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1、【英文文学】Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of AmericaEDITORS PREFACEThe increasing interest attached to all that part of the American Continent situated within and near the tropics, has suggested the publication of the present edition of Humboldts celebrated work, as a portion of the SCIENTIFIC LIBRAR
2、Y.Prior to the travels of Humboldt and Bonpland, the countries described in the following narrative were but imperfectly known to Europeans. For our partial acquaintance with them we were chiefly indebted to the early navigators, and to some of the followers of the Spanish Conquistadores. The intrep
3、id men whose courage and enterprise prompted them to explore unknown seas for the discovery of a New World, have left behind them narratives of their adventures, and descriptions of the strange lands and people they visited, which must ever be perused with curiosity and interest; and some of the fol
4、lowers of Pizarro and Cortez, as well as many learned Spaniards who proceeded to South America soon after the conquest, were the authors of historical and other works of high value. But these writings of a past age, however curious and interesting, are deficient in that spirit of scientific investig
5、ation which enhances the importance and utility of accounts of travels in distant regions. In more recent times, the researches of La Condamine tended in a most important degree to promote geographical knowledge; and he, as well as other eminent botanists who visited the coasts of South America, and
6、 even ascended the Andes, contributed by their discoveries and collections to augment the vegetable riches of the Old World. But, in their time, geology as a science had little or no existence. Of the structure of the giant mountains of our globe scarcely anything was understood; whilst nothing was
7、known beneath the earth in the New World, except what related to her mines of gold and silver.It remained for Humboldt to supply all that was wanting, by the publication of his Personal Narrative. In this, more than in any other of his works, he shows his power of contemplating nature in all her gra
8、ndeur and variety.The researches and discoveries of Humboldts able coadjutor and companion, M. Bonpland, afford not only a complete picture of the botany of the equinoctial regions of America, but of that of other places visited by the travellers on their voyage thither. The description of the Islan
9、d of Teneriffe and the geography of its vegetation, show how much was discovered by Humboldt and Bonpland which had escaped the observation of discerning travellers who had pursued the same route before them. Indeed, the whole account of the Canary Islands presents a picture which cannot be contempl
10、ated without the deepest interest, even by persons comparatively indifferent to the study of nature.It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to remind the reader that since the time when this work was first published in Paris, the separation of the Spanish Colonies from the mother-country, together with s
11、ubsequent political events, have wrought great changes in the governments of the South American States, as well as in the social condition of their inhabitants. One consequence of these changes has been to render obsolete some facts and observations relating to subjects, political, commercial, and s
12、tatistical, interspersed through this work. However useful such matter might have been on its original publication, it is wholly irrelevant to the existing state of things, and consequently it has been deemed advisable to omit it. By this curtailment, together with that of some meteorological tables
13、 and discussions of very limited interest, the work has been divested of its somewhat lengthy and discursive character, and condensed within dimensions better adapted to the taste and requirements of the present time.An English translation of this work by Helen Maria Williams, was published many yea
14、rs ago, and is now out of print. Though faultless as respects correctness of interpretation, it abounds in foreign turns of expression, and is somewhat deficient in that fluency of style without which a translated work is unsatisfactory to the English reader. In the edition now presented to the publ
15、ic it is hoped that these objections are in some degree removed.A careful English version is given of all the Spanish and Portuguese terms, phrases, and quotations which occur in this work. Though the author has only in some few instances given a French translation of these passages, yet it is presu
