The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-10-23

oxyd Of iron, and the nuriate Of silver with
native silver The mines of Mexico and Peru,
so long the objects of envy and admiration, far
from being yet exhausted, promise, under Ii
beral and improved system, to become more pro
ductive than ever. But nature has blended with
those hidden treasures the active ailments ct
destruction. The whole chain of the Andes is
subject to the most terrible earthquakes From
Cotopaxi to the South Sea, no fewer than forty
VOLCANOES are constantly burning; srme OF them,
especially the lower ones, electing lava, and
others disclrargng the rouriate of ammonia,
scoriiied basalt and porphyry. enormous quaint
ties OF water, and especially ,norG, or clay mixed
with sulphur and carbonaceous matter, Eternal
snow invests their insdes, and forms barrier
to the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Near that
conhne, the topor OF vegetation is marked by
dreary wastes.
In these wide solitudes, the condor, a fierce &
powerful bird ofprey, fixes its gloomy abode -
Its size, however, has been gre lily exagge .ted.
Accordingto Humboldt, il is not larger than the
LSmaaer Geyey, or alpine vul,ure of Europe its
extreme length being only three feet and half,
and ITS breadth across the wings nine feet The
condor pursues the small deer of the Andes, and
commits very considerable havook among sheep
and heifers. 1t tears out the eyes & the tongue.
and leaves the wretched animal to anguish and
expire. Estimating from very probable data,
this bird skins whole hours at the height of four
miles; its power Of wing must be prodigious,
and IT'S pliancy of organs most astonishing, since
IN AIN instant it can dart from the chill re
gion of mid air, TO the sultry shores of the O.
cean.
The condor is sometimes csught alive by means
of a slip cord and this chase, termed correr
6uires, is, next to bull fight. the most favorable
diversion of the Spanish colonists. The dead
carcsse of n COW or horse soon attracts from
distance crowds Of these birds, which have
most acute scent. They fail on with INCREDIBLE
voracity; devour the eyes and the tongue of the
animal and, plunging through the G;,us, gorge
themselves with the eptrails. 10 this drowsy
plight, they are approached by the Indians, who
easily throw moose over them. The condcr,
thus entangled, looks shy and sullen it is
most tenacious of life, and is, therefore, made to
suffer variety of protracted tortures.
The most important feature of the American
continent, is the very general and enormous ele-
Vstion OF Its soil. In Europe, the highest tracts
feet above the sea. But, in the Peruvian terrific
~, extensive plains occur at an altitude of 1000
feet; and three hths ofthe viceroyaIty of Mex
CO, compromising the inferior provinces, pre-
sent a surface of half million OF square miles,
Which runs nearly level, at an elevation from
o,oo0to D 600 feet, eqnsl to that ofthe celebrat-
ed passages of Mount Gems, of ST. Gothard. ar
OF the Grea ST Bernard These remarkable
facts are deduced chiefly from barometrical OBJ.
servations But Humboldt has adopted very
ingenius mode, infinitely superior to any descrp.
tion, OF repre- senting, al one view, the collective
results OF his topograph cal and neurological
survey he has gwen prohlec or vertical secti-
ons OF the countries which he visited across the
continent, from Acapulco 10 Mexico, and thence
to Vera Cruz-from Mexico to Euanaxuato,
and as tar as the volcano of Jorullo---And
from MEXICO to Vslladolid. These beauti-
ful plates are in every way highly interesting.
III The Climate Of america receives consiie-
rsble elucidation from the travels of Humboldt.
Near the equator, the variation of atmospberick
pressure, IS indicated by the barometer, is ex.
tremely small not exceeding the tenth part of
an inch towards the coast, and scarcely the half
OF that quantity on the verge of the Andes but
II appears to be subject to minute horary fuc-
tuation According to the observations of Bonp.
land, the barometer stands highest at 9 O'Clock
IN the morning, and lowest at in the afternoon.
from that hour, it rises very considerably until
eleven at night, and again partially subsidies till
O'CLOCK IN the morning. This curious phenom.
enon depends, most probably, on certain regular
changes which take place in the temperature of
the upper strata of the atmosphere. At 40
CLOCK IN the afternoon. perhaps the heat of the
day has produced its full effect in rarefyine the
air, while the condensation, occasioted by the
chiiiness OF the night, may not attain its maxi.
mum TIL three hours after sunrise In conrmati-
on OF this idea the barometer is at times observ-
ed to fall suddenly more than half an inch in the
guilt of Mexico, from the influence of cold wind
which bursts from the north in tremendous bur.
ricanes.
Thermometricsl observations are, we think,
the least satisfactory that Humboldt has made
Continually in motion, distracted by variety of
pursuits. and BIASED by precOnceived opinions
he has collected but few details of such nice ac-
curacy, as to promise any great advancement to
the science OF meteorology. Near the equator,
the temperature of the air, even on the continent
undergoes no great variation during the whole
year, being very seldom below 65, or above one
hundred degrees. The difference of heat, in
the, torFid regions, between the 'day and the
night, was fonnd to amount to 10 or 20 de-
grees.
But he assumes, it would seem, rather hastily,
the average ofhis incidental observations at any
place, as the true medium OF its temperature
This standard, however, being evidently the re-
suit OF the various influence of each successive
hour through the whole course of the seasons in
Along series ofyears, must often differ widely
from mean obtained at unequal intervals of the
day, and at the times only convenient for the
observer Since heat is conducted with ex
IRENE slowness through earth and stone, the va
rying impressions made on the surface Of the
ground, in penetrating downwards, become min
gled and confouDded at moderate depth, where
uniform temperature constantly prevails. The
mean heat of any place is therefore, best indica-
ted, by water Immediately drawn UP at small
distance from below the subsoil With due pre-
caution, springs will serve the same purpose.
M Humboldt, indeed, pretends, that in the Cam
pagna di Roma, and in the province Of the Car
raccss, he found The springs to be 10 degrees
colder than the medium temperature. But, in
bis transient observations, he appears generally
to have rated this mean too high
(To be continued. }