Views of Nature by Alexander von Humboldt

Author:Alexander von Humboldt [von Humboldt, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2014-07-16T22:00:00+00:00

2. Concerning the Waterfalls of the Orinoco near Atures and Maypures

Annotations and Additions

1. Across the peaceful arm of the ocean

Between the 23rd degree of southern and the 70th degree of northern latitude, the Atlantic Ocean has the form of a long, groove-shaped valley in which the jutting and receding profiles on opposite sides fit into one another. I first developed this idea in my Essai d’un Tableau géologique de l’Amérique méridionale, which is printed in the Journal de Physique, vol. LIII, p. 61 (Geognostische Skizze von Südamerika in Gilbert’s Annalen der Physik, vol. XVI, 1804, pp. 394–449). From the Canary Islands, especially from the 21st degree of northern latitude and the 25th degree of western longitude to the northeast coast of South America, the surface of the ocean is so peaceful and moves with waves so gentle and low that an open boat could surely navigate it easily.

2. Freshwater springs between the Antillean Islands

On the southern coast of the island of Cuba, southwest of Puerto Batabano in Xagua Bay, but at a distance of about two to three nautical miles from dry land and in the middle of salty ocean water, springs of freshwater burst forth from the seabed, probably as a result of hydrostatic pressure. This eruption occurs with such power that it is only with great caution that canoes will approach the place, famous for the height and crisscrossing motion of the waves there. Trade ships that sail along the coast and do not wish to land sometimes visit these springs in order to take on a supply of freshwater while still remaining out at sea. The deeper one scoops down to get the water, the more potable it is. Also, the “river cow” (Trichecus manati) is often taken by hunters there; this animal does not thrive in saltwater. This incredible phenomenon, of which mention has never been made until now, has been most carefully investigated by one of my friends, don Francisco Lemaur, who trigonometrically measured the Bahi de Xagua. I was farther south, in the so-called Gardens of the King on the Jardines del Rey island group in order to determine their positions through astronomical observations; I was not in Xagua itself.

3. The ancient dam of rock

Christopher Columbus, whose restlessly observant mind was directed toward all things, presents in his letters to the Spanish monarchs a geognostic hypothesis regarding the conformation of the Greater Antilles. Intensely occupied with the strength of the often westerly equinoctial current, he ascribes to it the fragmentation of the Lesser Antilles group and the remarkable latitudinally extended configuration of the southern coasts of Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica, which follow the circles of latitude almost exactly. On the third voyage (from the end of May 1498 to the end of November 1500), upon which, in traveling from the Boca del Drago to the island of Margarita, and later, from this island to Haiti, he felt the full power of the equinoctial current, the motion of the waters “in agreement with

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