covered with grass, moss, and lichens, -“Terres de Désolation,” as the French navigators call them, -are still far north of the Antarctic Circle; whereas in the -Northern Hemisphere in 70° of latitude, at the extremity of -Scandinavia, fir-trees attain a height of between 60 and 70 -English feet. (Compare Darwin in the “Journal of Researches,” -1845, p. 244, with King in vol. i. of the Narrative -of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, p. 577.) -If we compare Tierra del Fuego, and particularly Port -Famine in the Straits of Magellan in lat. 53° 38′, with -Berlin, which is one degree nearer the equator, we find for</p> - -<table class="autotable tdr" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="2">Berlin</td> -<td rowspan="2">6°.8, </td><td> --0°.5</td><td class="tdl" rowspan="2"> -R., </td><td rowspan="2"> -47°.2, </td><td> -30°.8</td><td class="tdl" rowspan="2"> -Fahr.; </td><td class="tdl" rowspan="2"> -and for</td> -</tr> -<tr><td class="btop">13°.9 </td> -<td class="btop">63°.2 </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="2">Port Famine</td> -<td rowspan="2">4°.7, </td><td> -1°.2</td><td class="tdl" rowspan="2"> -R., </td><td rowspan="2"> -42°.6, </td><td> -34°.8</td><td class="tdl" rowspan="2"> -Fahr.</td> -</tr> - -<tr><td class="btop">8°.0 </td> -<td class="btop">50°.0 </td> - -</tr> -</table> - -<p>I subjoin in one view the few well-assured temperature -data which we at present possess, for the lands of the -temperate zone in the Southern Hemisphere, and which -may be compared with the temperatures of the Northern -Hemisphere, in most parts of which the distribution into -summer heat and winter cold is so different and so much -less equable. I employ the convenient method of notation -before used and explained in pages <a href="#Page_129">129</a>–<a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</p> - -<table border="1" class="autotable tdr" summary=""> -<tr> -<th rowspan="2">Place. </th> -<th rowspan="2">South Latitude. </th> -<th colspan="4">Mean Annual, Winter, and Summer Temperature.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<th colspan="2">Reaumur.</th> -<th colspan="2"> Fahrenheit.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Sidney and Paramatta (New Holland.)</td> - -<td rowspan="3">33°.50′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 14°.5</td> -<td> 10°.0</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 64°.5</td> -<td> 54°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>20°.2</td> -<td> 77°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Cape Town (Africa.)</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 33°.55′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 15°.0</td> -<td>11°.8</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 65°.7</td> -<td> 58°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td>18°.3</td> -<td> 73°.3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Buenos Ayres</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 34°.17′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 13°.5</td> -<td>9°.1</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 62°.4</td> -<td> 52°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td>18°.2</td> -<td> 73°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Monte Video</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 34°.54′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 15°.5</td> -<td>11°.3</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 66°.8</td> -<td> 57°.3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——?</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td>20°.2</td> -<td> 77°.5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Hobart Town (Van Diemen Island.)</td> - - -<td rowspan="3">42°.45′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 9°.1</td> -<td> 4°.5</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 52°.5</td> -<td> 42°.2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td>13°.8</td> -<td> 63°.0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Port Famine (Straits of Magellan.)</td> - -<td rowspan="3">53°.38′</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 4°.7</td> -<td> 1°.2</td> -<td rowspan="3"> 42°.6</td> -<td> 34°.8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -<td class="tdc">——</td> -</tr> - -<tr> -<td>8°.0</td> -<td> 50°.0</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> p. 11.—“<i>A connected Sea of Sand.</i>”</p> - -<p>As the Heaths formed of socially growing Ericeæ, which -stretch from the mouth of the Scheldt to that of the Elbe -and from the point of Jutland to the Harz, may be regarded -as one connected <i>tract of vegetation</i>,—so the seas of sand -may be traced through Africa and Asia, from Cape Blanco -to beyond the Indus, or through an extent of 5600 geographical -miles. Herodotus’s Sandy Region interrupted -by Oases, called by the Arabs the Desert of Sahara, -traverses almost the whole of Africa, which it intersects<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -like a dried-up arm of the sea. The valley of the Nile is -the eastern limit of the Lybian Desert. Beyond the Isthmus -of Suez, beyond the porphyritic, syenitic, and basaltic -rocks of Sinai, begins the Desert mountain plateau of -Nedjid, which occupies the whole of the interior of the -Arabian Peninsula, and is bounded to the west and south -by the fertile and happier coast lands of Hedjaz and -Hadhramaut. The Euphrates bounds the Arabian and -Syrian Deserts towards the east. Immense seas of sand, -(bejaban), cross Persia from the Caspian to the Indian Sea. -Among them are the salt and soda Deserts of Kerman, -Seistan, Beloochistan, and Mekran. The latter is separated -from the Desert of Moultan by the Indus.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> p. 11.—“<i>The western part of the Atlas.</i>”</p> - -<p>The question respecting the position of the ancient Atlas -has been much discussed in modern times, but the oldest -Phœnician legends have been confounded in this discussion -with the later fables of the Greeks and the Romans. A -man who combined deep philological with thorough mathematical -and astronomical knowledge, Professor Ideler, (the -father,) was the first person who explained and dispelled the -confusion of ideas which had previously existed on this -subject. I permit myself to introduce here the remarks -that clear-sighted and highly-informed writer has communicated -to me on this important subject.</p> - -<p>“At a very early period of the world the Phœnicians ventured -beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. They built Gades -and Tartessus on the Spanish, and Lixus and several other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -towns on the Mauritanian coasts of the Atlantic. They -sailed along those coasts northwards to the Cassiterides where -they obtained tin, and to the Prussian coast from whence -they brought amber; and southwards, past Madeira, to the -Cape de Verde Islands. They visited, among other places, -the Canaries, and were struck by the appearance of the lofty -Peak of Teneriffe, enhanced by its rising immediately from -the sea. Through the colonies which they sent to Greece, -and especially through that which came under Cadmus to -Bœotia, the notice of this mountain rising high above the -region of clouds, and of the “Fortunate Islands,” adorned -with fruits of every kind, and especially with the golden -orange, spread into Greece. Here the tradition was propagated -by the songs of the bards, and thus reached Homer. -He speaks in the Odyssey (i. 52) of an “Atlas who knows -all the depths of the sea, and who supports the great pillars -which divide heaven and earth from each other.” He -speaks, too, in the Iliad, of the Elysian fields, which he -describes as a lovely land in the west. (Il. iv. 561.) Hesiod -expresses himself in a similar manner respecting Atlas, -who he makes a neighbour of the nymphs the daughters of -Hesperus. (Theog. V. 517.) He calls the Elysian fields, -which he places at the western limit of the earth, the islands -of the Blest. (Op. et dies, v. 167.) Later poets have -added further embellishments to these myths of Atlas, -of the Hesperides, their golden apples, and the Islands of -the Blest, assigned as the dwelling-place of the virtuous -after death; and have combined with them the expeditions of -the Tyrian god of trade, Melicertes (the Grecian Hercules).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>“The Greeks only began at a very late date to rival the -Phœnicians and Carthaginians in navigation. They visited -the coasts of the Atlantic it is true, but never appear to have -penetrated far into the ocean. I doubt whether they ever -saw the Canaries and the Peak of Teneriffe. They believed -that Atlas, which their poets and legends described as a -very high mountain placed at the western limit of the earth, -must be sought on the west coast of Africa. It was placed -there also by their later geographers, Strabo, Ptolemy, and -others. As there is not any single mountain distinguished -by its elevation in north-western Africa, the true situation -of Mount Atlas has been a subject of perplexity; and it has -been sought, sometimes on the coast, sometimes in the interior, -sometimes near the Mediterranean, and sometimes -further towards the south. It became the custom (in the -first century of our era, when the Roman arms penetrated -into the interior of Mauritania and Numidia,) to give the -name of Atlas to the African chain of mountains which -runs from west to east almost parallel with the coast of the -Mediterranean. Pliny and Solinus were, however, very -sensible that the descriptions of Mount Atlas given by the -Greek and Roman poets were not applicable to this long -mountain chain; and they therefore thought it necessary to -transfer the Atlas, of which they gave a picturesque description -in accordance with the poetic legends, to the terra -incognita of Central Africa. According to what has been -said, the Atlas of Homer and Hesiod can only be the Peak -of Teneriffe; and the Atlas of the Greek and Roman -geographers must be in Northern Africa.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>I will only add the following remarks to this instructive -discussion by Professor Ideler. According to Pliny and -Solinus, Atlas rises from a sandy plain (e medio arenarum); -and elephants (which certainly were never known in Teneriffe) -feed on its declivity. What we now term Atlas is a -long ridge. How came the Romans to recognise in this -long ridge the isolated conical mountain of Herodotus? -May not the reason be found in the optical delusion by -which every mountain chain seen in profile, in the prolongation -of its direction, has the appearance of a narrow cone? -I have often seen in this manner, from the sea, the ends of -long chains or ridges, which might be taken for isolated -mountains. According to Höst the Atlas is covered near -Morocco with perpetual snow, which implies an elevation of -above 1800 toises, or 11510 English feet. It is also -remarkable that, according to Pliny, the “Barbarians,” <i>i. e.</i> -the ancient Mauritanians, called the Atlas “Dyris.” The -chain of the Atlas is still called by the Arabs Daran, a word -which has almost the same consonants as Dyris. Hornius, -on the other hand (de Originibus Americanorum, p. 195), -thinks that he recognises the word Dyris in the Guanche -name of the Peak of Teneriffe, Aya-Dyrma. On the connection -between purely mythical ideas and geographical -traditions, and on the way in which the Titan Atlas gave -occasion to the image of a mountain supporting the heavens, -beyond the Pillars of Hercules, see Letronne’s “Essai sur -les Idées cosmographiques qui se rattachent au nom d’Atlas,” -in Férussac’s Bulletin universel des Sciences, Mars 1831, -p. 10.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>Considering that our present (it is true, very limited) -geological knowledge of the mountainous parts of North -Africa does not make us acquainted with any trace of volcanic -eruptions within historic times, it is very remarkable -to find among the ancients so many indications of a -belief in the existence of this class of phenomena, in the -Western Atlas, and in the neighbouring west coast of the -continent. The streams of fire, so often mentioned in -Hanno’s ship-journal, may indeed have only been strips of -burning grass, or signal fires kindled by the wild inhabitants -of the coasts to give to each other notice of the danger -threatened by the appearance of the hostile vessels. The -lofty flame-enlightened summit of the “chariot of the gods” -(<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">θεῶν ὅχημα</span>), may recall obscurely the Peak of Teneriffe; -but farther on Hanno describes a singular conformation of -ground. He finds in the Gulf near the Western Horn, a -large island, and in it a salt lake which again contains a -smaller island. South of the bay of the Gorilla Apes, the -same conformation is repeated. Is this a description of -coral productions, of “lagoon islands, (Atolls)” or volcanic -“crater lakes” in the middle of which a cone has been -upheaved? The Triton lake was not in the neighbourhood -of the lesser Syrtis, but near the Atlantic coast. (Asie -Cent. T. i. p. 179.) The lake disappeared in consequence -of earthquakes which were accompanied by great outbursts -of fire. Diodorus (Lib. iii. 53, 55) says expressly, -<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">πυρὸς ἐκφυσήματα μεγάλα</span>. But the most wonderful conformation -is ascribed to the “hollow Atlas” in a passage -hitherto little noticed, occurring in one of the philosophic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -Dialexes of Maximus Tyrius. This Platonic philosopher -lived in Rome, under Commodus. The situation of his -Atlas is “on the continent, where the Western Lybians -inhabit a projecting peninsula. The mountain has in it -towards the sea a semicircular deep abyss.” The precipices -are so steep that they cannot be descended; the abyss below -is filled with trees, and “one looks down upon their summits, -and on the fruits which they bear, as if one was looking into -a well.” (Maximus Tyrius, viii., 7, ed. Markland.) The -description is so graphic and so individually marked, that it -doubtless conveys the recollections impressed by a real -prospect.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> p. 11.—“<i>The Mountains of the Moon, Djebel al -Komr.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Mountains of the Moon of Ptolemy (Lib. iv. cap. 9,) -(<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">σελήνης ὅρος</span>) form on our older maps an immense uninterrupted -mountain zone, traversing Africa from east to -west. The existence of these mountains appears certain; -but their extent, their distance from the Equator, and their -general direction, are all unsolved problems. I have already -alluded in another work, (Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 191, and note -297, Engl. ed.) to the manner in which a closer acquaintance -with Indian languages, and with the ancient Persian idiom, -the Zend, teaches us that part of the geographical nomenclature -of Ptolemy forms an historic monument of the -commercial connection of the west with the most distant -regions of Southern Asia and Eastern Africa. The same -direction of ideas shews itself in a question very recently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -brought forward. It is asked, whether the great geographer -and astronomer of Pelusium meant in the name of “Mountains -of the Moon,” as in that of the “Island of Barley” -(Jabadiu, Java), merely to give the Greek translation of a -native name;—whether (as is most probable) El Istachri, -Edrisi, Ibn-al-Vardi, and other early Arabian geographers, -only transferred the nomenclature of Ptolemy into their own -language;—or whether they were misled by similarity in the -sound of the words and the manner of writing. In the notes -to the translation of Abd-Allatif’s celebrated description of -Egypt, my great instructor, Silvestre de Sacy, (éd. de 1810, -p. 7 and 353,) says expressly: “On traduit ordinairement -le nom de ces montagnes que Léon Africain regarde comme -les sources du Nil, par <i>montagnes de la lune</i>, et j’ai suivi -cet usage. Je ne sais si les Arabes ont pris originairement -cette dénomination de Ptolémée. On peut croire qu’ils -entendent effectivement aujourd’hui le mot <span lang="ar" xml:lang="ar">قمر</span> dans le -sens de la <i>lune</i> en le prononçant ‘Kamar’; je ne crois pas -cependant que ç’ait été l’opinion des anciens écrivains arabes -qui prononcent, comme le prouve Makrizi, Komr. Aboulféda -rejette positivement l’opinion de ceux qui prononcent kamar, -et qui dérivent ce nom de celui de la lune. Comme le -mot komr, considéré comme pluriel de <span lang="ar" xml:lang="ar">اقمر</span>, signifie -un objet d’une <i>couleur verdâtre</i> ou d’un blanc sale, suivant -l’auteur du Kamous, il paroit que quelques écrivains ont -cru que cette montagne tiroit son nom de sa couleur.”</p> - -<p>The learned Reinaud, in his recent excellent translation of -Abulfeda (T. ii., P. i., p. 81–82), considers it probable that -the Ptolemaic interpretation of the name, by “Mountains<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -of the Moon” (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὅρη σεληναῖα</span>), was that originally adopted by -the Arabian writers. He remarks that in the Moschtarek -of Yakut, and in Ibn-Said, the mountains are written al-Komr, -and that Yakut writes in the same way the name of -the island of Zendj (Zanguebar). The Abyssinian traveller -Beke, in his learned critical memoir on the Nile and its -tributaries (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of -London, vol. xvii. 1847, p. 74–76), seeks to prove that -Ptolemy had merely formed his <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">σελήνης ὅρος</span> from a -native name, for which he was indebted to intelligence -received through the medium of the extensive commercial -intercourse which prevailed. He says, “Ptolemy knew -that the Nile rises in the mountainous country of Moezi; -and in the languages which extend over a great portion of -South Africa (for example, in the languages of Congo, -Monjou, and Mozambique), the word Moezi signifies the -moon. A great south-western country was called Mono-Muezi, -or Mani-Moezi, <i>i. e.</i> the land of the king of Moezi -(of the king of the Moon country), for in the same family -of languages in which Moezi or Muezi signifies the Moon, -Mono or Mani signifies a king. Alvarez, in the Viaggio -nella Ethiopia (Ramusio, vol. i, p. 249,) speaks of the -‘regne di Manicongo,’ the kingdom of the king of Congo.” -Beke’s opponent, Ayrton, seeks the origin of the White Nile -(Bahr el Abiad), not as do Arnaud, Werne, and Beke, -near the equator, or even south of it (and in 29° E. long. -from Paris, or 31° 22′ from Greenwich), but with Antoine -d’Abbadie far to the north-east, in the Godjeb and Gibbe -of Eneara (Iniara); therefore in the high mountains of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -Habesch, in 7° 20′ N. latitude, and 33° E. long. from -Paris, or 35° 22′ from Greenwich. He conjectures that -the Arabs, from a similarity of sound, may have interpreted -the native name Gamaro belonging to the Abyssinian -mountains, in the south-west of Gaka in which the Godjeb -(or White Nile?) has its source, to mean Moon Mountains -(Djebel al-Kamar); so that Ptolemy himself, familiar with -the intercourse between Abyssinia and the Indian Ocean, -may have taken the Semitic version, given by early Arab -immigrants. (Compare Ayrton in the Journal of the Royal -Geogr. Soc. vol. xviii. 1848, p. 53, 55, and 59–63, with -Fred. Werne’s instructive expedition for the discovery of -the sources of the Nile, Exped. zur Entd. der Nil-Quellen, -1848, S. 534–536.)</p> - -<p>The lively interest which has again been excited in -England for the discovery of the most southern sources of -the Nile, induced the above-named Abyssinian traveller, -Charles Beke, at the recent meeting of the British Association -for the Advancement of Science, held at Swansea, -August 1848, to develop more in detail his ideas respecting -the connection between the Mountains of the Moon -and the Mountains of Habesch. He says:—“The -Abyssinian elevated plain, generally above 8000 feet high, -extends towards the south to nearly 9° or 10° N. latitude. -The eastern declivity of the highlands has to the -inhabitants of the coast the appearance of a mountain -chain. The plateau at its southern extremity passes into -the Mountains of the Moon, which run, not east and west, -but parallel to the coast, or from NNE. to SSW.; extending<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -from 10° N. to 5° S. latitude. The sources of the White Nile -are situated in the Mono-Moezi country, probably in 2½° S., -not far from where the river Sabaki, on the eastern side -of the Mountains of the Moon, falls into the Indian Ocean -near Melindeh, north of Mombaza. Last autumn (1847) -the two Abyssinian missionaries Rebmann and Krapf were -still on the coast of Mombaza. They have established in -the vicinity, among the Wakamba tribe, a missionary station -called Rabbay Empie, which promises to be very useful -also for geographical discovery. Families belonging to the -Wakamba tribe have advanced to the west five or six -hundred miles into the interior of the country, as far as -the upper course of the river Lusidji, the great lake Nyassi -or Zambeze (5° S. lat.?), and the sources of the Nile -which are not far distant. An expedition to these sources, -which Herr Friedrich Bialloblotzky, of Hanover, is preparing -to undertake, (by the advice of Beke), is to set out -from Mombaza. The Nile coming from the west referred -to by the ancients is probably the Bahr-el-Ghazal, or Keilah, -which falls into the Nile in 9° N. lat., above the mouth -of the Godjeb or Sobat.”</p> - -<p>Russegger’s scientific expedition,—which by Mehemet -Ali’s desire was sent to the gold-washings of Fazokl on -the Blue (Green) Nile, Bahr-el-Azrek, in 1837 and -1838,—had made the existence of the “Mountains of the -Moon” appear very doubtful. The Blue Nile, the Astapus -of Ptolemy, issuing from the lake of Coloe (now called -lake Tzana) winds from amongst the colossal Abyssinian -mountains; but towards the south-west an extensive low<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -tract of country appears. The three exploring expeditions -sent by the Egyptian government, (one in November 1839 -from Chartum to the confluence of the Blue and the White -Nile, under the command of Selim Bimbashi; another in -the autumn of 1840, which was accompanied by the French -engineers Arnaud, Sabatier, and Thibaud; and a third in -August 1841), first unveiled the high mountains which, -between the parallels of 6°-4°, and probably still farther -to the south, run at first from west to east, and afterwards -from north-west to south-east, and approach the -left bank of the Bahr-el-Abiad. The second of Mehemet -Ali’s expeditions first saw the mountain chain, according -to Werne’s account, in lat. 11⅓° where Gebel Abul and -Gebel Kutak rise to 3400 (3623 Eng.) feet. The high -land continued and approached nearer to the river more -to the south, between 4¾° lat., to the parallel of the -island of Tschenker in 4° 4′, where the expedition of -Commander Selim and Feizulla Effendi terminated. The -shallow river makes its way between rocks, and detached -mountains rise again in the country of Bari to 3000 (3197 -Eng.) feet. These probably belong to the Mountains of -the Moon as represented in our most recent maps, although -they are not indeed mountains covered with perpetual snow -such as Ptolemy had described (lib. iv. cap. 9). The -limit of perpetual snow in these latitudes would not certainly -be found below an elevation of 14500 (15450 Eng.) feet. -Perhaps Ptolemy transferred to the country of the sources -of the White Nile the knowledge which he may have had -of the high mountains of Habesch, which are nearer to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -Upper Egypt and to the Red Sea. In Godiam, Kaffa, -Miecha, and Sami, the Abyssinian mountains rise to 10000 -and 14000 (10657 and 14920 Eng.) feet, according to -exact measurements; not according to Bruce, who gives -the elevation of Chartum exceedingly wide of the truth, -<i>i. e.</i>, 4730 (5041 Eng.) feet, instead of 1430 (1524 Eng.) -feet! Rüppell, one of the most accurate observers of the -present day, found Abba Jaret, in 13° 10′ of latitude, -only 66 (70 Eng.) feet lower than Mont Blanc. (Compare -Rüppell, Reise in Abyssinien, Bd. i. S. 414, and Bd. ii. -S. 443). Rüppell found, adjoining the Buahat, an elevated -plain 13080 (13939 Eng.) feet above the Red Sea, barely -covered with a small quantity of fresh fallen snow (Humboldt, -Asie Centrale, T. iii. p. 272). The celebrated inscription -of Adulis, which Niebuhr considers to be somewhat -later than Juba and than Augustus, also speaks of -Abyssinian snow “that reaches to the knees.” This is, I -believe, the earliest mention in antiquity of snow within the -tropics (Asie Centrale, T. iii. p. 235); as the Paropanisus -is 12° of latitude north of the northern limit of the torrid -zone.</p> - -<p>Zimmermann’s map of the countries about the Upper -Nile shews the dividing line which determines the basin of -the Great River, and separates it on the south-east from the -domain of the rivers which flow into the Indian Ocean;—that -is to say, from the Doara, which enters the sea north -of Magadoxo; from the Teb, which has its embouchure -on the Amber coast, near Ogda; and from the Goschop, -whose abundant stream is formed by the confluence of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> -the Gibu and the Zebi, and which he distinguishes from -the Godjeb, rendered celebrated since 1839 by Antoine -d’Abbadie, the missionary Krapf, and Beke. These -results of the travels of Beke, Krapf, Isenberg, Russegger, -Rüppell, Abbadie, and Werne, brought together and shewn -in the most comprehensive and convenient manner by -Zimmermann, were hailed by me on their appearance in -1843 with the most lively joy, as expressed in a letter to -Carl Ritter. “If,” I wrote to him, “a life prolonged to -an advanced period brings with it several inconveniences -to the individual, and perhaps some even to those who live -with him, there is a compensation in the delight of being -able to compare older states of knowledge with that which -now exists, and to see great advances in knowledge grow -and develope themselves under our eyes in departments -where all had long slumbered in inactivity, with the -exception, perhaps, of attempts by hypercriticism to render -previous acquisitions doubtful. This enjoyment has from -time to time fallen to our share, yours and mine, in our -geographical studies, and this particularly in reference to -those very parts of the world which formerly could only be -treated of with timid hesitating uncertainty. The conformation -of a continent depends in its leading traits on -several plastic relations which are usually among the latest -to be discovered and unravelled. A new and excellent -work of our friend Carl Zimmermann, on the upper country -of the Nile and the eastern parts of central Africa, has -again brought these considerations very vividly before me. -His new map shews in the clearest manner to the eye, by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -means of a particular method of shading, what is still -unknown, and what, by the courage and perseverance of -travellers of all nations,—among whom our own countrymen -happily hold an important place,—has been already -disclosed to us. It is a valuable service, and one which -opens the way for farther advances and more comprehensive -inferences, when persons, thoroughly acquainted with the -existing, often widely scattered, materials,—men who do not -merely draw and compile, but compare, select, and, wherever -it is possible, check and control the routes of travellers -by astronomical determinations of position,—undertake to -represent graphically the results of the elements of knowledge -possessed at the time. Those who have themselves given -to the world so much as you have done, have an especial -right to expect much; since their combinations have largely -augmented the number of connecting points; yet I believe -that when you executed your great work on Africa in 1822 -you could hardly have expected so many accessions as we -have now received.” The knowledge acquired is, indeed, -often only that of rivers, their direction, their branches, -and the various synonyms by which they are called in -dialects belonging to different families of languages; but -rivers reveal to us by their course the form of the surface -of the earth, and are at once the nourishers of vegetation, -the channels of intercourse between men, and pregnant with -unknown influences on the future.</p> - -<p>The northerly course of the White Nile, and the south-easterly -course of the great Goschop, would indicate that a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> -swelling of the ground separates the domains or basins of -these rivers. We know, indeed, but imperfectly, how such a -swelling or elevation may be connected with the mountains of -Habesch, and in what manner it may be continued southward -beyond the equator. Probably, and this is also the opinion -of my friend Carl Ritter, the Lupata mountains, which, -according to the excellent Wilhelm Peters, extend to -26° S. latitude, are connected with the elevated parts of -the Earth’s surface on the north side of the equator, (or -with the Abyssinian mountains), by the mountains of the -Moon. The word “Lupata,” we learn from the last-named -African traveller, is used in the language of Tette as an -adjective, meaning “closed.” The chain of mountains would -thus be called the “closed” or “barred.” “The Lupata chain, -of Portuguese writers,” says Peters, “is about 90 legoas or -leagues from the mouth of the Zambeze, and is only about -two thousand feet high. The direction of this mountain -rampart is north and south, but with occasional bends -alternately to the east and to the west. It is sometimes -interrupted by plains. Along the whole of the Zanzibar -coast, the traders into the interior speak of this long but -not very elevated ridge, which extends from 6° to 26° S. -latitude, as far as the Factory of Lourenzo-Marques, on -the Rio de Espiritu Santo (in the Bay da Lagoa, or Delagoa -Bay of the English). The farther the Lupata chain -advances towards the south, the nearer it approaches the -coast, from which it is only fifteen legoas distant at Lourenzo-Marques.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> p. 12.—“<i>Caused by the great revolving current.</i>”</p> - -<p>In the northern part of the Atlantic, between Europe, -North Africa, and the New Continent, the waters of the -ocean are driven round in a true revolving current, or circle. -This general current,—which, from its cause, might be -called a “Rotation Current,”—moves between the tropics, -as is well known, with the trade wind, from east to west. It -accelerates the passage of ships sailing from the Canaries -to South America, and makes it almost impossible to sail -“up stream,” or in a direct line from Cartagena de Indias -to Cumana. This set to the west, attributed to the trade -winds, receives, however, in the Caribbean Sea, the accession -of a much stronger movement, originating in a very remote -cause, which was discovered as early as 1560 by Sir Humphrey -Gilbert, (Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii. p. 14), and -developed with greater certainty by Rennell in 1832. The -Mosambique current, flowing from north to south between -Madagascar and the east coast of Africa, sets on the Lagullas -Bank, turns on the north side of it round the south -point of Africa, and advances with much force up the -western coast of the Continent to a little beyond the equator -near the Island of St. Thomas. It gives at the same time -a north-westerly direction to a part of the water of the -South Atlantic, causing it to strike Cape St. Augustin, and -to follow the coast of Guiana to beyond the mouth of the -Orinoco, the Boca del Drago, and the coast of Paria. -(Rennell, Investigation of the Currents of the Atlantic -Ocean, 1832, p. 96 and 136.) The New Continent, from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -the Isthmus of Panama to the northern part of Mexico, -opposes a barrier to the farther continuance of this movement -of the waters, and thus the current is constrained to -assume a northerly course off Veragua, and thence to follow -the windings of the coast of Costa Rica, Mosquito, Campeachy, -and Tabasco. The waters which enter the Mexican -Gulf between Cape Catoche of Yucatan and Cape San -Antonio of Cuba, after completing a great rotatory movement -or circuit, by Vera Cruz, Tamiagua, the mouth of -the Rio Bravo del Norte, and that of the Mississipi, -force their way northwards through the Bahama Channel, -and re-issue into the open ocean. Here they form the well-known -“Gulf Stream,” a current or river of warm and rapidly -moving water, flowing in an oblique or diagonal direction -carrying it farther and farther from the North American -coast. Ships from Europe bound for this coast, when -uncertain in respect to their longitude, are enabled by -this oblique direction of the current to direct their course, -as soon as they reach the Gulf Stream, by observations of -latitude only. The position of this great current was first -indicated with accuracy by Franklin, Williams, and Pownall.