Compendio de la Hist. de la Nueva Granada, p. 185, endeavours to prove
by means of the Chibcha language that “potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)
bear at Usmè the native non-Peruvian name of Yomi, and were found by
Quesada already cultivated in the province of Velez as early as 1537,
a period when their introduction from Chili, Peru, and Quito, would
seem improbable, and therefore that the plant may be regarded as a
native of New Granada.” I would remark, however, that the Peruvian
invasion and complete possession of Quito took place before 1525, the
year of the death of the Inca Huayna Capac. The southern provinces
of Quito even fell under the dominion of Tupac Inca Yupanqui at the
conclusion of the 15th century (Prescott, Conquest of Peru, Vol. i.
p. 332.) In the unfortunately still very obscure history of the first
introduction of the potato into Europe, the merit of its introduction
is still very generally attributed to Sir John Hawkins, who is supposed
to have received it from Santa Fé in 1563 or 1565. It appears more
certain that Sir Walter Raleigh planted the first potatoes on his
Irish estate near Youghal, from whence they were taken to Lancashire.
Before the conquista, the plantain (Musa), which since the arrival
of the Spaniards has been cultivated in all the warmer parts of New
Granada, was only found, as Colonel Acosta believes, (p. 205) at Choco.
On the name Cundinamarca,--applied by a false erudition to the young
republic of New Granada in 1811, a name “full of golden dreams” (sueños
dorados), more properly Cundirumarca (not Cunturmarca, Garcilaso, lib.
viii. cap. 2),--see also Joaquin Acosta, p. 189. Luis Daza, who joined
the small invading army of the Conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar
which came from the south, had heard of a distant country abounding
in gold, called Cundirumarca, inhabited by the tribe of the Chicas,
and whose prince had solicited Atahuallpa at Caxamarca for auxiliary
troops. These Chicas have been confounded with the Chibchas or Muyscas
of New Granada; and thus the name of the unknown more southern country
has been unduly transferred to that territory.
[49] p. 278.--“_The fall of the Rio de Chamaya._”
Compare my Recueil d’Observ. Astron., vol. i. p. 304; Nivellement
barométrique, No. 236-242. I have given in the Vues des Cordillères, Pl
xxxi. a drawing of the “swimming post,” as he binds round his head the
handkerchief containing the letters.
[50] p. 280.--“_Which, on account of an old observation of La
Condamine, was of some importance to the geography of South America._”
I desired to connect chronometrically Tomependa, the point at which La
Condamine began his voyage, and other places geographically determined
by him on the Amazons river, with the town of Quito. La Condamine
had been in June 1743, (59 years before me) at Tomependa, which
place I found, by star observations taken for three nights, to be in
south lat. 5° 81´ 24´´, and west longitude from Paris 80° 56´ 37´´
(from Greenwich 78° 84´ 55´´). Previous to my return to France the
longitude of Quito was in error to the full amount of 50-1/2 minutes
of arc, as Oltmanns has shown by my observations, and by a laborious
recalculation of all those previously made. (Humboldt, Recueil
d’Observations Astron., vol. ii. p. 309-359). Jupiter’s satellites,
lunar distances, and occultations, give a satisfactory accordance, and
all the elements of the calculation are placed before the public. The
too easterly longitude of Quito was transferred by La Condamine to
Cuenca and the Amazons river. “Je fis,” says La Condamine, “mon premier
essai de navigation sur un radeau (balsa) en descendant la rivière de
Chinchipe jusqu’à Tomependa. Il fallut me contenter d’en déterminer
la latitude et de conclure la longitude par les routes. J’y fis mon
testament politique en rédigeant l’extrait de mes observations le plus
importantes.” (Journal du Voyage fait à l’Equateur, 1751, p. 186.)
[51] p. 282.--“_At upwards of twelve thousand feet above the sea we
found fossil marine shells._”
See my Essai géognostique sur le Gisement des Roches, 1823, p. 236;
and for the first zoological determination of the fossils contained
in the cretaceous group in the chain of the Andes, see Léop. de Buch,
Pétrifications recueillies en Amérique, par Alex. de. Humboldt et
Charles Degenhardt, 1839 (in fol.), pp. 2-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 18-22.
