DEPARTURE FROM CARACAS.--MOUNTAINS OF SAN PEDRO AND OF LOS TEQUES.--
LA VICTORIA.--VALLEYS OF ARAGUA.
***
INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR.
Many years have elapsed since I quitted Europe, to explore the
interior of the New Continent. Devoted from my earliest youth to
the study of nature, feeling with enthusiasm the wild beauties of a
country guarded by mountains and shaded by ancient forests, I
experienced in my travels, enjoyments which have amply compensated
for the privations inseparable from a laborious and often agitated
life. These enjoyments, which I endeavoured to impart to my readers
in my 'Remarks upon the Steppes,' and in the 'Essay on the
Physiognomy of Plants,' were not the only fruits I reaped from an
undertaking formed with the design of contributing to the progress
of natural philosophy. I had long prepared myself for the
observations which were the principal object of my journey to the
torrid zone. I was provided with instruments of easy and convenient
use, constructed by the ablest makers, and I enjoyed the special
protection of a government which, far from presenting obstacles to
my investigations, constantly honoured me with every mark of regard
and confidence. I was aided by a courageous and enlightened friend,
and it was singularly propitious to the success of our participated
labour, that the zeal and equanimity of that friend never failed,
amidst the fatigues and dangers to which we were sometimes exposed.
Under these favourable circumstances, traversing regions which for
ages have remained almost unknown to most of the nations of Europe,
I might add even to Spain, M. Bonpland and myself collected a
considerable number of materials, the publication of which may
throw some light on the history of nations, and advance the study
of nature.
I had in view a two-fold purpose in the travels of which I now
publish the historical narrative. I wished to make known the
countries I had visited; and to collect such facts as are fitted to
elucidate a science of which we as yet possess scarcely the
outline, and which has been vaguely denominated Natural History of
the World, Theory of the Earth, or Physical Geography. The last of
these two objects seemed to me the most important. I was
passionately devoted to botany and certain parts of zoology, and I
flattered myself that our investigations might add some new species
to those already known, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms;
but preferring the connection of facts which have been long
observed, to the knowledge of insulated facts, although new, the
discovery of an unknown genus seemed to me far less interesting
than an observation on the geographical relations of the vegetable
world, on the migrations of the social plants, and the limit of the
height which their different tribes attain on the flanks of the
Cordilleras.
The natural sciences are connected by the same ties which link
together all the phenomena of nature. The classification of the
species, which must be considered as the fundamental part of
botany, and the study of which is rendered attractive and easy by
the introduction of natural methods, is to the geography of plants
what descriptive mineralogy is to the indication of the rocks
constituting the exterior crust of the globe. To comprehend the
laws observed in the position of these rocks, to determine the age
of their successive formations, and their identity in the most
distant regions, the geologist should be previously acquainted with
the simple fossils which compose the mass of mountains, and of
which the names and character are the object of oryctognostical
knowledge. It is the same with that part of the natural history of
the globe which treats of the relations plants have to each other,
to the soil whence they spring, or to the air which they inhale and
modify. The progress of the geography of plants depends in a great
measure on that of descriptive botany; and it would be injurious to
the advancement of science, to attempt rising to general ideas,
whilst neglecting the knowledge of particular facts.
I have been guided by these considerations in the course of my
inquiries; they were always present to my mind during the period of
my preparatory studies. When I began to read the numerous
narratives of travels, which compose so interesting a part of
modern literature, I regretted that travellers, the most
enlightened in the insulated branches of natural history, were
seldom possessed of sufficient variety of knowledge to avail
themselves of every advantage arising from their position. It
appeared to me, that the importance of the results hitherto
obtained did not keep pace with the immense progress which, at the
end of the eighteenth century, had been made in several departments
of science, particularly geology, the history of the modifications
of the atmosphere, and the physiology of animals and plants. I saw
with regret, (and all scientific men have shared this feeling) that
whilst the number of accurate instruments was daily increasing, we
were still ignorant of the height of many mountains and elevated
plains; of the periodical oscillations of the aerial ocean; of the
limit of perpetual snow within the polar circle and on the borders
of the torrid zone; of the variable intensity of the magnetic
forces, and of many other phenomena equally important.
