Chapter I: Front Matter

BOHN'S SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.

HUMBOLDT'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE

VOLUME 3.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS TO THE EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS OF AMERICA DURING THE YEARS 1799-1804

BY

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT AND AIME BONPLAND.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT AND EDITED BY THOMASINA ROSS.

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOLUME 3.

LONDON.

GEORGE BELL & SONS. 1908. LONDON: PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER AND CO.

***

The longitudes mentioned in the text refer always to the meridian of the Observatory of Paris.

The real is about 6 1/2 English pence.

The agrarian measure, called caballeria, is eighteen cordels, (each cordel includes twenty-four varas) or 432 square varas; consequently, as 1 vara = 0.835m., according to Rodriguez, a caballeria is 186,624 square varas, or 130,118 square metres, or thirty-two and two-tenths English acres.

20 leagues to a degree.

5000 varas = 4150 metres.

3403 square toises = 1.29 hectare.

An acre = 4044 square metres.

Five hundred acres = fifteen and a half caballerias.

Sugar-houses are thought to be very considerable that yield 2000 cases annually, or 32,000 arrobas (nearly 368,000 kilogrammes.)

An arroba of 25 Spanish pounds = 11.49 kilogrammes.

A quintal = 45.97 kilogrammes.

A tarea of wood = one hundred and sixty cubic feet.

VOLUME 3.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 3.25.

SPANISH GUIANA.--ANGOSTURA.--PALM-INHABITING TRIBES.--MISSIONS OF THE CAPUCHINS.--THE LAGUNA PARIME.--EL DORADO.--LEGENDARY TALES OF THE EARLY VOYAGERS.

CHAPTER 3.26.

THE LLANOS DEL PAO, OR EASTERN PART OF THE PLAINS OF VENEZUELA.--MISSIONS OF THE CARIBS.--LAST VISIT TO THE COAST OF NUEVA BARCELONA, CUMANA, AND ARAYA.

CHAPTER 3.27.

POLITICAL STATE OF THE PROVINCES OF VENEZUELA.--EXTENT OF TERRITORY.--POPULATION.--NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.--EXTERNAL TRADE.--COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT PROVINCES COMPRISING THE REPUBLIC OF COLUMBIA.

CHAPTER 3.28.

PASSAGE FROM THE COAST OF VENEZUELA TO THE HAVANA.--GENERAL VIEW OF THE POPULATION OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS, COMPARED WITH THE POPULATION OF THE NEW CONTINENT, WITH RESPECT TO DIVERSITY OF RACES, PERSONAL LIBERTY, LANGUAGE, AND WORSHIP.

CHAPTER 3.29.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE ISLAND OF CUBA.--THE HAVANNAH.--HILLS OF GUANAVACOA, CONSIDERED IN THEIR GEOLOGICAL RELATIONS.--VALLEY OF LOS GUINES, BATABANO, AND PORT OF TRINIDAD.--THE KING AND QUEEN'S GARDENS.

CHAPTER 3.30.

PASSAGE FROM TRINIDAD DE CUBA TO RIO SINU.--CARTHAGENA.--AIR VOLCANOES OF TURBACO.--CANAL OF MAHATES.

CHAPTER 3.31.

CUBA AND THE SLAVE TRADE.

CHAPTER 3.32.

GEOGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION OF SOUTH AMERICA, NORTH OF THE RIVER AMAZON, AND EAST OF THE MERIDIAN OF THE SIERRA NEVADA DE MERIDA.

INDEX.

***

PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO THE EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS OF THE NEW CONTINENT.

VOLUME 3.