Pentland found fossil shells of the Silurian formation in Bolivia, on
the Nevado de Antakäua, at the height of 16400 French (17480 English)
feet, (Mary Somerville, Physical Geography, 1849, Vol. i. p. 185).
[52] p. 287.--“_Where the chain of the Andes is intersected by the
magnetic equator._”
Compare my Rélation hist. du Voyage aux Régions équinoxiales, T. iii.
p. 622; and Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 191 and 432; where, however, by errors
of the press, the longitude is once 48° 40´, and afterwards 80° 40´,
instead of, as it should be, 80° 54´ from Paris (or 78° 32´ from
Greenwich), (English edit. p. 173, and note 159).
[53] p. 290.--“_Accompanied by inconvenient ceremonies of Court
etiquette._”
In conformity with a highly ancient Court ceremonial, Atahuallpa spat
not on the ground, but into the hand of one of the principal ladies
present; “all,” says Garcilaso, “on account of his majesty.” El Inca
nunca escupia en el suelo, sino en la mano de una Señora mui principal,
por Majestad, (Garcilaso, Comment. Reales, P. ii. p. 46).
[54] p. 290.--“_Captivity of Atahuallpa._”
A short time before the captive Inca was put to death, he was taken
into the open air, in compliance with his request, to see a large
comet. The “greenish black comet, nearly as thick as a man,” (Garcilaso
says, P. ii. p. 44, una cometa verdinegra, poco menos gruesa que el
cuerpo de un hombre), seen by Atahuallpa before his death, therefore
in July or August 1533, and which he supposed to be the same malignant
comet which had appeared at the death of his father, Huayna Capac, is
certainly the one observed by Appian (Pingré, Cométographie, T. i. p.
496; and Galle’s “Notice of all the Paths of Comets hitherto computed,”
in “Olber’s Leichtester Methode die Bahn eines Cometen zu berechnen,”
1847, S. 206), and which, on the 21st of July, standing high in the
north, near the constellation of Perseus, represented the sword which
Perseus holds in his right hand. (Mädler, Astronomie, 1846, S. 307;
Schnurrer, Die Chronik der Seuchen in Verbindung mit gleichzeitigen
Erscheinungen, 1825, Th. ii. S. 82.) Robertson considers the year of
Huayna Capac’s death uncertain; but, from the researches of Balboa and
Velasco, that event appears to have occurred towards the close of 1525:
thus the statements of Hevelius (Cometographia, p. 844), and of Pingré
(T. i. p. 485), derive confirmation from the testimony of Garcilaso
(P. i. p. 321) and the tradition preserved among the “amautas, que son
los filosofos de aquella Republica.” I may here introduce the remark,
that Oviedo alone, and certainly erroneously, asserts, in the inedited
continuation of his Historia de las Indias, that the proper name of the
Inca was not Atahuallpa, but Atabaliva (Prescott, Conquest of Peru,
Vol. i. p. 498.)
[55] p. 291.--“_Ducados de Oro._”
The sum mentioned in the text is that which is stated by Garcilaso
de la Vega in the Commentarios reales de los Incas, Parte ii. 1722,
pp. 27 and 51. The statements of Padre Blas Valera and of Gomara,
Historia de las Indias, 1553, p. 67, differ, however, considerably.
Compare my Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne (éd. 2), T. iii.
p. 424. It is, moreover, no less difficult to determine the value of
the Ducado, Castellano, or Peso de Oro. (Essai pol. T. iii. pp. 371
and 377; Joaquin Acosta, Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada, 1848, p.
14.) The modern excellent historical writer, Prescott, has been able
to avail himself of a manuscript bearing the very promising title,
“Acta de Reparticion del Rescate de Atahuallpa.” The estimate of the
whole Peruvian booty which the brothers Pizarro and Almagro divided
amongst themselves at the (I believe) too large value of three and a
half millions of pounds sterling, includes doubtless the gold of the
ransom and that taken from the different temples of the Sun and from
the enchanted gardens, (Huertas de Oro). (Prescott, Conquest of Peru,
Vol. i. pp. 464-477.)