</p> - -<p>From the 41st degree of latitude, the river of warm -water, which has been gradually diminishing in rapidity -and increasing in breadth, turns suddenly to the east. It -almost touches the southern edge of the great Newfoundland -bank, where I found the greatest amount of difference -between the temperature of the warm water of the Gulf -stream, and that of the waters resting on the banks and -subjected thereby to a cooling process. Before the stream<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -reaches the westernmost of the Azores it divides into two -branches, one of which, at least at certain seasons, advances -towards Ireland and Norway, and the other towards the -Canaries and the West Coast of Africa. This Atlantic -rotatory movement, (described by me in more detail in the -first volume of my Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions), -explains the possibility of trunks of South American and -West Indian trees being carried, in spite of the trade winds, -to the coasts of the Canary Islands, and stranded there. I -have made many experiments on the temperature of the Gulf -Stream in the vicinity of the Banks of Newfoundland. The -Stream brings the warmer water of lower latitudes into more -northern regions with much rapidity, and I have thus found -its temperature two or three degrees of Reaumur (5° to 7° -Fah.) higher than that of the adjacent unmoved masses of -water, which form as it were the banks of the warm -oceanic river.</p> - -<p>The flying fish of the tropics (Exocetus volitans) accompanies -the warm water of the Gulf Stream far into the -temperate zone. Floating sea-weed (Fucus natans), chiefly -taken up by the stream in the Gulf of Mexico, shews when -a ship is entering the current, and the arrangement of the -branches of the sea-weed shews the direction of the movement -of the water. The mainmast of the English ship of -war, the Tilbury, destroyed by fire on the coast of San -Domingo, was carried by the Gulf Stream to the north coast -of Scotland. Even casks filled with palm oil, the remains -of the cargo of a ship wrecked off Cape Lopez on the coast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -of Africa, were carried in the same manner to Scotland<a id="FNanchor_A" href="#Footnote_A" class="fnanchor">[*]</a>, -after having twice traversed the whole breadth of the -Atlantic; once from east to west with the equatorial -current between 2° and 12° N. lat., and once from west to -east by the aid of the Gulf Stream, between 45° and 55° -N. lat. Rennell, in p. 347 of the “Investigation of -Currents,” relates the voyage of a bottle with papers enclosed, -thrown overboard by the English ship Newcastle -on the 20th of January, 1819, in lat. 38° 52′, and long. -63° 58′, which was picked up on the 2nd of June, 1820, -at the Rosses, (near the Island of Arran), on the west coast -of Ireland. A short time before my arrival at Teneriffe a -stem of South American cedar (Cedrela odorata), well -covered with lichens, had been cast ashore in the harbour -of Santa Cruz.</p> - -<p>Effects of the Gulf Stream in stranding on the Islands -of Fayal, Flores, and Corvo in the Azores, bamboos, -artificially cut pieces of wood, trunks of an unknown -species of Pine from Mexico and the West Indian Islands, -and corpses of men of unknown race with unusually broad -faces, contributed to the discovery of America, by confirming -Columbus in his belief of the existence to the westward -of Asiatic countries and islands at no impassable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> -distance. The great discoverer even heard from the lips of -settlers near the Cape de la Verga in the Azores, of some, -“who, in sailing westward, had met decked or covered boats, -manned by persons of strange and foreign appearance, -and built apparently in such a manner that they could not -founder,—almadias con casa movediza que nunca se hunden.” -There is highly credible and well-confirmed testimony to -the fact, much as it has long been doubted, of natives of -America, (probably Esquimaux from Greenland or Labrador), -carried by currents or driven by storms from the North -West, having actually crossed the Atlantic in their canoes -and reached our shores. James Wallace, in his “Account of -the Islands of Orkney, (1700, p. 60),” relates, that in 1682 -a Greenlander was seen in his boat off the South Point of -the Island of Eda by several persons, who did not succeed -in bringing him to shore. In 1684, a Greenland fisherman -appeared in his boat off the Island of Westram. In the -church at Barra there was suspended an Esquimaux boat, -driven thither by currents and tempests. The inhabitants of -the Orkneys call Greenlanders so appearing among them -Finns or “Finnmen.”</p> - -<p>In Cardinal Bembo’s History of Venice, I find a narrative -to the effect that in 1508 a French ship captured near -the English coast a small boat, with seven persons of a -strange and foreign appearance. The description suits extremely -well with Esquimaux, (homines erant septem <i>mediocri -statura, colore subobscuro, lato et patente vultu</i>, -cicatriceque una violacea signato.) No one understood -their language. Their clothing was composed of fish skins<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1640">[164]</span> -sewn together. On their heads they wore “coronam e culmo -pictam, septem quasi auriculis intextam.” They ate raw -flesh, and drank blood as we would wine. Six of the men -died during the passage of the vessel, on board which they -had been taken; but the seventh, a youth, was presented -to the king of France, who was then at Orleans. (Bembo, -Historia Venetæ, ed. 1718, lib. vii. p. 257).</p> - -<p>The appearance of men called <i>Indians</i> on the western -coasts of Germany, under the Othos, and under Frederic -Barbarossa, in the 10th and 12th centuries, and even, -as is related by Cornelius Nepos, (ed. Van Staveren, -cur. Bardili, T. ii., 1820, p. 356), Pomponius Mela, (lib. -iii. cap. 5, § 8), and Pliny, (Hist. Nat., T. ii. p. 67), -when Quintus Metellus Celer was Pro-consul in Gaul, -may be explained by similar effects of currents and north-west -winds of long continuance. A king of the Boii, -others say of the Suevi, gave the shipwrecked dark-coloured -men to Metellus Celer. Gomara, in his Historia Gen. de -las Indias, (Saragossa, 1553, fol. vii.), refers to this account, -and considers the Indians spoken of in it to have been -natives of Labrador. “Si ya no fuesen de Tierra del Labrador, -y los tuviesen, los Romanos por Indianos engañados -en el color.” The appearance of Esquimaux on the northern -coasts of Europe may be believed to have occurred more -often in earlier times, because we know, from the researches -of Rask and Finn Magnusen, that in the 11th and 12th -centuries this race extended in considerable numbers, -under the name of the Skrälinges of Labrador, even as far -south as the “good Vinland;” <i>i. e.</i>, the coast of Massachusets<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -and Connecticut. (Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 270; English -ed. p. 234; Examen critique de l’Hist. de la Géographie, -T. ii. p. 247–278.)</p> - -<p>As the winter cold of the most northern parts of Scandinavia -is softened by the influence of the Gulf Stream, -by which American tropical fruits (cocoa nuts, and seeds -of the Mimosa scandens and the Anacardium occidentale) -are cast upon the shore beyond the 62nd degree of latitude, -so does Iceland also occasionally enjoy the beneficial influence -of the extension of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream -far to the northward. The coasts of Iceland as well as -those of the Färoe Islands, receive a great deal of drift-wood, -which, coming formerly in greater abundance, was -cut into beams and planks and used for building timber. -Fruits of tropical plants, collected on the coast of Iceland, -between Raufarhavn and Vapnafiord, testify the movement -of the waters from the southward. (Sartorius von Waltershausen, -physisch-geographische Skizze von Island, 1847, -S. 22–35.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> p. 12.—“<i>Neither Lecideas nor other Lichens.</i>”</p> - -<p>In northern countries, the earth, if left bare, soon becomes -covered with Bæomyces roseus, Cenomyce rangiferinus, -Lecidea muscorum, L. icmadophila, and similar Cryptogameæ, -which prepare the way for the growth of grasses and -herbaceous plants. In the tropics, where mosses and lichens -only abound in shady places, some species of succulent -plants take their place.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> p. 13.—“<i>The care of animals yielding milk</i>, ... -... <i>The ruins of the Aztec fortress.</i>”</p> - - -<p>The two kinds of cattle alluded to, and subsequently spoken -of,—the Bos americanus and Bos moschatus,—are peculiar -to the American continent. But the natives—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Queis neque mos, neque cultus erat, nec jungere tauros.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4"><i>Virgil, Æn.</i> i. 316.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>—drink the fresh blood, not the milk, of these animals. -Single exceptions have indeed been found, but only among -tribes who at the same time cultivated maize. I have -before remarked, (p. <a href="#Page_54">54</a>), that Gomara speaks of a people in -the north-west of Mexico who possessed herds of tame -bisons, and derived from these animals clothing, meat, and -drink. The drink may have been the blood, (Prescott, -Conquest of Mexico, vol. iii. p. 416) for, as I have more -than once remarked, the dislike to milk, or at least the -absence of its use, appears, before the arrival of Europeans, -to have been, generally speaking, a feature common to all -the natives of the New Continent,—and one which they -possess in common with the inhabitants of China and -Cochin China, who yet were near neighbours to true pastoral -nations. The herds of tame lamas, found in the highlands -of Quito, Peru, and Chili, belonged to a settled population, -who cultivated the ground and did not follow a nomadic -life. Pedro de Cieça de Leon, (Chronica del Peru, Sevilla, -1553, cap. 110, p. 264) seems to imply, though certainly -as a rare and exceptional case, that in the Peruvian mountain -plateau of Collao lamas were used for drawing the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -plough. (Compare Gay, Zoologia de Chile, Mamiferos, -1847, p. 154.) The usual custom in Peru was to plough -with men only. (See the Inca Garcilaso’s Commentarios -reales, P. i. lib. v. cap. 2, p. 133; and Prescott, Hist. of -the Conquest of Peru, 1847, vol. i. p. 136.) Mr. Barton -has made it appear probable that, among some of the tribes -of Western Canada, the buffalo was from early times made -an object of care for the sake of its flesh and skin. (Fragments -of the Nat. Hist. of Pennsylvania, P. i. p. 4.) In -Peru and Quito the lama is now nowhere found in a state of -original wildness. I was told by the natives that the lamas -on the western declivity of the Chimborazo had become wild -when the ancient residence of the rulers of Quito “Lican” -was laid in ashes. In the same manner the oxen in the Ceja -de la Montaña, in Middle Peru, have become perfectly wild: -they are a small and daring race, and often attack the Indians. -The natives call them Vacas del Monte, or Vacas cimarronas. -(Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, S. 256.) Cuvier’s opinion, that the -lama had descended from the still wild Guanaco, has been -unfortunately still further disseminated by the meritorious -traveller Meyen, (Reise um die Erde, Th. iii. S. 64), but -has been completely refuted by von Tschudi.</p> - -<p>The Lama, the Paco or Alpaca, and the Guanaco, are -three originally distinct species of animals. (Tschudi, S. -228 and 237.) The Guanaco (Huanacu in the Quichua -language) is the largest of the three; and the Alpaca, -measured from the ground to the crown of the head, the -smallest. The lama is next to the guanaco in stature. -Herds of lamas, when they are as numerous as I have seen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> -them in the high plateau between Quito and Riobamba, -are a great ornament to the landscape. The Moromoro of -Chili appears to be a mere variety of the lama. Vicuñas, -Guanacoes, and Alpacas, still live wild at elevations of from -13000 to 16000 feet above the level of the sea. The two -latter species are sometimes met with tamed, but the guanaco -only rarely. The alpaca does not bear the warmer climate -of the lower elevations so well as the lama. Since the -introduction of the more useful horses, mules, and asses, -(the latter acquire great spirit and beauty within the tropics), -the custom of rearing and using the lama and the -alpaca as beasts of burden, in the mountains and among -the mines, has much decreased. But the wool, of such -different qualities in respect to fineness, is still an important -article in the industry of the inhabitants of the mountains. -In Chili the wild and the tamed guanaco are distinguished -by separate names; the wild being called Luan, and the -tame Chilihueque. The wide dissemination of the wild -guanaco, from the Peruvian Cordilleras to Tierra del Fuego, -sometimes in herds of 500, has been favoured by the circumstance -that these animals can swim with great ease from -island to island, so that the Patagonian fiords offer no -obstacle to their wanderings. (See the pleasing descriptions -by Darwin in his Journal, 1845, p. 66.)</p> - -<p>South of the Gila River, which, together with the Rio -Colorado, enters the Californian Gulf or Mar de Cortes, -stand, in the solitude of the Steppe, the enigmatical ruins of -the Aztec Palace, called by the Spaniards las Casas grandes. -When the Aztecs, about the year 1160, came from the unknown<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -land of Aztlan to Anahuac, they settled themselves -for a time on the banks of the Gila. The Franciscan monks, -Garces and Font, are the latest travellers who have visited -the Casas grandes, and they did so in 1773. They stated -the ruins to extend over above a square German mile (16 -English square miles). The whole plain is strewed with -fragments of painted pottery. The principal palace, (if a -house built of unburnt clay can be so designated), is 447 -English feet long and 277 English feet broad. (See a -rare work printed in Mexico, and entitled Cronica seráfica y -apostólica del Colegio de Propaganda Fide de la Santa Cruz -de Querétaro por Fr. Juan Domingo Arricivita).</p> - -<p>The Tayé of California, as drawn by Father Venegas, -appears to differ little from the Ovis musimon of the Old -Continent. The same animal is also seen on the “Stony -Mountains,” near the sources of the Peace River. Very -different from it, on the other hand, is the small white and -black spotted goat-like creature which feeds near the -Missouri and Arkansas rivers. The synonymy of Antilope -furcifer, A. tememazama of Smith, and Ovis montana, is still -very undetermined.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> p. 14.—“<i>The cultivation of farinaceous grasses.</i>”</p> - -<p>The original habitat of the farinaceous grasses is wrapped -in the same obscurity as that of the domestic animals which -have accompanied man since his earliest migrations. The -German word for corn, “Getraide,” has been ingeniously -derived by Jacob Grimm from the old German gitragidi, -getregede. “It is as it were the <i>tame</i> fruit (fruges, frumentum),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> -which has come into the hands of man; as we speak -of tame animals in opposition to wild ones.” (Jacob Grimm, -Gesch. der deutschen Sprache, 1848, Th. i. S. 62.) It is -certainly a very striking phenomenon, to find on one side of -our planet nations to whom flour or meal from small-eared -grasses (Hordeaceæ and Avenaceæ), and the use of milk, -were completely unknown, while the nations of almost all -parts of the other hemisphere cultivate the Cerealia, and -rear milk-yielding animals. The cultivation of different -kinds of grasses may be said to afford a characteristic distinction -between the two parts of the world. In the New -Continent, from 52° north to 46° south latitude, we see -only one species cultivated, viz. maize. In the Old Continent, -on the other hand, we find every where, from the -earliest times of history, the fruits of Ceres, wheat, barley, -spelt or red wheat, and oats. That wheat grew wild in the -Leontine fields, as well as in several other places in Sicily, -was a belief entertained by ancient nations, and is mentioned -by Diodorus Siculus. (Lib. v. p. 199 and 232, Wessel.) -Ceres was found in the alpine meadow of Enna; and Diodorus -fables that “the inhabitants of the Atlantis were -unacquainted with the fruits of Ceres, because they had -separated from the rest of mankind before those fruits had -been shewn to mortals.” Sprengel has collected several -interesting passages which lead him to think it probable that -the greater part of our European kinds of grain were -originally wild in the northern parts of Persia and India, -namely, summer wheat in the country of the Musicanes, a province -in Northern India (Strabo, xv. 1017); barley (“antiquissimum<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -frumentum,” as Pliny calls it, and which is also -the only cereal with which the Guanches of the Canaries were -acquainted), according to Moses of Chorene (Geogr, Armen. -ed. Whiston, 1736, p. 360), on the Araxes or Kur in -Georgia, and according to Marco Polo in Balascham in -Northern India (Ramusio, vol. ii. p. 10); and spelt or red -wheat, near Hamadan. But these passages, as has been -shewn by my keen-sighted friend and teacher Link, in an -instructive critical memoir (Abhandl. de Berl. Akad. -1816, S. 123), still leave much uncertainty. I also -early regarded the existence of originally wild kinds of grain -in Asia as extremely doubtful, and viewed such as might -have been seen there as having <i>become wild</i>. (Essai sur la -Géographie des Plantes, 1805, p. 28.) Reinhold Forster, -who before his voyage with Captain Cook, made by order of -the Empress Catherine an expedition into Southern Russia -for purposes of natural history, reported that the two-stalked -summer barley (Hordeum distichon), grew wild near -the junction of the Samara and the Volga. At the end of -the month of September, 1829, Ehrenberg and myself, on -our journey from Orenburg and Uralsk to Saratow and the -Caspian, also herborised on the banks of the Samara. We -were, indeed, struck with the quantity of wheat and rye -plants growing in what might be called a wild state in the -uncultivated ground, but the plants did not appear to us to -differ from the ordinary cultivated ones. Ehrenberg received -from M. Carelin a kind of rye, Secale fragile, gathered on -the Kirgis Steppe, and which Marschall von Bieberstein -regarded for a time as the original or mother plant of our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -cultivated rye, Secale cereale. Although Olivier and -Michaux speak of spelt (Triticum spelta) as growing wild at -Hamadan in Persia, Achill Richard does not consider that -Michaux’s herbarium bears out this statement. Greater -confidence is due to the most recent accounts obtained by -the unwearied zeal of a highly-informed traveller, Professor -Carl Koch. He found much rye (Secale cereale, var. β -pectinata) in the Pontic Mountains, at elevations of upwards -of five or six thousand feet, in places where within the -memory of the inhabitants no grain of the kind had ever -been cultivated. Koch remarks, that the circumstance is -“the more important because with us this grain never propagates -itself spontaneously.” In the Schirwan parts of the -Caucasus, Koch collected a kind of barley which he calls -“Hordeum spontaneum,” and considers to be the originally -wild “Hordeum zeocriton” of Linnæus. (Carl Koch -Beiträge zur Flora des Orients, Heft i. S. 139 and 142.)</p> - -<p>A negro slave of the great Cortes was the first who cultivated -wheat in New Spain. He had found three grains of -it amongst the rice which had been brought from Spain for -provision for the army. In the Franciscan convent at -Quito, I saw preserved as a relic the earthen vessel which -had contained the first wheat sowed there by the Franciscan -monk Fray Jodoco Rixi, a native of Ghent in Flanders. -The first sowing had been made in front of the convent, -on what is now the Plazuela de San Francisco, after cutting -down the forest which then extended from the foot -of the volcano of Pichincha to the spot in question. The -monks, who I often visited during my stay at Quito, begged<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> -me to explain to them the inscription on the earthen -vessel, which they thought must contain some mystic reference -to the wheat. I read the motto, which was in the -old German dialect, and was—“Whoso drinks from me -let him not forget his God.” I too felt with the monks -that this old German drinking vessel was a truly venerable -relic. Would that there had been preserved every -where in the New Continent the names, not of those who -made the earth desolate by bloody conquests, but of those -who first intrusted to it these its fruits so early associated -with the civilisation of mankind in the Old Continent! -In respect generally to the names of the kinds of grain, as -bearing on the original affinities of different languages, a -high authority has remarked, that “such indications are -much more rare in the case of different kinds of grain, and -on subjects of agriculture, than on those connected with -the care of cattle: herdsmen when dispersed had still much -in common, whereas the subsequent cultivators of the soil -had to create new words. But the fact that in comparison -with the Sanscrit, Romans and Greeks appear nearly on a -par with the Germans and Slavonians, argues in favour of -the very early contemporaneous emigration of the two -latter. Yet the Indian “java” (Frumentum hordeum), -compared with the Lithuanian “jawai,” and the Finnish -“jywa,” offers a singular exception.” (Jac. Grimm, Gesch. -der deutschen Sprache, Th. i. S. 69.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> p. 14.—“<i>Keeping by preference to the cooler -mountain regions.</i>”</p> - -<p>Throughout Mexico and Peru the traces of a great degree<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -of civilisation are confined to the elevated plateaux. We -have seen on the Andes the ruins of palaces and baths at -heights between 1600 and 1800 toises (10230 and 11510 -English feet). It can only have been men of a northern -race, who, migrating from the north towards the south, could -find delight in such a climate.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> p. 15.—“<i>The history of the peopling of Japan.</i>”</p> - -<p>The probability of the western nations of the New Continent -having had communication with the east of Asia long -before the arrival of the Spaniards, was I think shewn by -me in a work on the monuments of the native inhabitants -of America (Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des peuples -indigenes de l’Amérique). I inferred this probability from -a comparison of the Mexican and Thibeto-Japanese calendars,—from -the correct orientation of the steps of the pyramidal -elevations towards the different quarters of the heavens,—and -from the ancient myths and traditions of the four ages -or four epochs of destruction of the world, and the dispersion -of mankind after a great flood of waters. The accounts -published since my work, in England, France, and the -United States, describing the wonderful bas reliefs, almost -in the Indian style, in the ruins of Guatimala and Yucatan, -have given to these analogies a still higher value. (Compare -Antonio del Rio, Description of the Ruins of an -Ancient City discovered near Palenque, 1822, translated -from the original manuscript report by Cabrera (del Rio’s -exploration took place in 1787), p. 9, tab. 12–14; with -Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, 1843, vol. i. -pp. 391 and 429–434; vol. ii. pp. 21, 54, 56, 317, 323;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> -with the magnificent volume of Catherwood, “Views of -ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas, and -Yucatan,” 1844; and lastly, with Prescott’s “Conquest of -Mexico,” vol. iii. App. p. 360.)</p> - -<p>The architectural remains in the peninsula of Yucatan -shew, still more than those of Palenque, a degree of civilisation -and art which excites our astonishment. They are -situated between Valladolid, Merida, and Campeachy, chiefly -in the western part of the country. But the monuments in -the island of Cozumel (more properly Cuzamil), east of -Yucatan, were the first which were seen by the Spaniards -in the expedition of Juan de Grijalva, 1518, and that of -Cortes in 1519, and the report of them did much to spread -over Europe a high idea of ancient Mexican civilisation. -The most important ruins of the peninsula of Yucatan, -which unfortunately have not yet been thoroughly measured -and drawn by architects, are the Casa del Gobernador of -Uxmal, the Teocallis and vaulted constructions at Kabah, the -ruins of Labnah with domed columns, those of Zayi with -columns very nearly of the Doric order, and those of Chiche -with large ornamented pilasters. An old manuscript written -in the Maya language by a Christian Indian, and which is -still in the hands of the Gefe politico of Peto, Don Juan -Pio Perez, gives the different epochs (“Katunes” of 52 -years) in which the Toltecs settled in different parts of the -peninsula. From these data Perez infers that the monuments -or buildings of Chiche go back to the close of the -fourth century of our era, while those of Uxmal belong to -the middle of the tenth century. But the accuracy of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> -conclusions is subject to much uncertainty. (Stephens, -Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. i. p. 439; and vol. ii. -p. 278.)</p> - -<p>I regard the existence of ancient connections between -the inhabitants of western America and eastern Asia as -more than probable, but by what routes, or with what -Asiatic nations, the communications took place, cannot at -present be decided. A small number of individuals of the -educated priestly caste might perhaps be sufficient to bring -about great alterations in the civil and social state of -western America. The stories formerly narrated of Chinese -expeditions to the New Continent really apply only to -voyages to Fusang or Japan. On the other hand, Japanese -and Sian-Pi from the Corea may have been driven by storms -to the American coast, and landed there. We know as -matter of history that Bonzes and other adventurers sailed -over the eastern Chinese seas in search of some medicine -which should entirely prevent death. Under Tschin-schi-kuang-ti, -209 years before our era, 300 young couples, -young men and young women, were sent to Japan, and -instead of returning to China they settled at Nipon (Klaproth, -Tableaux historiques de l’Asie, 1824, p. 79; Nouveau -Journal Asiatique, T. x. 1832, p. 335; Humboldt, Examen -critique, T. ii. p. 62–67). May not similar expeditions have -been driven by storms or other accidents to the Aleutian -islands, to Alashka, or to New California? As the western -coasts of the American continent trend from NW. to SE., -and the eastern coasts of Asia in the opposite direction, or -from NE. to SW., the distance between the two continents<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> -in 45° of latitude, or in the temperate zone which is most -favourable to mental development, is too considerable to -admit of the probability of such an accidental settlement -taking place in that latitude. We must, then, assume the -first landing to have been made in the inhospitable climate -of from 55° to 65° and that the civilisation thus introduced, -like the general movement of population in America, -has proceeded by successive stations from north to south -(Humboldt, Relat. historique, t. iii p. 155–160). The -remains of ships from Cathay, <i>i. e.</i>, from Japan or China, -were supposed to have been found on the coasts of the -northern Dorado, (called Quivira and Cibora) at the beginning -of the 16th century (Gomara, Hist. general de las -Indias, p. 117).</p> - -<p>Our knowledge of the languages of America is still too -limited, considering their great variety, for us as yet -entirely to relinquish the hope of some day discovering an -idiom which may have been spoken, with certain modifications, -at once in the interior of South America and in -that of Asia; or which may at least indicate an ancient -affinity. Such a discovery would certainly be one of the -most brilliant which can be expected in reference to the -history of mankind. But analogies of language only deserve -confidence when the enquirer, not resting in or dwelling on -resemblances of sound in the roots, traces the analogies -into the organic structure, the grammatical forms, and into -all which in languages shews itself as the product of the -human intellect and character.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> p. 15.—“<i>Many other forms of animals.</i>”</p> - -<p>Whole herds of the Cervus mexicanus wander over -the Caraccas Steppes: the young stag is spotted, and -resembles in appearance the roe-deer of Europe. We saw -among them many entirely white,—a singular circumstance -in the torrid zone. The Cervus mexicanus is not -found at greater elevations on the mountain-slopes of the -Andes under the equator than from 700 to 800 toises -(4476 to 5115 Eng. feet); but a larger, and also often -white, stag,—which I could hardly distinguish from the -European by any specific characters,—is met with up to -2000 toises (12789 Eng. feet). The Cavia capybara, -called in the province of Caraccas “chiguire,” is an unfortunate -animal; being pursued in the water by the crocodile, -and on the plain by the tiger or jaguar. It runs so badly -that we could often catch it with our hands. Its extremities -are smoked for hams, but their taste is very disagreeable -from the smell of musk; and on the Orinoco we willingly -ate monkey hams in preference. The beautifully marked -animals which have so disagreeable an odour are the Viverra -mapurito, Viverra zorilla, and Viverra vittata.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> p. 16.—“<i>The Guaranis, and the fan-palm, -Mauritia.</i>”</p> - -<p>The small coast tribe or nation of the Guaranis, (called -in British Guiana the Warraws or Guaranos, and by the -Caribs U-ara-u), inhabit not only the marshy Delta and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> -river network of the Orinoco, and particularly the banks -of the Manamo Grande and the Caño Macareo, but also -extend, with little variation in their modes of life, along -the sea coast between the mouths of the Essequibo and -the Boca de Navios of the Orinoco. (Compare my Relation -historique, T. i. p. 492, T. ii. p. 653 and 703, with -Richard Schomburgk’s “Reisen in Britisch Guiana,” Th. i. -1847, S. 62, 120, 173, and 194). According to the -testimony of the last-named excellent explorer and observer, -there are still 1700 Warraus or Guaranis living in the -district of Cumaca, and along the banks of the Barima -river, which empties itself into the gulf of the Boca de -Navios. The manners and customs of the tribes living in -the Delta of the Orinoco were already known to the great -historical writer Cardinal Bembo, the contemporary of -Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Alonzo de Hojeda. He -says, “quibusdam in locis propter paludes incolæ domus -in arboribus ædificant” (Historiæ Venetæ, 1551, p. 88). -It is more probable that Bembo is alluding to the Guaranis -at the mouth of the Orinoco, than to the natives near the -mouth of the Gulph of Macaraibo, where Alonzo de Hojeda, -in August 1499, when he was accompanied by Vespucci -and Juan de la Cosa, also found a population having -their residence “fondata sopra l’ acqua come Venezia” -(Riccardi’s Text in my Examen crit. t. iv. p. 496). In -Vespucci’s account of his voyage (in which we find the -first indication of the etymology of the term Province of -Venezuela, Little Venice, for Province of Caraccas), he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -only speaks of houses raised upon foundation pillars, not of -habitations in the trees.