Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Years 1799-1804, Vol.2

Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859) and Aimé Bonpland (1773 - 1858)
Translated by Thomasina Ross

In Volume 2 of “The Personal Narrative”, Alexander von Humboldt and the botanist Aimé Bonpland continue their travels, beginning at Lake Valencia in the llanos of Venezuela and then travelling the mighty South American river, the Orinoco, and its tributaries, for 75 days in a dugout canoe, guided by local Indians and accompanied by one of the local missionaries. As in Volume 1, von Humboldt describes the people, plants, animals, geography and geology of the region. These descriptions include his famous experiments on electic eels as well as descriptions of the arrau tortoise, river porpoises, crocodiles, jaguars and caribe (flesh eating) fish. Likewise there are narratives of the sights, sounds and smells of the scenery through which they passed, and accounts of the peoples of the Orinoco basin.

Their canoe carried themselves and their provisions, but also their scientific instruments, collections, and a menagerie of caged birds and monkeys. von Humbold summarises the difficulties of the voyage. “The inconveniences endured at sea in small vessels are trivial in comparison with those that are suffered under a burning sky, surrounded by swarms of mosquitos, and lying stretched in a canoe, without the possibility of taking the least bodily exercise. In seventy-five days we had performed a passage of five hundred leagues (twenty to a degree) on the five great rivers, Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, Rio Negro, and Cassiquiare; and in this vast extent we had found but a very small number of inhabited places.”

These travels had the aims of identifying the source(s) of the Orinoco, of ascertaining its connection with the Amazon, and of making astronomical measurements to improve the maps of the rivers, all of which were incorrect at that time. (Incidentally, von Humboldt's longitudes are with reference to the Paris meridian.) Volume 2 describes their travels from the 21st of February to the 14th of June 1800, when they arrived at Angostura, the capital of the province of Guiana at that time. (summary by Gail Timmerman-Vaughan)

Genre(s): *Non-fiction, Biography & Autobiography, Science

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter 2.16, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:27:45
Play 02 Chapter 2.16, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:23:17
Play 03 Chapter 2.16, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:24:59
Play 04 Chapter 2.16, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:33
Play 05 Chapter 2.16, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:26:21
Play 06 Chapter 2.16, Part 6 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:20:27
Play 07 Chapter 2.16, Part 7 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:26:11
Play 08 Chapter 2.17, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:29:20
Play 09 Chapter 2.17, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:27:06
Play 10 Chapter 2.17, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:22:02
Play 11 Chapter 2.17, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:29:48
Play 12 Chapter 2.17, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:26:56
Play 13 Chapter 2.17, Part 6 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:35:55
Play 14 Chapter 2.18, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:34:46
Play 15 Chapter 2.18, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:31:11
Play 16 Chapter 2.18, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:24:23
Play 17 Chapter 2.19, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:25:48
Play 18 Chapter 2.19, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:25:19
Play 19 Chapter 2.19, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:48
Play 20 Chapter 2.19, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:31:20
Play 21 Chapter 2.19, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:28:15
Play 22 Chapter 2.19, Part 6 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:19:44
Play 23 Chapter 2.20, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:20:57
Play 24 Chapter 2.20, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:26:57
Play 25 Chapter 2.20, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:28:09
Play 26 Chapter 2.20, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:25
Play 27 Chapter 2.20, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:19:45
Play 28 Chapter 2.20, Part 6 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:22:46
Play 29 Chapter 2.21, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:35
Play 30 Chapter 2.21, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:23:51
Play 31 Chapter 2.21, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:26:16
Play 32 Chapter 2.21, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:29:09
Play 33 Chapter 2.22, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:25:01
Play 34 Chapter 2.22, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:28
Play 35 Chapter 2.22, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:18:40
Play 36 Chapter 2.22, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:25:01
Play 37 Chapter 2.22, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:26:08
Play 38 Chapter 2.23, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:28:06
Play 39 Chapter 2.23, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:29:33
Play 40 Chapter 2.23, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:24:49
Play 41 Chapter 2.23, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:29:59
Play 42 Chapter 2.23, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:06
Play 43 Chapter 2.23, Part 6 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:19:19
Play 44 Chapter 2.24, Part 1 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:16:55
Play 45 Chapter 2.24, Part 2 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:31:39
Play 46 Chapter 2.24, Part 3 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:19:03
Play 47 Chapter 2.24, Part 4 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:21:26
Play 48 Chapter 2.24, Part 5 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:23:59
Play 49 Chapter 2.24, Part 6 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:30:32
Play 50 Chapter 2.24, Part 7 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:38:05
Play 51 Chapter 2.24, Part 8 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:24:59
Play 52 Chapter 2.24, Part 9 Gail Timmerman Vaughan
00:19:56