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■.(!>•

\ c V a i\ '--^

OF TRAVELS

TOTHM

EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS

OF TBB

NEW CONTINENT,

DURING THB YBAR8 1799—18049

ALEXANDER D£ HUMBOLDT,

AND

AIME BONPLAND;
WITH MAPS, PLANS, S^d

wmiTTEK IM FBXVCH BT

ALEXANDER D£ HUMBOLDT^

AND TRANSLATED HKTO BNGLI8H BT

HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.

VOL. VI. PART I.

LONDON:

PBINTED FOR LONGMAN, REE8, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN,

PATERNOSTER ROW.

1826.

■I

325813

W, FOpk, PriDler, 67, Cbancery Lane,

CONTENTS

OP VOL. VI. PART I.

BOOK IX.
CHAPTER XXV.

PAO>

Llmnoii Del Fao, or the eastern part of the Flains
(Llanos) ofVenezuela. — ^Missions of the Caribbees. —
Last abode on the coast of Nnera Barcelona^ Cuma-
na, and Araya -.-.-..-i

CHAPTER XXVI.

Explanations - - - - - - ^^ 1S8

A — ^Population of Continental America ... 1S9

B — ^Area of the same ...... 143

Relation of the Population to the Extent of Surface - 18i

Productions ........ 200

Commerce and Public Revenue .... 21O

The Practicability of a Water Communication between

the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans discussed - - 230

NOTES TO THE NINTH BOOK.

A — Antiquities^ &c. of the Aboriginal inhabitants of
America --.-.--. 316

B — Relative Population by the Square League of the
American States^ and the States of Europe^ Asia^ and
Africa 335

C — State of the Catholic Missions in Spanish America
Sketch of the Native Tribes of ditto - - - 347

I> — Population of Buenos Ayres - - - . 363

£— Popuhition of the United States^ N. A. - - 367

F — On the Boundaries of the Spanish and Portuguese
States 378

G— On the Physical Properties of the Cow Tree - 386

• • ■ *

CONTENTS

OF VOL V!. PART 11.

PAOB

Sketch of m Geognostie View of Sooth America^ on
the North of the River of the Attaaons, and on tli^
East of the MeHdian of die Sierra Nevada' de
Menda - - - - ;. ^ . • 391

SECTION I.

Configuration of the Country. — InequJEditieaof UieSoiL
Chains «nd OroUpa ^ Molintaihs. — ^Ridges of Fto-
tition.^-^-Piains or Llahee * - - - - 393

SECTION IL

General Partition of Lands. — Direction and Inclina-
tion of the Layers.— Relative Height of the Forma-
tions above the Level of tlie Ocean ... 575

SECTION Ul.

JNTature of tlie Rocks. — Relative Age and Superpo-
sition of the Formations.— Primitive^ transition^ se-
condary^ tertiary^ and volcanic Soils ... 507

1. Co-ordinate Formations of Granite^ Gneiss and
Micaslate ^ ..... . 600

2. Formation of Clayey-slate (Tiionschiefer) of Mal-
passo - .. . . . • . 613

3. Formation of Serpentine and Diorite (Greenstone

of Juncalito) • - - - • •> ^ 615

4. Granular and micaceous Limestone oflSieMofTos

of San Juan -....;.. 616

W CONTBNtt.

6. Felspathic Sandstone of the Oroonoko - - 017

6. Formation of th^ Sandstone of the Llanos of Cala-

bozo -.•----• 618

?• Formation of compact Limestone of Cumanacoa - 024

8. FormatioQ of compact Limestone of Oaripe - 826

9. Sandstone of Bergantin - . - . . 429

10. Gypsum of the Llanos of Venezuela - • 030

11. Formation of Muriatifierous Clay (with Bitumen

and Lamellar Gypsum) of the Peninsula of Araya 632

12. Agglomerate Limestone of Barigon^ the Castle of
Cumana^ and the ^cinity of Porto Cabello - - 638

13. Formation of Pyrozenic Amygdaloide and Phono-
lite, between Ortiz and Gerro de Flores - - 642

Observations made to verify the progress of the Horary
Variations of the Barometer in the Tropics, from
the Level of the Sea to the Ridge of the Cordillera

of the Andes 662

Mean Height of the Barometer in the Tropics, at the

Level of the Sea - - - . . .. 773
Mean Temperature of Cumana. — Hygrometric and
Cyanometric State of the Air .... 777
L Observations of M. De Humboldt » - 781

II. Don Faustino Rubio - - 793

Additional Note on the Height of the Lake of I>ncara-

gua above the Level of the Sea ' r * ''^

; BOOK X.

CHAPTER XXVU.

Passage from the Coast of Venezuela to the Havannah.
— General View of the^ Population of the West
Indies, compared with the Population of the New
Continent, with respect to the Diversity of Races,
Personal Liberty^ Language, and Worship - - 801

i •

• *,

(BY THE ENGLISH EDITOR.)

Ths scene to which this volume chiefly
relates-^the Republic of C^utnlna— -hay-
ing become an object of such deep and
general interest, the publishers have plea-
sure in at length presenting it to the public.
The French original had been delayed by
circumstances over which the editor had
no controuL The succeeding portion,
which will comprise an account of the
island of Cuba, and a part of the Journey
into the Cordillera of the Andes, is already
in the press^ and proceeding with all possi-
ble expedition. The Author having, in the
course of the work, brought under his re-
view almost all branches of the Sciences,
purposes to give, at the conclusion of the
whole, a classed table of contents, or me-
thodical index, for the facility of reference.

The present volume comprehends, be-
sides the Personal Narrative of the tra-
vellers. The History, of the 'Nations of
Carib race; a g0iie]:9l' view of the Popu*
latioh of'Spstaiish America, arranged ac*
cc»rding to difference of colour, of lan-
guages, and of religion ; a discussion of the
great problem of an Oceanic Canal, or of a
Water Communication between the South
Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, with reference
both to its utility and the obstacles which
local circumstances may present to its exiecu*
tion ; a comparison of the more ancient Mo*
Qumentsof the Aboriginal Inhabitants of both
Americas; a Geological View of South Ame*
rica on the north of the river of the Amazons,
with a general account of the ramifications
of ih^ knots of mountains which occur in
the Andes from Cape Horn to the Polar
Circle; a memoir on the Horary Variations
of the Barometer within the Tropics, both at
the level of the ocean, and on the summit
of the Cordillera of the Andes; and a com*
pressed view of thermometric, hygrome-
trie, cyanometric, and electrometric obser-
vations made in the low equinoctial re*
gions.

With this volume are given, a general
map of the Republic of Columbia, drawn
from the latest scientific observations and
discoveries ; and a map of the Geography
of the Plants of Chimborazo^ indicating
the elevation at which they are respectively
found.

iMMoivTManU lilL'tf

• 4.

JOURNEY

TO THE

EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS

THE NEW CONTINENT.

BOOK IX.

CHAPTER XXV.

Uanos Del PaOy or the eastern part of the Plains
(Llanos) of Venezuela. Missions of the Ca-
rihhees. Last abode on the coast of Nueva

i* Barcelona^ Cumana^ and Araya.

It was night when we crossed for the last time
the bed of the Oroonoko. We purposed to rest
near the little fort of San Rafael, and the next
Horning at daybreak to beg^n our journey
through the steppes of Venezuela. Nearly six
weeks had elapsed since our arrival at Angos-
tura; and we earnestly wished to reach the
Mast, in order to find a vessel at Cumana, or
It Nueva-Barcelona, in which we might em-
Ivk for the island of Cuba, and proceed thence
vol*. VI. ji

to Mexico. After the sufferiags to which we
had been exposed during sereral months, by
sailing in small boats on rivers infested by mos-
chettoes, the idea of a long sea-voyage had some
charms for the imagiaatioD. We meant to
retam no more to South America. Sacrifidog
the Andes of Peru to tlie Archipelago of the
Philippines, of which so little is koowo, we
adhered to our old plan of reipakting a year
in New Spain, proceeding in the galleon from
Acapalco to Manillfl^ and returning to Europe
by the way of Bassora and Aleppo. It appeared
to u8, that, wheu we had once left the Spanish
possessions in America, the fell of that ministry,
which with noble confidence had procured us
sneh ontimited permissions, could not be pre-
judicial to the execution of our enterprise. Our
minds were agitated by these ideas during our
monotonous journey across the ste{^es. No-
thing enables us better to endure the little con-
trarieties of life, than our attention being en-
gaged by the approaching accompUshment of
a hazardous undertaking.

Our mules waited for us on the left bank <^
the Oroonoko. The collections of plants, and
the different geological series, which we had
brought from the Esmeralda and the Rio Negro,
had greatly augmented our baggage ; and, as
it would have been dangerous to lose sight
of our berbals, we expected to make a veiy slow

journey aorots the Llanos. The heat was ex-
cessiyej on account of the reverberation of the
soil, almost eveiy where destitute of plants.
The centigrade thermometer however .during
the day (in the shade) was only from thirty to
thirty-four d^rees, and at night from twenty-
seven to twenty-eight degrees. Here therefore,
as almost every where within the tropics, it
was less the absolute degree of heat, than it's
duration, that affected our organs. We were
thirteen days in crossing the steppes, resting a
little in the Caribbee {CaroSbes) missions, and
in the little town of Pao. I have given al-
ready* the physical picture of those immense
phuns, which separate the forests of Guyana
from the chain of the coast. The eastern part
of the Llanos, through which we passed, between
Angostura and Nueva Barcelona, wears the same
savage aspect as the western part, by which
we came from the valleys of Aragua to San
Fernando de Apure. In the season of drought,
which it is here agreed to called summer , though
the Sun is in the southern hemisphere, the
breeze is felt with greater force in the steppes
of Cumana, than in those of Caraccas ; because
these vast plains, like the cultivated fields of
Lombardy, form an inland basin, open to the
east and closed on the north, south, and west,

* Vol. ir, p. 290—415.
B 2

by hii^h chains of [)riiiuti\e mountains. Tnt'or-
tunately, we could not avail ourselves of this
refreshing breeze^ of which the Llaneros (the in-
habitants of the steppes) speak with rapture,
it being the nuny season north of the equator ;
and thbagh it did not rain in the steppes, the
change in the declination of the San had long
caused the action of the polar currents to cease.
In those equatorial regions, where you can find
yoiir course by observing the direction of the
clouds, and where the oscillations of the mer-
cury in the barometer indicate the hour almost
as well as a clock, every thing is subject to
a regular and uniform type. The cessation of
the breezes, the beginning of the rainy season,
and the frequency of electric explosions, are
phenomena, which are fouqd to be connected by
immutable laws.

At the confluence of the Apure and the
Oroonoko, near the mountain of Sacuima, we
had met with a French farmer, who lived amid
his flocks in the most absolute seclusion*. This
was the man, who in his simplicity believed,
that the political revolutions of the old world,
and the wars which have been the consequence,
were owing solely ^^ to the long resistance of the
monks of the Observance." We had scarcely
entered the Llanos of Nueva Barcelona, when

* Vol. T, p. 077.

Ibr "S again found a Frenchman, at whose house
bii *t passed the first night, and who received
DS vith the kindest hospitality. He was a
native of Lyons ; had left his country at a very
tariy a^ ; and appeared extremely indifferent
to all tliat was passing beyond the Atlantic, or,
as they say here, disdainfully enough for Eu-
rope, " on the other side of the great poo!"
[^ (dei otrv ladn del diarco). Our host was em-
1;^ flayed in joining large pieces of wood by means
of a kind of glue called guayca. This substance,
need by tbe carpenters of Angostura, resembles
the best glue extracted from tbe animal king-
dom. It is found perfectly prepared between
the bark and the alburnum of a creeper* of
tbe Ditoily of the combretacea;. It probably
resembles in it's chemical properties birdlime,
tlie vegetable principle obtained from the bei'-
lies of the mtstleto, and the internal bark of
tbe holly. An astonishing abundance of this
tidi glutinous matter issues from the twining branches
'fe I of the vtjitco de guoyca when they are cut.
t I Tbos, we find within the tropics n substance
in a state of purity, and deposited in peculiar

* Ciimbrelnm gaai/ea. Xl might be thought, that the
a»mt of chignminier, giren by Imttintsta to the ditTerent ipe-
ciet of comfarelDiii, has an aUusion to this glutinous matter;
Int the name is derived from rhigoama (combrctum )axani,
jIM.), a word ofthc Galibi or Carihbcc language.

)

organs, which id the temperate xone can be
procured ooty by the procestes of ul •.

We arrived on the third day at the Caribhee
missions of Can. We observed, that the gronnd
was less cracked by the drought in this coantry
than in the Llanos of Calabozo. Some 8bow««
bad revived the vegetatioD. Small gramina,
and especially those herbaceous sensitive plants,
that are so useful in fattening half-wild cattle,
formed a thick turf. A few kA palms (corypha
tectorum), rfaopalas-f- (chapaTro\ and malpig-
hias X '^th coriaceous and gloesy leaves, arose
at great distances from each other. The humid
spots are reco^ized at a distance by groups of
mauritia, which are the sago-ta«es of those conn-
tries. Near the coast this palm-tree constitutes

• Vol. T, p. 286.

t The protewcee mre not, like Ibe arancarw, an exclusive-
ly Mutheni form, {Kotxebue, Jtrar, vol. lit, p. Ifl.) We
fimnd tbe rfaopala complicmU, and tiw r. obovaU, i« 2° SO'
and in 10° of oorth latitude. See onr Nov. Gcn., vol. ti, p.
163.

X A neigfabonring gcDus, byraonirna cucD/Zaiic/bitir, b. /a>-
T^oUa near Matagorda, and b. ropatmfolia. The Euro-
pean planten, who rrom tbe feeblest analo^es believe, that
thejr find every where tbe plants of their uwn country in tbe
vegetation of the tropics, call the malpighia, o/cDmo^M (cork-
tree), no donbt on acconnt of ihc aiberviu bark of tbe trunk.
This bark coDtaios tannin ; aad in another malpighia (byrso-
nima moureilu), which is tbe febrifuge tree of Cayenne, the
quinquina, ur cinchonin is supposed, not without reason, to
exist united with ihc tannin.

Uk whole ire&ltti of the Guai'aon Indians ; and
it it somewhat remai-kable, that we had found
H sgain one haodred and sixty leagues failher
fonth, in the midst of the forests of the Upper
OrooBokoi io the savanoahB that surround the
grmnilic peak of Duida*. It was loaded at
this season with enormous clusters of red fruit,
naembling the cones of 6r8. Our monkeys
were extremely fcmd of this fruit, which has the
taste of an overripe apple. These animak,
placed with oar baggage on the backs of the
males, made great efforts to reach the clusters,
thai were suspended over -Iheir heads. The
^in was nndaiating fr<Hn the e£fect of the
mrage'^ ; and when, after travelling for an
hoar, we arrived at these trunks of the palm-
U«e, which appeared like masts in the horizon,
we observed with astonishment bow many things
we c<mnected with the existence of a single
plant. The winds, losing their velocity when
in contact with the foliage and the branches,
aocnmolate sand around the trunk. The smell
oi the firnit, and the brightness of the ver-
dure, attract from afar the birds of passage,
wUch delight in the vibrating motion of the

* Tbe morichi, like the sagus Rumpbii, is a palm-trte oftht

nartka (rol. iii, p. 278 ; vol, iv, p. 334 ; vol. v, 50, &5H, and

7M) ; not a palm-tree t^lht eoatt, like tbe chamxrops humi-

tii, ike ootmnon cocoa-tree, and tbe lodoicea.

+ Vol. ii, p. 196 i iv, 327.

branches of the paln^tree. A soft murmuring
is beard aroQod ; and overwhelmed bv the heat,
and accustomed to the melancholy silence of
the steppes, we fimcy we enjoy some coolness
at the sligfateM sound of the foliage. If we
examine the soil on the ride opporite to the
windy we find it remains humid long after the
rainy season. Insects and worms *, every where
else so rare in the Llanos, here assemble and
multiply. This one tolitary and often stunted
tree, which would not claim the notice of the
traveller amid the forests of the Oroonoko,
spreads life around it in the desert.

On the 13th of July we arrived at the village
of Cari^y the first of the Caribbee missions,
that are under the monks of the Observance of
the coU^ of P!ritu:|:. We lodged as usual at
the convent, that is with the clergyman. We
had, beside our passports from the captain-

* What are those worms (loul in Arabic), which captain
LyoD, the fellow-traveller of my brave and nnfortODate
fnofld Mr. Ritchie, found in the pools of the desert of Fei-
xan, which served the Arabs for food, and which have the
taste of caviare f Are they not insects' eggs, resembling the
aguauiie, which I saw sold in the market at Mexico, and
which are collected on the surface of the lakes of Texcuco ?
{Gaxeta de Utteratura de Mexico, 17M, vol. iii, No. 26, p.
201.)

t N'** S'* del Socorro del Cari, foooded in 1761.

X These missionaries are called padres mittumerot OUenHm-
tes del Coiegio de la Purmima Omcepdon de Propaganda Fide
en la Nueva Barcelona,

general of the province, recommendations from
the bishops and the guardian of the missions
of the OrooQoko. From the coasts of New
California to Valdivia and the month of the Rio
de la Plata, a spaee of two thousand leagues,
every difficulty of a long journey by land may
be surmounted, if the traveller enjoy the pro-
tection of the American clergy. The power
which this body exercises in the state is too well
established, to be soon shaken by a new order
of things. Our host could scarcely comprehend,
^ how natives of the north ' of Europe could
arrive at his dwelfing from the frontiers of Bra-
zil by the Rio Negro, and not by way of the
coast of Cumana.** He behaved to us how-
ever in the most afiable manner, and showed a
curiosity somewhat importunate respecting us,
which the appearance of a stranger, who is not
a Spaniard, alwajrs excites in South America.
The minerals, which we had collected, must
contain gold ; the plants, dried with so much care,
must be medicinal. Here, as in many parts of
Europe, the sciences are thought wortliy to oc-
cupy the mind only so far as they confer some
solid benefit on society.

We found more than five hundred Caribbees
in the village of Cari ; and saw many others in
the surrounding missions. It is curious to ob-
serve a nomade people, recently attached tx) the
soil, and difiering from all the other Indians in

tiidr physical and iDtelleotual powers.. I hme
no where seen a taller, race of men (from five
feet nx int^es, to five feet tea inches*), and
of a more colossal statnre. The men, whi^ is
common in Americaf, are more clothed than
the women. The latter wear only the guajuoot
or jterixoma, in the fiwm of a band. The men
hare the lower part of the body as &r as the
hips wrapped in a (ueoe of hloe cloth, so dark as
to be almost black. This drapery is so am|4e,
that, when the temperatore lowers toward the
evcsing, the Caribbees throw it over their shonU
dert. Tbdr bodies being tinged with onotoXt
thdr tall figures, of a reddish copper-cok>«r,
with their pietaiFesque drapery, projecting from
the horison of the steppe against the sky as a
back ground, resemble antique statues of bronze.
The men cut their hiur in a very characteristic
roimn^ i like the monks, or the chiUren of the
chtnr. A part of the forehead is shaved, which
makes it appear extremely lai^. A large tuft
of hair, cut in a circle^ be^ns very near the top
of the head. This resemblance of the Carit^eea
to the monks is not the result of living in the
mi^ons ; it is not owing, as it has been errone-

' From file feet nioc iachei to six Tect two, Eogluh,
nearly.

f See above, vol. v, p. 362.

t Roto*, obtained from the beta orellana. Tbia (Mint u
called in Caribbee kchd.

OQsly assorted, to the desire of the natives to
imitate their masters, tlie fiithers of the order of
Saint Francis. Hie tribes, that hate preserved
thdr savage independance, between the sources
of the Carony and the Rio Branoo, are dis-
tinguished by the same cerquillo de Jrmles^
wiiich the first Spanish historians* at the time of
the discovery of America attributed to the na-
tions of Caribbee origin* All the men of this
race, whom we saw either during our voyage
on the Lower Oroonoko, or in the missions of
Pbritoo, differ from the other Indians not only
by their tallness^ but also by the regularity of
tbeir features. Their nose is not so largc^ and
less flattened ; the chedc-bones are not so high ;
and their physiognomy has less of the Mongul
cast. Their eyes, darker than those of the
other hordes of Guyana^ denote intelligence, I
had almost said the habit of reflexion. The
Caribbees have a gravity in their manners, and
something of sadness in their look, which is
found for the most part among the primitive
inhabitants of the New Worlds The expression
of severity in their features is singularly in-

* " Regio ab iooolis Caramaira dicilur, inqoaviroa simul
*' et foBoiiiias statura aiunt polcherrimos ease, nudoa tamen,
*' capilHs aore tenus sciasis mares, (oBiiiiaas oblonj^is. A Ca-
'* ribibus, sive Canibalibas, camiom humanarum edacibasj
*' origioem traxisse Caramairenses existiinaot** Petr. Mar'
tyr, Ouan. (1633), p. 26. D 0t 26 B.

creased by the rage they have for dying tbeir
eyebrom with the juice of the caroto*, en-
larging them, and joining them together. They
often mark the whole fiice with black spots,
in order to i^ipear more savage. The magis-
trates of the place, ^e Gmemador and Uie
Mcadesy who alone have the privilege of carrying
long canes, came to visit us. Among them
were some young Indians from eighteen to
twenty years of age, the choice dqwndiog solely
on the will of the missionary. We were struck
at finding among these Caribbees pmnted with
amotta the same (urs of importance, the stiff
mien, and the cold and disdainful manners,
which are sometimes to be met with among
people in «fiBce, in the old continent. The
Caribbee women are less robust, and nglio*
than the men. On them devolves almost the
whole burden of domestic labours, no well as
those of the fields. They asked us with ear-
nestness ftir pins; which, having no pockets,
they placed under the lower lip, piercing the
skin, so that the head of the pin remmned with-
in the mouth. The young girls are dyed with
red; and, except the £iMi;uco, are naked. Among
the different nations of the two worlds the idea
of nudity is altogether relative. A woman in
some parts of Asia is not permitted to show the

• See vol. iv, p. 518.

end of ber fingers ; while an Indian of the Carib-
bee race is &r from considering herself • as
naked, when she wears a guafuco two inches
broad. Even this band is regiutled as a less
essential pdrt of dress than the pigment^ which
covers the skin. To go out of the but without
being painted with amotta^ is to transgress all
the rules of Caribbean decency.

The Indians of the missions of Kritoo at-
tracted still more our attention on account of
their belonging to a nation, which by it's daring*-
ness, it's warlike enterprises, and it's mercantile
spirit, has exerted a great influence on the rast
country, ' that extends from the equator toward
the northern coasts. We found traces every
where on the Oroonoko of the hostile incursions
of the Caribbees, which they pushed heretofore
from the sources of the Carony and the Erevato
as far as the banks of the Ventuari, the Atacavi,
and the Rio Negro ^. The Caribbean language
is consequently the most general in this part
of the world ; it has even passed (like the lan-
guage of the LfCnni-Lenapes, or Algonkins, and
the Natchez or Muskoghees, on the west of the
Alleghany mountains) to tribes which have not
the same origin.

When we cast a look on that swarm of
nations spread over both Americas to the east

♦ Vol. ?, p. 204, 209, 300.

of the Cordilkras of the Andet, we fix our
attentioD particnlarty on those, who, having
long hdd the sway over their ndgfabonra, have
acted a more important part on the stage of t&e
world. It is the object of the histortao, to
gronp facts, to distinguish masses, to ascend to
the common sources of so many migra^ns and
popular movements. Great empires, the regu-
lar oi^nization of a sacerdotal hierarchy, and
the culture which this organisation fevors in the
first age of society, are found only on the high
rooontsdns of the west. At Mexico we see a
vast monarchy eoclosing small republics; at
Cundinamarea and Pern, real theocracies.- For-
tified towns, highways and large e^fices of
stone, an extraordinary developement of the
feudal system, the separation of casts, convents
oi men and women, religious congregations fol-
lowing a discipline more or less severe, very
complicated divisions of time connected with
the calendars*, codiacs, and astrolc^ of the
enlightened nations of Asia, are phenomcina,
that in America bekmg to one region only, the
long aftd narrow Alpine band, which extends
&om tturty degrees of north latitude to twen-
ty-five degrees south. The flux of nations in
the ancient world was from east, to west ; the
Basques or Iberians, the Celts, the Germans,

• See the note tl U Ihc cad of ihe niiilli book.

and the Pelasgians, appeared in succeesioii. In
the Neir World similar niigratioQs flowed froin
north to 8oatb. Among the nations that inha-
bit the two hemispheres^ the direction of this
moirement followed that of the mountains ; but,
in the torrid zone, the temperate table-lands of
the Cordilleras exerted a greater influence on
the destiny of mankind, than the mountains of
Asia and central Europe. As, properly speak-
ings civilized notiooa only have a history, that
of the Americans is necessarily no more than
the Instory of a small number of the inhabitants
of the mountains. A profound obscurity enve-
lopes the immense country, that stretches from
the eastern slope of the Cordilleras toward the
Atlantic; and, for this very reason, whatever
in this country relates to the preponderance
of one nation over others, to distant migrations,
to the physiognomical features which denote
a foreign race, excite in us a lively interest.

Amid the plains of North America, some
powerful nation, which has disappeared, had
constructed circular, square, and octagonal for*
tifications ; walls six thousand toises in length >
tumuli from seven to eight hundred feet in
diameter, and one hundred and forty feet in
height, sometimes round, sometimes with seve-
ral stories, and containing thousands of skele-
tons. These skeletons belonged to men less
slender, and more squat, than the present infaa*

tutaDts of tiioU oouDtnes. Other boaes, wrap-
ped in furies resembltog those of the Sandwich
aDd Feejee islaods, are fouod io the natural
grottoes of Kentucky. What is become of those
nations of Louisiaua anterior to the Ltami-
Lenapes, the Shawanese, and perhaps even to
the l^ous (Nadowesaes, Narcotas) of the Mis-
souri, who are strongly mungolixed; and who,
it is believed, according to their own traditions,
came from the coast of Asia? In the pkuns
of South America, as I bare elsewhere observed,
we scarcely find a few hillocks (cerrog hechos
a mono), and no where any woriu of fortifi-
cation analogous to those of the Ohio. On a
vast space of ground, however, at the Lower
Oroonoko as well as on the banks of the Cassi-
qoiare and between the sources of the Essequi-
bo and the Rio Branco, there are rocks of gra-
nite covered with symbolic figures. These
sculptures denote, that the generations extinct
belonged to nations diferent from those, which
now inhabit the same regions. There seems
to be no connection between the history of
Mexico, and tbat of Cundinamarca and of Peru,
at the west, on the back of the Cordilleras ;
but in the pkuns of the east a warlike and long
ruling nation displays in it's features, and it's
physical constitution, traces of a foreign origin.
The CaribbeeS preserve traditions, that seem
to indicate some ancient comiuunications be-

tween the two Amertcas. ' Such a phenomenoa
deserves particular attention^ whatever may have
been the degree of barbarism and degradation,
in which all the nations of the plains of the
New Continent were found by the Europeans
at the end of the fifteenth century. If it be
true, that savages aire for the most part degi*ad-
ed races, remnants escaped from a commcRi
shipwreck, as their languages, their oosmogonie
fobles^ and a crowd of other indications seem to
prove, it becomes doubly important to examine
the paths, by which these remnants have been
driven from one hemisphere to the other

The fine nation of Caribbees now inhabits but
a small part of the country, which it occupied
at the time of the discovery of America. The
cruelties exercised by the Europeans have made
them disappear entirely from the West India
islands, and the coasts of Darien ; while, sub-
jected to the government of the missions, they
have formed populous villages in the provinces
of New Barcelona and Spanish Guyana. I
believe the Caribbees, who inhabit the Llanos
of Piritoo, and the banks of the Carony and the
Cuyuni, may be estimated at more than thirty-
five thousand. If we add to this number the
independant Caribbees, who live west of the
mountains of Cayenne and Pacaraymo, be-
tween the sources of the Essequibo and the
Rio Branco, we shall no doubt obtain a total

VOL. Vf. c

of forty thousand individuals of pure race, on.
mixed with any other race of natinB. I dwell
the more od these obaerrations ; because, previ-
ously to my travels, the Cuibbees were men-
tioned in many geographical works as an ex-
tinct race *. Unacquunted with the interior
of the Spanish colonies of tiie continent, these
writers supposed, that the small islands (tf Do-
niinica, Guadaloupe, and Sunt "Tmcent^ had
been the principal abodes of this, nation, of
which all that remains throoghont the whole of
the eastern West India islands are skeletons "f*
that are petrified, or rather enveloped in a lime-
stone containing madrepores. According to
this sappodtion the Caribbees must have dis^-
peared in America, as the Guanches in tbe'ar-
chipelago of the Canaries.

Tribes, which belong to the same people, re-
cognise a common ori^o, and call themselves by
the same name. That of one horde is generally

* Polil. Esuy, Fol. i, p. 83.
t These skeletons were discotered id 1805 bj' Mr. Cor-
tes, whose intereitJDg geological observations I have already
had occauoa to montion (rol. iv, p. 41, 43). Tbey are eo-
cbased in a formation of madrepore breccia, which the Ne-
groes call with great simplicity the rnatonrg of God almighty ;
and which, as recent as the travertin of Italy, envelopes frag-
menls of vases and other works of man. Mr. Dauxion L.a-
vaysse, and Dr. Konig, first made known in Europe this phe-
nomenon, which has so much excited the attention of geolo-
gists. (Phil. Tr. 1814, pUte 3 ; Cuvitr, Oum. fots., vol. I,
p. Ixvi.)

given to all the rest by the neighbouring nations ;
sometimes also the names of places become the
denomitmtidns of a people, or these appellations
take rise from an epithet of -derision, or the for-
toitous alteration of a word ill-pronounced. Tlie
name of Caribbees, which I find for the first
time in a letter of Peter Martjrr d'Anghiera* is
derived fi^om Cklina and Caripuna, the / and p
being transformed into r and h. It is indeed very
remarkable, that this name, which Columbus
heard pronounced by the people of Haiti f*,
was found at the same time among the Carib-
bees of the islands and those of the continent.
From the word Carina, or Calina, has been
formed Galibi (Caribi) ; a denomination by
which a tribe is known in French Guyana^,

* Fetr. Mart. Epitt. ad Pomp. Lttuni (Non. Dec. 1494)

Lib, yjl. No. 147, /o/. xxxv j and Ocean,, Lib, I, foL 2, ^.

According to tbe Caribbee pronunciation, balana and panmoj

the sea, are confounded together,
f Fcro. Col., Cap, 34 ; in Churchill's Coll., vol. 2, p. 53tt.

IJerera, Dec, /, p. 34.
4: The Galibis (Calibitis), the Palicours, and the Aco-

quouas, have also the custom of cutting the hair in the manner
of the monks ; and of applying bandages to tbe legs of their
children, in order to swell the radscles. They have the same
predilection for green stones (saussurite), which we recogniz-
ed among the Caribbee nations of the Oroonoko (vol. v, p.
383). There exist besides in French Guyana twenty Indian
tribes, which are distinguisEed from the QalibiSy though their
language proves, that they have a common origin. Barrh-e,
France (quin.f p. 121, 2S0. LeacaUier, sur la Guyane, p. 78.

of a much more diminutive stature than the
inhabitants of Cari, but speaking. one of the
Tiameroos dialects of the Caribbean tongue. The
inbabitatits of the islands are called Calinago in
the language of the men; and in that of the
womettj Callipinan. This difference in the lan-
guage of the- two sexes is more striking among
the people of the Caribbean race, than aovoQg
other American nations (the Omaguas, the Gna-
ranis and the Chiquitoes), where it applies only
to a small onmber of ideas, for instance, the
words mother and child. It may be conceived
that women, from their separate way of life,
frame particular terms, which men will not
adopt. Cicero* observes, that ancient forms
are best preserved by women, because their situ-
ation in society exposes them less to those vicissi-
tudes of life (changes of place and occupation),
which tend to alter the primitive purity of the
language among men. But the contrast in the
Caribbee nations between the dialect of the two
sexes is so great, that to explain it in a satisfac-
tory manner we must have recourse to another
cause; and this may perhaps be found-)- in the
barbarous custom, practised by those nations, of

• Cicero, de Orat., Ith. Ill, cap. xii, ^ 45, ed. Ferburg. " Fa-
cilius eoim miilieres incorruptam aotiqaitatem conserranl,
quod multorum sermooii experles ea tenent semper, qus pri-
ma ilidiccrunt."

t See above, vol. t, p, 293 and 420.

kiUing their male prisoners, and carrjring the
wives of the vaoquished into captivity. . When
the Caribbees made an irruption into the archi-
pelago of the West India islands, they arrired
there as a band- of warriors, not as planters
accompanied by their families. The language
of the female sex was formed by degreesyas the
conquerors contracted alliances with the foreign
women; it was composed of new elements,
words distinct from the Caribbee words*, which
in the interior of the gynseceums were trans-
mitted from generation to generation, but on
which the structure, the combinations, the gram^
matical forms of the language of the men exerted
their influence. What then took place in a
small community we now find in the whole
group of the nations of the New Continent.
The American languages, from Hudson's bay
to the straits of Magellan, are in general cha-
racterized by a total disparity of words joined
with a great analogy in their structure. They
are like different substances clothed in analo-
gous forms. If we recollect, that this pheno-
menon comprehends one whole side of our pla-
net, almost from pole to pole ; if we consider
the assimilations, that exist in the grammatical

* The following are examples of the difference between
the language of the men (m), and the women (to) ; i$ie,
oabao m., acaera w. ; hum, ouekelli m., eyeri w. ^ 6ut, irheu
ni., atica w.

forms (in Uie geadera applied to the three per-
soas of the rerb, the reduplicati^oB, the frequen-
tatives, the duals) ; it will appear highly as-
tonishing, to find a uaiforra tendency ia the
developement of the understanding, and lan-
guage among so coosiderable a portion of the
human race.

We have just seen, that the dialect of the
Caribbee Tpomen, in the West India islands*
contiuned the vestiges of a language that was
extinct. What was that language ? Of this
we are ignorant. Some writers have thought,
that it might be that of the Ygueris, or primi-
tive inhabitauts of the Caribbee islands ; others
have perceived in it some resemblance to the
ancient idiom of Cuba, or to those of the Ania-
cas, and the Apalachites in Florida * : but
these hypotheses are all founded on a very im-
perfect knowledge of the idioms, which it has
been attempted to compare.

In reading with attention the Spanish authors
of the sixteenth century, we see, that the Caribbee
nations then extended over dghteen or nine-
teen degrees of laljtade, from the Viigin islands
en the east of Poittnico to the mouths of Uie

• Labat. Foy.. vol, vi, p. 120. RocAtfort, p. 32fl. BiU.
Unto., 1817, p. 366. Is the word Igneru (Ij^eris ?) a oor-
ruplion of Eytrit, which, as we have just seen, signifies man
in the dialect of the Caribbee women ! This employment of
the word man is irry common in ethaographic names.

Amasoti. Aaotbev prolongation toward the west^
aloog the coast ehdn of Santa Martha and
Venefiraela, appears less certain. Gomara, how*
ever, and the most ancient historians, give the
name of Caribana, not, as it has since been
done^ to the country l>etween the sources of the
Oroonoko and the mountains of SVench Gu-
yana*, but to the- marshy phuns between the
months of the Rio Atrato and the Rio Sinn.
I have been on these coasts myself in going
from the Havannah to Porto Bello; and I
there learned^ that the cape, which bounds the
gnlf of Darien or Uraba cm the east^ still bears
the name of Punta Caribana. An opinion pre-
vailed heretofore pretty generally, that the Ca-
ribbees of the West India islands derived their
origin, and even their name, from these warlike
people of Darien. '' Inde Vrabam ab orientaii
prehendit ora, quam appellant indigenes Can-
bana, unde Caribes insuiares originem habere
Qomenque retinere dicuntur." Thus Anghiera^

^ The map of Hondius, of 1&90« which accompanies the
Latin edition of the narrative of Raleigh's voyage. In the
DqIcIi edition {Nieime Caerie van het goudrycke landt Gui-
^ma), the Uanos of Caraccas, between the mountains of
Merida and the Rio Pao, bear the name of Caribana. We
may remark here, what we observe so often in the history of
geography, that the same denomination has spread by de-
grees ftom west to east.

t Petr. Mart., Dec. 2, iib. 1, p. 26 B, Dec* 3, li6. 5, p.
64 J.

expKMM tumwlf in hu Ocemdquat. He had
been told by a nephew of Amerigo Vespaed,
that thence as for as Uu moiry monBtaios
of Swat Martha all the natifes were '* e genere
Caribium, velCanibalinm."! do not deny, that
real Caribbees may have had a settlement near
the gnlf of Darien, and that they mtty have
been driTen thither by the easterly cnrrtnta:
but it may also have happened, that tiie Spanish
nangators, little attentive to languages, called
every people of a taU stature and ferodoas cha-
racter Caribbee and Cannibal. Still it is by no
means probable, that the Caribbees of the is-
lands and of Parima imposed on tbemselTies the
name of the region, which they had originally
inhabited. - On the east of the Andes^ and wher-
ever ciTilization has not yet penetrated, it is the
people who give the name to the places where
they have settled •. We have abeady had oc-
casion several times to observe, that the words
Canhheet and Cannibab appear significattt ; that
they are epithets, which allnde to valour,

* Theie namea of places can be perpetDated only wbora
tha.natioDS micceed inunediatdy to f aeh other,Bnd where Um
tradition is uainterrupled. Tbas, in the prorince of Quito,
many ol' ibe summits of llie Andfta bear naEoes, which be-
JoDg neither to the Quichua (the langoage of the Iocs) nor
to the ancient language of the Panisjri, goveroed by the con-
thocando of Lican.

strength, and even superior inteliigeace *. It
is worthy of , remark, that, at the arrival of the
Portoguese, the Brazilians designated their ma-
gicians by the hameof earatievf. We know, that
the Caribbees of Parima were the most wander-
ing people of America ; perhaps some wily indi-
viduals of that nation acted the same partj as
the C/ui^aift^ of the ancient continent. The
oames of nations ace easily annexed to particu-
lar professions ; and when, in the time of the
Caesars, the superstitions of the east were intro-
duced into Italy, the Chaldeans came as litUe
from the banks of the Euphrates, as our Egyp-
tians or. Bohemians, (who speak a dialect of
India) came from the banks of the Nile or the
Elbe.

When the continent and the neighbouring
islands are peopled by the same nation, we may
choose between two hypotheses ; supposing that
the emigration has taken place either from the
islands to the continent, or from the continent
to the islands. The Iberians (Basques), who
were settled at the same time in Spain and in
the Mediterranean islands;};, afford an instance of
this problem ; as do also the Malays, who ap-

• Vespacci says : " Charaibi magiue sapientiaB viri.**
Gryn, Nov. Orb,, p, 145. On the word cannibal, see vol. v,
p. 425.

f Laet, p. 543.

; IVilhelm von Humboldt , Urkewohner HiMpanien$, p. ^f^.

2(\

pear indigenous in the peninsula ot Malacca,
»Dd ia the district of Menangkabao in the
island of Sumatra*. The . archipelago of the
great and little West India islanch forms a
narrow neck of landi broken parallel to the
isthmus of Panama^ and heretofore joining the
peninsula of Florida to the north-east extremity
of South America. It is the eastern shore of an
inland sea, which may be considered as a basin
with several outlets. This singular configuration
of the land has served to support the difibrent
systems of migration, by which it has been at-
tempted to explain the settlement of the natiiMis
of the Caribbean race in the islands, and on the
neighbouring continent. The Caribbees of the
continent admit, that the little West India is-
lands were anciently inhabited by the Aroacas^,
a warUke nation, the great body of which is still
found on the shores of Surinam and Berbice.
They assert, that the Aruacas, with the excep-
tion of the women, were ail exterminated by
some Caribbees, who came from the mouths of
the Oroonoko. They cite, in support of this

* Crawfard, lod. Archipel., vol. ii, p. 371. I make use
of the word indigenous, autocthoni, not to point out a fact of
creation^ which does not belong to history; but simply to
indicate, that we are ignorant of the amtodham haTing been
preceded by any other people,

t Arouaques, The missionary Quandt (Nacirichi von Suri-
nam, 1901 f p. 47) calls them ^raaacka.

tradition, the traces of analogy, wbicb are ob«
served between the language of the Aruaeaa
and that of the Caribbee wooaen ; but we most
recollect^ that the AniacaSi althongb tiie ene«
mies of the Garibbees, belonged to the same
branch of peopte ; and that the same nmifitnde
exists between the Aruack and Caribbee Ian*
giiages, as between the Greek and the Persian,
the German and the Sanscrit According to
another tradition, the Caribbees of the islands
eame from the south, not as oonqneroni, bat on
being expelled from Guyana by the Aniaeas,
who ruled originally ever all the neighboiuing
nations. Finally, a third tradition t, which is
much more general and more probable, makes
the Caribbees arrive from North America, and
indeed from Florida. A traveller, who has col-
lected whatever relates to these migrations from
north to south, Mr. Brisiock, asserts, that a
tribe of Coofachites (Confachiqui) had long
warred with the Apalachites; that the latter,
having yielded to that tribe the fertile district
of Amana, called their new confederates Carib-
bes (that is valiatit strangers) ; but that, in

* The profince of Confachiqai, subject ill 1541 to a
woman, is become celebrated by the expeditfoo of Heroando
de Soto to Florida. (Her, Dec. 1, p. 81.) Among the
nations of the Uaron tongae, and the Attakapas, the supreme
authority was also often conHded to women. Charitooix,
vol. V, p. 3&7 ; FUsau, p. 186.)

conseqnenee of an altercatioD on tbeir religioas
rites, the ConfiichitM^aribbeeB were driTeafrom
Florida.' They went first to the Yocayasor
Lucayes islands (to Cigateo and the ndghbonr-
ing islands); tbeoce to Ayay (Hayhay, now
Santa Cniz)^ and to the little Caribbee islands ;
and lastly to the oootinent of Sooth' America *.
It is believed, that this event tof^ place toward
the year 1 100 of oor eera ; but in this estimatimi
it is sapposed, as in certain fables of the cast,
"that tbe sobrietyand innocent : mannerB of
savages" aagtnent.the mean term of a gene-
ration to one hundred and eighty or two hun-
dred years, which renders the indication of a
fixed epoch altogether imaginary. In the course
of this long migration, the Caribbees had not
touched at tbe larger islands; the inhabitants
of which however, believed also, that they came
ori^nally. from Florida-f. The islanders of
Cuba, Haiti, and Boriken (Portorico), ware,
according to the uniform testimony of tbe first
conguistadores, entirely different from the Ca-
ribbees ; and at the period of tbe discovery of

* Roehefort, Hiri. da AnliOet, vol. i, p. 326— S53 ; Gar-
da, p. SS2 ; BobertttHif Book lij, note 69. Tbe cuqjectDre
oriatber Oili, that th« Caribbees of (be coDtiDeot may have
come from the i>land> at the time of the fiist contjural of tbe
Spaniard! [Saggio, vol iii, p. 204), is coDlrary to all that the
first hiGtoriaaa relate.

t Herera, Dee. 1, p. 23-i j iJ«. 2, p. isa.

America, the latter had^ilready abandoned the
group of the little Lucayes islands ; an archi-
pelago, in which an astonishing variety of Ian-
gaages prevailed, as always happens in lands
peopled by shipwrecks, and by fugitives *.

