The banks of the Pei-Ho are in many parts protected by breastworks of

granite, to arrest inundation, and here and there dikes, also of

granite, provided with a sluice, by means of which water is conveyed

to the fields below. The country, although well cultivated, was often

devastated by famines, following upon inundations, or resulting from

the ravages of locusts.

Thus far, the cortege had been sailing through the immense alluvial

plain of Pe-tche-Li. Not until the fourth day after leaving Tien Tsing

was the blue outline of mountains perceived on the horizon. Pekin was

now in sight; and on the 6th of August, 1793, the yachts anchored

within two miles of the capital, and half a mile from Tong-Chow-Fow.

In order to leave the presents which could not be taken to Zhe Hol, at

the palace, called "The garden of eternal spring," it was necessary to

land. The inhabitants of Tong-Chow-Fow, who were already greatly

excited by the appearance of the English, were still more amazed at

the first sight of a negro servant. His skin, his jet black colour,

his woolly hair, and all the distinguishing marks of his race, were

absolutely novel in this part of China. The people could not remember

seeing anything at all like him before. Some of them even doubted if

he could be a human being at all, and the children cried out in fear

that it was a black devil. But his good humour soon reconciled them to

his appearance, and they became accustomed to look upon him without

fear or displeasure.

The English were especially surprised at seeing upon a wall the sketch

of a lunar eclipse which was to take place in a few days. They

ascertained among other facts, that silver is an article of commerce

with the Chinese, for they have no coined money, but use ingots

bearing only a sign, indicative of their weight. The English were

struck with the extraordinary resemblance between the religious

ceremonies of Fo and those of the Christians.

Macartney states that certain authors maintain that the apostle Thomas

visited China; while the Missionary Tremore contends, that this is

merely a fiction palmed upon the Jesuits by the devil himself.

Ninety small carriages, forty-four wheelbarrows, more than two hundred

horses, and over three thousand men, were employed in the transport of

the presents of the British government to the emperor. Macartney and

three of his suite accompanied the convoy in palanquins. An enormous

crowd followed them. The English ambassador was greeted at the gates

of Pekin by volleys of artillery. Once beyond the fortifications, he

found himself in a wide unpaved street, with houses on either side,

one or two stories high. Across the street extended a wooden triumphal

arch in three partitions, each with a lofty and highly decorated roof.

The embassy afforded ample material for the tales which at this time

filled the imagination of the people. It was declared that the

presents brought for the emperor consisted of everything that was rare

in other countries and unknown in China. It was gravely asserted that

among the animals, there was an elephant not larger than a monkey, but

as fierce as a lion, and a cock which was fed upon coal. Everything

which came from England was supposed to differ from anything hitherto

seen in Pekin, and to possess the very opposite qualities to those

usual to it.

The wall of the imperial palace was at once recognized by its yellow

colour. Through the gate were seen artificial hills, lakes and rivers,

with small islets, and fantastic buildings amidst the trees.

At the end of a street terminating at the northern wall of the city,

was a vast edifice of considerable height, which contained an enormous

bell. The English explored the town in various directions, and on the

whole were not favourably impressed. They concluded that a Chinaman

visiting London, with its bridges and innumerable ships, its squares

and monuments, would carry away a better idea of the importance of the

capital of Great Britain than they could do of Pekin.

Upon their arrival at the palace, where the presents for the emperor

were to be displayed, the governor discussed with Macartney the best

way to arrange and display them. They were finally placed in a large

and well-decorated hall, which at the time contained nothing but a

throne and a few vases of old china.

It is unnecessary to enter upon the interminable negotiations which

arose out of the resolve of the Chinese, that Macartney should

prostrate himself before the emperor; which humiliating proposition

they had prepared for by the inscription placed upon the yachts and

carriages of the embassy, "Ambassador bringing tribute from England."

[Illustration: Emperor of China. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]

It is in Pekin that the field is situated which the emperor, in

accordance with ancient custom, sows every spring. Here, too, is to be

found the "Temple of the Earth," to which the sovereign resorts at the

summer solstice, to acknowledge the astral power which lightens the

world, and to give thanks for its beneficent influence.

Pekin is merely the seat of the Imperial government in China, and has

neither shipping, manufactures, nor trade.

Macartney computes the number of inhabitants at three millions. The

one-storied houses in the town appear insufficient for so large a

population, but a single house accommodates three generations. This

density of the population is the result of the early ages at which

marriages are contracted. These hasty unions are often brought about

from prudential motives by the Chinese, the children, and especially

the sons, being responsible for the care of their parents.

The embassy left Pekin on the 2nd of September, 1793, Macartney,

travelling in a post-chaise, probably the first carriage of the kind

which ever entered Tartary.

As the distance from Pekin increased, the road ascended and the soil

became more sandy, and contained less and less clay and black earth.

Shortly afterwards, vast plains, planted with tobacco, were crossed.

Macartney imagines tobacco to be indigenous, and not imported from

America, and thinks that the habit of smoking was spontaneous in Asia.

The English soon noticed that as the soil became more and more barren,

the population decreased. At the same time the Tartar element became

larger and larger, and the difference between the manners of the

Chinese and their conquerors was less marked.

Upon the fifth day of the journey, the far-famed Great Wall was seen.

"The first glance at this fortified wall," says Macartney, "is enough

to give an impression of an enterprise of surprising grandeur. It

ascends the highest mountains to their very loftiest peaks, it goes

down into the deepest valleys, crossing rivers on sustaining arches,

and with its breadth often doubled and trebled to increase its

strength, whilst at intervals of about a hundred paces rise towers or

strong bastions. It is difficult to understand how the materials for

this wall were brought to and used in places apparently inaccessible,

and it is impossible sufficiently to admire the skill brought to bear

upon the task. One of the loftiest mountains over which the wall

passes has been ascertained to be no less than 5225 feet high.

"This fortification--for the simple word 'wall' gives no just idea of

the wonderful structure--is said to be 1500 miles long, but it is not

quite finished. The fifteen hundred miles was the extent of the

frontier which separates colonized China from the various Tartar

tribes. Such barriers as these would not suffice in modern times for

nations at war.

"Many of the lesser works in the interior of this grand rampart have

yielded to the effect of time, and fallen into ruins; others have been

repaired; but the principal wall appears throughout to have been built

with such care and skill as never to have needed repairs. It has now

been preserved more than two thousand years, and appears as little

susceptible of injury as the rocks which nature herself has planted

between China and Tartary."

[Illustration: The great wall of China.]

Beyond the wall nature seems to proclaim the entrance into a new

country; the temperature is colder, the roads are more rugged, and the

mountains are less wooded. The number of sufferers from goitre in the

Tartar valleys is very considerable, and, according to the estimate

given by Dr. Gillan, physician to the embassy, comprises a sixth of

the population. The portion of Tartary in which this malady rages is

not unlike many of the cantons of Switzerland and Savoy.

The valley of Zhe Hol, where the emperor possesses a summer palace and

garden, was at length reached. This residence is called "The abode of

pleasant freshness," and the park surrounding it is named the "Garden

of innumerable trees." The embassy was received with military honours,

amid an immense crowd of people, many of whom were dressed in yellow.

These were inferior lamas or monks of the order of Fo, to which the

emperor also belonged.

The disputes as to prostration before the emperor begun in Pekin were

continued here. At last Tchien Lung consented to content himself with

the respectful salutation with which English nobles are accustomed to

greet their own sovereign. The reception accordingly took place, with

every imaginable pomp and ceremony.

The narrative says,--

"Shortly after daybreak the sound of many instruments, and the

confused voices of distant crowds, announced the approach of the

emperor. He soon appeared, issuing from behind a high mountain,

bordered with trees, as if from a sacred grove, and preceded by a

number of men who proclaimed his virtues and power in loud voices. He

was seated in a chair carried by sixteen men; his guards, the officers

of his household, standard and umbrella bearers, and musicians

accompanied him. He was clothed in a robe of sombre-coloured silk, and

wore a velvet cap, very similar in shape to that of Scotch

mountaineers. A large pearl was conspicuous on his forehead, and was

the only jewel or ornament he wore."

Upon entering the tent, the emperor mounted the steps of the throne,

which he alone is allowed to ascend. The first minister, Ho Choo-Tang,

and two of the chief officers of his household, remained near, and

never addressed him but in a kneeling position. When the princes of

royal blood, the tributary princes, and state officers, were in their

places, the president of the customs conducted Macartney within a foot

of the left-hand side of the throne, which in the Chinese court is

considered the place of honour. The ambassador was accompanied by the

minister plenipotentiary, and followed by his page and interpreter.

Macartney, in accordance with the instructions given him by the

president, raised above his head the magnificent square golden box

studded with diamonds, which contained the King of England's letter to

the emperor. Then mounting the few steps leading to the throne, he

bowed the knee, and, with a short prefatory compliment, presented the

box to his Imperial Majesty. The Chinese monarch received it

graciously, and said, as he placed it on one side, "that he

experienced much satisfaction at the token of esteem and friendship

offered by his Britannic Majesty in sending to him an embassy with a

letter and rich gifts; that, for his part, he had the like friendly

feelings towards the King of Great Britain, and he hoped the same

harmony would always continue between their respective subjects."

After a few moments of private conversation with the ambassador, the

emperor presented gifts to him and to the minister plenipotentiary.

They were then conducted to cushions, in front of which were tables

covered with a number of vessels containing meat and fruits. The

emperor also partook of these, and continued to overwhelm the

ambassadors with expressions of regard and esteem, which had a great

effect in raising the English in the estimation of the Chinese public.

Macartney and his suite were later invited to visit the gardens of Zhe

Hol. During their walk in the grounds, the English met the emperor,

who stopped to receive their respectful salutations, and order his

first minister, who was looked upon as little less than a vice-emperor,

and several other grandees to accompany them.

[Illustration: Chinese Prime Minister. (Fac-simile of early

engraving.)]

The Chinese conducted the English over a portion of the grounds laid

out as pleasure-gardens, which formed only a small portion of the vast

enclosure. The rest is sacred to the use of the women of the imperial

family, and was as rigorously closed to the Chinese ministers as to

the English embassy.

Macartney was then led through a fertile valley, in which there were

many trees, chiefly willows of enormous size. Grass grows abundantly

between the trees, and its luxuriance is not diminished by cattle or

interfered with by mowing. Arriving upon the shores of an irregular

lake, of vast extent, the whole party embarked in yachts, and

proceeded to a bridge which is thrown across the narrowest part of the

lake, and beyond which it appeared to stretch away indefinitely.

