The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-04-29
THE SOUTHERN CROSS
Translated FROM the German of rAlexAn
der Non Humboldt.

der Won Hu1nDOlCus
Z Since VIC had entered the torrid
zone we could not sufficiently admire
on every night the beauty Of the south
crn sky. which, as we progressed to-
wards the south, unfolded new pic
lures of stars TO our eyes. We have a |
wonderful, yet well-known sensation,
when, on approaching the equator,
andwhen especially we pass from one
hemisphere to the other. we constantly
see stars known to us from our earll-
est childhood decline lower and lower,
and at last entirely disappear. Moth
ING more4ividly reminds traveller of
his immeasurable distance from his
native land than the view of new
sky. The groups of large stars, sew
eral scattered nebule, which, in splen-
dor. vic with the milky way, and
spaces, which are distinguished by an
extraordinary dark aspect, gave to the
southern heavens peculiar physiog-
MONK. This spectacle highly excites
the imagination of those who, unin-
structed in the higher sciences, enrap-
tured gaze upon the heavenly arch, as
one admires q beautiful landscape, OF
sublime prospect. 1t is not necessa-
rv that We should be botanists in or
/ derto recognize the torrid zone by the
sight of the vegetation alone; without
possessing high attainments in astron-
omy,s without being familiar with
Hamsted and La Caille's Charts of the
Heavens, we feel that we are not in
Europe when we behold arise on the
horizon the starry image of the ship,
or the phosphorescent clouds of Ma
gellan. The earth and the heavens all
assume in the equanoctial region an
| exotic character ,--as- tnsIa
i The lower regions of the atmos-
phere had been for several days i'm
pregnated with vapor. On the night
of the 4th to the 9TH of July, in the
10th degree south latitude, we for the
for the first time saw distinctly the
Southern Gross. Itwas very low, and
/ appeared, from time to time, betweer
clouds whose middle points, furrowed
| by lightning, reflected a silver-colore6
light. If a Traveller be allowed tt
speak of his own personal emotions
then would add that now l saw full
filled one of the dreams of my earlies
youth. -.........
When we begin to cast our eyes up
on geographical charts and to read th'
reports of travellers, we feel kind o
prepossession in favor of certain coun
tries and climates, of which, in |
higher age, we cannot easily render
;. any. explanation. These impression
have remarkable influence on on
resolution. and we seek, as it were, tt
instinctively put ourselves in som
relation with the objects, which, for
long time, had secret charm for us
n At an epoch when. ! was studying tn
! heavens, not in order to devote mysel
to astronomy, but to learn to know
the stars, [ was reused to an emotio
by fear which is unknown to thos
) who love a sedentary manner of life
1t seemed to me painful to renounc
!, the hope of seeing those star picture
which lie in the neighborhood of tn
! south pole. Impatient to wande
, through the regions of the equator,
could not raise my eyes toward til
: starry vault of heaven without think
, ing on the Southern and without re
calling to memory that sublime pass
age Of Dante, which the most famou
I commentators refer to this "star 2oit
q ture." n. ?.