Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
Let me be permitted to introduce here a remark which I borrow from
a letter addressed to me by the distinguished traveller, Sir Robert
Schomburgk. “The hieroglyphical figures are more widely extended than
you had perhaps supposed. During my expedition, which had for its
object the examination of the Corentyn River, I not only observed some
colossal figures on the rock of Timeri (4-1/2° N. lat. and 57-1/2° W.
long.), but I also discovered similar ones near the great cataracts
of the Corentyn, in 4° 21′ 30″ N. lat. and 57° 55′ 30″ W. long. These
figures are executed with much greater care than any which I discovered
in Guiana. Their size is about ten feet, and they appear to represent
human figures. The head-dress is extremely remarkable; it encompasses
the head, spreading out considerably in breadth, and is not unlike the
halos represented in paintings as surrounding the heads of Saints and
Sacred Persons. I have left my drawings of these figures in the colony,
but I hope some day to be able to lay them all before the public. I
saw ruder figures on the Cuyuwini, a river which empties itself into
the Essequibo in latitude 2° 16′ N., entering it from the north-west;
and I have since seen similar figures on the Essequibo itself in 1°
40′ N. lat. These figures extend, therefore, as ascertained by actual
observation, from 7° 10′ to 1° 40′ N. lat., and from 57° 30′ to 66° 30′
W. long. Thus the zone of pictured rocks extends, so far as it has been
at present examined, over a space of 192000 square geographical miles,
comprising the basins of the Corentyn, the Essequibo, and the Orinoco;
a circumstance from which we may form some inferences respecting the
former amount of population in this part of the continent.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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