Upon the 17th of September Macartney and his suite were present at a

ceremony which took place upon the anniversary of the emperor's

birthday. Upon the morrow and following days splendid fetes succeeded

each other, Tchien Lung participating in them with great zest. Dancers

on the tight-rope, tumblers, conjurors (of unrivalled skill), and

wrestlers, performed in succession. The natives of various portions of

the empire appeared in their distinctive costumes and exhibited the

different productions of their provinces. Music and dancing were

succeeded by fireworks, which were very effective, although they were

let off in daylight.

The narrative says,--

"Several of the designs were novel to the English. One of them I will

describe. A large box was raised to a great height, and the bottom

being removed as if by accident, an immense number of paper lamps fell

from it. When they left the box they were all neatly folded; but in

falling they opened by degrees and sprung one out of the other. Each

then assumed a regular form, and suddenly a beautifully coloured light

appeared. The Chinese seemed to understand the art of shaping the

fireworks at their fancy. On either side of the large boxes were

smaller ones, which opened in a similar manner, letting fall burning

torches, of different shapes, as brilliant as burnished copper, and

flashing like lightning at each movement of the wind. The display

ended with the eruption of an artificial volcano."

It is the usual custom for the Emperor of China to conclude his

birthday festivities by hunting in the forests of Tartary; but in the

present case advancing age rendered that diversion unwise, and his

Majesty decided to return to Pekin, the English embassy being invited

to precede him thither.

Macartney, however, felt that it was time to terminate his mission. In

the first place, it was not customary for ambassadors to reside long

at the Chinese court; and in the second, the fact that the Chinese

emperor defrayed the expenses of the embassy naturally induced him to

curtail his stay. In a short time he received from Tchien Lung the

reply to the letter of the King of England, and the presents intended

for the English monarch, as well as a number for the members of his

suite. This Macartney rightly interpreted as his _conge_!

The English went back to Tong Chou Fou by way of the imperial canal.

Upon this trip they saw the famous bird "Leutze," fishing for its

master. It is a species of cormorant, and is so well trained that it

is unnecessary to place either a cord or ring round its neck to

prevent it from swallowing any of its prey.

"Upon every boat or raft there are ten or twelve of these birds, ready

to plunge the instant they receive a sign from their masters. It is

curious to see them catch enormous fish, and carry them in their

beaks."

[Illustration: "The famous bird Leutze."]

Macartney mentions a singular manner of catching wild ducks and other

water-birds. Empty jars and calabashes are allowed to float upon the

water for several days, until the birds are accustomed to the sight of

them. A man then enters the water, places one of the jars upon his

head, and advancing gently, seizes the feet of any bird which allows

him to come near enough: he rapidly immerses it in the water to choke

it, and then noiselessly continues his search until his bag is full.

The embassy visited Canton and Macao, and thence returned to England.

We need not dwell upon the return voyage.

We must now consider that portion of Asia which may be called the

interior. The first traveller to be noticed is Volney.

Every one knows, by repute at least, his book on Ruins; but his

account of his adventures in Egypt and Syria far surpasses it. There

is nothing exaggerated in the latter; it is written in a quiet,

precise manner, and is one of the most instructive of books. The

members of the Egyptian Expedition refer to it as containing exact

statements as to climate, the productions of the soil, and the manners

of the inhabitants.

Volney prepared himself most carefully for the journey, which was a

great undertaking for him. He determined to leave nothing to chance,

and upon reaching Syria he realized that he could not possibly acquire

the knowledge of the country he desired unless he first made himself

acquainted with the language of the people. He therefore retired to

the monastery of Mar-Hannd, in Libiya, and devoted himself to the

study of Arabic.

Later on, in order to learn something of the life led by the wandering

tribes of the Arabian desert, he joined company with a sheik, and

accustomed himself to the use of a lance, and to live on horseback,

thus qualifying himself to accompany the tribes in their excursions.

Under their protection he visited the ruins of Palmyra and Baalbec,

cities of the dead, known to us only by name.

"His style of writing," says La Beuve, "is free from exaggeration, and

marked by singular exactness and propriety. When, for example, he

wishes to illustrate the quality of the Egyptian soil, and in what

respect it differs from that of Africa, he speaks of 'this black,

light, greasy earth,' which is brought up and deposited by the Nile.

When he wishes to describe the warm winds of the desert, with their

dry heat, he compares them 'to the impression which one receives upon

opening a fierce oven to take out the bread;' according to his

description, speaking of the fitful winds, he says they are not merely

laden with fog, but gritty and powdery, and in reality full of fine

dust, which penetrates everything; and of the sun, he says it

'presents to view but an obscured disk.'"

If such an expression may be used in speaking of a rigid statement of

facts, Volney attained to true beauty of expression--to an actual

physical beauty, so to speak, recalling the touch of Hippocrates in

his "De Aere, Aquis et Locis." Although no geographical discoveries

can be imputed to him, we must none the less recognize in him one of

the first travellers who had a true conception of the importance of

their task. His aim was always to give a true impression of the places

he visited; and this in itself was no small merit, at a time when

other explorers did not hesitate to enliven their narratives with

imaginary details, with no recognition whatever of their true

responsibility.

The Abbe Barthelemy, who in 1788 was to publish his "Voyage du jeune

Anacharsis," was already exercising a good deal of influence on public

taste, by his popularity in society and position as a man of science,

and drawing special attention to Greece and the neighbouring countries.

It was evidently whilst attending his lessons that De Choiseul imbibed

his love for history and archaeology.

Nominated ambassador at Constantinople, De Choiseul determined to

profit by the leisure he enjoyed in travelling as an artist and

archaeologist through the Greece of Homer and Herodotus. Such a

journey was the very thing to complete the education of the young

ambassador, who was only twenty-four years of age, and if he knew

himself, could not be said to have any acquaintance with the ways of

the world.

Sensible of his shortcomings, he surrounded himself with learned and

scientific men, amongst them the Abbe Barthelemy, the Greek scholar,

Ansse de Villoison, the poet Delille, the sculptor Fauvel, and the

painter Cassas. In fact, in his "Picturesque History of Greece" he

himself merely plays the _role_ of Maecenas.

M. de Choiseul Gouffier engaged as private secretary a professor, the

Abbe Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier, who spoke Greek fluently. The latter,

after a journey to London, where M. de Choiseul's business detained

him long enough for him to learn English, went to Italy, and was

detained at Venice by severe illness for seven months. After this he

joined M. de Choiseul Gouffier at Constantinople.

Le Chevalier occupied himself principally with the site of Troy. Well

versed in the Iliad, he sought for, and believed he identified, the

various localities mentioned in the Homeric poem.

His able geographical and historical book at once provoked plentiful

criticism. Upon the one side learned men, such as Bryant, declared the

discoveries made by Choiseul to be illusory, for the reason that Troy,

and, as a matter of course, the Ten Years Siege, existed only in the

imagination of the Greek poet; whilst others, and principally the

English portion of his critics, adopted his conclusions. The whole

question was almost forgotten, when the discoveries made quite

recently by Schliemann reopened the discussion.

Guillaume-Antoine Olivier, who traversed the greater portion of the

Western hemisphere, at the end of the last century, had a strange

career. Employed by Berthier de Sauvigny to translate a statistical

paper on Paris, he lost his patron and the payment for his labours in

the first outburst of the Revolution. Wishing to employ his talent for

natural history away from Paris, he was nominated, by the minister

Roland, to a mission to the distant and little-known portions of the

Ottoman Empire. A naturalist, named Bruguere, was associated with him.

The two friends left Paris at the end of 1792, and were delayed for

four months at Versailles, until a suitable ship was found for them.

They only reached Constantinople at the end of the following May,

carrying letters relating to their mission to M. de Semonville. But

this ambassador had been recalled, and his successor, M. de Sainte

Croix had heard nothing of their undertaking. What was the best thing

to do whilst awaiting the reply to the inquiries sent to Paris by M.

de Sainte Croix?

The two friends could not remain inactive. They therefore decided to

visit the shores of Asia Minor, and some islands in the Egyptian

Archipelago.

The French minister had excellent reasons for not supplying them with

much money, and their own resources being limited, they were unable to

do more than make a flying visit to these interesting countries.

Upon their return to Constantinople they found a new ambassador, named

Verninac, who had received instructions to send them to Persia, where

they were to endeavour to awaken the sympathy of the government for

France, and to induce it to declare war against Russia.

At this time the most deplorable anarchy reigned in Persia. Usurpers

succeeded each other upon the throne, to the great detriment of the

welfare of the inhabitants. War was going on in Khorassan at the time

that Olivier and Bruguere arrived. An opportunity occurred for them to

join the shah in a country as yet unvisited by any European; but

unfortunately Bruguere was in such bad health that they were not only

forced to lose the chance, but were detained for four months in an

obscure village buried amongst the mountains.

In September, 1796, Mehemet returned to Teheran. His first act was to

order a hundred Russian sailors whom he had taken prisoners on the

Caspian Sea, to be put to death, and their limbs to be nailed outside

his palace walls--a disgusting trophy worthy of the butcher tyrant.

The following year Mehemet Ali was assassinated, and his nephew,

Fehtah-Ali Shah, succeeded him, after a short struggle.

It was difficult for Olivier to discharge his mission with this

constant change of reigning sovereigns. He was forced to renew his

negotiations with each succeeding prince. Finally, the travellers,

realizing the impossibility of obtaining anything definite under such

circumstances, returned to Europe, and left the question of alliance

between France and Persia to a more favourable season. They stopped

upon their homeward journey at Bagdad, Ispahan, Aleppo, Cyprus, and

Constantinople.

Although this journey had been fruitless as regarded diplomacy, and

had contributed no new discovery to geography, Cuvier, in his eulogy

of Olivier, assures us that, so far as natural history was concerned,

much had been achieved. This may be the better credited, as Olivier

was elected to the Institute as the successor to Daubenton.

Cuvier, in academic style, says that the narrative of the voyage

published, in three quarto volumes, was warmly received by the public.

"It has been said," he continues, "that it might have been of greater

interest if the censor had not eliminated certain portions; but

allusions were found throughout the whole volume, which were

inadmissible, as it does not do to say all we know, especially of

Thamas Kouli Khan.

"M. Olivier had no greater regard for his assertions than for his

fortune; he quietly omitted all that he was told to leave out, and

restricted himself to a quiet and simple account of what he had seen."

A journey from Persia to Russia is not difficult; and was less so in

the eighteenth century than to-day. As a matter of fact, Russia only

became an European power in the days of Peter the Great. Until the

reign of that monarch she had been in every particular--manners,

customs, and inhabitants--Asiatic. With Peter the Great and Catherine

II., however, commerce revived, high roads were made, the navy was

created, and the various tribes became united into one nation.

