The Invention of Nature

On another occasion Humboldt and his small team followed an ancient congealed stream of lava that filled a valley below Antisana, a volcano that rose to 18,714 feet. As they moved higher the trees and shrubs became smaller until they reached the tree line and walked into the so-called páramo above. The tufted brownish stipa grass that grew here gave the landscape an almost barren look, but on closer inspection they could see that the ground was covered in minute colourful flowers held tightly within little rosettes of green leaves. They found small lupins and tiny gentians which formed soft, moss-like cushions. Wherever the men turned, delicate purple and blue blossoms dotted the grass.

It was also bitterly cold, and so windy that Bonpland was knocked off his feet several times as he bent down to pick flowers. Gales blasted ‘ice needles’ into their faces. Before their final climb to the summit of Antisana, they had to spend the night in what Humboldt called the ‘highest dwelling place in the world’, a low thatched hut at 13,000 feet which belonged to a local landowner. Nestled in the folds of a gently undulating plateau, with Antisana’s peak rising behind them, the hut’s location was stunning. But ill with altitude sickness, cold, and without food or even candles, the men endured one of their most miserable nights ever.

That night Carlos Montúfar became so ill that Humboldt, who was sharing a bed with him, grew very worried. Throughout the night Humboldt rose repeatedly to fetch water and administer compresses. By the morning Montúfar had recovered enough to accompany Humboldt and Bonpland on their final ascent. They made it to almost 18,000 feet – even higher, Humboldt noted with glee, than two French scientists, Charles-Marie de la Condamine and Pierre Bouguer, who had come to this part of the Andes in the 1730s to measure the shape of the earth. They had only reached just under 15,000 feet.

Mountains held a spell over Humboldt. It wasn’t just the physical demands or the promise of new knowledge. There was also something more transcendental. Whenever he stood on a summit or a high ridge, he felt so moved by the scenery that his imagination carried him even higher. This imagination, he said, soothed the ‘deep wounds’ that pure ‘reason’ sometimes created.

¹ From Cumaná, in November 1800, Humboldt had already sent two parcels of seeds to Banks for Kew Gardens, as well as some of his astronomical observations. And Banks continued to help Humboldt. Banks would later retrieve one of Humboldt’s boxes filled with rock specimens from the Andes from an English captain who had captured the French vessel.

² The Spanish Empire in Latin America was divided into four viceroyalties and a few autonomous districts such as the Captaincy General of Venezuela. The Viceroyalty of New Granada encompassed much of the northern part of South America roughly covering today’s Panama, Ecuador and Colombia as well as parts of north-western Brazil, northern Peru and Costa Rica.

7

Chimborazo

FIVE MONTHS AFTER his arrival, Humboldt finally left Quito on 9 June 1802. He still intended to travel to Lima, even though Captain Baudin wouldn’t be there. From Lima Humboldt hoped to find passage to Mexico, which he also wanted to explore. First, though, he was going to climb Chimborazo – the crown of his obsession. This majestic inactive volcano – a ‘monstrous colossus’ as Humboldt described it – was about 100 miles to the south of Quito and rose to almost 21,000 feet.¹

As Humboldt, Bonpland, Montúfar and José rode towards the volcano, they passed thick tropical vegetation. In the valleys they admired daturas with their large trumpet-shaped orange blossoms and bright red fuchsias with their almost unreal-looking sculptural petals. Then, as the men slowly ascended, these voluptuous blooms were replaced by open grass plains where herds of small llama-like vicuñas grazed. Then Chimborazo appeared on the horizon, standing alone on a high plateau, like a majestic dome. For several days as they approached, the mountain stood out against the vibrant blue of the sky with no cloud smudging its imposing outline. Whenever they stopped, an excited Humboldt took out his telescope. He saw a blanket of snow on the slopes, and the landscape around Chimborazo appeared barren and desolate. Thousands of boulders and rocks covered the ground, as far as he could see. It was an otherworldly scenery. By now Humboldt had climbed so many volcanoes that he was the most experienced mountaineer in the world but Chimborazo was a daunting prospect even to him. But what appeared unreachable, Humboldt later explained, ‘exerts a mysterious pull’.