The dominion, which the Caribbees so long
exercised over a great part of the continent, and
the remembrance of their ancient greataiess,
have inspired them with a sentiment of dignity
and national snperiority, which displays itself
in their manners and their discourse. ^ We
alone are a nation,"* say they proverbially ; '^ the
rest of mankind (oquUi) are made to serve us."
This contempt of the Caribbees for their ancient
enemies is so strong, that I saw a child of
ten years of age foam with rage on bdng called
a Cabre or Caver e ; though he had never in
his life seen an individual of this unfortunate
people^, who gave their name to the town of
Cabruta (Cabritu) ; and who, after a long re-
sistance, were almost entirely exterminated by
the Caribbees. Thus we find among half savage
hordes, as in the most civilized part of Europe,
those inveterate animosities, which have caused
the names of nations, that are enemies, to pass

* '^ La genie de las islas Yucajas era (1492) mas blanca
y de major policia que la de Cuba y Haiti. Havia mueha
divenidad de ienguas/' Chmara, Hist, de Ind,, fol. xxi.

t Sea above, vol. y, p. 161, 204, 209, and 681.

bees), who are descended from Negroes and tru
~ Caribbeea *. Hie barbarous haUt of flattenin
the forehead is fonad among several national
that are not of the same race ; and has bee
observed recently as far as in North America
but nothing is more vague than the conclasioi
that some conformity of customs and mannei
proves an identity of origin. The traveller, wh
observes the spirit of order and submipsion, the
prevails in the Caribbee missions, can scarcel

* These unhappy rcmaina of a people heretofore poverfa
were hanished, in 179fi, to the island of Ratlam, in the b«
of Uooduras, because they were accased by (he Englii
gofcmment of having connexiona with ihe French. Anab
minister, Mr. Lcscal tier, had proposed (1760) to the cuart'
Versailles, to invite the red and black Caribbeet from Snii
Vint ent to Guyana, and employ them as free men in the cu
tivatioii of the Uod. 1 doubt if (heir number at that perio
amounted to six ihouaand; the island of Saint Vincent cob
taining in 1787 not more than fourteen thousand iohabilaiit
ofall coloun. (Le$caUier, tur la Gufanefianeaite, p. 47.)

t For iiutuoe, the Tapoyranas of Guyana (Bnrren, |
238), theSolkeekaorUpperLouisiana(H'akJ(enaer, Conwyr
p. 683). " Los ladies de Cumana," says (iomara (^Hrtt. t
Ind., hi. xlv), " aprJeUn a los niSoa la cabe^a muy blandi
pero mucho, entre doa almohadillas de algodon para ensai
char los la cara, que lo tienen por bermosnra. Las donselli
van de todo punto desnudas. Traen aenogilea muy apretad(
por debaxo y encima de las rodillaa, para que los muslos
pantorillas engorden mucho. Dan las naviax i. los piarbe
liombres sanctos y religiosos. Los reverendoa padres toraa
aquel Irabiijo y los novio!i sc quitan de .toupcrlm, qiieia
pona.-

persuade himself, that he is among cannibals.
This Americaa word^ of a somewhat doubtful
signification^ is probably derived from the lan-
guage of Haiti, or that of Portorico ; it has
passed into the languages of Europe, since the
end of the fifteenth century, as synonimous with
that of anthropophagi. £daces humanarum
camium novi heluones anthropophagi/ Caribes
alias Cam'bales appellati,'* says Anghiera, in the
third decade of his Oceamcs^y dedicated to
pope Leo Uie tenth. I have little doubt, that
the Caribbees of the islands^ when a conquering
people, exercised cruelties toward the Ygneris,
or ancient inhabitants of the West Indies, who
were weak, and little warlike ; but we must
also admit, that these cruelties were exaggerat-
ed by the first travellers, who heard only the
narratives of nations that were the ancient
enemies of the Caribbees. It is not always the
vanquished solely, who are calumniated by their
contemporaries ; the insoleuce of the conquerors
is avenged also by augmenting the list of their
Climes.

We were assured by all the missionaries of
the Carony, the Liower Oroonoko, and the Llti-
nos del Cari^ whom we had an opportunity of
consulting, that the Caribbees are perhaps the
least anthropophagous nations of the New Conti-

• Dec. 3, lib. 3, p. 40, B.
VOL. VI. D

nent They extend this asBertlon event to tbe
iftttepeodant hordes who wander on the e&st
of the EsmeraldBj between the sources of the
Rio Branco and the Eflseqnibo. We may ood-
ceive, that tbe fary and despair, mth which Uie
unhappy Cariblyeea defended themselves against
thQ l^uiiards, when in 1604 a royal decree*
dtMlored ttaem slatte, may Ua^ contrlbnted to
Ike repnthtibn Ifaey have acquired of ferocity,
Tbe first idea of attacking this nation, and de-
jffiTing it x>f liberty and of it's natural tigfats.
Is owing to Cht^riidpher Oolumbus'f-, wiro, bdng
a man of the fifteenth i^ntury, was not always
90 humane, as he is said to be in the eighteenth
from hatred of his detractors. Subsequently
tbe licmctado Rodrigo de Figueroa was apprant-
ed by the cooft in 15^, to decide which <tf
the tribes of South America might be regarded
asofCaribbeerace, or as cOTifriiaJ^; atad which
were GuatiaosXt tti&t is, Indians of peace, and

* I* Dati erant in prsdam Caribei ex di[Jom«te nfpio.
HisHis eit JohaDoea Poociua qui Caribnm terras depopulotu
el in aerritatem obacneoos homioum roratores redigat." Petr,
Mart. Ocean., Dte. 1, lib. p. 26, A ; te Dtc. S, lib. vi, p. 67,
C. Oomara, Hut. de Ind. ta\. cxzix.

t iVAv MtinM, Hilt, da Nuevo Mondo, p. 190.

% I had some trouble io diacuvering^ the origin of this dc-
DOtnination, become bo important froni tbe fatal decreet of
Figueroa. Tbe Spanjab historians ofteo employ tbe word
guatiao to deaigaate a brancb of nations. " La isia Marga-
rita entrc las islas de Carjbes y de Indioi Gualiaot, amigos

friends of the Castilians. That ethnographic
piec^ called el auto die Ftguerooy is one of the
most carious records of the barbarism of the
first canquistadares. Never had the spirit of
system served more effectually to flatter the
passions. Our geographers do not distinguish
more arbitrarily in central Asia the Mongul
fi*om the Tatar nations» than Figueroa traced
the limit betireen the cannibals and the Oua^
Haos. Without any attention to the anakigy of
languages^ every nation^ that could be accused
ai having devoured a prisoner after a battle^

de 1q0 CaatdkiKw^ qoe Mtan mai mdeUmte de la iila Esppiftola.
Eq lo mas arriba de la oo8ta;.de Tierra firme havia una provin-
cia que ae deciaParacuriay la qaal era de Guatiaos que no son
Caribes.'* Herera, Dec. % p. 258 ; Deed, p. 210. Becomiog a
guoHao of anj one appears to me^ to hare signified in the lan-
guage of Haiti conclading a treaty of friendship. In the
West India Islands, as well as in the archipelago of the
Soath Sea, names were exchanged as a token of alliance.
^ Joan de Esqnivel (1602) se hice Guatiao de Cacique
Cotobanama ; el qual desde adelaute se Uamo Juan de Es-
qaiv^y porqne era Hga de perpetua amistad entre los Indies
trocarse los nombres : y trocados qucdaban Guatiitos, que era
tanto come confederados y herooianos en armas. Ponce de
Leon se hice Guatiao con el poderoso Cacique Agueinaha.*'
Herera, Dec. 1, p. 129, 169, 181. One of the Lucayes
islands, inhabited by a mild and pacific people, was hereto-
fore called Guatao (Laet, p. 20); but we will not insist
on the etymology of this word, because, as was obserred
above, the languages of the Lucayes islands difiered from
those of Haiti.

»2

was arbitrarily declared of Caiibbee race. The
infaabitaate of Uriapari (of tbe peni^isala of Pa-
ria)were named Caribbees; theUrioacoes (settled
OQ the banks of the Lower Oroonoko, or Uri-
Ducu), Gaatlaos. All the tribes, designated by
Figneroa as Caribbees were coademaed to sla-
very ; and might at will be sold, or exterminat-
ed by war. In these bloody stru^les, the Ca-
ribbee women, after the death of tbeir has*
baodSi defended themselves with such despe-
ration, that, Anghiera says*, they were taken for
tribes of Amazons. The odious declamations of
a Dominican monk (Thomas Hortiz) cootribot-
ed to prolong the misfortones, that weighed on
whole nations. However, amid the cmeltiea
exercised toward the Caribbees, it is consoling
to find, that there existed some courageous men,
who caused the voice of humanity and justice
to be heard. Some of the monks embraced an
opinion different from that which they had at
first adopted-f*. In an age when there could be
no hopes of founding public liberty on dnl
institutions, an attempt was made to defend
at least individual liberty. "That is a law most
holy {ley sanctissima)," says Gomara, in 1551,
*' by which our emperor has prohibited the
reducing of the Indians to slavery. It is just,

• Ocean., Dee. 3, lib. is, p. 63, D. See also al» ne, vol. v,
p. 3»4.

t Gomara, Hitt.dt M., M. \\x.

that meoy who are all born free^ sboald not
beocHne the slaves of one another.'*

We observed with surprise, daring our abode
in the Caribbee missions^ the facility with which
young Indians of eighteen or twenty years of
age, when raised to the employment of algua^
cU^ or fiscal^ harangued the municipality for
i^hole hours. Their enunciation, the gravity of
their deportment, the gestures which accompa-
med their speech, all denoted an intelligent peo-
ple capable of a high degree of civilization. A
Franciscan monk, who knew enough of the Ca--
ribbee language to preach in it occasionally,
made us notice in the discburses of the Indians,
how long and harmonious the periods were,
without ever being confused or obscure. Parti-
cular inflexions of the verb indicate previously
the nature of the object, whether it be animate
or inanimate, one or many. Little annexed
forms {suffuva) mark the gradations of senti*
ment ; and here, as in every language formed
by an unshackled development, the clearness
arises from that regulating instinct *, which cha-
racterises human intelligence in the various
states of barbarism and cultivation. The whole

* IVtUiam von Humboldt^ on the comparative Study of
Languages, and the different Epochs of their Development,
1821 Cu> Gerraaa)^ p. 18. See ako, vol. iii> p. 272 ; and
Tol, V, p. 296.

village assembles on holidays before the churcb,
after the celebration of mass. The yoang girk
place at the feet of the missiODary &ggotB of
wood, bunches of plantains, and other provision
of which he stands in need for his hoosehold.
At the same time the gwemador, the,)&ca( and
other mnntciijal officers, allof whom are Indians,
exhort the natives to labonr, proclum the occn-
patiions of the ensuing week, reprimand the idle,
and, since it must be told, severely cudgel the
untractable. The strokes of the cane are re-
cdved mth the same insensibility with which
they are given. These acts of distributive jus-
tice appear very long and frequent to travellers,
who cross the Llanos in their way from Angos-
tura to the coasts. It were to be wished, that
the priest did not dictate these corporal punish-
ments at the instant of quitting the altar, and
that be were not in his sacerdotal habits the
spectator of this chastisement of men and wo-
men ; but this abuse, or, if the reader prefer
the term, this want of propriety, arises from the
principle oo which the strange government of
the missions is founded. The most arUtrary
civil power is strictly connected with the rights,
which the priest exerts over the little commu-
nity; and, although the Caribbees are not
cannibals, and we woold wish to see them treat-
ed irith mildness and indulgence, it may be
conceived, that energetic measures are some-

tifoes neowB^y, ^ mi^^i9 WiquMUty in this
rifting society^

The difficplty ^f fi^ip^ the Caribb^eig to the
Boil is 80 mncl) ^he greater^, ^ they have been £cir
Hg» \n the h^bit of ^r^^diog ^n the rivers. We
have described aboye this active people» at onoe
OQiQipercial ^nd wfurj^^e, ocpupi^ iq th^ tra^
qf slaves, an4 carrying ffMS^baqdise from the
QoafftS of Putch Quyfipa to the bas^n of th^
Amazon. Tkfi travelling C^ribbeef were fJ^
Bplf harians of equipppti^ America ; i^ccordinglj
the necessity of counting the objects of their
little trade, and transmitting intelligence, ha4 .
led them to extend and improve the use of the
quippoes, or, as they call them in the missions,
the cordon cilhs con nudos *. These quippoes or
knots are found in Canada-)*, in Mexico (where
Botgrini procured some froip the Tlasc^Itecks),
in Peru, in the plains of Guyana, in central
Asia, in China, and in India. As rosaries, they
are become objects of devotion in the hands of
the Christians of the east ; as swanpans, they
have been employed in the operj^tions 0/ ipanvial
or palpable arithmetic by the Chinese, the Ta-
tars^ and the Russians %. The independant Ca-

* Vol. V, p. 860.

i Caulin, p. 333.
t f^iewB of the Cordilleras, and American Manumentif vol.
i, p. les ; ii, p. 146. Od the quippoet found »t the Oroono-
ko, among the Tamanacks^ see Giii, toI. ii^ p. • The

ribbees, iHio inhabit the country to little knovn
between the sonrces of the Oroonoko, and those
of the rivers Esseqnibo, Carony, and Farima*,
are divided into tribes ; and, like the nations
of the MisBonri, Chili, and ancient Gennaoy,
form a political confederation. This system is
the most suitable to the spirit of liberty, which
prevfuls in those wariike hordes, who see no ad-
vantage in the ties of society bat for common
defence. The pride of the Caribbees leads them
to withdraw themselves from every other tribe ;

qnippoea of slriogs of the oations of Upper Loouiaiw an
called wampum. {Joh» FUtoH, HuL or Knotncky, p. lOSi
Charltvoir, Uitt. <U la Nottv. Rantx, vol. v, p. 306 { Itpag*
de Pratt, Hitt. de la Louitiana, rot. ii, p. 196.) Aagbier»
relates (Ocean., Dec. 3, Hb. 10, p. 65, D.) a very canons
fact, ffhicb bocids to prove, that the IraTelling Caribbeea had
■ome idea of boond books, like those of the Mexicans aod
oar own. I have elsewhere made known (Views of the
Cordilleras, vol. i, p. 174.) the carious discovery of roils of
paintings fonnd on the banks of the Ucayale, among the
PsDoes. The Peruvians had also, beside the qu^poa,
hieroglyphical paintings limilar to those of Mexico, but ru-
der. (Garcia, Origen de lot JndUu, p. 01.) Since the con-
qnest painted pages have been nsed by tfaein for confession.
Perhaps the fagitire Caribbee, who came to Darien from the
inlaad couotry, and of whom Anghiera makes mention, had
had an opporiuuity of seeing at Quito, or at Cundinamarca,
some Peruvian book. I employ, like the first Spanish tra.
vellers, the word book, since it by no means presumes the use
of aJphabelical writiug.

* Kio Branco, or Kio de Aguas Blancas,

eveD from those, to whom from their language
they, have some relation.

They claim the same separation in the mis-
sions ; which seldom prosper, when any attempt
is made, to associate them with other mix-
ed communities, that is with villages, where
every hut is inhabited by a family belong-
ing to another nation, and speaking another
idiom. The chiefs of the independant Ca-
ribbees are hereditary in the male line only^
the children of sisters being excluded from the
succession. This is founded on a system of mis-
trust, which denotes no great purity of man-
ners ; it is the custom of India, of the Ashantees
(in Africa), and among several tribes * of the

* AmoDg the Hurons (Wiandots) and the Natchez, the
succession to the magistracy is continaed hy the women :
it J8 not the son who succeeds, but the son of the sister, or of
the nearest relation in the female line. This mode of suc-
cession is said to be the most certain, because the supreme
power remains attached to the blood of the last chief; it is a
practice that ensures legitimacy. (Filson, p. 183.) I have
foaod ancient traces of this strange mode of succession, so
common in Africa and in the East Indies, in the dynasty of
the kings of the West India islands. ** In testamentis autem
qoam fatae sese habeant intellig^amns : ex sorore prima pri«
mogenitam, si insit, relinquunt regnorum hsredem j sin minus,
ex altera^ vel tertia, si qx secunda proles desit : quia a suo
aangaine oreatam sobolem cam certum est. Filios autem
uxomm aaarum pro non legitimis habent. Uxores dacant
qaotquot placet £x uxoribns chariores cum regulo sepeliri
patiuntur.'' Petr. Mart, Ocean,, Dec, 3, lib, ix, p. 63, B.

savages ai NorUi America. The yoqqg chiefs,
like the youths who are deffirous of narryiiig,
are sabjected to the most extraordiitary ftsts
and peqances. They are purged with the fruit
of some of the eupborbiaceie ; are sweated va
stoves ; and take mediciuea prepared by the
iHorirris or Piackest which are called iu the
transall^hanian couutries war-physkk. The
Caribbee marirrit are the most celebrated of aU :
at oQoe priests, jugglers, and phyMcians^ fhey
traosmit to their successors their doetriac; th^r
artifices, and tbe regwdies they employ. The
latter are accoaipaaied with layiag ou oi hands,
apd certain gestures and mysterious practices,
which appear to be coDuected with the most
anciently known processes of animal magnetism.
Although I had opportuniUes of seeing many
persons, who had closely observed the confed-
erated Caribbees, I could not learn wfa^her
the marirrit belong to a particular cast. It is
observed in North America, that, among the
Shawanese*, divided into several tribes, the
priests, who pre:)ide at the sacrifices, must be
(as among the Hebrews) of one particular tribe,
that of the Meqitachakes. Whatever may be
hereafter discovered in America respecting a

* people that tame frtun Florida, or from the Soulli fifco-
watieuj, toward ihe Nor lb. {ArchtEol. Amer., vol. i, p. 275 }
Histor. Trans. orPlii!., vol. i, p. 28. 69, 77, 83).

sacerdotal cost appears to me cakuliAed to ex-
dte great interest^ od aoeount of those priest-
kings of Peru, who called themselves the chil-
dren of the Sun ; and of those sun-kings among
the Natchez^ who involuntarily recall to mind
the Heltades of the first eastern colony of
Rhodes*. In wder to study thoroughly tlie
Banners and customs of the great Caribbee
nation, it is requisite to visit the missions of the
Uanos, those of the Carony, and the savannahs
that extend to the South of the mountains of
PkLcaraymo. Ttie more we learn to know them,
say the monks of Saint Francis, the more we
lose the prejudices, which prevaU against them
in Europe, as being more savage, or, to use the
simple expression of a lord of Montmartin, as
being less liberal than the other tribes of Guy-
ana^. The language of the Caribbees of the
Continent is the same from the sources of Rio
Branco to the steppes of Cumana. I was fortu^
nate enough to procure a manuscript, contain-
ing an extract, made by father Sebastian Gar-
cia, of the Oramatica de la lengua Caribe del
P. Fernando Ximenes. This valuable manu-
script has been used in the researches made by

* Diod. lib. V, § 66 ; Clavier, vol. i, p. 28S.

+ <' The Caribbees are tall and plump ; but are little dki-
posed to^he liberal, for they like to feed od human flesh,
Kiards, imd crocodiles/' (Descript. g6i. de VAm^kiuepar
Pierre d*Amiy, Seigneur de Montmariin, 1600, p. 118.)

Mr. Vater *, and latdy on a more compr^n*
sive plan by my brotber/Mr. I^lliam de Hum-
boldt, on the stracture of the American Ian-
gaagea.

On quitting tbe mission of Can, we had some
difficulties to settle with our Indian muleteera.
They had perceived to our great astonishmenl,
that we bad brought skeletons with us from the
cavern of Atamipe-f-; and they were firmly
persnaded, that the beasts of bnrden, which car-
ried " the bodies of their old relations^" would
perish in the journey. Every precaution we
had taken had been useless ; nothing escapes
the penetration and the sense of smell of a
Caribbee, and it required all the authority of
the missionary, to forward our baggage. We
had to cross the Rio Can in a boat, and tbe
Rio de agtia clara, by fording, I might almost
say by swimming. Tbe quicksands of tbe bed
of this river render the passage very difficult at
the season when the waters are high. The
strength of the currents seems surprimng in so
flat a country ; but the rivers of the steppes are
precipitated, 'to use a fine expression of Pliny
the younger J," less by the declivity of their

" MithridaUt, vol. iii, p. 686. Father Gili had no know-
ledge of this maouscript. Saggio, vol. iii, p. 410.
t See above, vol, v, p. 615—23.

XEpat., lib. viii, ep. 6. " Clittimnus non lori derexiUle,
aeH ipsft sui copia cl i|uaGi pondere impellitiir."

course, than by their abundance, and as it were
by " their own weight.** We had two bad sta-
tions, at Matagorda and at Los Riecetos, before
we reached the little town of Pao. We met
every where with the same objects ; small hots
constructed of reeds, and roofed with leather ;
men on horseback armed with lances guarding
the herds ; herds of cattle half wild, remarkable
for their uniform colour, and disputing the pas-
turage with the horses and mules. No sheep or
goats are found on these immense steppes!
Sheep do not breed kindly in equinoctial Ame-
rica, except on the table-lands above a thousand
toises high, where their fleece is long, and some-
times very fine. In the ardent climate of the
plains, where the wolves give place to jaguars,
these small ruminating animals, destitute of
means of defence, and so slow in their move-
ments, are unable to preserve themselves in great
nombers.

We arrived on the 15th of July at the Funded
donor Villa del Pao, founded in 1 744, and placed
very fitvourably to serve as a commercial station
between Nueva Barcelona and Angostura. It*s
real name is el Omcepcion del Pao. Alcedo, La
Cruz Olmedilla, and many other geographers,
have mistaken it*s situation ; confounding this
small town of the Llanos of Barcelona either
with San Juan Bauptisto del Pao of the Llanos
of Caracoas» or with £1 Valle del Pao de Za-

rate *. Though the weather was cloa^, I suc-
ceeded in obtainiog some hdghts of > Centauii,
Benring to determioe the httitade of the place ;
which is 8° 37' 57". Some altitudes of the Sud
gare me 67° 8' 1*2" for the longitude, supposing
Angostura to be 66° IS' 21". The astronomical
determinations of Galabozo ■[■ and Concep-
cifxi del Pao are sufficiently important to the
geography of this country, where, in the midst
of savannahs, fixed points are altogether waot-
ing. Some fhiil-trees grow in the vicinity oi
Fao, which is^araredrcumstance in the steppes.
We even found some cocoa trees, that appeared
Tory Tigorons, notwithstanding the great dis-
tance ofthe sea, I lay some stress on this last
«bservaUon, because douhts have recently been
started respecting the veracity of travdlero, who
assert, that they saw the cocoa tree, which is a
pabn lof the there, at Tombuctoo, in the centre
of Africa X- It happened to us several tiroes, to
see cocoa trees amid the cultivated spots on tbe
banks of thc'Rio Magdalena, more than a hun-
dred leagues from the coast.

Five days, which to us appeared very tedious,
jbrought ns 'from Villa del Pao to the port of

* Caulin, p. 343. Depons, vol. iii, p. 209.

f See Above, vol. iv, p. 377.

t Accordiag to the report of the sailor Adams, and that
of hadjee Talub Ben Jelow, iaFitzdarencc's Route acrou
loiiia, p. 4M.

Naeva Barcelona. As we advanced^ the tky
became m6re serene, ttbe soil more diaO^y, and
the atmosphere more fiery. The heat> from
which we suffered, is not entirely owing to the
temperature of the air, but is produced by the
fine sand mingled with it, that darts in every
direction, and strikes against the fiu^e of the
traveller, as it does against the ball of the ther-
mometer. I never observed however the mer-
cury rise in America, amid a wind cfsand^ above
45*6° cent. Captain Lyon, with whom I bad
the pleasure of an ihterview on his return from
Moorzonk, a|^>eared to Bie also indined to
Ihiak, that the temperature of ^y-two degrees,
which is so <rften felt in Ferzan, is produced in
great part by the grains of qtmrtz suspended in
the ^mosphere. Between Pao, and the village
of Santa Cruz de Cachipo, founded in 1749, and
inhabited by five hundred Caribbees *, we pass-
ed the western elongation of the little table-land,
known by the name of Mesa de Amana. This
table-land forms a point of partition between the
OiYionoko, the Guarapiche, and the coast Of
New Andalasia. It's height is so inconsidera-
ble» that it would scarcely be an obstadte to the
estaUUshment of an inland navigation in tins
part of the Llanos. The Boo Mano however.

* The popnlatioa, in 1764, w«s only one hondred and
twenty soals. Cauimf p*'M2.

vhich flows into the Oroonoko above the
eace of the Carooy, and which D'Ao'
know Dot on what authority) has marked
first editioD of his great map as issuing fr
lake of Valencia, and receiving the waters
Guayra, coold never have served as a i
canal between two basins <tf rivers. Nc
cation of this kind exists in the step
great nnmber of Caribbee Indians, wh
inhabit the missions of Piritoo, were settl
meiiy at the north and east of tbe table-
Amana, between Maturin, the mouth of I
Arco, and the Gnarapicbe ; it was by the
uons of don Joseph Careno, one of tb<
enterprising governors of the province '
mana, that a general migration of indep
Caribbces toward the banks of tbe Lower
noko in 1720 was occasioned.

The whole of this vast plmn consists,
have shown above *, of secondary form:
wtucb toward the South rest immediately
granitic mountains of the Oroonoko. 1
tbe north-west they are separated by a i
band oi transition rocks -f from the pri
monntuns of the shore of Caraccas. This
dance of secondary rocks, which cover v
interruption a space of more tlian sever

• Vol iv, p. 384—7.
f Vol, iv, p,27e— 82.

sand square leagues (reckoning only that part of
the Uanos, which is bounded by the Rio Apure
on the Souths and by the Sierra Nevada de Me-
rida and the Paramo de las Rosas on the West),
is a phenomenon so much the more remarkable
in that region of the globe, because in the whole
of the Sieri-a de la Parima, between the right
bank of the Oroonoko and the Rio Negro, there
is^ as in Scandinavia, a total absence of second*
ary formations. The red sandstone, containing
some vestiges of fossil wood (of the fomilyof
monocotyledons), is seen every where in the
steppes of Calabozo ; farther East it is overlaid
by calcareous and gypseous rocks,^ which con-
ceal it from the research of the geologist.
The marly gypsum, of which we collected spe-
cimens near the Caribbee mission of Cachipo,
appeared to me to belong to the same formation
as the gypsum of Ortiz. To class it according
to the type of European formations, I would
range it among the gypsums, often muriatife-
rous, that cover the Alpine limestone, or zech--
stein. Farther North, toward the mission of
Ban Josef de Curataquiche, Mr. Bonpland pick-
ed up in the plain some fine pieces of ribband
jasper^ or Egyptian pebbles. We did not see
them in their native place enchased in the rock ;
and are ignorant whether they belong to a very
recent conglomerate, or to that limestone which
we saw at the Morro of New Barcelona, and

VOL. VI. R

•whiiA is not transitioii limestone, though it ooii>
tuns beda of schistom juper (kie$elscltt^er).

It is impomble to cross the steppes or savm-
naha of South America, vithoat iodulgiogthe
hop^ that science will one day profit from the
many adrant^es they offer, above any other
region itf the Globe, for measariog the degrees
of a terrestrial arch in the £reotion of a
meridian, or perpendicalarly to the metidistn.
Thar great extent from east to wnt (would
rendra* the measurement of fiome decrees ot
longitude extremely easy ; and this c^ralioD
would be very intepesting with respect to the
precise knowledge of the figure ef the Eartli.
Tbe UanM of Venezuela are thirteen degrees
east of the ftlaces, where, on the one ade, the
IF^och aeademiciaos, by triangles restinif on
the summits of the Cordilleras, and on the other,
MasOD and Dixon, reaonncing (in the plains
<^ Penns^ania) the aid of trigonometry, cducu-
ted-their measurements ; and tbey are aeaily on
Hie same parallel, which is a very important
circumstance, as thfe tablfrJland of India, betmen
the Jimma«nd Madura,- wfaich was the theatreof
OekmelLambton'scateetlent operations. Wfaat-
erer doubts may yet be entenwned eoac^oii^
the precision of instrameots, the errors of tibtet-
vatioDs. and the influence of local attractions, it
would be difficult in the present state of our
knowledge, to deny the inequalities of the flat-

tening of the Earth. When a, more intimate
coDnexioa is establidied between the free go-
veraffients of La Plata and Venezuela, advan^
tage wiU no doubt be taken of the public traiv
qoillity^ to execute on the north and south ^
the ^uator, in the Uanos and the pampas, the
Bieasnrements we propose. The ilanos of Pao
and Calabozo are nearly under the same jneci-
dian as the pampas south of Cordova ; and the
difference of latitude of these plains, ajs smooth
as if tbey had been levelled by a long abode
of the •waters^ is forty-five degrees. These geo*-
desic and astronomical observations woqlH cMt
little, on account of the nature of t'»*. places.
In 1734 La Condamine* showed how much
more useful and expeditious it would have been,
to have sent the academicians into the plains
(perhaps somewhat too woody and marshy),
tiiat extend on the south of Cayenne toward the
caofluenee of the Rio Xingu and Amazon, than
to b^ive compelled them to struggle, on the
t^le4and of Quito, with coM, with tempest^,
and with the eruptions of volcanoes.

The Sfpanish American govevuments ought
not to consider the projected operations in the

•^ Fcjf.f ^ fEqtuit.f p. 104 And WL if we were to seek
hr « GOfuitry entirelj flat and open, ui$der the equator iUHf, I
tbonld ptefer the plains extepdin^ioatb of the chain iif the.
«io«ntains of Pacamymo, toward the mouth of the Rio
BraocOf to those which ha^e been. noted by M. dehi Conda^
ame. See ahore, rol. t, p. 789 and 861.

E 2

fl2

tianos, combined with the obflerratioiM of the
peDdalum, as iateresting to Gcience akrae ; Xhtj
are at the same time the principal bases of maps,
without which any regnlar administration of the
afiairs of a country is impossible. Hitherto this
has been necessarily limited to a simple astrono-
niical sketch ; this being the surest and most
ready means on a sarface of large extent. At>
tempts have been made, to determine the loogi-
tade of certain points on the coast and in the
interior in an absolute manner ; that is, by celes-
tial phenomena, or series of lunar distances.
The most important places have been fixed
according to tbe three coordinates of latitude,
longitude, and height. The intermediate poinU
have been deduced ckronometricallj/ from the
principal points. The very uniform movement
of the chronometers in the boats, and the
strange ioflexions of the Oroonoko, have facili-
tated this connection. By bringing the chro-
nometers to the point of departure ; or by ob-
serving t^ce, going and coming, at an interme-
diary point, joining the extremities of the chromh
metric lines* at two places very distant from each

* I meaa by this eitpression, perhipa improper, tb« Inei
tbat naite poiats, the longitude of which bas been detennined
b; meitDs or the cbrooometer, and which are cooseqneotlj
dependant do one another. It is oo the proper dispusitioo of
these line*, that the precision of a measuremeot merely a»-
tronomicat dei^ods.

other, and the podtion of which is foaaded oil
dMolute or simply astronomical phenomena;
we are capable of estimating the sum of the
errors that may have been committed. It was
thos (and no determination of longitude had been
made before me in the interiour) that I coa-
neoted astronomically Cumana, Angostura, Es-
oeralda, San Carlos del Rio Negro, the Great
Cataracts, San Fernando de Apure, Portocabel-
lo, and Caraccas. These determinations contain
within just limits an area of more, than ten thou-
sand square leagues. The system of the positions
on the shore, and the valuable results of the plans
executed by the maritime expedition of Fidalgo,
have been joined to the system of the positions on
the Oroonoko and the Rio Negro by two chro-
nometric lines, one of which crosses the llanos of
Calaboso, and the other the llanos of Pao. The
observations on the Parima present a band, that
divides into two parts an immense extent of
land (seventy- three thousand square leagues) of
various kinds, not one point of which had till
then been astronomically determined *• These
labours, which I undertook with feeble means,
but according to a general plan, have furnished,
I venture to flatter myself, the first astronomi-
cal basis of the geography of those countries ;
but it is time to multiply them, to improve them,

• Sec abof e, yol. v, p. 788^ note f*

and abore alf to substitute for them, where
cnltivation of tbecouatryperinit8» trigoBonw
operations. On tbe two boilers of the Ua
that extend like ft g^ilf from tbe delta <^
Orooooko to the bdowt moustaios of Mer
two granitic cbains, toward the north and
Ward the south, stretch parallel to the eqas
These ancient coasts of an interior bam
visible from afar in tbe steppes, and might m
to establish signals. Tbe Peak of Gnaobi
CocoUar, and Tnmiriquiri, the B«rgaatla,
Morros of San Juan and San Sebastian, the i
lerai that bounds the llattoa like a rocky w
the little Cerro de Florts which I saw at C*
bozo, and this at a moment when the mm
was almost null, will serve for the series
triangles toward the northern limit of the plai
A great part of these summits is visible at
same time in the Uands, and in the cnltira'
stripe of the coast. Toward the south the g
nitic cbains of the Oroonoko or tbe Parima <
a little distant from the borders of the step
and less favorable to geodesic operations. 1
mountains however, that rise above Angosti
and Muitaco, the Cerro del nrano near O
earn, the Pan de Azucar, and Sacuima n<
the confluence of the Apure and the Oroonoi
may be very usefal ; especially if the angles
taken in cloudy weather, so that the play
extraordinai-y refractions over a soil stron:

beaked may not disfigura or dUplace Uie smn-
mitB of mountains aeon under angles of too
little altitude. Signals by firing gunpowder, the
reflection of which toward the sky is distinguish*
ed at such a distance, will be of conndmibla
assistance. I thought it might be useful to
mention in this place what I had derived from
my knowledge of the localities, and my study
qS the geography of America. Mr. hanz, a dis<^
Anguished geometrician, who unites with an
extensive knowledge of every branch of mathe^
maiics the practical use of astronomical instruiii
ments, is at present employed in improving the
geography of those qouutries ; aod in executiug»
under the auspices of the free government of
Venezuela, a part of the projects, to which in the
year 1799 I in vain called the attention of the
Spanish ministry.

We rested on the night of the 16th of July in
the Indian village of Santa Cruz de Cacbipo^
This mission was founded in 1749 by the union
of several Caribbee families ; who inhabited the
inundated and unhealthy banks of the Lagune-
tas de Auachcy opposite the confluence of the
Zdr Puruay with the Oroonoko. We lodged at
the house of the missiouary*; and^on examining
the renters of the parish, we saw how ra*
pid a progress the prosperity of the community

libd made, owiog to bis zeal and inteltigence.
Since we had reached the middle oS the steppes,
the beat had increased to such a degree, that we
should have preferred travelling; no more dur-
ing the day ; but we were without arms, and the
llaniu were then infested by an immense number
of robbers, who assassinated the whites that fell
into their bands with an atrocious refinement of
cruelty. Nothing is more deplorable than the
AdministruUon of justice in the colonies beyond
sea. We every where found the prisons filled'
with malefactors, on whom sentence is not
passed till after waiting seven or eight yeare.
Nearly a third of the prisoners succeed in mak-
ing their escape ; and the unpeopled plmns,
filled with herds, afford them both an asylum
and food. They commit their depredations on
horeeback, in the manner of the Bedoweens.
The inaalubiity of the prisons would be at it's
height, if they were not emptied from time to
time by the flight of the prisoners. It often
happens also, that sentences of death, tardily
pronounced by the audiencta of Caraccas, can-
not be executed for want of a hangman. In
these cases a barbarous custom prevails, which
I have already mentioned, of pardoning one cri-
minal on the condition of his hanging the others.
Our guides related to us, that a short time
before our aixival on the coast of Cumana,
a Zambo, known for the great ferocity of his

manners, determined to screen himself fromr
pnnishment by becoming the execotioner. The
preparations for the execation however shook
his resolntion ; he felt a horror of himself, and^
preferring death to the disgrace of thns savings
bis life, called again for his irons, which had
been struck off. He did not long suffer deten^
tion^ and underwent his sentence by the base-
ness of one of bis accomplices. This awakeningof
a sentiment of honour in the soul of a murderer
is a psychologic phenomenon worthy of reflection*
The man, who bad so often shed blood when
stripping the traveller in the steppe^ recoiled at
the idea of becoming the passive instrument of
jostice^ to inflict upon others a punishment,
which he felt perhaps he himself deserved.

If, in the peaceful times when Mr. Bonpland
and myself had the good fortune to travel
through both Americas, the llanos were even
then the refuge of malefactors, who had com-
mitted crimes in the missions of the Oroonoko,
or who had escaped from the prisons on the
coast, how much worse must this state of things
have become in consequence of civil discords^
and amid that sanguinary struggle, which has
terminated by giving liberty and independance
to those vast regions ! Our wastes and heaths
are but a feeble image of the savannahs of the

New Continent, which for the space of eight or
ten thousand square leiqgues are smooth as the

sur&ce of the sea. The immeiuity of their
extent inanres impniuty to vagabonds ; for titey
are better concealed in ^e Bavannahs than in
oor ntountains and fwests ; and it is easy to
ooacdv^ tbat the artifices of a European police
could not be easily pat to pracUce, where Uiere
are travellers and no roads, herds and do herds-
men, and farms so solitary, tbat, notwithstaod-
ing the powerful action of the mirage, several
daya^ journey may be made without seeing.one
^pear within the boriaoo.

In traversing the llanos of Caraccas, Barce-
lona, and Cumana, which succeed each other
firom west to east, from the snowy mountuns of
Merida to the Delta of the Orooneko, we ask
ourselves, whether these vast tracts of land
be destined by Nature to serve eternally for
pasture, or the plough and the spade of the
labourer will one day subject them to coltiva-
tion. This question is so much the more impcw-
taut, as the llanos, placed at the two extremities
of South America, are obstacles to the political
union of the provinces they separate. They
prevent tbe agriculture of the coast of Vene-
zuela from extending toward Guyana, and tbat
of Potosi toward tbe mouth of the Rio de la
Plata. The interposed steppes preserve with
the pastoral life something rude and wild, which
separates and keeps them remote from tbe
civilization of countries anciently cultivated.

It is for the same reason, that in the war of
iodependaiice, they bave been the theatre of the
stragj^le betweeD the hostile parties, and that
the inhabitants of Calabozo bave almoet seen
the &te of the confederated provinces of Vene*
znela and Cnndinamarca dedded nnder their
widls. I could wishy that in assigning limits
to the neir states, and to tbdr subdivisions^
there may be found oo cause to repent here^
uftet having lost sigbt ctf the importance of the
llanos^ and the influence they may have on the
disunion of communities, which important com*
mon interests should bring together* The step*
pes would serve for natural limits, like the seas^
or the virgin forests of the tropics, if armies
could not cross them with a facility so much
the greater, as they furnish in their innumera*
ble troops of horses and mules, and herds of
oxen, all the means of conveyance and subsis-
vsnce*

In no other part of the world are the confix
gnration of the ground and the state of iVs
surface marked by stronger features; and no
where do they act more sensibly on the divisi-
ons of the social body, already divided by the
original difference of colour, and by indiindual
liberty. It is not in the power of man to change
that diversity of climates, which the inequalities
of the ml produce on a small space of ground^
and whdeb give rise to the antipathy <^ the inbo^

iHtanta of tierra calietUa for those of tierra fria ;
an antipathy foaaded on the modifioatioiu of
character, faabits, aad manners. These moral
and poUtJcal e£fect8 are manifested especially
in coantries, where the extremes of boght and
d^ression are most striking. There the monn-
UUQs and the low lands have the greatest mass
and extent. Such are New Grenada or Condi-
namarca. Chili, and Pern, where the language
of the inca furnishes many happy and nataral
expressions to denote this climatic oppoutioii
of constitution, inclinations, and intellectual
faculties. In the state of Venezaela on the cxxa.-
tiary, the matdaneros of the lofty mountains
of Bocono, Hmotes, and Merida, form hnt a
very slight part of the total population ; and the
populous valleys of the chain of the coast of
Caraccas and Caripe are but three or four hun-
dred toises above the level of the sea. It hence
results, that in the political union of the states
of Venezuela and New Grenada under the name
of Columbia, the ^reat mountain population of
Santa-F£, Popayan, Pasto, and Quito, has been
balanced, if not entirely, at least more than
half, by the addition of eight or nine hundred
thousand inhabitants of t^rra caUenie. The
state of the surface of the soil is less immutable
than it's configuration. We may conceive the
.possibiUty of seeing the marked oppositions be-
tween the impenetrable forests of Guyana, and-

the Uanos destitute of trees and covered with
grass^ in time disappear : but what ages must
pass, to render any change sensible in the im-
mense steppes of Venezuela^ Meta^ Caqaeta^
and Buenos Ayres ! What we have seen of the
power of man struggling against the force of
nature in Gaul^ in Germany, and recently, but
still beyond the tropics, in the United State^,
can scarcely give any just measui*e of what we
must expect from the progress of civilization
in the torrid zone. I have mentioned above
how slowly forests are made to disappear by
fire and the axe, when the trunks of trees
are from eight to ten feet in diameter; and
when in falling they rest one upon the other^^
and their wood, moistened by almost continual
rains, is of an excessive hardness. The planters^
who inhabit the Uanos or pampas^ do not ge-
nerally recognize the possibility of subjecting
the soil to cultivation ; it is a problem which is
not yet solved in a general view. The savan-
nahs of Venezuela have not for the most part
the same advantage as those of North America^
which are traversed longitudinally by three great
rivers, the Missouri, the Arkansas, and the Re4
River of Natchitoches ; the savannahs of Aran-
ra, Calabozo, and Pao, are crossed in a trans-
verse direction only by the tributary streams qf
the Oroonoko, the westernmost of which (the
Cari, the Pao, the Acaru, and the Manapire)

bam T«T little mter to -the season of drongfat.'
Hiese itreama scaredy flov at all toward the
north ; so that io the ceatre of the steppes thete
mmauiB vast tracts of Umd (bancat and me$ts)
ftigbtAilly parched. The eastern pula. ferti-
lized by the Portugaesa, the Masparro, and the
Orivante, and by the tritHitaiy streams, vbich
are very near each other, <tf these thre6 rivers,
are the most susceptiUe ni cultivB^a. The
ami is sand mixed vitb day, coveriag a bed
of quarts pebbles. The vegetable mould, the
printripai soarce of the nutrition of plants, is
every where eatremely thin. It is scarcely aug-
mented by the fall of the leaves ,- which, thoagh
less •periodieai in the forests of the torrid sone,
takes i^ace however, as in temperate cUmates.
During itboasands of ^ars the Uaaos have been
destitute of trees and hrnshwood ; a few scat-
tered palms in the savannah add little to that
liydivKt of carbon, that esobractive matter, wtuch
(aoeordiDg to the expaiiBents of Saassun^ Da-
vy, and Braconnot) gtves fertility to tiie wuL
l%e sodal pteots, that almost exclusively prs>
^onunale in the steppes, are >mo«ocotyledmiB ;
md % lis 'known iiaw much grasses impovoiA
the^soil, into which iheir roots with ofese fibres
pmetrate. This action of the killingias, paspa-
IniM, and condiri, which form tbe tur^ is
everywhere the same; bnt wbere the rock is
veadylo'pieroe the earth, this varies according

as dt reBte on red sandstene, or on compact lime-
stone and g3rpsnm ; it vaiies according as peri-
odical inundations have accumulated mud on
the low^r grounds, or as the shock oi the waters
has carried away from the small elevations the
fittle soil that covered them. Many solitary
cultivated spots already exist in the midst of the
pastures, where running water, and tvAs of the
maaritia palm, have been fonnd. These fiums,
sown with maize, and planted with casaavay
will multiply coraiderably, if an increase of the
trees and shrubs be effected.