[56] p. 292.--“_The great, but, for a Son of the Sun, somewhat
free-thinking Huayna Capac._”
The nightly absence of the Sun excited in the Inca many philosophical
doubts as to the government of the world by that luminary. Padre Blas
Valera noted down the remarks of the Inca on the subject of the Sun:
“Many maintain that the Sun lives, and is the Maker and Doer of all
things (el hacedor de todas las cosas); but whoever would complete
any thing must remain by what he is doing. Now many things take place
when the Sun is absent; therefore he is not the original cause of all
things. It seems also doubtful whether he is living; for though always
circling round, he is never weary (no se cansa). If he was living,
he would become weary, as we do; and if he was free, he would surely
move sometimes into parts of the heavens where we never see him. The
Sun is like an animal fastened by a cord so as always to move in the
same round, (como una Res atada que siempre hace un mismo cerco);
or as an arrow which only goes where it is sent, and not where it
chooses itself.” (Garcilaso, Comment. Reales, P. i. lib. viii. cap. 8,
p. 276.) The view taken of the circling round of a heavenly body, as
if it was fastened to a cord, is very striking. As Huayna Capac died
at Quito in 1525, seven years before the arrival of the Spaniards, he
no doubt used, instead of “res atada,” the general expression of an
“animal” fastened to a cord; but indeed, even in Spanish, “res” is by
no means limited to oxen, but may be applied to any tame cattle. We
cannot examine here how far the Padre may have mingled parts of his own
sermons with the heresies of the Inca, with the view of weaning the
natives from the official and dynastic worship of the Sun, the religion
of the Court. We see in the very conservative State policy, and in
the maxims of State and proceedings of the Inca Roca, the conqueror
of the province of Charcas, the solicitude which was felt to guard
strictly the lower classes of the people from such doubts. This Inca
founded schools for the upper classes only, and forbade, under heavy
penalties, to teach the common people any thing, “lest they should
become presumptuous, and should create disturbances in the State!” (No
es lecito que enseñen á los hijos de los Plebeios las Ciencias, porque
la gente baja no se eleve y ensobervezca y menoscabe la Republica;
Garcilaso, P. i. p. 276.) Thus the policy of the Inca’s theocracy was
almost the same as that of the Slave States in the United Free States
of North America.
[57] p. 295.--“_The restoration of an empire of the Incas._”
I have treated this subject more fully in another place (Relation
hist. T. iii. p. 703-705 and 713). Raleigh thought there was in Peru
an old prophecy “that from Inglaterra those Ingas should be againe in
time to come restored and deliuered from the seruitude of the said
conquerors. I am resolued that if there were but a smal army afoote in
Guiana marching towards Manoa, the chiefe citie of Inga, he would yield
Her Majestie by composition so many hundred thousand pounds yearely, as
should both defend all enemies abroad and defray all expences at home,
and that he woulde besides pay a garrison of 3000 or 4000 soldiers very
royally to defend him against other nations. The Inca wil be brought
to tribute with great gladnes.” (Raleigh, “The Discovery of the large,
rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, performed in 1595,” according to
the edition published by Sir Robert Schomburgk, 1848, p. 119 and 137.)
This scheme of a Restoration promised much that might be very agreeable
to both sides, but unfortunately the dynasty who were to be restored,
and who were to pay the money, were wanting!
[58] p. 299.--“_Of the expedition of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa._”
I have already remarked elsewhere (Examen critique de l’histoire de
la Géographie du Nouveau Continent, et des progrès de l’Astronomie
nautique aux 15ème et 16ème siècles, T. i. p. 349) that Columbus
knew fully ten years before Balboa’s expedition the existence of
the South Sea and its great proximity to the east coast of Veragua.