The empire was vast from the first, and conquest has added to its

extent. Peter the Great ordered the compilation of charts, sent

expeditions round the coast to collect particulars as to the climate,

productions, and races of the different provinces of his empire; and

at length he sent Behring upon the voyage which resulted in the

discovery of the straits bearing his name.

The example of the great emperor was followed by his successor,

Catherine II. She attracted learned men to her court, and corresponded

with the savants of the whole world. She succeeded in impressing the

nations with a favourable idea of her subjects. Interest and curiosity

were awakened, and the eyes of Western Europe were fixed upon Russia.

It became recognized that a great nation was arising, and many doubts

were entertained as to the result upon European interests. Prussia had

already changed the balance of power in Europe, by her victories under

Frederick II.; Russia possessed resources of her own, not only in men,

but in silver and riches of every kind--still unknown or untested.

Thus it came to pass that publications concerning that country

possessed an attraction for politicians, and those interested in the

welfare of their country, as well as for the scientific men to whom

descriptions of manners and customs foreign to their experience were

always welcome.

No work had hitherto excelled that of the naturalist Pallas, which was

translated into French between 1788-1793. It was a narrative of a

journey across several provinces of the Russian empire. The success of

this publication was well deserved.

Peter Simon Pallas was a German naturalist, who had been summoned to

St. Petersburg by Catherine II. in 1668, and elected by her a member

of the Academy of Sciences. She understood the art of enlisting him in

her service by her favours. Pallas, in acknowledgment of them,

published his account of fossil remains in Siberia. England and France

had just sent expeditions to observe the transit of Venus. Russia, not

to be behindhand, despatched a party of learned men, of whom Pallas

was one, to Siberia.

Seven astronomers and geometers, five naturalists, and a large number

of pupils, made up the party, which was thoroughly to explore the

whole of the vast territory.

For six whole years Pallas devoted himself to the successive

explorations of Orenburg upon the Jaik, the rendezvous of the nomad

tribes who wander upon the shores of the Caspian Sea; Gouriel, which

is situated upon the borders of the great lake which is now drying up;

the Ural Mountains, with their numberless iron-mines; Tobolsk, the

capital of Siberia; the province of Koliwan, upon the northern slopes

of the Atlas; Krasnojarsk, upon the Jenissei; and the immense lake of

Bakali, and Daouria, on the frontiers of China. He also visited

Astrakan; the Caucasus, with its varied and interesting inhabitants;

and finally, he explored the Don, returning to St. Petersburg on the

30th of July, 1774.

It may well be believed that Pallas was no ordinary traveller. He was

not merely a naturalist; he was interested in everything that affects

humanity; geography, history, politics, commerce, religion, science,

art, all occupied his attention; and it is impossible to read his

narrative without admiring his enlightened patriotism, or without

recognizing the penetration of the sovereign who understood the art of

securing his services.

When his narrative was once arranged, written, and published, Pallas

had no idea of contenting himself with the laurels he had gained. Work

was his recreation, and he found occupation in assisting in the

compilation of a map of Russia.

His natural inclinations led him to the study of botany, and by his

works upon that subject he obtained a distinctive place among Russian

naturalists.

One of his later undertakings was a description of Southern Russia, a

physical and topographical account of the province of Taurius--a work

which, originally published in French, was afterwards translated into

English and German.

Delighted with this country, which he had visited in 1793-94, he

desired to settle there. The empress bestowed some of the crown lands

upon him, and he transported his family to Simpheropol.

Pallas profited by the opportunity to undertake a new journey in the

northern provinces of the empire, the Steppes of the Volga, and the

countries which border the Caspian Sea as far as the Caucasus. He then

explored the Crimea. He had seen parts of the country twenty years

before, and he now found great changes. Although he complains of the

devastation of the forests, he commends the increase of agricultural

districts, and the centres of industries which had been created. The

Crimea is known to be considerably improved since that time--it is

impossible to foresee what it may yet become.

Enthusiastic though he was at first in his admiration of this province,

Pallas was exposed to every kind of treachery on the part of the

Tartars. His wife died in the Crimea; and finally, disgusted with the

country and its inhabitants, he returned to Breton to end his days. He

died there on the 8th of September, 1811.

He left two important works, from which naturalists, geographers,

statesmen, and merchants, were able to gather much trustworthy

information upon countries then but little known, and the commodities

and resources of which were destined to have a large influence over

European markets.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TWO AMERICAS.

The western coast of America--Juan de Fuca and De Fonte--The three

voyages of Behring and Tschirikow--Exploration of the straits of De

Fuca--Survey of the Archipelago of New Georgia and of part of the

American coast--Exploration of the interior of America--Samuel Hearn--

Discovery of the Coppermine river--Mackenzie, and the river named

after him--Fraser river--South America--Survey of the Amazon by

Condamine--Journey of Humboldt and Bonpland--Teneriffe--The Guachero

cavern--The "Llanos"--The Electric eels--The Amazon, Negro, and

Orinoco rivers--The earth-eaters--Results of the journey--Humboldt's

second journey--The "Volcanitos," or little volcanoes--The cascade at

Tequendama--The bridge of Icononzo--Crossing the Brindisi on men's

backs--Pinto and Pinchincha--Ascent of Chimborazo--The Andes--Lima--

The transit of Mercury--Exploration of Mexico--Puebla and Cofre de

Perote--Return to Europe.

We have more than once had occasion to speak of expeditions for the

survey of the coasts of America. We have told of the attempts of

Fernando Cortes and of the voyages and explorations of Drake, Cook, La

Perouse, and Marchand. It will be well now to go back for a time, and

with Fleurieu sum up the series of voyages along the western coast of

America, to the close of the eighteenth century.

[Illustration: Map of North-West America.]

In 1537, Cortes with Francisco de Ulloa, discovered the huge peninsula

of California, and sailed over the greater part of the long and narrow

strait now known as the Vermilion Sea.

He was succeeded by Vasquez Coronado and Francisco Alarcon, who--the

former by sea, and the latter by land--devoted themselves to seeking

the channel which was erroneously supposed to connect the Atlantic and

Pacific. They did not, however, penetrate beyond 36 degrees N. lat.

Two years later, in 1542, the Portuguese Rodrique de Cabrillo, reached

44 degrees N. lat., where the intense cold, sickness, want of

provisions, and the bad state of his vessel, compelled him to turn

back. He made no actual discovery, but he ascertained that, from Port

Natividad to the furthest point reached by him, the coast-line was

unbroken. The channel of communication seemed to recede before all

explorers.

The little success met with appears to have discouraged the Spaniards,

for at this time they retired from the ranks of the explorers. It was

an Englishman, Drake, who, after having sailed along the western coast

as far as the Straits of Magellan, and devastated the Spanish

possessions, reached the forty-eighth degree, explored the whole coast,

and, returning the same way, gave to the vast districts included

within ten degrees the name of New Albion.

Next came, in 1592, the greatly fabulous voyage of Juan de Fuca, who

claimed to have found the long-sought Strait of Anian, when he had but

found the channel dividing Vancouver's Island from the mainland.

In 1602 Viscaino laid the foundations of Port Monterey in California,

and forty years later took place that much contested voyage of Admiral

De Fuente, or De Fonte according as one reckons him a Spaniard or a

Portuguese, which has been the text of so many learned discussions and

ingenious suppositions. To him we owe the discovery of the Archipelago

of St. Lazarus above Vancouver's Island; but all that he says about

the lakes and large towns he claims to have visited must be relegated

to the realms of romance, as well as his assertion that he discovered

a communication between the two oceans.

[Illustration: Port Monterey. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]

In the eighteenth century the assertions of travellers were no longer

blindly accepted. They were examined and sifted, those parts only

being believed which accorded with the well authenticated accounts of

others. Buache, Delisle, and above all Fleurieu, inaugurated the

prolific literature of historical criticism, and we have every reason

to be grateful to them.

The Russians, as we know, had greatly extended the field of their

knowledge, and there was every reason to suppose that their hunters

and Cossacks would soon reach America, if, as was then believed, the

two continents were connected in the north. But from such

unprofessional travellers no trustworthy scientific details could be

expected.

A few years before his death the Emperor Peter I. drew up, with his

own hands, a plan of an expedition, with instructions to its members,

which he had long had in view, for ascertaining whether Asia and

America are united, or separated by a strait.

The arsenal and forts of Kamtchatka being unable to supply the

necessary men, stores, &c., captains, sailors, equipment, and

provisions, had to be imported from Europe.

Vitus Behring, a Dane, and Alexis Tschirikow, a Russian, who had both

given many a proof of skill and knowledge, were appointed to the

command of the expedition, which consisted of two vessels built at

Kamtchatka. They were not ready to put to sea until July 20th, 1720.

Steering north-east along the coast of Asia, of which he never for a

moment lost sight, Behring discovered, on the 15th August, in 67

degrees 18 minutes N. lat. a cape beyond which the coast stretched

away westwards.

In this first voyage Behring did not apparently see the coast of

America, though he probably passed through the strait to which

posterity has given his name. The fabulous strait of Anian gave place

to Behring Straits. A second voyage made by the same explorers the

following year was without results.

Not until June 4th, 1741, were Behring and Tschirikow in a position to

start again. This time they meant to bear to the east after reaching

50 degrees N. lat. till they should come to the coast of America; but

the two vessels were separated in a gale of wind on the 28th August,

and were unable to find each other again throughout the trip. On the

18th July Behring discerned the American continent in 58 degrees 28

minutes N. lat. and the succeeding days were devoted to the survey of

the vast bay between Capes St. Elias and St. Hermogenes.

Behring spent the whole of August in sailing about the islands known

as the Schumagin archipelago, off the peninsula of Alaska; and after a

struggle, lasting until the 24th September, with contrary winds, he

sighted the most southerly cape of the peninsula, and discovered part

of the Aleutian group.

Exhausted by long illness, however, the explorer was now no longer

able to direct the course of his vessel, and could not prevent her

from running aground on the little island bearing his name. There, on

the 8th December, 1741, this brave man and skilful explorer perished

miserably.

The remnant of his crew who survived the fatigues and privations of

winter in this desolate spot, succeeded in making a large sloop of the

remains of the vessel, in which they returned to Kamtchatka.

Meanwhile Tschirikow, after waiting for his superior officer until the

25th June, made land between 55 degrees 56 minutes N. lat., where he

lost two boats with their crews, without being able to find out what

had become of them. Unable after this catastrophe to open

communication with the natives, he went back to Kamtchatka.

The way was now open, and adventurers, merchants, and naval officers

eagerly rushed in, directing their efforts carefully to the Aleutian

Islands and the peninsula of Alaska.

