Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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These Impressions, However,
Exercise A Considerable Influence Over Our Determinations; And From
A Sort Of Instinct We Endeavour To Connect Ourselves With Objects
On Which The Mind Has Long Been Fixed As By A Secret Charm.
At a
period when I studied the heavens, not with the intention of
devoting myself to astronomy, but only to acquire a knowledge of
the stars, I was disturbed by a feeling unknown to those who are
devoted to sedentary life.
It was painful to me to renounce the
hope of beholding the beautiful constellations near the south pole.
Impatient to rove in the equinoctial regions, I could not raise my
eyes to the starry firmament without thinking of the Southern
Cross, and recalling the sublime passage of Dante, which the most
celebrated commentators have applied to that constellation: -
Io mi volsi a man' destra e posi mente
All' altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle
Non viste mai fuorch' alla prima gente.
Goder parea lo ciel di lor fiammelle;
O settentrional vedovo sito
Poiche privato sei di mirar quelle!
The pleasure we felt on discovering the Southern Cross was warmly
shared by those of the crew who had visited the colonies. In the
solitude of the seas we hail a star as a friend, from whom we have
long been separated. The Portuguese and the Spaniards are
peculiarly susceptible of this feeling; a religious sentiment
attaches them to a constellation, the form of which recalls the
sign of the faith planted by their ancestors in the deserts of the
New World.
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