The aridity and the excessive heat of the
mesM^ do not depend solely on the state of
their surftM», and the local reverberation of the
soil ; thdr climate is modified by the adjacent
r^ons, by the whole steppe^ of which they
form a part. In the deserts of Africa or Arabia,
in the Uanas of South America, in the vast
heaths that reach from the extremity of Jutland
to the mouth of the Scheldt, the stability of
the limits of the desert, the savannahs, and the
downs, depends for the most part on their im*-
mense extent, and the nakedness these plains
have acquired from some revolution destruc^
tive of the ancient v^tation of our planet.
By their esttent, theii* coBtinuity, and itheirmass,

* little taUe-landBy'toiiby parts more elevated thm ^Ae
roK of itbe'iteppe.

they oppose the JDroads of cultivatioD, and pre-
serve, like inlaad gulb, the stability of thar
boundaries. I will not touch npoa tbe great
question, whether iu the Sahara, that Mediter-
ranean of moving sands, the germs of organic
hfe are increased in our days. In proportion as
our geographical knowledge has extended, we
see in the eastern part of the desert islets of
verdnre, oases covered with date-trees, crowd
t(^;ether in more numerous arctupelagoes, and
open thdr ports to tbe caravans; but we are
ignorant whether the form of tbe oases have not
remained constantly tbe same since the time
of Herodotus. Our annals are too incomplete
and too short, to follow Nature in her slow and
progressive progress. From these spaces en-
tirely bare, whence some violent catastrophe
has swept away the v^table coverbg and tbe
mould ; from those deserts of Syria and Africa,
which, by their petrified wood, attest the changes
they have undergone ; let us now turn our eyes
to the Ikmos covered with grasses, to tbe dift-
cusuon of phenomena that come nearer the
drcle of our daily observations. The planters
settled in the steppes of America have formed
respecting the possibility of a more general
cultivation the same opinions, as those wbidi
I deduced from the climatic action of these
steppes considered as surfaces, or continuous,
masses. They have observed, that downs en-

closed within cultivated and wooded land resist
the labourer a shorter time than soils alike
circumscribed, but making part of a vast surfoce
of the same nature. This observation is in fact
extremely just, whether the soil be covered with
heath, as in the north of Europe ; with cistuses,
mastic-trees, or palmettoes,i as in Spain; or
with cactuses, argemones, or brathys,as in equi^
Doctial America. The more space the associa-
tion occupies, the more resistance do the social
plants oppose to the labourer. With this gene-
ral cause are joined in the llanos of Venezuela
the action of the small grasses, that impoverish
the soil ; the total absence of trees and brush-
wood ; the sandy winds, the ardour of which
is increased by the contact of a surface, that
absorbs the rays of the Sun during twelve
hours, and on which no shadow is ever project-
ed, except that of the stalks of the aristides,
chanchuses, and paspalums. The progress, which
the vegetation of large trees, and the cultivation
of dicotyledonous plants, have made in the vici-
nity of towns, for instance around Calabozo
and Pao, prove what may be gained upon the
steppe, by attacking it in small portions, enclos-
ing it by degrees, and dividing it by copses, and
canals of irrigation. Perhaps the influence of
the winds, which render the soil sterile, might
be diminished, by sowing in the large way,
as on fifteen or twenty acres, the seeds of the

VOL. VI. F

psidium, the croton, the cassia, or the tatnariad,
which prefer dry and open spots. I am &r
from beHeriog; that men will ever canse tbe
saVaDDshs to cfisappear eatirelyrand that tbe
llanos, nsefol for pastarage and tbe commerce
of cattle, will ever be cultivated like the vallies
of Aragna, or other parts near tbe coast of
<^raccas and Cantanft : bat I am 'persuaded,
tbat in th6 lapse of ages a considerabte portion
of these plainsj ander a government fiivonible
M industry, will lose the savage aspect they
have preserved since tbe Brst conquest of the
iBuropeans.

These progi'essive changes, this increase of
population, will not only augment tbe proisperity
of those countries, but will also exert a benefi-
cial influeDce on their moral and political state.
The llanos form more than two thirds of tbat
partoftbe ancient capitania general of Caraccas,
which is situate to the nortb of the Oitkonoko and
the Rio Apure. Now, in times of civil troubles,
the vast steppes, by their solitude, and the abun-
dant subsistence they offer in their innumerable
herds, serve at once as an asylum and support
to a party, tbat is desirous of raising tbe stand-
ard of revolt. Armed bands (guerillas) may
maintain themselves, and annoy the rear of the
inhabitants of the coast, among whom civili-
zation and agricultural wealth are concentred.
If the Lower Oroonoko were not sufficiently

defended by the patriotinn of k itobost and
warlike po|)ulatiotl, the present state of the Uanos
iponld, retader the effkcta of a foreign . in vasioti
on the wes^n coasts donbly daikgerons. The
defence of the plains- is^ intiinately: eonneefied
witli that of Spani^ Guyana ; . tod» in speaking
above ^ of the strategic Impdrttooe of the
oiOuths (jf the Qroonoko^ I have shown , that
the ntimeronS' fortresses and batteries, whidi
have been raised along the northeim coast froikt
Cumana to Carthagena, are not the real ransi-
parts of the United Provinces of Venezuela. Tt
this important political view may . be added
another 6t not less conseqoeneey and still more
permanent. Ati enlightened government cakb-
Dot see without regret, that the habits of a
pastoral life, which cherish idleness and a vagar-
bond spirit, previail in more than two thirds
of it's territory. That part of the population
of the coast, which flows annually toward the
Uanos, to fix itself in the. lutta^ de ganado^,
and take care of the herds, makes a retrogade
step in civilization. How can it be doubted,
that the progress of agriculture, and the multi-'
plication of villages where there is running wa-

♦ Vol. V. p. 709—16.
f A sort of farm composed of sheds, that serve as a dwell*
ing for meo (kateras^ or peonei para el rodeo), who take care4>f
the half-wild herds of cattle and horseo) or rather inspect
them.

ter, would lead to a tenable melioration in the
moral state of the inhabitants of the steppe?
Softer manners, a taste for a sedentary way
of life, and domestic virtues, would penetrate
into them wilhagricnltural labours.

After three days' journey, we b^;an to per-
ceive the chain of the mountains of Camana,
which separates the Uanos, or, as they are ofken
called here *, " the great sea of verdure," from
the coast of the Caribbean sea. If the Bergan-
tin be more than eight hundred toises high, it
may be seen supposiug only an ordinary refrac-
tion of one fourteenth of the arch, at twenty-
seven nautical leagues distance -f-; but the state
of the atmosphere long concealed from us the
majestic new of this curtain of mountains. It
appeared at first like a fog bank, which hid the
stars oear the pule at their rising and setting ;
by degrees this body of vapours seemed to aug-
ment, condense, take a bluish tint, and become
bounded by sinuous and fixed outlines. All
that the mariner observes on approaching a new
land presents itself to the traveller on the bor-
ders of the steppe. The horizon begins to en-
large in some part, and the vault of the sky
seems no longer to rest at an equal distance on
the soil covered with grass. An inhabitant
of the Uanos is happy only when, according

* " Los lanns ton como un mar dr i/nhat."
t Vol. ii, p. 206 i anil iii, p. 01 .

to the simple expression of the eouotry, '^ he
can see every where well aronnd him.'* What
appears to us a covered country, slightly tindu-
lated, with a few scattered hiUs, is to him a
frightful region bristled with mountidns. Every
thing is relative in our judgments on the ine«
quality of the ground, and the state of the
surface. After having passed several itiontbs
in the thick forests of the Oroonoko, in pbu!^
where you are accustomed when at any distance
from the river, to jee the stars only in the se*
nith, as through the mouth of a well, a journey
in the steppes has something in it agreeable
and attractive. The traveller feels new sensa-
tions ; and, tikethe Uanero^ enjoys the happiness
'' of seeing well around him.** But this enjoy-
ment, as we ourselves experienced, is not of
long duration. There is no doubt something
solemn and imposing in the aspect of a bound-
less horizon, whether viewed from the summits
of the Andes or the highest Alps, amid the
immensity of the ocean, or in the vast plains
of Venezuela and Tucuman. Infinityof space, as
poets have said in every language, is reflected in
ourselves ; it is associated with ideas of a superior
order ; it elevates minds, that delight in the calm
of solitary meditation. It is true also, that every
view of an unbounded space bears a peculiar
character. The view enjoyed from a solitary
peak, varies according as the clouds reposing on

7«

tbe pltun extend in laven, are cxHiglomerated io
groujK, or preieat to tbe astonttbed eye through
bn»d openinga the habitations of flian, the
labour of the fidds, or the rerdaat tint of tbe
aerial'oceaD. Ad immense sheet of water, aiu-
mated by a thoagand various betags even to ii^
otioost depths, ohanging perpO^vally it's colour
and k's aspect, movable at it's sw^ce like the
demept that agitates i^ charms the ioiagiDatioa
in long voyages by seai but the 4tuty and
crenoed steppe, during a grea,t part of tbr yew,
dejects tbe mind by It's nnchanjpog monotony.
When, afto* eight or ten days' jonrn^, the tra-
velln- becomes aocostomed to the play of tlie
min^, and the brilliant verdareof a few to^ls
of'^nuritia • scattered from league to league,
he fittls tbe want of mote varied impressions ;
^ wishes to see again the great trees of the
tropics, tbe wild tush of torrents, or hills and
valhes cultivated by the hand of the labourer.
H unhappily, the phenomenon of tbe deserts of
Africa, and tiiat of the llanos or savannahs of
the New Continent (a phenomenon the cause of
which is lost in the obscurity of tbe first history
of oar planet), filled a still greater space, nature
would be deprived of a part of the beautiful
productions, which are pecnliar to tbe torrid
zone -f. The heaths of the north, tbe steppes of

* Fan palm, sago-lree of Guyana.
+ In cakiilalinft froin mapK ronslructcd on a very larg«

the Wolga and the Don, are soaroely pH^j^p m
species of plants and aniinala, than arft twfflity^
eig^t thousand sqaare leases of fla^r^op^^bs,
that extend in a semicircle from l|ort^H9^ : \o
sonth-west, from the mouths of the Oroonoka^
the banks of the Caqu^ai and the Patmoayo,
beneath the finest sky of the- globe, ftndr in thc)
cUinate of plantains and breadfraii; trftes. Tiift
influence of the equinoctial diiiif^l^, inrery ?fbc!19
else so vivifying, is not felt in pdaoes^ wbeiff tbf
great associations of grtiouaea have alfficfft^ fKr
eluded every other plants From the view ^fil^:
gronnd we might have believed, we wave in %h^
temperate zone, and even still farther tayftiicl*
the north : but a few scattered palma, and, at
the entrance of the night, the fine constellations

scale, I found the llanos of Cumana, Barcelona, and Carac-
eas^ from the delta of the Oroonoko to the northern bank of
the Apare, seven thousand two hundred square leagues ; the
Uanos between the Apure and Putuma^o, twentyrone thou-
sand leagues; the pamp€» on the norlh-west of B,uenos-
Ajrea, forty thousand square leagues; the pampas south
of the parallel of Buenos- Ay res, thirty-seren thousand square
leagues. The total area of the Uanos of South America^
coyerod with gramina, is consequently one hundred and five
thousand two hundred square leagues, twenty leagues to an
equatorial degree. (Spaia has fideon thousand of the same
leagues.) The great plain of Africa, known by the name of
Sahara, contains ten thousand square leagues, including the
scattered oases, but not Bornou or Darfour. (The Medi-
terranean has only about eiglity-uine thousand square leagues
•f surface.) See above, vol. iv, p. 314.

af the southern sky, (the Centaur, Canopua, and
the innumerable nehulse with which the Ship
is resplendent,) had not reminded us, that we
were only eight decrees distant from the equa-
tor.

A phenomenon, which had already fixed the at-
tention of Deluc, and which in these latter years
has exercised the sagacity of geolo^sts, occupied
us much during our journey across the steppes.
I allude, not to those blocks of primitive rocks,
which occur, as in the Jura, on the slope of time-
stone mountains, but to those enormous blocks
of granite and syenite, which, iu limits very dis-
tinctly marked by nature, are found scattered in
the north of Holland, Germany, and the conn-
tries of the Baltic. It seems to he now proved,
that, distributed as in radii, they came, at the
time of the ancient revolutions of our gk^,
from the Scandinavian peninsula toward the
south, and did not primitively belong to the
granitic chains of the Harz and Erzgeberg, which
they approach, without however reaching their
foot *. Born in the sandy plains of the Baltic
regions, and having till the age of eighteen
known the existence of a rock only by these
scattered blocks, I was doubly curious to see,
whether the New World would shew me any
analogous phenomenon. I was surprised at not

• Leopold de Bucb, V^oyage en None^ge, vol. i, p. 30.

seeing one of these blocks in the Uanos of Veoe*
Euela, though these immense plains are bound-
ed on the south by a group of mountains entire-
ly granitic *, and exhibiting in it's denticulated
and often columnar peaks traces of the most
violent destruction ^. Toward the north, the
granitic chain of the Silla de Caraccas and
Portocabello are separated from the llanos by
a skreen of mountains, that are schistous be-
tween Villa de Cura and Fbrapara, and calca-
reous between the Bergantin and Caripe. I
was no less struck by this absence of blocks on
the banks of the Amazon. LaCondamine had
indeed affirmed, that, from the Pongo de Man-
seriche to the strait of Pauxis not the smallest
stone was to be found. Now the basin of the
Rio Negro and of the Amazon is also but a
UanOj a plain like those of Venezuela and
Buenos-Ayres. The difference consists only in
the state of v^etation. The two llanos, situate
at the northern and soutberu extremities of
South America, are covered with gramina ; they
are savannahs destitute of tress : the interme-
diate llanoj that of the Amazon, exposed to
almost continual equatorial rains, is a thick
forest. I do not remember having heard, that

* The Sierra Paritna.
+ Vol. ir, p. 461, 46a« 409, 640, 668; rol. v, p. 177,
616, 676, 687.

tbe pampas of Buenos Ayres, or the aftvaniiah
of the Missoori t aad New Mexico, oontwa gcft-
niUo blocliB. The absence of tlua pheDtHnenQn
appears geaeral id. the New World: aadqiwft
probably aiao in Sahara, ip Afnea ; lor we maat
not oonfbnnd the Tocky nmuta, that pierce
tbe Biul in the middre of the .desert, and of
whioh tniveUen often makf mentioii, tfithriitti-
pie scattered fragtnentst These iaots seam to
prove, that the blocks of Scandinavian granite^
which cover the sandy countries sitnftii to the
south of the Baltic, and those of Westphalia and
Holland, are owing to a particular rupture com-
ing from the north, to a local i-evolution. The
ancient conglomerate (red sandstoneX that oo^
vers, acoordiog to my observations, a gneat part
of tbe Uanot of Venezuela and of the biaun (tf
the Amason, oontmn no doubt fragments of tlie
same primitive rocks,' as constitute tbe neigk*
bonring rooaatains ; but the convulsions, of
which these mountains exhibit evident marks,
do not appearto have been attended by citcon-
stances fovor^le to tbe removal of great blodu.
This geognosUc phenomenon was to me the
more nnexpeoted, since there exists no where in
(he world a smoother pWn stretching as fiir as
to the abrupt declivity of the Cordillera entirely

* Are there any blocks in North America to the north of
the gnat laki>ii }

granitic; Eveo before my departure from £a-
rc^e, I had observed with surprise, that priini^
tire blocks were afike waqting in Lombardy,
and in the gr^t plain of Bavaria, which appears
to be the hdttom of an ancient lake, raised
two hundred and fifty toises above the level of
the ocean. It is bounded on the north by the
granites of the Upper Palatinate ; and on the
south by Alpine Umestone, tranfi1tioB-#A4>»9-
ehiefepy and the mica-slates of the Tyrol.

We arrived, July the 23d, at the town of
Nueva Barcelona, less fatigued by the heat
of the Udno3j to which we bad been lonjg; accus-
toikied, than by the winds ofsand^ whichoccanon
painful chaps in the skin. Seven months ll>e-
fore, in going from Cumana to Caracoas, we
had rested a few hours at the Morro de Barce-
lona^ a fortified rock, which, toward the village
of Pozuelos^ is joined to the continent only by a
neck of land. We were received in the most
affectionate manner, and with the kindest hos-
pitality, in the house of a wealthy merchant of
French extraction, don Pedro Eavi6. Accused
of having given an asylum to the unfortunate
Espana, when he was a fugitive on these coast »in
1 796, Mr. Lavi6 was arrested by the ojrdenj, of the
^udiencia, and dragged as a prisoner to Caracr
cas . The friendship of the governor pf Cumana,
and the remembrance of the services he had
rendered to the dawning industry of those

coantxiefl^ contriboted to pFOcure Dm* him fait
liberty. We bad endravoured to Bofteo lui
capUvitjr by visiting biin in his prinn ; and
we had now the satjs&ction of fiodiDg* him in
the midst of bis family. His physical 0001.
phuDts bad been aggravated by confioemeot;
and he has sunk into the grave, without having
seen the light of those days of iodependance,
which his friend, don Joseph EspaSa, had pre*
dieted at the moment of his execution. " I
die " said this man formed for the aocompMsb-
meot of grand projects *, " I die an ignominious
death ; but my fellow dtizens will soon piously
collect my ashes, and my name wiU reappear
with glory." These remarkable words were
uttered in the public square of Caraccas, on
the 8th of May, 1799; they were repeated to
me the same year by persons, some of whom
abhorred the projects of Espana, as much as the
otbera deplored his fate.

I have spoken above -f- of the importance
of the trade of Nueva Barcelona. This small
town, which in 1790 had scarcely ten thousand
inhabitants, and in 1800 moi-e than uxteen
thousand, was founded t ^Y ^ Catalonian con-

* Euai PoHl. nr la Nouv. Etpagiu, torn, ii, p. 819. Sea
klso ToL iii, p. 414 of the pr«MDt work.

f See abore, vol. iii, p. 361.

t Cnt/ui, p. 173, 199, SOT. What Mr. Dcpons reUle*
(vol. iii, p. Soa,) of the origin of this (own, i< not altogether
coorormable to hislorj'.

quistad&r^ Joan Urpin, in 1637. A fruitless at-
tempt was tbea made, to give the whole province
the name of New Catalonia. As our n^aps often
mark two towns, Barcelona and Cumanagoto,
instead of one, and the two names are consider-
ed as synonimous, it may be useful to clear up
the cause of this error. Anciently at the mouth
of the Rio Nevers, there was an Indian town,
built in 1588 by Lucas F^ardo^ and named
San Cristwal de los Cumanagotos. This town
was peopled solely by natives who came from
the saltworks of Apaicuare. In 1637, Urpin
founded, two leagues farther inland, the Spanish
town of Nueoa Barcelona^ which he peopled
with some of the inhabitants of Cumanagoto
and many Catalonians. For thirty-four years
quarrels were incessantly arising between the
wo neighbouring communities, till 1671, when
the governor Angulo succeeded in persuading
them, to unite on a third spot, where the town
of Barcelona now stands ; the latitude of which,
according to my observations *, is 10® 6' o^\

* Plaza Ma^or. This is only the result of six circuinme-
ridian heights of Canopus, taken in the same night. Las
Menunias (TEspinosa (vol. ii, p. 80) give 10** 9' 6^. Mr. Fer-
rer found {Conn, des Tem$y 1817, p. 322) 10'' 8' 24. I
know not where these observations were made, bat I believe
ihej give the latitude too far north. For, at Caraccas, Guy-
ana^ Hod the Uavarinah, my observations differed only a few
seconds from those of Mr. Ferrer. The differetice of latitude
between the town and the Motto appeared to me to be

The abcient town of Cumanagoto is celebrated
in the coDDtry for a miraculooB itnage of the
Vii^n *, which the Indisns say was found in the
hollow trunk of a tutumo, or old calebash tree
(creKcntia cujete). This virgin was carried
in procession to Nueva Barcelona ; but when-
ever the clergy were dissatisfied with the inha-
bitants of tite new city, she fled away at
night, and returned to the trunk of ^e tree
at the mouth of the river. This f»odigy did
not cease, till a large add fine convent (the
college of the Propagamia) was built, to receive
the monks of Sunt Francis. We have seen
abovc^ that, in a similar case, the bishop ef
Caraccaa caused the image of Oiir Lady de los
VeUendanoa to be placed in the archives of the
bishoprick, where she remaibed thirty years
under seal.

The climate of Barcelona is not so hot as
Uiat of Cumana, bnt .extremely damp, and

'A' 40*. ' I have elsewhere discussed tha loo^tade rf
Nueva BarceloDB, and the results of my chronometrical do-
tertniDaUons compared with those of Messrs. Fidnlgo and
Ferrer {Oh$en). Jitr. Tom. ii, p. 80). On the banks of the
Bio Unare, and farther west on the Bio Ucheri, near the
beautiful valley of Cupira, so abundant in cacao, there exist-
ed two other towns in the seventeenth century, by the naniM
of Tarragona and San Miguel de Batei.

* La milagrota imagm d€ Maria Sanliutma del Socorro,
also called la Fir/ren del Tutumo.

somewhat unhealthy in the rainy season. Mr.
Boopland had supported well the difficult jour-
ney across the Uanos; and had regained bis
strength, and his great actiyity. With respect
to myself, I suflfered . more at Barcetona thaa
I had done at\ Angostura, immediately after
having terminated the navigation of the rivers.
One of those extraordinary tropical rains, during
which at sunset drops of an enormous, size fall
at great distances from one another, had given*
me such uneasy sensations, as seemed to menace
an attack of the typhus, which then prevailed
on thai coast. We remained near -a month
at Barcelona, under the care of the most watch-
ful friendship. We there foi!tnd also that .^-
oellent ecclesiastic, fray Juan Gonzales, of whom
I have often spoken, and who had traversed
the Upper Oroonoko before us. He regretted
the little time we had been able t6 employ
in visiting that unknown country ; and examin-
ed our plants and animals with that interest,
which we feel for the productions of a distant
region, that we have once inhabited. Fray
Juan had resolved to go to Europe, and to ac-
company us as far as the island of Cuba* From
this tiikie we were together for seven months ;
be was gay, tetelligent, and obliging. Who
could foresee the evils, that awaited him ? He
look charge of b part of biir collections ; a com-
mon friend confided to him a child, that he

wished to have educated in Spain : the collec-
tions, the child, and the young ecclesiasUc,
were all buried in the waves *.

South-east of Nueva Barcelona, at the dis-
tance of two leagues, rises a lofty chain of
mountains, abutting on the Cerro del Bergan-
tin, which is visible at Cumana. This spot
is known by the name of the hot waters faguas
calietUesJ. When I felt my health sufficiently
restored, we made an excursion thither on a
cool and misty morning. The waters, loaded
with sulphuretted hydrogen, issue from a quart-
zouB sandstone, lying on the same compact
limestone, which we had examined at the Morro.
We again found in this limestone intercalated
beds of black homstein, passing into kiesekchie-
fer. It is not however a transition rock ; it
rather approaches, by it's position, it's division
into small strata, it's whiteness, and it's dull
and conchoidal fractures, (with very flattened
cavities) the limestone of Jura. The real He-
seUchiefer and Lydian stone have not been
observed hitherto except in the transition slates
and limestones. Is the sandstone, from which
the springs of the Bergantin issue, of the same
formation as the sandstone which we describe
ed -f- at the Impossible and at Tuiniriquiri ?

* See above, vol. iii, p. 364) ; vol. v, p. 023.
f Vol. iii, p. 23Kntl»4.

The thermal waters have only a temperature of
43^ cent, (the atmosphere being 27^) ; ihqr
Aow first to the distance of forty toises over the
rocky surfistce of the ground ; are tlien predpi-
tated into a natural cavern ; and pierce thrpugh
the limestone, to issue out at the foot of the
moontain, on the left banlc of the little river
NariguaL The springs, while in contact with
the oxygen of the atmosphere, deposit a good
deal of sulphur. 1 did not collect, as I had
done at Mariara, the bubbles of air, that rise
in jets from these thermal waters. They no
donbt contain a large quantity of azot, because
the sulphuretted hydrogen decomposes the mix-
ture of oxygen and azot dissolved in the spring.
The sulphurous waters of San Juan, which issue
from calcareous rock like those of Bergantin,
have also biit a weak temperature (SI*?*) ; while
in the same region, the temperature of the 'sul-
phurous waters of Mariara and lasTribcheras
(near Portocabello), which gush immediately
from gneiss-granite, is 58*9^ the former, and
90*4^ the latter *. It would seem as if the heat,
which these springs acquire in the interior of
the globe, diminishes in proportion as they pass
from primitive to secondary superposed rocks.

* L. c. Vol. iv, p. 62/ I96» 272. I am ignoiUDt of tli«
tempermtore of th« hot, aod bydrotalpboroos spriogt of
Pro?i«or» near San Diego» half a leagae distaat from Nnofa
Rtrcelopa, toward the south.

VOL. VI. O

Our excnraiQii to the aguascalimies of Bcr-
^ncin eRde4 Mtb 4 vexatvuus aecident. Our
hvfi\ h«d lent iv one of \m finest aaUlt bocaoi.
We Wpro wwed M the 9ame tiat« not t« ford
\he Utile river i>f N^rigua). We pMsod over a
wrt of bri<^, 91- rather wo^e (rnnlwof treee
plaiqed close tpgetbor, and we nade oilc borees
Bwini» holding their bridlieq. The hone I had
rode ^ddeoly disappeared, aft^ r Btrvfsgiiag Sot
soqie time under water : all our retearchn to
discover the cause of ttus accident were froUlese.
0.ur guides coqjo^ured, that the aninial'B legs
bad been seized by the caymans, vhich abonnd
in those parts. My perplexity was ertreme :
the de^cacy 99d the fortune of my boat forbade
me tQ tbipk of repairing his loss ; and Mr. La-
vie» inore attentive to oar situation, than, to the
fate of his horse, endeavoured to tnmquiUi^e ug
by emggerating the facility, with which fiae
faforsffs were procurable from the oeighbouriog
savannahs.

The crocodiles of the Rio Never! are large
and nimeHrogts, especially near tlie raoutb of the
river ; but ia general they are less fierce than
the crocodiles of the Oroonoko. These awmals
display the same contrasts of ferocity in Ameri-
ca as in Egypt and Nubia, which we recognize
when we compare with attention the narrative
of the unfortunate Burckhardt, and that of Mr.
Belzoni. The state of cultivation of different

countries^ and the population more or less ac^-
cmniilaiedi in the proximity of riTers, modify
tbe habits of these lar^fe saurienSf timid when
on dryground^ and fleeing from man eren in
the water^ when they find^ abondand nonrish^
me&t^ and when they perceive any danger in
attaoktng him. The Indians of Nueta Barely
looa convey wood to market in a snigiilar man^
ner. Large logs of zygopbyllum and csesalpinia*
are throw* into the river, and carried down by
the stream', wM4e the proprietor of the wood
and Ins eldest son swim here and there^ to set
afloat tbe ^eces, that are stopped by tbe mnd-
iug9 of tbe baspks. This could hot bef done in
the greater part of those American riveii^, in
which crocodiles are found. The town of Bar-
celona has not, like Cumana, an Indian suburb ;
and if some natives be seen, thev are inhabit-
ants of the neighbouring missions, or of huts
scattered in the plain. Neither the one nor tbe
other aie of the Caribbee race, but a mixture of
the Camanegotoes, Palenkas, and Piritoos, short,
stunted, indolent, and addicted to drinking.
Fermented cassava is here the favorite beverage;
the wine of the palm tree, which is used in

* The Jecythn oUaria in the vicinity of Nueva ])arce)ona
fimislies excellent timbeii. We saw trunks of this tree
seTCDty feet high. Aronnd the town, beyond that arid zone
of caoUis which sepamtes Nuei-v Barcelona from the steppe,
grow the olerodendrum telniiiblium, the iottidium itubu/
vbich resembles the viola, and the allionia violacca.

)

Oroonoko, \mng almost aiiknown on tbe coast.
It is curious to observe, that mm in difierent
zones, to satisfy the passion of inebriety, em-
ploy not only all the families of monocotyledon*
ous and dicotyledonoas plants, bat even a pei-
sonons agaric (amanita muscaria), of vliich,
with disgusting econoiny, tbe Coriacs have learnt j
to drink tbe same juice several times daring five '
successive days *.

Tbe packet boats {correos) from CoraDoa
boand for tbe Havannab and Mexico had been
due three months ; and it was believed Ui^ faud
been taken by the English cruisers stationed ou '
this coast. Anxious to reach Cumana, in order

kncha was laden with cacao, and carried on a
contraband trade with tlie island of Trinidad*
For this reason the proprietor thought we had
nothing to fear from the enemy's vessels, which
then blocked np all the Spanish ports. We
embarked onr collections of plants, onr instru-
ments, and our monkeys ; and, the weather be*
ing delightful, we hoped to make a very short
passage from the month of the Rio Neveri to
Cumana : but we had scarcely reached the nar-
row channel between the continent and the
rocky isles of Borracha and the Chimanas,
when, to our great surprise, we met with an
armed boat) which, hailing us at a great dis*
tance, fired some musket^hot at us. The boat
belonged to a privateer of Halifax ; and I re-
cognized among the sailors a Prussian, a native
of'Memel, by his physiognomy and bis accent.
I had found no opportunity, since my arrival in
America, of speaking my native language, and
1 could have wished to have used it on a less
unpleasant occasion. Our protestations were
without effect: we were carried on board the
privateer, and the captain, affecting not to re-
cognize the passports delivered by the gover-
nor of Trinidad for the illicit trade, declared,
that we were lawful prize. Being a little in the
habit of speaking English, I entered into a ne-
gociation with the captain, not to be taken to
Nova Scotia, but to be set on shore on the

neighbfMring looBst. . While I edcUavMiKd, ie
the aabln to defoBd mf anm r%htt. and thow
ti-tbb yr^ridor, ihaardftDfuieiipaai thiitlealti
SoBiatbi^'VM wfenptrad- to.the.oaptiUByiHte
leA lu In coMtcroMioa. iHi^tpllJr farjls^ all
fingtishaioop^of war, «be Haiwk, watiihiiiiag
in 'tfane parti^ and had aiade aigrtali to the
MqrtwK to briag to ; vbio)i he aot fMing tutompt
to cboff a gun wea fired from ike slooiif aad a
midihipniBD aaittjon board onr veaHL ttBirai
a pofile yoaag bud, and gtm (ne bopta* that
the boat* laden vith cacao, would be givm.i^,
aad thai on the folloiriag day we might pnnne
tfat voyage. In the meaDtime he innttd ma
to aceoapaoy him on hoard the aloop, . astorii^
ma, that his oomaaader, captun John Garnler>
of the royal navy, woold faroish me with hatter
uccommodaition for the night, than I should find
in tha mhcI from Hali&x.

I accepted these obtigiog ofiere, and waa rO-
odved with the utmoBt kiodDess by captui
Oaniier,. vrbe had made the rojrage to the nortb-
west ooaat of America with Vancouver, and Who
■^pcand to he highly iatoested in all J ralatod
to him of the great cataracts of Atures and May-
pare, the bifurcation of the Oroonoko, and it's
commnnicatioD with the Amazon. He named
to me several of bis officers, who had been with
lord Macartney in China. I had not for a year
enjoyed the society of so many well-informed

87-

periMtn^. They bad learnt froai the
d^spalpen thu chjeot of thy enterprise. I wHft
treMKed with gr^M oonfideaee^ ilnd the cora^
lAtiiidel' i^ofn ibe up (» on^H btateroom. They
g:ttV8 fde M panibg tM detrnttcmlical Bpheme-
Mtfi Vat t^e yeafe wUeh I had not toeM idite
lb pMcfitM ifii FtMnoe i^r {Bfttin. t wre to oafktain
C^Miier the dbset^tioDei tiiade oil'tbe totelfitee
beyoifd th« e^oMWi abd feel fi a duty to tword
herb the |fra|lt«ide I <M £»r hit kind eOcee.
Gtttaiiagf ltt>i^ Ihti ttitek^ of CaMi^late, diM

teving h^iA Mtffined dnHAg^ irbdle iniMivhe to
tt^A dHhtow «lrale df ttiieiddAafy lift, ifie Mta
scNMtittig' gratlftMlfloD at) mating for the tint
dM« With mfen, who had flnHed roAndtkte worlds
attd ettlftfged their Ideaa \if the vie# of so vafied
a 8pe6«Adte^ I qaltted the Engli^ vessel with
iitipr«S8i6M> whieh are not yet effiiced fro&h my
rMneMbratoce^ aod whioh ted me tb leiiemh gtih
lAow tlie eak«ef* I had chosen 4

'W« OMitittued odrpassi^ an tlie folMwing
day, httd WM-e sArpri^d at the depth of the
ctMtitterld between the OAraObas IslbndB, Wbtere
the l^lOop maiiiaratYed^ dlmbst toudiiihg the
t6dia. >How )9ilboh dd theBe ealcareouB isldts, of
Whitih the fi>rm aad direotioki rechl to tnind the
gtem HiketittcffAie that sepathted them from the
ttiaffi limd, diflhr ih their aipeet from the Vol^
btttlie iiMhipelago oa the north of Laacerota*,

where the hilb of banb teetn.to have been
Bfted Dp from the bottoio of. the .am 1 The
freqtwney of the pelicana, irUeh ar« huger tfau
oar iwaiM, and. of flamiegoee^ wUdi fiihed »
the Dodii,:or banueed the pefitwu in. order to
aeEae their prej, indicated oar af^mat^.tothe
cbaet of Ounana. It is corions to . oheurvo at
sonriie bov the eea-Uids enddenlj appear, and
ammate the landsoi4>e, reminding ni, in the
moet soHlaiy ecenee, of the, aotivity of oar dtiee
at the dawn (tfday. We rea«Aed at nine in. the
nK^niog tbe gnlf of Cariaco, which serrea as a
roadstead to the town of Camana. Hie lull,
crowned by tbe castle of St^ Antonio^ stood pro-
minent from it's whiteness on the daric cnrtain
of tbe inland moaotains. We recognised with
pleasore the shore, where we had cnUed tbe first
plants of America, and wbere,8ome months later,
Mr; Boopland had been in socb danger. Among
tbe cactuses, that rise in colanma aad candda-
bras twenty feet liigb, appear tbe Indian hpts oi
the Gnaykeries. Every part of the landsc^ie
was known to ns ; the forest of cactos, the scat-
tered huts, and tbat enormoos cdba,. beneath
which we loved to bathe at the approach of
night. Onr friends at Curaana came out. to
meet ns; men of all casta, whom onr freqnent
berborizations had brongbt into contact with
us, expressed still greater joy, as a report ttf. our
death oo tbe banks of tbe Oroonoko had bees

current for several months. These gloomy re-
ports bad* arisen either from the severe illness of
Mr. Bonpland^ or from onr boat being nearly
lost in agnst of wind above the mission of
Umana.

We hastened to visit the governor^ don Vi*
cente Emparan, whose recommendations and
constant soficitode had been so useful. to us
during the long journey we had just terminated.
He procured a house for us in the centre of the
town*, perhaps too lofty in a country exposed to
violent earthquakeSt but extremely convenient
for onr instruments. We enjoyed from it's ter-
races a majestic view of the sea, the isthmus of
Araya, and the archipelago of the isles of Ga-
raccas, Picuita, and Borracha. The port of
Cumana was every day more strictly blockaded^
and the vain expectation of Spanish packets
retained us two months and a half longer in
that place. We were often tempted to go. to
the Danish islands, enjoying a happy neutrality ;
but feared that, if we left the Spanish colonies,

• • dua de don Poiqual Martinez^ On the north-east^or the
great square, near which I had made obBervationa from Julj
the Mth to November the 17tb, 1799. All the astronomical
obserrations, and those of mirage (vol. iii, p. 642), which are
posterior to August the 29th, 1800, were made in the house
ofdoo Martinez. I relate these circumstances, because they
may be interesting at some future period to those, who inay
wish to examine the precision of my labours

we aught find toma obaiAclea .te^oiir ntank
WUb- thB ampla fArmiuloa^ !*hiehilB a-mnoMft
•f ferour bad bseA ^nuittd to 'DSj ■rtttf wm
to twlittMrdtd* Uh* lAighl diflpkHwe ttw; loaal
authorities. We employed oar time iit ooiai
plMiag the Floni' «r: -OMum, geogMBtiosUy
itiiMniniag the miie» pwt^af the .pento«lB>«f
Araj«, ftitd obMnr^ a ootandndbfeamniiM' «i
ebUpaife of ntdUilieak which wiri*nd thb
lo^jliBdv •( thd pUoe alifbdy obtaitaed bf «tbtf
mcaaaj We *ko made eX|tefiiiii«Dt8 •■ thatB^
trabr^ary rtfraotioiMvOM evatioratlDDi aad iM
atmoiirtMrie elcctncHyi

'Ka li«« aaimab vbidi w« had broagbtfrom
tb^'Oroonoko trtee 'ObJeottofgrcbteariQBtjrta
the iahabitAhta of Oai&biih. The oapoohn of
the StaWalda (ntouL ehlropoteg). whioh m
Btadh vettoMet man id the ezpreiaioD of it's
phyrio^ibmy % and the deefimg monkey (daua*
trivirgata)* whioh is the type of a new gtoofUi
had ntver yet been i«ea on that onuk Wt .
deetinhd tbea* for the meaago^ «f theGAdsd
of Plants at Paris. The arrival of a French
sqtiadrcn-, wMoh had iluldd in ab attacb upon
Carassao, having furoidhed us tinexpeotedly #itb
an excellent opportunity for sending them to
Guadaloupe^ general Jeanoet, and the com-
missary Bresseau, agent of tlie executive power
at the Antilles, promised to take on themselves
this commission. The monkeys and birds died

at Guadaloape^ but fiMiuoatoiy Ibe skio of tbo
simia GhiropoUsa, which exists no where else in
Europe* waa Miit A few yeuB ago to the G«rdeo
of PkUits ; liliere the cauxio (Anm sateoas),
aad the atentor or aloiiate of the ateppes of C*.
raceaa (aiinia urdioa)^ of which I have givto the
figures io eciy Hecueil di Zoohgieet d' Amatonm
cximpor^e* bad beeo Idready reoeivod. The arrival
of 80 freat a ailiaber of tnilitary Freaehmen^
and the manifestation of political atad rdigioas
opinions^ thaC were not altogtfeher oonfomafale
to those by wfaiob nftother-'OOttBtiies think to
oodfirm their amthorityf exeifed a rfqgnlar agita-
tion in the population of Gufoaoa* The governor
treated the Ftench aathoritSea with f hoae forms
of civility^ which the ifttimatei oonnexion, that
subsisted at that peiiod between Fratice and
Spain, prescribed. In the streets the mulattoes
crowded round the agent of the Dii'ectory^ whose
dress was rich and theatrical ; but as men with
a white skin inquired also with indiscreet curi-
osity, whenever they cx)uld make themselves
understood, concerning the degpree of influence
granted by the republic to the planters in the
government of Guadaloupe, the king^s officera
redoubled their sseal in furnishing provision fo^
the little squadron. Strangers, who boasted
that they were free, appeared to these as trou-
blesome guests ; and I saw that in a country,
of which the growing prosperity depended on

claodestiM oommiinkations with the ialaiids,
and on a freedom of trade fiHved from the
minifltty, the Earopean ^lanlards wore prbod of
the antique wiidom of the code of bws (Igrev de
hidiat), that permitted the entrance ot forogn
TCSseb into their ports only in extreme cases
of want or distress. I hava dwek on these
cootrasta between the restless derires of the
planters:, and the miitmsting immohHHy of the
goremerst. becaase they throw soma Ugfat'on
the great political events, which, long prepared,
have at length separated Spain from it's colonies,
or, aa we might perhaps say with more precwoo,
from it's provinces beyond sea.

We again passed some agreeable days, from
the third to the fifth of November^at^bepenin-
snla of Araya> intnate beyond the gulf of Cariaco,
opposite to Cnmana, and of which I hare already
described the pearis*, the sulphnroos deponts,
and the sabmarina springs of liquid and colour-
less petroleum. We were informed, thstt the
Indians carried to the town from time to time
oonsiderable quantities of native tdum^ found in
the □(nghbouriog uionQtaios. The specimens
which were shown to us sufficteatly iodicated,
that it was neither alonite -f-, similar to the rock
of Tulfa and I^otnbino, nor those capillary and
silky salts of alcuHoesulpbatof alumin and mag-

• Vol. ii, p. 230—309. t Jlaunttein, alum stone.

netiay that line the clefts and cavities - oi rooks,
but real masses of native aluro^ ^th a concluMd
or imperfectly lamellar fractare. We were led
to hope^ tliat we shoald find the mine of alum
in the slaty cordillera of Maniqnarez, and so
new a geognostic phenomenon was calculated to
fix all our attention. Juan Gonzalez^ an eccle.
siastic» and the treasurer, don Manuel Nava-
ret^ whose counsels had been useful to us from
our first arrival on this coast, accompanied
us in our little excursion. We disembarked
near Cape Caney, and again visited thciancient
saltpit, converted into a lake by the irruption of
the sea, the fine ruins of the castle of Araya, and
the calcareous mountain of Barigon, which, from
it's steepness on the western side, is somewhat
difficult of access. Muriatiferous clay mixed
with bitumen and lenticular gypsum, and some-
times passing to a darkish brown clay, destitute
of salt, is a formation widely spread in this penin-
sula, iu the island of Margaretta, and on the
opposite coutinent, near the castle of St. Anto-
nio of Cumana. It is even very prabable, that
the existence of this formation has contributed
to those ruptures and rents in the ground, which
strike the geologist when he is placed on one of
the eminences of the peninsula of Araya. The
cordillera of this peninsula, composed of mica-
ceous slate and clayslate, is separated on the
north from the chain of mountains of the island

of MargKpeUa, wbioh are of a e^Hm eonipo-
8Mon> by lh& channel of CulKigiiR; afkltoirard
the soDth, from the lofty calcareous chain of the
eon^nont, by the gvHt of Cariaco. The wb<^
Iwtenoedlate spaoe appears to bare been filled
heretofore with aimdatifiBfouB clay ; and it Is ne
doubt the eontinunl erosions of the ocean, that
have removed this fopHiation, and conrerted the
plain first into lakes, then into gulf^, and finally
Into nav^able channels. The accoont of what
has passed in the most modem times at tlie foot
of the castle of Araya, on the irmption of the
sea in|o the ancient saltpit, the form of the
lagoon of Chacopata, and a lake four lef^es in
length, which cots the Island of Margaretta
nearly into two parts, furnish evident proofs of
these successive erosions. In the singular con-
figuration of the coasts, in the Morro of Chaco-
pata ; in the little islands of the Caribbecs, the
Lobes, and Tuoal ; in the great island of Cocbe,
and the capes of Caraero and Mangliers ; the
remfuns of an isthmus * still seem to appear,
which, stretching from north to soatb, joined
heretofore the peninsula of Araya to the island
of Margaretta. In this last island a neck of very
k>w land, three thousand toises long, and less
than two hundred toises broad, alone conceals

• The map de la hla Slargarita y dt siis canales, published
by Mr, Fidalgo in 1G16, indicates very clearly ibcsc geog-
noslie relUioiM.

on the QOFlherii sides Ibe twi^ hilly gronpas,
known hy thenawea df la Vega de Sfim JttM^ and
of Maoanao. Tbei4flgfiiiia^ati£{eof Margaretla
liaa & ¥eiy narrow iOpeoiag tawwd the smUh and
smatt bofila pasa om^adM, thai is bgr apor^gf ,
o¥ep the naok of land or northern dyka. Tbongb
the wateni on these shores seem fxX presmt t^
recede from the continent, it is notwithstaodiog
very prohahk^ that in the lapse of ages, either
hj aa earthquake^ or by a sudden intunveseenoe
of the Qoeaa, the loag island of Margairette
will be dimded into Iwa irocky islands of a tra*
pesseidal form*

On c^mbiiig up the Gerro del fiarigoo, we
repeated Ihe escperimento made at the Orooaoko,
on the ^fference of temperature of the air and
the deoomposed roqk. The temperature of the
fiDrner was oidy 27^ oenH, toward eleven in the
momiDg, on account of the effect of the breeze ;
while that of the latter rose to 49 jS^. The
sap that rises in the ccmdelabra cactuses (cactus
quadraogularie) was from 38^ to 41^. This
heat was shown by a thermometer, the ball of
which I placed witiiifi the fleshy and succulent
stem o^ the cactus. This interior lemperatuce
of a pfcmt is composed of that of the sand in
which H's r^ots are fixed, and that of the ex-
ternal air modified by the state of the surface
of the stem exposed to the rays of the Sun, it's
evaporation, and the conducting power of the

wood.- It It eoaMqudUj the oflbct of verf
ooaipficated oavses, -Tbie UiMMwe of Bari|;oii,
which maka ft part (tf tba great toaaatiom «f
landitMie or'caloanDiis braoda (tf Camiaa*;
ii fillsd with fiMril shelb ia asperfeot prdaerv»'
tioo'as Aose of other teitiary Bmertonei hr
France and Italy; We 'detached soma hkxika
for Ae cabuMt of the King at Madrid.) ooirtaiiH
iog oyttert of eight Inobes ia diameter, peetem,
veoaHe, and lithophyte polyfu. 1 recouBesd
to natnralists better veraed in the kaowle^frof
fotMils than I was at that period, to examine with
care this mouaUUDons coast, which is easy of
access to European vessels in their way to On-
mana, Gnayre,or'CnraB8ao. Itwooldbecurions
to discover whether aoy of these shells, and
these species of petrified zoophytes, still iohalnt
the sea of the West ladies, as it appeared to
Mr. BoDi^nd, and as is the case in the island
of Timor, and perhaps in Gnadaloope. '

We set sail the 4th of November, at olie in
the momingi in search of the mine of aative
alum. I took with me the timekeeper, and
my large DoUood telescope, to observe at Ae
Laguna ckica, east of the village of Maniqoarei,'
the immersion of the first satellite of Jnpiter ;
this desigD however was not accomplished, con-
trary winds having prevented our arrival beftira

* Vol. i, p. 262: Vol. iii, p. 10.