Maritime expeditions and circumnavigatory voyages have conferred
just celebrity on the names of the naturalists and astronomers who
have been appointed by various governments to share the dangers of
those undertakings; but though these eminent men have given us
precise notions of the external configuration of countries, of the
natural history of the ocean, and of the productions of islands and
coasts, it must be admitted that maritime expeditions are less
fitted to advance the progress of geology and other parts of
physical science, than travels into the interior of a continent.
The advancement of the natural sciences has been subordinate to
that of geography and nautical astronomy. During a voyage of
several years, the land but seldom presents itself to the
observation of the mariner, and when, after lengthened expectation,
it is descried, he often finds it stripped of its most beautiful
productions. Sometimes, beyond a barren coast, he perceives a ridge
of mountains covered with verdure, but its distance forbids
examination, and the view serves only to excite regret.
Journeys by land are attended with considerable difficulties in the
conveyance of instruments and collections, but these difficulties
are compensated by advantages which it is unnecessary to enumerate.
It is not by sailing along a coast that we can discover the
direction of chains of mountains, and their geological
constitution, the climate of each zone, and its influence on the
forms and habits of organized beings. In proportion to the extent
of continents, the greater on the surface of the soil are the
riches of animal and vegetable productions; the more distant the
central chain of mountains from the sea-shore, the greater is the
variety in the bosom of the earth, of those stony strata, the
regular succession of which unfolds the history of our planet. As
every being considered apart is impressed with a particular type,
so, in like manner, we find the same distinctive impression in the
arrangement of brute matter organized in rocks, and also in the
distribution and mutual relations of plants and animals. The great
problem of the physical description of the globe, is the
determination of the form of these types, the laws of their
relations with each other, and the eternal ties which link the
phenomena of life, and those of inanimate nature.
Having stated the general object I had in view in my expeditions, I
will now hasten to give a slight sketch of the whole of the
collections and observations which we have accumulated, and the
union of which is the aim and end of every scientific journey. The
maritime war, during our abode in America, having rendered
communication with Europe very uncertain, we found ourselves
compelled, in order to diminish the chance of losses, to form three
different collections. Of these, the first was embarked for Spain
and France, the second for the United States and England, and the
third, which was the most considerable, remained almost constantly
under our own eyes. Towards the close of our expedition, this last
collection formed forty-two boxes, containing an herbal of six
thousand equinoctial plants, seeds, shells, insects, and (what had
hitherto never been brought to Europe) geological specimens, from
the Chimborazo, New Grenada, and the banks of the river Amazon.
After our journey to the Orinoco, we left a part of these
collections at the island of Cuba, intending to take them on our
return from Peru to Mexico. The rest followed us during the space
of five years, on the chain of the Andes, across New Spain, from
the shores of the Pacific to the coasts of the Caribbean Sea. The
conveyance of these objects, and the minute care they required,
occasioned embarrassments scarcely conceiveable even by those who
have traversed the most uncultivated parts of Europe. Our progress
was often retarded by the necessity of dragging after us, during
expeditions of five or six months, twelve, fifteen, and sometimes
more than twenty loaded mules, exchanging these animals every eight
or ten days, and superintending the Indians who were employed in
driving the numerous caravan. Often, in order to add to our
collections of new mineral substances, we found ourselves obliged
to throw away others, which we had collected a considerable time
before. These sacrifices were not less vexatious than the losses we
accidentally sustained. Sad experience taught us but too late, that
from the sultry humidity of the climate, and the frequent falls of
the beasts of burden, we could preserve neither the skins of
animals hastily prepared, nor the fishes and reptiles placed in
phials filled with alcohol. I enter into these details, because,
though little interesting in themselves, they serve to show that we
had no means of bringing back, in their natural state, many objects
of zoology and comparative anatomy, of which we have published
descriptions and drawings. Notwithstanding some obstacles, and the
expense occasioned by the carriage of these articles, I had reason
to applaud the resolution I had taken before my departure, of
sending to Europe the duplicates only of the productions we
collected. I cannot too often repeat, that when the seas are
infested with privateers, a traveller can be sure only of the
objects in his own possession. A very few of the duplicates, which
we shipped for Europe during our abode in America, were saved; the
greater part fell into the hands of persons who feel no interest
for science. When a ship is condemned in a foreign port, boxes
containing only dried plants or stones, instead of being sent to
the scientific men to whom they are addressed, are put aside and
forgotten. Some of our geological collections taken in the Pacific
were, however, more fortunate. We were indebted for their
preservation to the generous activity of Sir Joseph Banks,
President of the Royal Society of London, who, amidst the political
agitations of Europe, unceasingly laboured to strengthen the bonds
of union between scientific men of all nations.
