The Democratic advocate., 1878-07-20
The Southern Cross.
From the German Of Humboldt.
Translated for the Democratic Advocate
BY c. T.w.
From the German of

LOaGs we could not aumlre enough tne
beauty Of the southern heavens, which in
proportion, as we approach the south, pre-
sented new consultations 10 our view. One
has a wondrously familiar feeling when
upOn approaching the Equator, and espe-
cially upon passing from one hemisphere
to the other, he sees the stars sink lower
and lower, and finally disappear, just as
he has been accustomed to observe them
from his earliest childhood.
Nothing reminds the traveller more vi
wildly of the vast remoteness of his native
land than the sight of a new haeven. The
grouping of the great stars, the wandering
nebule, which in brilliancy vie with the
milky-way, aud spaces. which are distin-
guished by an extraordinary blackness,
give to the southern heavens peculiar
physiognomy. This spectacle excites to
action the Imagination, which, without in
struetion in the higher departments of
science, delights to contemplate the celes-
tial result, as one contemplates beautiful
landscape, or admires a majestic prospect.
One has no need to be a botanist in
order to recognize the Torrid Zone at the
mere sight of its vegetation; without having
acquired knowledge of astronomy; with
out being familiar with the maps Of Flam-
strad or LaCaille, one feels intuitively
that he is not in Europe, when he beholds
the monster constellation Navis or the
phosphorescent clouds of Magellan ascen-
ding near the horizon. The whole earth
and heavens assume in equinoctial regions
an erotic character. The lower regions of
the atmosphere had been for several days
impregnated with vapor. Wesaw at night
on the 14th and 18th of July, in the 10th
degree of latitude, the Cross Of the South
distinctly, for the first time; it was strongly
inclined, and appeared from time to time
between the clouds, while its central point,
furrowed by the lightning, threw back a
silver-hued light. IF it is permitted a
traveller to speak from his own personal
emotions, l would add, that on this night
saw enter into fulfillment one of the
dreams of my early youth. When one
begins to glance at the geographical charts
and to read the descriptions of travellers,
he feels a sort of predilection for certain
countries and climates, for which he can
not well account in later years.
These impressions have a perceptible
influence on our resolutions, and we seek
as it were instinctiyely to place ourselves
in some relation with objects, which for a
long time had for us secret charm. In
a period when / studied the heavens, not
for the purpose of devoting myself to as
tronomy, but for the purpose of enabling
myself to distinguish the stars, / became
excited by dread which is unknown to
those who love an inactive life. 1t was to
me painful to renounce the hope of seeing
the beautiful constellation which lay near
the South Pole. Impatient to travel
through the Rgions Of the Equator, l
could not raise my eyes toward the studded
vault of Heaven without thinking of the
Cross of the South, and without recalling
to memory the sublime passage of Dante,
to which the most eminent commentators
on this constellation have referred. The
pleasure felt at the discovery of this Cross
was largely shared by that portion of the
crew who had inhabited the colonies. In
the solitude of the sea one halls star as
G friend, from whom he has long been
separated. Among the Portuguese and
Spanish arise more peculiar causes tending
to heighten this interest.
A constellation is endeared to them by
a religious feeling, for its form recalls to
their memory that sign of faith which was
planted by their ancestors in the wilder
ness of the New World.
The two large stars, which designate
the head and the foot of the Cross, have
about the same right ascension, conse-
quently the constellation must, at the mo-
ment it passes through the meridian, stand
almost perpendicular.
This circumstance all those living be-
yond the Tropics, or in the Southern Hem
isphere, understand Observations have
been made as to what time of the night.
at different seasons of the year, the Cross
is upright or inclined. 1t is clock which
advances regularly about four minutes
daily, and no other constellation presents
at mere glance so easy an opportunity
for the observation Of time How often,
in the savannas of Venezuela, or in the
wilderness which stretches itself from
Lima to Truxillo, did we hear our guide
cry out, midnight approaches the Cross
begins to bend p How often have these
words recalled to memory the touching
scene of Paul and Virginia sitting at the
fountain and conversing for the last time,
and the old man reminding them, by the
appearance of the cross, that it is time to
separate.