»7

dayligbk The spectacle of the phosphonesoeiice
of the ocean^ embellished by the sports of the
porpdses which smroaoded oar canoe, coald.
alone compensate for this delay. We again
passed those spots, where springs of petroleam
gnsh from micaslate * at the bottom of the sea,
and the smell of which is perceived from,
afor. When we recollect, that fartlier to the
east, near Cariaco, the bot«f* and submarine
waters are sufficiently abundant to change the
temperatore of the gulf at it*s surface, we cannot
doubt, that the petroleum is the effect of a did-,
tillatiottatan immense depths issuing firom those
primitive rocks, beneath which lies the focus ct
all volcanic commotions.

The Laguna chica is a cove surrounded by
perpendicular mounUuns, and connected with
the gulf of Cariaco only by a narrow channel
twenty-five fathoms deep. It seems, like the
fine port of Acapulco, to have been formed by
the effect of an earthquake. A beach 8howB»
that the sea here retires from the land» as it

* ViA. ii, p. 200. The petruieum of the Caraccas inlands,
and that of Buen Paator, of which 1 have spoken above (vol,
iii, p. 186; vol. ii, p 51)^ issue from secondary formations.
Is not this a direct proof of the communication of the ere*
vices that t^verse the micaslate, limestone, and clay, lying
OQ each other? I was also assured, that there is a spring
of petroleam to the west of Maoiquarez^ in the inland,

t Vol. iu, p. IW.

VOL. Vi. H

pcMtorala o^'. Avftgn^i Irhteh: i(i«iffovit>b^t««ep,
thcFovpeBvMcrt) Mdhb! MtnM ta«»e tiKMUfM
finv^lHiadred tHHs bnMd,.« • i little; awn <bsO:
fiitfrAMuaild near Oe L^guna dkicOtSOthoBk^
fnm qM 4es t» the otberr iWe iiiuLtacnMi.
tIdB incdn^en^le dutsnoe in order Co fiAd Urn-
native' alBiDi andr'raaoh tiw. oape ealted .the;
PiMt0- de. Chmpamparu, The nwd isdtfBonKi
only twoaoae do patb< U traced; aad. betn)tn<
preeiiiieea of Mine- depth yon are obliged to efeep.
oter ridg:e8 of bare rook^ the strata of which are-
A&eb inclined. The culminant point la neatly:
tifo bandred and twenty toises high-; but the
monntuns, as it often happens in a rocky istb«;
mna, display very singular forms. The Tefos
of Cfaaeopata and Cariaoo, halfway bekween
the Lagvna ckica and the town of Cariacf^ are
rtal pedis, which appear isolated when seen
fbMn the ]^atfonn of the castle of Cunana. Tba
v^etable earth -in this conntry reaches oaljr
thirty tmses fdMve the level of the sea. Soma-i
Umes there is no rain during fifteen months*;
if, however, a few drops fall immediately after
the flowering of the melons and gourds, they
yield fruits that weigh from sixty to seventf
pounds, notwithstanding the apparent dryness'
of Uie air. I say the apparent dryness, for ray

• Vol.iu,p.204.

hygrometric observations prove, that the atmos*
phere of Cumana and Araya contains near nine
tenths of the quantity of watery vapours neces*
sary to it's perfect saturation. It is this air, at
once hot and humid, that nourishes the veget-
able faufaains^ the cncnrbitaceous plants, the
agaves and melocactuses half-buried in the sand.
When we visited the peninsula the preceding
year, there was a dreadful scarcity of water;
the goats, wanting grass, died by hundreds.
During our stay at the Oroonoko, the order of
the seasons seemed to be entirely changed. At
Araya, Cochen, and even in the island of Mar-
garetta, it had rained abundantly ; and the re-
membrance of those showers occupied the
imagination of the inhabitants, as a fall of aero-
lites would that of the naturalists of Europe.

The Indian who was our guide scarcely knew
in what direction we should find the ore of alum ;
be was ignorant of it's real situation. This ig-
norance of localities characterizes here almost
all the guides, who are chosen among the most
indolent class of the people. We wandered for
eight or nine hours, among rocks totally bare of
v^etation. The micaceous slate passes some-
tinaes to clajrslate of a darkish gray. I was
again struck by the extreme regularity in the
direction and inclination of the strata. They
run north 50^ east, inclining from 60° to 70° to
the north west. This is the general direction,

100

which I had observed in the gndu- granite opf
Caraccas and thie Orooapko, in the hornblende
slates of Angostura, and even in the greater part
of the secondary rocks we bod jnst examined.
The beds, on a vast extent of land, make tbe
same angle with the meridian of the pUice ; tbey
present a parallelism (or rather a hxodromism)^
which may be considered as one of the great
geognostic laws sosceptible of being verified by
precise measures. In advancing toward cape
Cbnparuparu, the size of the veins of qnartz,
that cross the micaslate, increased. We found
some that were from one to two toises broad,
full of small fasciculated crystals of rutile-titan-
ite. We sought in vain for cyanite, which we
had discovered in some blouks near Maniqunree.
Farther on, the micaslate furnishes not veins, but
little beds of graphite or carburetted iron. They
are from two to three inches thick, and have
precisely the same direction and inclination as
the rock. Graphite, in primitive soils, marks
the first appearance of carbon on the globe, that
of carbon uncombined with hydrogen. It is
anterior to the period when the snrlace of the
earth became covered with nionocotyledonons
plants. We enjoyed from the height of those
wild niouDtains a mnjestic view of the island
of Mai^retta. Two groups of mountains, which
we have already luentiotied, those of Macanao,
and )a Vega de San Jiiao, rise from the bosom

lOi

of tbe waters; The.caintal of the island, k
AsoQcion *, the poit of P^patar^ and the vil*
lages of Paeblo de la Mar, :Fuebl9; del Nort^
and San Jnan, belong to the secoftil apd most
easterly of these groups. The western groopii
the MacaniEU), is almost entirely uninhabited.
The isthmus, that divides these large masses <tf
micaslate, was scarcely visible ; it appeared
disfigured by the eflfect of the mirage, and we
recognized this intermediate part, cut by the
Laguna grande^ only by two small hills fy in the
form of a sugarloa^ in the meridian of the Punta
de Piedras. Nearer, we look down on the small
desert archipelago of the four Morros del Tonal,
the Caribbee, and the Lobos islands.

After many vain searches, we at length founds
before we descended to the northern coast of
the peninsula of Araya, in a ravine of very dif-
ficult access {aroyo del Bobalo)^ the mineral
which bad been shown to us at Cumana. The
micaslate changed suddenly into carburetted and
shining clayslate. It was an ampelite; and
the waters (for there are small springs in those
parts, and some have recently been discovered
near the village of Maniquarez) were impreg*
Dated with yellow oxyd of iron, and had a styp^
tic taste. We found the sides of the neighbour*

* Lat. II'' &W; long. O'' 19^ east of the meridian of
Comaoa.
t Lat. lO* 67^ loog. Oi> 3^ 30^ eaat of Cumana.

toft

ing' rodu lined with c^iUlaiy 8iil|riiBt of aluniia
iti effiBTMUenofr i aiui iji^ bfeda. two ioobe* tfaidt,
fhU <^ Mii^w vlUfo, -nratohed u Ar asUie ^^
tobiKI ra^bHn ilie cl^late. Tbe alom !■ gnjK-
j^Wliit^ somewhat dull at tbe anterior, and 4^
aa almoM glassy lostre wUhio. .it's fractal* it
not fibnMis, tmt imperfeetly cooatamd. It' is
bemidi^habous, when it's firagments an Uuat
and has a sweatish and astringent taste^ wittiedt
any bitter mixtare, I pn^Kwed to myself the
qoesUon even on the spot, wtietbOT this atem,
so pure, imd filling beds in the olayslate without
leaving tlie Bmatlest void, be of a contemporary
formation witb IIk rock ; or most be admitted
to t)e df a recent, and in some sort seooodacy
origin, like the muriat of soda, found sometimes
in small vans, where strongly concentrated
springs traverse beds of gypsum or clay. No*-
thing in these places seems to indicate a mode
of formation, which may be renewed in onr days.
The slaty rock exhibits no open cleft ; and par-
ticularly none is fohnd parallel to the dtreoUon
of the slates. It may also be inquired, whether
this aluminous slate be a tranution formation
lying on tbe primitive roicaslate of Arayo. or
arise merely from a change of composition and
texture in the beds of inicaslate. I lean toward
the latter proposition ; for the transition is pro-
gressive, and the argillaceous slate (thonschtefer)
and micaslate appear to me to constitute here

109

'but one sole formatioD.. The jlreseDce of cyanite,
'rotile-titanite^ and ganito, and the: abeenob
*o£ Jydiandtoiie, and all ^fmgmeDlary dr anedar
ceouarrdcks^ seem to obaMeterise the formatiM
we describe aa^ primitive; It is asserted, timt
even m £urot>e affii>eUte and ; greenMond ace
found, tbougb' rarely^ in slates anterior to tran-
^ition^i slate. .

Wlieri^ in 1785, after an eilrtbquake, a great
robky mass was bnoken off in the Aroyo del
Robalo, the Guaykeries of los Serritoe €oUeeted
Iragmeats of alnm five or six inches iift diameter,
Extremely pure aiid toansparent^ It was sold ^ in
my^aie at Camana to the dyers and sboetnalieni,
at the price of two reals (one quarter of tf piastre)
a pound, while alnm from Spain cost twelve reals.
This difierence of price was much more tlie. effect
of prejudice, and the shackles of trade^ than of
the inferior quality of the aluin of the couiktry,
which is usied without undergoiog any purifico-
tido. It i6 also found in the chain of micaslate
and clayslate on the north-west coast of the
island of Trinidad^ at la Margai^etta, and near
cape Chuparuparu, north of the Cerro del Dia-
tiladero*. The Indians!, naturally addicted to

• Another place was indicated to us, west of Bordones,
ilie Puerto Escondido. But that coast appeared to me to be
whoUy calcareoQs; and 1 cannot conceive where could be
tb^ ai^uation of ampelitc and native alum on this point* Was
it to be found in the beds of slaty clay, that alternate wit|i

104

eoDonhneat, ace by oo mcBM kH^ned to make
kooirn the: qxiUt wfanne tlwy obtain natin
alun ; bat Uris nmat be abanda&t, for I have
raeen veiy bOnsiderable qnantHiei in tbair pos-
Msdon at a time. It wonld be of Importanoe
to the goTCrameDt of VenMoela, to tstabfidi
r^;nlar worka, atber of the ore we have jut
described, or ia the alnminons slate thai aoeoin-
panies iU The latter might be roasted, Rzi-
Ti'ated, and ooocentcated (kj groAuMon) iy Ike
ferrent Sod of the tn^ics.

South America at present recdves it's alam
from Eorope, as Enrope in it's torn recetved it
from the natires of Asia till the fifteenth cen-
taiy. Mineralo^stB, before my traveli^ kneir
DO other substances, which, irithout additwn,
calcined or not calcined, conld directly yidd
alnro (snlphat of alnmin and potash), except
rocks of traehytic formation, and small veins
traverring beds of lignite and bitnminoas wood.
BoUi these sobstances, of so diferent an origin,
oontaio all that constitntes alum, that is to say,
alamin, salpburic acid, and potash. The ores
of Tolfo, Milo, and Nipoligo ; those of Montimie,
in which dlica does not accompany the alonun ;
the siliceous breccia of Moat-Dore, so well de>

the alpinelimeBtoiieof CamanacoaT Vol. iii, p. 70. Fibroos
alum is found in Europe only in ronnaliona poalerior lo Ibose
of (raosition, ia ligaiteij and olher tertiary formationa thai
belong (o the lignites.

106

scribed by Mr. Cordier, whicb cootains sulpbar
in ft's caWties ; the alamiferons rooks of Plarad
and Ber^h io Hangaryy whicb belong also to
tracfaytic and pamice conglomerates; are no
donbt owing to the penetrating of snlphnrous
acid vapours*. They are the products of a
feeble and prolonged volcanic action, as may be
easily ascertained in the sol&terras of Pucznoli
and the Peak of Teneriffe. The alnmite of Tolfii,
which, since my return to Europe, I examined
conjointly with Gay-Lussac on the spotyhas, by
it*s oryctognostic characters and it*s chemical
composition^ a considerable affinity to compact
feldspar 'f*', which constitutes the basis of so
many trachytes and transition porphyries. It is
a siliciferous subsulpbat of alumin and potash,
a compact feldspar, with the addition of sul-
phuric acid completely formed in it. The waters
circulating in these alumiferous rocks of volcanic

* Gay-Lassac, in the Annalei de Chimie (old series),
Tom. My p. 200. Deacotils in the Annalei des Mmes^ 1816,
p. 374. Cordier, in the Annales de Chimie et de Phfnque,
Tom. 0, p. 71'— 89. Beadant, Foyage en Hongrie^ torn. 3,.
p. 446—471.

i This feidspiu: contains^ according to Klaproth, more
silica than the alnmite of Toifa. The quantity of potash is the
same, but three times less than in common (lamellar) and
▼itreons feldspars. We see however, on comparing the analyses
of Klaproth and Vauqnelio, that the relative proportions of
silica and alumin vary much in diflerent specimens obtained
from the mine of Tolfa.

oii^ do noli bowwrMf depMit tnMM.of «aHfe
«laqp« to.yiflUwhkAi Ifa. radn hiBnj.noed itf
tomfiution.. I kUMT not of wijr d«|wioiaa»«
k^W..to>thoH[ I.bRn^ from Onimiaaf'Car
t^ miriUsry and fibmU' owsiea fonnicl. w tMiii
toaveraiiigi^the faedsj<]f 1igMites,'(baiik|i of.iha
£gia,:beMr|BOti SuftiKrid GaniDdthQDr fat Babe*
lOia *)i . v«B9oreMUg in oavitia (Frdeowidde^lD
Sifuid«abiii;K 1 iSegnrio in SardhiiaX tfo inpon
uliitt ^enideatiiDte of potuh, mizedmUi tal-
phatt of amponu uid magnesia. A alfiir de>
CompofliUaa of tbe pyrites, that act peiiiaps as
so maoy little gabfomo pileg, reDden tbe waters
aloqii&rouB, that circulate across the bitainiD-
ops lignites and carbnretted clays -f-. 'These
waters, in contact with carbooat of lime, even
^re rise to the deposits of subsulpbat o£ alntniB
(destitute of potash) which is formed near Hall^
vni vas formerly beltered erroneoosly to be
pure alumiD, belonging, like the porcelmn earth

* Feder-ataMn, AoanaJi, mtUigtr aad ttangliger trfaidi ' of
Freieowalde, TctwrniDg, &o. {tOapnth, Belirage, Tva. i,
p. 811 i Tom. iii, p. lOS, Wkanu, in the Sehrtflen der Dret-
dener Ouelluhaft futr Mmenlogie, Tom. i, p, 986; Ton. il,
p. S32). From what formation u tbs uliTe klnni drawn,
whiuh (be Goubaniani c&rry to Sjena from the ialerior of
Africa? {Decade Egypt- Tom, iiifp. 85). I reg^t, (lial I am
not able, at a distance from my own colloctions, to detormiDe
tbe quantity of potash, nhiofa the native atom of Kobalo
ountains.

f hriiunkohU and Alaunerde.

107

(kaolin) of Mori, to porphyry of red sandstoQe*
AnalogoaB chemical actiqiui may take place in
primitive and transition slates, as well as* In
tertiary formations. All slates, and tUs fact is
very important^ contain near five per cent of
potasbi snlphnret of Iron, peroxid of iron, car*
boo, &c* The contact of so many hnmected
heterogeneous substances must necessarily lepui
them to a change of state and composition. The
efflorescent salts^ that abundantly cover the
aluminous slates of Rdimlo, indicate how much
these chemicaL effects are favoured by the high
temperature ci the climate ; but, I repeat, in a
rock where there are no crevices, no vactuties
parallel to the direction and indinaUon of the
strata, native alum, hemidiapbanous and of con«
choid fracture, completely filling it^s place (it*8
beds), must be regarded as being of the same
age with the rock in which it is contained. Tho
term contemporary formation is here taken in
the sense attached to it by geognosts, in speaks
ing of beds of quartz in clayslatej granular lime-
stone in mieaslate, or feldspar in gneis.

After having for a long time wandered over
barren scenes, amid rocks entirely destitute of
vegetation, the eye reposed with pleasure on
tufts of malpigbia and crotou, which we found
in descending toward the coast. These ar^*
borescent crotons were of two new species *,

* CroloD argyrophylluSf and c. margincUus,

106

very remarkable for their form, and peculiar to
the penimala of Araya. We arrived too late
at the La^tma c/aca, to visit another rock farther
east, and celebrated by the name of the Lagnna
grande, or del ObispD*. We ctmtented oar-
selves mth admiring it from the hogfat of the
tnountains, that command the view ; and, ex-
cepting the ports of Ferrol and Acapnlco, there
is perhaps none of a more extraordinary con-
figuration. It is an inland gnlf two miles and
a half long from east to west, and one mile brood .
The rocks of micaslate, that form the entrance
of the port, leave a free passage only two hun-
dred and fifty toises broad. The water is every
where from fifteen to tweuty-five iathoms deep.
It is probable, that the government of Cumana
will one day take advantage of the possession of
this inland gulf, and of that of Mochima •f-, eight
sea leagues east of the bad road of Nneva Bar-
celona. The family of Mr. Navarete waited for
us with impatience on the beach ; and, though
our boat carried a lai^ sail, we did not arrive
at Maniquarez before night.

We prolonged our stay at Cumana but a

• According to Mr, Fidalgo, lut. 10' 35', loog. 0° T 60*
eafitorCumaou. See aboie, vol. lit, p. 2).

t Tbis is « loDg Dsrrow guir, three miles fiom north to
south, similar lo the Jiurd$ of Norway. Lat. at ibe entrauce
10° 23' 45* i long, 10' west of Curoaua, and 3' west ot Puerto
Kscondido.

fortnight. Having Jost all hope of the arrival
of a packet from Comana^ we availed onrsdves
of an Amerioan vessel^ laden at NueraBarcekNia
with salt provision for the Isle of Guba* We
had now passed sixteen months on this eoast»
and in the interior of Venezuela. Althongh we
had still more than fifty thousand francs left in
bills of exchange on the first houses at the Ha-
vannah^ we should have felt a very distressing
want of funds, if the governor of Cumana had
not made us all the advances we wished. The
delicacy of Mr. d'Emparan's conduct toward
strangers^ who were entirely unknown to him,
claims the highest praise, and the warmest gra-
titude. I mention these personal incidents, in
order to warn travellers not to trust too much
to the communications between the different
colonies of the same country. In the state of
commerce at Cumana and Caraccas in the year
1799, it would have been easier to make use
of a draught upon Cadiz or London, than upon
Carthagena, the Havannah, or Vera Cruz. We
parted from our friends at Cumana on the 16th
of November, to make the passage for the third
time across the gulf of Cariaco to Nueva Bar-
celona. The night was cool, and delicious. It
was not without emotion, that we saw for the
last time the disk of the Moon illuminating the
summit of the cocoa-trees, that surround the

bulluoC.tlM MaotaMroi OU'iyM ifimiiiMd
img find Ob UiM wbhMi eoas^ irlnrp onoe
nilr m bad W (iwpliiiil of «nr AUov moi.
The bceen wu Mrong, ud in !«• (Ii*ii «x
boon wt: Bncband aoar tiM Mmo of Nqen
Bansdooa, Irherfl Uw ntsel wbioh lnu to take
Dt to the Hanniiali wai nadjr to wt nil

Ill

CHAPTER XXVL

Political state of the Provinces of Venezuela. —
Extent of Territory. — Population. — Natural,
Productions. — Exterior Commerce. — Commu-
nications between the different Provinces^ that
compose the Republic of Columbia.

Before I quit the coasts of Terra Firma, and
point out to the reader the political importance
of Cuba, the largest of the West India islands^
I shall collect into one point of view whatever
may lead to a just appreciation of the future
relations of commercial Europe with the United
Provinces of Venezuela. In publishing, soon
after my return to Germany, the Essai Politique
sur la Nouvelle-Espagne, I made known at the
saine time a part of the materials, which I pos-
sess on the territorial riches of South America.
This comparative view of the population, agri-^
culture, and commerce, of all the Spanish colo-
nies, was formed at a period, when the progress
of civilization was shackled by the imperfection
of social iostitutioDS, the prohibitory system, and

lis

other fetal errors in the science of govemment.
Since I develops the immense resoorces, which
the people of both Americas, eojoyiog natunial
liberty, might find in their own poution and thdr
relaUoDs with commercial Europe and Asia, one
of those great revolntioos, which from dme to
time agitate the human race, has changed the
state of society in the vast regions through which
I passed. The contioental part of the New
World is at present in some sort divided between
three nations of European origin; one, the most
powerful, is of Germannic race ; the two others
belong by their language, their literature, and
their manners, to latin Europe. Those parts
of the ancient world, which project farthest to-
ward the west, the Iberian Peoinsula and the
British Islands, are those of which the colonies
are most extensive ; bnt four thousand leagues
of coast, inhabited solely by the descendants of
Spaniards and Portoguese, attest the superiority,
which in the fifteenth and nxteenth centuries
the peninsular nations bad acquired by their
maritime expeditions over the navigators of other
countries. It may be asserted, that their lan-
guages, which are spread from CalifDmia as &r
as the Rio de la Plata, and on the back of the
Cordilleras as welt as in the forests of the Amazon,
are monuments of national glory, that will sur-
vive every political revolution.
The inhabitants of Spanish and Portuguese

113

America form together a population iwice as
namerous as that of English race. The French^
Dutch, and Daniish possessions of the new con-
tinent are of small extent ; but, to complete the
general view of the nations, which may have an
inflnence on the destiny of the other hemisphere,
we ought not to forget the colonies of Scandina-
vian origin, who are trj^g to form settlements
from the peninsula of Alashka as far as Califor-
uia; and the free Africans of Hayti, who have
accomplished the prediction of the Milanese
traveller Benzoni In 1545. The situation of
the Africans, in an island more than three times
as big as Sidlyi in the middle of the Mediterra-
nean of the West Indies, augments their po-
litical importance. Every friend of humanity
prays for the developement of a civilization,
wUcb advances in so calm and unexpected a
manner. Russian America hitherto less resem*
bles an agricultural colony, than the factories
which the Europeans have established on the
coast of Africa, to the great misfortune of the
natives, presenting only militaiy posts, stations
of fishermen, and Siberian hunters. It is no
doubt a striking phenomenon, to find the rites
of the Greek church established in one part of
America; and to see two nations, which in-
habit the eastern and western extremities of
Europe, the Russians and Spaniards, thus bor-
dering on each other on a continent where they

VOL. VI. I

I14i

arrived byiappn^i waysrbnttbeahMStwTCgb
MMBdl thS niipeopbd<<^)HMB trf>Opholdt and
KsBiwbatkB.'^tba Willi 0^ MooHidKAnuMd
br te pK» d^' Ai"fti aad'<he!hiiihiifnw. ujrtuia
UtbnM adopted in the SeaadiiianHi ^daloala
ffthe Nfffii Wurid^ ar»BJbnBUto Aab >«iU liiUd
tiwttloDtinudMwy. HampaiitfiiilanKtliaVlf
u Uw iciearebM of pc^Ueal eoMKNaf'we ac-
eoaibiitf onnelraB ta iii4eatigat»oafytbaiBMa,
WB oanoot bnt admit, tbi* tiie Amaritaa oow-
tinent li. diitidid. 'pviiparly spaakibg,' iitldy bis
twem tbcee grtftt natioiu, of EogiiBli, i^iaiiidi;
and PortagacK Faee. The firit of theio three
nMioiia, tjfe Angloatnerioaiu, i» alao, next to the
EDglvh of Europe, thaitrhich ooven with it's
flag ijie gteatttt extent of sea. Without any
diflt^li ooloDies, it's commerce has acqoired a
growth attained in the ancient world by tfaM
nation alone, which Comma nicated to North
America i^s langnage, the spleodoc of itfs lite-
Eatnne, it's^love of lalMur, it's prediloetioa for
libqrt|f, awl a part of it's civil iniUtntioiu.

The En^ish and Portuguese oolonigts have
pqopled.only th« coastSioppoute to Europej the
Castillians, on the contrary, from the beginning
of the conquest, have passed orer the chun of
the Andes, and made settlements in the oHMt
western regious. There only, at Mexico, Caa-
dioamarca, Quito, and Peru, they found traces
ci andent dvilization, agricultural naUcms, and

115

flourisbiiig empires. This ciixsumstance^ togd-
tber with the growth Of the native moimtaifi
populatk)D| the dlmest tt€hitiv6 posflession of
l^t metnllie wealtl^ and Uie cbmikieteial re-
iatioofr ertablisbed from ihd -b^nnkig of the
sixtedntfa itentury with the Indian archipelago,
have i^ten- a peealiar character to the Spanish
possessions ia equinoxial America. In the cdon-
tries of the east, the people who fell kM the
hands of the' English and Portuguese pfamters
wei^ wandering tribes, or hintera Far from
forming a portion of the agribuhur&l And bbtt-
rrkius populaUon, as on the table land of Ana-
httac,*ali Guatimala, and ia Upper P^u, they
generally withdrew at the approach of the whites.
The necessity of labour, the preference given to
the cultivation of the sugar-cane, indigo, and
cottoiiK, the cupidity Which often accompanies
and degrades indOBtry, gave birth to that in-
famous trade in Negroes^ Uie consequences of
which have been alike fetal to both worlds.
Happily,' in the continental part of Spanish
America, the number of African slaves is so in-
conaiderable, that, comp&red with the servile
popnlation of Brazil, or with, that of the southern
part of the United States, it is found to be in the
pvoportion of one to fourteen. The whole of
the Spanish colonies, without excluding the
islands of Cuba and Portorico, have not, on'a
aufffiice which exceeds at least by a fifth that of

I 2

116

Enn^, u many Negroes u the ringle stale of
^^Dia. The Spaniih AmericaaR display ia
the Doion xif New SpiUD and Gnatiinala the tcde
example in the torrid >ODe of a nation of nght
millions of iobatHtaots governed according to
European institotioDS and laws, eultifatiDg at
itiM same time BDgar, cacao, wheat, and gnpes,
and having scarcely a slave torn from the land
of Africa.

The pt^nlation of the New Continent yet
surpasses but litUe that of France or Germany.
It donbles in the United States in twenty-three
or twenty-five years ; and at Mexico, even nnder
' the government of the mother country, it donbles
in forty or forty-five years. Without indulging
too flattering hopes of the futore, it may be ad-
mitted, that in less than a century and ahalfthe
population of America will eqaal that of Europe.
This noble rivalship in civilization, and the arts
of industry and commerce, far from impover-
ishing the ancient continent, which has been so
often prognosticated, at the expense of the new,
will augment the wants of the consumer, the
mass of productive labour, and the- activity of
exchange. No doubt after the great revolutions,
which human societies undergo, the public for-
tune, which is the common patrimony of civili-
zation, is found difiierently divided amoug tbe
nations of the two worlds : but by degrees the
equilibriam is restored; and it is a fatal, I had

117

almost said an impious prejudice, to eottaider
the growing prosperity of any other part of 6iir
planet as a calamity for ancient Europe. The
independance of the colonies will not contri-
bute to isolate them from the old civilized na-
tions, but will rather bring them closer. Com-
merce tends to unite what a jealous policy has
long separated. It may be added, that it is the
nature of civilization to go forward, vnthout
becoming extinct for this reason in the spot that
gave it birth. It's progression from east to west^
from Asia to Europe, proves nothing against this
axiom. A clear light preserves the same splen-
dor, even when it illumines a wider space. In<-
tellectual cultivation, that fertile source of
national wealth, communicates itself from step
to step, and extends itself without being dis-
placed. It's movement is not a migration : and
if it appear such to us in the east, it is because
barbarous hordes have seized upon Egypt, Asia
Minor, and that Greece, heretofore free, the for-
saken cradle of the civilization of our ancestors.
The barbarism of nations is the consequence
of the oppression exercised either by interior
despotism, or foreign conquest ; and it is always
accompanied by a progressive impoverishment,
a diminution of the public fortune. Free and
powerful institutions, adapted to the interests
of all, remove these dangers; and the growing
civilization of the world, the rivalship of labour,

ftod that of trade^ qn nok th« rain of Mata% khe
wdfiun- OF wfaieh Bam Aom • ntHBl lovrae.
FirodDclire aad eoi— crrini Eanpe will pnAt
inom tbaiM«<onl«r ^ .thii^. Id S^Muk hmm
riot, as it wooid profit by.tbe imram oC ilh
eoBiimiptioii, iroin ennti U«t iai0hl:.piit .m
flod to bBfbarina if Graeee^ wtte ■ortham eoui
of, Afiioa* Hid in othar ooantries. auHtf/toi^ to
tbe tyranny of the Ottonwiii. . What mam
menacM tha pwupwity of .thaanoiwifcpnwrtnntf
Ib the pralongBtioo of those inleatiiie Mrngglfli^
which stop productioD, and diminlab atthewme
time, tbe nomber and waDts of tbe aonBannn.
Tbaa struggle, b^un in Spaaiah America, wt
years after my departure,, is drawing gradaally
to an end. . We sball . soon see indepmdwt
natioq^ ruled by very different forms of goyerfr
ment, bat uuited by the remembrnncQ f^ a
oommon ori^^n, the uniformity of laDgoaga, 4Pd
the wants to vbicb civiliyidion giyes ris^ ior
bahittbe two shores of the AManUc, UnaylM
said, tbat tbe immeu«e progress. of the arl-oT
navigation has oarroved tht] basin of the was.
The Atlantic Ocean already appears to nsia Uie
form of a narroir channel, which as little re-
moves the New World from the commerciel
States of Europe, as tbe basin of the Mediterra-
nean, in the iuiancy of navigation, removed the
Greeks of Peloponnesus from those of Ionia,
Sicily, and the Cyrenaic r^oo.

119

It appeared to me proper to state these ge«
neral eoiiBiderations on the future obtinecUbti ttjt
the two centineDts^ befdre I tracisd the political
akAch of the provinces of Vekiezoelai of which
I have made kndwn the diflhretii races of meti;
the spbntahtous and coltiTated prodnctioiiSi the
inequalities of the ^ soil, and the interior cOiii.
munications. These provlnceis, ^veraed ^tili
1810 by a captaid genehtl resMtog at Garaccab,
are now united 'to the aoeieht vioerojalty :0f
New Grenada^or Santa F^ by «he niime bf the
Repnblic tf Colnmbia^ I shall not anticipate
the jSMcrip^km, which I mnSt give hereafter bf
Ne#6pcBada; 4>vt, .in Order to rcttider Iny bb«>
servations on- the statistics, bf Venezaela ihdfe
Qsefol tb those, who ^al4 }ud^ of the politidal
impoittemce of the . country, smd the advantages
it may ofier to the> trade of Btlrope, even in it*6
preseoft . little advanced state of cultivation, I
shall describe the United Provinces of Venezuela
in. their intimate relatioiis With Cundinamarcsl,
fir New Grenada^ and as forming part of the
kiew ^te of Gotumbia; This sketch will ne-
cesaajily comprehend five divisions ; the extent,
popnlatidn, prodnletionS, trade, and pubKd re-
venna . A part of the stat.emeilits, which will
jienre to form this view, having been indicat^kl
in. the preceding chapters, I shall be condi^e ita
noting tfafe general results. Mr. Botipland atid
I passed nearly three years in the country, which

180

DOW fitrnu Uifc: territory of jthe.vefMibUD of Co-
InmbMi; ditaen imnths in Vooaoirtt; «ad tigh-.
¥«ea In Neir Granada. We^ionedlhtAarritovy
in it's wbole extent t OB onB>hnBd'bon >1mb
raonpttini of Faria u far. at, Emer^da on thi
Upper Onwadco* andSanX^ado idVioHtgnt
sitn«te ttqw dw frootwra ofiBisnUi anAoaCho
other* from lUo Sinn and Oarthagwia «>&» an
]tbeiDO>iry aamnnti of QinUi, the port of 'Gaay*^
nqiul.oatheooast of the Faofic ocean, and the
banks of the Araason in tbe prorince Of Jaen
de QracamonM. So long a stay, and an e^e-
dition of one thonaand three hundred sea leagues
^D the interior of tbe oonatry, of which nHwe than
six hnndred and fifty wen made. by water, have
furnished me with a pretty exact knowledge oi
local drannutanoes. I will not, howerer, flatter
mysielf with having collected as oumerons and
certain EtaUstical materials on Veneinela and
New Grenada, aa those which were afforded me
by a much shwter stay in New Spaio. We are
leas indooed to discoss qneaUons of political
economy ia ooontries merely agricultnral, and
which present several centres of authority, than
where tbe coDceotrated civilization of a great
capital, and tbe immense product of mines,
accustom men to the commercial estimation of
natural wealth. I found in official documents
at Mexico and Peru a pait of the statements,
which I wished to procure. It was otherwise at

121

Qoito, Santa F&, and Caraccas, where an io-^
terest in statistical researches will be developed
only through the eiy oyment of an independent
government. They who are accostomed to ex*
amine ciphers before they admit thdr truth
know, that in^ newly founded free states delight
is taken in exaggerating the increase of the pub-
lic fortune ; while in old colonies the list of
evils, which are all attributed to the influence
of the prohibitory system, is augmented. The
people seem to avenge themselves of the mother
country, when they exaggerate the stagnation
of trade, and the slow progress of population.

I am not ignorant, that travellers, who have
recently visited America, regard this progress as
far more rapid than the numbers on which I
have fixed in my statistical researches seem to
indicate. For the year 1913 they promise one
hundred and twelve millions of inhabitants in
Mexico, of which they believe that the popula-
tion is doubled every twenty-two years ; and for
the same epocha one hundred and forty millions
in the United States*. These numbers, I con-
fess, do not affright me from the motives, that
would alarm the zealous disciples of the system
of Malthus. Two or three hundred millions of
men may very possibly find subsistence one day
in the immense extent of the new continent

• Robinson* 9 Memoirt on the Mexican Revolution, Vol. ii, p. 316.

ISS

tMtwMn the lake of NIolMgoa add lake O*-
tarioL I admits tbat tbe UniMd 8mw «BI
eoBlMD abon eight)r odUiOU «f ItdaWttiM >
Imiidnd .jwan henea, -ttllovteg a 'iHNV'aMM*
ohange in tbe period, ef donbUbf frow tweatjf
Am-tothitt^ftteaadfoftf jtcan; bM^ DoliritbL
•taadia^ kkeekmentaMf pcMperil^* IM fintid ill
cqabtiodd AmeriBa»iioUrilfartakdltig tlMHtMoitt,
nUdi J a» wSUingits iUrftatealnMlltNkeeMty
lo .the new ■ KyubBcan gsfWumiutitSamitik 4n
tiie.watfa.aBd eb the Aorth of tha equator, I
doabt Tfactber tbe increase of the popalatiofi io
Venezuela, l^panUbGuyfuia, New G}naada,tiMt
Mexico* caa be in gfeneral ao rapid as in tiie
United States. Tt^ latter, . ^aate entirely in
Ihe tenperate lone, destitute of high obsina of
saoontains, offer an immeaie extentof coantry of
sasy coltivatioa. The bordes of Indian bnntem
jreoede before the planters, vhonk they abboi^,
attd tite metbodist misBJonaries, who oppose thdr
taste for indolence and a yagabond life. The
noraJertileland Of Spanish Anerifa ytodwWs
iadeed .on tlie same sariaee a greMer balk of
autritive snbaianees.^. No-donbtoift the taMe
lands of the eqainisial r^oo wheat yield» an-
noaJly from twenty to twenty^foar for one ; but
Cordilleras furrowed by almost inaccessible cre-
vices, bare and arid steppes, forests tbat 1*6081
both tbe axe and fire, and an atmosphere full of
yenomoQS insects, will long oppose powerfol

128

tibAacles to agricoUare and iodastiy. The most
enterprising and robnst planters cannot ad?ance
in the monntainons distriotsuf Merida, Antio*
quia, and. km Ftotos^in tbe.Uanos of Venezuela
and Gnoviare^ in the foresto of Bio Magdalena,
the Oroonoko^ and the province <tf las Esmeral-
das, west of Qnito, as they have extended thw
agricnltnral conquests in the woody plains on
the west of the Altegbanies^ from the sources of
the Obioythe Tennesee^ and the Alabama, as Cmt
as the banks, of the Missonry and the Arkansas,
in calling, to mind the account of my voyage on
the Oroonoko, we may appreciate the obstacles,
which the force of nature. opposes .to the efforts
of man in burning and humid climates. In
Mexico, large extents of 8<h1 are destitute of
springs ;. rains seldom fall, and the want 4>f
navigable rivers impedes communication.- As
the ancient native population isagricultural,^ and
had been so long before the arrival of the Spa--
mards, the lands of more ea&y access and cnl-
tivation have already .their pcY>prieU>rs. Fertile
countries of vast extent, at the disposition of
,the. first occupier^ or ready to be sold in lots for
the profit of tlie state, are much less common
than is imagined in Europe., Hence it follows,
that the progress of colonization cannot be every
where as free and rapid in Spanish America, as
it has be^n hitherto in the western provinces of
the Angloamerican union. The population . of

134

that UDion h CotfpMed wholly of vbites, and of
Negroes, irbo, torn from tbdr conotry, or tdm
IB tbt Nov World, are beooma the inMmnients
of Uw iodtutiy of the white*. la Mcnco, Gtta>^
timalot Quito, aod Peru^ in the contrary, there
exist in onr day more than fire mllfiiMift mod A
half of natives c^ ct^per-eoloared racc^ whose
isolated pcwitioa, partly forced and partly Tolan-
tary, attachment to ancient habits, and mlatnisu
fnl inflodUlity of diaracter, will kmg prevent
thdr participation in the progress of the pnbUo
prosperity, ootirittistuidiDg; the artifices em*
ployed to ^smdianixe them.

I dwell OD the difibrences between the free
states of temperate and eqainoxial America, to
show, that the latter bare to strn^le with ob-
stacles cod nected with their phyucal and moral
situation ; and to remind tbe reader, that the
coantries embellished by nature with the most
varied aod precious -productioiis, are not always
sosc^ible of an easy, rapid, and uniformly
extended cuttivatjon. If we investigate tbe
limits, which tbe popnlation may attain, as de-
pending solely on the quantity of subsistence,
that the land can produce, the most simple
calculations would prove the preponderatice (rf
the communities established in the fine regions
of the torrid zone ; hut political economy, or
the positive science of government, distrusts
ciphers and vaiti alKtractions. We kuow, that

125

by the tnaltiplicaiioQ of one family only, a cofi
tinent previously desert may i^eckon in the Space
of eight centaries more thaii eight Bullions of
inhabitants ; and yet these estimations, founded
on the hypothesis of a constant doubling in twenty-
five or thirty years, are contradicted by the his-
tory of every country already advanced in civik
ization. The destinies, which await the free
states of Spanish America, are too glorious, to
stand in need of being embellished by illusions^
and chimerical calculations.

Area and Population. — ^To fix the attention of
the reader on the political importance of the
ancient Capitania general of F'eneztiela, I shall
begin by comparing it with the great masses, in
which the various nations of the New Continent
are now grouped. It is by rising to more general
views, that we may hope to throw some interest
on the detail of those statistical data, which are
the variable elements of national prosperity and
power. Among the thiity-four millions of in-
liabitants spread over the vast surface of con-
tinental America^ in which estimate the savage
«ind native inhabitants are comprised, wc dis-
tinguish, according to the three preponderant
-iracesy sixteen millions and a half in the posses-
sions of the Spanish Americans, ten millions in
t^hose of the Angloamericans, and nearly four
inillions in those of the Portuguese Americans.
The population of these three great divisions is.

1«6

in our <b^. in the pnqiordon of '4y 2 |U 1 1
wbUe Uic eirtmt of sdc&mv d> whiohrtUepopiM-
1a(ioa/l«jprewl,i8,a»tlM nnoiben I'tfvO^*"!*
Tbe>«na^. the Uiuted Slates I» nmrlj a fiiartk
IpMtw tku thar of Rmna ontha mUaf tke
Unlian maantaina ;-aad Spsniob Amarioa ia ift
tba! naoa proporUm Mm fsteaeiva.-thhB tbt
Tfaok of EDiope. The Uatted Staitt • ooilluri
Are. eighth! of the popo1ati«a of the SpabiBb pea>
Beidea%; andr yot lAicdr area ta not eae bAlf.aa
lat^ Brasil comprehends ttacta ctf cmMtr^ so
desert toward the west, that, in an' extent only a
third less than, thttt of Spanish America, it^i
population is iir the proportioA> of oat to.ftmr.
The followii^ table ooatalos the results of ad
attempt, whidi I made coDJoiotly wiUi Mr. Mar
thien, member of the Academy of Scnences abd

•. Ta Aiaid.litmoBM oiraiimlooatioiu, tdt^- eonliMM M
dMignMle io dbyiji w»r^, lotwiltutandiiig the politicid changes
whicji haw takjBn pUce ip the lUle o( the cdoniea, the coaatej
inhabited by the SpmiA Awurkau, by the denomiaatioD cf
^viitk Awmktt. I' call tha conntry of the Ai^immaitaMt
tbn Vmtti Statu, without addiiif of North Jmtrka, tlOnrngk
other ttiitti Stain are formed io South Amerioa. It i»
eatharraiaiog,^ talk of nataoiM, who act a great part oa.th«
BtageAfthe world, without having coUeclive names. The
term American can no longer be applied solely to the citin»»
or the United States of North America; and it were to be
wished, that the aomenol^tire of the indepepdant natiooa of
the New Continent should be fixed id a nuuiDerat ooce «on-
venieot, harmonions, and precise.

127

of the Bureau des longitudes, to estimate by
precise methods the extent of the surfoce of the
various states of America. We made use of
maps^ on which the limits had been corrected^
according to the stat^ntnts published in my
Recueil d^ Observations astronomiques. Our
scales were in general sufficiently large^ not to
neglect spaces from ftnir to five leagues square.
We observed this degree of precision, that we
mj^bt not add the uncert9Jnty of the measure of
triaQgleSt,tr»pe;^ams9 and the sinuosities of. the
coasta^.tOk that o£ the uncertainty of geographical'
statements.

■^— -

til ■ . I I

OBBAT POLITICAL DIVISIONS.

SURFACE

ia tqoare leagnet

of 20 to an

fequiooxial

dograc.

I. PoisesflioDsof the Spaniih Amc-

ricaiu

Mexico or New Spaiq . . .

Gaatimala

Caba and Portorico

r Veoezaelai,

(kflumbia <, New Qrenada

C and Qaito

Peru

Cbili

Baenos.A^-res , ,

U. Possessions of tite Portuguese
Americaos ( Braail)

in. Possessions of the Anglo-
americaas (United States) . . .

371,880

76^880

16,740

4,480

88,700

68,250

41,420

14,240

126,770

256,990

174,800

POPULATION.

(1823).

16,786000

6,800000

1,600000

800000

785000

2,000000
1,400000
1,100000
2,300000

4,000000

10,220000

)

CHAPTEE XXVI.

XXFUMATJOHS.

