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nimity of their guides, had now no alternative but to trace back their steps.

When they reached the entrance, they found that the missionaries had prepared a comfortable repast to refresh them after the fatigues they had undergone. Baron de Humboldt made many inquiries respecting this extraordinary cavern; and particularly whether any fossil, or mineralized remains of animals, had been found in it; but he could not obtain any satisfactory information whatever concerning it.

The days, which the travellers passed at Caripe, glided swiftly away. From sunrise to nightfall they were generally occupied in traversing the forests and neighbouring mountains to collect plants; and they had never made a more considerable harvest. The rainy season, however, had set in; but when the state of the weather prevented them from undertaking distant excursions, they visited the huts of the Indians, or otherwise occupied themselves in the village, or its immediate neighbourhood. After having passed almost the whole day in the open air, they employed their evenings at the convent, in making notes, drying their plants, or in drawing those which appeared to be of new species. The monks left them to enjoy their full liberty; and they long afterwards recollected with delight, an abode which had, at the same time, been agreeable to them and advantageous to their researches.

On the 22d of September they left Caripe, accompanied by four mules, laden with instruments and plants, and descended the north-east slope of the calcareous Alps of New Andalusia. This descent was attended with considerable difficulty. In the steepest parts the mules drew their hind-legs near their fore-legs, and lowering their crupper, slided quietly down. The rider suffered no risk, provided he loosened the bridle of his mule, and left the animal perfectly free in his movements. This tremendous descent continued for seven hours. In many places it extended along a series of irregular

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steps, some of them two or three feet deep, formed in deep ravines, by the torrents of the rainy seasons. one part of it the travellers passed through a thick forest. The trees were of stupendous height and size; and, under their bushy and deep green foliage, there was a kind of half daylight, a sort of obscurity, of which the forests of Europe afford no example. The atmosphere was surcharged with moisture; and a strongly aromatic odour was emitted from the flowers, the fruit, and even the wood of several of the trees. Many new and interesting species were observed by the travellers in the course of this journey. They likewise saw many beautiful kinds of butterflies of large size, which flew at a prodigious height in the air.

The weather became cloudy, the thunder rolled at a distance; and the plaintive howling of monkeys in the woods, denoted the proximity of a storm. The travellers now, for the first time, saw near them many of those large monkeys which are called by the French naturalists alouates, and by the English howling monkeys. These, to the number of thirty or forty, amused them by passing in a line from one tree to another, upon the horizontal and intersecting branches. While their attention was fixed upon this extraordinary sight, they observed a troop of Indians, who were proceeding toward the mountains of Caripe. Like nearly all the natives of this part of America, they were quite naked. The men and boys went first, all armed with bows and arrows; and the women, laden with heavy burthens, closed the rear.

Beyond the forest the travellers passed an extensive savanna: from one side of this they had a view along a valley, the bottom of, which was covered with a thick forest. The eye looked down upon the tops of the trees, which, at the depth of eight hundred feet below the road, formed a carpet of verdure of dark and uniform tint. They passed through an Indian mission village, called Santa Cruz, and proceeded thence over a partly wooded and partly mountainous country, to

Cariaco, a town situated in the midst of a vast plain, filled with plantations, huts, and scattered groups of cocoa-nut-trees. To the west of the town extends the Gulf of Cariaco.

The whole country around Cariaco, in consequence of the moisture arising from the heat of the climate, the extreme richness of the soil, the luxuriancy of the `vegetation, and the frequent and long continued rains which are there prevalent, is considered to be very prejudicial to the health of Europeans. When the travellers were here, a great number of the inhabitants were confined to their hammocks or beds, by intermittent fevers. The whole population consisted of somewhat more than six thousand souls. Coffee, sugar, and cotton, are the chief articles produced in the vicinity of this place. The culture of the cacao, or chocolate tree, was formerly much attended to here; but of late the number of these trees has greatly diminished. So great is the fertility of the soil that, in some places, the maize yields two crops in the year, and produces three hundred and eighty times the quantity sown.

The travellers having been prevented, by the intermittent fever, from prolonging their stay in Cariaco, embarked for Cumana, on board a vessel which was about to cross the gulf of Cariaco. They had scarcely entered the gulf when they had to struggle with contrary winds. The rain descended in torrents, and the thunder rolled very near. Swarms of flamingoes, egrets, and cormorants, filled the air, seeking the shore. The alcatras, a large species of pelican, alone continued peaceably to fish in the middle of the gulf. The vessel passed over a part of the gulf where hot springs gush up from the bottom. It was the time of flood, so that the difference of temperature was less perceptible than it otherwise would have been. But Baron de Humboldt was assured that the existence of these hot springs raised the temperature of the sea through a considerable space. In consequence of the contrary winds they were obliged to take shelter at a small farm on the south

side of the gulf. The whole of the coast around this farm was covered with a beautiful vegetation. Cocoanut-trees were here very abundant; and indeed through all this part of America, they are a source of considerable profit to the proprietors; for each tree, when in full bearing, is said to yield an annual profit equal to about twelve shillings sterling.

On the ensuing day the travellers once more reached Cumana.

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Eleventh Day's Instruction.

TERRA FIRMA CONTINUED.

Narrative of the Journey of MESSRS. HUMBOLDT and BONPLAND from Cumana to Caraccas. •

BARON DE HUMBOLDT and his friend now remained at Cumana several weeks, in order to make preparations for a long inland journey, and a voyage on the rivers Oronoko and Negro. They got in readiness their provisions, packed up such astronomical instruments as could most easily be transported in boats, and furnished themselves with guides.

The heat of the nights, during part of the time they were here, seemed stifling; and the atmosphere in the daytime appeared as if it were on fire. ` The ground, parched and dusty, was cracked on every side. On the 4th of November, about four o'clock in the afternoon, thunder was heard at an immense height in the air, without rolling, and with a hoarse and often interrupted sound. Shortly afterwards two shocks of an earthquake were felt, at the distance of fifteen seconds from each other. The people in the streets filled the air with their cries. A few minutes before

the first shock there was a violent blast of wind, followed by rain in great drops. About nine in the evening a third shock occurred, slighter than the former, but evidently attended with a subterraneous noise. The inhabitants consider red vapours which occasionally darken the horizon, and the failure of the breezes during the night, as prognostics infallibly disastrous. This earthquake made a very lively impression upon Baron de Humboldt; for he did not then imagine that, a few months afterwards, in a long abode which he made in Quito and near the coasts of Peru, he should become nearly as familiar with abrupt movements of the ground, as in Europe we are with the noise of thunder.

The night of the 11th of November was cool and extremely beautiful. Toward the morning, from half . after two, the most extraordinary luminous meteors imaginable were seen towards the east. M. Bonpland, who had risen, and was in the gallery of the house where he lodged, enjoying the freshness of the air, perceived them first. Thousands of bolides and falling stars succeeded each other during four hours. Their direction was regularly from north to south. He relates that, from the beginning of the phenomenon, there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon, which was not, at every instant, filled with them. Their sizes were various, and all of them left luminous traces of considerable length, which lasted seven or eight seconds. The inhabitants of Cumana were considerably alarmed by these appearances; for many of them recollected that the great earthquakes of 1766 were preceded by similar phenomena. The abovementioned meteors were not only observed in some parts of America far distant from Cumana, but also in Europe.

Five days after this, at eight in the evening, Baron de Humboldtand his friend sailed from Cumana ina westerly 'direction for Guayra, a port of Caraccas, distant about sixty leagues. It was the intention of the travellers to

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