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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The Introduction Of Christianity Into Iceland, The Inhabitants Would
Be Baptized Only In The Hot Springs Of Hecla:
And in the torrid zone,
in the plains, as well as on the Cordilleras, the natives flock from
all parts to the thermal waters.
The sick, who come to La Trinchera to
use vapour-baths, form a sort of frame-work over the spring with
branches of trees and very slender reeds. They stretch themselves
naked on this frame, which appeared to me to possess little strength,
and to be dangerous of access. The Rio de Aguas Calientes runs towards
the north-east, and becomes, near the coast, a considerable river,
swarming with great crocodiles, and contributing, by its inundations,
to the insalubrity of the shore.
We descended towards Porto Cabello, having constantly the river of hot
water on our right. The road is extremely picturesque, and the waters
roll down on the shelves of rock. We might have fancied we were gazing
on the cascades of the Reuss, that flows down Mount St. Gothard; but
what a contrast in the vigour and richness of the vegetation! The
white trunks of the cecropia rise majestically amid bignonias and
melastomas. They do not disappear till we are within a hundred toises
above the level of the ocean. A small thorny palm-tree extends also to
this limit; the slender pinnate leaves of which look as if they had
been curled toward the edges. This tree is very common in these
mountains; but not having seen either its fruit or its flowers, we are
ignorant whether it be the piritu palm-tree of the Caribbees, or the
Cocos aculeata of Jacquin.
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