In our investigations we have considered each phenomenon under
different aspects, and classed our remarks according to the
relations they bear to each other. To afford an idea of the method
we have followed, I will here add a succinct enumeration of the
materials with which we were furnished for describing the volcanoes
of Antisana and Pichincha, as well as that of Jorullo: the latter,
during the night of the 20th of September, 1759, rose from the
earth one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight French feet above
the surrounding plains of Mexico. The position of these singular
mountains in longitude and latitude was ascertained by astronomical
observations. We took the heights of the different parts by the aid
of the barometer, and determined the dip of the needle and the
intensity of the magnetic forces. Our collections contain the
plants which are spread over the flanks of these volcanoes, and
specimens of different rocks which, superposed one upon another,
constitute their external coat. We are enabled to indicate, by
measures sufficiently exact, the height above the level of the
ocean, at which we found each group of plants, and each volcanic
rock. Our journals furnish us with a series of observations on the
humidity, the temperature, the electricity, and the degree of
transparency of the air on the brinks of the craters of Pichincha
and Jorullo; they also contain topographical plans and geological
profiles of these mountains, founded in part on the measure of
vertical bases, and on angles of altitude. Each observation has
been calculated according to the tables and the methods which are
considered most exact in the present state of our knowledge; and in
order to judge of the degree of confidence which the results may
claim, we have preserved the whole detail of our partial
operations.
It would have been possible to blend these different materials in a
work devoted wholly to the description of the volcanoes of Peru and
New Spain. Had I given the physical description of a single
province, I could have treated separately everything relating to
its geography, mineralogy, and botany; but how could I interrupt
the narrative of a journey, a disquisition on the manners of a
people, or the great phenomena of nature, by an enumeration of the
productions of the country, the description of new species of
animals and plants, or the detail of astronomical observations. Had
I adopted a mode of composition which would have included in one
and the same chapter all that has been observed on one particular
point of the globe, I should have prepared a work of cumbrous
length, and devoid of that clearness which arises in a great
measure from the methodical distribution of matter. Notwithstanding
the efforts I have made to avoid, in this narrative, the errors I
had to dread, I feel conscious that I have not always succeeded in
separating the observations of detail from those general results
which interest every enlightened mind. These results comprise in
one view the climate and its influence on organized beings, the
aspect of the country, varied according to the nature of the soil
and its vegetable covering, the direction of the mountains and
rivers which separate races of men as well as tribes of plants; and
finally, the modifications observable in the condition of people
living in different latitudes, and in circumstances more or less
favourable to the development of their faculties. I do not fear
having too much enlarged on objects so worthy of attention: one of
the noblest characteristics which distinguish modern civilization
from that of remoter times is, that it has enlarged the mass of our
conceptions, rendered us more capable of perceiving the connection
between the physical and intellectual world, and thrown a more
general interest over objects which heretofore occupied only a few
scientific men, because those objects were contemplated separately,
and from a narrower point of view.