1 romiDthe whole extent of South Amerin, ttUngftrtte
Hmlt the eutcm extremltj of Oie Frorlnce ofPuiinH, to be
671 jSBO aqnue lesgties ; of whidi Uie Spulah put, dut iv
Golnmbui (wtihont the istfamtu of I^num and the proviBce
of Verogna), Fern, Chili, and Buenos Ayrea (witboot the
Magellanic lands), compiiae 271,774 square leaguees the
Fortngneae posieiriom, 206,990 square lea^nea ; the Bngtiah,
Dutch, and French Gnyana, 11,S») square leagues; and
the lands of FatagooUkj south of Rio Hegto, 81,206 sqoare
leegnes. The fbUowing nnmbeis, indicating great extcnto
of enrfoce, may B«ive as tenns of ^ imperuon *. Bnnqie,
304,700 square leagues ; Russian empire in Europe and
Asia, 608,100 square leagues; Eoropean part of flia Rna-
stan empire, 138,116 square leagues; United Staiea of
America, 174,310 aqoore leagues. Hie whole of thoae es-
timates are made in square leagues of .twcn^ to an equa-
torial degree, or 2858 toises. I have adopted this measun
in the Penanal Narratitt of my Toysge, because nantical
leagues, of three miles each, would be more easily adopted
uniformly, as a gct^taphicol measure, among the commer-
cial nations of Spanish America, than the ItguM Ugattt and
legua* comntunei uf Spain, which ore twenty-six and a half,
and nineteen to a degree. In the Bolilkal Euoji oa the

■ Sceuotc B, at the end of the Mh Book.

129

Rtgdom of New Sptun^ the saxhces are indicaled in square
leaguea of twenty-five to a degree^ as they are for the moat
part in the statistical works publi^ed in France* X repeat
the&d statements^ because sereral modem antbors> while
^ey have copied the estimates of snrftices contained in the
PoUUcal EsiOff, have confounded^ in their reductions, the
leagues of twenty-five to a degree with nautical and geo-
graphical leagues; a confosion as lamentable as that of the
centigrade uid octogesimal scales of the thermometer. By
the side of an invariable element, that of the ores, depending
on the degree Af precision of the map which I constructed,
I have placed a very uncertain element, that of population.
The foUovrf'kg statements will throw light on this sulijeet,
which may ycmtr have been reasonably called plenum oyui
alect. In the study of political economy, ciphers, like the
elements of meteorology and astronomical tables, can only
progressively acquire precision, and we must stop most fre-
quently at numben wiihin certaki Umt9.

A. POPULATION.

Msxicc I believe I have proved in another place from
positive data, that the population of the Viceroyalty of New
Spain in 1804, including the prwmciat huemas and Yucatan,
but not the capitania general of Guatimala, contained at least
6,840,000 inhabitants, of which 2,500,000 are natives of
copper-coloured race; 1,000,000 of Mexican Spaniards,
and 76,000 Europeans. I even announced {Essai poiHique,
Tom. i, p. 66—76), that the population in 1808 would be
nearly 6,600,000, two or three fifths of it, or 3,260,000,
being Indians. The intestine wars, which have long agi-
tated the governments of Mexico, Vera Cruz, Valladolid, and
Guanaxuato, have no doubt retarded the progress of the
annual increase of the Mexican population, which at the
time of my stay in the country was probably more than
150,000 (Eisot pol, torn, i, p. 62^64). The proportion of

VOL. vu K

UtUk tb ttft pttlMnni ftfl^iUn to be ini 19 MWItMM ;
UWUMbfatknik Mb Id nSlJF. n IUBnitBll|f ni^ ri^|&ltCh
)|<W cUr ik UIMM air i ttDMIi « UbBMill, I WIM
I WtvbnUlliitd Ugn teuMifJn tlA nB{ni df flb6M ^d^dkr
^'1H^n^1 Hwiwij vUdn iwHs tBtcf nfltW too wwUil^ vt falnUj
wUinWMi, ns ipicintan. lociMMirt mUd Vt nfl vMUHiy
HMlf 'bM MMutty proWs^ ttU tlte 'C^UMtti I IbMMM
tWuVo ycftrt spi BR not flir Inin lln tnitn. Dqh' ffnMlMD
Nsnfli>irW<>>Ut$>IU)>dllUW tt lUsIM <M MjMli af
n flkUidnfiTC bcjinty hilo tlH mttiber tlf ciMM y AteiHcr
or ^^^^' ^ IK cnuDitei hR |i6^finilitRi of OM tMHttf B
l810Kt«.lt8,Mf. (CWalt«adalMnr«lW9W«cMMlfiw#c
b^dbi, ISlS/p. M; kad JKqiMiM ifc m JMfcmo al n*
too (M CUwrwI. p. T). llie nnw author, naUed bjUa
office tn the finuieM (Cmiodar tfa lo* romot St aHitrifm) to
etiuMm the itafiattc Mttemtata on the spot, Hunla (JVeMfr-
rto M&re fa poft/odM d* ffMva Ek^dla, Sftxkv 1B14, and
ABwuMria pofiltco y Ruraho de la Nmna Etpdta, n\ SO, p. M)
tiiatin 1810 die population of New Spain, without tnclnding
the pnmnces of QttiXltnala, Wat compoaed of the foUowii^
«leinanti:

1,0BT,M8 Baropcaas and Amarioan ^aniard*.

9jtn,tBl iDdknt.

l,^M,T0e of ihized rate.
4,MBiKcdlar ecdalkatiea.
3,m eecteaiaitiea ttf the regvUr dergy.

s,oeenm.

6,199,364
I km {Ddiaed to beliere, that New Spun haa at preant
iMarly Mfven mHliona of iohBbilaDta, and this ia dao tke
opinion of a respectable prelate, the arcfabtihc^ of Modeo,
'don Jose de Foate, wbo haa travelled thnnigfa a eouidenUe
part of hb diocese, and whoia [ liad noently the bonour «f
-ae^Dg agafa] at Paiia.

ISl

CNjattmala. 11m Gwmlvy* which hat been hitherto (W^
tignated as a kia|[pdom, compriaea fhe ftwr bkhopHea oC
Chuttmala, Leon de Nican^§pui> Chiapa or Chulad lleal» a^d
GoaMyagua or Houduras. A numbering made in 1778 hf
the aeonkr cofemmcnt, which wai Idndly comnmniciated
to me by Mr. IM Barrio (depnied to the 6ortea rf Madrid
beibre Hm declaration of the iadependtnee of Mexico), gave
only apopnhition of 797,214 inhabitan^t $ bnl don Dominge
Jaarroe« the learned antlior of the Campeadb dela kiitorkt d$
G^atemah, pnbliahed snoeesshrely in 18M— 1918* haa
proved, that thia reaolt ia very iaacearate (vol. i^ p. 8 and
81). Hie nnmberinga made at tiie tame period by order
of the hiahopa gave «bove a tiurd more. During my stay
at Mexico, the population of Gnatimala, where the Indiana
are extremely nnmerona, was eompolad from oflOMsial docn-
menta at 1,108,000 ; and it ia now estimated by penona, to
iviKun the localitiea are well known, at two milliona. Beii^
tlwaya desirous of stopping at numbers erring on the de^
ficient aide, I have reckoned the population only at 1,000,000.

Cuba and PoxToaico. The population of the great island
of Portorico is little known ; it has much increased sinee
the year 1807, when it was computed at 136,000 inhabitants^
^f which 17,500 were slaves. The census of the island of
Cuba gave in 1811, as we have said above, 800,000 in-
habitants, of which 212,000 were slaves. (Documenios de que
htuta ahora se compone el egpediente sobre tot negros de la isla
de Cuba, Madrid, 1817, p. 189.) In another official do-
cument much more recent (Reclamassion liecka por los Repre^
Mentania de Cuba contra le ley de aranceles, Madrid, 1821,
p. 6), the total population is computed at 680,080 souls.

Columbia. The seven provinces, which heretofore formed
the CapiUmia general of Caraccas, had, at the banning of
the 19th century, at the moment when the revolution burst
forth, nearly 800,000 inhabitants, according to the ma-

X 2

1S9

toiUi wUeh I odlwtad. 11k« nwAeriili an not « total
nmnientiaa noMle by the Mcnkr power, bat putial MtiBBtat
veHf, fDondad puflr m the <rtwMiiti of a« ctegr ud
miiriamriai, ud pvdjoa eoaridentfaM of the eonmiip-
tioD, and ttie gratw or tcH adTmced iMb of cnltimiMi.
P^noni emplt^vd ia the gorenuMat of Cmicoh, and par'
tknhilf a man wril inftimied in finaatial matlen, doo
Hamid Natante, an officer olA* rojal treaMry at Cibmiib,
'Mdatad me io tbi» task. Tha period to wbk^ It pwe up
Ksdera It Ugbly inlaretting. It ii a poiiit from wUdt tbe
lacreue of the popolBtkHi nace the acqidsUkm of Ubairwd
e daj be ettlmated. Thta iacreaie,
t be fidt, tin Ooae flue conaMea aic
mtorcd to internal tranqoiUity. INMiiUy at the time when
thii woHt ^ipcars, Ae popnlatloa may be nmewbat leu than
in 1800. The armies have not been nnmeroos, bnt they
hare deaolated the beit cultirated conntries on the coast, and
the neigfaboaring Talleys. The earthqtulu of the S6th of
Mxtdt, ISIS (Ste above, vol. Iv, p. IS), the eindemic fevn*
that premiled in 181B (rol. v, p. 761), the aiming of the
bladu, eo imprudently &ToiiTed by tbe roysliat party, the
emigntion of many wealthy ftmiliei to the Wect lodii
ulauda, aad a long stagnation of trade, have alimented the
public mlsoy.

JVocMMc* ^ Cidaaaa and AarM&MM 110,000 aouls.

lam in poeaesnon of a numbering made in
Vm, wliich is at least one sixth in error,
and which gives 86,088 soula, of whidi
4S,01ft were Indians ; namely, 27,787 de
docMaa, or inhabitants of villages that have
a vicar of tbe secular clergy, and 14,828 de
ffliftioM, or governed by missionary monks.
I compute in ISOO for the province of Cu-
mana, or New Andalusia, 60,000 : and for
the province of Barcelona, (>0,000.

133 .

Pnn>meeofCaraecaM., 370«<MK>

The valley of Caucagua and tbe sanui*
naha of Ocumare were reckoned Ui 1801, to .
contain 30)000 ; the town of Caraccas, and
the valleys of Chacao, Petare, Mariches, and
lofl Teques^ 00/)00 ; Portocabello» Guayra,
and the whole shore from ci^ Codera as
fiur as Aroa, 25^000 ; the valleys of AxagatLf
52,000 ; le Toy, 30,000 ; the districts of
Carora, Ban{uesuneto» Tocuyo, and Gnanare,
64,000 ; S. Felipe, Nirgoa, Aroa and the
neig^hbouring plains, 84,000 5 the llanos of
Calabozo, San Carlos, Aiaure, and San Joan
Baptista del Fto, 40,000. These partial
estimates, which comprise almost all the
inhabited paits, yield a total of only 816,000.

Pr<mn€eofCoro 82,000

ProvinceofMaraeayho{,wUhMendaandTr 140,000

Provmee of Varmtu 75,000

Prooince of Ouayana 40,000

A numbering in 1780, the results of which
I found in the archives of Angostura (Santo
Tom^ de la Nueva Guayana), gave 10,616
inhabitants; 1,479 whites, 16,409 Indians,
020 blacks, 1018 pardot and zambat (people
of mixed race).
Island of Margaretta 18,000

Total 785,000 X

Perhaps, even at the period at which I stop, the population
of the two provinces of Caraccas and Maracaybo, and that
of the island of Margaretta (Brown's Nairatvae, 1819, p.ll8)^
were somewhat exaggerated ; Mr. Depons, however, who
had alike access to the returns made by the vicars to the
bishops, estimates the province of Caraccas only, including
the province of Varinas, at 600,000 (Vo^ag^ d la Tent
Ferme, torn, i, p. 177). The villages are extremely po«

134

pnlooi ia the pnrriaaea at Huwxytio, bath BWit tbt kke^
udinthonwOBlidBi ofMcridkwadTnMtllB. Am^Oe
780.000, or BOOyOM iBhrijHwiU, wUA m% Bay. i^poae
In the O^itcadn ««wpbI «f ONOCMki ISSQ, 1b«M were
probdUr muYj 4M,M0 UkDhm of pan Mw. The «flkbd
docnmoito * gtTe«i;W» fcr ttaprorinw af Cul— <»,0W>
ofthanfertbeiolMl0M«rOntpedne)i «>0«tftr flu
proTiii«iofBM«dMMf«f«Ueh1H.«M us ia *a afMioni
of FIritoo) ; S4,000 lilt the pMttaee of QoifUft {tet is,
VJfiOa ID the miariMM of Ohobj. ^WW fti All of the
Oroonoko, uaA vmAj t«,00» IMtag ia ■ alite of %iJBpea
dues la flie Bdta of the Oraoarik* «bA ta >Ae tm\Ma).
TheM 5tatemeiilBaanceto'pR)Te,fiMt'twDmba-«f oopper-
colonred Indiom la the Capitania feiteral k neither 7t,B00
nor 280,000, u it has veeendjr been emmeooify uaerted,
(DepoM. torn. 1, p. 118; MaHe-Brm. ^eogr-. Ioib- n
p. 649), The flm of tfaeie authon, who etfbaMet the told
popalBlua at oiOf TMfiW, iwtad of 800.000, faM tia-
gnladf eraggnated the nnnibcr of- aUvei. He redtom
S18«400 <tom. i, p. 341). TUs mtmber k tOma^ torn
limes too great (See above, vol. ill, pw 483). Accocding to
partial estifaiates, made by three penooa to whom the I»-
6alities were well known, doo Andres B«Bo, doa Zioni*
Xx)pe>, and don Manuel Palado F&xardo, in 181S, Iheie
existed 62,000 slaves at the utmost, of whom there veie
10,000 at Caraccas, Chacao, Petara, Banita, Muidtes,
' Guarenos, Guatlre, Antimano, La Vega, l^M Teqnea,

San Pedro, and Bndare.
18,000 at Ocutnare (las Sabanas), Yare, Santa Locia,

Santa Teresa, Maria, Caneagna, Capaym, l^npa,

Tacarigua, Mamponil, Panaqnire, Rio Chico,

Gnapo, Cupira, and Curiepe.
6,000 at Ouayos, Son Mateo, Victoria, Cagua, Sscobel,

Tnnnero, Maracay, Guacara, Gntgne, Valencia,

Puerto Cabello, aud San Diego.

* Ste note C, at the end of the 9th Book.

3flQ0 at 6uayra,Choroni,Ocumare>Chiiao, and Burburata.

4^000 at San Carlos, Nirgua^ Sap Felipe, Llanos de Bar-

quesimeto, Carora, Tocuyo^ Araure> Ospinos, Gua«

Dare, Villa de Cura, San Sebastian, and Calabozo.

22,000 at Cumana, Nueva Barcelona, Varinas^ Maracaybo, •
and in Spanish Guyana.

The number of Spanish Americans probably amgonts only
toSOO,000; that of whites bom ii| Europe, to 12,000 ^
whence would result for the whole ancient Co^'tonta ge-
neral of Caraccas, the proportion of 0*51 mixed (mulattoes,
zamboes, and mestizes), 0*26 Spanish Americans (creole
whites), Q-l<^ |o4w«> PP« Nc^prp^ n^^ ppi £un>|ieafis.

With respect W if^p kiqgdom pf ^fm ©rw^,**/ 1 ^^ ^
the numbqipgs of 1778, which gaye 747,641 for the audi-
eucia of Santa F^ ; and 531,790 JFor t)iat of Quito. Now,
^PP<>*>9S^ only one seventh omitted^ aifd adding Qf^y 0*018 of
annual increase, we find in 1800^ fin^m the most moderate
suj^sitious, above two millions. Mr. Caldas, well informed
of tl^ p9)itical state of his native country, reckoned three
millions in 1808 (Semanario de Santa-Fe, No. 1, p. 2-— 4).
But it is to be feared, that this learned writer greatly ex-
aggerati^d the number of independei^ f ndiaiis. I find, after
matufie examination of the jpa^f l^i? I possess, the popula-
tion «f the republic of Colun^bi^ to be 2,785,000. This
estimate is less than that of the president of the congress,
who, in the proclamation of the 10th of January, 1820,
reckons 3 1 millions } and it is rather more than that which
Wiis officially published in the €i4izeta de Colombia of the
10th of February, 1822, and whioh I know only from the
journals of Buenos Ayres.

Dbpantmbnts. Pkovinces. Population.

(Cumana 70,000
Barcelona 44,000
Guayana 45,000
Margaretta 15,000

174,000

137

At the same period (1822), for two provinces of Column
bia» the deputies of which were not then arrived at the
Congress^ were reckoned,

Panama 60,000

Veragua 80,000

80,000

The departments of JBojraca, Cundinamarca, Cauca, and
Hagdalena, form, with Panama and Veragna,. the ancient
oudieMcia of Santa-Fe} that is. New Grenada, without In-
eluding the/^eticfeactao/Qaii/o. Total population; 1,937,200,

""Quito 230,000

Quixoaand Macas 36,000

Ancient

P^vfi^leada

of Quito.

Cuenca 78,0(K>

Jaen de Bracamoros .... 18,006

Mahias 66,000 (!)

Loxa 48,000

^Guayaquil 90,000

650,000

There results from these data of the official Gazette of
Columbia, for the three great divisions of the ancient vice*
royalty of Santa F^,

Vbnbzubla 766,000 \

Nbw GaiiirADA 1,327,000

Quito 650,000

2,643,060

This total estimate nearly accords with that which 1 had
published twelve years before in my PoUtical Essay on New
Spam (vol. ii, p. 861). It is not founded on an actual
numeration, but *' on the reports made by the deputies of
each province to the congress of Columbia, to settle the
law of elections/' (El Argos de Buenos Aytes,^'' 0, Nov^m-

U)S

t>cf tUS, p. I, uid CUbhAm. Mv « <Ui«iMJ oHwwt ^
«t«/aHwlry,18t9, niLi,p,W&). The co^nv mI l»Tiis
becD ^a to coimlt the depntiea of OKito, thi iMtpdaHea of
Uwt prwMwefa bM ptolwblr ban cttioiatod «oo low. It
i« ghm ia the officU Qtnltt atadj tbe wme ■> h wh
foudn 1178, while Ibe cetfanate of the oedlwKM of Swte
FtgnWi— incrcaee io 4Sj«e» of mora then —• It it to be
hoped, that an eauDeratioB made with precidoo will soon
tlluIpKte the doiAta we cotertala od the statlitica ef ColBm-
Ua. It appaan to me probaUe^ that, netwithataidbig the
devaatatkni of war, the pepolatloti wtD be foead above

tfioojaaa,

Fnu. The eatimate of tite ptqndBtion indicated in tbe
table la sot too bi^. The worlu printed at Liiae (Aaa
poHtiea M Ftrejmeto M Pari pari tl ano IK*, pt^linda
p9r la Sodedad acadtmiea dt lot j^mtmtet del papa) aatliuaUd
the popolatioB, thirty yean ago, at a million of inlkaUtauta,
of wUeb«M,000 wei«Indiaaa,949,M0 meatizoca, aad 40,000
elarea. Tlie iidiabited part of tbe country haa a earfacc of
only 98,S90 aquarc Icaguea j end a large and fcrtile pan
of Upper Peni baa beloived ever dnce 177? tp thei4oe-
Tojwlif of BnepM Ajtm.

C«cu. An enumeration, jgoide ia 1B13, gave 880,001
aoob. Mr. dTriaarri, yitio fiPa aa important office ia tbe
gorcnunent of GhUi, Uiinlia, that tbe population may already
baTe attained 1,200,000.

BnaNoe AYita. According to the official documenta
communicated to Mr. Rodney, one of the cornmiarfoDen
aent by ttie prealdent of the United States to Rio de la Plata
in 1817, the population wtta two millions. At that period
it waa found to be 965,000, exclusive of llie Indiana.- 91m
number of natires ia extremely conolder^le in Upper Pere,
that is, in the ProvbwitK de la Sierra, which htAoag to tiM

139

state of BuenoB Ayres. Th^ official retunu eatimatecl (he
Indians alolie^ in tlie province of Buenos Ayres^ at 190^000 ^
in that of Cordova^ at 25^000 j in the intendanoe of Cocha-
bamba, at 371^000 -, in that of Potosi^ at 230^000 ; and in
that of CharcaSf et IM^OOO. The inhabitants of every de-
scription (Indians, mestizoes^ and whites;, in the province
of Faz alone, were computed at-409^K)0.

From these statements it results^ that in son^ districts
the returns had included the whole populati^; and in
others the number of whites, mnlattoes, and mestizoes only,
excluding fiie natives of copper-coloured race. Now, con-
fiiing ourselves to the eight provinces of the first description
ooAy (namely, Buenos Ayres, Cordova, Cochabamba, Potosi,
Charcas, Santa Cruz, la Pto, and Paraguay), we obtain
1^805,000 souls. The pA>vinces and districts of Tucuman,
Santiago dd Estero, the Valley de Catamarca, Rloja, San
Juan, Mendoza, San Luis, Jujuy, and Salta, arc wanting
hi this amotmt. As they contain, according to other re-
turns, near 330,000 souls, exclusive of the Indians, we
cannot doubt, that the total population of the ancient vice-
Toyalty of Buenos Ayres, or la Plata, already comprises two
millions and a half of inhabitants of all descriptions. (.Message
Jrom the President of the United States at the commencetnent of
the session of theJifteenXk Congress^ Washington, 1818, p. 20,
41, and 44). The very particular estimates* obtuned by
ICr. Brackenridge, secretary to the mission of the United
States at Buenos Ayres, and published in a work replete
with philosophic views, give to Upper Peru alone, that is,
to the four intendencles of Charcas, Potosi, La Paz, and
Cochabamba, a popiflation of 1,716,000. ^

Unitsd Statbs. According to the increase hitherto ob-
served, the population of the United States will amount, at

•^•mm^^^'m^'^n*

* See fiote 13. atthe end of ttic 9th Book.

140

dw eomiBeiicemeiit of Oc jrcv 18SS. to 10flao.V90i of
Unw 1 .a>a,OW bdi% iIbtm. • It «M ftmnd fa

1700 sn^oiOO (imoertaln}.

17SS ' 1,040.000 C{Aii,Hr.FUiii).

1T74 S,141,MT (trfta. Got. RurhOD.

ITW 3,910,nB (flnt cert^ noubtOagt.

taoo 6.3M,on.

1810 7>«3B,00t.

IBM ojanfi».

Thto tart raiiiiicntkn gtm T^MI^SBI wfattM j l^UT^MB
staTH j aad SI8>140 free bub at aOaar. AeearHat to a
very tatcreatiiig woric pobUihed by Mr. Hanqr (KiNt.
PAUflf . JOKnial ; JMNory, ISSS, p. 41), the decenatal mag-
■ nientation of the poputation of the United States wm, from
1100 to 18i0, mcccMiTelr. 36,06-1, and OSO, per cenL
The retardfttioa fdt in the increan therefiiie ia jet oalj S or S
per cent for ten jean, or one eleventh of the total increaae*.

Bbasl. It hai hUberto been fixed at three nulUout t
but the eatfanate irtiidi I give in ttie table is finnded <n
official onpoblished i^ecea, which I owe to tite HtHimm of
Mr. Adrien Balbi, of Venice, who was enabled by a long
atsj at Usbon, to throw great lig^t oa tbe statialice of
Porti^ and the Porti^;iiese colonies, Accordhtg- to the
report made to the king of Portugal inlSIB, on tttepopola*
tion of lus pOMtatlcwis beyond sea, and according to dlftiaA
etatenienta Aimished by the csptaios general, govemon of
prorinces (coofbnnablj to tbe decrees of Bio Jantin of Uw
aad of August and tbe 30th of September, 1810), Biacil,
about the year 1618, had a population of 8,617,000 in-
habitants } namely,

* Ste note £. attbe end of tbe Btb Book.
t Brakenridge, Voyage to South America, Vol. i, p. 141,

141

1,728,000 Negro slayes (prelot capttpos).
843,000 whites (brancoi).
420/M)O freemen, of mixed blood {meitiaoi, «« ja/9f > mdma"

lucat libertoi).
250,400 Indians of different tribes llndioide todoMiu cattoi).
202,000 slaves of mixed blood imuiaios capHvot),
150»000 free blacks ( yretotforoi de iodas as nagoet afrieanoi),

3,617,000.

The whole of these returns not having been made at the
same period, this state of the population may be considered
as relative to the years 1816 and 1818. The population of
Brazil, however, must have augmented considerably during
the last four or five years. According to documents presented
to the house of commons at London in 1821, we see, that
the port of Bahia~ received from January the 1st 1817, to
January the 7th 1818, 6070 slaves, and that of Rio Janeiro,
18,032. in the course of the year 1818, the latter port
received 19,802 Negroes. {Report made by a commUtee to
the directon of the African ImUiutioH, on the Bth of May,
1821, p. 37.) I have no doubt, that the populatioQ of
Brazil is at present more than four millions. It was con-
sequently estimated very high in 1708 (Essai po&t. eur le
Mesnque, vol. ii, p. 855.) Mr. Correa de Scrra believes,
from the ancient returns which he was enabled to examine
with care, that the population of Brazil in 1776, was
1,900,000 souls ; and the authority of this statesman is of
great weight. A table of the population, brought home by
Mr. de Saint-Hilaire, correspondent of the Institute, es-
timates the population of Brazil, in 1820, at 4,396,132 ;
but in this table, as the learned traveller well observes, the
number of wild and catechised Indians (800,000) and of
free men (2,488,743) is singularly exaggerated ; while the
number of slaves (1,107,389) is much too small. (See
yetoso de Oliveira, StatisHque da Brazil, in the Annaes Flu^
minenies de sciencias, 1822, torn, i, §. 4.)

14t

&t1i^ coa&nud dwiag Mma yoMri to aifta litelNI
rcflcuclwi eoncaning ttw |iinmk<liii of thi M« itatal af
SpudA AmotIm. oT At WMTbdlu Iifaii^ ai^af Ae
wanderlag IndkB tribv laboAAnerieH^ I «^ 1 n^
attaopt ifcrtto«WM«Jce«Arflhe*bltf|iniiiiliinf
the N«r Worid Ibr A* yw IMS.

I. CovmniiTAi. AmuiCAj xoaTK or m Imbmu* or

Fjixaka n/Mjuaa

Rag^CMMda ViOflOO

UnitedSlatft 10.«0>100

HedcQ and OvstiQiab 8,400,000 - .

Veragmud PuiuiaiA 60,000

Independent Indiana, porhapi... 400,000

IL iMaoLAs AMaaiai. t^TZJOOf

HiTti<Saiat Domingo) 816,000

Bi^iUah We«t India islands ... 134,M0 .

Staidsh(eidBdreonkIargaretta) 800,000 ^^"i**^

SkwA S»,000

I>atch.DBBiah, &o 8S,M»0

III. CoNTiMain-Ai. AasniCA, aovn or t>i Istnrini vr

VuKtMi. iVn^Mo

Colombia (exchuira of Vem-

gua and Panama) 2,706,000 ifV^f

Pent 1,400,000 ^

CWll 1,100,000

Bnenoa Ayres 3,900,000

English, Dutch, and flench

Oojana lOe.OOO /

Branl 4,000,000

Independent Indians, po'haps 420,000

Total 34,284,000

143

llie tbtftl population of the Arehipetego of tbe West
Indies is probaUy not less than two millions moA a ludf, al«
tiunigh tlie particular distritatton of this population amid
tile different groupes of islands may admit some dianges (m
ftLtiher inquiry, l^liese veriflcattons are espedally requisite
!br the firee ikihahitftuts of the English islands, the Spanish
pert of the repnhlie of Uayti, and f ortorico.

B« AIvEIA*

It is almost superfluous to relate the precautions! that
Mr. Mathieu and myself employed in the calculation of sur-
fitces, either by deOoihposiilg the irregular ^gures of the
new states into appropriJate irspiexiums and triangles, mea-
furing the sinuosities of the exterior .limits by means of
small squares traced on tivnspareni paper* or rectifying
m^is on a laige scale. Notwithstanding these precautions^
operations of this kind may yiM very diffiereai results ; first,
because the maps used Ibr this purpose may have been con-
structed on astronomieal data that are not equally precise ;
secondly, according us the frontiers are traced conformably
to the various pretensions of bordering states; thirdly, ac-
cording as, admitting the legality of the limits, and that
they have been astronomically determined with sufficient
precision, we endude from the estimation of the area the
countries that ate eniMf tmimhttbiM, or occnjrfed by savage
nations, it may be conceived^ that the first cause chiefly
afiects the superficial measurement, where the frontiers
stretch, as for instance in I^eru, along the Cordilleras from
north to south. Errors in longitude are known to be in
general more fircquent and greater than those in latitude ;
the latter, however, would lead to vary the area of the re-
pablic of Columbia more than 4600 square leagues, if we
were to suppose * as heretofore, on the southern frontier of

* See above, vol. v, p. 414., and note F at the end of
the 9th Book.

144

fipndA GtqruM and Bntf . tlw ftiit of Su CuIm del Kio
I^^ntobeHtaateimdertiiBaqinlari afcftwluGhl fboni^
bj tfw olaemliaBi nude ■* Uw niidt of CaUmacBi, to b*
la 1* AV «* oT Botth ktitDde. TIm Meond ouw of vw
«ertMiaXf, thtt whldt kUm to polHIetl Oigatm iwpecUig
Ihe Umiti, U of high importuoe, whcrmr th« Poitagww
tenltory is cootigiKWM ta that of the Speniah AmericNu.
TtM nuniuertpt Dupt timccd tt Rio Janein or Liibao have
little leaconlilaiicc with tliose Aat era cooitracted et Bocnoe
Ayree md Bleiiiid. I hne ipolccB Id Oe SSd Cfadpter * of
the intennlnablavpentioiia ettonptod hy the hmwImImi q^
Asitif which have been eetahliflhed daring tcmtf jttm fal
Armnar, od the banks of the Caqoeta, and hi the O^ftoaia
general of Ote Rto N^ro. The most important pofaita of
diflcnssioa, according to the study I have made of this gievt
diplomatic controversy, are betweea tite sea f and the livsr

• Vol. V, p. 297.
t Since the iunrpation of the territory of Uontevideo by
Hba Portngneae, the limits between the state of Buenos
Ayres aod Bmail Itave undergDoe great changes in the sostera
(oatla, or Ciijt&liae province, that is on the northern baak of
the Rio de la Plata, between the month of this river, and
the left bonk of the Umguay. The coast of Braall fhm
30" to 34" of south latitude resembles that of Mexico be*
tween Tamiagua, Taniuco, and the Rio del Norte. Itis
formed by namw pemnsnlas, behind which great lakes and
marahcs of salt water arc sitosle (Lagnna de los Pathos,
L^^na Merim). The two Poituguese and Spanish woreos
lie toward the southern extremity of the Laguoa Merim,
into which runs the amall river of Tahym (lat. 33° liy).
The plain between Tahym and Chny was regarded as neu-
tral territory. The little fort of Santa Theresa (lat. 33> fiS'SS*,
according to the manuscript map of don Josef Varela) was
the most northern post possessed by the Spaniards on tbe=
coast of the Atlantic Octaa, south of tlie equator.

145

Unig^j, the banks of the Guaray and the Ibicny, and thoie
of the Iguana and the Rio 8. Antonio^ between the Furana
and the Rio Paraguay, the banks of the Chidniy^ sooth-eait
of the Portogaese fortress of Nova Coimbm * $ on the
eastern fhrntiers tiie Spanish prorinees of Chiqiiitos and
Los Moxos, the Banks of tiie Agnapehy, the Tanm, and the
Gnapore^ a little to the east of the isthmus that separates
the tributary streams of the Pluraguay and the Rio de la
Madeira, near the Villa Bella (lat. 16* 0') ; on the south
sad north of the Amazon, the land completely unknown
between the Rio de la Madeira tfad the Rio Jarary (south
bt lO^*— llo); the plains between the Putmnayo and the
Ji^mra between the Apoporis, which is a tributary stream of
the Japnra, and the Uaupes, that fidls into the Rio Negro f >
the forests (m the south-west of the mission of Esmeralda,
between the Mavaca, Fsdmoni, and Cababuri t ; and finally,
the northern part of the lUo Branco and of the Uraricuera,

* Nova Coimbra (lat. 19® 550 ^ >^ presidio fbunded in
I77A, and is probably the most southern Portuguese set-
tlement on the Rio Paraguay. In different Spanish and
Portuguese maps, the Taguary (Menici, Monici), a large
tributary stream of the Ftoma, is usually fixed on as the
frontier between Parana and Ruraguay toward the east ;
toward the west sometimes the Chichuy (Xexuy) and Ipane,
^ear the ancient mission of Belen (lat. 23'' 82')> sometimes
t.he Mboimboy (lat. 20® 2V), opposite the destroyed mission
^f Itatiny, and sometimes (lat. 19® 35')> the Rio Mondego
or Mbotetey, near the destroyed town of Xerez ; all three
^%ributary streams of the Paraguay on it's eastern side. The
^Idoundary nearest Nova Coimbra^ that of Rio Mboymboy,
%as been pretty generally adopted provisionally between
Brazil and the ancient viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres.

t See above, vol. v, p. 334.
t Vol. V, p. 475, and p. 558.

VOL, VI. L •

baCwMD the^lUtlc PortivuMe tet cf Sw Jwnfflim tmAQm
wiUM4f Ae Rip CMMV*'(lat.:>>;«t.^<»0> Sonta

b«lw«Bn ^Mu«h «Bd Foftogaew AtDCriwi •ml we-dooo-
nied't- wKh itlM fbUvmog pany tocriptlon^ Pv >«

IMw J«"< VKO J but thp aoaKodoB of Amb pirfirti, mfy
diataatffam one Motiwr, (Iw il«4iHtHe liiWkw aC the IMnifcif
mA 4balr Ml«mi) racosnitioDj 'l»ve never bew oMaiMtf.
AU >lbkt hm UAertD been (kme it ngatitd-viif n fn-
Titiomit.uiiaA^ mesntiiBe the twa nagtatnaring aatiiwi.
whhna* ■tfnqwMilT^tthc-aalMMkw of thtir y^j^H, ^ilntiii
> Jtoto irf p— eidde fowewioii . We hawmMllwl *fc>w>
thiBt, if « .oobI ,of 6,300 toines long} were mbstitoted for
the iportage of ViUa Bella (U j°), between Uic Rio de U
Sftdain and Ite <Bio Jhtaguay, ob mland nm^^itn wonU
be oiieBed between the mooth ofthe Oioonoko«&d that of
the Ria de la Plato, between ADgostnra and Montevideo.
The course of the great rivera in the direction of the meri-
dians woald peifaapa afford a natural boundarg between the

• Vol. V, p. 481, and p. Tea.

t As at the point wh«re the Kio Janra enters the nn-
gudj. See the PaMota de Ato Janaro, 1818, N« S, p. M.

t The portage (varadoiro), properly apeaUng, is between
thie'Ottle livers Aguapeh; and Al^re. The fbrmer rens into
the Jknrti, which is a tributary stream of the Futgnay ; tbe
Itio Al^re tUls into the Goapore, a tributary streun of th^
Rio deta Madeira. The sotireea of the Rio Topayo* lie als»
Ycry n^r the Villa Bella and the sources of the Faragnaj^ .
This country, which forms a land itthmus between th.^
baaina of the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata, will be ors «
day of the highest importance for the inland trade of Soii-*.Ti
America,

147

•

PortQguese and Spanish possessions ; a boa.ndry thai voald
accompany the Oroonoko, the Cassiquiare, the Rio Negro,
the hanks of the Amoa^n, for a distance of twenty leagues,
the Rio de la Madeira, the Ooapore, the Agnapehi, the
Jauru, the Paraguay, and the Pbrana, or Rio de la Plata,
and would fbrm a line of demarcation of more than eight
hundred and sixty leagues. On the east of this houndary
the Spanish Americans possess Pteaguay, and a part of
Spanish Guyana ; and on the west, the Por^gtiese Ameri-
cans have occupied the country between the Javary and the
Rio de la Madeira^ and between the Putumayo and the
sources of the Rio Negro. It is not from the coasts of
Brazil and Pern only, that civilization has advanced toward
the central regions ; it has penetrated them also by three
other roads, the Amazon, the Oroonoko, and the Rio de la
Plata ; and has ascended the tributary streams of those three
rivers and their secondary branches. From the increase of
these routes, and their various Erections, a configuration
of territory and a sinuosity of frontier have resulted, no less
difficult to determine astronomically, than disadvantageous
to inland trade.

To the two causes of uncertainty in the estimation of sur-
faces, which we have just analyzed, namely, the errors of
astronomical geography, and the discussions of limits, may
be added a third, the most important of all. When we speak
fDf the area of Peru, or of the ancient Capitania-general of
Caraccas, it* may be doubted whether these names denote
«nly ^e country in which the Spanish Americans have made
settlements, and which consequently depend on their po-
litical and religious hierarchy ; or whether we should join
To the country governed by the whites (by corregidors, chiefs
<>f military posts, and missionaries), the forests and savan-
nahs partly desert^ and partly inhabited by savages, that is*
hy native and free tribes. We have seen above, mat in the
interior errors easy to suppose of 1** of latitude, or 2** of

148

laagtaade*. 11W7, on firontien of 30Q. IngOea, mSatgt m
dimlnbh the turbcn of new ttatM to the csteat of 13,000
•qiMre leagsM ; bat mnch not* importnt dUfeKBces uin
liroiir. Uncfl of demucalloa drawn somnAKt wUlnritf Ve-
twsen the butdi that m regululT inh^ted. aad thoM thet
ere desert, or the dwdlinge of aenga tribee. Hie fiaUS n$
ctoUbalMm ere more diffienlt to tnux than poUKoi IMb .
Litde sdasiona gorenied by monlci are dimmed alnya
riicri they may be tamed the oo^weti of Xonipeaa chrfl-

* I eatinwte the errore of ntotiiw iMjriAito only, fiir in-
stance, the (liffereaces of longitude between the coaat, and
the valley of the Rio Mamore, or of the Upper Javari. I
do not.speak of the vmn of aA«o/ii(e /oiyitiide, which some-
times exceed 3' or 4'', without inflaenciDg the measnre ol
Bur&ees. Hie longitude of the city of Quito ascertained by
me (6U S' SO* west of Paris) has caused a considerable
change of the western part of America, in the moat reeial
m^iB. This differs Vf SOf 30*, from the longitude adoptd
till my return to Europe {Connoiu. da Ttmpt ptmr ftaaA
1B08, p. S80). The breadth of South Ameiiea, betwea
Cbyenne and Quito, according to d' Anville, is 30 nantica]
leagues too little. It is the mequalilg of jmrdal ditplacf
menu, that occasions the errors of relatite tcmgitude wUd
alter the calculatioo of the area. La Cruz Olmedilla, whoai
great map has been successively copied and disfigured^ placed
Santa Fe de Bogota half a degree too &r to the east ; Sai
Ontos del Rio N^ro 2^° j and the mouth of the Apure s
<]uarter of a degree. The distance of Cumana from the
mission of Esmeralda 00 the Upper Oroonuko, is estimated
by La Cruz 2J" too little. In general, before my voyage,
the whole Bystem of the rivers Oroonoko and Rio Hegic
wa9 placed from 1° to IJ" of latitude too far south, om
2" of longitude too far east.

149

more than a hundred leagues amid forests and deserts.
Oaght the territory to be considered as Femvian or Gohun-
bian^ lying between- these solitary villages^ these crosses
erected by the monks of Saint Fhmds^ and surrounded by
a few Indian huts ? The hordes that wander on the bcnrder
of the missions of the Upper Oroonoko^ the Garony, the
Temi, the Japura^ the Mamore, a tributary stream of the
Rio.de.la. Madeira^' and the Apurimac, a tributary stream
Qithe Ucayale^ scarcely know the existence of white men.
They are ignorant that the countries^ which they have pos-
aeised for years, are included, according to the political doc-
trines of dosed terriianf (iemlotr« ferm^ within the limits
of the states of Venezuela^, New Grenada, and Peru.

In the present state of tilings, there is a amtigwty of eni-

thated Umd$, or rather a contigtiity of Chriitian $ettkmmU

onlj, on a very small number of points. Brazil touches

Venezuela only by the band of the missions of the Rio

Negro, Gasdquiare, and Oroonoko j and Peru only by the

missions of the Upper Oroonoko, and those of the province

of Maynas, between Loreto and Tabatinga. The different

ttates in the New World are connected only by narrow slips

of cleared lands. . Between the Rio Branco and the Rio

Gsioi^, the Javary and the Guallaga, the Mamor^ and the

Bunmtains of Cusco, lands inhabited by savages, and which

have never been traversed by whites, separate, like arms of

inland seas, the civilized parts of Venezuela, Brazil, and

Peru. (Compare above. Chap, xii. Vol. iii, p. 431—427.)

finropean civilization is spread as in divergent rays from the

coast, or the high mountains near the coast, toward the

<!entre of South America ; and the influence of governments

diminish in proportion to the distance from the shore. Mis*

^ions entirely dependent on monastic power, inhabited only

l>y the race of copper-coloured natives, form a vast zone

siround regions more anciently cleared } and these Christian

settlements are placed on the borders of savannahs and

150

rniM)!. betire«i tUe agriadtui*! mM putanl lib of Hw
eri(i^UiMidth»«aBddriBglttafltliiitiitBtribM; IniH^
GORMncted At Uiiu« tlw tHritorr of the unit ■kcteni Pflw-
vlU UrtndWMdi (Tinu ud CtMato) ihUBMiy it 'riot «fc'
tcbdwi n &r u the froMMi of etud hi* atld MlOafliUlib }
iki«Mi«iiOBlttkBfc« idbjoet tb tiife MilMi tlvr«r MM
filfcWw) btiiy ttUad Pira, aadttvfiMaNVkiMdbrtti;
ti^piA dendirinUltM «f nKmniffe lud, liiMi oMaiiMi
■mge ImtBtflfee {pMm ihe&ihBtMW, ijoMTM JtMMt^ MftVia

* MA» trwifab ir iliifete)j TiHttUtotorpwai ««Miiiig

HKblirto«UPort^ttiiMUaiib, b 4l;tfo WfMirt MiMtf
Wigiiit^^MW/lfTrtM>toiet1teVr«Biil«^AlMh^A«fltt^
trie» betiwea' «i fi<)taHlftft of l»»ril «Md life '(W^ VO^
(jftbe Belli end the UmtUc, we find tmly tB,ISOrtitara
U^ioea. We alull sobn Me, that, in the aiicMit- Vlce-
WjliltfofBtienM Afita, now ortlcd Oe EMMAdM^ttt
AM A la P/dAi, an dUfetcncc tfl lAdQ giAter. IntMe^iemfe
atlUHt ift ttky eMupDte BratQ at ajn,000 WllB.DMt
aqnift leegua, BMot^ m i*ie cdtebM tl* >MI(d« «aribe»
WttitknttitiyfvMnthecodMfo U>« birilka tf th£ MllAoM
tad JUMif, at tb^ kt the muM! of tUe rfVen.^&MUi Ml
AiitWgtn^, «kclthKi^ him the w«e 6f Bra^ tH6 grdMit- pM
of tlR pravtnMs of MattogrtHso,-Itlo M<egtu, wid Fldi«a|j;Ullri
Oirraiu. three imp«^fed prdvtncM, bonpHJing fiNM fliMB
hthirdof tlie eiMMofZurope.