He was conducted to this knowledge not by theoretical speculations
respecting the configuration of Eastern Asia, but by the local and
positive reports of the natives, which he collected on his fourth
voyage (May 11, 1502, to November 7, 1504). On this fourth voyage the
Admiral went from the coast of Honduras to the Puerto de Mosquitos, the
western end of the Isthmus of Panama. The reports of the natives, and
the comments of Columbus on those reports in the “Carta rarissima” of
the 7th of July, 1503, were to the effect that “not far from the Rio
de Belen the other sea (the South Sea) turns (boxa) to the mouths of
the Ganges, so that the countries of the Aurea (_i. e._ the countries
of the Chersonesus aurea of Ptolemy) are situated in relation to the
eastern coasts of Veragus, as Tortosa (at the mouth of the Ebro) is to
Fuentarrabia (on the Bidassoa) in Biscay, or as Venice in relation to
Pisa.” Although Balboa first saw the South Sea from the heights of the
Sierra de Quarequa on the 25th of September (Petr. Martyr, Epist. dxl.
p. 296), yet it was not until several days later that Alonso Martin de
Don Benito, who found a way from the mountains of Quarequa to the Gulf
of San Miguel, embarked on the South Sea in a canoe. (Joaquin Acosta,
Compendio hist. del Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada, p. 49.)
As the taking possession of a considerable part of the west coast
of the New Continent by the United States of North America, and the
report of the abundance of gold in New California (now called Upper
California) have rendered more urgent than ever the formation of a
communication between the Atlantic States and the regions of the West
through the Isthmus of Panama, I feel it my duty to call attention
once again to the circumstance that the shortest way to the shores of
the Pacific, which was shown by the natives to Alonso Martin de Don
Benito, is in the eastern part of the Isthmus, and led to the Golfo de
San Miguel. We know that Columbus (Vida del Almirante por Don Fernando
Colon, cap. 90) sought for an “estrecho de Tierra firmë”; and in the
official documents which we possess of the years 1505 and 1507, and
especially 1514, mention is made of the desired “opening” (abertura),
and of the pass (passo), which should lead directly to the “Indian
Land of Spices.” Having for more than forty years been occupied with
the subject of the means of communication between the two seas, I have
constantly, both in my printed works and in the different memoirs which
with honourable confidence the Free States of Spanish America have
requested me to furnish, urged that the Isthmus should be examined
hypsometrically throughout its entire length, and more especially
where, in Darien and the inhospitable former Provincia de Biruquete,
it joins the continent of South America; and where, between the Atrato
and the Bay of Cupica (on the shore of the Pacific), the mountain
chain of the Isthmus almost entirely disappears. (See in my Atlas
géographique et physique de la Nouvelle Espagne, Pl. iv.; in the Atlas
de la Relation historique, Pl. xxii. and xxiii.; Voyage aux Régions
équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, T. iii. p. 117-154; and Essai
politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, T. i. 2de édit. 1825,
p. 202-248.)
General Bolivar at my request caused an exact levelling of the Isthmus
between Panama and the mouth of the Rio Chagres to be made in 1828 and
1829 by Lloyd and Falmarc. (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society of London for the year 1830, p. 59-68.) Other measurements have
since been executed by accomplished and experienced French engineers,
and projects have been formed for canals and railways with locks and
tunnels, but always in the direction of a meridian between Portobello
and Panama,--or more to the west, towards Chagres and Cruces. Thus
the _most important_ points of the _eastern_ and _south-eastern_ part
of the Isthmus have remained unexamined on both shores! So long as
this part is not examined geographically by means of exact but easily
obtained determinations of latitude and of longitude by chronometers,
as well as hypsometrically in the conformation of the surface by
barometric measurements of elevation,--so long I consider that the
statement I have repeatedly made, and which I now repeat in 1849, will
still be true; viz. “that it is as yet unproved and _quite premature_
to pronounce that the Isthmus does not admit of the formation of an
Oceanic Canal (_i. e._ a canal with fewer locks than the Caledonian
Canal) permitting at all seasons the passage of the same sea-going
ships between New York and Liverpool on the one hand, and Chili and
California on the other.”