</p> - -<p>Sir Walter Raleigh offers a later evidence of high -authority; he says expressly, in his description of Guiana, -that on his second voyage in 1595, when in the mouth of -the Orinoco, he saw the “<i>fires</i>” of the Tivitives and the -Oua-raa-etes (so he calls the Guaranis) “high up in the -trees” (Raleigh, Discov. of Guiana, 1596, p. 90). The fire -is represented in a drawing in the Latin edition: “brevis et -admiranda descriptio regni Guianæ,” (Norib. 1599) tab. 4. -Raleigh was also the first who brought to England the fruit -of the Mauritia-palm, which he very justly compared, on -account of its scales, to a fir cone. The Padre José -Gumilla, who twice visited the Guaranis as a missionary, -says, indeed, that this people had their habitation in the -palmares (palm groves) of the morasses; but he only -mentions dwellings raised upon high pillars, and not scaffoldings -attached to trees still in a growing state; (Gumilla, -Historia natural, civil, y geografica de las Naciones situadas -en las riveras del Rio Orinoco, nueva imp. 1791, p. 143, -145, and 163). Hillhouse and Sir Robert Schomburgk, -(Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xii. 1842, -p. 175; and Description of the Murichi or Ita Palm, read -at the Meeting of the British Association held at Cambridge, -June 1845; printed in Simond’s Colonial Magazine), are -of opinion that both Bembo and Raleigh, (the former -speaking from the reports of others, the latter as an eye-witness), -were deceived by the high tops of the palm-trees<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> -being lit up at night by the flames of fires beneath, so -that those who sailed by thought the habitations themselves -were attached to the trees. “We do not deny that in -order to escape the attacks of the musquitos, the Indian -sometimes suspends his hammock from the tops of trees; -on such occasions, however, no fires are made under the -hammock.” (Compare also Sir Robert Schomburgk’s New -Edition of Raleigh’s Discovery of Guiana, 1848, p. 50.)</p> - -<p>According to Martius, the fine Palm Moriche, Mauritia -flexuosa, Quiteve, or Ita palm, (Bernau, Missionary Labours -in British Guiana, 1847, p. 34 and 44), belongs, as well -as Calamus, to the group of Lepidocaryeæ or Coryphineæ. -Linnæus has described it very imperfectly, as he erroneously -considers it to be leafless. The trunk grows as high as -26 feet, but it probably requires from 120 to 150 years -to reach this height. The Mauritia extends high up on -the declivity of the Duida, north of the Esmeralda mission, -where I have found it in great beauty. It forms in moist -places fine groups of a fresh shining verdure, which reminds -us of that of our Alder groves. The trees preserve the -moisture of the ground by their shade, and hence the -Indians say that the Mauritia draws the water round its -roots by a mysterious attraction. By a somewhat similar -theory they advise that serpents should not be killed; because -the destruction of the serpents and the drying up of the -pools or lagunas accompany each other: thus the untutored -child of nature confounds cause and effect. Gumilla terms -the Mauritia flexuosa of the Guaranis the tree of life, -arbol de la vida. It grows in the mountains of Ronaima,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> -east of the sources of the Orinoco, as high as 4000 (4263 -Eng.) feet. On the unvisited banks of the Rio Atabapo, -in the interior of Guiana, we discovered a new species -of Mauritia with prickly stems, our Mauritia aculeata; -(Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth, Nova Genera et Species -Plantarum, t. i. p. 310).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> p. 16.—“<i>An American Stylites.</i>”</p> - -<p>The founder of the sect of the Stylites, the fanatical -pillar-saint Simeon Sisanites, the son of a Syrian herdsman, -is said to have passed thirty-seven years in religious contemplation -on the summits of five successive pillars, each higher -than the preceding. The last pillar was 40 ells high. -He died in the year 461. For seven hundred years there -continued to be men who imitated this manner of life, and -were called “sancti columnares” (pillar saints). Even in -Germany, in the Diocese of Treves, it was proposed to -erect such aerial cloisters, but the Bishops opposed the -undertaking (Mosheim, Institut. Hist. Eccles. 1755, p. 215.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> p. 17.—“<i>Towns on the banks of the streams -which flow through the Steppe.</i>”</p> - -<p>Families who live not by agriculture but by the care of -cattle, have congregated in the middle of the Steppe in -small towns, which, in the cultivated parts of Europe, -would hardly be regarded as villages. Such are Calabozo, -in 8° 56′ 14″ N. lat. and 67° 42′ long. according to my -observations, Villa del Pao, lat 8° 38′ 1″, long. 66° 57′, -S. Sebastian, and others.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> p. 17.—“<i>Conical-shaped clouds.</i>”</p> - -<p>The singular phenomenon of these “sand spouts,”—something -analogous to which may occasionally be seen on -a small scale in Europe where four roads meet,—is particularly -characteristic of the Peruvian Sand Desert between -Amotape and Coquimbo. Such a dense cloud of sand or -dust may prove dangerous to the traveller who does not -cautiously avoid its approach. It is also worthy of notice -that these partial conflicting currents of air only arise -when the air generally is perfectly calm. The aerial ocean -resembles the sea in this respect, for in the latter also the -small currents which are often heard to ripple audibly, -(filets de courant), are only perceptible in a dead calm -(calme plat).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> p. 18.—“<i>Increases the suffocating heat.</i>”</p> - -<p>I have observed in the Llanos de Apure, at the Guadalupe -cattle farm, the thermometer rise from 27° to 29° -Reaumur (92°.7 to 97°.2 Fahr.) whenever the hot wind -began to blow from the Desert, which at such times was -covered either with sand or with short withered turf. In -the middle of the sand-cloud the temperature was for some -minutes 35° R. (111° F.). The dry sand in the village of -San Fernando de Apure had a temperature of 42° R. -(126° Fahr.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> p. 18.—“<i>The illusive image of a cool rippling -watery mirror.</i>”</p> - -<p>The well-known phenomenon of the mirage is called in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> -Sanscrit the “thirst of the gazelle.” (See my Relation -historique, T. i. pp. 296 and 625; T. ii. p. 161.) All -objects appear to hover in the air, and are at the same time -seen reflected in the lower stratum of air. At such times -the entire desert assumes the aspect of the wave-covered -surface of a wide spread lake. Palm trees, cattle, and -camels, sometimes appear inverted on the horizon. In the -French expedition to Egypt, the soldiers, parched with -thirst, were often brought by this optical illusion into a -state of desperation. This phenomenon has been remarked -in all quarters of the globe. The ancients were acquainted -with the remarkable refraction of the rays of light in the -Lybian Desert. I find mention made in Diod. Sic. lib. iii. -p. 184, Rhod. (p. 219, Wessel), of extraordinary illusive -images, an African Fata Morgana, with most extravagant -explanations of the supposed conglomeration of the particles -of air.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> p. 19.—“<i>The Melon-Cactus.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Cactus melo cactus is often 10 to 12 inches in -diameter, and has usually 14 ribs. The natural group of -Cactaceæ, the whole family of Nopaleæ of Jussieu, belong exclusively -to the New Continent. The cactuses assume a great -variety of shapes: ribbed and melon-like (Melo cacti); articulated -or jointed (Opuntiæ); forming upright columns or -pillars (Cerei); serpentine and creeping (Rhipsalides); or -provided with leaves (Pereskiæ). Many extend high up the -sides of the mountains. Near the foot of the Chimborazo, -in the elevated sandy plain around Riobamba, I have found -a new kind of Pitahaya, the Cactus sepium, even at a height<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> -of 10,000 (10,660 Eng.) feet. (Humboldt, Bonpland, and -Kunth, Synopsis Plantarum æquinoct. Orbis novi, T. iii. -p. 370).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> p. 19.—“<i>The scene in the Steppe is -suddenly changed.</i>”</p> - -<p>I have endeavoured to depict the coming in of the rainy -season, and the signs by which it is announced. The usual -deep dark azure of the sky in the tropics arises from -the more complete solution of the vapour contained in the -atmosphere. The cyanometer indicates a paler blue as soon -as the vapours begin to be precipitated. The dark spot or -patch in the constellation of the Southern Cross gradually -becomes indistinct as the transparency of the atmosphere -diminishes, and this alteration announces the near approach -of rain. The brightness of the Magellanic clouds, (Nubecula -major and minor), gradually vanishes in a similar manner. -The fixed stars, which before shone like planets with a -steady, tranquil, and not trembling light, now scintillate -even in the zenith, where the vapours are least. (See -Arago, in my Relation hist. T. i. p. 623). All these appearances -are the results of the increased quantity of vapour -diffused in the atmosphere.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> p. 20.—“<i>Awakened from a torpid state by the -first fall of rain.</i>”</p> - -<p>Extreme dryness produces in plants and animals the same -phenomena as does the withdrawal of the stimulus of heat. -Many tropical trees and plants shed their leaves during the dry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> -season. The crocodiles and other amphibious animals hide -themselves in the mud, where they lie apparently dead, like -animals in a state of hybernation or plunged into winter -sleep by cold. (See my Relation historique, T. ii. pp. 192 -and 626.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> p. 20.—“<i>The aspect of a vast inland sea.</i>”</p> - -<p>Nowhere are these inundations more extensive than in -the network of rivers formed by the Apure, the Arachuna, -Pajara, Arauca, and Cabuliare. Large vessels sail across -the country over the Steppe for 40 or 50 miles.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> p. 21.—“<i>To the mountain plateau of -Antisana.</i>”</p> - -<p>The great mountain plain or plateau surrounding the -volcano of Antisana is 2107 toises (13473 English feet), -above the level of the sea. The atmospheric pressure at -this elevation is so small that the wild cattle, when hunted -with dogs, bleed from the nose and mouth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> p. 22.—“<i>Bera and Rastro.</i>”</p> - -<p>I have described the capture of the Gymnoti in detail in -another place. (Observations de Zoologie et d’Anatomie -comparée, vol. i. p. 83–87; and Relation historique, T. ii. -p. 173–190). M. Gay Lussac and I found the experiment -without a circuit succeed perfectly with a living Gymnotus, -which was still very vigorous when brought to Paris. The -discharge is solely dependent on the will of the animal.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -We did not see any spark, but other physicists have done -so on several occasions.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> p. 23.—“<i>Awakened by the contact of moist -dissimilar particles.</i>”</p> - -<p>In all parts of organic bodies dissimilar substances are -in contact with each other: in all, solids are associated -with fluids. Thus, wherever there is organization and life, -there is also electric tension or the play of the voltaic pile, -as the experiments of Nobili and Matteucci, and especially -the latest admirable labours of Emil du Bois, teach us. The -last named physicist has succeeded in “manifesting the -presence of the electric muscular current in living and -wholly uninjured animal bodies:” he shews that “the -human body, through the medium of a copper wire, can -cause a magnetic needle at a distance to be deflected at -pleasure, first in one and then in the opposite direction.” -(Untersuchungen über thierische Elektricität, von Emil du -Bois-Reymond, 1848, Bd. i. S. xv.) I have witnessed -these movements produced at pleasure, and have had the gratification -of seeing thereby great and unexpected light thrown -on phenomena to which I had laboriously and hopefully -devoted several years of my youth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> p. 23.—“<i>Osiris and Typhon.</i>”</p> - -<p>On the conflict between two races of men, the Arabian -pastoral people in Lower Egypt, and the agricultural race in -Upper Egypt who were in a more advanced state of civilisation, -on the fair-haired Prince Baby or Typhon, who founded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> -Pelusium, and on the dark-complexioned Dionysos or -Osiris, see Zoëga’s ancient, and now for the most part -abandoned views, in his great work “De Origine et Usu -Obeliscorum,” p. 577.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> p. 24.—“<i>The boundary of a partial European -cultivation.</i>”</p> - -<p>In the Capitania general de Caracas, as generally every -where on the eastern shores of America, the cultivation -introduced by Europeans, and their presence and influence, -are limited to a narrow strip of country along the coast. -In Mexico, New Granada, and Quito, on the other hand, -European civilisation has penetrated deep into the interior -of the country, and advanced up the ridges of the Cordilleras. -There existed in these last-named regions a considerable -degree of settled and civilised life previous to the -arrival of the Spaniards; and they have followed this civilisation -wherever they found it, regardless whether its seat -was near or at a distance from the sea coast. They retained -and enlarged the ancient cities, of which they either mutilated -the old significant Indian names, or gave them new -names, as, for example, of Christian saints.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> p. 24.—“<i>Massive leaden-coloured granite rocks.</i>”</p> - -<p>In the Orinoco, and more especially at the Cataracts of -Maypures and Atures, all blocks of granite, and even white -pieces of quartz, whenever they are touched by the water of -the river, acquire a greyish-black coating which scarcely -penetrates a hundredth of a line below the surface of the rock.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> -The appearance produced is that of basalt, or fossils coloured -with graphite. The crust appears to contain manganese -and carbon; I say appears, for the phenomenon has -not yet been thoroughly examined. Something similar was -remarked by Rozier on the syenite rocks of the Nile, near -Syene and Philæ; by the unfortunate Captain Tuckey on -the rocky banks of the Congo; and by Sir Robert Schomburgh -on the Berbice. (Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoko, -S. 212.) On the Orinoco these leaden-coloured rocks -are considered to give out pernicious exhalations when -wet; and their proximity is believed to produce fevers. -(Rel. hist. T. ii. p. 299–304.) In the Rio Negro, and -generally in the South American rivers which have “black -waters,” “aguas negras,” or waters of a coffee-brown or -yellow tint, no such effects take place. No black colour -is imparted to the granite rocks by the waters; that is to say, -they do not act upon the stone so as to form from its constituent -particles a black or leaden-coloured crust.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> p. 24.—“<i>The rain-announcing howlings of the -bearded apes.</i>”</p> - -<p>The melancholy howlings of the small apes, Simia seniculus, -Simia beelzebub, &c., are heard some hours before -the rain commences: it is as if the tempest were heard -raging at a distance. The intensity of the noise produced -by such small animals can only be explained by their -number; seventy or eighty being often lodged in a single -tree. On the organs of voice of these animals, see my anatomical -treatise in the first chapter of my Recueil d’Observations -de Zoologie, vol. i. p. 18.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> p. 24.—“<i>Often covered with birds.</i>”</p> - -<p>The crocodiles lie so motionless that I have seen flamingos -(Phœnicopterus) resting on their heads; the body at the -same time being covered with aquatic birds, like the trunk -of a tree.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> p. 24.—“<i>Down his swelling throat.</i>”</p> - -<p>The saliva with which the boa covers his prey hastens the -process of decomposition; the muscular flesh thus becomes -softened into such a gelatinous state, that he can force entire -limbs of larger, and bodies of smaller, animals down his -throat without division. The Creoles call this gigantic -serpent from these circumstances, “Tragavenado,” which -means “Stag swallower:” they tell fabulous stories of -snakes being seen with the antlers of a stag (which it was -impossible to swallow) sticking in their throats. I have -several times seen the boa swimming in the Orinoco, -and in the smaller forest streams, the Tuamini, the Temi -and the Atabapo. It holds its head above the water like a -dog. Its skin is finely spotted. It is said to attain a length -of 48 feet; but the largest skins which have as yet been -brought to Europe and carefully measured do not exceed -21 to 23 feet. The South American boa (which is a -Python) differs from the East Indian. On the Ethiopian -boa, see Diodor. lib. iii. p. 204, ed. Wesseling.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> p. 25.—“<i>Using ants, gums, and earth as food.</i>”</p> - -<p>It was a very prevalent report on the coasts of Cumana, -New Barcelona, and Caraccas, visited by the Franciscan<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> -monks of Guiana on their return from the missions, that -there were men on the banks of the Orinoco who ate earth. -When, in returning from the Rio Negro, we descended the -Orinoco in thirty-six days, we passed the day of the 6th of -June, 1800, in the Mission inhabited by the earth-eating -Otomacs. This little village is called La Concepcion de -Uruana, and is very picturesquely situated at the foot of -a granite rock. I found its geographical position to be -7° 8′ 3″ N. lat., and 67° 18′ W. long. from Greenwich. -The earth which the Otomacs eat is a soft unctuous clay; a -true potter’s clay, of a yellowish-grey colour due to a little -oxide of iron. They seek for it in particular spots on the -banks of the Orinoco and the Meta, and select it with care. -They distinguish the taste of one kind of earth from that of -another, and do not consider all clays as equally agreeable -to eat. They knead the earth into balls of about five or -six inches diameter, which they burn or roast by a weak fire -until the outside assumes a reddish tint. The balls are -remoistened when about to be eaten. These Indians are -generally wild uncultivated beings, and altogether averse to -any kind of tillage. It is a proverb even among the most -distant of the nations living on the Orinoco, when speaking -of anything very unclean, to say that it is “so dirty, -that the Otomacs eat it.”</p> - -<p>As long as the waters of the Orinoco and the Meta are -low these Indians live on fish and river tortoises. They -kill the fish with arrows when at the surface of the water, a -pursuit in which we have often admired their great dexterity. -During the periodical swelling of the rivers the taking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> -of fish ceases, for it is as difficult to fish in deep river water -as in the deep sea. It is in this interval, which is of two -or three months’ duration, that the Otomacs swallow great -quantities of earth. We have found considerable stores of -it in their huts, the clay balls being piled together in pyramidal -heaps. The very intelligent monk, Fray Ramon -Bueno, a native of Madrid (who lived twelve years among -these Indians), assured us that one of them would eat from -three quarters of a pound to a pound and a quarter in a -day. According to the accounts which the Otomacs themselves -give, this earth forms their principal subsistence -during the rainy season, though they eat at the same time -occasionally, when they can obtain it, a lizard, a small fish, -or a fern root. They have such a predilection for the clay, -that even in the dry season, when they can obtain plenty -of fish, they eat a little earth after their meals every day -as a kind of dainty. These men have a dark copper-brown -complexion, and unpleasing Tartar features. They are fat, -but not large-bellied. The Franciscan monk who lived -among them as a missionary, assured us that he could -perceive no alteration in their health during the earth-eating -season.</p> - -<p>The simple facts are therefore as follows:—The Indians eat -large quantities of earth without injury to their health; and -they themselves regard the earth so eaten as an alimentary -substance, <i>i. e.</i> they feel themselves satisfied by eating it, and -that for a considerable time; and they attribute this to the -earth or clay, and not to the other scanty articles of subsistence -which they now and then obtain in addition. If you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -inquire from an Otomac about his winter provision, (in -tropical South America the rainy season is usually called -winter), he points to the heap of clay balls stored in his hut. -But these simple facts by no means determine the questions, -whether the clay be really an alimentary substance? whether -earths be capable of assimilation? or whether they merely -serve to appease hunger by distending the stomach? I -cannot pretend to decide these questions. (Rel. hist. T. ii. -p. 618–620.) It is curious that the usually credulous and -uncritical Father Gumilla positively denies the earth-eating -as such. (Historia del Rio Orinoco, nueva impr. 1791, -T. i. p. 179.) He affirms that the balls of clay had maize-meal -and crocodile-fat mixed with them. But the missionary, -Fray Ramon Bueno, and our friend and travelling -companion, the lay brother Fray Juan Gonzalez, who was -lost at sea off the Coast of Africa with part of our collections, -both assured us that the Otomacs never mix crocodile -fat with the clay; and of the meal said to be mixed with -it we heard absolutely nothing during our stay in Uruana. -The earth which we brought back with us, and which -Vauquelin analysed, is thoroughly pure and unmixed. May -Gumilla, by a confusion of things wholly distinct, have been -alluding to the preparation of bread from the long pod of a -kind of Inga, which is previously buried in the earth in order -to hasten the commencement of the first stage of decay? -That the health of the Otomacs should not suffer from eating -so much earth appears to me particularly remarkable. Have -they become accustomed to it in the course of several -generations?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>In all tropical countries, human beings shew an extraordinary -and almost irresistible desire to swallow earth; and -not alkaline earths, which they might be supposed to crave -to neutralize acid, but unctuous and strong-smelling clays. -It is often necessary to confine children to prevent them -from running out to eat earth immediately after a fall of -rain. I have observed with astonishment the Indian -women in the village of Banco on the Magdalena River, -whilst engaged in shaping earthen vessels on the potter’s wheel, -put great lumps of clay into their mouths. The same thing -was remarked at an earlier period by Gili. (Saggio di -Storia Americana, T. ii. p. 311.) Wolves also eat earth, -and especially clay, in winter. It would be important to -examine carefully the excrements of animals and men that -eat earth. With the exception of the Otomacs, individuals -of all other races who indulge for any length of time the -strange desire of earth-eating have their health injured by -it. At the mission of San Borja, we saw the child of an -Indian woman, who, his mother said, would hardly eat -anything but earth. He was, however, wasted nearly to a -skeleton.</p> - -<p>Why is it that in the temperate and cold zones this morbid -craving for eating earth is so much more rare, and is almost -entirely confined, when it is met with, to children and pregnant -women; while in the tropics it would appear to be -indigenous in all quarters of the globe? In Guinea the -negroes eat a yellowish earth, which they call Caouac. -When brought as slaves to the West Indies, they try to -obtain a similar earth, and affirm that in their own country<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> -the habit never did them any harm. In the American -Islands they were made ill by it, and it was forbidden in -consequence; but a kind of earth (un tuf rouge jaunâtre) -was, in 1751, sold secretly in the market in Martinique. -“Les negres de Guinée disent que dans leur pays ils -mangent habituellement une certaine terre, dont le goût leur -plait, sans en être incommodés. Ceux qui sont dans l’abus -de manger du Caouac en sont si friands qu’il n’y a pas de -châtiment qui puisse les empêcher de dévorer de la terre.” -(Thibault de Chanvalon, Voyage à la Martinique, p. 85.) -In the Island of Java, between Sarabaya and Samarang, -Labillardière saw small square reddish-coloured cakes exposed -for sale in the villages. The natives called them tana ampo -(tanah, in Malay and Javanese, signifies earth). On examination -and enquiry he found that the cakes consisted of reddish -clay, and that they were eaten. (Voyage à la Récherche de -la Pérouse, T. ii. p. 322.) The edible clay of Samarang -has recently been sent to Berlin by Mohnike, in 1847, in -the shape of rolled tubes, like cinnamon, and has been -examined by Ehrenberg. It is a fresh-water formation -deposited on limestone, and consisting of microscopic -Polygastrica, Gaillonella, Naviculas, and Phytolitharia. -(Bericht über die Verhandl. der Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, -aus dem J. 1848, S. 222–225.) The inhabitants of New -Caledonia, to appease their hunger, eat pieces as big as -the fist of friable steatite, which Vauquelin found to contain -in addition no inconsiderable quantity of copper. (Voyage -à la Récherche de la Pérouse, T. ii. p. 205.) In Popayan, -and several parts of Peru, calcareous earth is sold in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> -streets as an eatable for the Indians; it is used with Coca -(the leaves of the Erythroxylon peruvianum.) Thus we find -the practice of eating earth diffused throughout the torrid -zone, among indolent races inhabiting the finest and most -fertile parts of the globe. But accounts have also come -from the North, through Berzelius and Retzius, according -to which, hundreds of cartloads of earth containing Infusoria -are said to be annually consumed by the country people, -in the most remote parts of Sweden, as breadmeal, and -even more from fancy (like the smoking of tobacco) than -from necessity! In Finland this kind of earth is occasionally -mixed with the bread. It consists of empty shells of -animalculæ, so small and soft that they do not crunch -perceptibly between the teeth; it fills the stomach, but -gives no real nourishment. In periods of war, chronicles -and documents preserved in archives often give intimation -of earths containing infusoria having been eaten; speaking -of them under the vague and general name of “mountain -meal.” It was thus during the Thirty Years’ War in -Pomerania (at Camin); in the Lausitz (at Muskau); and -in the territory of Dessau (at Klieken); and subsequently -in 1719 and 1733 at the fortress of Wittenberg. (See -Ehrenberg über das unsichtbar wirkende organische Leben, -1842, S. 41.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> p. 25.—“<i>Figures graven on the rock.</i>”</p> - -<p>In the interior of South America, between the 2d and -4th degrees of North latitude, a forest-covered plain is -enclosed by four rivers, the Orinoco, the Atabapo, the Rio<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -Negro, and the Cassiquiare. In this district are found rocks -of granite and of syenite, covered, like those of Caicara and -Uruana, with colossal symbolical figures of crocodiles and -tigers, and drawings of household utensils, and of the sun and -moon. At the present time this remote corner of the earth -is entirely without human inhabitants, throughout an extent -of more than 8000 square geographical miles. The tribes -nearest to its boundaries are wandering naked savages, in -the lowest stage of human existence, and far removed from -any thoughts of carving hieroglyphics on rocks. One may -trace in South America an entire zone, extending through -more than eight degrees of longitude, of rocks so ornamented; -viz. from the Rupuniri, Essequibo, and the -mountains of Pacaraima, to the banks of the Orinoco and -of the Yupura. These carvings may belong to very -different epochs, for Sir Robert Schomburgk even found -on the Rio Negro representations of a Spanish galiot -(Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoko, übersetzt von Otto -Schomburgk, 1841, S. 500), which must have been of a -later date than the beginning of the 16th century; and this -in a wilderness where the natives were probably as rude -then as at the present time. But it must not be forgotten -that, as I have elsewhere noticed, nations of very different -descent, when in a similar uncivilized state, having the same -disposition to simplify and generalise outlines, and being -impelled by inherent mental dispositions to form rhythmical -repetitions and series, may be led to produce similar signs -and symbols. (Compare Relation hist. T. ii. p. 589, -and Martius über die Physionomie des Pflanzenreichs in -Brasilien, 1824, S. 14.)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>At the Meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, -on the 17th of November, 1836, there was read a memoir -by Sir Robert Schomburgk “On the Religious Traditions of -the Macusi Indians, who inhabit the Upper Mahu and a -part of the Pacaraima Mountains;” a nation, consequently, -who for a century (since the journey of the adventurous -Hortsmann,) have not changed their residence. Sir Robert -Schomburgk says: “The Macusis believe that the sole -survivor of a general deluge repeopled the earth by changing -stones into human beings.” This myth (the fruit of the -lively imagination of these nations, and which reminds us -of Deucalion and Pyrrha), shews itself in a somewhat altered -form among the Tamanaks of the Orinoco. When asked how -mankind survived the great flood, the “age of waters” of -the Mexicans, they reply without any hesitation, that ‘one -man and one woman took refuge on the high mountain of -Tamanacu, on the banks of the Asiveru, and that they then -threw over their heads and behind their backs the fruits of -the Mauritia-palm, from the kernels of which sprang men -and women who repeopled the earth.’ Some miles from -Encaramada, there rises, in the middle of the savannah, the -rock Tepu-Mereme, or the painted rock. It shews several -figures of animals and symbolical outlines which resemble -much those observed by us at some distance above Encaramada, -near Caycara, in 7° 5′ to 7° 40′ lat. and 66° 28′ to -67° 23′ W. long. from Greenwich. Rocks thus marked -are found between the Cassiquiare and the Atabapo -(in 2° 5′ to 3° 20′ lat.), and what is particularly remarkable, -560 geographical miles farther to the East in the solitudes -of the Parime. This last fact is placed beyond a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> -doubt by the journal of Nicholas Hortsmann, of which I have -seen a copy in the handwriting of the celebrated D’Anville. -That simple and modest traveller wrote down every day, on -the spot, what had appeared to him most worthy of notice, -and he deserves perhaps the more credence because, being -full of dissatisfaction at having failed to discover the objects -of his researches, the Lake of Dorado, with lumps of gold -and a diamond mine, he looked with a certain degree of -contempt on whatever fell in his way. He found, on the -16th of April, 1749, on the banks of the Rupunuri, at the -spot where the river winding between the Macarana mountains -forms several small cascades, and before arriving in the -district immediately round Lake Amucu, “rocks covered -with figures,”—or as he says in Portuguese, “de varias -letras.” We were shown at the rock of Culimacari, on the -banks of the Cassiquiare, signs which were called characters, -arranged in lines,—but they were only ill-shaped figures of -heavenly bodies, boa-serpents, and the utensils employed in -preparing manioc-meal. I have never found among these -painted rocks (piedras pintadas) any symmetrical arrangement -or any regular even-spaced characters. I am therefore -disposed to think that the word “letras” in Hortsmann’s -journal must not be taken in the strictest sense.