242 Humboldt (y)i Electrical' Eels ^ and the method 
that refer to the date of the formation of rocks ; but these ought 
to be accumulated with an accuracy, that may seem unnecessary 
to the geologist, who fancies himself secure in the theory which 
he has built, and that this theory is as immoveable as the rocks 
to which it refers. In conducting, therefore, investigations ne- 
cessary to give to geology the name of a science, the maxim of a 
philosopher of the last century, ought ever to form the leading 
principle : Turn oportet incipere a simplicissimis, cognitu 
facillimis, atque certissimis ; a quibus deinde pergendum ad ea 
semper, quae proximo gradu harum conditionum praegressa at- 
tingunt, atque ita accurate progrediendum, ad composita, ob- 
scura, difficilia.” 
Art. V . — Account of the Electrical Eels, and of the Me- 
thod of catching them in South America by means of WUd 
Horses. Abridged from Humboldt’s Personal Narrative. 
Heal Gymnoti or Electrical Eels, inhabit the Rio Colorado, 
the Guarapiche, and several little streams, that cross the missions 
of the Chayma Indians. They abound also in the large rivers 
of America, the Oroonoko, the Amazon, and the Meta ; but the 
strength of the current, and the depth of the water, prevent 
their being caught by the Indians. They see these fish less 
frequently than they feel electrical shocks from them when swim- 
ming or bathing in the river. In the Llanos, particularly in 
the environs of Calabozo, between the farms of Morichal, and 
the missions de arriba and de abaxo, the basins of stagnant wa- 
ter, and the confluents of the Oroonoko, (the Rio Guarico and 
the Canos of Rastro, Berito and Paloma), are filled with elec- 
trical eels. We at first wished to make our experiments in the 
house we inhabited at Calabozo ; but the dread of the electri- 
cal shocks of the gymnoti is so exaggerated among the vulgar, 
that during three days we could not obtain one, though they 
are easily caught, and though we had promised the Indians two 
piastres for every strong and vigorous fish. 
Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain re- 
sults from an electrical eel that had been brought to us alive, but 
much enfeebled, we repaired to the Cano de Bera, to make our 
experiments in the open air, on the borders of the water itself. We 
