William Bartram cytaty

William Bartram – amerykański przyrodnik, badacz flory i fauny Ameryki Północnej, a także badacz kultury plemion Czirokezów i Creek.

Syn przyrodnika Johna Bartrama. Uczył się od ojca, a następnie na Akademii Filadelfijskiej.

W 1791 r. opublikował naukowy opis swoich podróży po USA: Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country... Philadelphia, James & Johson. W następnej dekadzie książka ta miała 8 wydań w sześciu krajach europejskich. Wybrany do amerykańskiej Akademii Nauk Przyrodniczych i Amerykańskiego Towarzystwa Filozoficznego. Wikipedia  

✵ 20. Kwiecień 1739 – 22. Lipiec 1823
William Bartram Fotografia
William Bartram: 2   Cytaty 0   Polubień

William Bartram: Cytaty po angielsku

“Should I say, that the river (in this place) from shore to shore, and perhaps near half a mile above and below me, appeared to be one solid bank of fish, of various kinds, pushing through this narrow pass of San Juan's into the little lake, on their return down the river, and that the alligators were in such incredible numbers, and so close from shore to shore, that it would have easy to have walked across on their heads, had the animals been harmless? What expressions can sufficiently declare the shocking scene that for some minutes continued, whilst this mighty army of fish were forcing the pass? During this attempt, thousands, I may say hundreds of thousands, of them were caught and swallowed by the devouring alligators. I have seen an alligator take up out of the water several great fish at a time, and just squeeze them betwixt his jaws, while the tails of the great trout flapped about his eyes and lips, ere he had swallowed them. The horrid noise of their closing jaws, their plunging amidst the broken banks of fish, and rising with their prey some feet upright above the water, the floods of water and blood rushing out of their mouths, and the clouds of vapor issuing from their wide nostrils, were truly frightful.”

[Van Doren, Mark, The travels of William Bartram, An American Bookshelf, volume 3, 118–119, 1928, New York, Macy-Masius, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b281934&view=1up&seq=124]
Travels of William Bartram (1791)