</p> - -<p>Schomburgk was not so fortunate as to rediscover the -rock seen by Hortsmann, but he has seen and described -others on the banks of the Essequibo, near the cascade of -Warraputa. “This cascade,” he says, “is celebrated not -only for its height but also for the quantity of figures cut -on the rock, which have great resemblance to those which I -have seen in the Island of St. John, one of the Virgin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> -Islands, and which I consider to be, without doubt, the -work of the Caribs, by whom that part of the Antilles was -formerly inhabited. I made the utmost efforts to detach portions -of the rock which contained the inscription, and which I -desired to take with me; but the stone was too hard, and -fever had taken away my strength. Neither promises nor -threats could prevail on the Indians to give a single blow with -a hammer to these rocks,—the venerable monuments of the -superior mental cultivation of their predecessors. They -regard them as the work of the Great Spirit, and the -different tribes who we met with, though living at a great -distance, were nevertheless acquainted with them. Terror -was painted on the faces of my Indian companions, who -appeared to expect every moment that the fire of heaven -would fall on my head. I saw clearly that my endeavours -would be fruitless, and I contented myself with bringing -away a complete drawing of these memorials.” The last -determination was certainly the best, and the editor of the -English Journal, to my great satisfaction, adds a note to -the effect that it is to be wished that no one else may be -more successful than Mr. Schomburgk, and that no future -traveller from civilized countries may do anything towards -the destruction of these monuments of the unprotected -Indians.</p> - -<p>The symbolical signs seen by Robert Schomburgk in the -Valley of the Essequibo, near the rapids of Waraputa, -(Richard Schomburgk, Reisen in Britisch-Guiana, Th. i. -S. 320), were remarked by him to bear a great resemblance -to genuine Carib ones in one of the small -Virgin Islands (St. John’s); but notwithstanding the wide<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> -extent of the invasions of the Caribs, and the ancient power -of this fine race, I cannot believe that all the rock engravings,—which, -as I have said, form an immense belt -traversing a great part of South America from west to -east,—are to be regarded as their work. I am inclined -rather to view these remains as traces of an ancient civilisation,—belonging, -perhaps, to an epoch when the tribes -whom we now distinguish by various appellations were -still unknown. Even the veneration everywhere testified -by the Indians of the present day for these rude sculptures -of their predecessors, shews that they have no idea of the -execution of similar works. There is another circumstance -which should be mentioned: between Encaramada -and Caycara, on the banks of the Orinoco, a number of -these hieroglyphical figures are sculptured on the face of -precipices at a height which could now be reached only by -means of extraordinarily high scaffolding. If one asks the -natives how these figures can have been cut, they answer, -laughing, as if it were a fact of which none but a white -man could be ignorant, that “in the days of the great -waters their fathers went in canoes at that height.” Thus -a geological fancy is made to afford an answer to the -problem presented by a civilisation which has long passed -away.</p> - -<p>Let me be permitted to introduce here a remark -which I borrow from a letter addressed to me by the -distinguished traveller, Sir Robert Schomburgk. “The -hieroglyphical figures are more widely extended than you -had perhaps supposed. During my expedition, which had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -for its object the examination of the Corentyn River, I not -only observed some colossal figures on the rock of Timeri -(4½° N. lat. and 57½° W. long.), but I also discovered -similar ones near the great cataracts of the Corentyn, in -4° 21′ 30″ N. lat. and 57° 55′ 30″ W. long. These -figures are executed with much greater care than any which -I discovered in Guiana. Their size is about ten feet, and -they appear to represent human figures. The head-dress is -extremely remarkable; it encompasses the head, spreading -out considerably in breadth, and is not unlike the halos -represented in paintings as surrounding the heads of Saints -and Sacred Persons. I have left my drawings of these -figures in the colony, but I hope some day to be able to -lay them all before the public. I saw ruder figures on the -Cuyuwini, a river which empties itself into the Essequibo -in latitude 2° 16′ N., entering it from the north-west; and -I have since seen similar figures on the Essequibo itself in -1° 40′ N. lat. These figures extend, therefore, as ascertained -by actual observation, from 7° 10′ to 1° 40′ N. lat., -and from 57° 30′ to 66° 30′ W. long. Thus the -zone of pictured rocks extends, so far as it has been at -present examined, over a space of 192000 square geographical -miles, comprising the basins of the Corentyn, the -Essequibo, and the Orinoco; a circumstance from which -we may form some inferences respecting the former amount -of population in this part of the continent.”</p> - -<p>Other remarkable remains of a degree of civilisation which -no longer exists, are the granite vases with graceful labyrinthine -ornaments, and the earthen masks resembling Roman<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> -ones, which have been discovered on the Mosquito coast, -among wild Indians. (Archæologia Britan. vol. v. 1779, -p. 318–324; and vol. vi. 1782, p. 107.) I have had them -engraved in the “Picturesque Atlas” which accompanies -the historical portion of my Travels to the Equinoctial Regions. -Antiquaries are astonished at the similarity of these -ornaments (resembling a well-known Grecian form), to those -of the Palace of Mitla, near Oaxaca, in Mexico. In looking -at Peruvian carvings, I have never remarked any figures of the -large-nosed race of men, so frequently represented in the bas-reliefs -of Palenque in Guatimala, and in the Aztec paintings. -Klaproth remembered having seen individuals with -similar large noses among the Chalcas, a northern Mogul -tribe. It is well known that many tribes of the North -American red or copper-coloured Indians have fine aquiline -noses; and that this is an essential physiognomic distinction -between them and the present inhabitants of Mexico, New -Granada, Quito, and Peru. Are the large-eyed, comparatively -fair-complexioned people, spoken of by Marchand as -having been seen in 54° and 58° lat. on the north-west -coast of America, descended from an Alano-Gothic race, the -Usüni of the interior of Asia?</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> p. 25.—“<i>Apparently weaponless, and yet prepared -for murder.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Otomacs often poison the thumb-nail with Curare. -A mere scratch of the nail is deadly if the curare mixes -with the blood. We obtained specimens of the climbing -plant, from the juice of which the curare is prepared, at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> -Esmeralda on the Upper Orinoco, but unfortunately we -did not find it in blossom. Judging by its physiognomy it -appears to be related to Strychnos (Rel. hist. T. ii. p. 547–556). -Since the notice in the work referred to of the -curare or ourari (previously mentioned by Raleigh, both as a -plant and as a poison), the brothers Robert and Richard -Schomburgk have done much towards making us accurately -acquainted with the nature and preparation of this substance, -of which I was the first to bring a considerable quantity -to Europe. Richard Schomburgk found the plant in -blossom in Guiana on the banks of the Pomeroon and the -Sururu in the territory of the Caribs, who are not, however, -acquainted with the manner of preparing the poison. His -instructive work (Reisen in Britisch-Guiana, Th. i. S. 441–461), -contains the chemical analysis of the juice of the -Strychnos toxifera, which, notwithstanding its name and -its organic structure, does not contain, according to Boussingault, -any trace of strychnine. Virchou and Münter’s -interesting physiological experiments make it probable that -the curare or ourari poison does not kill by mere external -absorption, but only when absorbed by living animal substance -of which the continuity has been severed (<i>i. e.</i> which -has been wounded slightly); that it does not belong to the -class of tetanic poisons; and that its particular effect is to -take away the power of voluntary muscular movement, -whilst the involuntary functions of the heart and intestines -still continue. Compare, also, the older chemical analysis of -Boussingault, in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, -T. xxxix. 1828, p. 24–37.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_A" href="#FNanchor_A" class="label">[*]</a> - -[The circumstance referred to was even more remarkable. Casks -of palm oil, part of the cargo of the ship wrecked near Cape Lopez, -were conveyed by the current to Finmarken, and stranded near the -North Cape. Vide Editor’s note in the English translation of -“Cosmos,” vol. i. p. xcvii.]—<i>Tr.</i></p> - -</div> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Cataracts"> - -<span class="small">THE</span><br /> - - -CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO.</h2> - -</div> -<p>In the preceding section, which was made the subject of -an academical lecture, I sought to depict those boundless -plains which, according to the varying modification of their -natural characters induced by climatic relations, appear to -us sometimes as Deserts devoid of vegetation, and sometimes -as Steppes, or widely-extended grassy plains or -Prairies. In so doing I contrasted the Llanos of the -southern part of the New Continent with the dreadful -seas of sand which form the African Deserts; and these -again with the Steppes of Central Asia, the habitation of -world-assailing pastoral nations, who at a former period, -when pressed hitherward from the East, spread barbarism -and devastation over the earth.</p> - -<p>If on that occasion, (in 1806,) I ventured to combine -widely distributed portions of the earth’s surface in a single -picture of nature, and to entertain a public assembly with -images whose colouring was in unison with the mournful -disposition of our minds at that epoch, I will now, limiting -myself to a narrower circle of phenomena, sketch the more -cheerful picture of river scenery composed of foaming rapids -and rich luxuriant vegetation. I propose to describe in -particular two scenes of nature in the wildernesses of Guiana,—the -celebrated Cataracts of the Orinoco, Atures and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> -Maypures,—which, previous to my visit, few Europeans -had ever seen.</p> - -<p>The impression left on our minds by the aspect of nature -is frequently determined, less even by the peculiar character -of the strictly terrestrial portion of the scene, than by the -light thrown on mountain or plain, either by a sky of azure -purity, or by one veiled by lowering clouds; and in the -same manner descriptions of nature act upon us more -powerfully or more feebly, according as they are more or -less in harmony with the requirements of our feelings. For -it is the inward mirror of the sensitive mind which reflects -the true and living image of the natural world. All that -determines the character of a landscape,—the outline of the -mountains, which, in the far-vanishing distance, bound the -horizon,—the dark shade of the pine forests,—the sylvan -torrent rushing between overhanging cliffs to its fall,—all -are in antecedent mysterious communion with the inner -feelings and life of man.</p> - -<p>On this communion rests the nobler portion of the -enjoyment which nature affords. Nowhere does she penetrate -us more deeply with the feeling of her grandeur, -nowhere does she speak to us with a more powerful voice, -than in the tropical world, under the “Indian sky,” as, in -the early middle ages, the climate of the torrid zone was -called. If, therefore, I venture again to occupy this -Assembly with a description of those regions, I do so in -the hope that the peculiar charm which belongs to them -will not be unfelt. The remembrance of a distant richly -endowed land,—the aspect of a free and vigorous vegetation,—refreshes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> -and strengthens the mind; in the same -manner as our spirits, when oppressed with the actual -present, love to escape awhile, and to delight themselves -with the earlier youthful age of mankind, and with the -manifestations of its simple grandeur.</p> - -<p>Favouring winds and currents bear the voyager westward -across the peaceful Ocean arm,<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> which fills the wide -valley between the New Continent and western Africa. -Before the American shore rises from the liquid plain, he -hears the tumult of contending, mutually opposing, and -inter-crossing waves. The mariner unacquainted with the -region would surmise the vicinity of shoals, or a wonderful -outbreak of fresh springs in the middle of the ocean,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> -like those in the neighbourhood of Cuba. On approaching -nearer to the granitic coast of Guiana, he becomes sensible -that he has entered the wide embouchure of a mighty river, -which issues forth like a shoreless lake and covers the -ocean around with fresh water. The green, and on the -shallows the milk-white, tint of the fresh water contrasts -with the indigo-blue colour of the sea, and marks with -sharp outlines the limits of the river waves.</p> - -<p>The name Orinoco, given to the river by its first discoverers, -and which probably originated in some confusion -of language, is unknown in the interior of the country. -Nations in a rude state designate by proper geographical -names only such objects as can be confounded with each -other. The Orinoco, the Amazons, and the Magdalena -rivers, are called simply “The River,” or “The Great River,” -or “The Great Water;” whilst those who dwell on their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -banks distinguish even the smallest streams by particular -names.</p> - -<p>The current produced by the Orinoco, between the mainland -and the Island of Trinidad with its asphaltic lake, is -so strong, that ships with all sail set, and with a favourable -breeze, can with difficulty make way against it. This -deserted and dreaded part of the sea is called the Bay of -Sadness (Golfo Triste); the entrance forms the Dragon’s -Mouth (Boca del Drago). Here detached cliffs rise like -towers above the foaming floods, and seem still to indicate -the ancient site of a rocky bulwark<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>, which, before it was -broken by the force of the current, united the island of -Trinidad with the coast of Paria.</p> - -<p>The aspect of this region first convinced the great discoverer -of the New World of the existence of an American -continent. Familiar with nature, he inferred that so immense -a body of fresh water could only be collected in a long -course, and “that the land which supplied it must be a -continent, not an island.” As, according to Arrian, the -companions of Alexander, after crossing the snow-covered -Paropanisus,<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> on reaching the Indus imagined, from the -presence of crocodiles, that they recognised in that river a -branch of the Nile; so Columbus, unaware of the similarity -of physiognomy which characterises the various productions -of the climate of Palms, readily supposed this new continent -to be the eastern coast of the far-projecting continent of -Asia. The mild coolness of the evening air, the ethereal -purity of the starry firmament, the balsamic fragrance of the -flowers wafted to him by the land breeze,—all led him (as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> -Herrara tells us in the Decades)<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a>, to deem that he had -approached the garden of Eden, the sacred dwelling-place -of the first parents of the human race. The Orinoco -appeared to him to be one of the four rivers descending -from Paradise, to divide and water the earth newly decked -with vegetation. This poetic passage from the journal of -Columbus’s voyage, or rather from a letter written from -Hayti, in October 1498, to Ferdinand and Isabella, has a -peculiar psychological interest. It teaches us anew that -the creative imagination of the poet exists in the Discoverer -as in every form of human greatness.</p> - -<p>In considering the quantity of water which the Orinoco -bears to the Atlantic, the question arises—Which of the great -South American Rivers,—the Orinoco, the Amazons, or the -River Plate,—is the largest? The question, however, thus -put is not a determinate one, the idea of size in this case -not being altogether definite. The River Plate has the -widest embouchure, being 92 geographical miles across; -but, like the British rivers, its length is comparatively small. -Even at Buenos Ayres its depth is already so inconsiderable -as to impede navigation. The Amazons is the longest of -all rivers: its course from its origin in the Lake of Lauricocha -to its mouth is 2880 geographical miles. But its -breadth in the province of Jaen de Bracamoros, near the -cataract of Rentama, as measured by me at the foot of the -picturesque mountain of Patachuma, hardly equals that of -the Rhine at Mayence.</p> - -<p>The Orinoco is narrower at its mouth than either the -River Plate or the Amazons; and its length, according to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -positions astronomically determined by me, only amounts to -1120 geographical miles. But, on the other hand, far in -the interior of Guiana, 560 miles from its mouth, I still -found its breadth, when full, 16200 Parisian (17265 Eng.) -feet. The periodical swelling of the river annually raises -its level at this part of its course from 30 to 36 feet above -its lowest level. Sufficient materials for an accurate comparison -of the enormous rivers which intersect the continent -of South America are still wanting. For such a -comparison it would be needful to know in each case the -profile of the river-bed, and the velocity of the water, which -differs very greatly in different parts of the same stream.</p> - -<p>If, in the Delta enclosed by its variously divided and still -unexplored arms,—in the regularity of its periodical rise -and fall—and in the number and size of its crocodiles,—the -Orinoco shews points of resemblance to the -Nile, there is this further analogy between the two rivers, -that after long rushing rapidly through many windings -between wood-fringed shores formed by granitic and syenitic -rocks and mountains, during the remainder of their course -they slowly roll their waters to the sea, between treeless -banks, over an almost horizontal bed. An arm of the -Nile (the Green Nile, Bahr-el-Azrek) flows from the celebrated -mountain-lake near Gondar, in the Abyssinian Gojam -Alps, to Syene and Elephantis, through the mountains of -Shangalla and Sennaar. In a similar manner the Orinoco -rises on the southern declivity of the mountain chain which, -in the 4th and 5th parallel of North latitude, extends westward -from French Guiana towards the Andes of New<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> -Granada. The sources of the Orinoco<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> have never been -visited by any European, or even by any natives who have -been in communication with Europeans.</p> - -<p>In ascending the Upper Orinoco in the summer of 1800, -we passed the Mission of Esmeralda, and reached the mouths -of the Sodomoni and the Guapo. Here rises high above -the clouds the massive summit of the Yeonnamari or Duida, -a grand and picturesque mountain which presents to the -spectator one of the finest scenes of nature which the -tropical world has to offer. Its altitude, according to my -trigonometrical measurement, is 8278 (8823 Eng.) feet -above the level of the sea. The southern slope of the -mountain presents a treeless grassy surface, and the humid -evening air is filled far and wide with the fragrance of the -ripe ananas. The stalks of the pine apples, swelling with -rich juice, rise between the lowly herbs of the meadow, -and the golden fruit is seen shining at a distance from -under its leafy crown of bluish-green. Where mountain -springs or rivulets break forth from the turfy covering, -the scene is further adorned by groups of tall fan-palms, -whose foliage never feels the influence of a cool breeze.</p> - -<p>On the east of the Duida mountain a dense thicket of -wild Cacao groves begins, and amidst these are found trees -of the celebrated Bertholletia excelsa, the most vigorous of -the productions of the tropical world<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a>. Here the Indians -collect the materials for their blow-pipes, colossal grass-stalks -having joints above 18 feet long from knot to knot.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> -Some Franciscan monks have penetrated as far as the mouth -of the Chiguire, where the river is already so narrow that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> -the natives have thrown across it, near the waterfall of -the Guaharibes, a suspension bridge formed of the twining -stems of climbing plants. The Guaicas, a race of comparatively -light complexion but of small stature, armed with -poisoned arrows, forbid any farther advance towards the east.</p> - -<p>All, therefore, that has been put forward respecting the -lake origin of the Orinoco is fabulous<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a>. We seek in vain -in nature for the Laguna of El Dorado, which is still marked -in Arrowsmith’s maps as an inland sea 80 geographical -miles in length. Has the little reedy lake of Amucu, -from which the Pirara (a branch of the Mahu) flows, given -rise to this fable? But the swamp in which the lake of -Amucu is situated is four degrees of longitude to the east of -the district in which the sources of the Orinoco must be -sought.</p> - -<p>It was an ancient custom of dogmatising geographers to -make all the larger rivers of the world originate in considerable -lakes. To the lake forming the supposed origin -of the Orinoco was transferred the site of the island of -Pumacena, a rock of micaceous slate, the glitter of which, -in the 16th century, played, in the fable of El Dorado, -a memorable, and to deceived humanity often a fatal -part. It is the belief of the natives, that the Magellanic -clouds of the southern hemisphere, and even the fine nebulæ -in the constellation of the ship Argo, are a reflection -of the metallic brilliancy of the silver mountains of the -Parime.</p> - -<p>The Orinoco is one of those rivers which, after many -windings, seem to return back towards the region in which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> -they took their rise. After following a westerly and then a -northerly course, it runs again to the east, so that its mouth -is almost in the same meridian as its source. From the -Chiguire and the Gehette as far as the Guaviare the -Orinoco flows to the west, as if it would carry its waters to -the Pacific. It is in this part of its course that it sends out -towards the south a remarkable arm, the Cassiquiare, but -little known in Europe, which unites with the Rio Negro, -(called by the natives the Guainia), and offers perhaps the -only example of a bifurcation forming in the very interior -of a continent a natural connection between two great rivers -and their basins.</p> - -<p>The nature of the ground, and the junction of the -Guaviare and Atabapo with the Orinoco, cause the latter to -turn suddenly towards the north. In the absence of correct -geographical knowledge, the Guaviare flowing in from the -west was long regarded as the true origin of the Orinoco. -The doubts raised by an eminent geographer, M. Buache, -since 1797, as to the probability of a connection with the -Amazons, have I hope been entirely refuted by my expedition. -In an uninterrupted navigation of 920 geographical -miles I passed through the singular network of rivers, from -the Rio Negro, by the Cassiquiare, into the Orinoco; traversing -in this manner the interior of the Continent, from -the Brazilian boundary to the coast of Caraccas.</p> - -<p>In the upper portion of the basin of the Orinoco and its -tributaries, between the 3rd and 4th degrees of north latitude, -nature has several times repeated the enigmatical -phenomenon of the so-called “black waters.” The Atabapo,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> -whose banks are adorned with Carolinias and arborescent -Melastomas, and the Temi, Tuamini, and Guainia, are all -rivers of a coffee-brown colour. In the shade of the palm -groves this colour seems almost to pass into ink-black. -When placed in transparent vessels, the water appears of a -golden yellow. The image of the Southern Constellations -is reflected with wonderful clearness in these black streams. -Where their waters flow gently, they afford to the observer, -when taking astronomical observations with reflecting instruments, -a most excellent artificial horizon. A cooler atmosphere, -less torment from stinging mosquitoes, greater -salubrity, and the absence of crocodiles (fish, however, are -also wanting), mark the region of these black rivers. They -probably owe their peculiar colour to a solution of carburetted -hydrogen, to the luxuriance of the tropical vegetation, -and to the quantity of plants and herbs on the ground over -which they flow. On the western declivity of the Chimborazo, -towards the coast of the Pacific, I remarked that the -flooded waters of the Rio de Guayaquil gradually assumed a -golden yellow or almost coffee-brown colour, when covering -the meadows for some weeks.</p> - -<p>In the vicinity of the mouths of the Guaviare and Atabapo -grows the Piriguao,<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> one of the noblest of palm trees, -whose smooth and polished trunk, between 60 and 70 feet -high, is adorned with a delicate flag-like foliage curled at the -margins. I know no palm which bears such large and -beautifully coloured fruits. They resemble peaches, and are -tinged with yellow mingled with a roseate crimson. Seventy -or eighty of them form enormous pendulous bunches, of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -which each tree annually ripens three. This fine tree might -be called the peach palm. The fleshy fruits are from the -luxuriance of vegetation most often devoid of seeds, and -offer to the natives a nutritious farinaceous food which, like -plantains and potatoes, can be prepared in a variety of ways.</p> - -<p>Hitherto, or as far as the mouth of the Guaviare, the -Orinoco flows along the southern declivity of the Sierra -de Parime; and from its southern bank the vast forest-covered -plain of the Amazons River stretches far beyond -the equator, even to the 15th degree of south latitude. -When the Orinoco turns suddenly to the north near San -Fernando de Atabapo, it breaks through a part of the mountain -chain along the base of which it had previously flowed; -and this is the site of the great waterfalls of Atures and Maypures. -The river bed is here everywhere hemmed in by -colossal masses of rock, and divided as it were into separate -reservoirs by natural dikes.</p> - -<p>In front of the entrance of the Meta there stands in the -middle of a mighty whirlpool an isolated cliff, to which the -natives have given the very appropriate name of the “rock -of patience;” because when the waters are low it sometimes -costs those who are ascending the river two days to pass it. -Here the Orinoco, eating deep into the land, forms picturesque -rocky bays. Opposite to the Indian mission of Carichana -the traveller is surprised by the singular prospect which -presents itself to his view. His eye is involuntarily riveted -on an abrupt granitic rock, el Mogote de Cocuyza, a cube -with vertically precipitous sides, above 200 feet high and -bearing on its upper surface a forest of trees of rich and varied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> -foliage. Resembling a Cyclopean monument in its simple -grandeur, this mass of rock rises high above the tops of the -surrounding palms, its sharp outlines appearing in strong -relief against the deep azure of the sky, and its summit uplifting -high in air a forest above the forest.</p> - -<p>In descending the Orinoco from this point, still within the -range of the Carichana mission, we arrive at the part of the -river where the stream has forced for itself a way through -the narrow pass of Baraguan. Here we recognise everywhere -traces of chaotic devastation. To the north, (towards -Uruana and Encaramada), masses of granite of extraordinarily -notched and serrated outline and grotesque aspect shine -with dazzling whiteness high above the thickets from amidst -which they rise.</p> - -<p>It is in this region, after receiving the Apure, that the -Orinoco leaves the granitic chain of mountains and flows -eastward to the Atlantic, dividing the impenetrable forests of -Guiana from the grassy plains on which the vault of heaven -seems everywhere to rest as on the horizon of the ocean. -Thus the elevated cluster of the Parime mountains, which -occupies the entire space between the sources of the Jao and -the Caura, is surrounded on three sides, to the South, to the -West, and to the North, by the Orinoco. Below Carichana -the course of the river is uninterrupted by rocks or rapids to -its mouth, excepting at the whirlpool of the Boca del Infierno -(Hell’s mouth) near Muitaco, where, however, the rocks which -occasion the rapid do not extend across the entire bed of -the river as at Atures and Maypures. In these lower parts of -the river in the vicinity of the sea, the only danger feared by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -the boatmen is that of encountering the great natural rafts, -consisting of trees torn from the banks by the swelling of -the river, against which canoes are often wrecked during the -night. These rafts, covered like meadows with flowering -water plants, remind the spectator of the floating gardens of -the Mexican lakes.</p> - -<p>After this rapid review of the course of the Orinoco, and -of its general relations to the surrounding country, I pass -to the description of the Falls of Maypures and Atures.</p> - -<p>Between the sources of the rivers Sipapo and Ventuari a -granite ridge projects from the elevated mountain group of -Cunavami, and advances far to the west towards the mountains -of Uniama. Four streams, which may be said to mark -the limits of the cataracts of Maypures, descend from this -ridge; two, the Sipapo and the Sanariapo, on the eastern side -of the Orinoco; and two, the Cameji and the Toparo, on its -western side. Near the Missionary village of Maypures the -mountains retire and form a wide bay open to the south-west.</p> - -<p>The foaming stream flows at the present time at the foot -of the eastern mountain declivity, and far to the west we -recognise the ancient bank now forsaken by the water. A -grass-covered plain, only about thirty feet above the present -highest level of the river, extends between the two chains of -hills. The Jesuits have built upon it a small church formed -of the trunks of palm trees.</p> - -<p>The geological aspect of the district, the shapes of the -rocks of Keri and Oco, which have so much the character -of islands, the water-worn hollows in the first named of these -rocks, situated at exactly the same height as the cavities in -the opposite island of Uivitari, all testify that the Orinoco<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> -once filled the whole of this now dry gulf or bay. Probably -the waters formed a wide lake as long as the northern dike -was able to withstand their pressure. When it gave way, -the prairie now inhabited by the Guareke Indians must -have been the first part which appeared above the waters; -which may subsequently, perhaps, have long continued to -surround the rocks of Keri and Oco, which rising like mountain -fortresses from the ancient bed of the river, present a -picturesque aspect. As the waters gradually diminished -they withdrew altogether to the foot of the eastern hills, -where the river now flows.</p> - -<p>This conjecture is confirmed by several circumstances. -The Orinoco, like the Nile near Philæ and Syene, has the -property of imparting a black colour to the reddish white -masses of granite which it has bathed for thousands of years. -As far as the waters reach, one may remark on the rocky -shore the leaden-coloured coating described in page <a href="#Page_189">189</a>: its -presence, and the hollows before mentioned, mark the ancient -height of the waters of the Orinoco.