108 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



river Cassiquiare the most difficult of all his 

 American expeditions. At last, having success- 

 fully overcome all obstacles, he and his at- 

 tendants arrived, on May 21st, 1800, three 

 miles below the mission Bsmeralda, the current- 

 bed of the Orinoco. The division of this mighty 

 river Humboldt called an imposing spectacle ; 

 and in sight of the granite rock, 7,800 feet 

 high, where the arms of the river divide, the 

 remembrance of past dangers and difficulties 

 dwindled away he was amply rewarded, and 

 science enriched, by most valuable acquisitions. 



Here Baron Humboldt collected valuable 

 information and important material for com- 

 parative hydrography. His general researches 

 furnished most valuable contributions to the 

 history of physical geography. In these regions 

 he decided the physical relation of the soil, 

 compared equal phenomena of the Old world 

 with the condition of the soil in Central 

 America, and gave to science an insight into the 

 analogy of the process of formation in nature, 

 and in the existing laws of our planet with 

 reference to the structure of its water-veins. 



At the mission of Esmeralda, Humboldt be- 

 came acquainted with the noted poison called 

 curare, prepared from the fruit of a plant 

 of the same name. His experiments with this 



