Account of the Travels of M. J. de Humloldt. 237 



Alter making a great number of mixtures with different 

 substances, I thought it my duty to adopt the following, 

 which £avc me a homogeneous conipouud, w hieh drying as 

 slowlv as could be desired, acquired vtiy great hardness and 

 became verv compact, so as to have all the properties 1 

 wislied for ; 



Take the whites of eggs \\\x\\ their yolks, carbonate of 

 lime in powder, or lime strongly slaked in the air, equal in 

 weight to about one half that of the eggs ; and having put 

 the whole on a piece of linen, apply it in the usual manner. 



This luting, the composition of which is simple, pos- 

 sesses when dry a certain degree of elasticity. I have formed 

 of it vessels impermeable to water, and susceptible of being 

 polished by the latiie. In a word, this mixture resembles 

 that substance called sea scum, of which tobacco pipes arc 

 made. 



XLII. Jccoiint of the Travels ofM. A. deHumboldt in 

 South America, extracted from some of his Letters *. 



IVJl. Humboldt's brother, who is now at Rome, received 

 from him lately three letters: one dated Ouito, June 3, 

 1 80i2 ; another, Cuenca, July 1 3, 1 802 ; and the thu-d, Lima, 

 the capital of IV^ru, November 'J5, 1802. They announce 

 that .M- Humboldt will soon return, and that he expected 

 to land in the month of August or September at Cadiz, or 

 Coruuna ; but the last of his letters in particular is the most 

 intcrestino-. In the following extract trom it care has been 

 taken to mscrt every thing worthy of attention in the other 

 two : • 



Mi' DEAR BUOTHKK, Lima, Nov. 2c;, iSoa. 



You must have learned by my'preccfling letters that I 

 had reached Ouito, at which wc arrived by traversing the 

 snow of Ouiridian and Tolima ; for as the cordillera of the 

 Andes fornis three separate branches, and as we were at Santa 

 Fe de Bogota, on that which is the most eastern, it was ne- 

 cessarv to cross the highest to approach the coasts of the 

 South Sea. Oxen are the only animals which can be emiTJoy- 

 ed in this passage for transportin<r baggage. Travellers in 

 general arc carried by men called largeros. They have a 

 chair, in which the traveller is seated, tied to their back; 

 they travel about four hours journey every day, and in Jive 

 or six weeks earn only fourteen piastres. We preferred 



* From Mc^uxin Ertcjchpediqurf 'I liinnit'or, an 1 1. . 



. travelling 