</p> - -<p>In the rock of Keri, in the islands of the Cataracts, in the -gneiss hills of Cumadaminari above the island of Tomo, and -lastly at the mouth of the Jao, we trace these black-coloured -hollows at elevations of 150 to 180 (160 to 192 English) -feet above the present height of the river. Their existence -teaches us a fact of which we may also observe indications -in the river beds of Europe; viz. that the streams whose -magnitude now excites our astonishment are only the feeble -remains of the immense masses of water belonging to an -earlier age of the world.</p> - -<p>These simple remarks and inferences have not escaped<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -even the rude natives of Guiana. The Indians everywhere -called our attention to the traces of the former height of the -waters. There is in a grassy plain near Uruana an isolated -granite rock, on which, according to the report of trustworthy -witnesses, there are at a height of more than eighty -feet drawings of the sun and moon, and of many animals, -particularly crocodiles and boas, engraven or arranged almost -in rows or lines. Without artificial aid it would now be -impossible to ascend this perpendicular precipice, which deserves -to be carefully examined by future travellers. The -hieroglyphical rock engravings on the mountains of Uruana -and Encaramada are equally remarkable in respect to -situation.</p> - -<p>If one asks the natives how these figures can have been -cut in the rocks, they answer that it was done when the -waters were so high that their fathers’ boats were only a -little lower than the drawings. Those rude memorials of -human art would in such case have belonged to the same -age as a state of the waters implying a distribution of land -and water very different from that which now prevails, and -belonging to an earlier condition of the earth’s surface; -which must not, however, be confounded with that in which -the earlier vegetation which adorned our planet, the gigantic -bodies of extinct land animals, and the oceanic creatures of a -more chaotic state, became entombed in the indurating crust -of globe.</p> - -<p>At the northernmost extremity of the cataracts, attention -is excited by what are called the natural drawings or pictures -of the Sun and Moon. The rock Keri, to which I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> -several times referred, has received its name from a white -spot which is conspicuous from a great distance, and in -which the Indians have thought they recognised a remarkable -similarity to the disk of the full moon. I was not -myself able to climb the steep precipice, but the white mark -in question is probably a large knot of quartz formed by a -cluster of veins in the greyish-black granite.</p> - -<p>Opposite to the Keri rock, on the twin mountain of the -island of Uivitari, which has a basaltic appearance, the -Indians shew with mysterious admiration a similar disk -which they venerate as the image of the Sun, Camosi. -Perhaps the geographical position of the two rocks may -have contributed to these denominations, as the Keri (or -Moon Rock) is turned to the West, and the Camosi to the -East. Some etymologists have thought they recognised in -the American word Camosi a similarity to Camosh, the name -of the Sun in one of the Phœnician dialects, and to Apollo -Chomeus, or Beelphegor and Ammon.</p> - -<p>Unlike the grander falls of Niagara (which are 140 -French or 150 English feet high) the “Cataracts of Maypures” -are not formed by the single precipitous descent of -a vast mass of waters, nor are they “narrows” or passes -through which the river rushes with accelerated velocity, as -in the Pongo of Manseriche in the River of the Amazons. -The Cataracts of Maypures consist of a countless number -of little cascades succeeding each other like steps. The -“Raudal” (the name given by the Spaniards to this species -of cataract) is formed by numerous islands and rocks which -so restrict the bed of the river, that out of a breadth of 8000<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> -(8526 E.) feet there often only remains an open channel of -twenty feet in width. The eastern side is now much more -inaccessible and dangerous than the western.</p> - -<p>At the confluence of the Cameji with the Orinoco, goods -are unladen in order that the empty canoe, or, as it is here -called, the Piragua, may be conveyed by Indians well acquainted -with the Raudal to the mouth of the Toparo, where -the danger is considered to be past. Where the separate -rocks or steps (each of which is designated by a particular -name) are not much above two or three feet high, the -natives, if descending the stream, venture, remaining themselves -in the canoe, to let it go down the falls: if they are -ascending the stream they leave the boat, swim forward, -and when after many unsuccessful attempts they have succeeded -in casting a rope round the points of rock which -rise above the broken water, they draw up their vessel, -which is often either overset or entirely filled with water -in the course of these laborious proceedings.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, and it is the only case which gives the natives -any uneasiness, the canoe is dashed in pieces against the -rocks; the men have then to disengage themselves with -bleeding bodies from the wreck and from the whirling force -of the torrent, and to gain the shore by swimming. Where -the rocky steps are very high and extend across the entire -bed of the river, the light boat is brought to land and drawn -along the bank by means of branches of trees placed under -it as rollers.</p> - -<p>The most celebrated and difficult steps, those of Purimarimi -and Manimi, are between nine and ten feet high. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> -found with astonishment by barometric measurements, (geodesical -levelling being out of the question from the inaccessibility -of the locality, its highly insalubrious atmosphere, and -the swarms of mosquitoes which fill the air), that the whole -fall of the Raudal from the mouth of the Cameji to that -of the Toparo hardly amounts to 28 or 30 feet (30 or 32 -English). I say, “I found with astonishment;” for this -shews that the dreadful noise and wild dashing and foaming -of the river are the results of the narrowing of its bed -by countless rocks and islands, and of the counter currents -produced by the form and situation of the masses of rock. -The best ocular demonstration of the small height of the -whole fall is obtained by descending from the village of -Maypures to the bed of the river by the rock of Manimi.</p> - -<p>From this point a wonderful prospect is enjoyed. A -foaming surface of four miles in length presents itself at -once to the eye: iron-black masses of rock resembling ruins -and battlemented towers rise frowning from the waters. -Rocks and islands are adorned with the luxuriant vegetation -of the tropical forest; a perpetual mist hovers over the -waters, and the summits of the lofty palms pierce through -the cloud of spray and vapour. When the rays of the -glowing evening sun are refracted in these humid exhalations -a magic optical effect begins. Coloured bows shine, -vanish, and reappear; and the ethereal image is swayed to -and fro by the breath of the sportive breeze. During the -long rainy season the streaming waters bring down islands -of vegetable mould, and thus the naked rocks are studded -with bright flower-beds adorned with Melastomas and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> -Droseras, and with small silver-leaved mimosas and ferns. -These spots recall to the recollection of the European those -blocks of granite decked with flowers which rise solitary -amidst the glaciers of Savoy, and are called by the dwellers -in the Alps “Jardins,” or “Courtils.”</p> - -<p>In the blue distance the eye rests on the mountain chain -of Cunavami, a long extended ridge which terminates abruptly -in a truncated cone. We saw the latter, (Calitamini is its -Indian name), glowing at sunset as if in roseate flames. -This appearance returns daily: no one has ever been near -the mountain to detect the precise cause of this brightness, -which may perhaps proceed from a reflecting surface produced -by the decomposition of tale or mica slate.</p> - -<p>During the five days which we passed in the neighbourhood -of the cataracts, it was striking to hear the thunder of -the rushing torrents sound three times louder by night than -by day. In all European waterfalls the same phenomenon -is remarked. What can be its cause in a wilderness where -there is nothing to interrupt the repose of nature? Perhaps -the currents of heated ascending air by causing irregular -density in the elastic medium impede the propagation of -sound during the day, by the disturbance they may occasion -in the waves of sound; whereas during the nocturnal cooling -of the earth’s surface the upward currents cease.</p> - -<p>The Indians called our attention to ancient tracks of -wheels. They speak with admiration of the horned animals, -(oxen), which in the times of the Jesuit missions used to -draw the canoes on wheeled supports, along the left bank of -the Orinoco, from the mouth of the Cameji to that of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> -Toparo. The lading was not then removed from the boats, -nor were the latter worn and injured as they now are by -being constantly stranded upon the rocks and dragged over -their rough surface.</p> - -<p>The topographical plan of the district sketched by me -shews the facilities which the nature of the ground offers -for the opening of a canal from the Cameji to the Toparo, -which would form a navigable side arm to the river, the -dangerous portion of which would be thus avoided. I proposed -its execution to the Governor-General of Venezuela.</p> - -<p>The Raudal of Atures closely resembles that of Maypures; -like it, it is a cluster of islands between which the river -forces its way for ten or twelve thousand yards; a forest of -palms rising from the midst of the foaming waters. The -most celebrated “Steps” of this Raudal are situated between -the islands of Avaguri and Javariveni, between Suripamana -and Uirapuri.</p> - -<p>When M. Bonpland and I returned from the banks of -the Rio Negro, we ventured to pass the latter or lower half of -the Raudal of Atures with the loaded canoe, often leaving it -for the rocky dikes which connect one island with another. -Sometimes the waters rush over these dikes, and sometimes -they fall with a hollow thundering sound into cavities, -and flowing for a time through subterranean channels, -leave large pieces of the bed of the river dry. Here the -golden Pipra rupicola makes its nest; it is one of the -most beautiful of tropical birds, with a double moveable -crest of feathers, and is as pugnacious as the East Indian -domestic cock.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span></p> - -<p>In the Raudal of Canucari the rocky dike or weir consists -of piled-up granite spheres. We crept into the interior -of a grotto the damp walls of which were covered with -confervæ and shining Byssus, and where the river rushed -high above our heads with deafening noise.</p> - -<p>We had accidentally more time than we desired for the -enjoyment of this grand scene of nature. The Indians had -left us in the middle of the cataract, proposing to take the -canoe round a long narrow island below which we were to -re-embark. We waited an hour and a half under a heavy -tempestuous rain; night was coming on, and we sought in -vain for shelter between the masses of granite. The little -monkeys, which we had carried with us for months in -wicker cages, by their mournful cries attracted crocodiles -whose size and leaden-grey colour shewed their great age. I -should not here notice an occurrence so usual in the Orinoco, -if the Indians had not assured us that no crocodiles were -ever seen in the cataracts; and in dependence on this assurance -we had even ventured repeatedly to bathe in this -part of the river. Meanwhile our anxiety lest we might be -forced to pass the long tropical night in the middle of the -Raudal, wet through and deafened by the thundering noise -of the falling waters, increased every moment; until at last -the Indians reappeared with our canoe. From the low -state of the waters they had found the steps by which they -had intended to let themselves down inaccessible, and had -been forced to seek among the labyrinth of channels for a -more practicable passage.</p> - -<p>Near the southern entrance of the Raudal of Atures, on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -the right bank of the river, is the cave of Ataruipe, which -is widely celebrated among the Indians. The grand and -melancholy character of the scenery around fits it for the -burying-place of a deceased nation. We climbed with difficulty, -and not without danger of falling to a great depth -below, a steep and perfectly bare granite precipice. It -would be hardly possible to keep one’s footing on the -smooth surface, if it were not for large crystals of feldspar, -which, resisting “weathering,” project as much as an inch -from the face of the rock.</p> - -<p>On reaching the summit the traveller beholds a wide, -diversified, and striking prospect. From the foaming river-bed -rise wood-crowned hills, while beyond the western shore -of the Orinoco the eye rests on the boundless grassy plain of -the Meta, uninterrupted save where at one part of the -horizon the Mountain of Uniama rises like a threatening -cloud. Such is the distance; the nearer prospect is desolate, -and closely hemmed in by high and barren rocks. All -is motionless save where the vulture or the hoarse goat-sucker -hover solitarily in mid-air, or, as they wing their -flight through the deep-sunk ravine, their silent shadows -are seen gliding along the face of the bare rocky precipice -until they vanish from the eye.</p> - -<p>This precipitous valley is bounded by mountains on whose -rounded summits are enormous detached granite spheres of -more than 40 to 50 feet diameter: they appear to touch the -base on which they rest only in a single point, as if the -slightest movement, such as that of a faint earthquake shock, -must cause them to roll down.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span></p> - -<p>The farther part of the valley is densely wooded, and it is -in this shady portion that the cave of Ataruipe is situated. -It is not properly speaking a cave, but rather a vaulted roof -formed by a far over-hanging cliff, the cavity having apparently -been formed by the waters when at their ancient level. -This place is the vault or cemetery of an extinct nation.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> -We counted about 600 well-preserved skeletons placed in -as many baskets woven from the stalks of palm leaves. -These baskets, which the Indians call “mapires,” are shaped -like square sacks, differing in size according to the age of -the deceased. Even new-born children had each its own -mapire. The skeletons are so perfect that not a bone or a -joint is wanting.</p> - -<p>The bones had been prepared in three different ways; -some bleached, some coloured red with onoto, the pigment -of the Bixa Orellana; and some like mummies closely -enveloped in sweet-smelling resin and plantain leaves.</p> - -<p>The Indians assured us that the custom had been to bury -the fresh corpses for some months in damp earth, which -gradually consumed the flesh; they were then dug up, and -any remaining flesh scraped away with sharp stones. This -the Indians said was still the practice of several tribes in -Guiana. Besides the mapires or baskets we found urns of -half burnt clay which appeared to contain the bones of -entire families. The larger of these urns were about three -feet high and nearly six feet long, of a pleasing oval form -and greenish colour, having handles shaped like snakes and -crocodiles, and meandering or labyrinthine ornaments round -the upper margin. These ornaments are quite similar to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> -those which cover the walls of the Mexican Palace at -Mitla. They are found in all countries and climates, and -in the most different stages of human cultivation,—among -the Greeks and Romans, as well as on the shields of the natives -of Tahiti and other islands of the South Sea,—wherever -the eye is gratified by the rhythmical recurrence of regular -forms. These similarities, as I have elsewhere remarked in -more detail, are rather to be ascribed to psychological -causes, or to such as belong inherently to our mental constitution, -than to be viewed as evidences of kindred descent -or ancient intercourse between different nations.</p> - -<p>Our interpreters could give us no certain information as -to the age of these vessels; that of the skeletons appeared -for the most part not to exceed a century. It is reported -among the Guareca Indians, that the brave Atures, being -pressed upon by cannibal Caribs, withdrew to the rocks of -the Cataracts; a melancholy refuge and dwelling-place, in -which the distressed tribe finally perished, and with them -their language. In the most inaccessible parts of the -Raudal there are cavities and recesses which have served like -the cave of Ataruipe as burying-places. It is even probable -that the last family of the Atures may not have been long -deceased, for (a singular fact,) there is still in Maypures an -old parrot of whom the natives affirm that he is not understood -because he speaks the Ature language.</p> - -<p>We left the cave at nightfall, after having collected, to -the great displeasure of our Indian guides, several skulls and -the entire skeleton of a man. One of these skulls has been -figured by Blumenbach in his excellent craniological work,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -but the skeleton (together with a large part of our natural -history collections, especially the entomological) was lost -in a shipwreck on the coast of Africa, in which our friend -and former travelling companion, the young Franciscan monk -Juan Gonzalez, perished.</p> - -<p>As if with a presentiment of this painful loss, we turned -our steps in a thoughtful and melancholy mood from this -burying-place of a race deceased. It was one of those clear -and cool nights so frequent in the tropics. The moon, -encircled with coloured rings, stood high in the zenith illuminating -the margin of the mist which lay with well-defined -cloud-like outlines on the surface of the foaming river. -Countless insects poured their red phosphoric light on the -herb-covered ground, which glowed with living fire as if the -starry canopy of heaven had sunk down upon the turf. -Climbing Bignonias, fragrant Vanillas, and yellow-flowering -Banisterias, adorned the entrance of the cave; and the -summits of the palms rustled above the graves.</p> - -<p>Thus perish the generations of men! Thus do the name -and the traces of nations fade and disappear! Yet when each -blossom of man’s intellect withers,—when in the storms of -time the memorials of his art moulder and decay,—an ever -new life springs forth from the bosom of the earth; maternal -Nature unfolds unceasingly her germs, her flowers, and her -fruits; regardless though man with his passions and his -crimes treads under foot her ripening harvest.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> -<h3 class="nobreak" id="ANNOTATIONS_AND_ADDITIONS2">ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h3> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> p. 209.—“<i>Across the peaceful ocean arm, which fills -the wide valley between the American shore and -Western Africa.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Atlantic Ocean, from the 23d degree of South to the -70th degree of North latitude, has the form of an excavated -longitudinal valley, in which the salient and re-entering angles -are opposite to each other. I first developed this idea in -my “Essai d’un Tableau géologique de l’Amérique méridionale,” -printed in the Journal de Physique, T. liii. p. 61. -(Geognostische Skizze von Südamerika, in Gilbert’s Annalen -der Physik, Bd. xvi. 1804, S. 394–449.) From the Canaries, -and especially from the 21st degree of North latitude and the -23d degree of West longitude, to the North-East coast of -South America, the surface of the sea is usually so calm, -and the waves so gentle, that an open boat might navigate -in safety.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> p. 209.—“<i>A wonderful outbreak of fresh springs in -the middle of the ocean.</i>”</p> - -<p>On the southern coast of the island of Cuba, south-west of -the Port of Batabano in the gulf of Xagua, a few miles -from the coast, springs of fresh water gush from the bed of -the ocean probably under the influence of hydrostatic pressure,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -and rise through the midst of the salt water. They -issue forth with such force that boats are cautious in -approaching this locality, which has an ill repute on -account of the high cross sea thus caused. Trading -vessels sailing along the coast and not disposed to land, -sometimes visit these springs to take in a supply of fresh -water, which is thus obtained in the open sea. The greater -the depth from which the water is taken, the fresher it is -found to be. The “river cow,” Trichecus manati, which -does not remain habitually in salt water, is often killed -here. This remarkable phenomenon of fresh springs -issuing from the sea has been most carefully examined -by a friend of mine, Don Francisco Lemaur, who made a -trigonometrical survey of the Bay of Xagua. I have been -farther to the South in the group of islands called the -Jardines del Rey, (the King’s Gardens), making astronomical -observations for latitude and longitude; but I have never -been at Xagua itself.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> p. 210.—“<i>The ancient site of a rocky bulwark.</i>”</p> - -<p>Columbus, whose unwearied spirit of observation exerted -itself in every direction, propounds in his letters to the Spanish -monarchs a geognostical hypothesis respecting the forms -of the larger Antilles. Having his mind deeply impressed -with the strength of the East and West Equinoctial current, -he ascribes to it the breaking up of the group of the smaller -West Indian islands, and the singularly lengthened configuration -of the southern coasts of Porto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, and -Jamaica, which all follow almost exactly the direction of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -parallels of latitude. On his third voyage (from the end of May -1498 to the end of November 1500), in which, from the Boca -del Drago to the Island of Margarita, and afterwards from -that island to Haiti, he felt the whole force of the Equinoctial -current, “that movement of the waters which is in accordance -or conformity with the movement of the heavens—movimiento -de los cielos,” he says expressly that the Island of Trinidad -had been torn from the mainland by the violence of the -current. He alludes to a chart which he sends to the -monarchs,—a “pintura de la tierra” by himself, which is -often referred to in the celebrated lawsuit against Don Diego -Colon respecting the rights of the Admiral. “Es la carta -de marear y figura que hizo el Almirante señalando los -rumbos y vientos por los quales vino á Paria, que dicen parte -del Asia”, (Navarrete Viages y Descubrimientos que hiciéron -por mar los Españoles, T. i. p. 253 and 260; T. iii. p. 539 -and 587.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> p. 210.—“<i>Over the snow-covered Paropanisus.</i>”</p> - -<p>Diodorus’s descriptions of the Paropanisus (Diodor. Sicul. -lib. xvii. p. 553, Rhodom.) might almost pass for a description -of the Andes of Peru. The Army passed through inhabited -places where snow fell daily!</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> p. 211.—“<i>Herrara in the Decades.</i>”</p> - -<p>Historia general de las Indias occidentales, Dec. i. lib iii. -cap. 12 (ed. 1601, p. 106); Juan Bautista Muñoz, Historia -del Nuevo Mundo, lib. vi. c. 31, p. 301; Humboldt, Examen -Crit. T. iii p. 111.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> p. 213.—“<i>The Sources of the Orinoco have never -been visited by any European.</i>”</p> - -<p>Thus I wrote respecting these sources in the year 1807, in -the first edition of the “Ansichten der Natur,” and I have to -repeat the same statement after an interval of 41 years. The -travels of the brothers Robert and Richard Schomburgk, so -important for all departments of natural knowledge and -geography, have afforded us thorough investigations of other -and more interesting facts; but the problem of the situation -of the sources of the Orinoco has been only approximately -solved by Sir Robert Schomburgk. It was from the West that -M. Bonpland and myself advanced as far as Esmeralda, -or the confluence of the Orinoco and the Guapo; and I was -able to describe with certainty, by the aid of well-assured information, -the upper course of the Orinoco to above the -mouth of the Gehette, and to the small Waterfall (Raudal) de -los Guaharibos. It was from the East that Robert Schomburgk, -advancing from the mountains of the Majonkong Indians, -(the altitude of the inhabited portions of which he -estimated by the boiling point of water at 3300 F., or 3517 E. -feet), came to the Orinoco by the Padamo River, which the -Majonkongs and Guinaus (Guaynas?) call Paramu (Reisen -in Guiana, 1841, S. 448). In my Atlas I had estimated the -position of the confluence of the Padamo with the Orinoco at -N. lat. 3° 12′, and W. long. 65° 46′: Robert Schomburgk -found it by direct observation, lat. 2° 53′, long. 65° 48′. The -leading object of this traveller’s arduous journey was not the -pursuit of natural history, but the solution of the prize question<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> -proposed by the Royal Geographical Society of London -in November 1834,—viz. the connection of the coast of British -Guiana with the easternmost point which I had reached on -the Upper Orinoco. After many difficulties and much suffering, -the desired object was completely attained. Robert Schomburgk -arrived with his instruments on the 22d of February, -1839, at Esmeralda. His determinations of the latitude and -longitude of the place agreed more closely with mine than -I had expected would be the case (S. xviii. and 471). Here -let us allow the observer to speak for himself:—“I want -words to describe the feelings which overpowered me as I -sprang to shore. My aim was attained; my observations, -began on the coast of Guiana, were brought into connection -with those of Humboldt at Esmeralda: I frankly own, that -in the course of this enterprise, at a time when almost all my -physical powers had well nigh deserted me, and when I was -surrounded by dangers and difficulties of no common nature, -it was only by the recognition which I hoped for from him, -that I had been encouraged to press onward with unalterable -determination towards the goal which I had now reached. The -emaciated figures of my Indians and faithful guides told more -plainly than any words could do, what difficulties we had had -to surmount, and had surmounted.” After expressions so -kind towards myself, I must be permitted to subjoin the -following passage, extracted from my Preface to the German -Edition of Robert Schomburgk’s Account of his Travels, published -in 1841.</p> - -<p>“Immediately after my return from Mexico, I notified<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -the direction and the routes which should be followed -to explore the unknown portion of the South American -Continent between the sources of the Orinoco, the mountain -chain of Pacaraima, and the sea-shore near Essequibo. -These wishes, which I expressed so strongly in my -Rélation Historique, have at last, after the lapse of almost -half a century, been for the greater part fulfilled. Besides -the joy of having lived to see so important an extension of -our geographical knowledge, I have had that of seeing it attained -by means of a courageous and well-conducted enterprise, -requiring the most devoted perseverance, executed by -a young man with whom I feel united by the double bond of -similarity of pursuits and efforts, and of our common country. -Motives such as these have alone been sufficient to overcome -the distaste which I entertain, perhaps without reason, to introductory -prefaces by another hand than that of the author -of the work. But in this case I could not consent to forego -the opportunity of expressing, thus publicly, my heartfelt -esteem for the accomplished traveller who, in pursuit of an -object deriving all its interest from the mind,—namely, in the -self-imposed task of penetrating from East to West, from the -Valley of the Essequibo to Esmeralda,—succeeded, after five -years of efforts and of sufferings (which I can in part appreciate -from my own experience), in reaching the goal which -he had proposed to himself. Courage for the momentary -execution of a hazardous action is more easily met with, and -implies less of inward strength, than does the resolution to -endure patiently long-continued physical sufferings, incurred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> -in the pursuit of some deeply-felt mental interest, and still -to determine to go forward, undismayed by the certainty of -having to retrace the same painful route, and to support the -same privations in returning with enfeebled powers. Serenity -of mind, almost the first requisite for an undertaking -in inhospitable regions, passionate love for some class of -scientific labour, (be it in natural history, astronomy, hypsometrics, -magnetism, or aught else,) and a pure feeling for -the enjoyment which nature in her freedom is ready to impart, -are elements which, when they meet together in an -individual, ensure the attainment of valuable results from a -great and important journey.”</p> - -<p>In discussing the question respecting the sources of the -Orinoco, I will begin with the conjectures which I had myself -formed on the subject. The dangerous route travelled in -1739 by the surgeon Nicolas Hortsmann, of Hildesheim; in -1775 by the Spaniard Don Antonio Santos, and his friend -Nicolas Rodriguez; in 1793 by the Lieutenant-Colonel of -the 1st Regiment of the Line of Para, Don Francisco Jose -Rodriguez Barata; and (according to manuscript papers, for -which I am indebted to the former Portuguese Ambassador -in Paris, Chevalier de Brito) by several English and Dutch -settlers, who in 1811 went from Surinam to Para by the -Portage of the Rupunuri and by the Rio Branco;—divides the -terra incognita of the Parime into two unequal portions, and -serves to limit the situation of a very important point in the -geography of those regions—viz. the sources of the Orinoco, -which it is no longer possible to remove to an uncertain distance -to the East, without interfering thereby with what we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> -know of the course of the Rio Branco, which flows from -north to south through the basin of the Upper Orinoco; -while that river itself, in this part of its course, pursues -for the most part an East and West direction. From political -reasons, the Brazilians, since the beginning of the present -century, have testified a lively interest in the extensive plains -east of the Rio Branco. See the memoir which I drew up at -the request of the Portuguese court in 1817, “sur la fixation -des limites des Guyanes Française et Portuguaise” (Schoell, -Archives historiques et politiques, ou Recueil de Pièces -officielles, Memoires, &c. T. i. 1818, p. 48–58). Viewing -the position of Santa Rosa on the Uraricapara, the course -of which appears to have been determined with tolerable -accuracy by Portuguese engineers, the sources of the Orinoco -cannot be looked for east of the meridian of 65½° from -Paris, (63°.8′ W. long. from Greenwich). This being the -eastern limit beyond which they cannot be placed, and considering -the state of the river at the Raudal de los Guaharibos -(above Caño Chiguire, in the country of the surprisingly -fair-skinned Guaycas Indians, and 52′ East of the great -Cerro Duida), it appears to me probable that the upper part -of the Orinoco does not really extend, at the utmost, beyond -the meridian of 66½° from Paris (64°.08′ W. from Greenwich.) -This point is according to my combinations 4°.12′ -West of the little lake of Amucu, which was reached by Sir -Robert Schomburgk.</p> - -<p>I next subjoin the conjectures of that gentleman, having -given the earlier ones formed by myself. According to his -view, the course of the upper Orinoco to the east of Esmeralda<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -is dedicated from South-east to North-west; my estimations -of latitude for the mouths of the Padamo and the -Gehette appearing to be respectively 19 and 36′ too small. -Robert Schomburgk supposes the sources of the Orinoco to -be in lat. 2°.30′ (S. 460); and the fine “Map of Guayana, -to illustrate the route of R. H. Schomburgk,” which accompanies -the splendid English work entitled “Views in the -Interior of Guiana,” places the sources of the Orinoco in -67°.18′ (W. from Paris), <i>i. e.