OF BAEON HUMBOLDT. Ill 



seventy- five geographical miles, under consider- 

 able difficulties and dangers, and on five great 

 rivers the Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, Rio 

 Negro, and Cassiquiare the illustrious tra- 

 vellers arrived in the middle of June, 1800, at 

 Angostura, the capital of the province of 

 Guiana. 



After a short sojourn in this city, Baron 

 Humboldt and Bonpland undertook an expedi- 

 tion, by way of St. Domingo and Jamaica, to the 

 island of Cuba, in order to ascertain the geo- 

 graphical position of the southern parts of 

 this island. They returned again to South 

 America, explored the valley of Cauca, the 

 river Magdalena, and the Cordilleras of Quin- 

 din, Choco, Quito and Peru. On June 23rd, 

 1802, the travellers arrived at the Chimborazo, 

 and reached the height of 3,036 toises,* a height 

 never before attained by any mortal. 



In December, 1833, Boussingault the only 

 person, as far as I could ascertain, who again 

 ascended this mountain though he did not 

 reach the summit, yet climbed four hundred feet 

 higher than Baron Humboldt. The travellers 

 explored subsequently the territory near the 

 Amazon, of whose course Humboldt prepared 

 a geometrical sketch. For the fifth time they 

 * 18,31 6 feet English. 



