96 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



courage at the outset. He remained half-way 

 in a plantation, from whence he watched, by 

 the aid of a telescope, Baron Humboldt and his 

 more resolute companions, who climbed with 

 difficulty upward. At a height of six thousand 

 feet they met still with pastures, covered by 

 the blackberry-bush and little yellow flowers 

 in the form of lilies. In vain did Humboldt 

 hope to find a wild rose, of which he met not a 

 single species in all his travels in South 

 America, with the exception of the Montezuma 

 rose, in 19 latitude, on the mountains of 

 Mexico. 



On the summit, Humboldt enjoyed, with his 

 friend Bonpland, a magnificent view, similar 

 to that which had met him seven months 

 previously on the Peak of TenerifFe. From 

 this elevation he surveyed a landscape of rare 

 beauty, where a savage nature, not yet subdued 

 by man and civilization, exercised undisputed 

 sway over regions perhaps as extensive as the 

 whole of France ; a beautiful and wide solitude, 

 usurped by a savage vegetation, wherein the 

 voice of human joy and sorrow had never yet 

 been heard. On the precipice of an abyss of 

 eight thousand feet stood Baron Humboldt, en- 

 raptured by the sublime spectacle before him, 

 until the evening fog and the approaching 