</i> 1°.6′ west of Esmeralda, and -only 48′ of longitude nearer to the Atlantic than I had -thought admissible. From astronomical combinations -Schomburgk has placed the mountain of Maravaca, which -is upwards of nine thousand feet high, in lat. 3°.41′ and -long. 65°.38′. Near the mouth of the Padamo or Paramú -the Orinoco was scarcely three hundred yards wide; and -more to the west, where it spreads to a breadth of from four to -six hundred yards, it was so shallow and so full of sand-banks -that the Expedition were obliged to dig channels, the -river bed being only fifteen inches deep. Fresh water -Dolphins were still to be seen everywhere in large numbers; -a phenomenon which the zoologists of the 18th century -would not have been prepared to expect in the Orinoco and -the Ganges.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> p. 213.—“<i>The most vigorous of the productions -of the tropical world.</i>”</p> - -<p>The Bertholletia excelsa (Juvia), of the family of Myrtaceæ -(and placed in Richard Schomburgk’s proposed division of -Lecythideæ), was first described by Bonpland and myself in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> -the “Plantes équinoxiales,” T. i. 1808, p. 122, tab. 36. -This gigantic and magnificent tree offers, in the perfect formation -of its cocoa-like, round, thick, woody fruit enclosing -the three-cornered and also woody seed-vessels, the most -remarkable example of high organic development. The -Bertholletia grows in the forests of the Upper Orinoco -between the Padamo and the Ocamu, near the mountain of -Mapaya, and also between the rivers Amaguaca and Gehette. -(Rélation historique, T. ii. p. 474, 496, 558–562.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> p. 213.—“<i>Grass stalks having joints above eighteen -feet long from knot to knot.</i>”</p> - -<p>Robert Schomburgk, when visiting the small mountainous -country of the Majonkongs, on his way to Esmeralda, was -so fortunate as to determine the species of Arundinaria -which furnishes the material for the blowpipes or tubes -through which the Indians discharge their arrows. He -says of this plant: “It grows in large tufts like the Bambusa; -the first joint rises without a knot to a height of -from 16 to 17 feet before it begins to put forth leaves. -The entire height of the Arundinaria, as it grows at the foot -of the great mountain of Maravaca, is from 30 to 40 feet, -with a thickness of scarcely half an inch diameter. The top -is always inclined. This kind of grass is peculiar to the -sandstone mountains between the Ventuari, the Paramu -(Padamo), and the Mavaca. The Indian name is Curata, -and hence, from the excellence of these far-famed blow tubes -of great length, the Majonkongs and Guinaus of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> -districts have been given the names of the Curata nation.” -(Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoco, S. 451.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> p. 214.—“<i>Fabulous lake—origin of the Orinoco.</i>”</p> - -<p>The lakes of these regions (some of which have had their -real size much exaggerated by theoretical geographers, while -the existence of others is purely imaginary), may be divided -into two groups. The first of these groups comprises the -lakes, whether real or imaginary, placed between Esmeralda -(the easternmost mission on the upper Orinoco), and the Rio -Branco; and the second those assumed to exist in the -district between the Rio Branco and French, Dutch, and -British Guiana. This general view, of which travellers -should never lose sight, shews that the question of whether -there is yet a Lake Parime east of the Rio Branco, -other than the Lake Amucu, seen by Hortsmann, Santos, -Colonel Barata, and Schomburgk, has nothing whatever to -do with the problem of the sources of the Orinoco. As the -name of my friend the former Director of the Hydrographic -Office at Madrid, Don Felipe Bauza, is deservedly of great -weight in geography, the impartiality which ought to preside -over every scientific investigation makes me feel it a duty to -recall that this learned man was inclined to the view, that -there must be lakes west of the Rio Branco and not far -from the sources of the Orinoco. He wrote to me from -London, a short time before his death: “I wish you were -here, that I might converse with you on the subject of the -geography of the upper Orinoco, which has occupied you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> -so much. I have been so fortunate as to rescue from entire -destruction the papers of the General of Marine, Don José -Solano, father of the Solano who perished in so melancholy -a manner at Cadiz. These documents relate to the boundary -division between the Spaniards and the Portuguese, -with which the elder Solano had been charged, in conjunction -with Chef d’Escadron Yturriaga and Don Vicente Doz, -since 1754. In all these plans and sketches I see a Laguna -Parime, represented sometimes as the source of the Orinoco, -and sometimes quite detached from that river. Are we, -then, to admit the existence of another lake north-east of -Esmeralda?”</p> - -<p>Löffling, the celebrated pupil of Linnæus, came to -Cumana as the botanist of the boundary expedition above -alluded to. After traversing the missions on the Piritu and -the Caroni he died on the 22d of February, 1756, at the -mission of Santa Eulalia de Murucuri, a little to the south -of the confluence of the Orinoco and the Caroni. The -documents of which Bauza speaks are the same as those on -which the great map of De la Cruz Olmedilla is based. -They constitute the type of all the maps which appeared in -England, France, and Germany up to the close of the last -century; and they also served for the two maps drawn in -1756 by Peter Caulin, the historian of Solano’s expedition, -and by an unskilful compiler, M. de Surville, Keeper of the -Archives of the Secretary of State’s office at Madrid. The -discordance between these maps shews the little dependence -which can be placed on the surveys of the expedition; -besides which, Caulin’s acute remarks lead us to perceive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> -the circumstances which gave occasion to the fiction of the -Lake Parime; and Surville’s map, which accompanies his -work, not only restores this lake under the name of the -White Sea and of the Mar Dorado, but also adds another -lake, from which, partly through lateral outlets, the Orinoco, -the Siapa, and the Ocamo issue. I was able to satisfy -myself on the spot of the fact, well known in the missions, -that Don José Solano went indeed beyond the cataracts of -Atures and Maypures, but not beyond the confluence of the -Guaviare and the Orinoco, in lat. 4°.3′ and long. 68°.09′; -that the instruments of the Boundary Expedition were -not carried either to the Isthmus of the Pimichin and the -Rio Negro, or to the Cassiquiare; and that even on the -Upper Orinoco they were not taken above the mouth of the -Atabapo. This extensive country, in which previous to my -journey no exact observations had been attempted, had been -traversed since the time of Solano only by a few soldiers -sent in search of discoveries; and Don Apolinario de la -Fuente (whose journals I obtained from the archives of the -province of Quiros), had collected, without critical discrimination, -from the lying tales told by Indians, whatever could -flatter the credulity of the governor Centurion. No member -of the Expedition had seen any lake, and Don Apolinario -had not advanced farther than the Cerro Yumariquin and -the Gehette.</p> - -<p>Having now established throughout the extensive district, -to which it is desired to direct the inquiring zeal of travellers, -a dividing line bounding the basin of the Rio Branco, it still -remains to remark, that for a century past no advance has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> -taken place in our geographical knowledge of the country -west of this valley between 61½° and 65½° W. longitude. -The attempts repeatedly made by the Government of Spanish -Guiana, since the expeditions of Iturria and Solano, to reach -and to pass the Pacaraima mountains, have only produced -very inconsiderable results. When the Spaniards, in travelling -to the missions of the Catalonian Capuchin monks of -Barceloneta at the confluence of the Caroni and the Rio -Paragua, ascended the latter river, in going southward, to its -junction with the Paraguamusi, they founded at the site of -the latter junction the mission of Guirion, which at first -received the pompous name of Ciudad de Guirion. I place -it in about 4½° of North latitude. From thence the governor -Centurion, stimulated by the exaggerated accounts given -by two Indian chiefs, Paranacare and Arimuicapi, of the -powerful nation of the Ipurucotos, to search for el Dorado, -prosecuted what were then called spiritual conquests still -farther, and founded beyond the Pacaraima mountains the -two villages of Santa Rosa and San Bautista de Caudacacla; -the former on the higher eastern bank of the Uraricapara, a -tributary of the Uraricuera which in the narrative of Rodriguez -I find called Rio Curaricara; and the latter six or -seven German (24 or 28 English) geographical miles farther -to the east south-east. The astronomer of the Portuguese -Boundary Commission, Don Antonio Pires de Sylva Pontes -Leme, captain of a frigate, and the captain of engineers, -Don Ricardo Franco d’Almeida de Serra, who between 1787 -and 1804 surveyed with the greatest care the whole course -of the Rio Branco and its upper branches, call the westernmost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> -part of the Uraricapara “the Valley of Inundation.” -They place the Spanish mission of Santa Rosa in 3°.46′ N. -lat., and point out the route which leads from thence -northward across the chain of mountains to the Caño Anocapra, -an affluent of the Paraguamusi, by means of which -one passes from the basin of the Rio Branco to that of the -Caroni. Two maps of these Portuguese officers, which contain -the whole details of the trigonometrical survey of the -windings of the Rio Branco, the Uraricuera, the Tacutu, -and the Mahu, have been kindly communicated to Colonel -Lapie and myself by the Count of Linhares. These valuable -unpublished documents, of which I have made use, are in -the hands of the learned geographer who began a considerable -time ago to have them engraved at his own expense. -The Portuguese sometimes give the name of Rio Parime to -the whole of the Rio Branco, and sometimes confine that -denomination to one branch or tributary, the Uraricuera, -below the Caño Mayari and above the old mission of San -Antonio. As the words Paragua and Parime signify water, -great water, lake, or sea, it is not surprising to find them -so often repeated among nations at a distance from each -other, the Omaguas on the Upper Marañon, the Western -Guaranis, and the Caribs. In all parts of the world, as I -have already remarked, the largest rivers are called by those -who dwell on their banks “the River,” without any distinct -and peculiar appellation. Paragua, the name of a branch of -the Caroni, is also the name given by the natives to the -Upper Orinoco. The name Orinucu is Tamanaki; and -Diego de Ordaz first heard it pronounced in 1531, when he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> -ascended the river to the mouth of the Meta. Besides the -“Valley of Inundation,” above spoken of, we find other -large lakes or expanses of water between the Rio Xumuru -and the Parime. One of these belongs to the Tacutu river, -and the other to the Uraricuera. Even at the foot of the -Pacaraima mountains the rivers are subject to great periodical -overflows; and the Lake of Amucu, which will be -spoken of more in the sequel, imparts a similar character to -the country at the commencement of the plains. The -Spanish missions of Santa Rosa and San Bautista de Caudacacla -or Cayacaya, founded in the years 1770 and 1773 by -the Governor Don Manuel Centurion, were destroyed before -the close of the century, and since that period no fresh -attempt has been made to penetrate from the basin of the -Caroni to the southern declivity of the Pacaraima mountains.</p> - -<p>The territory east of the valley of the Rio Branco has of -late years been the subject of some successful examination. -Mr. Hillhouse navigated the Massaruni as far as the bay of -Caranang, from whence, he says, a path would have conducted -the traveller in two days to the sources of the Massaruni, -and in three days to streams flowing into the Rio -Branco. In regard to the windings of the great river -Massaruni, described by Mr. Hillhouse, that gentleman -remarks, in a letter written to me from Demerara (January -1, 1831), that “the Massaruni beginning from its source -flows first to the West, then to the North for one degree -of latitude, afterwards almost 200 English miles to the -East, and finally North and N.N.E. to its junction with -the Essequibo.” As Mr. Hillhouse was unable to reach<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> -the southern declivity of the Pacarima chain, he was not -acquainted with the Amucu Lake: he says himself, in his -printed account, that “from the information he had gained -from the Accaouais, who constantly traverse all the country -between the shore and the Amazons river, he had become -satisfied that there is no lake at all in these districts.” This -statement occasioned me some surprise, as it was in direct -contradiction to the views which I had formed respecting the -Lake of Amucu, from which the Caño Pirara flows according -to the narratives of Hortsmann, Santos, and Rodriquez, -whose accounts inspired me with the more confidence because -they agree entirely with the recent Portuguese manuscript -maps. Finally, after five years of expectation, Sir Robert -Schomburgk’s journey has dispelled all doubts.</p> - -<p>“It is difficult to believe,” says Mr. Hillhouse, in his -interesting memoir on the Massaruni, “that the report of a -great inland water is entirely without foundation. It seems -to me possible that the following circumstances may have -given occasion to the belief in the existence of the fabulous -lake of the Parime. At some distance from the fallen rocks -of Teboco the waters of the Massaruni appear to the eye as -motionless as the tranquil surface of a lake. If at a more -or less remote epoch the horizontal stratum of granite at -Teboco had been perfectly compact and unbroken, the waters -must have stood at least fifty feet above their present level, -and there would thus have been formed an immense lake, -ten or twelve English miles broad and 1500 to 2000 English -miles long.” (Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1836, Sept. -p. 316.) It is not solely the vast extent of this supposed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> -inundation which prevents me from accepting this explanation. -I have seen plains (the Llanos), where during the -rainy season the overflowing of the affluents of the Orinoco -annually cover with water a space of 400 German geographical -square miles (equal to 6400 English geographical square -miles). At such times the labyrinth of branches between the -Apure, the Arauca, the Capanaparo, and the Sinaruco (see -Maps 17 and 18 of my Geographical and Physical Atlas), -can no longer be traced, for the separate courses are obliterated, -and all appears one vast lake. But the fable of the -Dorado of the Parime, and of the White Sea or Lake of the -Parime, belongs historically, as I endeavoured to shew in -another work thirty years ago, to an entirely different part of -Guiana, namely, to the country south of the Pacaraima -mountains; and originated in the shining appearance of the -micaceous rocks of the Ucucuamo, the name of the Rio -Parime (Rio Branco), the overflowings of the tributaries of -that river, and especially the existence of the Lake of Amucu, -which is in the vicinity of the Rio Rupunuwini or Rupunuri, -and is connected through the Pirara with the Rio Parime.</p> - -<p>I have seen with pleasure that the travels of Sir Robert -Schomburgk have fully confirmed these early views. The -part of his map which gives the course of the Essequibo -and the Rupunuri is entirely new and of great geographical -importance. It places the Pacaraima chain in -3° 52′ to 4° North latitude (I had given it 4° to 4° 10′), -and makes it reach the confluence of the Essequibo -and the Rupunuri, in 3° 57′ N. lat. and 60° 23′ W. long. -from Paris (58° 01′ from Greenwich). I had placed this spot<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> -half a degree too far to the north. Sir Robert Schomburgk -calls the last named river Rupununi, according to the pronunciation -of the Macusis; he gives as synonymes of Rupuniri, -Rupunuwini and Opununy, the Carib tribes in these -districts having much difficulty in articulating the sound of -the letter <i>r</i>. The situation of Lake Amucu and its relations -to the Mahu (Maou) and Tacutu (Tacoto) are quite in -accordance with my map of Columbia in 1825. We agree -equally well respecting the latitude of the lake, which I gave -3° 35′, and which he finds to be 3° 33′; but the Caño -Pirara, (Pirarara) which connects the Lake of Amucu with -the Rio Branco, flows from it to the north, instead of to the -west as I had supposed. The Sibarana of my map, of which -Hortsmann places the source near a fine mine of rock-crystal, -a little to the north of the Cerro Ucucuamo, is the Siparuni -of Schomburgk’s map. His Waa-Ekuru is the Tavaricuru -of the Portuguese geographer Pontes Leme; it is the tributary -of the Rupunuri, which approaches nearest to the -Lake of Amucu.</p> - -<p>The following remarks from the narrative of Robert -Schomburgk throw some light on the subject before us. -“The Lake of Amucu,” says this traveller, “is incontestably -the nucleus of the Lake of Parime and the supposed White -Sea. When we visited it in December and January its -length scarcely amounted to a mile, and its surface was half -covered with reeds.” (This remark is found as early as -in D’Anville’s map, in 1748.) “The Pirara issues from the -lake west north-west of the Indian village of Pirara, and falls -into the Maou or Mahu. The last named river, from such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -information as I was able to gather, rises on the north side -of the Pacaraima mountains, the easternmost part of which -only attains a height of 1500 French (in round numbers -1600 English) feet. The sources of the Mahu are on a -plateau, from whence it descends in a fine waterfall called -Corona. We were about to visit this fall when on the third -day of our excursion to the mountains the sickness of one -of my companions obliged us to return to the station near -Lake Amucu. The Mahu has “black” or coffee-brown -water, and its current is more rapid than that of the Rupunuri. -In the mountains through which it makes its way it -is about 60 yards broad, and its environs are remarkably -picturesque. This valley, as well as the banks of the -Buroburo which flows into the Siparuni, are inhabited by -the Macusis. In April the whole of the savannahs are overflowed, -and present the peculiar phenomenon of the waters -belonging to different river basins being intermixed and -united. The enormous extent of this temporary inundation -may not improbably have given occasion to the story of the -Lake of Parime. During the rainy season there is formed -in the interior of the country a water communication between -the Essequibo, the Rio Branco, and Gran Para. Some -groups of trees, which rise like oases on the sand hills of the -savannahs, assume at the time of the inundation the character -of islands scattered over the extensive lake; they are, no -doubt, the Ipomucena Islands of Don Antonio Santos.”</p> - -<p>In D’Anville’s manuscripts, which his heirs have kindly -permitted me to examine, I find that the surgeon Hortsmann, -of Hildesheim, who described these countries with great care,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> -saw a second Alpine lake, which he places two days’ journey -above the confluence of the Mahu with the Rio Parime -(Tacutu?). It is a lake of black water on the top of a -mountain. He distinguishes it clearly from the Lake of -Amucu, which he describes as “covered with reeds.” The -narratives of Hortsmann and Santos are as far as the -Portuguese manuscript maps of the Bureau de la Marine at -Rio Janeiro from indicating or admitting a constant connection -between the Rupunuri and the Lake of Amucu. In -D’Anville’s maps the rivers are better drawn in the first -edition of his South America, published in 1748, than in -the more widely circulated edition of 1760. Schomburgk’s -travels have completely established this general independence -of the basins of the Rupunuri and the Essequibo; but he -remarks that during the rainy season the Rio Waa-Ekuru, -a tributary of the Rupunuri, is in connection with the Caño -Pirara. Such is the state of these river basins, which -are, as it were, still imperfectly developed, and are almost -entirely without separating ridges.</p> - -<p>The Rupunuri and the village of Anai (lat. 3° 56′, long. -58° 34′), are at present recognised as the political boundary -between the British and the Brazilian territories in these -uncultivated regions. Sir Robert Schomburgk makes his -chronologically determined longitude of the Lake of Amucu -depend on the mean of several lunar distances (East and -West) measured by him during his stay at Anai, where he -was detained some time by severe illness. His longitudes -for these points of the Parime are in general a degree more -easterly than the longitudes of my map of Columbia. I am -far from throwing any doubt on the observations of lunar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> -distances taken at Anai, and would only remark that their -calculation is important if it is desired to carry the comparison -from the Lake of Amucu to Esmeralda, which I found -in long. 68° 23′ 19″ W. from Paris (66° 21′ 19″ Gr.)</p> - -<p>We see, then, the great Mar de la Parima,—which was -so difficult to displace from our maps that, after my return -from America, it was still set down as having a length of -160 English geographical miles,—reduced by the result of -modern researches to the little Lake of Amucu, of two or three -miles circumference. The illusions cherished for nearly two -centuries (several hundred lives were lost in the last Spanish -expedition for the discovery of el Dorado, in 1775), have -thus finally terminated, leaving some results of geographical -knowledge as their fruit. In 1512, thousands of soldiers -perished in the expedition undertaken by Ponce de Leon -for the discovery of the “Fountain of Youth,” supposed -to exist in one of the Bahama Islands called Bimini, -and which is not to be found on our maps. This Expedition -led to the conquest of Florida, and to the knowledge -of the great current of the Gulf Stream, which -issues forth through the Bahama channel. The thirst for -treasures, and the desire of renovated youth, stimulated with -nearly equal force the passions and cupidity of the nations -of Europe.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> p. 216.—“<i>The Piriguao, one of the noblest of -palm trees.</i>”</p> - -<p>Compare Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth, Nova Genera -Plant. æquinoct. T. i. p. 315.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> p. 229.—“<i>The vault or cemetery of an extinct -nation.</i>”</p> - -<p>During the period of my stay in the forests of the Orinoco, -these caves of bones were examined by order of the Court. -The Missionary of the Cataracts had been unjustly accused -of having discovered in the caves treasures which had been -hidden there by the Jesuits previous to their flight.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_NOCTURNAL_LIFE_OF_ANIMALS">THE NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS<br /> - - -<span class="small">IN THE</span><br /> - -PRIMEVAL FOREST.</h2> -</div> - -<p>If the vivid appreciation and sentiment of nature which -differ so greatly in nations of different descent, and if the -natural character and aspect of the countries which those -nations now inhabit, or which have been the scene of their -earlier wanderings or abode, have rendered different languages -more or less rich in well defined and characteristic -expressions denoting the forms of mountains, the state of -vegetation, the appearance of the atmosphere, and the -contour and grouping of the clouds, it is also true that -long use, and perhaps their arbitrary employment by literary -men, have diverted many such words from their original -meaning. Terms have been gradually regarded as synonymous -which ought to have been preserved distinct; and -thus languages have lost part of the vigour and the grace, -as well as the fidelity, which they might otherwise have -been capable of imparting to descriptions of natural scenery -and of the characteristic physiognomy of a landscape. With -the view of shewing how much an intimate acquaintance -and contact with nature, and the wants and necessities -of a laborious nomade life, may increase the riches of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> -language, I would recall the numerous characteristic appellations -which may be used in Arabic<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> and in Persian to -distinguish plains, steppes, and deserts, according as they -are quite bare, covered with sand, broken by tabular masses -of rock, or interspersed with patches of pasturage, or with -long tracts occupied by social plants. Scarcely less striking -is it to observe in the old Castilian idiom<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> the many expressions -afforded for describing the physiognomy of mountain-masses, -and more particularly for designating those -features which, recurring in every zone of the earth’s -surface, announce from afar to the attentive beholder the -nature of the rock. As the declivities of the Andes, of -Peru, Chili, and Mexico, and the mountainous parts of the -Canaries, the Antilles and the Philippines, are all inhabited -by men of Spanish descent, and as these are the parts of -the earth where, (with the exception, perhaps, of the -Himalaya and the Thibetian Highlands), the manner of -life of the inhabitants is most affected by and dependent -on the form of the earth’s surface, so all the expressions -which the language of the mother country afforded for -denoting the forms of mountains in trachytic, basaltic, -and porphyritic districts, as well as in those where schists, -limestones, and sandstone are the prevailing rocks, have -been happily preserved in daily use. Under such influences -even newly formed words become part of the common -treasure. Speech is enriched and animated by everything -that tends to and promotes truth to nature, whether in -rendering the impressions received through the senses -from the contemplation of the external world, or in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> -expressing thoughts, emotions, or sentiments which have -their sources in the inner depths of our being.</p> - -<p>In descriptions of natural objects or scenery, both in -the manner of viewing the phenomena, and in the choice -of the expressions employed to describe them, this truth -to nature must ever be kept in view as the guiding aim: -its attainment will be at once most easily and most effectually -secured by simplicity in the narration of what we have -ourselves beheld or experienced, and by limiting and -individualising the locality with which the narrative is -connected. Generalisation of physical views, and the -statement of general results, belong rather to the “study -of the Cosmos,” which, indeed, must ever continue to be -to us a science of Induction; but the animated description -of organic forms (plants and animals) in their local and -picturesque relations to the varied surface of the earth -(as a small fragment of the whole terrestrial life) affords -materials towards the study of the Cosmos, and also tends -to advance it by the stimulus or impulse imparted to the -mind when artistic treatment is applied to phenomena -of nature on a great scale.</p> - -<p>Among such phenomena must certainly be classed the -vast forest region which, in the tropical portion of South -America, fills the great connected basins of the Orinoco -and the Amazons. If the name of primeval forest, or -“Urwald,” which has of late years been so prodigally -bestowed, is to be given to any forests on the face of -the earth, none can claim it perhaps so strictly as the -region of which we are speaking. The term “Urwald,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> -primitive or primeval forest, as well as Urseit and Urvolk,—primitive -age, primitive nation,—are words of rather indefinite -meaning, and, for the most part, only relative import. -If this name is to be given to every wild forest full of -a thick growth of trees on which Man has never laid a -destroying hand, then the phenomenon is one which -belongs to many parts of the temperate and cold zones. -But if the character of the “Urwald” is that of a forest -so truly impenetrable, that it is impossible to clear with -an axe any passage between trees of eight or twelve feet -diameter for more than a few paces, then such forests -belong exclusively to the tropical regions. Nor is it by -any means, as is often supposed in Europe, only the -interlacing “lianes” or climbers which make it impossible -to penetrate the forest; the “lianes” often form only a -very small portion of the underwood. The chief obstacle -is presented by an undergrowth of plants filling up every -interval in a zone where all vegetation has a tendency -to become ligneous. An impatient desire for the fulfilment -of a long cherished wish may sometimes have led -travellers who have only just landed in a tropical country, -or perhaps island, to imagine that although still in the -immediate vicinity of the sea-shore they had entered the -precincts of a primeval forest, or “Urwald,” such as I -have described as impenetrable. In this they deceived -themselves; it is not every tropical forest which is entitled -to an appellation which I have scarcely ever used in the -narrative of my travels; although I believe that of all -investigators of nature now living, Bonpland, Martius<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>, -Poppig, Robert and Richard Schomburgk, and myself, -are those who have spent the longest period of time in -primeval forests in the interior of a great continent.</p> - -<p>Rich as is the Spanish language, (as I have already -remarked), in appellations of distinct and definite meaning -in the description of nature, yet the same word “Monte” -is employed for mountain and forest, for cerro, (montaña) -and for selva. In an inquiry into the true breadth and -greatest easterly extension of the chain of the Andes, I -have shewed how this two-fold signification of the word -“monte” led to the introduction, in a fine and extensively -circulated English map of South America, of high mountain -ranges, where, in reality, only plains exist. When the -Spanish map of La Cruz Olmedilla, which has served as -the foundation of so many other maps, shewed “Montes -de Cacao,”<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> “cacao woods,” Cordilleras were made to rise -although the cacao seeks only the lowest and hottest -localities.</p> - -<p>If we comprehend in one general view the wooded -region which includes the whole of the interior of South -America, from the grassy steppes of Venezuela (los Llanos -de Caracas) to the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, or from 8° -North to 19° South latitude, we shall perceive that this -connected forest of the tropical zone has an extent unequalled -in any other portion of the earth’s surface. Its -area is about twelve times that of Germany. Traversed -in all directions by systems of rivers, in which the minor -and tributary streams sometimes exceed our Rhine or -our Danube in the abundance of their waters, it owes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> -the wonderful luxuriance of the growth of its trees to -the combined influence of great moisture and high temperature. -In the temperate zone, and especially in -Europe and Northern Asia, forests may be named from -particular genera or species, which, growing together as -social plants, (plantæ sociales) form separate and distinct -woods. In the northern forests of Oaks, Pines, and -Birches, and in the eastern forests of Limes or Linden -trees, usually only one species of Amentaceæ, Coniferæ, -or Tiliaceæ, prevails or is predominant; sometimes a single -species of Needle-trees is intermingled with the foliage -of trees of other classes. Tropical forests, on the other -hand, decked with thousands of flowers, are strangers to -such uniformity of association; the exceeding variety of -their flora renders it vain to ask of what trees the primeval -forest consists. A countless number of families are here -crowded together, and even in small spaces individuals -of the same species are rarely associated. Each day, and -at each change of place, new forms present themselves -to the traveller, who, however, often finds that he cannot -reach the blossoms of trees whose leaves and ramifications -had previously arrested his attention.