72 GOLDEN DBSAMB. 



whence at times there issued flames which might 

 be seen a1 a great distance in the night; judging by the 

 elevation of the rocks, above which these fiery exhala- 

 tions ascended, Humboldl was Led to think thai they 

 roe vers] hundred feet 



In an excursion which thev made at Rinconado the 

 travellers attempted to penetrate into the crevice, wish- 

 ing to examine the r<»cks which Beemed to contain in their 

 bosom the cause of these extraordinary conflagrations; 

 but the strength of the vegetation, the interweaving 

 of the Lianas, and thorny plants, hindered their pro- 

 gress. Happily the inhabitants of the valley themselves 

 felt a warm interest in their researches, less from the fear 

 of a volcanic explosion, than because their minds were 

 impressed with the idea that the crevice Contained a gold 

 mine; and although the travellers expressed their doubts 

 of the existence of gold in a secondary limestone, they 

 insisted on knowing "what the German miner thought 

 of the richness of the vein." Ever since the time of 

 Charles V. and the government of the Welsers, the 

 Alfingers, ami th ■ Sailers, at Coro and Caracas, the pco- 

 ple of Terra Firma had entertained a great confidence in 

 the Germans with respect to all that related to the work- 

 ing of miu.'S. Wherever Humboldt went in South 

 America, when the place of his birth was known, he was 

 shown Bamples of ore. In these colonies every French- 

 m;iii was supposed t<> he a physician, and every German 

 a miner. 



The tanners, with the aid of their slaves, opened a 



path across the w Is to the first fall of the Rio Juagua; 



and on the LOth of September Eumboldt and Bonpland 

 made their excursion to the crevice. On entering it they 



