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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The Name Torre Quemada, Or Burnt Tower, Indicates The
Sensation That Is Felt In Descending Towards La Guayra.
A
suffocating heat is reflected from the walls of rock, and
especially from the barren plains on which the traveller looks
down.
On this road, as on that from Vera Cruz to Mexico, and
wherever on a rapid declivity the climate changes, the increase of
muscular strength and the sensation of well-being, which we
experience as we advance into strata of cooler air, have always
appeared to me less striking than the feeling of languor and
debility which pervades the frame, when we descend towards the
burning plains of the coast. But such is the organization of man;
and even in the moral world, we are less soothed by that which
ameliorates our condition than annoyed by a new sensation of
discomfort.
From Curucuti to Salto the ascent is somewhat less laborious. The
sinuosities of the way render the declivity easier, as in the old
road over Mont Cenis. The Salto (or Leap) is a crevice, which is
crossed by a draw-bridge. Fortifications crown the summit of the
mountain. At La Venta the thermometer at noon stood at 19.3
degrees, when at La Guayra it kept up at the same hour at 26.2
degrees. La Venta enjoys some celebrity in Europe and in the United
States, for the beauty of its surrounding scenery. When the clouds
permit, this spot affords a magnificent view of the sea, and the
neighbouring coasts.
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