The expeditions sent out by the English, and the progress made by the

Russians, had, however, aroused the jealousy and anxiety of the

Spanish, who feared lest their rivals should establish themselves in a

country nominally belonging to Spain, though she owned not a single

colony in it.

The Viceroy of Mexico now remembered the discovery of an excellent

port by Viscaino, and resolved to found a "presidio" there. Two

expeditions started simultaneously, the one by land, under Don Gaspar

de Partola, the other by sea, consisting of two packets, the _San

Carlos_ and _San Antonio_, and after a year's search found again the

harbour of Monterey, alluded to by Viscaino.

After this expedition the Spanish continued the exploration of the

Californian coast. The most celebrated voyages were those of Don Juan

de Ayala and of La Bodega, which took place in 1775, and resulted in

the discovery of Cape Engano and Guadalupe Bay. Next to these rank the

expeditions of Arteaga and Maurelle.

We have already related what was done by Cook, La Perouse, and

Marchand, so we can pass on to say a few words on the expeditions of

Vancouver. This officer, who had accompanied Cook on his second and

third voyage, was naturally appointed to the command of the expedition

sent out by the English government with a view to settling the

disputes with the Spanish government as to Nootka Sound.

George Vancouver was commissioned to obtain from the Spanish

authorities the formal cession of this great harbour, of such vast

importance to the fur trade. He was then to survey the whole of the

north-west coast, from 30 degrees N. lat. to Cook's River in 61

degrees N. lat. Lastly, he was to give special attention to the

Straits of De Fuca and the bay explored in 1749 by the _Washington_.

The two vessels, the _Discovery_ of 340 tons, and the _Chatham_ of

135--the latter under the command of Captain Broughton--left Falmouth

on the 1st of April, 1791. After touching at Teneriffe, Simon Bay, and

the Cape of Good Hope, Vancouver steered south-wards, sighted St.

Paul's Island, and sailed towards New Holland, between the routes

taken by Dampier and Marion, and through latitudes which had not yet

been traversed. On the 27th September was sighted part of the coast of

New Holland, ending in abrupt and precipitous cliffs, to which the

name of Cape Chatham was given. As many of his crew were down with

dysentery, Vancouver decided to anchor in the first harbour he came to,

to get water, wood, and above all provisions, of which he stood sorely

in need. Port George III. was the first reached, where ducks, curlews,

swans, fish, and oysters abounded; but no communication could be

opened with the natives, although a recently abandoned village of some

twenty huts was seen.

We need not follow Vancouver in his cruise along the south-west coast

of Holland, as we shall learn nothing new from it.

On the 28th November Van Diemen's Land was doubled, and on the 2nd

December the coast of New Zealand was reached and anchor cast by the

two vessels in Dusky Bay. Here Vancouver completed the survey left

unfinished by Cook. A gale soon separated the _Discovery_ from the

_Chatham_, which was found again in Matavai Bay, Tahiti. During the

voyage there from Dusky Bay, Vancouver discovered some rocky islands,

which he called the Snares, and a large island named Oparra, whilst

Captain Broughton had discovered Chatham Island, on the east of New

Zealand. The incidents of the stay at Tahiti resemble those of Cook's

story too closely for repetition.

On the 24th January the two vessels started for the Sandwich Islands,

and stopped for a short time off Owyhee, Waohoo, and Ottoway. Since

the murder of Cook many changes had taken place in this archipelago.

English and American vessels now sometimes visited it to take whales,

or trade in furs, and their captains had given the natives a taste for

brandy and fire-arms. Quarrels between the petty chiefs had become

more frequent, the most complete anarchy prevailed everywhere, and the

number of inhabitants was already greatly diminished.

[Illustration: Map of the two Americas.]

On the 17th March, 1792, Vancouver left the Sandwich Islands and

steered for America, of which he soon sighted the part called by Drake

New Albion. Here he almost immediately met Captain Grey, who was

supposed to have penetrated, in the _Washington_, into De Fuca Strait,

and discovered a vast sea. Grey at once disavowed the discoveries with

which he was so generously credited, explaining that he had only

sailed fifty miles up the strait, which runs from east to west till it

reaches a spot where, according to some natives, it veers to the north

and disappears.

Vancouver in his turn entered De Fuca Strait, and recognized Discovery

Port, Admiralty Entry, Birch Bay, Desolation Sound, Johnston Strait,

and Broughton Archipelago. Before reaching the northern extremity of

this long arm of the sea, he met two small Spanish vessels under the

command of Quadra. The two captains compared notes, and gave their

names to the chief island of the large group known collectively as New

Georgia.

Vancouver next visited Nootka Sound and the Columbia River, whence he

sailed to San Francisco, off which he anchored. It will be understood

that it is impossible to follow the details of the minute survey of

the vast stretch of coast between Cape Mendocino and Port Conclusion,

in N. lat. 56 degrees 37 minutes, which required no less than three

successive trips.

"Now," says the great navigator, "that we have achieved the chief aim

of the king in ordering this voyage, I flatter myself that our very

detailed survey of the north-west coast of America will dispel all

doubts, and do away with all erroneous opinions as to a north-west

passage; surely no one will now believe in there being a communication

between the North Pacific and the interior of the American continent

in the part traversed by us."

Leaving Nootka, to survey the coast of South America before returning

to Europe, Vancouver touched at the small Cocoa-Nut Island--which, as

we have already observed, little deserves its name--cast anchor off

Valparaiso, doubled Cape Horn, took in water at St. Helena, and

re-entered the Thames on the 12th September, 1795.

The fatigue incidental to this long expedition had so undermined the

health of the explorer that he died in May, 1798, leaving the account

of his voyage to be finished by his brother.

Throughout the arduous survey, occupying four years, of 900 miles of

coast, the _Discovery_ and _Chatham_ lost but two men. It will be seen

from this how apt a pupil of Cook the great navigator was; and we do

not know whether most to admire in Vancouver his care for his sailors

and humanity to the natives, or the wonderful nautical skill he

displayed in this dangerous cruise.

While explorers thus succeeded each other on the western coast of

America, colonists were not idle inland. Already established on the

borders of the Atlantic, where a series of states had been founded

from Florida to Canada, the white men were now rapidly forcing their

way westwards. Trappers, and _coureurs des bois_, as the French

hunters were called, had discovered vast tracts of land suitable for

cultivation, and many English squatters had already taken root, not,

however, without numerous conflicts with the original owners of the

soil, whom they daily tried to drive into the interior. Emigrants were

soon attracted in large numbers by the fertility of a virgin soil, and

the more liberal constitution of the various states.

Their number increased to such an extent, that at the end of the

seventeenth century the heirs of Lord Baltimore estimated the produce

of the sale of their lands at three thousand pounds; and in the middle

of the following century, 1750, the successors of William Penn also

made a profit ten times as great as the original price of their

property. Yet emigration was even then not sufficiently rapid, and

convicts were introduced. Maryland numbered 1981 in 1750. Many

scandalous abuses also resulted from the compulsory signing by new

comers of agreements they did not understand.

Although the lands bought of the Indians were far from being all

occupied, the English colonists continued to push their way inland, at

the risk of encounters with the legitimate owners of the soil.

In the north the Hudson's Bay Company, holding a monopoly of the fur

trade, were always on the look-out for new hunting-grounds, for those

originally explored were soon exhausted. Their trappers made their way

far into the western wilds, and gained valuable information from the

Indians whom they pressed into their service, and taught to get drunk.

By this means the existence of a river flowing northwards, past some

copper-mines, from which some natives brought fine specimens to Fort

Prince of Wales, was ascertained. The company at once, i.e. in 1769,

decided to send out an expedition, to the command of which they

appointed Samuel Hearn.

For a journey to the Arctic regions, where provisions are difficult to

obtain, and the cold is intense, a few well-seasoned men are required,

who can endure the fatigue of an arduous march over snow, and bear up

against hunger. Hearn took with him only two whites, and a few Indians

on whom he could depend.

In spite of the great skill of the guides, who knew the country, and

were familiar with the habits of the game it contained, provisions

soon failed. Two hundred miles from Fort Prince of Wales the Indians

abandoned Hearn and his two companions, who were obliged to retrace

their steps.

The chief of the expedition, however, was a rough sailor, accustomed

to privations, so he was not discouraged. If he had failed the first

time, that was no reason why a second attempt should not succeed.

In March, 1770, Hearn started again to try and cross the unknown

districts. This time he was alone with five Indians, for he had

noticed that the inability of the whites to endure fatigue excited the

contempt of the natives. He had penetrated 500 miles when the severity

of the weather compelled him to wait for a less severe temperature. He

had had a terrible experience. At one time to have, indeed, more game

than can be eaten; but more often to have no food whatever, and be

compelled for a week at a time to gnaw old leather, pick bones which

had been thrown aside, or to seek, often in vain, for a few berries on

the trees; and lastly, to endure fearful cold--such is the life of an

explorer in these Arctic regions.

Hearn started once more in April, wandered about the woods until

August, and had arranged to spend the winter with an Indian tribe

which had received him well, when an accident which deprived him of

his quadrant compelled him to continue his journey.

Privations, miseries, and disappointments, had not quenched the ardour

of Hearn's indomitable spirit. He started again on the 7th December,

and penetrating westwards below the 60th parallel N. lat. he came to a

river. Here he built a canoe, and went in it down the stream, which

flowed into an innumerable series of large and small lakes. Finally,

on the 13th July, 1771, he reached the Coppermine River. The Indians

with him now declared that they had been for some weeks in the country

of the Esquimaux, and that they meant to massacre all they should meet

of that hated race.

An encounter very soon took place.

"Coming," says Hearn, "upon a party of Esquimaux asleep in their tents,

the Indians fell upon them suddenly, and I was compelled to witness

the massacre of the poor creatures."

Of twenty individuals, not one escaped the sanguinary rage of the

Indians; and they put to death with indescribable tortures an old

woman who had in the first instance eluded them.

"After this horrible carnage," says Hearn, "we sat down on the grass,

and made a good dinner off fresh salmon."

Here the river widened considerably. Had Hearn arrived at its mouth?

The water was still quite sweet. There were, however, signs of a tide

on the shores, and a number of seals were disporting themselves in the

water. A quantity of whale blubber was found in the tents of the

Esquimaux. Everything in fact combined to prove that the sea was near.

Hearn seized his telescope, and saw stretching before him a huge sheet

of water, dotted with islands. There was no longer any doubt; it was

the sea!

On the 30th June Hearn got back to the English posts, after an absence

of no less than a year and five months.

