OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 85 



south pole. Impatient to explore the territories 

 of the equator, I could not raise my eyes 

 towards the starry sky without thinking of the 

 southern cross and the sublime passage of 

 Dante :" 



When to the other pole mine eyes I turn'd, 

 And there beheld four planets on the right, 

 By none save those in Paradise discern'd : 

 Heaven seem'd to view their lustre with delight. 

 northern region, how bereaved art thou, 

 These starry splendours banish'd from thy sight ! * 



The hitherto prosperous passage of Humboldt 

 and his companion assumed an alarming aspect 

 in consequence of a malignant fever which seized 

 several of the passengers, and increased the 

 nearer they approached the Antilles. Those still 

 preserved from infection resolved to leave the 

 ship at the first opportunity, and continue their 

 journey by the next vessel sailing their way. 

 They persuaded the captain to land his passen- 

 gers at the harbour of Cumana, on the north- 

 eastern coast of Venezuela. This circumstance 

 caused a change in Humboldt' s plans, and 

 induced him, for the first time, to visit the coasts 

 of Venezuela and Paria, still but little known, 

 and to continue afterwards their journey to 



* Dante, translated by J. C. Wright, M.A. Fourth 

 edition : Purgatorio, p. 150, 19 25. 



