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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Night Overtook Us While We Were In A Narrow Path,
Bordered On One Side By The Sea, And On The Other By A Range Of
Perpendicular Rocks.
The tide was rising rapidly, and narrowed the
road at every step.
We at length arrived at the foot of the old
castle of Araya, where we enjoyed a prospect that had in it
something lugubrious and romantic. The ruins stand on a bare and
arid mountain, crowned with agave, columnar cactus, and thorny
mimosas: they bear less resemblance to the works of man, than to
those masses of rock which were ruptured at the early revolutions
of the globe.
We were desirous of stopping to admire this majestic spectacle, and
to observe the setting of Venus, whose disk appeared at intervals
between the yawning crannies of the castle; but the muleteer, who
served as our guide, was parched with thirst, and pressed us
earnestly to return. He had long perceived that we had lost our
way; and as he hoped to work on our fears he continually warned us
of the danger of tigers and rattlesnakes. Venomous reptiles are,
indeed, very common near the castle of Araya; and two jaguars had
been lately killed at the entrance of the village of Maniquarez. If
we might judge from their skins, which were preserved, their size
was not less than that of the Indian tiger. We vainly represented
to our guide that those animals did not attack men where the goats
furnished them with abundant prey; we were obliged to yield, and
return.
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