The company recognized the immense service just rendered by Hearn, by

appointing him Governor of Fort Prince of Wales. During his expedition

to Hudson's Bay, La Perouse visited this post, and there found the

journal of Samuel Hearn's expedition. The French navigator returned it,

on condition that he would publish it. We do not know why its

appearance in accordance with the promise given by the English

traveller to the French sailor was delayed until 1795.

Not until the close of the eighteenth century did the immense chain of

lakes, rivers, and portages become known, which, emanating from Lake

Superior, receive all the waters flowing from the Rocky Mountains, and

divert them to the Arctic Ocean. It was to the brothers Frobisher, fur

traders, and to a Mr. Pond, who reached Athabasca, that their

discovery is partially due.

Thanks to their efforts, travelling in these parts became less

difficult. One explorer succeeded another, posts were established, and

the country was opened to all comers. Soon after a rumour was spread

of the discovery of a large river flowing in a north-westerly

direction.

It was Alexander Mackenzie who gave his name to it. Starting on the

3rd June, 1789, from Fort Chippewyan, on the southern shores of the

Lake of the Hills, accompanied by a few Canadians, and several Indians

who had been with Samuel Hearn, he reached 67 degrees 45 minutes N.

lat., where he heard that the sea was not far off on the east, but

that he was even nearer to it on the west. It was evident that he was

quite close to the north-western extremity of America.

On the 12th July, Mackenzie reached a large sheet of shallow water

covered with ice, which he could not believe to be the sea, though no

land could be seen on the horizon. It was, however, the Northern Ocean,

as he became assured when he saw the water rising, although the wind

was not violent. The tide was coming in! The traveller then gained an

island at a little distance from the shore, from which he saw several

whales gambolling in the water. He therefore named the island, which

is situated in N. lat. 69 degrees 11 minutes, Whale Island. On the

12th September the expedition safely returned to Fort Chippewyan.

Three years later Mackenzie, whose thirst for discovery was unslaked,

ascended Peace River, which rises in the Rocky Mountains. In 1793,

after forcing his way across this rugged chain, he made out on the

other side the Tacoutche-Tesse River, which flows in a south-westerly

direction. In the midst of dangers and privations more easily imagined

than described, Mackenzie descended this river to its mouth, below

Prince of Wales Islands. There, he wrote with a mixture of grease and

vermilion, the following laconic but eloquent inscription on a wall of

rock: "Alexander Mackenzie, come from Canada overland, July 22nd,

1793." On the 24th August he re-entered Fort Chippewyan.

[Illustration: Mackenzie's first view of the North Pacific Ocean.]

In South America no scientific expedition took place during the first

half of the eighteenth century. We have now only to speak of Condamine.

We have already told of his discoveries in America, explaining how

when the work was done he had allowed Bougner to return to Europe, and

left Jussieu to continue the collection of unknown plants and animals

which was to enrich science, whilst he himself went down the Amazon to

its Mouth.

"Condamine," says Maury in his "Histoire de l'Academie des Sciences,"

"may be called the Humboldt of the eighteenth century. An intellectual

and scientific man, he gave proof in this memorable expedition of an

heroic devotion to the progress of knowledge. The funds granted to him

by the king for his expedition were not sufficient; he added 100,000

livres from his private purse; and the fatigue and suffering he

underwent led to the loss of his ears and legs. The victim of his

enthusiasm for science, on his return home he met with nothing but

ridicule and sarcasm from a public who could not understand a martyr

who aimed at winning anything but Heaven. In him was recognized, not

the indefatigable explorer who had braved so many dangers, but the

infirm and deaf M. de Condamine, who always held his ear-trumpet in

his hand. Content, however, with the recognition of his fellow-savants,

to which Buffon gave such eloquent expression in his reply to the

address at his reception at the French Academy, Condamine consoled

himself by composing songs; and maintained until his death, which was

hastened by all he had undergone, the zeal for information on all

subjects, even torture, which led him to question the executioner on

the scaffold of Damiens."

[Illustration: Portrait of Condamine. (Fac-simile of early

engraving.)]

Few travellers before Condamine had had an opportunity of penetrating

into Brazil. The learned explorer hoped, therefore, to render his

journey useful by making a map of the course of the river, and putting

down all his observations on the singular costumes worn by the natives

of that little frequented country.

After Orellana, whose adventurous trip we have related, Pedro de Ursua

was sent in 1559 by the Viceroy of Peru to seek for Lake Parima and

the El Dorado. He was murdered by a rebel soldier, who committed all

manner of outrages on his way down the river, and finished his course

by being abandoned on Trinity Island.

Efforts of this kind did not throw much light on the course of the

river. The Portuguese were more fortunate. In 1636 and 1637 Pedro

Texeira with forty-seven canoes, and a large number of Spaniards and

Indians, followed the Amazon as far as the junction of its tributary

the Napo, and then ascended, first it, and afterwards the Coca, to

within thirty miles of Quito, which he reached with a few men.

The map drawn up by Sanson after this trip, and as a matter of course

copied by all geographers, was extremely defective, and until 1717

there was no other. At that time the copy of a map drawn up by Father

Fritz, a German missionary, came out in Vol. xii. of the "Lettres

Edifiantes," a valuable publication, containing a multitude of

interesting historical and geographical facts. In this map it was

shown that the Napo is not the true source of the Amazon, and that the

latter, under the name of the Maranon, issues from Lake Guanuco,

thirty leagues east of Lima. The lower portion of the course of the

river was badly drawn, as Father Fritz was too ill when he went down

it to observe closely.

Leaving Tarqui, five leagues from Cuenca, on the 11th May, 1743,

Condamine passed Zaruma, a town once famous for its gold-mines, and

having crossed several rivers on the hanging bridges, which look like

huge hammocks slung from one side to the other, reached Loxa, four

degrees from the line, and 400 fathoms lower than Quito. Here he

noticed a remarkable difference of temperature, and found the

mountains to be mere hills compared with those of Quito.

Between Loxa and Jaen de Bracamoros the last buttresses of the Andes

are crossed. In this district rain falls every day throughout the year,

so that a long stay cannot be made there. The whole country has

declined greatly from its former prosperity. Loyola, Valladolid, Jaen,

and the greater number of the Peruvian towns at a distance from the

sea, and the main road between Carthagena and Lima, were in

Condamine's time little more than hamlets. Yet forests of cocoa-nut

trees grow all around Jaen, the natives thinking no more of them than

they do of the gold dust brought down by their rivers.

Condamine embarked on the Chincipe, wider here than the Seine at Paris,

and went down it as far as its junction with the Maranon, beyond which

the latter river becomes navigable, although its course is broken by a

number of falls and rapids, and in many places narrows till it is but

twenty fathoms wide. The most celebrated of these narrows is the

_pongo_, or gate, of Manseriche, in the heart of the Cordillera, where

the Amazon has hewn for itself a bed only fifty-five fathoms wide,

with all but perpendicular sides. Condamine, attended only by a single

negro, met with an almost unparalleled adventure on a raft in this

pongo.

"The stream," he says, "the height of which had diminished twenty-five

feet in thirty-six hours, continued to decrease in volume. In the

middle of the night, part of a large branch of a tree caught between

the woodwork of my boat, penetrating further and further as the latter

sunk with the water, so that if I had not been awake and on guard at

the time, I should have found myself hanging from a tree, on my raft.

The least of the evils threatening me would have been the loss of my

journals and note-books, the fruit of eight years of work. Fortunately,

I eventually found means to free my raft, and float it again."

[Illustration: Celebrated narrows of Manseriche. (Fac-simile of early

engraving.)]

In the midst of the woods near the ruined town of Santiago, where

Condamine arrived on the 10th July, lived the Xibaro Indians, who had

been for a century in revolt against the Spaniards, who tried to force

them to labour in the gold-mines.

Beyond the pongo of Manseriche a new world was entered, a perfect

ocean of fresh water--a labyrinth of lakes, rivers, and channels, set

in an impenetrable forest. Although he had lived in the open air for

more than seven years, Condamine was struck dumb by this novel

spectacle of water and trees only, with nothing else besides. Leaving

Borja on the 14th July, the traveller soon passed the mouth of the

Morona, which comes down from the volcano of Sangay, the ashes from

which are sometimes flung beyond Guayaquil. He next passed the three

mouths of the Pastaca, a river at this time so much swollen that the

width of no one of its mouths could be estimated.

On the 19th of the same month Condamine reached Laguna, where Pedro

Maldonado, governor of the province of Esmeraldas, who had come down

the Pastaca, had been waiting for him for six weeks. At this time

Laguna was a large community, of some thousand Indians capable of

bearing arms, who recognized the authority of the missionaries of the

different tribes.

"In making a map of the course of the Amazon," says Condamine, "I

provided myself with a resource against the _ennui_ of a quiet voyage

with nothing to break the monotony of the scenery, though that scenery

was new to me. My attention was continually on the strain as, compass

and watch in hand, I noted the deflexions in the course of the river,

the time occupied in passing from one bend to another, the variations

in the breadth of its bed and in that of the mouths of its tributaries,

the angle formed by the latter at the confluence, the position and

size of the islands, and above all the rate of the current and that of

the canoe. Now on land and now in the canoe, employing various modes

of measurement, which it would be superfluous to explain here, every

instant was occupied. I often sounded, and measured geometrically the

breadth of the river and that of its tributaries. I took the height of

the sun at the meridian every day, and I noted its amplitude at its

rising and setting, wherever I went."

On the 25th July, after having passed the Tigre River, Condamine came

to a new mission station, that of a tribe called Yameos, recently

rescued from the woods by the Fathers. Their language is difficult to

learn, and their mode of pronouncing it extraordinary. Some of their

words are nine or ten syllables long, and yet they can only count up

to three. They use a kind of pea-shooter with great skill, firing from

it small arrows tipped with a poison which causes instantaneous death.

The following day the explorer passed the mouth of the Ucayale, one of

the most important of the tributaries of the Maranon, and which might

even be its source. Beyond it the main stream widens sensibly.

Condamine reached on the 27th the mission station of the Omaguas,

formerly a powerful nation, whose dwelling extended along the banks of

the Amazon for a distance of 200 leagues below the Napo. Originally

strangers in the land, they are supposed to have come down some river

rising in Granada, and to have fled from the Spanish yoke. The word

Omagua means flat-head in Peruvian, and these people have the singular

custom of squeezing the foreheads of new-born babies between two flat

pieces of wood, to make them, as they say, resemble the full moon.

They also use two curious plants, the floripondio and the curupa,

which makes them drunk for twenty-four hours, and causes very

wonderful dreams. So that opium and hatchich have their counterparts

in Peru.

[Illustration: Omagua Indians.]