On the Atlantic side (according to examinations which the Direccion
of the Deposito hidrografico of Madrid have entered on their maps
since 1809) the Ensenada de Mandinga penetrates so deeply towards the
south that it appears to be only four or five German geographical
miles, fifteen to an equatorial degree, (_i. e._ 16 or 20 English
geographical miles), from the coast of the Pacific on the _east_ of
Panama. On the Pacific side the isthmus is almost equally indented by
the deep Golfo de San Miguel, into which the Rio Tuyra falls, with
its tributary river the Chuchunque (Chuchunaque). This last-named
stream in the upper part of its course approaches within 16 English
geographical miles of the Atlantic side of the isthmus to the west of
Cape Tiburon. For more than twenty years I have had inquiries made
from me on the subject of the problem of the Isthmus of Panama, by
associations desirous of employing considerable pecuniary means: but
the simple advice which I have given has never been followed. Every
scientifically educated engineer knows that between the tropics, (even
without corresponding observations), good barometric measurements (the
horary variations being taken into account) afford results which are
well assured to less than from 70 to 90 French or 75 to 96 English
feet. It would besides be easy to establish for a few months on the
two shores two fixed corresponding barometric stations, and to compare
repeatedly the portable instruments employed in preliminary levelling,
with each other and with those at the fixed stations. Let that part
be particularly examined where, near the continent of South America,
the separating mountain ridge sinks into hills. Seeing the importance
of the subject to the great commerce of the world, the research ought
not, as hitherto, to be restricted to a limited field. A great and
comprehensive work, which shall include the whole eastern part of the
Isthmus,--and which will be equally useful for every possible kind of
operation or construction,--for canal, or for railway,--can alone
decide the much discussed problem either affirmatively or negatively.
That will be done at last, which should, and, had my advice been taken,
would have been done in the first instance.
[59] p. 300.--“_That which is awakened in us by childish impressions or
by the circumstances of life._”
On the incitements to the study of nature, compare Kosmos, Bd. ii. S.
5, (English edit. vol. ii. p. 5).
[60] p. 302.--“_Of importance for the exact determination of the
longitude of Lima._”
At the period of my Expedition, the Longitude of Lima was given in
the maps published in the Deposito hidrografico de Madrid, from the
observations of Malaspina, which made it 5h. 16m. 53s. from Paris. The
transit of Mercury over the Sun’s disk on the 9th of November, 1802,
which I observed at Callao, the Port of Lima, (in the northern Torreon
del Fuerte de San Felipe) gave for Callao by the mean of the contact of
both limbs 5h. 18m. 16s. 5, and by the exterior contact only 5h. 18m.
18s. (79° 34´ 30´´). This result (obtained from the Transit of Mercury)
is confirmed by those of Lartigue, Duperrey, and Captain FitzRoy in
the Expedition of the Adventure and Beagle. Lartigue found Callao 5h.
17m. 58s., Duperrey 5h. 18m. 16s., and FitzRoy 5h. 18m. 15s. (all West
of Paris). As I determined the difference of longitude between Callao
and the Convent de San Juan de Dios at Lima by carrying chronometers
between them four times, the observation of the transit of Mercury
gives the longitude of Lima 5h. 17m. 51s. (79° 27´ 45´´ W. from Paris,
or 77° 06´ 03´´ W. from Greenwich). Compare my Recueil d’observations
astron. Vol. ii. p. 397, 419 and 428, with my Relat. hist. T. iii. p.
592.
Potsdam, June 1849.
GENERAL SUMMARY
OF THE
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
_Physiognomy of Plants_--p. 1 to p. 31.
Universal profuse distribution of organic life on the declivities of
the highest mountains, on the ocean, and in the atmosphere.
Subterranean Flora. Siliceous-shelled Polygastrica in masses of polar
ice. Podurellæ in tubular holes in the glaciers of the Alps; the
glacier flea (Desoria glacialis). Small organic creatures in the
dust which falls like rain in the neighbourhood of the African
Desert 3-8
History of the vegetable covering of the surface of the globe. Gradual
extension of vegetation over the bare rocky crust. Lichens,
mosses, and succulent plants. Causes of the present absence of
vegetation in particular districts 8-13
Each zone has its peculiar character. All animal and vegetable forms
attached to fixed and always recurring types. Physiognomy of
Nature. Analysis of the general impression produced by the aspect
of a country or district. The several elements which make up this
impression; outlines of the mountains, azure of the sky, and form
of the clouds: but principally determined by the vegetable covering.