FrokB tUeae couldehiilonfl we Awt not be satfiriMdf it
gddg^fepWh, who nleuUted the BUrfKces «tt& aA «4aal'tW-
oUoB^'end'eocordil^ to pretlijr good ihKpfl, ftAMi iMt ibi
pMiItl dUftred a quhrtbr, b iMvi^ eAd so^etihiea enm mBM
dMn half, ft h not euy 1o fik the liAiti bf dtaert t^lfUN^
of those inhfebited by ifiitepertdent iia&nt ; Oitt iabaMtk
ri(h«it<!e amid thtit Mva^ cotanU-ies, "FolldVring the beds of
the liVen. The calculated siirfec^ vary Btconlin^ as ^
ntimate the territory only which the missionaries have ic-
([tdred, or add the forests interposed between thedr acqid-
sitions. Thus the want of conformity observable between

151

the preceding Ubte> and that calculated by Mr. Oltmannn
in VdW, results only firam the exclajtan of the cMuilfict not
Hi6mUted to the goatmmue. of the vAtlu . The andeot e»-
timatee are all aeeeasarily less thaa the nevr^ whlcbpfesent
ilie total area. la nduciog coflunoa leagues to naolioal
leagues^ 1 leckoned io the Essai paiUlqmB sw la NomoelU^
EtpMgne (Tonib u» p. B61) 9(#,8ia sqiMM leagues ^twenty
ta a degi«e> far tbe vbole ef apanish Aookeriea; Wj^Mfsr
Veneauala^ or the ancient tapiMamm gmt^nl of Gaiaccas ;
41>301 squwe leagues for New Greniida} 10^449 fornix
hal»lte4 BivH (aooordiBg to the imitien inflirated in ike
M^ 9f IfHUf^atteiBt, pabliBhed at lima in VIM, hylkm
Andrew JBaleatQ) i Mt^H square leigues fiw Chili f ami
91,528, lor tbe Unit^ Fnofvineesiof Bte de hi Fkla, or the
auoieqt ntpevpyaUf pf Buenos Aytes, What I hare just
state4 cm lbs cskulalioBa of the oerfiices of Spanish Ame-
tkmi, and thci causes ftmk which these caJooiatioas. varjv
may be equally applied Co the territory of the United States,
which on the west haa been terminated at difarent periods
by the Mississipi, the stony Mountains, and the coast of the
Pacific Ocean. The territory of Missouri, and that of Ar-
kansas, have been long in some sort without frontiers toward
the west $ they resemble in this point of view the province
of the Chiquitos of South America. In the following tables
1 have adopted a different method of calculation from that
which 1 had hitherto observed 5 1 have estimated the extent
of l0iid, wliidi the increasing 'population of each state will
fill hi ike lapse of ages. The lines of division {Uneas divi-
torias) adopted are such as they are found according to re-
ceived traditions, and the rights acquired by long and
peaceable possession, on the manuscript Spanish and Por-
tuguese maps in my collection. Where the maps of the
two nations dil^ed considerably, these differences have been
attended to, and the medium taken as the results. The num-
bers on which I have fixed in the preceding table conse-
quently indicate the maximum of surfiicc furnished to the

iadntry of the rtidCB of ColainUa *, Peni, Mid Bndl i bat
u the polUiial tUvgA td rtata at m gtven period depends
lea on the proportioii of thdr total extent to thb mnaber
of their inb^dtanti, than on the d^ree of eoooentimttan
of Uie gneter part of tta popolation. I have eetlgiiBtad the

peraaos In the new govemmentaeatabUahed fai-E|pMdah Anm-
lica hKfc wUhed, lor the beoeSt of ttadr Intenal admlnis-
tiation; to knov at the aame tfane the total and the partial
•mteet. lite denmnlBatioa of proTtneea wiQ pnbaUy
undergo fteqoent chaagMj m Is the case fat all aodetiea
reeenfly fbrmed. , Different oomUnations are tried, bdbre
a state of eqidlibrinm and stability is attained ; and If inno-
Tstions of this kind have been leM frequent in the United
States, we mmt not attribote this to the national diameter
alone, but to that happy sitostion of the Angloamerican
colonleaj whidi, gimmed from their origin by excellent
ptditical lostitatKWU, poiseased liberty previous to In-

* Ib the declantton of the congress of Veneiaela, of the
dateof December 17th, IBIS, a dedandion which is regarded
as the Juiidomeiilai Ia» of the republic of ColnmlHa, thfc
territory Is eatlmated (article 2) aX 116,000 squan lengiKa,
without adding the nine of these leagues. If they be
aauticnl leagues, which is very probable, the estimate is
S6/Km leagues too great (once and B half the oTRi of ftance).
Si^M must have been consulted, which were not corracted
according to the astronomical observatious made at the
southern and eastern froDtiers. All the estimates of arta
hitherto published io the new states of America are very
inexact. I except the partial statements of the jlbga
argentata (1822, N" i, p. 8), an iaterestlng journal published
at Buenos Ayres.

153

New Spain. The sarface of this irast country has been
calculated with great care by Mr. Oltmanns, according Co
the limits marked on my lai^.map of liesioo. There will
soon probably be some cfaanges.on the north of San Fran-
cisco and beyond the Rio del Norte, between the monlb of the
Rio Sabina and that of the Rio Colorado de Texas. The asser-
tions made on my mi^ of Mexico, drawn in 1804, and pob-
lished in 1800, relative to the identity of the Rio Napestie
and the Rio de Pecos, with the rivers which bear the names
of Arkansas, and the Red River of the Natchitotcfaes in
Louisiana, have been fidly justified by the journey of mi^r
Pike, which appeared at Philadelphia in 1B10« .

GuATUffALA. This country, so little known, contains the
provinces of Chiapa, Guatimala, Vera Paz or Tezulntlan,
Honduras (towns : Comayagua, Omoa, and TruziUo), Ni-
caragua, and G)sta Rica *• The coast of Guatimala extends
on the south sea from Barra de Tonalk (lat. 18* 7^, long.
96® 38^), on the east of Tchuantepec, to la Punta de Burica
or Boruca (Lat. 8"* 5^ long. 85<» IS'), on the east of the Golfb
Dulce de Costa Rica. From this point, the frontier ascends
successively to the north, stretching along the Columbian
province of Veragua, toward Cape Careta, (lat. Qo 36^, long.
84« 430» which advances into the Caribbean sea a little to
the west of the fine p^rt of Bocca del Torro ; to the N.N.W.
along the coast, as fiur as the river Bluefields, or Nueva
Segovia (lat. LI^" 54', long. 85'' 25'), in the territory of the
Moschetto Indians; toward the N.W., along the river
Nueva Segovia for forty leagues ; and finally, to the N. at
Gape Cameron (lat. 18* 8', long. 87o 810 between Cape
Grades a Dios and the port of Truxillo. From Cape

* Juarroi, Compendio de la Hist, de Guatemala, printed
at Guatimala, 1808, vol. i, p. 5, 0, 31, 56; vol. ii, p. 30.
Jose Cecilio ValUf Periodico de la Sociedad ecmomka de
Guatemala^ vol. i, p. 38.

154'

CantanM Uw coaxt of UondBiu, stretding W. and N..
£anudie''&(HiU« wfitfu llw aKfuA bf tte riwr ftlnia
(fat. 11? U', loqi- '90* 4(H). notec, MtAontierfttloWB
Um cbmM of thiB aiboB to the Kv crdHMita Ho SttDDBdatt;
irfiidi»iiB» into lh»Liag«»dtft)Bmdiiw,Btt«MM toward
ths Oiode TifaMco oV'Stfataln, «a-ftr BB Ae moimtaliw dirt
odmMBd.theIiidlM'toVB of CUspa, and ttfrds to tbeS-W;.
td fi^jott AA eoMU of tin Sovih Sc« ■< b Bsm it Tauiitc

CvMi. ud ftBTOMos. Tbe dr«a fbr Portoiteo Is' cdco-
latedAoiBilMriMiXaftheHydnBnvhtc-IktpotstBbuMd;
fortheiiliiad-oC Ciil% ftfim Uk nup, vrliUIcbnttnieted
in 1820, {rom mj own utronomical obterrattonB, tad from
tbe whole of the data hitherto pnblbhed by Messrs. Ferrer,
Rolirtdo, Lnnaur, Oaliano, and Bauza.

Couiiteu. The IbUowtng are the actual limits of tlie
repUbBe of ColmnUa, according to the iafbnaation wfaidi I
obtaioed aa the fjiot, psrticutarljr at the souibeni and
WeitciU cKtremitisi g that is at Rio Negro, Qaito, and in
the province of JEaen de Bracamoros. Northern coast, that
of the Caribbean SM, from PunU Oareta (lat. 9° 38', long.
84" 48"), on the eastern fronttPt- of Ihc provinco of Costa
Rica (belonging to the state of Gnatinrals), to the riv««
Uoroeo and Panuronn *, east of Cape Nassau. FWim this

* See above, vol.v.p. 7fi3— 5. Greet uncertainty still pie*
vtdla leapecting the situution of this point, the most eastern
of the territory of Columbia, A farther rcuson for tbe lon-
gitudes being ill <lctcnnined between the mouth of the
Oroonolio and Engltttlt Guyana is, that tliey liave not been
connected together by chronomctric means. The mouth of
the Rio Pomaroun or Poumaron depends on tlie position
both of the Punta Burima and of the Rio Ei>sct|uebo (£a-
quivu). Now, Capo Jturima i^ lialf u ili'grce too fur to thfc

155

point of the coast (lat. !• 86% long. QV &' }), the frontier of
Columbia stretdies across the sayannahs, in which some
litde granitic rocks stsid prominent, first 8. W., and then
S. £.^ toward the caoflueiioe of the Rio Cuyimi with the

east on the great map of South America published by Mr.
Arrowsmith. This geographer indicates with sufficient pre-
cflrion Puerto Espana^ m the island of Trinidad (W M') ;
but he makes the difference of longitude betweeen Poerto
Espana and Puma Barima t6 be l"" 63^ whUe it is onij
1^ 81/, as determined Hi^ith great precision bj the operatioBs
of Chttrmca (See above^ vol. y, p. 718, and Eqtimua Mk^
morioi de io$ Ndv^^aniei EipanoUt, Vol. i, N^ 4, p. 80—89).
The south-east bank of the mouth of the Oroonoko is in
8o 4X/ 85' latitude, and a8« 28/ longitude. If Wc determine
the mouth of the Rio Essequebo by the diffidence of lon-
gitude from Cape Barima generally adopted (l<» S2/*— V aD')>
we shall find the Essequebo to be about 60'' 68'. This is
nearly the position fiixed on by Mr. Buache, In'bis map of
Guyana (1797), which indicates the longitude of Cape Ba-
rima (62® 2df) very well also. Sereral geographers, captain
Tuckey for instance {Maritime Geography, Vol. v, p. 733),
believes the middle of the mouth of the Essequebo to be in
60^ 32^—60'' 41' i and it is probable, that the mouth of
this river has been compared with the position of Surinam,
or that of Stabrock, the flourishing capital of Demerary,
The reckoning on this coast, however, where the current
sets strongly to the N. W., tends to diminish the differences
of longitude in sailing from Cayenne to Cape Barima, and
to the island of Trinidad. The longitude of the mouth of
the little river of Moroco, situate near that of Pomaroun^
and serving as the frontier between the English colony of
Guyana and the territory of Columbia, depends on the lon-
gitude of the Rio Essequebo, from which it is 45' distant,
according to Bolingbroke, toward the west, and from 80' to

186

Huumui, wfaere fbnueiljr » Datdi poit ma eitabliahcd *
app<»ite tbe Com Tnparo. Craaring tin Munnmi, die
bonBdarj nmi along the WMtvn banks «f the Baaeqwbo
aad finpniiir), a* 6w pa the point wfaare tke Cordilleim of
Acaralmo (^ of north lititnde) glrea s paai^e to tbe
Rio Ropunnrij whidi it a tribatary itnam of the Eaaagnebo ;
then. foUowii^ tbe aoatheni decliTity of the eordOkc* of
^aaSmo, whidi lepantea tbe waten of Ceroid from thoae
«f the lUo Bnmeo, it goea aneceaaiTctr toward tbe waat, by
Santa Rosa (nearly lat. S° 4&', long, as* M'). to the aooroea
of the Orocm^. lat. 8° 40', Irag. 6» lO'I) j tvmnl the
8. W., to the BoorcM of the Rio Hanoi and tht Uapa
{lat. S*, long. 98^, and. ooadag the Rio Negio at the Uand
of Sao Joae (Ut. 1« 88', long. e8>> W) near 8. Carioa dd
Rio Negro i toward W. 8. W., through plains entirely nn-
known, to the Gram Sallo del Yitpmra, or Caqneta, situate
near the month of tiie Rb de los Enganos (Bonth Ut 0" 8S') ;
and finally makes »n extraordinary tuin toward the 8. K. at
the confluence of .the Rio Yagnas with the Putomayo, or
I98 (south lat. 8' &>) I tbe pofnt where the Spanish and

36', according to other maps recently published. A ma-
nuscript map of the mouths of tbe Oroonoko in my poaaes-
Bi<m gives but 23'. It results from these minute discos-
sions, diat the longitude of the month of the Pomaromi is
between 60° 6S' and 01' 20'. I here reiterate the vrtah I
have Dheady expressed in another place, that the govern-
ment of Columbia may connect chronometricslly, and by
an uninterrupted navigation, the mouth of the Essequebo,
Cape Nassau, Pnnta Barima (Old Guyana and Angostwa),
the bocas chicoM of the Oroonoko, Puerta Eepaaa, and Punta
Galera, w)iich,i8 the north -cast'cape of the island of Trinidad.
* We must not confound this post with the ancient
Spanish post dtttacamento ile Cuyuni), on the nght branch oT
the Cuyuni, at ihc conflucntc of the Curuuiu.

157

Portuguese missions of the lower Patumayo come into cod-*
tact. From this point the frontier of Columbia goes towanf
the souths crossing the Amazon near the mouth of the Ja-
vary, between Loreto and Tabatinga, and stretching along
the eastern bank of the Rio Javari, as fkr as !» distant from
it*s confluence with the Amazon ; to the Vf., crossing the
Ucayale and the Rio Guallaga, the latter l)etween the villages
of Yurimaguas and Lamas (in the province of Maynas,
1** 26' south of the confluence of the GualUiga with the
Amazon) ; to the W. N. W., crossing the Rio Uteubamba^
near Bagua Chiea> opposite Tomependa. Fh)m Bagua the
frontier stretches S. S. W., toward a point of the Amazon
(lat. C** 3'} situate between the villages of Choros and Cumba,
between Collac and Cuxillo^ a little below die mouth of the
Rio Yancan ; it then turns westward^ crossing the Rio de
Cbota> toward the Ck>rdi]lera of the Andes^ near QueroootilIo>
and to the N. N. W., stretching along and passing over the
Cordillera between Landaguate and Fucara, Guancabamba
and Tabaconas, Ayavaca and Gonzanama (lat. 4^ 13'^ long.
8l» 53^), to reach the mouth of the Rio Tumbez (lat. d^" 23',
long. 82^ 470. The coast of the Pacific Ocean bounds the
territory of Columbia for 11^ of latitude, as &r as the west-
em extremity of the province of Veragua^ or Cape Burica
(N. lat. 3* 6', long. 8do 18' ) from this cape the frontier runs
toward the north (across the enlarged isthmus which forms
the continent between Costa Rica and Veragua), and rejoins
the Punta Careta on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, west of
the lake of Chiriqui, whence we departed to malce the tour of
this immense territory of the republic of Columbia.

These indications may serve to rectify the maps, even the
most modern of which, published under the auspices of
Mr. Zea, and said to be constructed from the materials I
had collected *, traces vaguely the state of a long and

* Columbia, from Humboldt and other recent authorities,
London, 1823.

106

pMCffId pQHaMloa betiraen bprdenqg fafiim- U ii cqi-
tomsrf to coQSkler the whole ■outhern.tMak of tbo ff^wm
uSpadth, Crois the SaltoOnwlajiifiirMtlw Inland ddte
«£ the.AfaKt^WMl^ whov* a« tbii vprthBR. Jmk of the
AOMswi, a nwrcB .dli tMM* ip pl*Qf4f K ftove.vhii^ the
Portogaese aatrpnoineiip foimd in b^ 3* .90', wd loiv,

S/eyuaa, nofpmkayrf <>f Mtpiifa to hja .C>thpl)c jtfn|eHj> ^783^
Th« Sfivpiab mioaiinu of .Japnqi or Cafoefa, jgqpniiHHilj
called «ipt«u tfx j^ttfafujiw, f^end np frrt^.^m &}•
CiffqWi, f tiiiffiuy Bti:*ff 9f fbe Ainvs^Moxr the- ^
fltroifsd niiMi9() pt S. Fi^(4foo fioluv*. ^fl ^^i^_pt
the Japan, uv^i of (hewimlor.finf^ths Bio dclftiWiv^
Oofl and Xht Cteeot Catanet, is ia the possesvoo of the
mtiwt And the ^qrtngueae. The latter luTe auine aiqall
settlepiente ft Tahofaw, £. JmiquiD de Cueraaaj and ^"■■■'I't j
the second of wJvch ia on the qoutb of the Jafnm, the third
on it'f iwlhcm trib,atar7 stream, fb^ Apoporis *. According
to thp ^wtngaeae Astronomers, if, yru at the nouth of the
Apt^Mri^ (in 1^. 1* 14' south, loi^g. 17* fiB', (vat ot the
mfH'*tMl (ff ypruh that the Spanish commisfioaera were
willing to ftlace the stone of the limits io 1780, which de-
note ^p ipteiii^op Qf not preserving the morco pf .Abadpa-
raoa.. .7.)ie Pgrti^eae cotpBiisiaries opposed talfing the
ApiQppnS:^ ^? fi;outier, asserting, that, 19,0,^4^ to corer
the piau^il^ pqHaaaions on the Rio Negro, the uew
morcp ought (0 be placed at the Satlo Grande del Jajaira
(south lat. O" S3', long, li" 0'). Id Putumayo or {(a, the
most BOutherD Spanish missions (munoner baxiu), governed
\,y the ecclesiastics ot Fopayan and Pasto^ do not c^ctend as
far as the conscience of the Amazon, but only to 2° 20' of
southlatitude, where the aroatl villages of Marive, S. Ramon,
and Asumpdon, ore situate. The Portuguese are masters

* See above. Vol. v, p. 33C— 330.

159

of the mouth of the Putumayo ; and, tu reach the misfiions
of Baxo Putumayo^ the monks of Pasta are ohjifed to go
down the Amazon to Peras, below the mouth of the Napo ;
to proceed fvom Pevas to the north by kod^ as ftur as
Quebrada, or Caiiodt Yaguas, and enter the Rio Putamayo
by this Cafio. Nei|ther cm the left bank of the Amazon^
from Abatiparana <(Ioog. W 32^ to Pongo 4e ]tfanaeriche,
at the western extiofoity of the province of Maynos^ Jbe con-
sidered as the boundary of New Grenada. The Portuguese
have always had possession of both banks as ifiir fks to the
east of Lorelo (long. 71* 54') ^ and the situi^io«i of Ta-
batinga, on the north of the Amaaonj where the last Por-
tuguese post \s placed, sufficiently proyesy that the teft bank
of the Anpia^n^ between the iQputh qf .the At^ttparaoB an|l
the fronttecifear Loreto, was never considered hj them as
beloi^jtogtto |th^ Spanish territory. To proTe Ukeirise, that
the southern hank of tiie Amazon does not form the boun-
dary with Peru from the mouth of the Javari toward the
west. I have but to mention the cidstence of the numerous
villages of the province of Maynas^ situate on the Guallaga^
as fhr as beyond Yurimaguas, 28 leagues south of the Ama-
zon. The extraordinary sinuosity of tiie frontier, between
the 'Upper Rio Negro and the Amazon, arises from the
circumstance, that the Portuguese introduced themselves
Into the Rio Yapura by going up toward the N. W., while
the Spaniards descended the Putumayo. From the Javari,
the Peruvian limit goes beyond the Amazon, because the
missionaries of Jaen and Maynas, coming from New Gre-
nada, penetrated into these almost savage regions by the
Chindiipe and the Rio CKiallaga.

Calculating the surface of the Republic of Columbia, ac-
cording to the limits we have just traced, we find 9]>962
square leagues (20 to a degree) thus :

mUTICAL BlVIIIOm.

Umo--

ffil

83,701

New AndalnsiB or Cnmtina

1,299
1,B64

eas

18,703
5,140
2,878
3,6*8

Delta of the Oroonoko

VafinSB

IilBod of Ma^aratta (ex-
cluding the Laguna)

68,251

»1^»

161

mouth * {boea de Navioa) ; on tlie north, by the Goasts of the
Athintic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, from long. 26^ 23/ as
far as the month of the Rio Unare^ (long. 68^33'). From
the mouth of this river towanls the souths the limit between
the provinces of Caraccas and Barcelona first foUows the
Unare towards it's origin in the hilly country west of the
Tillage of Fariaguan^ and then stretches to the broonolco^
between the mouth of the Rio Suata and that of the lUo
Caura^ 24' east of Alta .Grada^ called Ciudad Real in the
<ild maps. I fixed in my calculations this point of the lon-
gitude of the Oroonoko by deducing it firom the longitude of
the Rio Caura. It is nearly 68* ^ west of the meridian of
Paris. Other geographers, Lopez for instance, in his map
of the province of Caraccas, makes the limit proceed to the
Raudal4e Camiseta, eight leagues east of Uie Rio Caura. In a
manuscript map, whidi I copied in the archives of Cumana,
the frontier is marked near Muitaco, at the mouth of the
Rio Cabrutica, three leagues east of the Rio Paa. The
governors of Cumana long pretended to extend their jurisdic-
tion much beyond the mouth of the Rio Unare^ as ftir as
the Rio Tuy, and even as fur as Cape Coderat. According
to this supposition they draw a. line toward the south, 16
leagues east of Calaboio, between the sources of the Rio
Uritnca and those of the Rio Manapire, following the latter
liver as for as it's confluence with the Oroonoko, four leagues
to the east of Cabruta^. This,, the most western limit,
wotuld add an extent of 400 square leagues to the province

• See above, vol. v, p. 717 and 724. I have, however,
C!alculated separately the almost uninhabited delta of the
Oroonoko, between the principal branch and the Manamo
Crrande, the westernmost of the bocoM ckicas. This marshy
delta is three times the average extent of a department of
prance.

t Vol. iii, p. 370. X Vol. v, p. C80.

VOL. VI. M

169

of B«niMoii«i cpatniaivg tb* ynSt 4t h PmfiM, whMh L«
Gcaa nd CuUa iffuk «a thwr awp* bji Iba wonk iwnpi

^n^ qftjn^liga. of ttw «»a 1 Mhnrad the frgnUflr flf ttw
Bi» Uiwn, bwnm it dftcnnloM thi p"*"' 'W« ^ffiww.
ricp, my <!>■ wlghbowiiig iHOftoow. TlwOwiniM*
OqpiRfw «6aMi|>»''BVfwM« (CwMDfti Cailam, CnsMM-
cp^ NMm-Bftni^tM) wnI ftm <<tfH {Angiw. I« C—aip
cMp M IVi If* H«md. wA Ouiviuiq>*. N** nties'
lr^l pqbfUf uiw PM Iba riiom of tbt fdf ■! Vuis.
(Ooj^ fcM*^ H WfU. u opttavWuDT tb«An»,HidtiM
gwnfhljfi 4K»AiMpgi»ti<ofl»rpwtadvHMcg»MtlM
«oiD|UQetdil indutry o{ New AadslwiB. . .

fi.) SrjjtUB Gdataxa; luch uitwu Bdminiatend befoce
tl|e KTtdntion of the 6tk of Jnly, ISll^ by a goyqmor rui-
dent at Ai^oBura (SuUo Tooak de la Nuera Owyans.)
It contgina more than 2^,000 Engliab aquara nilcBj and
coHjequcatly azceedi the arta of all the AthmUte S^tm
SlaUt, Uarjland, Virginia, the two CaioUou, and Gcorpa.
lioK thaa nine-tenthi of thii proivince are imcuUtTated, and
alnoat uninliabited. The Unuta oo the cast and aouth, tntu
the piiacipnl mouth of tha Orooookp to the iaknd of San
Joae de Rio Negro, have been iodicatccl ia ^/'Vfrilimg tha
general configuratioa of the repuUie of ColumlMa. TIm
limita of Spanish Guayana on the north and west are^ fimt
the Oroonoko, lirom Cape Barima to San Fernando do Ata-
bapo, and then a line stretching from north to south, from

• Vol. ii, p. 183—914 i Vol. iK, p. 7, «1— 67, 1
361 ; and the present vol. p. 45. I am ignorant of the real
position of the Villa de la Merced, indicatetl in the manu-
script map of the archives of Cumnna, Piratoo and Ha-
napire appear also to pretend to ihe title of vittas. (VmiUv,
p. 100.)

1(»

•

Sqq Fernando towards a point 16 leagued west of the little
fort of San Carlos. The line crosses the Rio Negto a little
above Maroa ; The north-east frontier^ that of the English
Guayana^ merits the greatest attention^ on accotoit of the
political impdrtance of the mouths of the Oroonoko^ widch
I have discussed in the S4th chapter of this work. The
sugar and cottbn plantiitions had already reached beyond the
Rio Pomaroon under the Dntch govertimetit ] they eaicnA
farther than the month of the little river Moroco^ Where a
xnilitary fort is established. (Sei the Very interteting naap of
the colonies otRn&queho and Demerata, published by Major
F. de Boocheifroeder, in 1798) . The Dnteh^ fkf from re-
cogntdng the Ri^iT l^omaroun/ or the Mordco^ as the limit
of their territory, placed the botttidary at Rio Barhna, con-
seqaendy near the month of the Orodnoko Itself ; whence
they draw a Ihie of demarkation ftotn N. N. W. to S. S. E.
towards Cuynid. They had even taken ihilitary occupation
of the eastern baifk of the small Rio Barima, befote the Eng-
Ibh (in 1006) had destroyed the forts of New Zealand and
New Meddelburgh on the right bank of Pomaroun. Those
forts, and thnt of Kyk-ovet-al, (look every where around), at
the confluence of the Cuynni, Masaruni, and Essequebo,
have not been re-established. Persons, who bad been on
the spot, assured me, during my stay at Angostura, that the
comitry west of PomaroUn, of which the possession will one
day be contested by England and the republic of Columbia^
is marshy, but exceedingly fertile. The towns of Guyana,
or rather the places which have the privileges f of villas and
ciudades, are Angostura, Barceloneta, Upata, Guirior (merely
a military post at the confluence of the Paraguamusi and
the Faragda, a tributary stream of the Caroni), Borbon, Real
Corona or Muitaco, La Fiedra, Alta Gracia, Cnycara, San

♦ See above, vol. v, p. 195—223, 355, 3«4, 415.

+ Vol. V, p. 679.

Fenando del Atebapo, and EaniiriMK (some indlu- hats
vmnd K chncch).

■c.) PsoviMOi OF CuACOA* ; fll,000 Engliih fpiMK mOo,
OMHeqoeiidytfapvt ooe-KTCBlh lea thu.tbs: Atoof.Viip-
ida, Northem limit : Ihe C^ribbwy AoaHhB mgnth.rf
the Bio niiuc,4o«e..er Ift', to awother aide of tlwBio 1I»-
ticoraa (,lov- 19> 100 ia the diractioaof the gulf or-iSacoitf
Muoo^bo. on the cast of Coflills de Sao-Cofloa.. Wwteni
lioiit; B ling diMcted towaidi t|iB oapth, bebrocn^lbe
inoath oCtbeSioHoUtaoaad ttw Iowa of Cvon, by the
flonrcoi of the Bio Tocnyo and the hwso de .lip-Bo-
Bo* *, between Bocspo wad Gnaiure ; towards the E. S. £.,
between the Portu^uesa and the Rio Guanare or the Cofio dc
Ygues, a Iributorj itream qf the Portuguesa : thii lioe fon&s
the frontier of the provincea of Varinas aod Coraocu ; and
runs on the S. £. between San JauDe and Uritucn, tswoida
apointof the left bankof the Rio Apurc, oppoute Sao Fer-
luodo. ' SoHlbero limit : fintthe Rio Apiue, linmlat. 7" 61'
loag. 70" SO ', to it> confluence with the Oronooko, near C^ui-
chino (Ut. V 37' long. 60° 6') j thcD^ the Lower-Oroonoka
towatds the east, as far aa the western frontier of Gori-
erno de Cumana, near the Rio Suata, on the east of Alta
Gnicia. Towns : Caraccaa, Ia Guayra, Fortocabdlo, Coto,
Nueva Valencia. Nirgua, San Felipe, Barqaeumcto, . To-
cnyo, Anuie, Ospinos, Guaoare, San Carlos, San Sefaaa-
tian, VillB de Cnra, Colabozo. and Sm Joan B(q>tista del
Poo.

d.) PaoriNGB OF Vasinas, comprising; an area of ^,WXI
En(^ish square miles, rather less than the state of Kentucky-
£astern limit : from the southera extremity of Fatamo da
las Rosas, and the sources of the Rio GuanarCj toward tbe-

* See my Geog, Atlas, pi. 17.

165

S. £. to the Cafio de Yguoc ; thence between the Rio Fortu-
guesa and the Rio Guarico, towards tke £. S. E.^ to the
mouth of the Apure; and to the southward along the left
bank of the Oroonoko, from the 7® 96^ S. lat. as fkr as the
mouth of the Meta. Soothertr limit : the northern bank of
the Meta, as Ieu* as Las RocheTlas de Chiricoas, between the
mouths of the Caiio Lindero and the Macachare (the long,
perhtqps 1%^ 4&0. Western limit : first, from the left bank
of the Meta> to the N. W. acroser the plains of Casdanare,
between Guardualito and the Villa de Arauca, then, to the
N. N. W, above Quintero and the mouth of the Rio Nnlb,
wbich Joins the Apure after the Rio Orivante, toward the
sources of the Rio Canagua, and the foot of the Paramo dc
Porqucra. Northern limit : the south-east dedivity of the
Cordillera de Merida, from the P&ramo dePorquera, between
La 6ri(a and P^draza, a^ far as the ravine of Lavellaca, in-
the road of Los Callejoned^, between Varinas de Merida and
the sources of the Rio Guanare, situate N. N. W. of Bocono.
Cities : Varinas, Obispos, Bocono, Guanarito, San Jaime, San
Fernando de Apure, Mijagual, Guardualtto, atid Pedraza.
By comparing my map of the province of Varinas with the
maps of La Cruz, Lopez, and Arrowsmith, it will be per-
ceived what confusion has hitherto prevailed in the labyrinth
of rivers that form the tributary streams of the Apure and"
the Oroonoko;

e.) Province of Maracaybo, (together with Truxillo and

Merida]r comprising 42,500 English square miles, of rather

less extent than the state of New York. Northern liipit :

the abore of the Caribbean Sea, from the Caao dc Oribono

(to the westward of the Rio Maticores) as far as the mouth.

of the Rio Calancala, a little to the eastward of the great

river del Hacha. Western limit : a line first stretching

From the coast to the southward, between the Villa dc

Xleyes, called also Valle de Upar, and the small group of

znountams (Sierra de Pcrija) that rise on the west of the

.166

iik« of Ibnmybo. Mmrdi theAio G*t*(«4»i fkcato
ths nttmrd of SaUnr to tha RiaSi||f«> . * buk i^tan Sw
IftwtlaDi ladfloaUypntheewt, ^iheJpMfmoofrsfvw-
N.E. <tfX«arite. 11m wMhtivwd
D Ifas KrntbifMd of tfw MWiiy.mB«ft-
tiiiu of Ueriih, lenw this nriva (tf L^vcQMii at tha «rt-
on foot of FwMao <le 1m Bo>m. fcwwfd ,<hf www <rf *h»
Bia da Tocbjo^ and ttwipo^ hct««fo tW noo* «(thft Ri»
4e Ho^tan and ttie town of Cavan, tojiraMl*. Ilia CaBo.
Qribgoo. ai welure Jwtrtatad, i» dweribing a>>. bawda?^
tWof Ac poTiscaaofVbriiiai and Cw«Miik. TbavoM
TTaatera part of thaflwlwaoof Maiaaybu^ihldi tn— pf ^wda
C^w la Vela. i« caUed the PtouiMoa da b$ Quetrm {OmU-
p»), on account of tha wild lodiua of that name by vbaan
it i» inhabited, &ata the Rio 600070, u Alt a» the Bio Ca->
laacala. The independent tribe of thv CoduM i* fbimd to-
ward the w«th. Towns: Manckybo, Gibraltar. XnniUo.
Sletida, San Austino.

B,) Amcibkt Vicbboyautt or NaW Gkswada,

Gomprebendiag New Grenada, propeclji eo called, (Caodina-
Burca) and Quito. The weatein limita of (he provinna of
Ifomci^bo, Vorinas, and Guayaoa, bound the tarntoi; of
the vicwoyalty on the eut : the frontiers on the aouth and
weat are tboae of Pen and Guatimala. We shall onlj add
here. In order to rectify the errors of the maps, that the
Talle de Upor, or Tills de Reyes, Shlsior de las Fabnas,
El Roeorio de Cucuto, celebrated as the residence of the
constituent assembly of Columbia, in the month of August
1816, San Antonio de Cucuta, la Grita, San Christoval, and
la Villa de Arouca, as also the confluence of the Casanore
and the Meta, the Inirida and the Gaviare, l>eloi^ to tietr
Grenoila, The province of Casanare, dependent on SantiK-
F< de Bogota, extends towards the north beyond the On.—

167

tante. On the north-east, the easterninost piovince of New
Grenada, called Provincia del Hio Hacha, h iefiarated bj the
Rio Enea from the province of Santa Marta. In 1814 the
Rio Guaytara divided the pronnce of Popayan from the pre-
sidency of Quito, to which belonged the provbce of Los
Faatos. The isthmns of Ffeuuima and the province of Vera-
gna have at all times been dependent on the Audiency of
Santa Fe.

Pbbu* In estimating the extent of the present Pera at
41>d60 square leagues (20 to a degree)^ the eastern bound-
ary is, first, the course of the Rio Javary, from 6<» to 9}*
south latitude ; secondly, the parallel of 9)% stretching
from the Javary towards tht left hank of the Rio Madeira,
and cutting successively other tributary streams of the Ama-
zon, namely, the Jatahy (H^utahy), the Jurora, the Tefe,
which appears to be the Tdpy of Acuiia, the Coary, and the
Pnniz ; thirdly^ a line which first runs up the Rio Madeira,
and then the Mamorb, since called the Salto de Theotino,.
as far as the Rio Maniqui*, between the confluence of
the Guapor^ (Ytonamas of the Jesuits) and the mission
of S. Ana, (about 12|<» south latitude) -, fourthly, tlie-
eoorse of the Maniqui towards the west, and in stretch-
ing a line to the Rio fieni, which geographers believ-
ed to be a tributary stream, sometimes of the Rio Maflei-
ra, and sometimes of the Rio Puruz ; fifthly, the right bank
of the Rio Tequeari, which flows into the Beni, below the
Poeblo de Reyes, and the sources of the Tequieri ; a line

* See a scarce map of the Miuiones de Mc^os de la Com-
pania de Jesus, 1713. The Rio Maniqui, to which modern
geographers have given so much importance, by the fable
of the lake Rogagualo^ and the bifurcations of the Beni,
joins the Yacuma, by which Mr. Haenkc went from Httebh
de Reyes to the Rio Mamorc.

16S

which crauM the Rio ¥B«nlMri, alntchu on dw ipulh iMt
towarda the loftj CoidilierM * qI VUnomitB mAlmtap^
and Mpentet the F«nniwi dittriett of FMneaitambo aad
•nnta^ain the diatriet of ApidobnBb*, and the buia of Ifae
Uu of TUioac* (Omcnito) ( rixlhlj, from Ae 10* of KMlh
latitads, the weateni chahi of the Andea, bori«l% the b^
lia of Iho kke of Titlcaca, tmnrda the wfai, ai^ dMd^
l^thepandklofSO* the tribolarj atraama of tha Dea^ns-
dcrb from the anull LifpOM of Paiia, andthooeof dwBio
FSleoBUiTo froBi the torreata that throw themadKa into iho
South Sea. Accofding to dteae Ua^ta. Fhra od the aorth
(aa&raathoJswy), ia 100 le^aea hi widl^ udtMhrm
the Rio de U Maddra aitd Hamor^, MO leagoee in the di~
recUoii of the panJlela of latitode ; wbile towarda the aooth-
em extremity of the country, its meao breodth is not moae
than from 16 to 18 lengoea. The partido of Tenpacs (it»
the intrndBDcy of Areqnipa) reaches the desert of AtacaoMi
or the mouth of Iho Rio de Loa, wtuch is placed by the ex-
pedition of UalaspioK in SI" 26' south latitude, and forma
the line of demariiation between Peni sad the vieeioyalty
of Buenos Ayres. in detachiD^ from Peru the four inten-
dencies of XiS Paz, Cbarcaa or La Plata, Potosi, and Cocha-
bamlia, then: have been subjected to a goremment statiooed
on the baolu of La Piatt, not only the provinces where tile
waters flow towards the sooth-east, ond the vast regioosb
which uiie the Ucayale and the Madeira {tributary streana
of the Amaion), tNitalso the inland system of rivers, which,
(HI the summit of the Andes, and in a longitudinal valley,
termituled at its two extremities by the cIumUts of nunulmiu

* The fartidof of Paucartambo andTinta, belong to the
intcndancy of Cuzco. The district of Apolobamba and the
basin of the lalic of Utieaco, pertain to the ancient viceroy-
ally of Buenos Ayrcs.

169

of Porco and Cuzco, swell the . alptnc lake of Tiiicaca#
Notwithstanding these arbitrary divisions, the associationa
of the Indians who inhabit the banks of that lake, and the
cold regions of Qmro, La Faz, and Charcas, are oAeoer
directed towards Cttioo> the eentre €i the andenl l^rmHenr
of the empire of the IncaSy than towards the plams of Bacnoa
Ayres. The table-land of Tiahuanaen, where the Inca
Mata-Capac discovered buildings and gigantic statnes^ of
whidi the origin extended back beyond the foundation of
Cuzco^ has been detached from Peru. To attempt thus to
effiice the historical remembrances of nations, is to call
Greece by the name of the banks of the lake Copals. It is
probable that in the numerous confederaUons of states
which are forming in our days, the lines of demarikatioo
will not be solely regulated by the course of the waters, but
that in fixing them the moral interests of nations will at the
same time be consulted. The partition of Upper Peru roust
be regretted by all who know how to appreciate the< import-
ance of the native population on the table-lands of the
Andes. If a line be drawn from the southern extremity of
the province of Maynas, or the banks of the Guallaga, to
the confluence of the Apurimac and the Beni (which con-
fluence gives birth to the Rio Ucayale), and thence to the
westward of the Rio Vilcabamba, and the table-land of
Paucartambo, towards the point where the south-east fron^
tier cuts the Rio Ynambari, it will divide Peru into two
unequal parts $ one (of 26,220 square leagues), is the centre
of the civilized population, the other (of 16,200 square
leagues), is wild, and almost entirely uninhabited.

Buenos Ayres. The editors of the excellent periodical

work entitled El Somanario (vol. i, p. Ill), justly observe,

that even on the banks of La Plata no one knows the real

limits of the ancient viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. Between

the Parana and the Rio Paraguay, between the sources of the

170

latter Hm and tke Gwporti wfaidi is a tribntarj atocMO of
bB' Miwltira, tha bonklarlea an diipuled by th« FWta.
gdcaa} and it i» naeertain if Aejr oi^ to b« catandad- on
the aonittabejaBdllLBlU»Colfitwlaaa&rMtka]EUoNap%
irirfeh-recairai tha mtara of tiia Rio dal Diaaaante (■<'*tfa
i*fMltoa lasa. N* 1. p^ 8, and N< S. p. M). AmiiktitoB
vBGartelatict, which an angmailMl hy tke fcrtitiaa of
Bwagu^ and die Cwp/oftaa iYMiaot« I have catealated tha
■'i™"^'™ ef tha fwt Unit0ay4>f ^.wicocofaltj, aooord*
ii^ to tbe iinha toaced on the Spaolah mafa bcfon Oie raw
iMioa of leiOt Thoac limila arc, on ttw ea^ . the itareo,
a U«le to the nocUiward of the fort of Santa Totcm, at the
month of tba Bio Tabjin ; from thence thejr atretch to the
N. N. W, by the wurce* of the Iblcuy ond of the Juy (cut-
ting the Urugnsy in latitude 27° 30') to the conflueace of
the Panaa and the Yguaui { on the north along the left
bank of the Parana as far aa 22." 4%' south lat.{ od the
If. W. fallowing the Ivineima, towards the presidency of
Nova Colmbra (lat. 1Q« 66'), founded in ITto ; on the
N. N. W. near Villa Belht and the isthmus which scpamtes
tha wslera of the Agoapchy (a tributary of the Par^uay)
and those of the Guapor^ towards the junction * of the lat-
ter river witii the Mamorfe, below the fort of Principe
(11° M' 46* aonth iat ) ; on the S. W. ascending the
Hamoti and the Maoiqui, as we slated above when we
traced the limits of Pern and the vieeroyolty of Buenos
Ayres. Between the 21° S6' and 2&> 64' uf sonth lat. (be-
tween tha Rio de Lon and Punta de Gvncho), the territory
of the viceroyaity reaches beyond the Cordillera of tbes
Andes, end occupies for a distauce of ninety leagues thg-r-
coast of the South Sea. Here lies the desert of Atacaoin. ^
in whidi is situated the smsll port of Colijtt, which migb^. t

171

be so useful for the exportaUoa of the productions of the
Sierra, or of Upper Peru. Oa the west, the western chain
of the Andes, as far as 37^ of hititnde } and on the aonth the
Rio Colorado, called also Desaguadero de Mendqza (lat.
d9^ ^6'), or, according to the most recent aothorities, the
Rio Negro, separate Buenos Ayres from Chili and the P&ta-
gonian coast;

As Paraguay, the prorince Entre Rios, and Banda Oriental
or the Cisplatine Province * may possibly remain separated
from the state of Buenos Ayres, I have thought it right
to calculate separately the contents of these countries
in dispute. I have found in the limits of the ancient
viceroyalty, between the Sea and the Rio Uruguay, 8900
square marine leagues ; between the Uruguay and the Pa-
rana (Provincia entre Rios) 0848 square leagues ; and
between the Parana and the Rio Paraguay (the province
of Paraguay properly so called) 7424 square leagues.

_ _ _ I

These three parts on the east of the Rio Paraguay, from
New Coimbra as far as Corrientes, and on the east of
the Rio Parana, from Corrientes as far as Buenos Ayres, form
a space of 23,232 square leagues +, nearly half as large again
as France. I find consequently, for the three parts of which
the ancient viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres is composed, in-
cluding 18,300 square leagues of pampas, or savannahs :

Northern district, or Upper Peru,
from Tcquieri and Mamor^, as
far as Pilcomayo, between 13
and 21 degrees of south lat 37,020 sq. marine leagues

■—I !■■■ ■!■ I -

• The extent of territory comprised between the sea, the
Rio de la Plata, the Uruguay, the Missions, and the Brazil-
ian captaincy of Bio Grande. iAuguste de Saint-Hilaire^
^per^u d'un voyage dans rinterieur du Bresil, 1823, p. 1.)

i Nearly 30,300 square leagues, 25 to a degree, and not
60,203 of these leagues, as the journals of Buenos Ayres
assert.

17a

WaUt* diitriet, or llic eountoy

betweea Plhxifuro, Vangmf,

the Bio de 1ft PItU. the Rio

Nc^, and tbe Coitlinien of

die Andea (Tari|>, Jojnj. 6tl-

te, Tdcddibii, Cordon, Sute-

Fe, BawM Ayrce, Sen Loll de

It PoBta ud McDdon) W,fil8sq.iiM>lbeleagae«

£Mehi Atrkt. tbitli, lU on tbe

cait of the Rkt PengUy and

IhePiuwle 29,2tt

126,770

The goternment of Buenos Ayres migbt partly find ■
campehution fur the luwes with which it is menaced on the
norlh-eut, by clearing a territory of 60S4 squue Icajpies,
situated between the Rio Colorado and the Rio Negro.
The PatagonioD plains as for as the Straits of Magellan, pre-
sent more than 3l,S0d square leagues, of which nearly two
thirds are in a much more temperate climate than is general-
ly supposed.

In that part of the vi'ceroyalty o<!cu{Hed by the Braiiliana.
on this east of the Uruguay, wemuatdistio^iab'Iietweenthe
limits recognised before the occupation of the Proninct rfthe
Miuuau, OB the north of the Rio Ibicuy, in 1801, and the
boundaries established by the treaty concluded in 1821', be-
t ween the Cabildo de MonteTldeo and the Captain-generalship
of Rio Grande. The Prowtce of the Miuioni is contained be-
tween tlie left lank of the Cruguay, the Ibicuy, the Torc^,
a tributary stream of the latter, the Sierra de Saint XoTier,
and the Rio Juy (a tributary stream of the Uruguay). Its

* These statements arc founded on the maoHScript notes
which Mr. Augustc dc Saint-Hilairc collected on (be spot.