Cinchona, ipecacuanha, simaruba, sarsaparilla, guaiacum, cocoa, and

vanilla grow on the banks of the Maranon, as does also a kind of

india-rubber, of which the natives make bottles, boots, and syringes,

which, according to Condamine, require no piston. They are of the

shape of hollow pears, and are pierced at the end with a little hole,

into which a pipe is fitted. This contrivance is much used by the

Omaguas; and when a fete is given, the host, as a matter of politeness,

always presents one to each of his guests, who use them before any

ceremonial banquet.

Changing boats at San Joaquin, Condamine arrived at the mouth of Napo

in time to witness, during the night of the 31st July or the 1st

August, the emersion of the first satellite of Jupiter, so that he was

able to determine exactly the latitude and longitude of the spot--a

valuable observation, from which all other positions on the journey

could be calculated.

Pevas, which was reached the next day, is the last of the Spanish

missions on the Maranon. The Indians collected there were neither all

of the same race nor all converts to Christianity. They still wore

bone ornaments in the nostrils and the lips, and had their cheeks

riddled with holes, in which were fixed the feathers of birds of every

colour.

St. Paul is the first Portuguese mission. There the river is no less

than 900 fathoms wide, and often rises in violent storms. The

traveller was agreeably surprised to find the Indian women possessed

of pet birds, locks, iron keys, needles, looking-glasses, and other

European utensils, procured at Para in exchange for cocoa. The native

canoes are much more convenient than those used by the Indians of the

Spanish possessions. They are in fact regular little brigantines,

sixty feet long by seven wide, manned by forty oarsmen.

Between St. Paul and Coari several large and beautiful rivers flow

into the Amazon. On the south the Yutay, Yuruca, Tefe, and Coari; on

the north the Putumayo and Yupura. On the shores of the last-named

river lives a cannibal race. Here Texeira set up a barrier, on the

26th June, 1639, which was to mark the frontier between the district

in which the Brazilian and Peruvian languages respectively were to be

used in dealing with the Indians.

Purus River and the Rio Negro, connecting the Orinoco with the Amazon,

the banks dotted with Portuguese missions under the direction of the

monks of Mount Carmel, were successively surveyed. The first reliable

information on the important geographical fact of the communication

between the two great rivers, is to be found in the works of Condamine,

and his sagacious comments on the journeys of the missionaries who

preceded him. It was in these latitudes that the golden lake of Parime

and the fabulous town of Manoa del Dorado are said to have been

situated. Here, too, lived the Manaos Indians, who so long resisted

the Portuguese.

Now were passed successively the mouth of the Madera River--so called

on account of the quantity of timber which drifts down from it, the

port of Pauxis--beyond which the Maranon takes the name of the Amazon,

and where the tide begins to be felt, although the sea is more than

200 miles distant--and the fortress of Topayos, at the mouth of a

river coming down from the mines of Brazil, on the borders of which

live the Tupinambas.

Not until September did the mountains come in sight on the

north--quite a novel spectacle, since for two months Condamine had not

seen a single hill. They were the first buttresses of the Guiana chain.

On the 6th September, opposite Fort Paru, Condamine left the Amazon,

and passed by a natural canal to the Xingu River, called by Father

D'Acunha the Paramaribo. The port of Curupa was then reached, and

lastly Para, a large town, with regular streets and houses of rough or

hewn stone. To complete his map, the explorer was obliged to visit the

mouth of the Amazon, where he embarked for Cayenne, arriving there on

the 20th February, 1774.

This long voyage had the most important results. For the first time

the course of the Amazon had been laid down in a thoroughly scientific

manner, and the connexion between it and the Orinoco ascertained.

Moreover Condamine had collected a vast number of interesting

observations on natural history, physical geography, astronomy, and

the new science of anthropology, then in its earliest infancy.

We have now to relate the travels of a man who recognized, better than

any one else had done, the connexion between geography and the other

physical sciences. We allude to Alexander von Humboldt. To him is due

the credit of having opened to travellers this fertile source of

knowledge.

[Illustration: Portrait of Alex. de Humboldt. (Fac-simile of early

engraving.)]

Born at Berlin, in 1759, Humboldt's earliest studies were carried on

under Campe, the well-known editor of many volumes of travels. Endowed

with a great taste for botany, Humboldt made friends at the university

of Gottingen with Forster the younger, who had just made the tour of

the world with Captain Cook. This friendship, and the enthusiastic

accounts given of his adventures by Forster, probably did much to

rouse in Humboldt a longing to travel. He took the lead in the study

of geology, botany, chemistry, and animal magnetism; and to perfect

himself in the various sciences, he visited England, Holland, Italy,

and Switzerland. In 1797, after the death of his mother, who objected

to his leaving Europe, he went to Paris, where he became acquainted

with Aime Bonpland, a young botanist, with whom he at once agreed to

go on several exploring expeditions.

It had been arranged that Humboldt should accompany Captain Baudin,

but the delay in the starting of his expedition exhausted the young

enthusiast's patience, and he went to Marseilles with the intention of

joining the French army in Egypt. For two whole months he waited for

the sailing of the frigate which was to take him; and, weary of

inaction, he went to Spain with his friend Bonpland, in the hope of

obtaining permission to visit the Spanish possessions in America.

This was no easy matter, but Humboldt was a man of rare perseverance.

He was thoroughly well-informed, he had first-rate introductions, and

he was, moreover, already becoming known. In spite, therefore, of the

extreme reluctance of the government, he was at last authorized to

explore the Spanish colonies, and take any astronomical or geodesic

observations he chose.

The two friends left Corunna on the 5th June, 1799, and reached the

Canaries thirteen days later. Of course, as naturalists they were in

duty bound not to land at Teneriffe without ascending the Peak.

"Scarcely any naturalist," says Humboldt in a letter to La Metterie,

"who, like myself, has passed through to the Indies, has had time to

do more than go to the foot of this colossal volcano, and admire the

delightful gardens of Orotava. Fortunately for me our frigate, the

_Pizarro_, stopped for six days. I examined in detail the layers of

which the peak of Teyde is composed. We slept in the moonlight at a

height of 1200 fathoms. At two o'clock in the morning we started for

the summit, where we arrived at eight o'clock, in spite of the violent

wind, the great heat of the ground, which burnt our boots, and the

intense cold of the atmosphere. I will tell you nothing about the

magnificent view, which included the volcanic islands of Lancerote,

Canaria, and Gomera, at our feet; the desert, twenty leagues square,

strewn with pumice-stone and lava, and without insects or birds,

separating us from thickets of laurel-trees and heaths; or of the

vineyards studded with palms, banana, and dragon-trees, the roots of

which are washed by the waves. We went into the very crater itself. It

is not more than forty or sixty feet deep. The summit is 1904 fathoms

above the sea-level, as estimated by Borda in a very careful geometric

measurement.... The crater of the Peak--that is to say, of the

summit--has been inactive for several centuries, lava flowing from the

sides only. The crater, however, provides an enormous quantity of

sulphur and sulphate of iron."

In July, Humboldt and Bonpland arrived at Cumana, in that part of

America known as Terra Firma. Here they spent some weeks in examining

the traces left by the great earthquake of 1797. They then determined

the position of Cumana, which was placed a degree and a half too far

north on all the maps--an error due to the fact of the current bearing

to the north near La Trinidad, having deceived all travellers. In

December, 1799, Humboldt wrote from Caracas to the astronomer

Lalande:--

"I have just completed an intensely interesting journey in the

interior of Paria, in the Cordillera of Cocolar, Tumeri, and Guiri. I

had two or three mules loaded with instruments, dried plants, &c. We

penetrated to the Capuchin mission, which had never been visited by

any naturalist. We discovered a great number of new plants, chiefly

varieties of palms; and we are about to start for the Orinoco, and

propose pushing on from it perhaps to San Carlos on the Rio Negro,

beyond the equator. We have dried more than 1600 plants, and described

more than 500 birds, picked up numberless shells and insects, and I

have made some fifty drawings. I think that is pretty well in four

months, considering the broiling heat of this zone."

During this first trip Humboldt visited the Chayma and Guarauno

Missions. He also climbed to the summit of the Tumiriquiri, and went

down into the Guacharo cavern, the entrance to which, framed as it is

with the most luxuriant vegetation, is truly magnificent. From it

issues a considerable river, and its dim recesses echo to the gloomy

notes of birds. It is the Acheron of the Chayma Indians, for,

according to their mythology and that of the natives of Orinoco, the

souls of the dead go to this cavern. To go down into the Guacharo

signifies in their language to die.

The Indians go into the Guacharo cavern once a year, in the middle of

summer, and destroy the greater number of the nests in it with long

poles. At this time many thousands of birds die a violent death, and

the old inhabitants of the cave hover above the heads of the Indians

with piercing cries, as if they would defend their broods.

The young birds which fall to the ground are opened on the spot. Their

peritoneum is covered with a thick layer of fat, extending from the

abdomen to the anus, and forming a kind of cushion between the legs.

At the time called at Caripe the oil harvest, the Indians build

themselves huts of palm leaves outside the cavern, and then light

fires of brushwood, over which they hang clay pots filled with the fat

of the young birds recently killed. This fat, known under the name of

the Guacharo oil or butter, is half-liquid, transparent, without smell,

and so pure that it can be kept a year without turning rancid.

Humboldt continues: "We passed fifteen days in the Caripe valley,

situated at a height of 952 Castilian varas above the sea-level, and

inhabited by naked Indians. We saw some black monkeys with red beards.

We had the satisfaction of being treated with the greatest kindness by

the Capuchin monks and the missionaries living amongst these

semi-barbarous people."

[Illustration: Itinerary of Humboldt's route in equinoctial America.]

From the Caripe valley the two travellers went back to Cumana by way

of the Santa Maria Mountains and the Catuaro missions, and on the 21st

November they arrived--having come by sea--at Caracas, a town situated

in the midst of a valley rich in cocoa, cotton, and coffee, yet with a

European climate.

Humboldt turned his stay at Caracas to account by studying the light

of the stars of the southern hemisphere, for he had noticed that

several, notably the Altar, the Feet of the Centaur, and others,

seemed to have changed since the time of La Caille.

At the same time he put his collections in order, despatching part of

them to Europe, and most thoroughly examined some rocks, with a view

to ascertaining of what materials the earth's crust was here composed.

After having explored the neighbourhood of Caracas, and ascended the

Silla, which, although close to the town, had never been scaled by any

native, Humboldt and Bonpland went to Valencia, along the shores of a

lake called Tacarigua by the Indians, and exceeding in size that of

Neufchatel in Switzerland. Nothing could give any idea of the richness

and variety of the vegetation. But the interest of the lake consists

not only in its picturesque and romantic beauty; the gradual decrease

in the volume of its waters attracted the attention of Humboldt, who

attributed it to the reckless cutting down of the forests in its

neighbourhood, resulting in the exhaustion of its sources.