</p> - -<p>The rivers, with their countless lateral arms, afford the -only routes by which the country can be traversed. Between -the Orinoco, the Cassiquiare, and the Rio Negro, astronomical -observations, and where these were wanting, determinations -by compass of the direction of the rivers, respectively -shewed us that two lonely mission villages might be -only a few miles apart, and yet that the monks when they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> -wished to visit each other could only do so by spending a -day and a half in following the windings of small streams, -in canoes hollowed out of the trunks of trees. A striking -evidence of the impenetrability of particular parts of the -forest is afforded by a trait related by an Indian of the habits -of the large American tiger, or panther-like jaguar. While -in the Llanos of Varinas and the Meta, and in the Pampas of -Buenos Ayres, the introduction of European cattle, horses, -and mules has enabled the beasts of prey to find an abundant -subsistence,—so that since the first discovery of -America their numbers have increased exceedingly in those -extended and treeless grassy steppes,—their congeners in -the dense forests around the sources of the Orinoco lead a -very different and far less easy life. In a bivouac near the -junction of the Cassiquiare with the Orinoco we had had the -misfortune of losing a large dog, to which we were much -attached, as the most faithful and affectionate companion of -our wanderings. Being still uncertain whether he had been -actually killed by the tigers, a faint hope of recovering him -induced us, in returning from the mission of Esmeralda -through the swarms of musquitoes by which it is infested, -to spend another night at the spot where we had so long -sought him in vain. We heard the cries of the jaguar, -probably the very individual which we suspected of the -deed, extremely near to us; and as the clouded sky made -astronomical observations impossible, we passed part of the -night in making our interpreter (lenguaraz) repeat to us the -accounts given by our native boat’s crew of the tigers of the -country.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span></p> - -<p>The “black jaguar” was, they said, not unfrequently -found there; it is the largest and most bloodthirsty variety, -with black spots scarcely distinguishable on its deep dark-brown -skin. It lives at the foot of the mountains of Maraguaca -and Unturan. One of the Indians of the Durimund -tribe then related to us that jaguars are often led, by their -love of wandering and by their rapacity, to lose themselves in -such impenetrable parts of the forest that they can no longer -hunt along the ground, and live instead in the trees, where -they are the terror of the families of monkeys and of the -prehensile-tailed viverra, the Cercoleptes. I borrow these -notices from journals written at the time in German, and -which were not entirely exhausted in the Narrative of my -Travels, which I published in the French language. They -contain a detailed description of the nocturnal life, or perhaps -I might rather say the nocturnal voices, of the wild animals -in the forests of the torrid zone; which appears to me particularly -suited to form part of a work bearing the title of -the present volumes. That which is written down on the -spot, either in the immediate presence of the phenomena, or -soon after the reception of the impressions which they -produce, may at least lay claim to more life and freshness -than can be expected in recollections.</p> - -<p>Descending from West to East the Rio Apure, the overflowings -of whose waters and the inundations produced by them -were noticed in the chapter on Steppes and Deserts, we -arrived at its junction with the Orinoco. It was the season -of low water, and the average breadth of the Apure was only -a little more than twelve hundred English feet, yet I found<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span> -the Orinoco at the confluence of the two rivers, not far from -the granite rock of Curiquima, where I was able to measure -a base line, still upwards of 11430 French (12180 English) -feet wide. Yet this point, <i>i. e.</i> the Rock of Curiquima, is -four hundred geographical miles in a straight line from the -sea and from the Delta of the Orinoco. Part of the plains -watered by the Apure and the Pagara are inhabited by -tribes of the Yaruros and Achaguas, who, as they persist in -maintaining their independence, are called savages in the -mission villages established by the monks: their manners, -however, are scarcely more rude than those of the Indians -of the villages,—who, although baptized and living “under -the bell” (baxo la compana), are still almost entirely untaught -and uninstructed.</p> - -<p>On leaving the Island del Diamante, in which Zambos -who speak Spanish cultivate sugar-canes, we entered on -scenes of nature characterized by wildness and grandeur. -The air was filled with countless flocks of flamingoes (Phœnicopterus) -and other water birds, which appeared against the -blue sky like a dark cloud with continually varying outlines. -The river had here narrowed to between 900 and 1000 feet, -and flowing in a perfectly straight line formed a kind of -canal enclosed on either side by dense wood. The margin -of the forest presents at this part a singular appearance. In -front of the almost impenetrable wall of giant trunks of -Cæsalpinia, Cedrela, and Desmanthus, there rises from -the sandy river beach, with the greatest regularity, a -low hedge of Sauso, only four feet high, consisting of a -small shrub, Hermesia castaneifolia, which forms a new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> -genus<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> of the family of Euphorbiaceæ. Some slender -thorny palms, called by the Spaniards Piritu and Coroso -(perhaps species of Martinezia and Bactris), stand next; and -the whole resembles a close, well-pruned garden hedge, -having only occasional openings at considerable distances -from each other, which have doubtless been made by the -larger four-footed beasts of the forest to gain easy access to -the river. One sees, more especially in the early morning -and at sunset, the American tiger or jaguar, the tapir, and -the peccary, lead their young through these openings to the -river to drink. When startled by the passing canoe, they -do not attempt to regain the forest by breaking forcibly -through the hedge which has been described, but one has -the pleasure of seeing these wild animals stalk leisurely along -between the river and the hedge for four or five hundred -paces, until they have reached the nearest opening, when -they disappear through it. In the course of an almost -uninterrupted river navigation of 1520 geographical miles -on the Orinoco to near its sources, on the Cassiquiare, and -on the Rio Negro,—and during which we were confined for -seventy-four days to a small canoe,—we enjoyed the repetition -of the same spectacle at several different points, and I -may add, always with new delight. There came down -together, to drink, to bathe, or to fish, groups consisting of -the most different classes of animals, the larger mammalia, -being associated with many coloured herons, palamedeas, -and proudly-stepping curassow and cashew birds (Crax -Alector and C. Pauxi). “Es como en el Paraiso;” -it is here as in Paradise, said, with a pious air, our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> -steersman, an old Indian who had been brought up in the -house of an ecclesiastic. The peace of the golden age was, -however, far from prevailing among the animals of this -American paradise, which carefully watched and avoided -each other. The Capybara, a Cavy three or four feet long, -(a magnified repetition of the Brazilian Cavy, Cavia aguti), is -devoured in the river by the crocodiles, and on shore by the -tiger. It runs so indifferently that we were several times -able to catch individuals from among the numerous herds -which presented themselves.</p> - -<p>Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we -passed the night as usual, under the open sky, on a sandy -flat on the bank of the Rio Apure closely bordered by the -impenetrable forest. It was not without difficulty that we -succeeded in finding dry wood to kindle the fire with which -it is always customary in that country to surround a bivouac, -in order to guard against the attacks of the jaguar. The -night was humid, mild, and moonlight. Several crocodiles -approached the shore; I think I have observed these animals -to be attracted by fire, like our cray-fish and many other -inhabitants of the water. The oars of our boat were placed -upright and carefully driven into the ground, to form poles -from which our hammocks could be suspended. Deep -stillness prevailed; only from time to time we heard the -blowing of the fresh-water dolphins<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> which are peculiar to -the Orinoco net-work of rivers (and, according to Colebrooke, -to the Ganges as far as Benares), which followed each other -in long lines.</p> - -<p>Soon after 11 o’clock such a disturbance began to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> -heard in the adjoining forest, that for the remainder of the -night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries of animals -appeared to rage throughout the forest. Among the many -voices which resounded together, the Indians could only -recognise those which, after short pauses in the general -uproar, were first heard singly. There was the monotonous -howling of the aluates (the howling monkeys); the plaintive, -soft, and almost flute-like tones of the small sapajous; -the snorting grumblings of the striped nocturnal monkey<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> -(the Nyctipithicus trivirgatus, which I was the first to describe); -the interrupted cries of the great tiger, the cuguar -or maneless American lion, the peccary, the sloth, and a host -of parrots, of parraquas, and other pheasant-like birds. -When the tigers came near the edge of the forest, our dog, -which had before barked incessantly, came howling to seek -refuge under our hammocks. Sometimes the cry of the -tiger was heard to proceed from amidst the high branches of -a tree, and was in such case always accompanied by the -plaintive piping of the monkeys, who were seeking to -escape from the unwonted pursuit.</p> - -<p>If one asks the Indians why this incessant noise and disturbance -arises on particular nights, they answer, with a -smile, that “the animals are rejoicing in the bright moonlight, -and keeping the feast of the full moon.” To me it -appeared that the scene had probably originated in some -accidental combat, and that hence the disturbance had -spread to other animals, and thus the noise had increased -more and more. The jaguar pursues the peccaries and -tapirs, and these, pressing against each other in their flight,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span> -break through the interwoven tree-like shrubs which impede -their escape; the apes on the tops of the trees, being -frightened by the crash, join their cries to those of the -larger animals; this arouses the tribes of birds, who build -their nests in communities, and thus the whole animal -world becomes in a state of commotion. Longer experience -taught us that it is by no means always the celebration of -the brightness of the moon which disturbs the repose of the -woods: we witnessed the same occurrence repeatedly, and -found that the voices were loudest during violent falls of -rain, or when, with loud peals of thunder, the flashing -lightning illuminated the deep recesses of the forest. The -good-natured Franciscan monk, who, although he had been -suffering for several months from fever, accompanied us -through the Cataracts of Atures and Maypures to San Carlos -on the Rio Negro, and to the Brazilian boundary, used to -say, when fearful on the closing in of night that there might -be a thunder-storm, “May Heaven grant a quiet night both -to us and to the wild beasts of the forest!”</p> - -<p>Scenes, such as those I have just described, were wonderfully -contrasted with the stillness which prevails within the -tropics during the noontide hours of a day of more than -usual heat. I borrow from the same journal the recollections -of a day at the Narrows of Baraguan. At this part of -its course the Orinoco forces for itself a passage through the -western portion of the Parime Mountains. What is called -at this remarkable pass a “Narrow” (Angostura del Baraguan), -is still a bed or water-basin of 890 toises (5690 -English feet) in breadth. On the naked rocks which formed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> -the shores we saw only, besides an old withered stem of -Aubletia (Apeiba tiburba), and a new Apocinea (Allamanda -salicifolia), a few silvery croton shrubs. A thermometer -observed in the shade, but brought within a few inches of -the towering mass of granite rock, rose to above 40° Reaumur -(122° Fah.) All distant objects had wave-like undulating -outlines, the effect of mirage; not a breath of air -stirred the fine dust-like sand. The sun was in the zenith, -and the flood of light which he poured down upon the river, -and which, from a slight rippling movement of the waters, -flashed sparkling back, rendered still more sensible the red -haze which veiled the distance. All the naked rocks and -boulders around were covered with a countless number of -large thick-scaled iguanas, gecko-lizards, and variously -spotted salamanders. Motionless, with uplifted heads and -open mouths, they appeared to inhale the burning air with -ecstacy. At such times the larger animals seek shelter in -the recesses of the forest, and the birds hide themselves -under the thick foliage of the trees, or in the clefts of the -rocks; but if, in this apparent entire stillness of nature, -one listens for the faintest tones which an attentive ear can -seize, there is perceived an all-pervading rustling sound, a -humming and fluttering of insects close to the ground, and -in the lower strata of the atmosphere. Every thing announces -a world of organic activity and life. In every -bush, in the cracked bark of the trees, in the earth undermined -by hymenopterous insects, life stirs audibly. It is, -as it were, one of the many voices of Nature, heard only by -the sensitive and reverent ear of her true votaries.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span></p> -<h3 class="nobreak" id="ANNOTATIONS_AND_ADDITIONS3">ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h3> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> p. 260.—“<i>Characteristic names in Arabic and -Persian.</i>”</p> - -<p>More than twenty different terms might be cited as used -by Arabs in speaking of steppes, (tanufah), to denote deserts -without water, entirely bare, covered with siliceous sand, or -interspersed with spots affording some pasture: (sahara, -kafr, mikfar, tih, and mehme.) Sahl, is a low plain; dakkah, -a desolate elevated plain. In Persian, “beyaban” signifies -the arid sandy desert,—as do the Mogul “gobi,” and -the Chinese “han-hai,” and “scha-mo.” “Yaila” is a -steppe covered rather with grasses or herbage than with -herbaceous plants; so are also the Mogul “küdah,” and -the Turkish “tala,” or “tschol,” and the Chinese “huang.” -“Deshti-reft” is an elevated plain devoid of vegetation. -(Humboldt, Relation hist. T. ii. p. 158.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> p. 260.—“<i>In the old Castilian idiom.</i>”</p> - -<p>Pico, picacho, mogote, cucurucho, espigon, loma tendida, -mesa, panecillo, farallon, tablon, peña, peñon, peñasco, -peñoleria, roca partida, laxa, cerro, sierra, serrania, cordillera, -monte, montaña, montañuela, cadena de montes, los -altos, malpais, reventazon, bufa, &c.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> p. 263.—“<i>Where the map had exhibited Montes -de Cacao.</i>”</p> - -<p>On the range of hills which had been converted into the -lofty Andes de Cuchao, see my Rel. hist. T. iii. p. 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> p. 268.—“<i>Hermesia.</i>”</p> - -<p>The genus Hermesia, the Sauso, has been described by -Bonpland, and figured in our Plantes equinoxiales, T. i. -p. 162, tab. xlvi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> p. 269.—“<i>The fresh-water dolphin.</i>”</p> - -<p>These are not sea-dolphins, ascending the rivers for a -great distance, as is done by some species of Pleuronectes -(flat fish, which always have both eyes on one side of the -body); for example, the Limande (Pleuronectes Limanda), -which comes up the Loire to Orleans. Some sea forms of -fish, as dolphins and skates, are repeated in the great rivers -of both continents. The fresh-water dolphin of the Apure -and the Orinoco differs specifically from the Delphinus gangeticus, -as well as from all sea-dolphins. See my Rel. hist. -T. ii. pp. 223, 239, 406–413.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> p. 270.—“<i>The striped nocturnal monkey.</i>”</p> - -<p>This is the Douroucouli, or Cusi-cusi of the Cassiquiare, -described by me as Simia trivirgata in my Recueil d’Observations -de Zoologie et d’Anatomie comparée, T. i. p. 306–311, -tab. xxviii., the plate being taken from a drawing -made by myself from the living animal. We subsequently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> -saw this nocturnal monkey living in the menagerie of the -Jardin des Plantes at Paris. (See the work above cited, T. ii. -p. 340.) Spix also found this remarkable little animal on -the Amazons river, and called it Nyctipithecus vociferans.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="sig">Potsdam, June 1849.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="HYPSOMETRIC_ADDENDA">HYPSOMETRIC ADDENDA.</h2> -</div> - - -<p>I am indebted to Mr. Pentland (whose scientific labours -have thrown so much light on the geology and geography -of Bolivia) for the following determinations, which he communicated -to me in a letter written from Paris, in October -1848, after the publication of his great map:—</p> - -<table class="autotable center" summary=""> -<tr> -<th>Nevado of Sorata, or Ancohuma.</th> -<th>S. lat.</th> -<th>Long. from Greenwich.</th> -<th>Height in English Feet.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">South Peak</td> -<td>15° 51′ 33″</td> -<td>68° 33′ 55″</td> -<td>21286</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">North Peak</td> -<td>15° 49′ 18″</td> -<td>68° 33′ 52″</td> -<td>21043</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<th>Illimani.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">South Peak</td> -<td>16° 38′ 52″</td> -<td>67° 49′ 18″</td> -<td>21145</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Middle Peak</td> -<td>16° 38′ 26″</td> -<td>67° 49′ 17″</td> -<td>21094</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">North Peak</td> -<td>16° 37′ 50″</td> -<td>67° 49′ 39″</td> -<td>21060</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>The heights (with the exception of the unimportant difference -of a few feet in the South Peak of Illimani) are the -same as those given in the map of the Lake of Titicaca. A -sketch of the last-named mountain (Illimani), as it shews -itself in all its majesty from La Paz, has been given by Mr. -Pentland in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, -Vol. V. (1835), p. 77. This was five years after the publication -of the first measurements in the Annuaire du Bureau -des Longitudes for 1830, p. 323, which results I myself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> -hastened to make known in Germany. (Hertha, Zeitschrift -für Erd und Völkerkunde, von Berghaus, Bd. xiii. 1829, -S. 3–29.) The Nevado de Sorata is to the east of the -village Sorata, or Esquibel: it is called in the Ymarra language, -according to Pentland, Ancomani, Itampu, and -Illhampu. We recognise in “Illimani,” the Ymarra word -“illi,” snow.</p> - -<p>If, however, in the <i>eastern</i> chain of Bolivia the Sorata -was long assumed 3718 French, or 3952 English feet, and -the Illimani 2675 French, or 2851 English, feet too high, -there are in the <i>western</i> chain of the same country, according -to Pentland’s map of Titicaca (1848), four peaks to the -east of Arica and between lat. 18° 7′ and 18° 25′, all of -which are higher than Chimborazo, which is 21422 English -or 20100 French feet. These four peaks are—</p> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Pomarape</td> -<td class="tdl">21700</td> -<td class="tdl">English</td> -<td class="tdl">feet,</td> -<td class="tdl">or</td> -<td class="tdl">20360</td> -<td class="tdl">French</td> -<td class="tdl">feet.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gualateiri</td> -<td class="tdl">21960</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td rowspan="3"></td> -<td class="tdl">20604</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Parinacota</td> -<td class="tdl">22030</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">20670</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Sahama</td> -<td class="tdl">22350</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdl">20971</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>Berghaus has applied to the eastern and western chains -of the Andes of Bolivia the investigation published by me -in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, T. iv. 1825, p. -225–253, of the proportion (very different in different -mountain chains), which the general height of the ridge, the -crest, or kamm (the mean height of the passes), bears to the -highest summits or culminating points. He finds, following -Pentland’s map, the mean height of the passes in the eastern -chain 12672 French, or 13502 English feet; and in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> -western chain 13602 French, or 14896 English feet. The -culminating points are 19972 and 20971 French, 21286 -and 22350 English feet; consequently the ratio of the -height of the ridge to that of the culminating point is, in -the eastern chain, as 1 : 1.57, and in the western chain as -1 : 1.54. (Berghaus, Zeitschrift für Erdkunde, Band. ix. -S. 322–326). This ratio, which is, as it were, the measure -of the subterranean elevating force, is very similar to -that which exists in the Pyrenees, but very different from -the Alps, where the mean height of the passes is less as -compared with Mont Blanc. The ratios are, in the -Pyrenees, = 1 : 1.43, and in the Alps, = 1 : 2.09.</p> - -<p>But, according to Fitz Roy and Darwin, the height of the -Sahama is still surpassed by 796 French, or 850 English -feet, by that of the volcano of Aconcagua, on the north east -of Valparaiso, in Chili, in S. lat. 32° 39′. The officers of -the Adventure and Beagle, in Fitz Roy’s Expedition, found, -in August 1835, the summit of Acongagua between 23000 -and 23400 English feet. If we take it at 23200 (equal to -21767 Paris feet), this volcano would be 1667 French, or -1777 English, feet higher than the Chimborazo. (Fitz -Roy, Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, 1839, Vol. ii. -p. 481; Darwin, Journal of Researches, 1845, pp. 223 and -291.) According to more recent calculations, the height of -Acongagua is given as 22431 French, or 23907 English -feet. (Mary Somerville, Physical Geogr. 1849, Vol. ii. -p. 425.)</p> - -<p>Our knowledge of the systems of mountains which, north -of the parallels of 30° and 31° N. lat., are called the Rocky<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> -Mountains and the Sierra Nevada of California, has received -most important additions, geologically, botanically, hypsometrically, -and geographically by astronomical determinations -of position, from the excellent works of Charles Frémont -(Geographical Memoir upon Upper California, an -illustration of his Map of Oregon and California, 1848); of -Dr. Wislizenus (Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico, -connected with Col. Doniphan’s Expedition, 1848); and of -Lieutenants Abert and Peck (Expedition on the Upper Arkansas, -1845; and Examination of New Mexico in 1846 -and 1847.) There prevails throughout these different -North American works a true scientific spirit, which is deserving -of the greatest commendation. The remarkable -elevated plain, which rises to an uninterrupted height of -four or five thousand French (4260 and 5330 English) feet, -between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada of -California, of which I have spoken in p. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, and which is -called the Great Basin, forms an inland closed river basin, -and has hot springs and salt lakes. None of its rivers,—Bear -River, Carson River, and Humboldt River,—find their -way to the sea. The Lake, which I was led by combinations -and inferences to represent, in the great Map of Mexico -drawn by me in 1804, under the name of Lake Timpanogos, -is the great Salt Lake of Frémont’s Map: it is sixty -geographical miles long from north to south, and ten broad; -and it communicates with the fresh water lake of Utah, -which is situated at a higher level, and receives the Timpanogos -or Timpanaozu River, which enters it from the eastward, -in lat. 40° 13′. The circumstance of the Timpano<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>gos -Lake of my map not having been placed by me sufficiently -far to the north and west, is to be attributed to the -entire want, at that time, of any astronomical determinations -of the position of Santa Fé, in New Mexico. The -error amounts, for the western margin of the lake, to almost -50 minutes of arc; a difference of absolute longitude which -will appear less surprising, if it is remembered that my -itinerary map of Guanaxuato could only be based for 15 -degrees of latitude on compass surveys, or compass directions, -for which I was indebted to Don Pedro de Rivera. -(Humboldt, Essai polit. sur la Nouvelle Espagne, T. i. pp. -127–136.) These directions being differently combined -by my early deceased fellow-labourer, Herr Friesen, and -myself, gave him as the result of his combinations 107° 58′ -from Paris as the longitude of Santa Fé, and to me as the -result of mine, 107° 13′. According to actual astronomical -determinations since obtained, the true longitude appears to -be 108° 22′ W. of Paris, or 106° 00′ W. of Greenwich. -The relative position of the beds of fossil salt—found in -“thick strata of red clay,” on the south east of the island-studded -Great Salt Lake (my Laguna de Timpanogos), and -not far from the present Fort Mormon and the Utah Lake—was -given with perfect correctness in my large map of Mexico. -I may refer on this point to the latest evidence of the traveller -who made the first well-assured determinations of -geographical position in that district:—“The mineral or -rock salt, of which a specimen is placed in Congress Library, -was found in the place marked by Humboldt in his map of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span> -New Spain (northern half), as derived from the journal of -the missionary Father Escalante, who attempted (1777) to -penetrate the unknown country from Santa Fé of New -Mexico to Monterey of the Pacific Ocean. South-east of -the Lake Timpanogos is the chain of the Wha-satch Mountains; -and in this, at the place where Humboldt has written -<i>Montagnes de sel gemme</i>, this mineral is found.” (Frémont, -Geogr. Mem. of Upper California, 1848, pp. 8 and 67; -compare Humboldt, Essai politique, T. ii. p. 261.)</p> - -<p>A great historical interest attaches to this part of the -highland, and more particularly to the country round the -Lake of Timpanogos, which is perhaps the same with the -Lake of Teguayo, the ancestral seat of the Aztecs. In their -migration from Aztlan to Tula, and to the Valley of Tenochtitlan -(Mexico), this people made three halting places or -stations, at which the ruins of the Casas grandes are still to -be seen. The first sojourn of the Aztecs was at the Lake -of Teguayo, the second on the Rio Gila, and the third not -far from the Presidio de Llanos. Lieutenant Abert found -on the banks of the Gila the same immense number of fragments -of pottery ornamented with painting, and scattered -over a considerable tract of ground, which had astonished -the missionaries Francisco Garces and Pedro Fonte in that -locality. These remains of the products of human skill are -supposed to indicate the existence of a former higher civilisation -in these now solitary regions. Remains of buildings -in the singular style of architecture of the Aztecs, and of -their houses of seven stories, are also found far to the east<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span>ward -of the Rio Grande del Norte; for example, in Taos. -(Compare Abert’s Examination of New Mexico, in the Documents -of Congress, No. 41, pp. 489 and 581–605, with -my Essai pol. T. ii. pp. 241–244.) The Sierra Nevada of -California is parallel to the Coast of the Pacific; but between -the latitudes of 34° and 41°, between San Buenaventura -and the Bay of Trinidad, there runs, on the West of the -Sierra Nevada, another (smaller) coast chain, of which Monte -del Diablo, 3448 French, 3674 English feet high, is the -culminating point. In the narrow valley, between this -coast chain and the great Sierra Nevada, flow from the south -the Rio de San Joaquin, and from the north the Rio del -Sacramento, on the banks of which, in rich alluvial soil, are -the rich gold-washings now so much resorted to.</p> - -<p>I have already referred, p. <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, to a hypsometric levelling, -and to barometric measurements made from the junction of -the Kanzas River with the Missouri to the Pacific, or -throughout the immense extent of 28 degrees of longitude. -Dr. Wislizenus has now successfully continued the levelling -began by me from the city of Mexico, in the Equinoctial -Zone, to the North as far as Santa Fé del Nuevo Mexico, -in lat. 35° 38′. It will be seen, perhaps, with surprise, -that the elevated plain which forms the broad crest of the -Mexican Andes is far from sinking down, as had long been -supposed, to an inconsiderable height. I give here for the -first time, according to the measurements which we at present -possess, the elevations of several points, forming a line of -levelling from the city of Mexico to Santa Fé, which latter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span> -town is less than four German (sixteen English) geographical -miles from the Rio del Norte.</p> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<th></th> -<th>French Feet.</th> -<th>Eng. Feet.</th> -<th>Observer.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mexico</td> -<td class="tdl">7008</td> -<td class="tdl">7490</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Tula</td> -<td class="tdl">6318</td> -<td class="tdl">6733</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">San Juan del Rio</td> -<td class="tdl">6090</td> -<td class="tdl">6490</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Queretaro</td> -<td class="tdl">5970</td> -<td class="tdl">6363</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Celaya</td> -<td class="tdl">5646</td> -<td class="tdl">6017</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Salamanca</td> -<td class="tdl">5406</td> -<td class="tdl">5761</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Guanaxuato</td> -<td class="tdl">6414</td> -<td class="tdl">6836</td> -<td class="tdl">Ht.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Silao</td> -<td class="tdl">5546</td> -<td class="tdl">5910</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Villa de Leon</td> -<td class="tdl">5755</td> -<td class="tdl">6133</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Lagos</td> -<td class="tdl">5983</td> -<td class="tdl">6376</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Aguas Calientes</td> -<td class="tdl">5875</td> -<td class="tdl">6261</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">San Luis Potosi</td> -<td class="tdl">5714</td> -<td class="tdl">6090</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Zacatecas</td> -<td class="tdl">7544</td> -<td class="tdl">8040</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Fresnillo</td> -<td class="tdl">6797</td> -<td class="tdl">7244</td> -<td class="tdl">Br.