304 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



rock in the Fichtelgebirge. This porphyry exhibits some de- 

 gree of polarity, but has no force of attraction. At length, 

 after being wet through by torrents of rain night and day for 

 two months, ancj nearly drowned in the town of Ibarra by the 

 sudden rise of the water during an earthquake, we reached Quito 

 on the 6th of January, 1802.' 