As it is probable that these volumes will obtain the attention of a
greater number of readers than the detail of my observations merely
scientific, or my researches on the population, the commerce, and
the mines of New Spain, I may be permitted here to enumerate all
the works which I have hitherto published conjointly with M.
Bonpland. When several works are interwoven in some sort with each
other, it may perhaps be interesting to the reader to know the
sources whence he may obtain more circumstantial information.
1.I.1. ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS, TRIGONOMETRICAL OPERATIONS, AND
BAROMETRICAL MEASUREMENTS MADE DURING THE COURSE OF A JOURNEY TO
THE EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS OF THE NEW CONTINENT, FROM 1799 TO 1804.
This work, to which are added historical researches on the position
of several points important to navigators, contains, first, the
original observations which I made from the twelfth degree of
southern to the forty-first degree of northern latitude; the
transits of the sun and stars over the meridian; distances of the
moon from the sun and the stars; occultations of the satellites;
eclipses of the sun and moon; transits of Mercury over the disc of
the sun; azimuths; circum-meridian altitudes of the moon, to
determine the longitude by the differences of declination;
researches on the relative intensity of the light of the austral
stars; geodesical measures, etc. Secondly, a treatise on the
astronomical refractions in the torrid zone, considered as the
effect of the decrement of caloric in the strata of the air;
thirdly, the barometric measurement of the Cordillera of the Andes,
of Mexico, of the province of Venezuela, of the kingdom of Quito,
and of New Grenada; followed by geological observations, and
containing the indication of four hundred and fifty-three heights,
calculated according to the method of M. Laplace, and the new
co-efficient of M. Ramond; fourthly, a table of near seven hundred
geographical positions on the New Continent; two hundred and
thirty-five of which have been determined by my own observations,
according to the three co-ordinates of longitude, latitude, and
height.
1.I.2. EQUINOCTIAL PLANTS COLLECTED IN MEXICO, IN THE ISLAND OF
CUBA, IN THE PROVINCES OF CARACAS, CUMANA, AND BARCELONA, ON THE
ANDES OF NEW GRENADA, QUITO, AND PERU, AND ON THE BANKS OF THE RIO
NEGRO, THE ORINOCO, AND THE RIVER AMAZON.
M. Bonpland has in this work given figures of more than forty new
genera of plants of the torrid zone, classed according to their
natural families. The methodical descriptions of the species are
both in French and Latin, and are accompanied by observations on
the medicinal properties of the plants, their use in the arts, and
the climate of the countries in which they are found.
1.I.3. MONOGRAPHY OF THE MELASTOMA, RHEXIA, AND OTHER GENERA OF
THIS ORDER OF PLANTS.
Comprising upwards of a hundred and fifty species of melastomaceae,
which we collected during the course of our expeditions, and which
form one of the most beautiful ornaments of tropical vegetation. M.
Bonpland has added the plants of the same family, which, among many
other rich stores of natural history, M. Richard collected in his
interesting expedition to the Antilles and French Guiana, and the
descriptions of which he has communicated to us.
1.I.4. ESSAY ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS, ACCOMPANIED BY A PHYSICAL
TABLE OF THE EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS, FOUNDED ON MEASURES TAKEN FROM
THE TENTH DEGREE OF NORTHERN TO THE TENTH DEGREE OF SOUTHERN
LATITUDE.
I have endeavoured to collect in one point of view the whole of the
physical phenomena of that part of the New Continent comprised
within the limits of the torrid zone from the level of the Pacific
to the highest summit of the Andes; namely, the vegetation, the
animals, the geological relations, the cultivation of the soil, the
temperature of the air, the limit of perpetual snow, the chemical
constitution of the atmosphere, its electrical intensity, its
barometrical pressure, the decrement of gravitation, the intensity
of the azure colour of the sky, the diminution of light during its
passage through the successive strata of the air, the horizontal
refractions, and the heat of boiling water at different heights.