173

territory extends even beyond the Juy, towai^ thepkam
where the most northern miasion of San Angel is placed ;
farther on, are forests hihabited by independent Indians.
When, in consecpienoe of the alliance between Spain and
France, England, in February 1801, made, the Pbrtagnese
declare war against Spain, the Spanish pnnrince of the Mis-
sions was easily invaded. The hostilities did not last long |
and although the court of Madrid disputed the legality
of the occupation, the Missions remained in the hands of
the Portuguese. The treaty of 1777 ought to constitute
the basis of the limits between the Ticeroyalty of Boenos
Ayrcs, and the capUin -generalship of Rio Grande.
Those limits were fbrmed by a line extending -fint to the
Rio Guaray (the Guaney of Arrowsmith), and the sources of
the small riTers Ibirapuita, Nanday and Ibycuimerim, that
empty tliemselves into the Ibicuy, (kt. 20® 40') at the con-
fluence of the Rjode Ponche Verde with the Ibicuy, then con-
tinuing towards the south-east, to the source of the Rio
Negro, (a tributary stream of the Umguay), it crosses the
la^e Merin, towards the mouth of the Itaby, vulgarly called
Tah^. The nu>st southern Portuguese marco is found at
the mouth of this river, op the sea coast. The country be-
tween the Tahym and the Rio Cbny, a little norjth of Santa
Teresa, was ne:utcr, and bore the name of Campoi neutrae^;
hot, notwithstanding the diplomatic conventions, it was in
1804 already occupied for the most part by Portuguese cul-
tivators. The invasion of Spain by the French, and the re-
volutions of Buenos Ayres, have given the Brazilians facility
to push their conquests as far as the mouth of the Uruguay,
so that the x^eyr interior limits, between patient Brazil and
the countries recently occupied, were fixed in 1821, without
the intervention of the congress of Buenos Ayres, by the
deputies of the cabUdo of Montevideo, and of the captain-
ge.aerakhtp of Rio Grande. It was agreed that the Ciiplaiine
JProffince of Brazil (the Oriental Bandj according to the geo-

gimpkic ■oaMctetuiWM ihk tfrnanrM}, abMlM be biMUdal
m Mtf MHh by tt* canfcieBW- or ^ Vrili^y with Ae-
Anpcr (Vgmiipar of AimtiiuttlA) >' wl Iteem by ■ line
irtdd^ begtnUii^ ■! * AsgiMani, 6 Mi^vu Mnth of Sulk
T>riM>jpfUMb|r<ltfc anrrii of SBliit IDtbd, Ibfibm the
Rio 8u ttik u fc« •> iU Bfotrtli in the IsktfHeriii, stKtdin
kIM^ ttM '«ciileA bHrit «r OM Ulce, eta AMubee of MS
tolMih Ffeatetfblr tte moaOi of the Rio 8abu^ gMi np Id
thai of tk Bb Ja^aaM, And IbDowfaig t&e«oWiMtiri&is i4v«r
aa Cmt aa Cenoa do AqgOBo, tinMea the lUo lAgta, and cdo-
&nita^ a tnrre at the' itortU^wnt, tijnfai* th« Sb Ampoy.
Tht) a|)ace fcoO^irchended betmea Ae Afapnqr and diia
Iblcny, dte KUthemiTnilt of lire province of the Hiisions,
bekH^ tDthecaptalfHgenetalsbipofRioGnuide, ThcPor-
tngucM Braailiain fasTe not yet attempted to fonn eetOe-
mcBta in tbc prortnce £»trt Riot, (betvreen the Panna and
the ^raguay), a eonntry derastBted by Artigas and Ramirez.
Inlbe savanBaha(p(»ttpar), which, like an am of the sea,
eatend htan Saata-Fe on the north, between the monntidns
of Bnail, and tboK of Cordova and Jujny*, the natoral
limilaof the intendancies of Potnsi and Satta, that is of Upper
Peru and Buenos Ayres, seem likily to be altogether con-
founded. Chichas and Tarija are considered as the most
■onthem pTorisces of Upper Pera ; the plains of Kanso be-
tween Rlcomayo and the Rio Grande, or Verm^f, as wdl

* Ibis town, according to M. Redliend {Memoria lobre
Is tlibitaeion (fe/ aire tUmtuferico; Bunot Ayrei. 1819, p. 8
and 10), is situated 700 foises above the level of the sea.
The absolnte height of the town of San Miguel del Tucumac
is, according to the barometric measurement of the same
author, (on inhabitant of Salta) 200 toises.

+ The real name of this river, the banks of which were
heretofore inhabited by the Abipons, is Rio Iilale. (See
Dobrizhofer, Hiil. de Mlponibi's, 1184, Tom. ii, p. 14).

175

as Jujay> Salta^ ami Tucuman, belong to Buenos Ajres,
properly so called. The limit oi Upper Peru is now, on the
east^ only an imaginary line traced across uninhabited sa-
Tannahs. It cuts the Cordillera of the Andes at the tropic of
Capricorn, and thence crosses, first, the Rio Oiande, 26
leagues below San Yago de Cotagayta ; then the Pilcomayo,
22 leagues below its confluence with the Cachimayo, which
flows from la Plata or Chuquisaca; and, finally, the Rio Pa-
raguay, in the 20* 50' of south latitude. If the basin of the
lake of Titicaca, and the mountainous part of Upper Peru,
^here the language of the Inca prevails, were to be re«<
united to Couzco, the plains of Chiquitos and Chaco might
still form a part of the government of the Pampas of Buenos
Ay res.

CauJ, The limits of Chili on the north are the desert of
Atacama, on the cost the Cordillera of the Andes, where the
road of the couriers passes between Mendoza ai&d Valpar-*
iiiso, at the height^ according to barometric measures taken
in 1794 by M. d*£spinosa and Bauza, of 11)87 toises^ above
the level of the sea. I took for the southern limitf the en-
trance of the gulf of Chilofe, where the fort of Maullin
(lat. 41^ 430 ^s the most southern possession of Spanish
America on the continent. The bays of Ancud and Relon-
cavi no longer present any fixed settlements of European
colonists i there begin the Juncos^ who are independent, not
to say wild Indians. From these statements it results, that
the European settlements extend much fiirther to the south,

* This is, however, 440 toises less than the culminant
point of the road of Assuay, between the towns of Quito
and Cuenca, of which 1 took the level in 1802. See my
Ob». astron. Tom. i, p. 312, No. 209.

+ Political Essay on New Spain, vol. \, p.O^ vol. iv,
p. 285.

\7e

on the WHtera, than « the eaiteni coutof the eeMtaent;
the fanner hare elraadf paaeid n degree of Wtwle bejond
the {leniUcl cf the Rio Negro «Dd the Poerto^ SuAatoOio.
The oqilteLor Suttago, of CbfU. te Jitneuit on • tAl»4eKt
of the aaw oleveliaa u Ae town of Ceiwow*.

Braziih The loathen limlti of CoIainUe. the evteia
Unite of Pern, and the QOtthera Umitt .of Boenoa Ajrrca,
detennine the bonodarj of the BeaaQiaa tonllorj on. the
north, the west, and the sooth.. In oider to caladate ths
■nperSdnl vontmts, I emplojed nuniucript mv*^ wUeh
were cmunnnicated tojne kj the govemnwi^ of Bio Janeiro,
at the tfanc when the very ngne tennt of the 8th article of
the trealj of Utrecht, and the 107th article of the act of
the CongiCM of Viennaf, bud given rise to diplomatic

' * 409 toiaea, accordti^ to Mr. Banxa, which is thiec hun-
dred toisea lower than the town of Heodoza, at the oppo-
■ite dedirlty of tlie Cordillera of the Andes. {Uaxiuer^
nofaofDaiLuiilfeo,botanutqfthe expe&iaiiof UalaifntiM.')
■t- See above, vol. v, p. 843, The BraztUan limits, hi
the gorennnent of the Rio Negro, were examined by the
astronomers Jos^ Joaquim Victorio da CosU, Jas£ Simoens
de Garvalho, Francisco Jo;^ de Lacenla, and Antoido I^i*
Pontes i and in the goTemment of Grand Para, espedaQj
between the Araguari aqd the Cetaoene (Rio Carseweita of
the Mof »f the Coal of tie (itifana, published by the Dqiol
of the Marine in 1617), by the oatronomer Joz£ Sfanoens
de Carvalho, and the Colonel of Engineers Pedro Alcxan'
dtino de Souza. The French have long extended their
pretensioBB beyond the Caisoene, near Ope Nerd. The
boundary is now thrown bacli as far oa the mouth of the
Oyapok, The principal tributary streaqi of that river, the
Qanopi, and the Tnmouri, which is a tributary stream of t)M
Canopi, draw near each othtr atalengue distant (lal. 2° 90';)

177

disputes respecting the French and Portngnese €hiyana8. By
drawing a line from north to south, by the mouth of the

from the source of the Maronf, or rather jprom one of its
branches, the Rio Araoua, near the village of the Aramichaun
Indians. The Portuguese being desirous of tracing the limits
between the Oyapok and theAraguari (Araouari), caused the
latitude of the source of the latter river to be carefully exa-
mined by Colonel de Souza ; it was found to be further north
than the mouth, which has placed the frontier in the parallel of
Calsoene. The name of the Rio de Vicente Pfn^n, become ce-
lebrated in the annals of diplomatic disputes, has disappeared
on the new maps. According to an ancient manuscript Por-
tuguese map in my possession, and where the coast is marked
between San Jos^ de Macapa and the Oyapok, the Pln9on
must be identical with the Calsoene. I suspect that the un-
intelligible terms of the Bth article of the treaty of Utrecht
('' the line of the river Japoc or Fincente Pingon, which ought
to cover the possessions of the cape and of the north*^ are
founded on the denomination of Cape North, sometimes given
to Cape Orange. (See Laet Nov. Orb. 1633, p. 036). M. de
la C6ndamine, whose sagacity nothing escapes, has afready
said^ in the Relation deson Voyage ^TAmazone, p. 199, ''the
Portuguese have their reasons for confounding the bay (?)
of Vincent Pinjron, near the westiern mouth of the Rio Ara-
wan (Araguari), lat ^ 2\ with the river Oyapok, 4^ 15'lat.
The peace of Utrecht makes it one river" This latitude
2r 2^ would bring the imaginary river of Pin^n near the
Majacari and the Calsoene, and remove it nearly one degree
from the Araguari, which is in lat. 1^ 15 ^ Mr. Arrowsmith,
whose map furnishes excellent materials for tracing the
mouth of the Amazon, places the Rio de Vicente Pinfon on
the south of Majacari, where the Matario loses itself in a
bay, opposite which the small isle Tururi is situated, lat.
1^ SO'. As the Araguari, communicfiting with the Matario,

VOL. VI. N

riivr of thi TocMrtiH, ««d Mlewwg dpe eoww 4tf tke Am-
gntr, 49 lawiM to the w^ of VilMaK. lominli t^B iniirt
wben ths %i« nuww cuts the tropic (tf QiIficiHO> V9 dbidB
Sivpil i«t9 two pVt*< TM qp tb* Wf»t MMtfil>>aih Ab
cai^ti|ift-pnn>#ii»Wup of On(i4-Fw^IUvN<8nf»»dlf»tta
iiltmOi }tiK!aim>t.ff\wUyyaitiWrft«iL«)dq3«taiHKBa-

pmi «;t4em)vt« on]i^ oq4w ^t^Qriinn, «ptlMipf[ of tin

B^ N<^p»* B^ BrfVcn. tte Affiagov, wild lb« Qpffffc, wbid^

■)(t«nt (W t» • dxym). irt|i}e th« qw^rn pM^ qwnp^B^fnh
iiy t)Mfl||tw-4|«#«n|W)<POr0t* coMi, Min^ flwiWU IW4
Qn^, M 119.980 |IWIM» l|l^;iW«. tff «*yiw*w «« ,¥««-•
foravaMo to tbpfc ^ » very dittlnfoiahed geqsm^ber. H.
Jidrien HoUm. ^kt> compnteg 2.350,000 e^uare ItolW nulea
(UO^OOO iQiure mvim ln£u^)i for th« whole Qnziliu
e)i)|iir«, RxdivliDg M I IWT? iloae, the Ci9|iliriiqa pronoce
fifd thfd of th^ Arisitaptj on the e*M of the Uruguay.
(£luai fteUiili^ ittr ie Pifrhtfai, bun. ii, p. 9SS.)

UNITED Stats^ I h(iv« already remarked in MWlfaei
place {Pomeal Zm9, Vol. i, p. 13). tbat it became diSr
cult v> estimate the »ur$ice of the territory (if the Uiuted
Stftf^, in aquare leagn^, sipce the aevi^o'i of louiaiw,
of wlUch the northern and aatteni boundaries l^i^ mnaino/i
nndetenipineil. Iliey are qqw fixed by the t^are^tiw oon-
c)i^)e4 i^ London, October JOthj, 1818. and by the tre»^ vi
the flprida^ signed at Wasbingtop, February 23(), IQtft
I have therefoce tboa^ht I might make ^hi« quwtiop the vdir
ject of fresh resear<:hes. I have devoted ptyseV to t))i> talk
with the greats cace. as the aurbce of the United StJSttt

iomis a soFt of delta on the norA-irest around the inundated
tands of Car^i^oria, M. de la Condamine perhaps constdeted
the small river which flows opposite the isle Tururi as the
western branch of the Araguari.

¥991

from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific is estimated by very
recent authors at KI6>4IM>^ at 187^8Q0> at lWlfifH>, at
173,400, at 20b,M0t «nd' at* 888^4M' square' marine leagues,
20 to a d^ree : ami it tippeastfid to me impoMble ftbm those
varying statements; of wUibh the jflfereace amounts tb more
than 100,000 squaft lesgllesl tbat^ is tO'shc fUuesthc^ svper^
fica of France, to-ftnd^CK reShIk with* which-.^re might com-
pare the sur&ces of the new'ft«e-states= of Spanish America,
Jn some invtances the same author has> at diffftreot periodSj
given very different estimatea of the same territory, bounded
bytfietWoseasbeCweenCllpeiniHevas'snid'the HIb C61am«>
bia, between the month of Hie MlssfM^I* aqdf tbe bdce des
Bois. Mr, Mellish, in' his map of' 1816; has estimated the
Umted Sti^ at %4M;Mi square mffcs (W^ to a d^rree),
of which the' territory* of the Missouri albne is made
1,680,000. In his TraveU through the Ointed States of Ame^
rica, 1818, p. 581 , he fliees Hhe contents at 1,869;806 square
miles, of which the territory of the Missouri is estimated
at 985,260. Still' later, in his Geographical description of the
United States, 1822, p. 17, he again increases the calculation
to 2,076,410 square miles. These fluctuations of opinion
respecting the extent of the surface of the United States
cannot be attributed to the various ways in which the limits
are traced : the errors fbr the most part which affect the
extent of the territory between the Bilisstssipi and the Rocky
Mountains,, and between those mountains and the coast of
the Pacific, arise from mere mistakes of calculation. I find
in taking the average of several estimates, on the mapsi of
Arrowsmith, Mellish, Tardieu, and Bru^ : —

Square MariiM

t. Oil the etti of ibe Miasisaipi 7T,684

or 9d^,0M square nttles.

a,) Atlantic part, eastof the Alleghanis 27,064
or 824,000 square miles. The chain

of tke Allcgliuu has been pn-

loaged m tlu north tmnrda Fl^to-

bottrg ud Montrenl, and on -tha

aouOk bj fidlowh^ the AiwUcfai-

colt, io thkt the Bsrwter part of Flo-

lida belongi to tbit JUbntic dlvidoo.
b.) Between the Atkeiuaii and the

IfiMii^ AO>efla

or aoe.000 >q««re nOet.
.U. OotheweatoftheMiMiHi^..., OOJOM

or l^lMjBOO square mllei.
. ».}■ Between the Missiiaipi and the

Aocky MDUDtaina,. comprehending

the lakes _ 72,6ai

or 868,400 square miles.
b.) Between the Rock J MovotaiDB and

the coast of the I^cific, taking for

the southern and oorthem limits the

parallels 42° and 49" (Western Ter-
ritory) 24.081

or, 288,400 square miles.

Territory of tiie United States, between the

two Oceans. 2,096,800 square miles, or.. .174,308

square marine leagues, of 20 to a degree.

The whole territoryof the United States, from the Atlantic
pecan to the Pacillc, is consequeutly a little larger than En-
rope, to the westward of Russia. The Atlandc part alone
may be compared to Spain and France nnitcd ; the district
between the AlleghanisandtheMississipI, to Spain, Portugal,
France, and Germany ; the portion westward of the Missis-
sipi, to Spain, FniQce, Germany, Italy, and the Scandinariaa
kingdoms. The Misaisaipi consequently divides the United
States intu two great portions, of which the former, or
eastern division, advancing rapidly in culture and civilizatioi^

1:^1

coBtains a superficial extent equal to that of Mexico -, and Ihe
latter, the western division, almost entirely wild and un-
peopled, a territory as laige as that of the republic of Co-
lumbia.

In the statistical researches which have been
prosecuted in several countries of Europe^ im-
portant consequences have been drawn from the
comparison of the relative population of the
maritime and inland provinces. In Spain* these
relations are to one another as 9 to 5 ; in the
United Provinces of Venezuela, and^ above all^
in the ancient captsdn-generalship of Caraccas,
they are as 35 to 1 . How powerful soever may
be the influence of commerce on the prosperity
of states, and the intellectual development of
nations, it would be wrong to attribute in Ame-
rica, as we do in Europe, to that cause alone
the differences we have j ust remarked. In Spain
and Italy, if we except the fertile plains of Lom-
bardy, the inland districts are arid, filled with
mountains, or high table-lands ; the meteoro-
logical circumstances on which the fertility of
the soil depends, are not the same in the lands
bordering on the sea as they are in the central
provinces. Colonization in America has gene-
rally begun on the coast, and advanced slowly

* Antillon, Geogrqfia astronomka, natural y poiUica,liS\5,
p. 146.

loirturdB tbe ia^ianae.i amck is its <pi)0^ndB kt
Sraiil^fUid<BV«nen^ -it 'is 'QbIj when tbe
coast Is Ttdheaithy, as in ile^ce and'Neir Xh«-
iiada, or sandy and exempt from rain as in Peru,
that the population is doncentrated on the
mountains, and the table-huids of the interior*
Hiese local jdrcumstances are too oftto over-
looked in dischssin^ the fhtare fiite <tt fbe
Spaidsh colonies } they commtiiAcate a pecunar
character to some of those countries of lAicfa
the physicfd and moral analogies are less Strik-
ing than is commonly believed. Considered
vith reference to tbe distribution of the popu-
lation, the tiro provinces of New Grenada and
Venezuela, which have been united in one po'U-
tical body, present the most complete contrast.
Their capitals (and the position of capitals al-
ways denotes in what district the population is
most concentrated) are situated at such unequal
. distances from the trading coasts of the C^irib-
bean sea, that tbe town of Caraccas, to be placed
on the same parallel with Santa-Fe de Bc^ta,
must be transplanted towards the south, to tbe
junction of the Oroonoko with the Guaviai^
Where the mission of San Fernando de Atabi^
is situated.

The republic of Columbia, is, with Mexico
and Gautimala, the only state of Spanish Ame-
rica which occupies the coast opposite to Eu-
rope, as well as that which is opposite to Asia.

Hiere ftre 400 leA^M ffiMnCape Veank «o thi
western extremity ^ Vetagua i Md 960 itom
Cape Bttf ica M the moutb of Rio TttMbl3«. Tfeie
sbord pMMMed liry thd republio «f Cttlttmllia
consequently equate in length tbe cMst fr^m
Cadb toDanttfiek^ or fratn Ceata te» Jaffii. IW
immense resoiirtee tar Mitioaal iadtttttry is <;ott-
bined witkt a degfee cff enltivation el whidi
the importattiee has M« hitherto beMi snsCeiently
recogaijsed Tike isthmus of Fwiafmif fcvws a
part of the territory of Colnmhia^ and thM neck
of land, traversed by iYeroada, and stocked
with <»i|icAs^ AAy one day serve as a portage
for the eotnmerce of the world, even tbou^
nelthm* the pt^aitf of Cnpfea^ the^ bay of M an-
dfaiga, not the Rio Chagre, i^foiild ever present
the possibility of a canal ftt for the passage of
veasels going from Europe to China*,^ or from
the tJiiited States to the nortfe^weM; eeasH o#
Amc^ca#

Ifi the Coarse of this work, when considering
the inflnedee which the emfiguration of coun-
tries' (that is^ the elevation and form of their
coasts,) exerts in evei^ district on the progress
of civifiMtion asd the destiny of nations, I have
often iaristed eoa the disadvaaMages of those vast
raas8«» of triangular continents, which, like

* The ancient vice-royalty of Buenos-Ayrcs extended also
^ng a amalT portion of tlie Soutb Sea coast > but We liave
seen above i$^Q ITO^r, hour desert is this portion.

184

Afiioa, .and the greater part at .Soat^ America,'
are. destitute of gulfi and inland seas.. We.wjU
not here dwell <hi. the observation, that:the.
existence of our Iifodit^rraneaa bas be^ .closely :

, ocnmected with the first dawn <tf , human -enlti-.
ration among the nataons of the wsati aad that,
the ] articulated . form ; <^ the land^; ti^ . frer:
qnency of thdr contracti<Mi8,.and the comcatemt-.
ti<»i. of pffljinsulas, iavoured the civUimtiM} .of;
Greeoa, .Italy, and perhaps of all. £nr!i>pe» jto the.
westward of the meridian of the I^opontis. . In
the New World the uninterruptedness of the,
coasts, and the monotony of their strught lines,
are most remarkable in Chili and Peru. The:

- shore of Columbia is more varied, aud;its spa-:
cious gul&, such as that of Paria, Cariaco, Ma- ,
racaybo, and Darien, were at the time of the.
first discovery bettw peopled than the rest, and
&cilitated the interchange of productions. Hiat.
shore possesses an incalculable advantage, in.
being washed by the Caribbean sea, a kindjof
inland sea with several outlets,. and the.. only t
one pertaining to the New Continent, This-
basin, the different shores of which belong tO;
the United States, the republic of Columbia,,
Mexico, and some maritime powers of Europe
^ves rise to a peculiar system of trade, exclu-.
sively American. The south-east of Asia, with
its neighbouring Archipelago, and above all, the
state of the Mediterranean in the time of the^

185

Phenician and Greek colonieSi have proved the
happy influeace of the nearness of opposite
coasts which have not the same prodactions,
and are inhabited by nations of different rapes,
on commercial industry and intellectual culti-
vation. The importance of the inland sea of
the Antilles, bounded by Venesraela on the
south, will be still augmented by the progres-
sive increase of population on the banks of the
Mississipi ; for that river, the Rio del Norte and
the Magdalena, are the only great navigable
streams which it receives. The depth of the
American rivers, their immense branches, and
the use of steam boats, every where fiEu^ilitated
by the proximity of forests, compensate to a-
certain extent the obstacles arising fr6m the
uniform line of the coasts, and the general con-
figuration of the continent, in the promotion of,
industiy and civilization.

By comparing, according to the tables we
have furnished above, the extent of the territory
and the entire population, we should obtain the
result of the connection of those two elements
of public prosperity, a connection that consti-
tutes the relative population of every state in'
the New World. We should find to every
square marine league, at Mexico, 90 ; in the
United States, 58 ; in the republic of Columbia,,
30 ; and in Brazil, 15 inhabitants ; while Asi-
atic Russia furnishes 11 ; the whole Russian

eaipiK67 1 Sweden wMi Nonnqr^ftO } Earopean
RiiMia*, 390; Spun, 7€S; and Ftanoei 177B.
Bvt tbaiecaCtiaMes of relative pt^alatiati, wfaM
a{i{diad/to ooautries of iraneafle extent, and of
i^ah a ^reat pari is cnUi^j -untiAabified, for-
nlah laatbMiBtiaal abatMotien thatalbrd little
inftnietioHk laoonntrieftaMfiiMilycidtitBted,

knd «a4 tb» Otttd ]>ich]r of WwMw, «M ia ISOt, aeeorA-
iog to the itBtirtical tables of Hr. UmscI (Owut dfr Anvf-
Slaaten, Tom. 1, p. 10), 138,000 square leagues, SO to a de-
gree, with s population of 3S,400,000 Bouls ; according to
the wamt tables, the extent of the whole Russian momrrhy
msa(d>180 sqaara Ic^ues, with 40 iniDlou of popolatioa.
Theoo estioHitee of 18«& would give but 064, Hid BS inhabi-
tants to the square league. In supposiiig with Mr. Balfai
(see bit interedtiog researches oo the populatiaa of Russia,
in the Compendh di Geogrofia tudtertaU, pp. 143, and 163,
end Oe Aofitftrai £1*09 mt Porlvgal, Vol. il, p. 3A3), the ■b'
perficial extent of Europesn B&tria »Uh f^oluMi *ul the
kingdom 6f Pfdand, to be 1QB,400 aqnara iteffut^ tbe si^er-
fix* of the whole Russian mooarcbj in Europe utd im Aua,
086,000 square leagues, and the actual jiopulation in 18%t to
be from 46 to 54 millions, we find S83 add 7B vtkalnlamtt to
tht tquart Uegut. Aceordhtg to resesrchcs which 1 have re-
ventlr tnado Mlaflve to tbt «xtenl of Roesia, I fix, for the
whole DBipire, conprdieDdiBg Vlnlsid sad Poland, fflO^n
square leagues ; for the European port, comprebcDdii^ tit
ancient kingdoms of EaBan and Astrakhan, with the exceiK
tion of the government of Pcrmc, 150,400 stiuare leagoes,
whtcfa yields the relative population uf 318 and 87, stated ia
the text. (See abo Oatpari, Vdlft. Hand, der ErdB. B, xD,
p. 310.

1«7

in France * for instanoe, tbe Bumber of inhabit-
ants to the Bquare IcQgae, calculated by aepa-
rate departme&te, is geserally only a tfaird,
more orless^ than the relative population of thfe
sum of all the departments. Even in Spain,
the oscillations from the average number rise^
with a fe\^ exceptieiis, only from the half to the
double'f'. in Amerioai on the contmry, it is
only in the Atlantic states^ fram South Carolina
to New Hampshire, that the population begins
to spread itself mtfa some uniformity. In that
most civilized portion of the New World, form
130 to 900 inhabitants are reckoned to the
squane league, while the relative population oi all

* The luperficial extent of France, not oomprehendiHg
Corsica, was estimated by the direction of the Cadastre, m
18L7, at 51,910,062 hectares, or 5190 square niyriameters*
or 26;278 square leases, tiS to a degree. A£ Goquebert de
M ontbret reekons 442 square lesgnes for Corsica ^ conse^
i|iieiitly France with Corsiea now contains 26,720 commoa
Sqoare leagues, or 17,101 square leagues (20 to a degree).
11k population in 1820, having been 30,407,907, we find
1778 inhabitants to every square marine leqgue. The average
extent of a department of France is 198 square marine
leagues } the mean population is 858,600. The number of
inhnbitsnts to the square league is, in most of the depart-
ments, 1000^ 1200, 2400, and 2600. In taking the average
of the five most and least peopled departments and govern-
me&ts of Branoe and Russia, we obtain tbe proportion of the
minimum and maximum of the relative population ; in the
foimer of these countries = i : 8,7 ; in the latter =: 1 : 12>2.

t AfMkm, Qeogrq/ta^ p. 141.

188

the Atlantic states,' ctmridered -together, it 840.
The extremes (North CaroUmi and MaaBachnsets)
are only in the relation of 1 to 7, neariy as in
F^isnce*, where the extrBinQi,in the department
of the Upper Alps and -of the North; are ako
in the rdation of 1 t 6,7. The oscillations
from the mean namber, which we generally iind
restricted to narrow limits in the nvilised
coimtiies of Eorope-f-, exceed, so to speak, all

* In coiittnnfail France, cxcloding Corria ; ibr the de-
partment of the Iiiunone ia itill worse peopled than that of
the Upper Alps. The department of the North hod, in 1604,
on 178 square lesgnes (80 to a degree) s popnktion of
7^4,600 i and In 1630, of 904,600. The deputment of the
Upper Alps bod, in 1804, on 160 square leagues, a popula-
Uon of 118,339, and in 18S0; of 121,400. There are,
tberefbre, in these ttro departments, 60Bt, and 758 inhabitanU
to the aqnore league.

t Ewnpe, bounded by the Jalk, the momitainfl of the
Ooral and the Kara, contains 304,700 square marine te^nes.
In supposing the inhabitants to be 106 millions, a leUtirc
pt^nilation is formed of 939 to the square league, a Uttle less
than that of the department of the Upper Alps, and a littk
more than that of the inland prorinces of Spun. In com-
paring the Mai mean of 639 with the partial meoH of Knni-
pean countries tiiat do not contain less tlian 600 square
leagues, we obtun, excluding Laponiaonljr, and four goreni-
menta of Russia (Archangel, Olones, Wologda, and As&s-
khan), 160fbrtbe most desert re^ons of Europe ; andfortbe
most peopled, 2400 souls to the square league. These nun-
bers give the relation of the extremes = 1 : 16. jtmerita
contains, according to my last calculations, 1,184,800
square marine leagues, from Cape Horn to the 68° of oorlh

189

measure in Brazil, ia;tlie Spanish colonies, and
even in the confederation of the United States,
when considered in its whole extent. We.find
in some intendances in Mexico (La Sonora and

lat.^ comprehending the West Indies ; and in estimating the
piopulatlon as we have done above, at 34,2B4,<XK>^ we
scarcely obtain W inhabitants to the square league. Now to
find a continuous snrfece of 600 square leagues^ and which is
at the same time tlie most peopled of all America^ we must
have recourse to 9 part of the table-land of Mexico^ or of
New England^ where three contiguous states, Massachusets,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut^ contained in 1820^ an en-
tire population of 881,694, on 1S,604 square English miks,
consequently nearly 840 souls to the square marine league.
We can only select among the West India Islands, of whith
the population is extremely concentrated, the Great Antilles ;
for the Little Antilles (or the Eastern Caribbean Isles), from
Culebra and St. Thomas to Trinidad, conUuii altogether
bat 387 square leagues. Jamaica has nearly the same rela-
tive population as the three states of New England, which
we. have just mentioned ; but its sorfece doer not extend to
600 square leagues. St. Domingo (Hai'ti), which is five
times larger than Jamaica, has only 206 inhabitants to the
square league. Its relative population scarcely reaches ihat
of New 'Hampshire. I shall not venture to indicate the
fraction which we may suppose to be the minimum of the re-
lative population of the New World) for instance, in the
savannahs between the Meta and the Guaviare, or in Spanish
Guyana, between the Esmeralda, the Rio Erevato, and the
Rio Caura, or finally, in North America, between the source
of the Missouri and the Slave Lake. It is probable that the
relation of the extremes, found in Europe to be as 1 : 15, is,
in the New World, even excluding the Llanos or PampaSy4t
least 1 : 8000,

190

Dnriuigb) fi«in9 «o 15 nifaBbltaiiti to tiie Bfoare
iBBgoe, vMk IB •then^ at fhe emtrail taUeu
land, tiiere an more tltaa flOO. The velaliTe
population of the eountiyBitaatad bettreoa Ab
easteni bank of Uie MiasUsipi and the Atlantic
states is Bcavcely 47, while that of Connecti-
catp Ahode lilandrand MaMaohusok is ■Kwa
than dOOi, On the iv>e0l of tfav MiMinipi, as
welt as m the hiteiibr of S^nn&b Otayana^ there
are not 3 inhabitants to the square leagne oo
much largpr extents of territory than Switzer-
land (u* Belgium. The state of these eountries
is like thtA of the Rosnan empire, where the re^
lattve population of some Asiatic goremments
(Irkntzk and Tobolsk),, is to that of the best
cultivated European districts, as 1 to 300.

The prodigious difference which exists in
oonntriaft newly cultivated, bettreoi the extent
of territory and the number of inhabitaats,
renders It necessary to enter into these partial
estimates. When we learn that New Spain
and the United States, taking tbeir entice exr
tent at 75,000 and 174,000 square mariue
leagues, give Fespectively, 90 and 58^ souls to
each league, the idea we form of that distriba-
tion of the population, on which the political
force of nations dep^ds, is as little correct as
that we shoijd obtain of the climate of a
country, that is, of the distribution of the heat
in the different seasons, by the knowledge

191

soldy of the mean temperature of the whole
year*. If we take from the United States all
their possessions west of the Mississlpi, their re-
lative population would be 121 instead of 58 to
the square league, consequently much ^preater
than that of New Spain ; in taking feom the
latter cMiuntry the Prwmoias imterww (aorth
and north-east of Nueva Galicia), we should
find 190^ instead of 90^ souls to the square
league.
The foUpwing are the particular statements

* It would be taking me too far from my subject to push
this comparison ikrltier^ and discuss to what degree the whole
of the means might throw light on the mode of distribution
both of the tempemture and of the popuhition. I haTe en-
deavoured to prove in another place (Des Vignei i9oiherme$t
pp. 62, and 71) that, in the stfsttm of Fiuirypean climaiea, the
mean temperature of the winter begins to be below the point
of congelation^ only where the mean temperature of the
whole year sinks at least 16^ of the centigrade thermometer.
The lower is the mean annual temperature^ so much greater
is the difference of temperature of the winter and the summer.
In the same manner the very feeble relative population of a
whole country^ of considerable extent^ generally indicates
that state of dawning cultivation which produces great ine-
quality in the distribution of the inhabitants. What Buffon>
with that propriety of expression which characterizes his
style^ has called extreme climates, (the climates of the interior
of continents where very severe winters succeed very hot
summers,) corresponds in some measure with population
unequally accumulated ; and two phenomena of a nature en-
tirely different, furnish, if we consider them as mere quantita-
the estimates^ very remarkable analogies.

192

for Venezuela and New Grenada, according to
the numbers which we have reason to believe
to be the most exact :

Jtqiublic of Columbia 30

Six times larger than Spain, nearly equal in extent
to the United Slates, westward of the Missiasipi.
Superficial extent, 01,060 square leagues. Actual
population, 2,786,000.

A. Nan Grenada (with the province of Quito) 31

Not quite four times the size of Spain. Super-
fiaea, 68,260 square lengues. Actual [>opulation,
8 loillioiis.
;' B. Faumla, or oncJeat CapUmia-gnural ot Ov-

nccaa M

Mora than twice the uze of Spain ; equal in ex-
tent to the ^/tafic .Statet of North America. 5n-
peifiav, 83,700 iqiure leagues. Actual popa-
Ifltion, 786,000.

a. Gtmma tad Bareehna S7

SitpKrficitt, 3616 square leaguea : Actual po-
pulation, 128,000.

h. CaracMJi (with Com) 81

Super/kirn, 6140 square league*. Actual
population, 420,000.

f. Jlfaraaiyfo (with Uerida and Tmzillo) 4^

SttptrfidM. 864B sqnare lesgoes : Actual
popnlation, 140,000.

rf. FariHOM S8

Suyerficia, 2078 squara leagues. Actual
population, 76,000.

e. Gi^aiia (Spanish Quyana) 2

Superjiaa, 18,793. Actual popnlatioq,
40,000.

It results from, this statement that the pro-
vinces of Caraccas^ Maracaybo^ Cumana, and
Barcelona, that is^ the maritime proWnces of
the norths are the best peopled of the ancient
Capitama^eneral ; but, in comparing this rela-
tive population with that of New Spain, where
the two intendancies of Mexico and Puebla
alone contain^ on an extent scarcely equal to
the superficies of the province of Caraccas, a
greater actual population than that of the whole
republic of Columbia, we see that the Mexican
intendancies, which, with respect to the con-
centration of their culture, occupy but the 7th
or 8th rank (Zacatecas and Guadalaxara)^ con-
tain more inhabitants to the square league than
the province of Caraccas« The average of the
relative population of Cumana, Barcelona, Ca-
raccas, and Maracaybo, is 56; and^ as 6^00
square leagues, that is, one half of the extent of
these four provinces, are almost desert steppes *,
(Llanos,) we find, in reckoning the superficies
and the feeble population of the steppes, 102
inhabitants to the square league. An analogous
modification gives the province of Caraccas

* The superficial extent of the steppes of these four pro-
vinces is 0219 square leagues, 20 to a degree. The follow-
ing' statements may enable us to judge of the agricultural
state of those districts in which the steppes present such
great obstacles to the rapid progress of population. (Vol; yi.
pp. 69— 68.) Province

VOL. VI. O

194

done, a retetire population of SOS, tb«t is, only
one-seventh leM than that of tlw AtkmUc iSMfat
of North America.
As in political ccwnomy, nunierickil state-
Province of Cuuana .- •«-»«t«"
MouataiBous part of the Cotdaieru of the cout
anACaripe 3R

1961

Of wMcb the aut^ ddta of the OrooMdio is

MSaq.lcogaea.
PronDee of Bandana:
The iBtber ipountdnoiu part, and the forests

towards the North 829

. 13U

nifetits become instructive only by a comparison
with analogtHls tBOstb, I havecansftiUy enlinitied
what, in the actoal state of the two emthkents,
might be considered an a small relative popula-
tion in Europe, and a very great relative popu-
lation in America. I httV^ hMrever, chosen ex-
amples only attiong tht proViikdes which have a
continued surfece of more thftti 600 square
leagues, in oiider to etcldde the Mddenidl ac-
cumulations of population which are found
around great cities ; for instance, on the coast of
Bra^l, in the valley of Merioo^on the table^^kinds
of SantarFe de Bogota ftnd Cmmot i ^ finally,
in the small West India islandd (Bafbttdoes,
Martinico, and St. Thomas), of which the rela-
tive population is from SOOO to 47O0 inhabitants
to the square league, and consequently equal to
the most fertile part<^ of Holland^ France, and
Lfombardy.

Minimum of £ubopb«

To the
.Lev.

T&e fottr gc/veramento the least peopled of Euro-
pedn/UMd:

Ardiatkgel 10

(Monez 42

Wolllfia and AflMkUnt 5S

Hpteid W«

*Ite iMMbee tbe leaat fdopled ^ £jpaiii/tliat of
QuaiOB.... m

TM J>Mkf of Lumkmtg, (on mttnutt of Hx

O 2

T> Itw

Tlie (lepartraent of continentiil FrBnee the worst
peopled, (Upper Alps) 158

Departments of France thinly peopled, (the Creuse,
the Var, and the Aude) 1300

Maxihvm op Ahkriua.

The central part of the intendancies of Mexico and
Puebla', above 1800

In the United States, Maatachusets, but having
only 622 square leagues of surface 000

SfauachuKls, Rhode Island, and ComiKliM, toge-
ther 840

/The whole Inteoduicrr of PncUa MO

Hm whok ioiendancy of Mexieo ...^.... -4afr

These two Meucan iDtendanciea together, cr

. nearly a third of the superficial extent «f Pnnce,
mth a suitable population (in 162S, neaHy
3,800,000 sonts), to prevent the towns of
Mexko and Pnebla fram baviiip a sensible in-
floence on the relative population. -

Northern part of the province of Canccas, (withi> ;
out thej!<lanos) SOS

'niis table shews that those parts of America
whieh we now considei; as the best peopled, at-
tain the relative population of the kingdom t£
Navarre, of Galicia, and the Asturias, -which,

* Is there a part of the United States, from BOO td 1000
sqnaM leagues in extent, of which the rebttive popldation
exceeds the maxmum of New Spain, which is 1300 ishabit-
anla to the square league, or 109 to the square mile, dS-S to
a degree > The relative population of Massacbnsets, wbiidk b
7&f$ to the square mile, and is regarded as very conatderablet

197

after the province of Cruipuseoa, and the king«
dom of Valencia *, reckon the greatest number
of inhabitants to the square league m all Spain ;
the nuxjoimum of America is^ however, below the
relative population of the whole of France
(1778 to the square league), and would in the
latter country be considered as a very thin po>
pulation. If on the entire surfietce of America
we direct our views to the object which engages
our special attention in this chapter, the Qign*
tanior-general of Venezuela, we find that the
most populous of these subdivisions, the pro-
vince of Caraccas, considered as a whole, with*

has hitherto led me to doubt this. In order to examine the
question we must be able to compare the superficies of a cer-
tain number of bordering provinces ¥dth the registers of po-
pulation published by the congress of Washington. The re-
lative population of the States of New York, Pensylvania^
and Virginia^ appear so small (240^ 204^ and 168, to the
square marine league) only because in distributing the popu«
lation uniformly over the whole extent of territory^ we must
include the regions partly desert^ possessed by each state on
the west of the Alleghanis^ regions which have an influence
on the total average^ nearly in the same manner us the Uanos
of Caraccas and Cumana. Egypt contains 11^000 square
leagues, of which only 1408 are inhabited.

* We find in the kingdom of Valencia 18G0, and in the
Guipuscoat 2009, to the square league *, but the latter pro-
vince, containing only 53 square leagues, should be excluded,
according to the principle which I have adopted in these re-
searches. Galicia has an actual population of 1,400,000^
and the kingdom of Valencia oC i,200,000«

€S(A euMptiof Urn lipnof, kn§i tf fifc oiiAy ^
fetatin poiwtoUo of 3Jaww6e i wuTtlnttUi
pioffinfv, viite>v^ tb» Uvwifc fwmibtii in th9
nmUum |wrt» M tnem Aw IflOQ iqoMt
laaffBCB, 0ie rtdative pvpnJatioa of 8Q|ith4JU»t
liw. nicM IMP fqmv IvHPMSi ^ «BD*n of
agrunltuith MB fewioQ m mU pwpM H Fin*
laad, fant itOl « feUrd low thw thQ pnvrinM of
Ofoififi, ti» l»8t popnkdiB cf all Sfm. W»
eapnot dmU fm tbli iMoUirillniit ftfWwM
fefdin^. Snoh if (be ntste In wluch cvhuifil
{HditioH» qad the IbUy of Uw pubUo a^ini^im-
tioB* have, diuring three etmtmn^, l«ft > ooimtry
of wbich the natural riches may vie with all
that U moat wonderiful on ' earth, diat in order
to find one equally desert, we must look either
towards the frozen regions of the north, or to
the westward of the AlleghE^ii mowtaipsi to^
wards the forests of Tenqe^^e, where the ^%
clearings have only begun within lbs laot fifty
years!