16、med that the interpretation of the whole in English will not be deemed superfluous; this new edition of the “Personal Narrative” having been undertaken with the view of presenting the work in the form best suited for the instruction and entertainment of the general reader.T.R.London, December 1851.M
17、EASURES:In this narrative, as well as in the Political Essay on New Spain, all the prices are reckoned in piastres, and silver reals (reales de plata). Eight of these reals are equivalent to a piastre, or one hundred and five sous, French money (4 shillings 4 1/2 pence English). Nouv. Esp. volume 2
18、pages 519, 616 and 866.The magnetic dip is always measured in this work, according to the centesimal division, if the contrary be not expressly mentioned.One flasco contains 70 or 80 cubic inches, Paris measure.112 English pounds = 105 French pounds; and 160 Spanish pounds = 93 French pounds.An arpe
19、nt des eaux et forets, or legal acre of France, of which 1. 95 = 1 hectare. It is about 1 1/4 acre English.A tablon, equal to 1849 square toises, contains nearly an acre and one-fifth: a legal acre has 1344 square toises, and 1.95 legal acre is equal one hectare.For the sake of accuracy, the French
20、Measures, as given by the Author, and the indications of the Centigrade Thermometer, are retained in the translation. The following tables may, therefore, be found useful.TABLE OF LINEAR MEASURE.1 toise = 6 feet 4.73 inches.1 foot = 12.78 inches.1 metre = 3 feet 3.37 inches.(Transcribers Note: The t
21、oise was introduced by Charlemagne in 790; it originally represented the distance between the fingertips of a man with outstretched arms, and is thus the same as the British fathom. During the founding of the Metric System, less than 20 years before the date of this work, the toise was assigned a va
22、lue of 1.949 meters, or a little over two yards. The foot; actually the French foot, or pied, is defined as 1/6 of a toise, and is a little over an English foot.)Cent. Fahr. Cent. Fahr. Cent. Fahr. Cent. Fahr.100 212 65 149 30 86 -5 2399 210.2 64 147.2 29 84.2 -6 21.298 208.4 63 145.4 28 82.4 -7 19.
23、497 206.6 62 143.6 27 80.6 -8 17.696 204.8 61 141.8 26 78.8 -9 15.895 203 60 140 25 77 -10 1494 201.2 59 138.2 24 75.2 -11 12.293 199.4 58 136.4 23 73.4 -12 10.492 197.6 57 134.6 22 71.6 -13 8.691 195.8 56 132.8 21 69.8 -14 6.890 194 55 131 20 68 -15 589 192.2 54 129.2 19 66.2 -16 3.288 190.4 53 127
24、.4 18 64.4 -17 1.487 188.6 52 125.6 17 62.6 -18 -0.486 186.8 51 123.8 16 60.8 -19 -2.285 185 50 122 15 59 -20 -484 183.2 49 120.2 14 57.2 -21 -5.883 181.4 48 118.4 13 55.4 -22 -7.682 179.6 47 116.6 12 53.6 -23 -9.481 177.8 46 114.8 11 51.8 -24 -11.280 176 45 113 10 50 -25 -1379 174.2 44 111.2 9 48.2
25、 -26 -14.878 172.4 43 109.4 8 46.4 -27 -16.677 170.6 42 107.6 7 44.6 -28 -18.476 168.8 41 105.8 6 42.8 -29 -20.275 167 40 104 5 41 -30 -2274 165.2 39 102.2 4 39.2 -31 -23.873 163.4 38 100.4 3 37.4 -32 -25.672 161.6 37 98.6 2 35.6 -33 -27.471 159.8 36 96.8 1 33.8 -34 -29.270 158 35 95 0 32 -35 -3169
26、156.2 34 93.2 -1 30.2 -36 -32.868 154.4 33 91.4 -2 28.4 -37 -34.667 152.6 32 89.6 -3 26.6 -38 -36.466 150.8 31 87.8 -4 24.8 -39 -38.2*A tablon, equal to 1849 square toises, contains nearly an acre and one-fifth: a legal acre has 1344 square toises, and 1.95 legal acre is equal to one hectare.A torta
27、 weighs three quarters of a pound, and three tortas cost generally in the province of Caracas one silver rial, or one-eighth of a piastre.It is sufficient to mention, that the cubic foot contains 2,985,984 cubic lines.Foot (old measure of France) about five feet three inches English measure.*The lon
28、gitudes mentioned in the text refer always to the meridian of the Observatory of Paris.The real is about 6 1/2 English pence.The agrarian measure, called caballeria, is eighteen cordels, (each cordel includes twenty-four varas) or 432 square varas; consequently, as 1 vara = 0.835m., according to Rod
29、riguez, a caballeria is 186,624 square varas, or 130,118 square metres, or thirty-two and two-tenths English acres.20 leagues to a degree.5000 varas = 4150 metres.3403 square toises = 1.29 hectare.An acre = 4044 square metres.Five hundred acres = fifteen and a half caballerias.Sugar-houses are thoug
30、ht to be very considerable that yield 2000 cases annually, or 32,000 arrobas (nearly 368,000 kilogrammes.)An arroba of 25 Spanish pounds = 11.49 kilogrammes.A quintal = 45.97 kilogrammes.A tarea of wood = one hundred and sixty cubic feet.INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHORMany years have elapsed since I quit