Fourteen scales, disposed side by side with a profile of the Andes,
indicate the modifications to which these phenomena are subject
from the influence of the elevation of the soil above the level of
the sea. Each group of plants is placed at the height which nature
has assigned to it, and we may follow the prodigious variety of
their forms from the region of the palms and arborescent ferns to
those of the johannesia (chuquiraga, Juss.), the gramineous plants,
and lichens. These regions form the natural divisions of the
vegetable empire; and as perpetual snow is found in each climate at
a determinate height, so, in like manner, the febrifuge species of
the quinquina (cinchona) have their fixed limits, which I have
marked in the botanical chart belonging to this essay.
1.I.5. OBSERVATIONS ON ZOOLOGY AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.
I have comprised in this work the history of the condor;
experiments on the electrical action of the gymnotus; a treatise on
the larynx of the crocodiles, the quadrumani, and birds of the
tropics; the description of several new species of reptiles,
fishes, birds, monkeys, and other mammalia but little known. M.
Cuvier has enriched this work with a very comprehensive treatise on
the axolotl of the lake of Mexico, and on the genera of the Protei.
That naturalist has also recognized two new species of mastodons
and an elephant among the fossil bones of quadrupeds which we
brought from North and South America. For the description of the
insects collected by M. Bonpland we are indebted to M. Latreille,
whose labours have so much contributed to the progress of
entomology in our times. The second volume of this work contains
figures of the Mexican, Peruvian, and Aturian skulls, which we have
deposited in the Museum of Natural History at Paris, and respecting
which Blumenbach has published observations in the 'Decas quinta
Craniorum diversarum gentium.'
1.I.6. POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN, WITH A PHYSICAL
AND GEOGRAPHICAL ATLAS, FOUNDED ON ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS AND
TRIGONOMETRICAL AND BAROMETRICAL MEASUREMENTS.
This work, based on numerous official memoirs, presents, in six
divisions, considerations on the extent and natural appearance of
Mexico, on the population, on the manners of the inhabitants, their
ancient civilization, and the political division of their
territory. It embraces also the agriculture, the mineral riches,
the manufactures, the commerce, the finances, and the military
defence of that vast country. In treating these different subjects
I have endeavoured to consider them under a general point of view;
I have drawn a parallel not only between New Spain, the other
Spanish colonies, and the United States of North America, but also
between New Spain and the possessions of the English in Asia; I
have compared the agriculture of the countries situated in the
torrid zone with that of the temperate climates; and I have
examined the quantity of colonial produce necessary to Europe in
the present state of civilization. In tracing the geological
description of the richest mining districts in Mexico, I have, in
short, given a statement of the mineral produce, the population,
the imports and exports of the whole of Spanish America. I have
examined several questions which, for want of precise data, had not
hitherto been treated with the attention they demand, such as the
influx and reflux of metals, their progressive accumulation in
Europe and Asia, and the quantity of gold and silver which, since
the discovery of America down to our own times, the Old World has
received from the New. The geographical introduction at the
beginning of this work contains the analysis of the materials which
have been employed in the construction of the Mexican Atlas.
1.I.7. VIEWS OF THE CORDILLERAS, AND MONUMENTS OF THE INDIGENOUS
NATIONS OF THE NEW CONTINENT.* (*Atlas Pittoresque, ou Vues des
Cordilleres, 1 volume folio, with 69 plates, part of which are
coloured, accompanied by explanatory treatises. This work may be
considered as the Atlas to the historical narrative of the travels.)
