503 



of the great number of persons who accompa- 

 nied us, or the slaves had made free with our 

 provision on the way, we found nothing but 

 olives, and scarcely any bread. Horace, in his 

 retreat at Tibur # , never boasted of a repast 

 more light and frugal ; but olives, which might 

 have afforded sufficient nourishment to a poet, 

 devoted to study, and leading a sedentary life, 

 appeared an aliment by no means sufficiently 

 substantial for travellers climbing mountains. 

 We had watched the greater part of the night, 

 and we walked for nine hours without finding 

 a single spring. Our guides were discouraged ; 

 they wanted absolutely to go down, which Mr. 

 Bonpland and myself had great difficulty to 

 prevent. 



In the middle of the mist I made trial of the 

 electrometer of Volta, armed with a smoking 

 match. Though very near a thick wood of 

 heliconias, I obtained very sensible signs of 

 atmospheric electricity. It often varies from 

 positive to negative, it's intensity changing at 

 every instant. These variations, and the conflict 

 of several small currents of air, which divided 

 the mist, and transformed it into clouds, the 

 borders of which were visible, appeared to me 

 infallible prognostics of a change in the weather. 

 It was only two o'clock in the afternoon ; we 



* Carm. \, 31. 



