The Invention of Nature

Chapter 5: The Llanos and the Orinoco

1

AH in Llanos: Unless otherwise referenced AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.273ff.; AH, 6 March–27 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.222ff.

2

‘plunged into a vast’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.263.

3

‘everything seems motionless’: Ibid., p.293.

4

AH clothes: Painting of AH by Friedrich Georg Weitsch from 1806, today at the Alte National Galerie in Berlin.

5

small farm in Llanos: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.319ff.; AH, 6–27 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, pp.223–34.

6

‘fills the mind’: AH Views 2014, p.29; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.2; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.4; AH Ansichten 1808, p.3.

7

electric eels and following description: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.22–3; AH Views 2014, pp.39–40; AH Ansichten 1849, pp.32–4; Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.347ff.

8

‘flow forth from’: AH Views 2014, p.40; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.23; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.34.

9

description journey to Orinoco: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.390ff. and vol.5.

10

provisions and food: AH, 30 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.239.

11

brother-in-law of governor: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.419.

12

no distraction from studies: AH to WH, 17 October 1800, AH WH Letters 1880, p.15.

13

Bonpland always cheerful: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.310.

14

crocodiles: AH, 30 March–23 May 1800, AH Diary 2000, pp.241–2.

15

bathing in Orinoco: Ibid., p.255.

16

nightly camps: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, pp.433, 436, 535, vol.5, p.442.

17

snake under animal skin: Ibid., vol.5, p.287.

18

Bonpland and cat: AH, 30 March–23 May 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.244.

19

AH and jaguar: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.446; AH, 2 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.249.

20

curare poison: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.528.

21

‘flute-like tones’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.270; AH Views 2014, p.146; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.333.

22

‘many voices proclaiming’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.505.

23

‘man did not disturb’: AH, 31 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.240.

24

study animals in their environment: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, pp.523–4.

25

titi monkey: Ibid., p.527.

26

catching titi: AH, 30 March–23 May 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.266.

27

‘active, organic powers’: AH Views 2014, p.147; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.272; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.337.

28

‘swallow a horse’: AH to Baron von Forell, 3 February 1800, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.274.

29

‘man is nothing’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.290.

30

animals at night: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.270ff.; AH Views 2014, pp.146–7; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, pp.333–5; AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.436ff.

31

‘a long-extended’: AH Views 2014, p.146; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.270; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.334.

32

‘some contest’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.437.

33

capybaras, jaguars, flying fish: Ibid., vol.2, p.15.

34

‘limited only by’: AH Views 2014, p.36; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.15; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.23.

35

Linnaeus and harmonious balance: Worster 1977, p.35.

36

‘golden age has’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.421.

37

‘destructive hand of man’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.15; AH Views 2014, p.37; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.23.

38

AH measured width of Orinoco: AH, 30 March–23 May 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.262.

39

Atures and Maipures rapids: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.1ff.; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.219ff.; AH Views 2014, p.123ff.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.268ff.

40

‘majestic scenes of’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.139.

41

almost capsized boat: Ibid., vol.4, p.496; AH, 6 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.258.

42

‘Do not worry’: Bonpland to AH, 6 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.258.

43

displayed ‘that coolness’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.496.

44

AH and mosquitos: Ibid., vol.5, pp.87, 112; AH, 15 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, pp.260–61.

45

a ‘third hand’: AH, 15 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.261.

46

hornitos

: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, pp.103–4.

47

‘pleasure cruise’: AH, 15 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.262.

48

Father Bernardo Zea: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.510.

49

‘travelling menagerie’: Ibid., vol.4, pp.534–6 and vol.5, p.406; AH, 15 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.260.

50

difficult to find camps: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.441.

51

food provisions and water: Ibid., vol.4, p.320; vol.5, pp.363, 444; AH, 15 April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.260; AH to WH, 17 October 1800, AH WH Letters 1880, p.17.

52

Brazil nuts: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, pp.365, 541; Humboldt later named it

Bertholletia excelsa

after the French scientist Claude Louis Berthollet.

53

blossoms in canopy: Ibid., p.256.

54

‘count their teeth’: AH, April 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.250. ’

55

river water ‘delicious’: AH, April–May 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.285; see also pp.255, 286.

56

‘excellent geographers’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.309; for worship of nature see vol.3, p.213; for best observers of nature, see AH, ‘Indios, Sinneschärfe’, Guayaquil, 4 January–17 February 1803, AH Diary 1982, pp.182–3.

57

AH fascinated by indigenous people: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.532ff.

58

‘barbarism of civilised man’: Ibid., vol.5, p.234.

59

‘indolent indifference’: Ibid., vol.4, p.549, vol.5, p.256.

60

‘chased by demons’: AH, March 1801, AH Diary 1982, p.176.

61

night in jungle: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.443.

62

‘illuminated by the rays’: Ibid., pp.2, 218; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.216, 224, 231; AH Views 2014, pp.121, 126, 129; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, pp. 263, 276, 285.

63

‘What speaks to the’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.134.

64

AH and Casiquiare: Ibid., vol.5, pp.399–400, 437, 442.

65

living ‘palisade’: Ibid., p.441.

66

Casiquiare and Orinoco: Ibid., p.448.

67

‘had been invented’: AH, May 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.297.

68

Angostura: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, pp.691–2.

69

AH and Bonpland fever: Ibid., p.694ff.

70

animals in cages: Ibid., vol.6, p.7.

71

slow progress: Ibid., pp.2–3.

72

‘Infinity of space’: Ibid., p.69.

73

rainy season Llanos: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.19ff.; AH Views 2014, p.38ff.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.29ff.

74

‘air turned into’: AH, March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.231. Although this is an entry for March, AH was referring here to his later experience in July, an entry that he added later.

75

‘observed with astonishment’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.6, p.7.

76

feeling of ‘coolness’: Ibid., vol.4, p.334.

77

‘spreads life around’: Ibid., vol.6, p.8.

78

‘tree of life’: AH Views 2014, p.36; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.15, 181; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.23.