This work is intended to represent a few of the grand scenes which
nature presents in the lofty chain of the Andes, and at the same
time to throw some light on the ancient civilization of the
Americans, through the study of their monuments of architecture,
their hieroglyphics, their religious rites, and their astrological
reveries. I have given in this work a description of the teocalli,
or Mexican pyramids, and have compared their structure with that of
the temple of Belus. I have described the arabesques which cover
the ruins of Mitla, the idols in basalt ornamented with the
calantica of the heads of Isis; and also a considerable number of
symbolical paintings, representing the serpent-woman (the Mexican
Eve), the deluge of Coxcox, and the first migrations of the natives
of the Aztec race. I have endeavoured to prove the striking
analogies existing between the calendar of the Toltecs and the
catasterisms of their zodiac, and the division of time of the
people of Tartary and Thibet, as well as the Mexican traditions on
the four regenerations of the globe, the pralayas of the Hindoos,
and the four ages of Hesiod. In this work I have also included (in
addition to the hieroglyphical paintings I brought to Europe),
fragments of all the Aztec manuscripts, collected in Rome, Veletri,
Vienna, and Dresden, and one of which reminds us, by its lineary
symbols, of the kouas of the Chinese. Together with the rude
monuments of the aborigines of America, this volume contains
picturesque views of the mountainous countries which those people
inhabited; for example, the cataract of Tequendama, Chimborazo, the
volcano of Jorullo and Cayambe, the pyramidal summit of which,
covered with eternal ice, is situated directly under the
equinoctial line. In every zone the configuration of the ground,
the physiognomy of the plants, and the aspect of lovely or wild
scenery, have great influence on the progress of the arts, and on
the style which distinguishes their productions. This influence is
so much the more perceptible in proportion as man is farther
removed from civilization.
I could have added to this work researches on the character of
languages, which are the most durable monuments of nations. I have
collected a number of materials on the languages of America, of
which MM. Frederic Schlegel and Vater have made use; the former in
his Considerations on the Hindoos, the latter in his Continuation
of the Mithridates of Adelung, in the Ethnographical Magazine, and
in his Inquiries into the Population of the New Continent. These
materials are now in the hands of my brother, William von Humboldt,
who, during his travels in Spain, and a long abode at Rome, formed
the richest collection of American vocabularies in existence. His
extensive knowledge of the ancient and modern languages has enabled
him to trace some curious analogies in relation to this subject, so
important to the philosophical study of the history of man. A part
of his labours will find a place in this narrative.
Of the different works which I have here enumerated, the second and
third were composed by M. Bonpland, from the observations which he
made in a botanical journal. This journal contains more than four
thousand methodical descriptions of equinoctial plants, a ninth
part only of which have been made by me. They appear in a separate
publication, under the title of Nova Genera et Species Plantariem.
In this work will be found, not only the new species we collected,
which, after a careful examination by one of the first botanists of
the age, Professor Willdenouw, are computed to amount to fourteen
or fifteen hundred, but also the interesting observations made by
M. Bonpland on plants hitherto imperfectly described. The plates of
this work are all engraved according to the method followed by M.
Labillardiere, in the Specimen Planterum Novae Hollandiae, a work
remarkable for profound research and clearness of arrangement.
After having distributed into separate works all that belongs to
astronomy, botany, zoology, the political description of New Spain,
and the history of the ancient civilization of certain nations of
the New Continent, there still remained many general results and
local descriptions, which I might have collected into separate
treatises. I had, during my journey, prepared papers on the races
of men in South America; on the Missions of the Orinoco; on the
obstacles to the progress of society in the torrid zone arising
from the climate and the strength of vegetation; on the character
of the landscape in the Cordilleras of the Andes compared with that
of the Alps in Switzerland; on the analogies between the rocks of
the two hemispheres; on the physical constitution of the air in the
equinoctial regions, etc. I had left Europe with the firm intention
of not writing what is usually called the historical narrative of a
journey, but to publish the fruit of my inquiries in works merely
descriptive; and I had arranged the facts, not in the order in
which they successively presented themselves, but according to the
relation they bore to each other. Amidst the overwhelming majesty
of Nature, and the stupendous objects she presents at every step,
the traveller is little disposed to record in his journal matters
which relate only to himself, and the ordinary details of life.
