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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He Gave Us Useful Advice For The Preservation Of Our
Health, In Climates Where He Had Himself Suffered Long From
Intermitting Fevers.
We had the satisfaction of finding Fray Juan
Gonzales at New Barcelona, on our return from the Rio Negro.
Intending to go from the Havannah to Cadiz, he obligingly offered
to take charge of part of our herbals, and our insects of the
Orinoco; but these collections were unfortunately lost with himself
at sea. This excellent young man, who was much attached to us, and
whose zeal and courage might have rendered him very serviceable to
the missions of his order, perished in a storm on the coast of
Africa, in 1801.
The boat which conveyed us from Cumana to La Guayra, was one of
those employed in trading between the coasts and the West India
Islands. They are thirty feet long, and not more than three feet
high at the gunwale; they have no decks, and their burthen is
generally from two hundred to two hundred and fifty quintals.
Although the sea is extremely rough from Cape Codera to La Guayra,
and although the boats have an enormous triangular sail, somewhat
dangerous in those gusts which issue from the mountain-passes, no
instance has occurred during thirty years, of one of these boats
being lost in the passage from Cumana to the coast of Caracas. The
skill of the Guaiqueria pilots is so great, that accidents are very
rare, even in the frequent trips they make from Cumana to
Guadaloupe, or the Danish islands, which are surrounded with
breakers.
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