Animal organisation far less influential on the landscape from
deficiency of mass. The power of locomotion of individuals, and
frequently their small size, also contribute to lessen their general
effect on the landscape 13-16
Enumeration of the forms of plants which principally determine the
physiognomy of Nature, and which decrease or increase from the
equator to the poles according to laws which have been made the
subject of investigation 17-20
Palms 20, 21, 126-140
Plantains or Bananas 21, 22, 140, 141
Malvaceæ 22, 141-143
Mimosæ 22, 23, 143-145
Ericeæ, or Heath form 23, 24, 145-147
Cactus form 24, 147-151
Orchideæ 24, 25, 151, 152
Casuarineæ 25, 152, 153
Needle trees 25, 153-175
Pothos and Aroideæ 26, 175-178
Lianes, or twining rope plants 26, 178-180
Aloë form 27, 180-183
Gramineæ 27, 28, 183-187
Ferns 28, 188-193
Liliaceæ 28, 193
Willow form 28, 193-196
Myrtaceæ 28, 196-200
Melastomaceæ 28, 200
Laurel form 28, 200
Enjoyment derived from the sight of the natural grouping and contrasts
of these forms of plants. Importance of the physiognomic
study of plants to the landscape painter 29-31, 200-203
_Scientific Elucidations and Additions_--p. 33 to p. 210.
Organic forms, animal and vegetable, in the highest mountain regions
adjacent to the limit of perpetual snow in the Andes and the Alps;
insects carried up involuntarily by ascending currents of air. The
Hypudæus nivalis of the Swiss Alps. On the true elevation above
the sea reached by the Chinchilla laniger in Chili 33-35
Lecidias and Parmelias on rocks not entirely covered with snow;
some phænogamous plants also wander in the Cordilleras beyond
the limits of perpetual snow, as the Saxifraga boussingaulti, to
15770 English feet above the level of the sea. Groups of phænogamous
plants extend in the Andes to 13700 and 14920 English
feet above the sea; species of Culcitium, Espeletia, and Ranunculus;
small umbelliferous plants resembling mosses in appearance;
Myrrhis andicola and Fragosa arctioides 35, 36
Measurement of the height of Chimborazo, and etymology of the
name 36-39
On the greatest absolute heights which have yet been reached by any
human beings in either continent; in the Cordilleras and the
Himalaya, on the Chimborazo and the Tarhigang 40
Habits and haunts of the Condor (Cuntur in the Inca language), and
singular mode of capturing these powerful birds in an enclosure
fenced by palisades 40-44
Useful services rendered by the Gallinazos (Cathartes urubu and C.
aura) in purifying the air in the neighbourhood of human habitations;
these birds sometimes tamed 44, 45
On what has been called the revivification of Rotiferæ; views of
Ehrenberg and Doyère. According to Payen, germs of Cryptogamia
preserve their power of germination even after being exposed
to the highest temperatures 45-47
Diminution, if not entire suspension, of organic functions in the
winter sleep of animals belonging to the higher classes 47, 48
Summer sleep of animals in the tropical zone; great dryness acts
like winter cold. Tenrecs, crocodiles, tortoises, and the Lepidosiren
of Eastern Africa 48-51
Anther dust or pollen; fertilization of flowers. The Cœlebogyne
found to produce perfect seeds in England without any traces of
pollen being discovered 51-53
The luminosity of the ocean produced by living luminous animals and
by decaying fibres and membranes of animals. Acalephæ and
siliceous-shelled luminous Infusoria. Influence on the luminosity
of a stimulus applied to the nerves 53-60
Pentastomes inhabiting the pulmonary cells of the rattle-snake of
Cumana 60, 61