I composed a very brief itinerary during the course of my
excursions on the rivers of South America, and in my long journeys
by land. I regularly described (and almost always on the spot) the
visits I made to the summits of volcanoes, or mountains remarkable
for their height; but the entries in my journal were interrupted
whenever I resided in a town, or when other occupations prevented
me from continuing a work which I considered as having only a
secondary interest. Whenever I wrote in my journal, I had no other
motive than the preservation of some of those fugitive ideas which
present themselves to a naturalist, whose life is almost wholly
passed in the open air. I wished to make a temporary collection of
such facts as I had not then leisure to class, and note down the
first impressions, whether agreeable or painful, which I received
from nature or from man. Far from thinking at the time that those
pages thus hurriedly written would form the basis of an extensive
work to be offered to the public, it appeared to me, that my
journal, though it might furnish certain data useful to science,
would present very few of those incidents, the recital of which
constitutes the principal charm of an itinerary.
The difficulties I have experienced since my return, in the
composition of a considerable number of treatises, for the purpose
of making known certain classes of phenomena, insensibly overcame
my repugnance to write the narrative of my journey. In undertaking
this task, I have been guided by the advice of many estimable
persons, who honour me with their friendship. I also perceived that
such a preference is given to this sort of composition, that
scientific men, after having presented in an isolated form the
account of their researches on the productions, the manners, and
the political state of the countries through which they have
passed, imagine that they have not fulfilled their engagements with
the public, till they have written their itinerary.
An historical narrative embraces two very distinct objects; the
greater or the less important events connected with the purpose of
the traveller, and the observations he has made during his journey.
The unity of composition also, which distinguishes good works from
those on an ill-constructed plan, can be strictly observed only
when the traveller describes what has passed under his own eye; and
when his principal attention has been fixed less on scientific
observations than on the manners of different people and the great
phenomena of nature. Now, the most faithful picture of manners is
that which best displays the relations of men towards each other.
The character of savage or civilized life is portrayed either in
the obstacles a traveller meets with, or in the sensations he
feels. It is the traveller himself whom we continually desire to
see in contact with the objects which surround him; and his
narration interests us the more, when a local tint is diffused over
the description of a country and its inhabitants. Such is the
source of the interest excited by the history of those early
navigators, who, impelled by intrepidity rather than by science,
struggled against the elements in their search for the discovery of
a new world. Such is the irresistible charm attached to the fate of
that enterprising traveller (Mungo Park.), who, full of enthusiasm
and energy, penetrated alone into the centre of Africa, to discover
amidst barbarous nations the traces of ancient civilization.
In proportion as travels have been undertaken by persons whose
views have been directed to researches into descriptive natural
history, geography, or political economy, itineraries have partly
lost that unity of composition, and that simplicity which
characterized those of former ages. It is now become scarcely
possible to connect so many different materials with the detail of
other events; and that part of a traveller's narrative which we may
call dramatic gives way to dissertations merely descriptive. The
numerous class of readers who prefer agreeable amusement to solid
instruction, have not gained by the exchange; and I am afraid that
the temptation will not be great to follow the course of travellers
who are incumbered with scientific instruments and collections.
To give greater variety to my work, I have often interrupted the
historical narrative by descriptions. I first represent phenomena
in the order in which they appeared; and I afterwards consider them
in the whole of their individual relations. This mode has been
successfully followed in the journey of M. de Saussure, whose most
valuable work has contributed more than any other to the
advancement of science. Often, amidst dry discussions on
meteorology, it contains many charming descriptions; such as those
of the modes of life of the inhabitants of the mountains, the
dangers of hunting the chamois, and the sensations felt on the
summit of the higher Alps.
There are details of ordinary life which it may be useful to note
in an itinerary, because they serve for the guidance of those who
afterwards journey through the same countries. I have preserved a
few, but have suppressed the greater part of those personal
incidents which present no particular interest, and which can be
rendered amusing only by the perfection of style.