Near this lake Humboldt received proof of the truth of the accounts he

had heard of an extraordinary tree, the palo de la vaca, or cow-tree,

which yields a balsamic and very nutritive milk, drawn off from

incisions made in the bark.

The most arduous part of the trip began at Porto Caballo, at the

entrance to the llanos, or perfectly flat plains stretching between

the hills of the coast and the Orinoco valley.

"I am not sure," says Humboldt, "that the first sight of the llanos is

not as surprising as that of the Andes."

Nothing in fact could be more striking than this sea of grass, from

which whirls of dust rise up continually, although not a breath of

wind is felt at Calabozo, in the centre of this vast plain. Humboldt

first tested the power of the gymnotus, or electric eel, large numbers

of which are met with in all the tributaries of the Orinoco. The

Indians, who were afraid of exposing themselves to the electric

discharge of these singular creatures, proposed sending some horses

into the marsh containing them.

"The extraordinary noise made by the shoes of the horses," says

Humboldt, "made the eels come out of the ooze and prepare for battle.

The yellowish livid gymnoti, resembling serpents, swam on the top of

the water, and squeezed themselves under the bodies of the quadrupeds

which had disturbed them. The struggle which ensued between animals so

differently constituted presented a very striking spectacle. The

Indians, armed with harpoons and long canes, surrounded the pond on

every side, and even climbed into the trees, the branches of which

stretched horizontally over the water. Their wild cries, as they

brandished their long sticks, prevented the horses from running away

and getting back to the shores of the pond; whilst the eels, driven

mad by the noise, defended themselves by repeated discharges from

their electric batteries. For a long time they appeared victorious,

and some horses succumbed to the violence of the repeated shocks which

they received upon their vital organs from every side. They were

stunned, and sank beneath the water.

"Others, panting for breath, with manes erect, and wild eyes full of

the keenest suffering, tried to fly from the scene, but the merciless

Indians drove them back into the water. A very few, who succeeded in

eluding the vigilance of the guards, regained the bank, stumbling at

every step, and lay down upon the sand, exhausted with fatigue, every

limb paralyzed from the electric shocks received from the eels.

"I never remember receiving a more terrible shock from a Leyden jar

than I did from a gymnotus on which I accidentally trod just after it

came out of the water."

The astronomic position of Calabozo having been determined, Humboldt

and Bonpland resumed their journey to the Orinoco. The Uriticu, with

its numerous and ferocious crocodiles, and the Apure, one of the

tributaries of the Orinoco, the banks of which are covered with a

luxuriant vegetation such as is only met with in the tropics, were

successively crossed or descended.

The latter stream is flanked on either side by thick hedges, with

openings here and there, through which boars, tigers, and other wild

animals, made their way to quench their thirst. When the shades of

night shut in the forest, so silent by day, it resounds with the cries

of birds and the howling or roaring of beasts of prey, vying with each

other as to which shall make the most noise.

While the Uriticu is inhabited by fierce crocodiles, the Apure is the

home of a small fish called the "carabito," which attacks bathers with

great fury, often biting out large pieces of flesh. It is only four or

five inches long, but more formidable than the largest crocodile, and

the waters it frequents are carefully avoided by the Indians, in spite

of their fondness for bathing, and the relief it affords them,

persecuted as they are by ants and mosquitoes.

Our travellers went down the Orinoco as far as the Temi, which is

connected by a short portage with the Cano-Pimichino, a tributary of

the Rio Negro.

The banks of the Temi, and the adjacent forests, are often inundated,

and then the Indians make waterways, two or three feet wide, between

the trees. Nothing could be more quaint or imposing than floating

amongst the gigantic growths, beneath their green foliage. Sometimes,

three or four hundred leagues inland, the traveller comes upon a troop

of fresh-water dolphins, spouting up water and compressed air in the

manner which has gained for them the name of blowers.

[Illustration: Gigantic vegetation on the banks of the Temi.]

It took four days to transport the canoes from the Tenir to the

Cano-Pimichino, as a path had to be cleared with axes.

The Pimichino flows into the Rio-Negro, which is in its turn a

tributary of the Amazon.

Humboldt and Bonpland went down the Rio-Negro as far as San Carlos,

and then up the Casiquiaro, an important branch of the Orinoco, which

connects it with the Rio-Negro. The shores of the Casiquiaro are

inhabited by the Ydapaminores, who live entirely on smoked ants.

Lastly, the travellers went up the Orinoco nearly to its source, at

the foot of the Duida volcano, where their further progress was

stopped by the hostility of the Guaharibos and the Guaica Indians, who

were skilful marksmen with the bow and arrow. Here was discovered the

famous El Dorado lake, with its floating islets of talc.

Thus was finally solved the problem of the junction of the Orinoco and

the Maranon, which takes place on the borders of the Spanish and

Portuguese territories, two degrees above the equator.

The two travellers then floated with the current down the Orinoco,

traversing by this means five hundred leagues in twenty-five days,

after which they halted for three weeks at Angostura, to tide over the

time of the great heat, when fever is prevalent, regaining Cumana in

October, 1800.

"My health," says Humboldt, "was proof against the fatigue of a

journey of more than 1300 leagues, but my poor comrade Bonpland, was,

immediately on his return, seized with fever and sickness, which

nearly proved fatal. A constitution of exceptional vigour is necessary

to enable a traveller to bear the fatigue, privations, and

interruptions of every kind with which he has to contend in these

unhealthy districts, with impunity. We were constantly surrounded by

voracious tigers and crocodiles, stung by venomous mosquitoes and ants,

with no food for three months but water, bananas, fish, and tapioca,

now crossing the territory of the earth-eating Otomaques, now

wandering through the desolate regions below the equator, where not a

human creature is seen for 130 leagues. Few indeed are those who

survive such perils and such exertions, fewer still are those who,

having surmounted them, have sufficient courage and strength to

encounter them a second time."

We have seen what an important geographical discovery rewarded the

perseverance of the explorers who had completed the examination of the

whole of the district north of the Amazon, between Popayan and the

mountains of French Guiana. The results obtained in other branches of

science were no less novel and important.

Humboldt had discovered that there exists amongst the Indians of the

Upper Orinoco and the Rio Negro a race with extremely fair complexions,

differing entirely from the natives of the coast. He also noticed the

curious tribe of the Otomaques.

"These people," he says "who disfigure their bodies with hideous

paintings, eat nothing but loam for some three months, when the height

of the Orinoco cuts them off from the turtles which form their

ordinary food. Some monks say they mix earth with the fat of

crocodiles' tails, but this is a very false assertion. We saw

provisions made of unadulterated earth, prepared only by slow roasting

and moistening with water."

Amongst the most curious of the discoveries made by Humboldt, we must

mention that of the "curare," the virulent poison which he saw

manufactured by the Catarapeni and Maquiritare Indians, and a specimen

of which he sent to the Institute with the "dapiche," a variety of

Indian rubber hitherto unknown, being the gum which exudes

spontaneously from the roots of the trees known as "jacio" and

"cucurma," and dries underground.

Humboldt concluded his first journey by the exploration of the

southern districts of San Domingo and Jamaica, and by a short stay in

Cuba, where he and his companions made several experiments with a view

to facilitating the making of sugar, surveyed the coast of the island,

and took some astronomical observations.

These occupations were interrupted by the news of the starting of

Captain Baudin, who, it was said, was to double Cape Horn and examine

the coasts of Chili and Peru. Humboldt, who had promised to join the

expedition, at once left Cuba, and crossed South America, arriving on

the coast of Peru in time, as he thought, to receive the French

navigator. Although Humboldt had throughout his long journey worked

with a view to timing his arrival in the Peruvian capital to meet

Baudin, it was only when he reached Quito that he ascertained that the

new expedition was making for the Pacific by way of the Cape of Good

Hope.

In May, 1801, Humboldt, still accompanied by the faithful Bonpland,

embarked at Cartagena, whence he proposed going first to Santa Fe de

Bogota, and then to the lofty plains of Quito. To avoid the great heat

the travellers spent some time at the pretty village of Turbaco,

situated on the heights overlooking the coast, where they made the

necessary preparations for their journey. In one of their excursions

in the neighbourhood they visited a very strange region, of which

their Indian guides had often spoken under the name of _Volcanitos_.

This is a volcanic district, set in a forest of palms, and of the tree

called "tola," about two miles to the east of Turbaco. According to a

legend, the country was at one time one vast collection of burning

mountains, but the fire was quenched by a saint, who merely poured a

few drops of holy water upon it.

In the centre of an extensive plain Humboldt came upon some twenty

cones of greyish clay, about twenty-five feet high, the mouths of

which were full of water. As the travellers approached a hollow sound

was heard, succeeded in a few minutes by the escape of a great

quantity of gas. According to the Indians these phenomena had recurred

for many years.

Humboldt noticed that the gas which issues from these small volcanoes

was a far purer azote than could then be obtained by chemical

laboratories.

Santa Fe is situated in a valley 8600 feet above the sea-level. Shut

in on every side by lofty mountains, this valley appears to have been

formerly a large lake. The Rio-Bogota which receives all the waters of

the valley, has forced a passage for itself near the Tequendama farm,

on the south-west of Santa-Fe, beyond which it leaves the plain by a

narrow channel and flows into the Magdalena basin. As a natural

consequence, were this passage blocked, the whole plain of Bogota

would be inundated and the ancient lake restored. There exists amongst

the Indians a legend similar to that connected with Roland's Pass in

the Pyrenees, telling how one of their heroes split open the rocks and

drained dry the valley of Bogota, after which, content with his

exploit, he retired to the sacred town of Eraca, where he did penance

for 2000 years, inflicting upon himself the greatest torture.

The cataract of Tequendama, although not the largest in the world, yet

affords a very beautiful sight. When swollen by the addition of all

the waters of the valley, the river, a little above the Falls, is 175

feet wide, but on entering the defile which appears to have been made

by an earthquake, it is not more than forty feet in breadth. The abyss

into which it flings itself, is no less than 600 feet deep. Above this

vast precipice constantly rises a dense cloud of foam, which, falling

again almost immediately, is said to contribute greatly to the

fertility of the valley.

Nothing could be more striking than the contrast between the valley of

the Rio Bogota and that of the Magdalena: the one with the climate and

productions of Europe, the corn, the oaks and other trees of our

native land; the other with palms, sugar-canes, and all the growths of

the tropics.