31、ted Europe, to explore the interior of the New Continent. Devoted from my earliest youth to the study of nature, feeling with enthusiasm the wild beauties of a country guarded by mountains and shaded by ancient forests, I experienced in my travels, enjoyments which have amply compensated for the pri
32、vations inseparable from a laborious and often agitated life. These enjoyments, which I endeavoured to impart to my readers in my Remarks upon the Steppes, and in the Essay on the Physiognomy of Plants, were not the only fruits I reaped from an undertaking formed with the design of contributing to t
33、he progress of natural philosophy. I had long prepared myself for the observations which were the principal object of my journey to the torrid zone. I was provided with instruments of easy and convenient use, constructed by the ablest makers, and I enjoyed the special protection of a government whic
34、h, far from presenting obstacles to my investigations, constantly honoured me with every mark of regard and confidence. I was aided by a courageous and enlightened friend, and it was singularly propitious to the success of our participated labour, that the zeal and equanimity of that friend never fa
35、iled, amidst the fatigues and dangers to which we were sometimes exposed.Under these favourable circumstances, traversing regions which for ages have remained almost unknown to most of the nations of Europe, I might add even to Spain, M. Bonpland and myself collected a considerable number of materia
36、ls, the publication of which may throw some light on the history of nations, and advance the study of nature.I had in view a two-fold purpose in the travels of which I now publish the historical narrative. I wished to make known the countries I had visited; and to collect such facts as are fitted to
37、 elucidate a science of which we as yet possess scarcely the outline, and which has been vaguely denominated Natural History of the World, Theory of the Earth, or Physical Geography. The last of these two objects seemed to me the most important. I was passionately devoted to botany and certain parts
38、 of zoology, and I flattered myself that our investigations might add some new species to those already known, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms; but preferring the connection of facts which have been long observed, to the knowledge of insulated facts, although new, the discovery of an unkno
39、wn genus seemed to me far less interesting than an observation on the geographical relations of the vegetable world, on the migrations of the social plants, and the limit of the height which their different tribes attain on the flanks of the Cordilleras.The natural sciences are connected by the same
40、 ties which link together all the phenomena of nature. The classification of the species, which must be considered as the fundamental part of botany, and the study of which is rendered attractive and easy by the introduction of natural methods, is to the geography of plants what descriptive mineralo
41、gy is to the indication of the rocks constituting the exterior crust of the globe. To comprehend the laws observed in the position of these rocks, to determine the age of their successive formations, and their identity in the most distant regions, the geologist should be previously acquainted with t
42、he simple fossils which compose the mass of mountains, and of which the names and character are the object of oryctognostical knowledge. It is the same with that part of the natural history of the globe which treats of the relations plants have to each other, to the soil whence they spring, or to th
43、e air which they inhale and modify. The progress of the geography of plants depends in a great measure on that of descriptive botany; and it would be injurious to the advancement of science, to attempt rising to general ideas, whilst neglecting the knowledge of particular facts.I have been guided by
44、 these considerations in the course of my inquiries; they were always present to my mind during the period of my preparatory studies. When I began to read the numerous narratives of travels, which compose so interesting a part of modern literature, I regretted that travellers, the most enlightened i
45、n the insulated branches of natural history, were seldom possessed of sufficient variety of knowledge to avail themselves of every advantage arising from their position. It appeared to me, that the importance of the results hitherto obtained did not keep pace with the immense progress which, at the end of the eighteenth century, had been made in several departments of science, particularly geology, the history of the modifications of the atmosphere, and the physiology of animals and plants. I saw with regret, (