Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3Humboldt, Alexander von
History
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3
Humboldt, Alexander von
Natural history -- South America; Scientific expeditions; South America -- Description and travel
We arrived on the 15th of July at the Fundacion, or Villa, del Pao,
founded in 1744, and situated very favourably for a commercial station
between Nueva Barcelona and Angostura. Its real name is El Concepcion
del Pao. Alcedo, La Cruz, Olmedilla, and many other geographers, have
mistaken the situation of this small town of the Llanos of Barcelona,
confounding it either with San Juan Bauptisto del Pao of the Llanos of
Caracas, or with El Valle del Pao de Zarate. Though the weather was
cloudy I succeeded in obtaining some heights of alpha Centauri,
serving to determine the latitude of the place; which is 8 degrees 37
minutes 57 seconds. Some altitudes of the sun gave me 67 degrees 8
minutes 12 seconds for the longitude, supposing Angostura to be 66
degrees 15 minutes 21 seconds. The astronomical determinations of
Calabozo and Concepcion del Pao are very important to the geography of
this country, where, in the midst of savannahs, fixed points are
altogether wanting. Some fruit-trees grow in the vicinity of Pao: they
are rarely seen in the Llanos. We even found some cocoa-trees, which
appeared very vigorous, notwithstanding the great distance of the sea.
I was the more struck with this fact because doubts have recently been
started respecting the veracity of travellers, who assert that they
have seen the cocoa-tree, which is a palm of the shore, at Timbuctoo,
in the centre of Africa. We several times saw cocoa-trees amid the
cultivated spots on the banks of the Rio Magdalena, more than a
hundred leagues from the coast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account