"In Guiana the mosquitoes abound in such clouds as to darken the air, and, as it is absolutely necessary to keep head and hands constantly covered, no writing can be done by daylight; the intolerable pain produced by the attacks of these insects renders it impossible to hold the pen steadily. All our work had therefore to be carried on by the light of a fire, in an Indian hut, where no ray of sunlight could penetrate, and into which we had to creep on our hands and knees. Here, if we escaped the torment of the mosquitoes, we were almost choked by the smoke. At Maypures, we and the Indians took refuge in the midst of the cascade, where the spray from the foaming stream kept off the insects. At Higuerote, the people are accustomed at night to lie buried three or four inches deep in sand, with only the head exposed."
Sometimes twenty-four Indians were in Humboldt's employ for months together, and fourteen mules were required to carry his instruments and plants.
After a year and a half spent in South America, Humboldt sailed for Cuba, where he remained for several months, collecting material for his "Political Essay on the Island of Cuba." From there he went to Quito, in Ecuador, crossing one of the most difficult passes in the Andes, "the path so narrow that it rarely exceeds twelve or sixteen inches in width, and for the most part resembles an open gallery cut in the rock," and the Paramos of Pasto, "desert regions where, at a height of about twelve thousand feet above the sea, all vegetation ceases, and the cold is so intense as to penetrate to the very bones."
In June, 1802, they reached Quito, where, five years previously, an earthquake had destroyed forty thousand people. This month they made the ascent of Chimborazo, at that time regarded as the highest mountain in the world. "At certain places," he says, "where it was very steep, we were obliged to use both hands and feet, and the edges of the rock were so sharp that we were painfully cut, especially on our hands." As they climbed on, "one after another, we all began to feel indisposed, and experienced a feeling of nausea accompanied by giddiness, which was far more distressing than the difficulty of breathing.... Blood exuded from the lips and gums, and the eyes became bloodshot.... A few rock-lichens were to be observed above the line of perpetual snow, at a height of sixteen thousand nine hundred and twenty feet; the last green moss we noticed was growing about twenty-six hundred feet lower. A butterfly was captured by M. Bonpland, at a height of fifteen thousand feet, and a fly was observed sixteen hundred feet higher.... When we were at a height of about seventeen thousand four hundred feet we encountered a violent hailstorm." The height of the mountain is over twenty-one thousand feet.
The intrepid Humboldt four times crossed the Andes; he travelled over Peru; he called attention to the fertilizing properties of guano, and then he sailed for Mexico, where he remained for a year. Here he met a lady greatly esteemed in that country, called the "fair Rodriguez," the most beautiful woman he had seen in his journeys, but whom he admired more "for her graces of mind than her beauty of person." He regarded her as an American Madame de Staël. It is asserted that the grave man of science was deeply interested, but it was too late—she was already the wife of another, and had two children. Humboldt, like most other great men, all his life enjoyed the society of intellectual women, who were a constant inspiration.
After two months passed at Havana, Humboldt came to the United States, spending three weeks with President Jefferson, at his home at Monticello. He never failed to speak in grateful terms of the courtesy he received from Americans. He studied carefully our institutions, and greatly admired the republic; slavery alone saddened him.
On July 9, 1804, after five years of absence, he set sail for France. Europe received him with universal joy. He had been reported dead. He was thirty-five, handsome, and famous. He had travelled over forty thousand miles, and brought back over sixty thousand specimens of plants. He was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin, and later a member of the Legion of Honor, and of about one hundred and fifty other societies; indeed, of all the great associations of the land.
And now the result of his travels must be given to the world in books. While he was preparing them, he yet found time to spend months together in the École Polytechnique, experimenting in chemistry with his devoted friend Gay-Lussac; with Biot, he made investigations in magnetism; with Arago, in astronomy; with Cuvier, in anatomy.
Most of the time from 1808 to 1827, nineteen years, he remained in Paris, devoting his time to his great work. In the forenoons he usually studied and experimented; from twelve to seven he wrote, and then, if his evenings were spent socially, he wrote again from midnight till half-past two, usually allowing himself only four hours for sleep. So popular was he that he often went to five receptions in an evening.
Year after year his works on America appeared, till twenty-nine volumes were published! The first part was entitled, "Voyage in the Equatorial Regions of the New Continent." This described a portion of his journey in three volumes; views of the Cordilleras and the native peoples of America, one volume with sixty plates; an atlas of the new continent, with thirty-nine maps; a critical examination of the history of the geography of the middle ages, in five volumes. The second part related largely to zoölogy and comparative anatomy in the new regions; the third part related chiefly to Mexico; the fourth part to astronomical observations, measurement with the barometer, etc.; the fifth part, geology, and the geography of plants; the sixth part, plants in Mexico, Cuba, and South America, in two volumes, with nearly one hundred and fifty engravings; two volumes more, with one hundred and twenty colored plates; seven volumes of new species, with seven hundred engravings, and several other books. The expense of bringing out these works was enormous; the copper-plate illustrations cost in printing and paper alone about one hundred and seventy thousand dollars.