88 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



"When," said Humboldt, in describing this 

 place, " a traveller finds himself for the first time 

 in the forests of South America, he encounters 

 most extraordinary and astonishing phenomena 

 of nature. The environs are but little calculated 

 to remind him of the description of distin- 

 guished travellers with regard to the shores of 

 the Mississippi, Florida, and other temperate 

 parts of the New "World ; for here, in Central 

 America, the traveller perceives at every step 

 that he is not on the confines, but in the very 

 heart of the torrid zone. It would be, perhaps, 

 difficult to say which feeling dominates in the 

 mind of the spectator of these magnificent scenes; 

 whether it is the awful silence of the solitude, 

 the splendour of the various forms of nature, 

 the vigour and luxuriance of the vegetation 

 which distinguishes the climate of the tropics." 

 What feelings must have been awakened in 

 Humboldt at the sight of these varied and 

 captivating scenes ! In this part he saw, like- 

 wise for the first time, the peculiar and artistic 

 nest of the oriola, a bird related to the thrush, 

 whose hoarse noise pierces through the forests, 

 and surpasses the roaring of some considerable 

 cataracts in the neighbourhood. He had also 

 the advantage of becoming acquainted with the 

 mode of life of the monks in these missions. 



