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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I Observed The Same Appearance, Not In One
Spot Of The Horizon Alone, But On An Extent Of More Than
A hundred
and sixty degrees, along the Pacific, when I found myself for the
first time on the pointed rock
That commands the crater of
Pichincha; a volcano, the elevation of which exceeds that of Mont
Blanc.* (* See Views of Nature, Bohn's edition, page 358.) The
visibility of a very distant horizon depends, when there is no
mirage, upon two distinct things: the quantity of light received on
that part of the sea where the visual ray terminates; and the
extinction of the reflected light during its passage through the
intermediate strata of air. It may happen, notwithstanding the
serenity of the sky and the transparency of the atmosphere, that
the ocean is feebly illuminated at thirty or forty leagues'
distance; or that the strata of air nearest the earth may
extinguish a great deal of the light, by absorbing the rays that
traverse them.
The rounded peak, or western dome of the Silla, concealed from us
the view of the town of Caracas; but we distinguished the nearest
houses, the villages of Chacao and Petare, the coffee plantations,
and the course of the Rio Guayra, a slender streak of water
reflecting a silvery light. The narrow band of cultivated ground
was pleasingly contrasted with the wild and gloomy aspect of the
neighbouring mountains. Whilst contemplating these grand scenes, we
feel little regret that the solitudes of the New World are not
embellished with the monuments of antiquity.
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