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Views of nature, or contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation, with scientific illustrations / By Alexander von Humboldt. Translated from the German by E.C. Otté and Henry G. Bohn.

  • Alexander von Humboldt
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Views of nature, or contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation, with scientific illustrations / By Alexander von Humboldt. Translated from the German by E.C. Otté and Henry G. Bohn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    have become habitable to man. Here and there towns (33) have sprung up on the shores of the Steppe-rivers, built to faci- litate the intercourse between the coasts and Guiana (the Ori- noco district). Everywhere throughout these vast districts the inhabitants have begun to rear -attle. At distances of a day’s journey from each other, we see detached huts, woven together with reeds and thongs, and covered with ox-hides. Innumerable herds of oxen, horses, and mules (estimated at the peaceful period of my travels at a million and a half) roam over the Steppe in a state of wildness. The prodigious increase of these animals of the old world is the more re- markable, from the numerous perils with which, in these regions, they have to contend. When, beneath the vertical rays of the bright and cloudless sun of the tropics, the parched sward crumbles into dust, then the indurated soil cracks and bursts as if rent asunder by some mighty earthquake. And if, at such a time, two opposite currents of air, by conflict moving in rapid gy- rations, come in contact with the earth, a singular spec- tacle presents itself. Like funnel-shaped clouds, their apexes (34 touching the earth, the sands rise in vapoury form through the rarefied air in the electrically-charged centre of the whirling current, sweeping on like the rushing water-spout, which strikes such terror into the heart of the mariner. A dim and sallow light gleams from the lowering sky over the dreary plain. The horizon suddenly contracts, and the heart of the traveller sinks with dismay as the wide Steppe seems to close upon him on all sides. The hot and dusty earth forms a cloudy veil which shrouds the heavens from view, and in- creases the stifling oppression of the atmosphere (35); while the east wind, when it blows over the long-heated soil, instead of cooling, adds to the burning glow. Gradually, too, the pools of water, which had been pro- tected from evaporation by the now seared foliage of the fan-palm, disappear. As in the icy north animals become ~