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Durango</td> -<td class="tdl">6426</td> -<td class="tdl">6848</td> -<td class="tdl">(Oteiza)</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Parras</td> -<td class="tdl">4678</td> -<td class="tdl">4985</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Saltillo</td> -<td class="tdl">4917</td> -<td class="tdl">5240</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">El Bolson de Mapimi</td> -<td class="tdl">3600 to 4200</td> -<td class="tdl">3837 to 4476</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Chihuahua</td> -<td class="tdl">4352</td> -<td class="tdl">4638</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Cosiquiariachi</td> -<td class="tdl">5886</td> -<td class="tdl">6273</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Passo del Norte, on the Rio Grande del Norte</td> -<td class="tdl">3557</td> -<td class="tdl">3812</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Santa Fé del Nuevo Mexico</td> -<td class="tdl">6612</td> -<td class="tdl">7047</td> -<td class="tdl">Ws.</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>The letters Ws., Br., and Ht., are placed to distinguish the -barometric measurements of Dr. Wislizenus, Oberbergrath -Burkart, and my own. Wislizenus has appended to his -valuable memoir three vertical sections of the surface of the -ground: one from Santa Fé to Chihuahua by Passo del<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span> -Norte; one from Chihuahua to Reynosa by Parras; and -one from Fort Independence (a little to the east of the -Confluence of the Missouri and the Kanzas River) to Santa -Fé. The calculation is founded on daily corresponding -observations of the barometer, made by Engelmann at St. -Louis, and by Lilly at New Orleans. If we consider that -the difference of latitude between Santa Fé and Mexico is -16° and that thus (apart from deviations from a straight -line) the distance in the north and south direction is above -960 geographical miles, we are led to inquire whether there -be in any other part of the whole globe a similar conformation -of the Earth, equal in extent and elevation (between -5000 and 7000 French, or 5330 and 7460 English feet -above the level of the sea) to the highland of which I have just -given the levelling, and yet over which four-wheeled waggons -can travel as they do from Mexico to Santa Fé. It is -formed by the broad, undulating, flattened crest of the -chain of the Mexican Andes, and is not the swelling of a -valley between two mountain chains, as is the case in some -other remarkable elevations of plain or undulating surface—in -the Northern Hemisphere, in the “Great Basin” between -the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada of California,—in -the Southern Hemisphere, in the high plain of the lake -of Titicaca, between the eastern and western chains of the -Andes of Bolivia,—and in Asia, in the highlands of Thibet, -between the Himalaya and the Kuen-lün.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span></p> - - - -<h2> -GENERAL SUMMARY<br /> - -<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> - -<span class="smaller">CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</span><br /> -</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span></p> - - -<p class="center"> -<i>Preface to the First Edition</i>—p. <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a>. to p. <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a>.</p> -<p class="center"><i>Preface to the Second and Third Editions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_xi">xi</a>. to p. <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>.</p> -<p class="center"><i>Note by the Translator</i>—p. <a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a>.</p> -<p class="center"><i>Steppes and Deserts</i>—p. <a href="#Page_1">1</a> to p. <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</p> - -<p>Coast chain and mountain valleys of Caraccas. Lake of Tacarigua. -Contrast in respect to the luxuriance of vegetation between those -districts and the treeless plains. The steppe regarded as the bottom -of a Mediterranean Sea; broken strata a little higher than the rest -of the plain called “banks.” General phenomena of extensive -plains; the Heaths of Europe, the Pampas and Llanos of South -America, the African Deserts, and the Steppes of Northern Asia. -Different characters of the vegetable covering of the surface. -Animal life. Pastoral nations, and their invasive migrations <a href="#Page_1">1</a>–<a href="#Page_6">6</a></p> - -<p>Description of the South American plains and prairies—their extent -and climate; the latter dependent on the outline of the coasts, and -on the hypsometric conformation of the New Continent. Comparison -with the plains and deserts of Africa <a href="#Page_7">7</a>–<a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> - -<p>Original absence of pastoral life in America. Food furnished by the -Mauritia palm; the Guaranis’ huts raised on trees <a href="#Page_13">13</a>–<a href="#Page_17">17</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span></p> - -<p> -Since the discovery of America the Llanos have become more habitable. -Extraordinary increase in the number of wild cattle, horses, asses, -and mules. Description of the season of extreme dryness, and of -the rainy season. Appearance of the surface of the ground and of -the sky. Life of the animals—their sufferings, their conflicts; -power of adaptation with which certain animals and plants are -endowed. Jaguars, crocodiles, and electric fishes. Unequal conflict -between Gymnoti and horses <a href="#Page_17">17</a>–<a href="#Page_23">23</a></p> - -<p>Retrospective glance at the countries surrounding the Steppes and -Deserts. Forest wildernesses of the Orinoco and the Amazons. -Indian tribes separated by the wonderful diversity of their languages -and differences of their habits; their hardships, and frequent -variance between the different tribes. Figures graven on the rocks -show that these solitudes were once the seat of a degree of civilisation -which has now disappeared <a href="#Page_23">23</a>–<a href="#Page_26">26</a></p> - -<p class="center"> -<i>Scientific Elucidations and Additions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_27">27</a> to p. <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</p> - -<p>The island-studded lake of Tacarigua; its relations to the neighbouring -mountain chains. Geological description. Progress of cultivation -and of European civilisation. Varieties of the sugar-cane. Cacao -plantations. Great fertility of soil associated within the tropics -with insalubrity of atmosphere <a href="#Page_27">27</a>–<a href="#Page_33">33</a></p> - -<p>“Banks” or broken strata. General horizontality of the surface. -Subsidences of the surface <a href="#Page_33">33</a>–<a href="#Page_35">35</a></p> - -<p>Resemblance of the distant steppe to the ocean. Naked stony crust. -Tabular masses of syenite; whether prejudicial to health <a href="#Page_36">36</a>–<a href="#Page_37">37</a></p> - -<p>General views respecting the mountain systems of North and South -America, embracing the most recent information. Chains running -in a south-west and north-east direction in Brazil and in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> -Atlantic portion of the United States of North America. The low -province of Chiquitos; small swellings of the ground constitute -the division between the waters of the Guaporé and Aguapehi in -15° and 17° S. lat., and between the river basins of the Orinoco -and the Rio Negro in 2° and 3° N. lat. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>–<a href="#Page_39">39</a></p> - -<p>Continuation of the chain of the Andes north of the isthmus of Panama -(through the Aztec country, where Popocatepetl, 16626 French, or -17720 English feet high, has very recently been again ascended by -Captain Stone) in the Sierra de las Grullas and the Rocky Mountains. -Excellent scientific investigations of Captain Frémont. The -longest barometric levelling ever made, showing a profile or vertical -section of the earth’s surface through a space of 28° of longitude. -Culminating point of the route from the coast of the Atlantic to -the Pacific. “South Pass,” south of the Wind River Mountains. -Swelling of the ground in the Great Basin. Long contested -existence of the Timpanogos Lake. Coast Chain, Maritime Alps, -or Sierra Nevada of California. Volcanic eruptions. Falls of the -Columbia <a href="#Page_39">39</a>–<a href="#Page_50">50</a></p> - -<p>General considerations on the contrasts shown by the spaces included -between the central chain (the Rocky Mountains) and the diverging -chains on the east and west (the Alleghanies and the Sierra Nevada -of California); hypsometric characters of the low eastern space, -which is only from 400 to 600 French, or 426 to 639 English feet -above the level of the sea, and of the arid uninhabited plain 5000 -or 6000 (5330 to 6400 English) feet above the same level, called -the Great Basin. Sources of the Mississipi in the Lake of Istaca -according to Nicollet’s highly meritorious researches. Buffalo -country; Gomara’s assertion of buffaloes having been formerly -tamed in the northern part of Mexico <a href="#Page_50">50</a>–<a href="#Page_55">55</a></p> - -<p>Retrospective view of the chain of the Andes from the Rocks of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span> -Diego Ramirez to Behring’s Strait. Long circulated errors respecting -the heights of mountains in the eastern chain of the Andes -of Bolivia, especially the Sorata and the Illimani. Four summits -of the western chain of Bolivia, which, according to Pentland’s -latest determinations, are higher than the Chimborazo, but are not -equal in height to the still active volcano of Acongagua measured -by Fitz-Roy <a href="#Page_55">55</a>–<a href="#Page_58">58</a></p> - -<p>The African mountains of Harudsch-el-Abiad. Oases <a href="#Page_58">58</a>–<a href="#Page_60">60</a></p> - -<p>West winds on the coast of the Sahara. Accumulation of sea-weed; -position of the great bank of Fucus from the time of Scylax of -Caryanda to that of Columbus, and to the present day <a href="#Page_60">60</a>–<a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> - -<p>Tibbos and Tuaricks. The camel and its distribution <a href="#Page_67">67</a>–<a href="#Page_71">71</a></p> - -<p>Mountain systems of the interior of Asia between Northern Siberia -and India. Erroneous belief in the existence of a single great -elevated plain called “Plateau de la Tartarie” <a href="#Page_71">71</a>–<a href="#Page_75">75</a></p> - -<p>Chinese literature a rich source of orographic knowledge. Series of -elevations of different highlands. Desert of Gobi. Probable mean -height of Thibet <a href="#Page_75">75</a>–<a href="#Page_85">85</a></p> - -<p>Review of the mountain systems of the interior of Asia. Chains -running in the direction of the meridian; the Ural, which separates -the low part of Europe from the low part of Asia, or divides into -two portions the Scythian Europe of Pherecydes of Syros and of -Herodotus; Bolor; Khingan and the Chinese chains, which, near -the great bend in the direction of the Thibetian and Assamo-Burmese -river Dzangbo-tschu, run north and south. The elevations -which, between 66° and 77° E. long. from Greenwich, follow the -direction of meridians from Cape Comorin to the Icy Sea, alternate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> -like veins or dikes in which there are faults or displacements; thus -the Ghauts, the Soliman Chain, the Paralasa, the Bolor, and the -Ural, succeed each other from south to north: the Bolor gave -occasion among the ancients to the idea of the Imaus, which -Agathodæmon supposed to be prolonged to the north into the low -basin of the lower Irtysch. Parallel chains running east and west; -the Altai; Thian-schan, with its active volcanoes at a distance of -1528 geographical miles from the Icy Sea at the mouth of the Obi, -and of 1512 geographical miles from the Indian Sea at the mouth -of the Ganges; the Kuen-lün, recognised by Eratosthenes, -Marinus of Tyre, Ptolemy, and Cosmas Indicopleustes, as the -longest axis of elevation in the Old World, runs between 35½° and -36° of latitude in the direction of the diaphragm of Dicearchus. -Himalaya. The Kuen-lün, considered as an axis of elevation, may -be traced from the wall of China near Lung-tscheu through the -somewhat more northerly chains of Nan-schan and Kilian-schan, -through the mountain knot near the Lake called the “Starry Sea,” -through the Hindu-Coosh (the Parapanisus and Indian Caucasus of -the ancients), and through the chain of Demawend and the Persian -Elbourz, to Taurus in Lycia. Near the intersection of the Kuen-lün -and the Bolor the correspondence of the direction of the axes -of elevation (east and west in the Kuen-lün and the Hindu-Coosh, -whereas that of the Himalaya is south-east and north-west) shows -that the Hindu-Coosh is a continuation of the Kuen-lün, and not -of the Himalaya. The point where the direction of the Himalaya -changes to south-east and north-west from having been east and -west, is about the 79th degree of east longitude from Paris (81° 22′ -Greenwich). Next to the Dhawalagiri, it is not, as has been hitherto -supposed, the Jawahir which is the highest summit of the Himalaya; -that rank belonging, according to the most recent intelligence -received from Dr. Joseph Hooker, to a mountain situated between -Boutan and Nepaul in the meridian of Sikkim, the Kinchinjinga: -the western summit of this mountain, which has been measured<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> -by Colonel Waugh, director of the trigonometrical survey of India, -is 28178 feet, and its eastern summit 27826 feet high, according -to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Nov. 1848:—The -mountain which is now supposed to be higher than the Dhawalagiri -is figured on the frontispiece of the magnificent work of Joseph -Hooker entitled “The Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya, 1849.”—Determination -of the lower limits of the snow-line on the northern -and southern declivities of the Himalaya; its height being on an -average 3400 to 4600 French, or 3620 to 4900 English feet higher -on the northern face. New data on the subject from Hodgson. -Without this remarkable distribution of temperature in the upper -strata of the atmosphere, the mountain plains of Western Thibet -would be uninhabitable to the millions of human beings who now -dwell there <a href="#Page_85">85</a>–<a href="#Page_101">101</a></p> - -<p>The Hiong-nu, regarded by Deguignes and Johannes Müller as a -tribe of Huns, appear rather to have been one of the widely scattered -tribes of the Turks of the Altai and Tang-nu mountains. The -Huns, whose name was known to Dionysius Perigetes, and who are -noticed by Ptolemy as Chuns (whence the later appellation of -Chunigard given to a country!), are a Finnish race of the Ural -mountains <a href="#Page_101">101</a>–<a href="#Page_102">102</a></p> - -<p>Figures of the sun and of animals, and other signs carved on rocks -in the Sierra Parime, as well as in North America, have often -been supposed to be writing <a href="#Page_102">102</a>–<a href="#Page_104">104</a></p> - -<p>Description of the cold mountain elevations between 11000 and -13000 (or 11720 and 13850 English) feet, which are distinguished -by the appellation of Paramos; character of their vegetation <a href="#Page_104">104</a>–<a href="#Page_106">106</a></p> - -<p>Notices of the two groups of mountains (Pacaraima Mountains, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span> -the Sierra de Chiquitos) which separate the three plains of the -Lower Orinoco, the Amazons, and the Rio de la Plata <a href="#Page_106">106</a>–<a href="#Page_107">107</a></p> - -<p>On the dogs of South America; both the aboriginal race and the -descendants of European dogs which have become wild. Sufferings -of cats when taken to elevations exceeding 13000 (13850 Eng.) -feet <a href="#Page_107">107</a>–<a href="#Page_112">112</a></p> - -<p>The low tract of the Sahara, and its relations to the Atlas Mountains, -according to the latest information given by Daumas, Carette, and -Renou. The barometric measurements of Fournel make it appear -very probable that part of the North African desert is lower than -the level of the sea. Oasis of Biscara; abundance of fossil salt in -zones or bands running from south-west to north-east. Causes of -the nocturnal cold in the desert according to Melloni <a href="#Page_112">112</a>–<a href="#Page_118">118</a></p> - -<p>Notices of the River Wady Dra (⅙th longer than the Rhine, and -dry a large portion of the year), and of the country of Sheikh -Beirouk, a chief independent of the Emperor of Morocco, from -manuscript communications of the Naval Captain Count Bouet-Villaumez. -The mountains north of Cape Noun (a name used by -Edresi, in which, since the 15th century, an allusion to the negative -particle has been erroneously sought) attain 8600 (9166 English) -feet of elevation <a href="#Page_118">118</a>–<a href="#Page_120">120</a></p> - -<p>The vegetation of the tropical American Llanos consisting of grasses, -compared with the vegetation of the North Asiatic Steppes consisting -of herbaceous plants. In the last-named Steppes, and -especially the more fertile among them, a pleasing effect is produced -in spring by small snow-white and red-flowering Rosaceæ, Amygdaleæ, -species of Astragalus, Crown Imperials, Cypripedias, and -Tulips. Contrast with the desolate salt Steppes full of Chenopodiaceæ, -species of Salsola and Atriplex. Considerations on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> -relative numbers of the prevailing families of plants. The plains -adjoining the Icy Sea, north of the limit determined by Admiral -Wrangel as that of the growth of Coniferæ and Amentaceæ, are the -domain of cryptogamous plants. Aspect and physiognomy of the -Tundras, where the soil, which is perpetually frozen, is covered -either with a thick coating of Sphagnum and other mosses, or with -the snow-white Cenomyce and Stereocaulon paschale <a href="#Page_120">120</a>–<a href="#Page_123">123</a></p> - -<p>Principal causes of the very different distribution of temperature in -the European and American Continents. Direction and curvature -of the isothermal lines, or lines of equal temperature, for the entire -year, for the winter, and for the summer <a href="#Page_123">123</a>–<a href="#Page_136">136</a></p> - -<p>Are there any grounds for believing that America emerged later than -the Old Continent from the chaotic watery covering? <a href="#Page_136">136</a>–<a href="#Page_139">139</a></p> - -<p>Thermic comparison of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres in -high latitudes <a href="#Page_139">139</a>–<a href="#Page_143">143</a></p> - -<p>Apparent connection of the African sea of sand with those of Persia, -Kerman, Beloochistan, and the interior of Asia. On the western -part of Mount Atlas, and the connection of purely mythical ideas -with geographical traditions. Indistinct allusions to igneous eruptions. -Triton Lake. Crater-like forms of a locality south of -Hanno’s “Bay of the Gorilla Apes.” Singular description of the -“hollow Atlas” from the Dialexes of Marinus Tyrius <a href="#Page_143">143</a>–<a href="#Page_149">149</a></p> - -<p>Notices respecting the Mountains of the Moon (Djebel al-Komr) in -the interior of Africa by Reinaud, Beke, and Ayrton. Werne’s -instructive notice of the second expedition undertaken by the orders -of Mehemet Ali. The Abyssinian mountains, which rise, according -to Rüppell, almost to the height of Mont Blanc. The most -ancient notice of snow between the tropics contained in the Inscrip<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span>tion -of Adulis, which is somewhat more modern than Juba. High -mountains which, between 6° and 4° of north latitude, and still -more to the south, approach the Bahr el-Abiad. A considerable -swelling of the ground divides the White Nile from the basin of -the Goschop. Line of separation between the waters which flow -to the Mediterranean and those which flow to the Indian Ocean -according to Carl Zimmermann’s map. Lupata Chain according -to the instructive researches of Wilhelm Peters <a href="#Page_149">149</a>–<a href="#Page_158">158</a></p> - -<p>Oceanic currents. In the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean the -waters are impelled in a true revolving current. That the first -impulse which causes the Gulf Stream is to be sought at the -southern extremity of Africa, was already known to Sir Humphry -Gilbert in 1560. Influence of the Gulf Stream on the climate of -Scandinavia. How it contributed to the discovery of America. -Instances of Esquimaux who, aided by the returning eastward -flowing portion of the warm Gulf Stream, and by north-west winds, -arrived on the coasts of Europe. Such a case related by Cornelius -Nepos and Pomponius Mela (of Indians given by a king of the -Boii to Quintus Metellus Celer, Proconsul of Gaul); others in the -time of the Othos and of Frederic Barbarossa, of Columbus and of -Cardinal Bembo. Again, in the years 1682 and 1684 natives of -Greenland appeared in the Orkneys <a href="#Page_159">159</a>–<a href="#Page_165">165</a></p> - -<p>Operation of lichens and other Cryptogamia in the cold and temperate -zones in preparing the way for the more rapid establishment of -larger phænogamous plants. Within the tropics lichens are often -replaced in this respect by succulent plants. Milk-yielding animals -of the New Continent; the Lama, the Alpaca, the Guanaco <a href="#Page_165">165</a>–<a href="#Page_169">169</a></p> - -<p>Cultivation of farinaceous grasses <a href="#Page_169">169</a>–<a href="#Page_173">173</a></p> - -<p>On the earliest population of America <a href="#Page_173">173</a>–<a href="#Page_174">174</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span></p> - -<p>The coast nation of the Guaranis (Warraus), and the Mauritia palm -of the coasts, according to the accounts given by Bembo in the -Historiæ Venetæ, and those of Raleigh, Hillhouse, and Robert and -Richard Schomburgk <a href="#Page_174">174</a>–<a href="#Page_182">182</a></p> - -<p>Phenomena which long-continued drought produces in the Steppe; -sand-spouts, hot winds (Mirage); awakening of crocodiles and -tortoises from long summer sleep <a href="#Page_182">182</a>–<a href="#Page_190">190</a></p> - -<p>Otomacs. General considerations on the practice of earth-eating -among particular nations or tribes. Clays and earths containing -Infusoria <a href="#Page_190">190</a>–<a href="#Page_196">196</a></p> - -<p>Figures graven on rocks throughout a zone running from east to west, -and extending from the Rupunuri, Essequibo, and the Pacaraima -Mountains, to Caycara and the wildernesses of the Cassiquiare. -Earliest notice (April 1749) of these traces of former civilization -in the manuscript account of the travels of the surgeon Nicolas -Hortsmann of Hildesheim, found among D’Anville’s papers <a href="#Page_196">196</a>–<a href="#Page_203">203</a></p> - -<p>The vegetable poison Curare or Ourari <a href="#Page_203">203</a>–<a href="#Page_204">204</a></p> - -<p class="center"> -<i>Cataracts of the Orinoco</i>—p. <a href="#Page_207">207</a> to p. <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</p> - -<p>The Orinoco; general view of its course. Ideas excited in Columbus -on seeing its embouchure. Its unknown sources are east of the -Mountain of Duida and the groves of Bertholletia. Causes of the -principal bends of the river <a href="#Page_207">207</a>–<a href="#Page_219">219</a></p> - -<p>The falls or rapids; Raudal of Maypures enclosed by four streams. -Former state of the district. Island-like form of the rocks Keri -and Oco. Grandeur of the view obtained on descending the hill of -Manimi, where a foaming river-surface of four miles in extent presents -itself at once to the eye. Iron-black masses of rock rise like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> -castles from the bed of the river; the summits of the lofty palm -trees pierce through the cloud of spray and vapour <a href="#Page_219">219</a>–<a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> - -<p>Raudal of Atures; numerous islands; rocky dikes connecting one -island with another, and the resort of pugnacious golden Pipras. -Parts of the bed of the river at the cataracts are dry, from the -waters having found a passage by subterranean channels. We -visited the rocks at the closing in of night and during storm and -heavy rain. Unsuspected proximity of crocodiles <a href="#Page_226">226</a>–<a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> - -<p>Celebrated cave of Ataruipe, the sepulchral vault of an extinct -nation <a href="#Page_227">227</a>–<a href="#Page_231">231</a></p> - -<p class="center"> -<i>Scientific Elucidations and Additions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_233">233</a> to p. <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</p> - -<p>The river-cow (Trichecus manati) lives in the sea at the place where, -in the Gulf of Xagua, on the south coast of the Island of Cuba, -springs of fresh water break forth <a href="#Page_233">233</a>–<a href="#Page_234">234</a></p> - -<p>Geographical discussion on the sources of the Orinoco <a href="#Page_236">236</a>–<a href="#Page_241">241</a></p> - -<p>The Bertholletia, a Lecythidea, a remarkable example of highly developed -organization. Stem of an Arundinarea sixteen to seventeen -feet long from knot to knot <a href="#Page_241">241</a>–<a href="#Page_243">243</a></p> - -<p>On the myth or fable of the Lake of Parime <a href="#Page_243">243</a>–<a href="#Page_254">254</a></p> - -<p class="center"> -<i>The Nocturnal Life of Animals in the Primeval Forest</i>—p. <a href="#Page_259">259</a> to p. <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</p> - -<p>Difference between languages in respect to their richness in well-defined -expressions for characterising natural phenomena, such as -the state of vegetation, the forms of plants, the outlines and grouping -of clouds, the appearance of the surface of the ground, and the -forms of rocks and mountains. Loss which languages suffer by the -disuse of such words, or by their signification becoming impaired.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> -The misinterpretation of a Spanish word, “Monte,” has caused the -undue extension or introduction of mountains in maps. Primeval -Forest; frequent abuse of the term. Absence of the uniformity -which is produced by the association of the same kinds of trees, -characteristic of tropical forests. Causes of the impenetrability of -forests between the tropics; the twining plants, Lianes, often form -only a small portion of the Underwood <a href="#Page_259">259</a>–<a href="#Page_266">266</a></p> - -<p>Appearance of the Rio Apure in the lower part of its course. Margin -of the forest fenced like a garden by a low hedge of Sauso (Hermesia). -The wild animals of the forest lead their young to the -river through small openings in this hedge. Flocks of large water-hogs -or Cavies (Capybara). Fresh-water dolphins <a href="#Page_266">266</a>–<a href="#Page_269">269</a></p> - -<p>Wild cries of animals resound throughout the forest. Cause of the -nocturnal uproar <a href="#Page_269">269</a>–<a href="#Page_271">271</a></p> - -<p>Contrast with the stillness which reigns during the noon-tide hours -on days of more than usual heat in the torrid zone. Description -of the narrows of the Orinoco at Baraguan. Humming and -fluttering of insects. Life stirs audibly in every bush, in the clefts -of the bark of trees, and in the earth undermined and furrowed by -Hymenopterous insects <a href="#Page_271">271</a>–<a href="#Page_272">272</a></p> - -<p class="center"> -<i>Scientific Elucidations and Additions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_273">273</a> to p. <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.</p> - -<p>Characteristic terms in Arabic and Persian descriptive of the surface -of the ground (Steppes, grassy plains, deserts, &c.) Richness of -the old Castilian idiom in words expressive of the form of mountains. -Fresh-water skates and dolphins. In the great rivers of both -continents some organic sea-forms are repeated. American nocturnal -monkeys, the three-striped Douroucouli of the Cassiquiare. <a href="#Page_273">273</a>–<a href="#Page_275">275</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span></p> - -<p class="center"> -<i>Hypsometric Addenda</i>—p. <a href="#Page_277">277</a> to p. <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</p> - -<p>Pentland’s measurements in the eastern mountain chain of Bolivia. -Height of the volcano of Aconcagua according to Fitzroy and -Darwin. Western mountain chain of Bolivia <a href="#Page_277">277</a>–<a href="#Page_279">279</a></p> - -<p>Mountain systems of North America. Rocky Mountains and the -Snowy Chain (Sierra Nevada) of California. Laguna de Timpanogos <a href="#Page_279">279</a>–<a href="#Page_283">283</a></p> - -<p>Hypsometrical profile of the Highland of Mexico from the city of -Mexico to Santa Fé <a href="#Page_283">283</a>–<a href="#Page_285">285</a> -</p> - - -<p class="center p2">END OF VOL. I.</p> - - -<p class="center p2 small">Wilson and Ogilvy, Printers, 57, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London.</p> - - - - -<hr class="full" /> - - - -<div class="transnote break"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Note">Transcriber's Note</h2> - -<p>Duplicate chapter headings have been removed.</p> - -<p>The following apparent errors have been corrected:</p> - -<ul> -<li>p. 47 "parallels of 40° and 55°" changed to "parallels of 40° and 55°."</li> - -<li>p. 49 "Mount St. Elias (1980 toises" changed to "Mount St. Elias, 1980 toises"</li> - -<li>p. 49 "43° 2′, long. 112° 28" changed to "43° 2′, long. 112° 28′"</li> - -<li>p. 50 "Scoriacous" changed to "Scoriaceous"</li> - -<li>p. 52 "miles The surface of" changed to "miles. The surface of"</li> - -<li>p. 53 "the tongue a much-prized" changed to "the tongue, a much-prized"</li> - -<li>p. 60 "greenstone porpyhry" changed to "greenstone porphyry"</li> - -<li>p. 62 "θρύον καὶφῦκος" changed to "θρύον καὶ φῦκος"</li> - -<li>p. 62 "shoal dissappeared" changed to "shoal disappeared"</li> - -<li>p. 65 "E. meditterranea" changed to "E. mediterranea"</li> - -<li>p. 68 "Bedouin tribes”" changed to "Bedouin tribes"</li> - -<li>p. 71 "p. 4.)—" changed to "p. 4.—"</li> - -<li>p. 76 "Appennines. (Compare" changed to "Apennines. (Compare"</li> - -<li>p. 91 "view of Erastosthenes" changed to "view of Eratosthenes"</li> - -<li>p. 91 "issue from a avcity" changed to "issue from a cavity"</li> - -<li>p. 97 "than the Dawalagiri" changed to "than the Dhawalagiri"</li> - -<li>p. 113 "and “this name" changed to "and this name"</li> - -<li>p. 116 "oises (3580 Eng. feet)" changed to "toises (3580 Eng. feet)"</li> - -<li>p. 128 "leaves also A similar" changed to "leaves also. A similar"</li> - -<li>p. 132 "in lat 44° 53′" changed to "in lat. 44° 53′"</li> - -<li>p. 137 "repose. “At the present moment" changed to "repose. At the present moment"</li> - -<li>p. 139 "true “insular climate;" changed to "true “insular climate;”"</li> - -<li>p. 141 "lat 42° 53′" changed to "lat. 42° 53′"</li> - -<li>p. 141 "42°.2, and 63°." changed to "42°.2, and 63°.0"</li> - -<li>p. 142 "Berlin 6°8" changed to "Berlin 6°.8"</li> - -<li>p. 148 "πυρὸς ὲκφυτηματα μεγάλα" changed to "πυρὸς ἐκφυσήματα μεγάλα"</li> - -<li>p. 149 "semicircular deep abyss." changed to "semicircular deep abyss.”"</li> - -<li>p. 151 "σεληνης ὅρος" changed to "σελήνης ὅρος"</li> - -<li>p. 152 "S. 534–536." changed to "S. 534–536.)"</li> - -<li>p. 154 "second of Mehemed" changed to "second of Mehemet"</li> - -<li>p. 156 "Isenberg, Russeger" changed to "Isenberg, Russegger"</li> - -<li>p. 162 "with the equitorial" changed to "with the equatorial"</li> - -<li>p. 173 "Beitrage zur Flora des" changed to "Beiträge zur Flora des"</li> - -<li>p. 178 "so disagreable an odour" changed to "so disagreeable an odour"</li> - -<li>p. 187 "Electricetät" changed to "Elektricität"</li> - -<li>p. 192 "as a misssionary" changed to "as a missionary"</li> - -<li>p. 199 "of Nicholas Hortsman" changed to "of Nicholas Hortsmann"</li> - -<li>p. 225 "These spots recal" changed to "These spots recall"</li> - -<li>p. 235 "(ed. 1601, p. 106]" changed to "(ed. 1601, p. 106)"</li> - -<li>p. 239 "uncertain disance" changed to "uncertain distance"</li> - -<li>p. 240 "4°.12" changed to "4°.12′"</li> - -<li>p. 241 "65°.38′ Near" changed to "65°.38′. Near"</li> - -<li>p. 248 "Pacaraima monntains" changed to "Pacaraima mountains"</li> - -<li>p. 262 "believe that of al’" changed to "believe that of all"</li> - -<li>p. 262 "Bonpland, Martius" changed to "Bonpland, Martius,"</li> - -<li>p. 281 "107° 58" changed to "107° 58′"</li> - -<li>p. 285 "undulating suface" changed to "undulating surface"</li> - -<li>p. 295 "(1–6th" changed to "(⅙th"</li> -</ul> - - -<p>Inconsistent or archaic spelling and punctuation have otherwise been kept as printed.</p> - - -<p>The following possible errors have been kept as printed:</p> - -<ul> -<li>p. 79 two distinguished Savans</li> - -<li>p. 182 mountains of Ronaima</li> - -<li>p. 221 of globe</li> -</ul> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPECTS OF NATURE (VOL. 1 OF 2) ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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