One of the most interesting of the natural curiosities met with by our

travellers on the trip, was the bridge of Jcononzo, which they crossed

in September, 1801. At the bottom of one of the contracted ravines,

known as "canyons," peculiar to the Andes, a little stream, the Rio

Suma Paz, has forced for itself a narrow channel. To cross this river

would be impossible, had not nature herself provided two bridges, one

above the other, which are justly considered marvels of the country.

Three blocks of rock detached from one of the mountains by the

earthquake which produced this mighty fissure, have so fallen as to

balance each other and form a natural arch, to which access is

obtained by a path along the precipice. In the centre of this bridge

there is an opening through which the traveller may gaze down into the

infinite depth of the abyss, at the bottom of which rolls the torrent,

its terrible roar mingled with the incessant screaming of thousands of

birds. Sixty feet above this bridge is a second, fifty feet long by

forty wide, and not more than eight feet thick in the middle. To serve

as a parapet, the natives have made a slender balustrade of reeds

along the edges of this second bridge, from which the traveller can

obtain a fine view of the magnificent scene beneath him.

The heavy rain and bad roads made the journey to Quito very exhausting,

but for all that Humboldt and Bonpland only halted there for an

absolutely necessary rest, quickly pressing on for the Magdalena

valley, and the magnificent forests clothing the sides of the Trinidiu

in the Central Andes.

This mountain is considered one of the most difficult to cross in the

whole chain. Even when the weather is favourable, twelve days, at

least, are necessary for traversing the forests, in which not a human

creature is seen and no food can be obtained. The highest point is

1200 feet above the sea-level, and the path leading up to it is in

many parts only one foot wide. The traveller is generally carried,

bound to a chair in a sitting posture, on the back of a native, as a

porter carries a trunk.

"We preferred to go on foot," says Humboldt in a letter to his brother,

"and the weather being very fine we were only seventeen days in these

solitudes, where not a trace is to be seen of any inhabitant. The

night is passed in temporary huts made of the leaves of the heliconia,

brought on purpose. On the western slopes of the Andes marshes have to

be crossed, into which one sinks up to the knees; and the weather

having changed when we reached them, it rained in torrents for the

last few days. Our boots rotted on our feet, and we reached Carthago

with naked and bleeding feet, but enriched with a fine collection of

new plants.

"From Carthago we went to Popayan by way of Buga, crossing the fine

Cauca valley, and skirting along the mountain of Choca, with the

platina-mines for which it is famous.

"We spent October, 1801, at Popayan, whence we made excursions to the

basaltic mountains of Julusuito and the craters of the Purace volcano,

which discharge hydro-sulphuric steam and porphyritic granite with a

terrible noise....

"The greatest difficulties were met with in going from Popayan to

Quito. We had to pass the Pasto Paramos, and that in the rainy season,

which had now set in. A 'paramo' in the Andes is a district some 1700

or 2000 fathoms high, where vegetation ceases, and the cold is

piercing.

"We went from Popayan to Almager and thence to Pasto, at the foot of a

terrible volcano, by way of the fearful precipices forming the ascent

to the summit of the Cordillera, thus avoiding the heat of the Patia

valley, where one night will often bring on the fever known as the

_Calentura de Patia_, lasting three or four months."

The province of Pasto consists entirely of a frozen plateau almost too

lofty for any vegetation to thrive on it, surrounded by volcanoes and

sulphur-mines from which spiral columns of smoke are perpetually

issuing. The inhabitants have no food but batatas, and when they run

short they are obliged to live upon a little tree called "achupalla,"

for which they have to contend with the bear of the Andes. After being

wet through night and day for two months, and being all but drowned in

a sudden flood, accompanied by an earthquake near the town of Jbarra,

Humboldt and Bonpland arrived on the 6th January, 1801, at Quito,

where they were received in cordial and princely style by the Marquis

of Selva-Alegre.

Quito is a fine town, but the intense cold and the barren mountains

surrounding it make it a gloomy place to stay in. Since the great

earthquake of the 4th February, 1797, the temperature has considerably

decreased, and Bouguer, who registered it at an average of from 15

degrees to 16 degrees would be surprised to find it varying from 4

degrees to 10 degrees Reaumur. Cotopaxi and Pinchincha, Antisana and

Illinaza, the various craters of one subterranean fire, were all

examined by the travellers, a fortnight being devoted to each.

Humboldt twice reached the edge of the Pinchincha crater, never before

seen except by Condamine.

"I made my first trip," he says, "accompanied only by an Indian.

Condamine had approached the crater by the lower part of its edge

which was covered with snow, and in this first attempt I followed his

example. But we nearly perished. The Indian sank to the breast in a

crevasse, and we found to our horror that we were walking on a bridge

of frozen snow, for a little in advance of us there were some holes

through which we could see the light. Without knowing it we were in

fact on the vaults belonging to the crater itself. Startled, but not

discouraged, I changed my plan. From the outer rim of the crater,

flung as it were upon the abyss, rise three peaks, three rocks, which

are not covered with snow, because the steam from the volcano prevents

the water from freezing. I climbed upon one of these rocks and on the

top of it found a stone attached on one side only to the rock and

undermined beneath, so as to protrude like a balcony over the

precipice. This stone was but about twelve feet long by six broad, and

is terribly shaken by the frequent earthquakes, of which we counted

eighteen in less than thirty minutes. To examine the depths of the

crater thoroughly we lay on our faces, and I do not think imagination

could conceive anything drearier, more gloomy, or more awful than what

we saw. The crater consists of a circular hole nearly a league in

circumference, the jagged edges of which are surrounded by snow. The

interior is of pitchy blackness, but so vast is the gulf that the

summits of several mountains situated in it can be made out at a depth

of some 300 fathoms, so only fancy where their bases must be!

"I have no doubt that the bottom of the crater must be on a level with

the town of Quito. Condamine found this volcano extinct and covered

with snow, but we had to take the bad news to the inhabitants of the

capital, that the neighbouring burning mountain is really active."

Humboldt ascended the volcano of Antisana to a height of 2773 fathoms,

but could go no further, as the cold was so intense that the blood

started from the lips, eyes, and gums of the travellers. It was

impossible to reach the crater of Cotopaxi.

On the 9th June, 1802, Humboldt, accompanied by Bonpland, started from

Quito to examine Chimborazo and Tungurunga. The peak of the latter

fell in during the earthquake of 1797, and Humboldt found its height

to be but 2531 fathoms, whilst in Condamine's time it was 2620 fathoms.

From Quito the travellers went to the Amazon by way of Lactacunga,

Ambato and Rio-Bamba situated in the province laid waste by the

earthquake of 1797, when 40,000 inhabitants were swallowed up by water

and mud. Going down the Andes, Humboldt and his companions had an

opportunity of admiring the remains of the Yega road, leading from

Cusco to Assuay, and known as the Inca's road. It was built entirely

of hewn stones, and was very straight. It might have been taken for

one of the best Roman roads. In the same neighbourhood are the ruins

of a palace of the Inca Fupayupangi, described by Condamine in the

minutes of the Berlin Academy.

After a stay of ten days at Cuenca, Humboldt entered the province of

Jaen, surveyed the Maranon as far as the Rio Napo, and with the aid of

the astronomical observations he was able to make, supplemented

Condamine's map. On the 23rd October, 1802, Humboldt entered Lima,

where he successfully observed the transit of Mercury.

After spending a month in that capital he started for Guayaquil,

whence he went by sea to Acapulco in Spanish America.

The vast number of notes collected by Humboldt during the year he

spent in Mexico, and which led to the publication of his Essay on

Spanish America, would, after what we have said of his previous

proceedings, be enough to prove, if proof were needed, what a passion

he had for knowledge, how indomitable was his energy and how immense

his power of work.

At one and the same time he was studying the antiquities and the

history of Mexico, the character, customs, and language of its people,

and taking observations in natural history, physical geography,

chemistry, astronomy, and topography.

The Tasco, Moran, and Guanajuato mines, which yield a profit of

several million piastres per annum, first attracted the attention of

Humboldt, who had early studied geology. He then examined the Jerullo

volcano, which, although situated in the centre of an immense plain

thirty-six leagues from the sea, and more than forty from any volcano,

discharged earth on the 29th September, 1759, and formed a mountain of

cinders and clay 1700 feet high.

In Mexico the travellers were able to obtain everything necessary to

the arrangement of the immense collections they had accumulated, to

classify and compare the observations each had taken, and to prepare

their geographical map for publication.

Finally, in January, 1804, they left Acapulco to examine the eastern

slopes of the Cordilleras, and to take the dimensions of the two lofty

Puebla volcanoes.

"Popocatepetl," says Desborough Cooley, "is always active, although

nothing but smoke and ashes have issued from its crater for centuries.

It is not only 2000 feet higher than the loftiest mountains of Europe,

but is also the loftiest mountain in Spanish America." In spite of the

great quantity of snow which had recently fallen, Humboldt

accomplished the ascent of the Cofre, 1300 feet higher than the peak

of Teneriffe, obtaining from its summit, an extensive and varied view,

embracing the Puebla plain and the eastern slopes of the Mexican

Cordilleras, clothed with thick forests of "liquidambar," tree-ferns

and sensitive plants. The travellers were able to make out the port of

Vera Cruz, the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa and the sea-shore.

This mountain owes its name of Cofre to a naked rock of pyramidal form

which rises like a tower from its summit at a height of 500 feet.

After this last trip Humboldt went down to Vera Cruz, and having

fortunately escaped the yellow fever then decimating the population,

he set sail for Cuba, where he had left the greater part of his

collection, going thence to Philadelphia. There he remained a few

weeks to make a cursory study of the political constitution of the

United States, returning to Europe in August, 1804.

The results of Humboldt's travels were such, that he may be justly

called the discoverer of Equinoctial America, which before his time

had been explored without becoming really known, while many of its

innumerable riches were absolutely ignored. It must be fully

acknowledged that no traveller ever before did so much as Humboldt for

physical geography and its kindred sciences. He was the very ideal of

a traveller, and the world is indebted to him for important

generalizations concerning magnetism and climate; whose results are

plainly seen in the isothermal lines of modern maps. The writings of

Humboldt mark an era in the science of geography, and have led to many

further researches.

END OF THE GREAT NAVIGATORS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

LONDON:

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,

ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

"_Jules Verne, that Prince of Story-tellers_."--TIMES.

BOOKS BY JULES VERNE.

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CELEBRATED TRAVELS AND TRAVELLERS. 3 vols. Demy 8vo, 600 pp., upwards

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(3) THE EXPLORERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (_In the Press_.)

End of Project Gutenberg's Celebrated Travels and Travellers, by Jules Verne