With respect to the country which has been the object of my
investigations, I am fully sensible of the great advantages enjoyed
by persons who travel in Greece, Egypt, the banks of the Euphrates,
and the islands of the Pacific, in comparison with those who
traverse the continent of America. In the Old World, nations and
the distinctions of their civilization form the principal points in
the picture; in the New World, man and his productions almost
disappear amidst the stupendous display of wild and gigantic
nature. The human race in the New World presents only a few
remnants of indigenous hordes, slightly advanced in civilization;
or it exhibits merely the uniformity of manners and institutions
transplanted by European colonists to foreign shores. Information
which relates to the history of our species, to the various forms
of government, to monuments of art, to places full of great
remembrances, affect us far more than descriptions of those vast
solitudes which seem destined only for the development of vegetable
life, and to be the domain of wild animals. The savages of America,
who have been the objects of so many systematic reveries, and on
whom M. Volney has lately published some accurate and intelligent
observations, inspire less interest since celebrated navigators
have made known to us the inhabitants of the South Sea islands, in
whose character we find a striking mixture of perversity and
meekness. The state of half-civilization existing among those
islanders gives a peculiar charm to the description of their
manners. A king, followed by a numerous suite, presents the fruits
of his orchard; or a funeral is performed amidst the shade of the
lofty forest. Such pictures, no doubt, have more attraction than
those which pourtray the solemn gravity of the inhabitant of the
banks of the Missouri or the Maranon.
America offers an ample field for the labours of the naturalist. On
no other part of the globe is he called upon more powerfully by
nature to raise himself to general ideas on the cause of phenomena
and their mutual connection. To say nothing of that luxuriance of
vegetation, that eternal spring of organic life, those climates
varying by stages as we climb the flanks of the Cordilleras, and
those majestic rivers which a celebrated writer (M. Chateaubriand.)
has described with such graceful accuracy, the resources which the
New World affords for the study of geology and natural philosophy
in general have been long since acknowledged. Happy the traveller
who may cherish the hope that he has availed himself of the
advantages of his position, and that he has added some new facts to
the mass of those previously acquired!
Since I left America, one of those great revolutions, which at
certain periods agitate the human race, has broken out in the
Spanish colonies, and seems to prepare new destinies for a
population of fourteen millions of inhabitants, spreading from the
southern to the northern hemisphere, from the shores of the Rio de
la Plata and Chile to the remotest part of Mexico. Deep
resentments, excited by colonial legislation, and fostered by
mistrustful policy, have stained with blood regions which had
enjoyed, for the space of nearly three centuries, what I will not
call happiness but uninterrupted peace. At Quito several of the
most virtuous and enlightened citizens have perished, victims of
devotion to their country. While I am giving the description of
regions, the remembrance of which is so dear to me, I continually
light on places which recall to my mind the loss of a friend.
When we reflect on the great political agitations of the New World,
we observe that the Spanish Americans are by no means in so
favourable a position as the inhabitants of the United States; the
latter having been prepared for independence by the long enjoyment
of constitutional liberty. Internal dissensions are chiefly to be
dreaded in regions where civilization is but slightly rooted, and
where, from the influence of climate, forests may soon regain their
empire over cleared lands if their culture be abandoned. It may
also be feared that, during a long series of years, no foreign
traveller will be enabled to traverse all the countries which I
have visited. This circumstance may perhaps add to the interest of
a work which pourtrays the state of the greater part of the Spanish
colonies at the beginning of the 19th century. I even venture to
indulge the hope that this work will be thought worthy of attention
when passions shall be hushed into peace, and when, under the
influence of a new social order, those countries shall have made
rapid progress in public welfare. If then some pages of my book are
snatched from oblivion, the inhabitant of the banks of the Orinoco
and the Atabapo will behold with delight populous cities enriched
by commerce, and fertile fields cultivated by the hands of free
men, on those very spots where, at the time of my travels, I found
only impenetrable forests and inundated lands.
***
PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO THE EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS
OF THE NEW CONTINENT.
VOLUME 1.