35-4 yiccount of Travtls velwcen the Tr&p'ics. 



brant to Algiers, to acconipanv the caravan thence to Mecca, 

 aiul to proceed to India by Egypt and the Persian- Gulph ^ 

 but the war,, which broke out in an uiiexpected n>anner 

 in the niontli of October 1798, between France and the 

 Barbary powcvs, and the troubles in the East, prevented. 

 M. Hiimlyoldt ti-om setting out from Marseilles, wliere he- 

 waited to no purpo-se for twa months. Impatient at this 

 u«w delay, but always firn\ in tlie project of joining the 

 expedition in Egvpt, he set out for Spain, hoping he should 

 be able to proeL^d more easily under the Spjanish flag from 

 Carthagena to Algiers or Tunis. lie took the road To Ma- 

 drid through Montpellier, Pcrpignan, Barcelona, and Va- 

 kntia; bu't the news from the East became every day more 

 distressing. The war there was carried on with unexampled 

 fury, and he was at length obliged to renounce the design 

 of iroin."" through Egypt to Indostan. A happy concurrence- 

 of circumstances soon indemnified M. Humboldt for this 

 delay. In the month of March 1 799,, the court of Madrid 

 granted him full permission to proceed to the Spanish colo- 

 nies in both the Americas, in order to make such researches 

 ns might be useful to the sciences. His catholic majesty even 

 deigned to show particular inierest for the success of this 

 expedition ; and M. Humboldt, after res-iding some months 

 at Madrid and Aranjues, set out from Europe in June 1799) 

 accompanied by his friend Bonpland, who unites an exten- 

 sive knowledge of botany and zoology to that indefatigable 

 zeal and love for the sciences which induce men to submit 

 w^ith indifference to every kind of hardship. 



With this friend M.Humboldt travelled for five years, 

 at his own expense, between the tropics, passing over, by 

 sea and land, nearly gooo leagues. These two travellers,, 

 provided with recommendations from the court of Spain, 

 embarked in the Pi^arro frigate, at Corunna, for the Ca- 

 naries. Thev touched at the island of Graciosa, near Lan- 

 cerotta, and at Teneriff, where they ascended to the crater of 

 the peak, in order to analyse the atmospheric air, and make 

 geological observations on the basaltes and porphyritic schist 

 of Africa. In the month of July they arrived at the port of 

 Cumana, in the gnlph of Cariaco, a part of South America 

 celebrated bv the labours and tnisfortuncs of the indefatiga- 

 ble Lofiing. .In the eoifrsc of 1799 and 1800 they visited 

 Uic coast of Paria, the Indian missions of ChaymAS, and 

 the province of New Andalusia, one of the hottest, but at 

 Xhv. same lime healthiest, countries iu the world, tlvnigii 

 consuiacd by dreadful and frequent earthipiakcs. 'Iliey 

 traversed the provinces of New Barcelona, Venezuela, and 

 ; . Spanish 



