Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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In Every
Zone Intolerance Accompanies Credulity; And It Might Be Said That The
Fictions Of Ancient Geographers Had Passed From
One hemisphere to the
other, did we not know that the most fantastic productions of the
imagination, like the works
Of nature, furnish everywhere a certain
analogy of aspect and of form.
We landed at the mouth of the Rio Vichada or Visata to examine the
plants of that part of the country. The scenery is very singular. The
forest is thin, and an innumerable quantity of small rocks rise from
the plain. These form massy prisms, ruined pillars, and solitary
towers fifteen or twenty feet high. Some are shaded by the trees of
the forest, others have their summits crowned with palms. These rocks
are of granite passing into gneiss. At the confluence of the Vichada
the rocks of granite, and what is still more remarkable, the soil
itself, are covered with moss and lichens. These latter resemble the
Cladonia pyxidata and the Lichen rangiferinus, so common in the north
of Europe. We could scarcely persuade ourselves that we were elevated
less than one hundred toises above the level of the sea, in the fifth
degree of latitude, in the centre of the torrid zone, which has so
long been thought to be destitute of cryptogamous plants. The mean
temperature of this shady and humid spot probably exceeds twenty-six
degrees of the centigrade thermometer. Reflecting on the small
quantity of rain which had hitherto fallen, we were surprised at the
beautiful verdure of the forests.
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