'Hie most cnltivated part of the province of
Car^ccQS, the basin of (be l^e of Valencia, ynl-
gwly ^ed lot V^ks df ^rt^tt^ '^ coiwted, ia,
1810, nearly 300Q wb^itfMits tQ the sqiiWQ
league ; now, supposing a relative population
three times less, and taking off from the whole
surface of the Capifania-general nearly 24,000

* These vflliea do not contain 80 iqvarc letguea of MV^
face. Sec abovt, VoL iv. p. 1X9.)

and tha fomsts of Crusana^ and tbw^fam p»^
seati9g gr^at ^brtadM Uy agrienUmal kiba«n^
we should «tjU«Ji4«ia a pojKilatiaaqf ^ouUiMia
for the Kwwiimf^ 9?0ft »quar» leg^pwB>. Thcia
who^ tikfl IM> ba^e Uved long beneatb tka^ Itoe
8ky of the troj^^ vili fi»4 QQtbing exagger
rated *m thcisa cateitotioBSi; loo I supiMe fiw
the portioa th^ most ea^l^f cujtiinyb^^ ^ M)gr
tive popiilatioK cqw4 ta thai wUdb eopsts ia
the iateadancies of Pttebla* aiid Moximr*^ fiiU
of heiT^ HHmntaioa, mi e«t(t«adiQif towards
tha coast of tha Yacifiei aim ro^ona wiiiab. ara
almost desert. If the tenitoim <tf Camaim^
Bajrceloaa, CaraccBfi^ Macacaybo, Vajrinas and
Guyana, should one day be £or1iiiaate enougb to
enjoy good provincial and municipal institu-
tioDSj^ as coi^ederated stateq^ th«y wilA wot re-
(|uire a cesctuiy and a half ta attMO^ a, popiila^
ticoai of six: inilliicu^ of iababitants. Venftzn,rfa»
the eastern partr of tbe< UfipublU ^ CQlamlm,
would uotj eren with nine mUionSi have a.qKure
considerable populatiooi tbaa OM Spaia ;. and
how oan it be doubted that that part of VeAe-
ziiel% whdch is most fertile and. easy of cnltivar
tion^ thgjt is, the LO^QQO square leagues remain^
ing^ after esmhiding the savaanaha (IJLanos) ajod

^ These two intendances contain however^ together^ 5020
Bqoare leagues, and a rekHtve pqpiilaliott ef 600 iahabiUMi^v
ta te aq«aia nMaoc hagui*

fbe ftlmost -tmpenetndi^ ftnats betweeo -tW
Oroohoko «Dd the Caanqattee, conid AoarUif
under the fine slfj of the tnqfries', as maay iiAs-:
bitants as lOiOOO square leagues of ItSstnuna-
dnnij-the Outilles, and other pronnoes of the
taU^land of Spadn. These predictKns are by
no means problematical, inasmttch as they are
founded on pbysical anitltkgies, and on the pro-
dactire porer of the soil ; bat in Ordw to in-
dnlge the hope that they will be actnaUy. ac-
complished, we must be able to take into oar
reckoning another element less susceptible of
calculation, — that national wisdom which sub-
dues the bosUle passions, stifles the germ of
civil discord, and gives stability to free and
energetic institntiMis.

Productions. — When we take a view of the
soil of Venezuela' and New Grenada, we per-
ceive that no other country of Spanish America
supplies commerce with such various and such
rich productions of the vegetable kingdom. If
we add the harvests of the province of Caraccas
to those of Guayaquil, we find that the republic
of Columbia can furnish alone nearly all the
cocoa annually demanded by Europe. Tlie
union of Venezuela and New Grenada has also
placed in the bands of one people the greater
part of the ciocona exported from the New Con-
tinent. The temperate mountains of Merida,

201

Santa-Fe, Popayan, Quito, and Loxa^ produce
the finest qualities hitherto known of this medi-
cinal bark. I might swell the list of these va-
luable productions by the coffee and incUgo of
Caraccas, so Icmg esteemed in commerce ; the
sugar, cotton, and flour of Bogota ; the ipeca-
cuanha of the banks of the Madelaine ; the to-
bacco of Varinas> the Cortex Angasturce of
Carony ; the balsam of the plains of Tolu ; the
skins and dried provisions of the Llanos ; the
pearls of Ptoama, Rio Hacha, and the Margue-
rita ; and finally, the gold of Popayan^ and the
platina, which is no where found in abundance
but at Choco and Barbaeoas : but, in confor-
mity to the plan I have adopted, I shall confine
myself to the ancient Capitania-general of Ca-
racc£ts. In the preceding chapters I have treated
of each particular production ; it therefore only
remains to mention succinctly the statistical
statements ccmnected with that peaceful period
which immediately preceded the political agita-
tions of this country.

Cacao. Total production, 1 9Zfi00 fan^as of 110 Spanish
pounds^ of which Venezuela exported (inclusive of the con-
traband trade) 145 flWfan^as. Total value, more than fTre
millions of piastres. Number of trees in 1814, nearly 16
millions. This part of Terra Firma has hitherto derived its
greatest celebrity from cacao : the cultivation of it dimi-
nishes in proportion as that of coffee^ cotton, and sugar in-
creases ; it advances progressively from west to east Cu-

bMabo M faoj tot the inhtbitento. The faitcdw coawmp-
tion will CDUeqneatif bwraue with the pofNikdon, ijid U w
to be hoped that &e proprieton of the caeao plut^tioiu
friUMOB findiieweneoonigeBKiitfaittefcMRneefnBliowt
piijepeiN/. 9w AoM, VsL IB, pp. m— W»r VU.ii.
pp. «ak-MI.) The mm oT tb» prnfexm erf CbaMw*
Serailapt. end CooMii, qf nUcb tha eiwt VBdilj ie fiHittd
•t Uritiuni (neu Su Sebutiu], Cepiriquid, lod Sen Boni-
Ikde, Isfrr nperiortothc emao ot QbajmijH i it yUUkoaij
to thet of SocomuGo ( A«mif, CbMp^eAe di fa JUrf. rf> Obb-
Itoele. 1810, ToB. U. p. TT) aul of OhOw, bm* Onoe,
wUdi ecHcely eaten into the Qoataierm of Bnrepfu

Coffte. The small table-lands of froto 250 to 400 toisea
hi^, that are frequent m the prorinces ofCaraccBi and Cn-
mene ^ the GordfUerai ofthe afaore and of Caripe), contain
tampccale sittMtloiii utiwaelj bvoiuable to thi« phiaL
When it haA beeK csbimtcd only aa ycac^ i& laiS. the pro*
dime amounted to neerly 00,004 tviistali. (See, oa the
consumption «f cofee in Burope, Vol. iv, ppt OS — 73).

Cotton. That of the vaffiea of Aragna, Mkracsjbo, asd
thcgnlfofC^afiUai ieofawrf fine cpMEb^, betthftsoB^t
flspp«titkn.wos«Qt;iD9i«tbuiSicnll)«Hgf|fftMiii. (VoL
it, pp. 60, 101, 101 } Vol. iv, pp. 123^129 1 aivl rr^wwoav,
Rtlacim de la Reool. de Fenauela, 1030, p. 81.)

Sugfir. Fine pUntatiMiB. wcr^ formed at the b^inoing of
this ce»tniT,WL the TBUiefto£AncD*'*'K' T«]tf.aearGqation.
wrd Canriowce ; but ttw etportaiioa wm n»7 tiifliiig: (Vol
»,pp.83— 88i,*n4H>. 177_18g)„ JhaT»«£t«aiq ttwcqorM
of this wock dinted the aMci»two£ the readin to the pre-
ponderance which the cultiyatioo of c^osial pvodiKtiona will
progiewiTely acquire in Spaoiab Anwiiw e««t that «f the
HlUtUer West |odi» Iilaadb

90»

/jMfifo. Tim growth of this Yery imporlaiil arlicl# 4e*
iffeaied miieh won from 1781 to 1799 ibm HM of ^acao.
it is imuilMiied widi ndvantvf^ only in |h« pfovioefi of Vii*
rinas (for in^taooe^ Mwoea Wifgmi v^ V^g^ denoret),
aod 00 Ibe b^idw of the Tk*m. TlieTBlpfof tlmladigoof
CarocQM WMOOted, in tl^s mott pfoqperow tifMu to
1,900,000 piostrea. The 9«(»artatiaii to l# Qiiayra»i« VfUi,
wa» 900,000 pound** and in 1809, 7000 JrifiTM«9. (Vol. 1,
pp. 62» 03 1 VoL iy« pp. 119, 187.

TobaccQ, The tohaoco of Veo^nKla ia ooi oa)y vary snpa*
ripr to that of Vii^giiiia^ birt jialdf bx qoality only to the to-
b»coooftheiiIa«dQfCiibaaiidth«IUoN«gro. Tho etiabliab*
oie^t of thf ro^Jwrm hi 1777^ haa pr^^ited th/l ppeniog
of this impovtaot braniA c^oomB^erce to the trade of VariDiij
|ii^of|l|eT|d}ie4ofArBg«aaBdCiipiaii^ooa» TbetoMpvo*
dupe of tbs 41^ of toimooQ at <ha begiimiqg nf tho 18<h oaa^
tory, MM OiOO,000 piartre*. (Vol, I p.^ 67 ; Vol. i?^ p. 100^
apd Vol, Y, p, 8«8.) Wheo th^ lUog of Spaia, during tha
vmistry of Pon Diego Ghirdoqoi, dieclared, Uy hla UUc of
September 90» 179Si, that be would OQiuieot to deliver the

GooBtry of th^ fatrm («i^ciacp)j U wa# piopoied to auhstitata

a gea^ra) eapitntiqa w ^ pynopo^f of t|i« {»bdoatioQ of

hraady from th^ nvgai* c«oek (^^fWdrdiifi^ 4f« <faa) or othu?
taxea aot lew vexatioiif, TbfM^F^oQ^ $NiM> «94 thQjArat
of tobacco was continued.

CereaUa. The eastern and western parts of Columbia are
often contrasted with each other from very vagne and imper-
fect notions of the localities ; it is affirmed that New Gre-
nada is a country of mines and wheat, and that Venezuela ia a
country of colonial productions. In making these arbitrary
distinctions the tierra fria y tempktda, is alone considered ;
that is, the countries of which the mean temperature * of the

* Between 800 and 1600 teieei above the level of the sea.
It may appear swprisiag that in equbootid AoMriea, coon-'

j««r li 1^ ud M>fi, omt. (the grwt a
ct Qaiio, iM-yuttm, Bogota, TH^ Valn^ nd ttyn),
fingeuij^ that tli0 wIioIb DOtthMS «d WMtan put of New
OieBodftbftlow nd hmnld eoantrjf rafejrlng' a nMotem-
pwtairo of Sr toMT, MMJcoawgnenllr^m'^ fe^^*I^'
dodioH whMi In Eonpe wn'trndmA^j tamtad coloidal.
Vflonada (Md I olw^a-lBtcad to dflrfgiMte b7 Alt DMiM flu
terrttorr * oTUie udcnt Cq>teNlB-««HM ot Ctnccu), hu

triea are called cold, of wbidi tbe tcmperatare of the jiiar
riaea aboTo^lliat of Binan and Blbn^UIer) but it mtnt no*
be fbrgottea that in tboie citiea the mean temywature of
the nunmer is fi8-8* and 84'3° ; while at Qnito, for ioHtance,
the days are gmeraOy during the whole year, between 16-6<>
and U'S", and (he nights between 9* and 11*. The heat
never rises beyond 9S* ; and the cold + 6* of the centigrade
theraiometer. - The (Jerrut frias, at the height of SanU-Fe
(ises'toises), and Quito (1492 toises), have, during the
whole jrear, the tcmperatare of Paris in tbe month of Hay.
As tbedivi«onof heat atvariona times of the year is so dif-
ferent in the torrid and the temperate zones, in order to give
an exact idea «tf the climateof anyspotsitiiBtedintheneigfa-
bonrfadod of the eiptator, die surest method is to compare it
widi tbe tempentnre of a month in the temperate r^oa of
Europe.

* T|ie term Venezuela was employed in this sense at tbe
installation of the congress at Angostura, Febroary ISth,
1819, at which the deputies of Caraccas, Barcelona, Cnmana,
Varinas and Gayana were assembled. The maps of La Cruz
and of Lopez use theterms. Province of Caraccas, and Vene-
zuela, as syDonimous. The captain-general, residing at Ca-
raccas, and governing the country from the mouth of the
Oroonoko as far as tbe Rio Tachira, was called Copitan gaieral
d» la Provincia de yeneiueia y Ciudad de Caraeat. M. DqMOS,
in his statisticB,di5tioguiBtica the Capitonia-general of CaraccM

5205

also cold and temperate climatM ; It U a eotcntry of baiumas
md of wheat. The cerealia of Europe are already cultivated ofi
the mountains of Merida and TrnxiUo (at la Pterta, and near
St. Ana, on the south of Garaehi), in the TiilUea of Aragua,
near Victoria, and of San Matheo, and in the country, some*
what mountainous, between Tocuyo, QuilKir, and Barqnen-
meto, which forms the ridge of partition between the streams
which unite with the Apure and the Oroonoko, and those
which fall into the Caribbean ^ea. It is a fact worthy of
particular attention, that wheat is cultivated in several of these
places at a height tliat does not exceed 270 to 800 toises above
the level of the sea, amidst the cultivation of coffee-trees,
sugar-cane, and in places where the mean temperature of the
year is at least 2tV>. In the equinoctial region of Melico and
New Grenada, the cerealia yield abundantly, only at 42^ and
46^ latitude, a height at which its cultivation ceases in Eu-
rope*; at Venezuela and in the Island of Cuba, on the con-

from the government of Venezuela, which, according to him,
comprehends only the province of Caraccas. The Republic
of Venezuela, founded July 6th, 18IJ, and restored August
16th, 1813, was united to the Repubh'c of Cundinamarca
(Dec. 17th, 1819), by the name of Columbia, and since that
union the name of Venezuela has been again officially re-
strained (Feb. 1822) to a department comprehending the
provinces of Caraccas and Varinas. Amidst these fluctuations
there is a risk of confounding a country twice as large ad
Spain, with another less than the state of Virginia, if the pre-
<;ise sense in which the word Venezuela is employed, he not
determined. Regarding this name as identical with that of
Capitania-general of Caraccas, we obtain a collective designa-
tion for the whole eastern part of Columbia, and we may say
Venezuela, as we do Mexico, Chili, or Peru.

* At 000 and 1100 toises elevation, the fields of wheat and
rye disappear in the maritime Alps and in Pk-ovence. See the

tnrr.llHJMUrteil of whwi dioM4» la Jw wart ■
ptMad Trvr, icmtdi tU liantaig ptate of tk* «

lUihMts Hw^»li>lHllllllrfttB i*MliB at yillllllllllhMl
etmmUbmrtHmmt iido«art«Bimit'itBHqiiAiwla
VirtwhtoMn tbnU,M04rfiitdi.»TMr« lad *■

ton of the wigwBWfc of laitB, tai cottaB» thtt of w
hwaotbacatttotooUiln— yaonHdwMBi— ■»■

It Is Mt the proTiiM gf 0
«oBtaht n«iMi 4r<nip««l» dfaMMt tte»K«
the oeati^sdi dwmonrter &Us at i^^t bdaw 1» «r 14>,
«^ ««ea ta U- V>. Tba pivvfoat oC Gte«« tei atao Itt
■mitUiacw dktricto, whidi* tlioa^ Uttla tWImI Ubarto.
mar yet bactnne impdrtwit lor •onie dew bmncbai of cqut-
noctict agruAdtOM. Uorlng |iused through a great part o(
Vaacabda wkhtba baroBMter in mj hand, I Ihiak it proper
to atata here ModattXj tha ootmtrics that inarit the naitw of
fitrrat fanplodu *, Eaaay of which, well-fitted for the pro-
duction of ccMUia, are too cold for thecnltare of coffee. Tba
enmnendDii hanag merely aa agricalttml view, we shall
mark only the hi^ valBea or tabte-lands of a ctwaiderable
extent. Hie Paramo of Mucuchka, which belong! to the
^tm meeada of Merida, the SiUa of Caraccaa, in the CordH-
leraa of the ihore, and ihe Dnida, in the misaioiu of tlte
Upper OrooDoko, are SlOO, 1S40, and 1280 toiaei l^gh, bat

reieardies on the temperature required for cultirated plant*,
in my work on Di^nbutum* gtog. plmt. 1817, p. 161.

* I shonU here moitioB that i* adopting tba aaanewhat
vagac dwiotniaarinaa aitierrmt, eafawto, Umfladtu, tmAJhm,
I fix the first betwecm the caait and the cleratioB of MO
toiMB ; the seeoad, between 800 and 1 100 t<riae> ) and the
third, between 1100 and S4B0 loiaea. 'Ilw last number,*
that of the limit of pccpctual anows, indicate!, in the ci
tial region, the cetsation of regctablc life.

so;

there are scarcely any apoto im the decliviUea of tlieae moun-
tains capable «f being cattivaied. The same is Ihecaae with
respect to the range t)f lofty eecoatey monKitahis of ttme-
stone, of mioa-shte, and gneto-gnmlte^ tfanC cttend along die
coast of VeneMKla> from Cape Faria tonnrds the lake of
MavacaybOk TMi chain of the coast has not a snttdent
mass to Ihnysh those extensive table-lands tihich hi Quito
and Meaiiro unite the whole cutthratlon of Europe. Thelaa^
with temperaie cUmakt, (consequently above 800 toises,) of
the ancient CepikmUhgefteml of Garaccas, tLtt Ist. the moon*
lainoHS pait of the missions Cfiaymas * in New Andalusia $
that is^ the Osno dd Impossible (M? toises), iS» sarauiahs
of CoGoBar and Tnmhriquiri (400.760% the Trilies of Caripe
(412 toises), and of la Guardia deSan Augnstitt(688tolse8) :
sa. the dedhities (Jaldm) of Bergaatfn f » between Cumann
and Barodona, flieheightof which Is not ekoetly known, but
appears to exceed SOO tolses : 9d. the snail table-land of
Venta-grande, between La Guayra and Caraccas (76S tolses) :
4th. the valley of Caraccas t> {460 toises) : 6th. the moun*
Uunous and arid country bcffcween Antimano and the Hacienda
del Tuy^ or die Higuerote and Ijss Gocuysas §, are nearly
650 toises high ; Oth. the gnnite table landsn of Tusflui, (8W
toises) CKiadmo^ Guiiipia^ Ocumare, and Iteaqwe, between
the lAanos and the aoutliem range of ^ihe momitains on the
lAore of A^enezuda^ Tth. the dividing ridge between the tri*
botsry streams of the Onribbean Sea and the Apnre, or the
groupe of table-lands andhUlsSM to 600 tolses high, which
connect ^le chain ^ of the shore with Uie Sierra de Merida and

• Vol. lU. p. e»^ 86—119, 162. 163.

f VoLii. p,ft04, 205 ; VoL iii. p. 94, 96.

X VoL ui. p. 694, 447.

( VoL iv. p. 79, 60.

II Vol. Iv. p. a 69.

fVoLir.p.m8.

tha Tnalltoi ,iwmriy, Montiia <k 8«puahri%iwgtof Tarilo^
dPIoKbo de Nirgw. d Altar, ud tba-ncWty offMbor^
BwqoMlnMto, ml Taaijo t ath. tba taiil»Jud of IMBUki
(«b<»« 490 tolMi): wBdAmlkTTmiJUnairtnmmAalm
RoMN. Bocmb wd NiiiiiiUpr bMweeu Ae lovaai of the Bio
HotBtan. tnd thoM of the FoftagaoM ind the GoMMn : 0U.
the lAola moOBtilDoiti luid that ramNuidi Ifae Sivni acMrio
of If erids, betwen Padimn, Lanllaoai Saato DomiD^,
Bfocndtiai, the Ffenao de loa Cooejoa, BajMona, aad lia
Grita (700-iaoo UdM) i 10th. aoqu ^Qti, pohapp of fta
Cordillende Pariin^wUchaqwateithataahLof theLowit
OroDooko fiom that of the Anaaoa } the crnqpe <rftha gi»r
nitic moBotaiiu of Sipapo and the Kenm Hantaan*.

Not having risited with Hr. Baopland the cold r^on of
the proTince of Varioas, the declivity of the Sierra Nevada of
Merida, and the Paramo* at the north of Xmullo, which, ac-
cordiog to the analogy of the obKrvationi I oiade in the
Aadet of Pasto and Quito, must be 1100 and SLOO tcnies
high, I cannot judge of -the extent of the valliea -and table-
lands which the weitern regions of Venezuela may one day
fdniish for the Giiltiire of the Miva/ia of Europe. Itisoot,as
. we have observed above, the knowledge of the absolute
hdght of the peaks which can enlighten us respecting the
problems of agriculture. Wherethe spots lying beneath the
benign influence of a temperate or cold climate are on decli-
vities too steep to be easily ploughed, the price of native floor
would be too high to be brought into competition with the
flour of the United Slates, of Mexico, and CmidinamBrca.
As in our Mediterranean, Italy and Greece have long drawn
their com from the opposite coast of Mauritania and Egypt,
eo also in the Mediterranean of America, Venezuela and the
shore of New Grenada now receive their supply of flour ftom
the opposite coast of the United Statest. Don Manuel Torres,

' Vol. v. p. 554, 655, 60S, 606.

f Itinerary manuscripts of M. Palacio Faxardo. -

209

in 8D official letter addressed to the Secretary of State at
Washington, estimates the exportation of North American
floor for Columbia at SO^OOO barreb a year. {Mettagefrom
the PreddeMt of ike United Staiee, 1822, p. .48. See also
above, VoL iw, p. 104, 105, and 111^ 112.) In a state of
free trade, the hnmense progress of the artof nayigation ex- '
poses the natire cultivation to a dangerous rivalry with that
of the most distant countries. The fields of the Crimea
supply the markets of Leghorn and Biarseilles $ the United
States '^furnish Europe with corn, and in times of scarcity
the table-land of Mexico sends its produce to Spain, Portn^
gsl, and England. B^ons, some of which scarcely pro-
duce the 6th or 7th, and others the 20th or 26th grain, are
placed In competition with each other, and the problem of
the utility of a production is complicated by the variable ef-
fects oi the fertility of the soil, and the price of labour. The
western part of Columbia (New Grenada) ,wUl always possess
great advantages with respect to the production of the cere-
alia;, by the magmtude of its mountains, and the extent of its
tible-lands, over the eastern part of Columbia (Venezuela); it
thence results that the rivalry of the flour of Socorro and
of Bogota, which goes down by the Meta, will be to be di-
vided by the regions north of the Oroonoko. Where tem-
perate regions are in the vicinity of hot, between 800 and 600
toises high (as in the temperate spots of the provinces of
Comanaaad Caraccas), the cultivation of sugar, of coffee,
and of the cerealia is equally practicable, and experience
proves, pretty generally, that the cultivation of the two
former is preferred as being the most lucrative.

QuiMq^Au. The Cuspar, or Coriex Angostura, falsely
called the quinquina of the Oroonoko, has become ftimous by
the industry of the Catalan-Capucin monks. It is not a
Rnbiac^ like the Cinchona, but a plant of the family of
Biosm^i, or Rutac^s. This precious plant has hitherto been
exported only from the Spanish Guyana, though it is also

VOL. VI. F

2-10

found in Cayuniii;, (Vol. v. 761.) We are yet ignorant in
what genua the Cuspa, or quinquina of Cuinana belongs, but
its properties being erainently febrifuge, it may becgme an
important object of trade. (VoL iii. p. 27.) Five species of
real quinquina {Citickontr, (oroUia Idnutis), so common in
New Grenada, have been discovered in the western part of
Venezuela. The febrifuge-bark of the ijuinquina [iuenas
gtantu, or ca.frari/^^) ia gathered on both the declivities of
die Sierra Nevada of Merida, on the road from Varin&s-vie-
jaa lo Poramo de Mucucliies, called the rood of Los Callc-
jonea, a little ivbove the ruvine of Lavellaca ; and also be-
tween Viscucuy and the town of Merida *'. lliesc ore M
the real ijuinquinas {dchona:) that have hitherto been found
principnlly on the coast of £panisii America. No species of
<3Aclietn tojnt kno«rai, not «mb of OwkiitdnKleiw**, ]9«ob-
iKtk, dtbtr in OnnoiutuDaof theSniadeCkwtopMfFVbera
tfeM B^Ms, Anlk, ThiUoditi. ■Bd other «|piM afcnibf of
tba CoiflUbiu of Ken Gteoada rtgttat^nm wltna nquif-
tiii»'ilfi9?wiiMqduiaiulCwip0iU)dFrtB^4«ljWUii>. TUfI
MdataeMaoffbeGlntkomi andEsMtsiW/Wf «»|t4ll^
1— dof lfari«i)aadlnttoori«rt«lwgiQM^8withAniwliwii
mrdi'af drt «q«alntv <if it be w ftbaohrte M it hwhUfcart*
>n>MMd^'is tbeiMraMrprilins M the WMt 2wfc» «!»•»«
fleadtnte of qafnqniliK wf tb imooHi ooraUit aad fBij«dM^
•tatnlna. I« tbt aouthera bcmwphere, the mapcnMjl (MftKof
Bnuil ■boy lM»:e ye* «dy ftvniobei) tbo bdtatML tandM
With one ipeotes of nal Cinckopa. a kind mpmMtA in ■

; -^ .. ■■ ■ --•'

* See above. Vol. iii, p. 2S, '30; Vol. iv, p. S4& ; Vd. v.
p. 791. Lanberl, SlUttrafion of (w ;«•«( Ctnektmartfi^l,
p. fir. The pretended Ciochooa foasiliauia of the iNVfaal
of Willdenow, vith a calico of the length of the eenU>i
and vegetating in the hot regions of Grand Para, is peT^
hap8 enlys MaChaoliia.

t See the note G at the end of t4ie Bth bot^.

211

striking manner by its fruit from the Macrocnemums. Ac-
cording to the nne discovery of M. Auguste de St.-Hilairc,
the CincJuma ferruginea is fband in the temperate regions of
the CapiUma of Minas Geraes, where it is employed under
the denomination oC ^iitfia de terra.

In condudiiig thk sketch of the vegetable productions of
Venj^ldji, that vf^j que day, become objects of traffic, i
shall name succinctly the Quassia Simaruba of the valley of
Rio Caura } the Unona febrifuga of Maypures, known by
the name of Fruiio de Burra ; the Zarza or sarsapsiriUa of
the Rio Negro ; the oil of the cocoa-tree^ which may be
coiiiidci:ed as ^ oUve-tree of the proving of Cumana ; tiie
oily almpf^ of Jiiyja (BerjthoUetia) ; the resins and precious
gum8Qfthel][pp^Oroonoko(Afaiii,Cara»a)j the caoutchouc
simivur Jtc^ tpat of Cayenne*, or subterranean (dajncke) ; the
aromatics of Guyana, such as the Tonga bean or fhiit of
Coumarouma) the PiccAm (Laurus Picliurim); the Pisri-
nactf, or felse cinnamon (L. CtrniamaiRoufet) } the vanilla of
fvxum9> and the great cataracts of the Qroonoko ; the fine
Cf^pnring substances which the Indians reduce to a paste,
(Cfuca or Puruma) ; the brAiilet ; Dragon's blood ; i*aceyte
ie 3faria ; the nourishing raquelles (Clactus), the cochineal
of Carora : the precious wood for the cabinet-maker, such as
mahogany {cakoha)y the cedrela odorata {cedro), the Sickin-
gia Erxthroxylon (i^ AguaUre) &c. ; the noble timber of
the family of the Laurinia, and the Amyris ', and the cordage
of the pirfm-tree Ckiquichiqui, so remarkable for its light-
ness. (See above. Vol. iii. pp. 74, 200, 278; Vol. iv. pp.
78,246,255^513, 563; Vol. v. pp. 162, 257,284, 374,
878, 536, 544.

We have atated above in what manner, by a
peculiar dj^pcNSiition of the lands, the three zon^
of agricultural, pastoral, and hunting-life, suc-

* Vol. iii. p. 423.

ceed each other in Venezuela from the north t(>
the south along the coast towards the equator.
Advancing in this direction, we may be eaid to
traverse, in point of space, the different stations
by which the human race has passed in the
lapse of ages, in its progress towards cultiva-
tion, and in laying the foundations of civil
society. The region of the shore is the centre
of agricullui'al industry ; the region of the
Llanos serves only for the pasturage of the ani-
mals which Europe has given to America, and
which live there in a half-savage state. Each of
those regions contains from seven to eight thou-
sand square leagues ; further south, between
the delta of tbe Orodnoko, the C!aBn<^are, and
the Rio Negro, lies a vast extent of land as
large as Fi-ance, inhabited by hunting nations,
horrida sylvis, paludibus fada. The produc-
tions of the vegetable kingdom which we have
jusi enumerated belong to the zones 9t each
extremity; the intermediwy savaiuulis.into
which oxen, hones, and moles have bera
brought, since the year 1646, feed some mU-
lions of those animals. At the period of my
travels, the annual exportation of Venezuela to
the West India islands amounted to 30,000
mules, 174,000 ox hides, and 140,000 am>bei
(of 25 pounds) of tasajo * or dried meat a little

■ The meat on die Iwck is cut in slices of moderate tttidc-
ness. An tat or cow, of the weight of 25 arrobes, producei

313

salted. It is not from the advaneemeat of agri-
culture^ or the progressive encroachments on
the pastoral lands, that the hates have dimi-
nished so considerably within twenty years, but
rather from the disorders of every kind that have
prevailed, and the want of security for property.
The impunity extended to the skin-stealers, and
; the accumulation of vagabonds in. the savannahg,
preceded that destruction of the cattle which
the successive wants of armies, and the inevit-
able ravages of civil war have so deplorably in-
creased. A very considerable number of goat-
skins is exported to the Island of Marguerite,
Punta Araya, and Gorolaa ; sheep abound only
in Carora and Tocuyo *. The consumption of
meat being immense in this country, the dimi-
nution of animals has a greater infl^ence than
in any other district on the well-being of the
inhabitants. The town of Caraccas, of which
the population in my time was one-tenth of that
of Paris, consumed more than half the. quan-

only 4 to 5 arrobcs of tatcijo or ta»90n In 1702^ the port of
Barcdona alone, exported 96,017 arrobes to the Island of
Cuba. The average price is 14 realit de plaia^ and varies
from 10 to 18. (There are 8 realms in a piastre.) Mr. Ur-
qidnasa estimates the total exportation of Venezuela in 1800,
at 200,000 arrobes of Uuajo,

• See above. Vol. i, p. 237 ; Vol. iii. p. 361, 366 j Vol iv>
p. 210, 338, 341, 388 ; Vol. v, p. 75, 716, 802, 803.

iStjr 6f b6fef annually^ used in tbe capital of
TVabcC*

I mlgtit add to the productions of the v^-
table and animal kingdoms of Venezuela the
enumeration of the minerals, the w^orking of
which is worthy the attention of the govem-
liieut ; but having been devoted from my youth
to the practical labours of mines, Which had
'been placed under my management, I know

• Tbe following table proves how great is the coDBumption
of meat in the towns of South America, near the Llanos ;—

TiMHi. Yrnri. PapshtitH. Ozen.

Caraccfu 1790 46,000 40,000

NuJKteWidMift: iBob 'to^ooo .: inoeo

Perticriidia .^...,..1800 B.opo,, : .^7,-aoo

/P^l ............... .,1B19 714,000. 70,BOO]|

'l^c^Dfoijap^pii at^exico, of wluditbtf (^iU«ti{intafi|^
or fin tlma less than that of Paria, does not exceed 16,100

Sen J dibiuequenUy it does not i4>pear much grealcr ntaa at

'Bo fc(abl»<Wd-ctilllvb^ wMhtiohii'aiid Ai'iMk'fitiitUli^i
Sd,'that Uus'ttrtira reckooa attiif oae^foattb ot dSpjiv^
cokmred Indiana among its inhabitants, who eat little meat ;

. and ih^jthat the ^ooaumption of Aecp is 273,000, and of
hogB at Mexico is 80,000} while ^t Paris, notwithstanding

^ f^ enormoiis differaoce of popBlatioa, it was in 1819 only

_ 9S&,^0 of the former, and 66,000 of Uie Utter. See above,
Vol. iU, p. 464, 465 ; Vol. vi. p. 76, and my Political Euof
on New Spain, Vol. ii, p. 68f. Rechtrtlu* ilat. iur fa vilU
dt Pmrit, par U eomle de Ckabrol, 1823, labUait 72.

B to tbe ■Uteineat fpna tn tlib Work hj Uw Anlhilr, 4*
n of ihecp kt Mexico wu 278,913, and of b.ogt, i0,67<.—
Trmu.

215

kow vague and uncertain are the judginents we
form of the metallic wealth of a cbimtry from
the mere appearance of the rocks^ and of the
veins in tfaetr beds. The utility of sueh lahours
can be ddtermined only by wdl directed at-
tempts by means of shafts or galleries. Ail that
has been done in researches of this kind» under
the dominion of the mother country, has left the
quest! oin wholly undecided^ and the mo6t ex-
aggerated ideas hare been recently spread
through Europe^ with very culpable levity^ con-
cermng the Tiches 6f die mines oi Caraccas.
The common denomination of Columbia given
to Veaezuela and New Grenada^ has^ no doubt,
contributed to facilitate those illusions. It can-
not foe doubted that the gold-w^ushings of New
iSrenada furnished^ in the last years of public
tranquility^ more than 18,000 marks of gold ;
that Choco and Bacbacoas furnish pkitina in
abundance ; the valley of Santa Rosa, in the
province of Antioquia, the Andes of Quindiu and
Gauzum, near Cuen^a, sulphurated mercury ;
the table-land of Bogota (near Zipaquira and
CanoQs), fossile-salt and pit coals ; but even in
New Grenada, real subterranean labors, on the
silver and gold veins, have hitherto been very
rare *. I am far, however, from wishing to dis-
courage the miners of those countries ; I merely
conceive that it is not necessary, in order to

* Political E?My on New Spain, Vol. hi, p. «90 aod 8>9.

prove to the old world the political importance
of Venezuela, the amazing territorial wealth of
which is founded on agriculture and the produce
of pastoral life, to descrihe as realities, or as
the conquests of industry, what is, as jret,
founded solely on hopes, and probabilities
more or less uncertain. The republic of Co-
lumbia possesses also on its coast, on the Island
of Marguerita, on the Rio Haclia, and in the
gulf of Panama, pearl fisheries of ancient cele-
brity. In the present state of things, boweverj
these pearls are as insignificant an object as the
exportation of the metals of VenezneUu ^Thc
eidstence- of metallic veins on several points oi
the coast cannot be doubted. Mnws of gdk
and silver were worked, at the b^tniimg of. tlx
conquest, at Baria, near jferqneameto, in tlM
province of Lo8<Maricfaes, Baruta, on tbesouti
of Caraccas, and at Real de Santa Barbara, nAu
the Villa de Cura. Grains of gold are fionnd'ii
the whole moantfdnous territory betweeaRk
Yaracoy, the Villa de San Felipe and Nirgia
as well as between Gmgue and ios Moros di
San ip^an. Mr. Bonpland and myself, during
on.' 16tig journey, saw nothing in the gneis-gra
' nite of Spanish Guyana to confirm the anctoii
belief of the metallic wealth of that district
yet it seems certain, from several historical in
dications, that there exist two groupes of auri
ferous alluvial land ; one, between the sources c

217

the Rio Negro^ the Uaupes and the Iquiare;
the other, between the sources of the Elsseqnebo,
the Caroni, and the Uuponari. I flatter myself
that if the government of Venezuela should
ever make a thorough e^xamination of the prin-
cip^ metallic beds of its soil, the persons to
whom those researches are confided, will find
in the I3th, 16th, 17tb, 84th, and 27th chapters
of this work, geognostic notions which may be
useful to them, because they are founded on a
detmled knowledge of the localites *. Hitherto
only one working is found in Venezuela, that of
Aroa ; it furnished, in 1800, near 1500 quintals
of copper of an excellent quality. The green-
stone focks of the passage mountains ofTucu-
tunemo (between Villa de Cura and Parapara)
contain veins of malachite and copper pyrites.
The indications of both ocherous and magnetic
iron in the coast chain, the native alum of Chu-
paripari, the salt of Araya, the kaolin of Silla,
the jade of the Upper Oroonoko^ the petrolium
of Buen-Pastor, and the sulphur of the eastern
part of New Andalusia, equally merit the atten-
tion of the administration -f*.

It is easy to ascertain the existence of some
mineral substances, which afford hopes of a lu-

♦ Vol. iii, p. 624—635 j Vol. iv, 262, 269, 274, 470 ;
Vol. ▼, 31 1, 342, 401, 607, 669, 809, 826, 862, 863.

t Vol. ii, p. 264—272 ; Vol. iii, p. 103—108, 204. Vol. iv,
p. 61 ; and in the present volume, p. 103.

crative working, but it requires g;reat cifcum
spection to decide whether the abundance o
mineral and the facility of reaching it, be saffi
ciently great to cover the expence *. Even ii
the eastern part of South America, gold am
silver are found dispersed in a manner thatsur
prizes the European geognost ; but that disper
sion, the divided and entangled state of th^
veins, and the appearance of some metals onl;
in masses, render the working extremely expen
give. The example of Mexico proves sufficientl;
that the interest attached to the labours of the
mines is not hurtful to agricultural pursuits
and that those t^vo kinds of industry may siniul
taneously promote each other. The inutility
of the attempts made under the intendance o
Don Jose Avalo must be attributed solely to tb<
ignorance of the persons employed by the Npa^

* In 1800, a day-labourer (pioit) cinployut in worldiig tki
gnHiiul, gained, in the province of Ciraccag, 16 sob, exclusivi
of his food. (Vol. iv, p. 1'2&.) A man who hewed buJIdin^
timber in the forests on the co.ist of Paria^ was jiayed nl
Cumuna, 45 to SO sols a day, without his food. A carpsDtei
gained daily from 3 to 6 francs, Jn New Andahisia. Thret
rakcB of Cassara^lhe bread of the country), 21 kiches in
dlamutor, 1} line (hick, and 2i4b. weight, cost nt Caraccas,
a half-rral de plata or 6} sols. A man eats daily not less thu
S sols 'Worth of'cassBTB, that food'ben^ ooHfitaBtly adxei
with tisnanEts, dried me&t {UKtajo), and papilan, or unrdSnec
sugar. CoiSpaTe f6r'tlie]irice of pravisions, Val.TT,-p.!S43.
368; Vol. V, 152,

lilfih govenunefit, and %fao 'gravely took «ii<$a
imd amplgbol for metaltic bubstanote. If ttie
gbverainent htsvb the pemtftitaxioe toi^aiMe'^tite
anciient Gapitaitia^mu^iil of CaMooa$ to ^bb
examined dtinng a 16BgS6nefi^<tfyeai«yaiiJif^
fortunate as to chodse tiien as 4sstiii|^^ed
as MM. Boussingaiitt and RiVero^ wbo are^^lstli-
blishing at premtit a S(;Im>o1 of Hiines at BbgfMa,
and who join to b %6Iid knowledge in geognosj^
and cfai^mistry/tte pti&ctical habit of minings
the most satiii&ctbiy ri^lts im^ be ^x]pfei&ted.

•

CoMBiBRCE AND PuBLic Revbnub.— The de-
scriptiSn we Mve given above* of the prodtic-
tions of Verieztiela, arid the development ttf its
coasts is sufficient to show the importance of
the commerce of that rich country. Even
amidst the i^ackles of tbe colonml system/ the
value of the 'expdrts 6f the prbducts of agri<jnl-

ture^ and of the gold- washings/ambunt to 11 or

■ ■.-«'•• . . •

12 millions of piastres, in the countries which
are at present united under the denomination
of the Republic of Columbia. iTief exports of
the Gapitania general of Caraccas alone, apart
from the precious metals^ which are the object
of a regular working, was (with the contra-
band), from 5 to 6 millions of piastres, at the
beginning of the 1 9th century. Cumana, Bar-
celona, La Guayra, Portocabello, and Mara-

* See nbove, pp. 181 and 200.

caybo» arc the most important parts of th
coast ; those that He most to the eastw^i'd bav
the advantage of an easier commumcation wit
the Virgin Islands, Gaudeloupe, Martinique, an
St. Vincent. Angostura, the real name of whici
is Santo Tome of Nueva Guyana, may be consi
dered as the port of the rich province of Vartnaj
The majestic river, on the banks of which thi
town is built, furnishes, by its communicatioo
with the Apure, the Meta, and the Rio Negri
the greatest advaatages for trade with Eu
rope •-

In order to form a correct idea of the importance of Veni
xnela, wilb respect to its exports and imports of the produi
, tions of the old world, we must recur to n period of externi
peace, which preceded the revolution of Spanish Americ
twelve or fifteen years. The trade of La Guayra was the
ID ita greatest splendour. The following are the official rt
suits of the registers of the custom house, which throw soni
light uD the commercial state of those regions, and whic
were not published by MM. Depons and Dauxioa-Lavaysst
in their voyages to Terra Firma, and the hie of Trinity.

I. Trade or La Guavsa, in 1789.

Imports, nlue 1,1126,005 piutres

OfwIiidithediitMSpaid 100,504

Exports, ^ne 1,233,013

Of vhich the duties paid 167,408

A, Imports :

Spanish Goods 777,666 piattrci

Foreign 748,360

* See Vol. iv, p. &S4 ; Vol. r, p. 612, 607, 686, 715.

221

B. Exports:

Gold and silver coin 103J77 piastres

Produce .. 2>128,89d

Among which ;

Cotton ' 190,427 pounds

Indigo.. .i 718^393

Tobacco 208,152

Cacao 103,855 £anega8

Coflfee 23,371 pounds

Hides 12,347 pieces

Buckskins 2^905

Marroquins 1^888

II. Tradb of La Guatra, in 1792.

Imports, Talue 3,582,311 piastres

Exports ... , 2,315,892

A. Imports:

From the ports of America 80,348 piastres

From Spain 1,855,278

From other parts of Europe .. 1,688,885

B. Exports :

Tor Spain •
For Foreign Co-
lonies -

INOIOO,

Poonds.

COTTON,

Pounds.

CACAO,

FsnegM.

coFrsz,
Pounds.

HIDES,

Pieces.

669,827
10,403

325,503
33,000

100,592

• • . .

138,968
9,932

15,332
70,896

680,229

258,503

100,592

148 ,900

86,228

III. Tbade of La Guayra, in 1794.
A. Exports :

For Spain -
For Foreign Co-
lonies

IMDIOO,

Pounds.

COTTON,

Pounds.

CACAO,

Fanegas.

COFFRC,

Pounds.

HIDB8,

Pieees.

875,907
22,446

431,658

• • • .

111,133

....

307,032
57,606

5,305
49,308

898,353

431,658

111,133

364,6J8

54,613

B. Imports :
I M^cbwuliif M^ Provinona.

Spaniah , 1,111^709 piMtret

Foreign from Europe 868,613

— — -. tbs United States 7&,99ai
-r — the West ladies 13,416,

8,089,080

Ttrt^tMnpor^a 9,139,980

IV. Trade or La Goatia, in .1706. .
A. Espurts, Talue 2,403,254 {dastres.

Namely :— ,

For Spain - - -
For the UoUcd

S«i(e> - - -
For the Foreign

W. India lalandB

IKOPOO,

Foirndi.

Poundi.

FsnegM.

Ponnda.'

Poonda.

"^-

Poi

709,135
133

4B3,250
63,928

70,380
S.2S8

482,001)

tea

2,S00

454,723

1,531
79,777

737,966

537,176

75,538

484,662

451,723

81,S0S

B. Impcvts:
a Froin Spain, in oational products 1^871,571 piastres

Foreign 1,420,487

b FroiD Foreign American Colo-
nics 179,002

TotalimpoTtatton S,480,06D

Import and Export Duties, paid
at the custoin -house, amounted

223

V. Trade of La Guayra, in IV07.

A. Exports^ value l^llS,flO& piastres

Namely : —

INOIOOi

Ponnds.

COITOV,

Founds.

CACAOi

Fanegas.

corrju,.
Foonds.

TOBACC048UOAR, UtUE^f poPPER,

Pounds. I Gates. Pieces. Founds.

Spun
heUoited
t» - -
IwPoiicign
1. Islands

61,765

2,256

56,894

50,285

• • • •

57,711

46,075

4,024

20,783

153,699

• • • •
155,813

• • ••

• • • v

•175,719

• • • •
738
638

671

• • • •
286

2,000

• • • •
400

120,935

107,996

70,832

300,512

175,719

l,3Zd

957

2,400

A. Importo, Talue : —

a From Spain 98,388 piastres

b Foreign :

From the United States 76,608

the West Indies 389,844

Total imports G64,800 piastres

Export and Import Duties, paid at the

Custom House 242,160 piastres

In comparing these statements, which are taken from the
registers of the custom-house at La Guayca, with those of
the ports of Spain in my possession (Vol. iv, p. 240), we see
that according to the declarations of the vessels, less cacao
has entered Spain from Caraccas than from Lfa Guayra. Tb^
diminution of the imports and exports in 1797, indicate no
decline of national industry 3 it is the consequence of the re-
newal of maritime war, Spain having till then, since its peace
Avith the French republic, enjoyed a happy neutrality. The
registers of the Custom-house, which I have just stated,
during four years, 1789, 1792, 1794, and 1796, give, for the
average of the imports of La Guayra, which is the principal
port of Venezuela, 2,678,000 piastres -, and for the average
of the exports, 2,317,000 piastres. If wc fix on the years

234

1793—1796 only, we have for the exports 3,060,000 piutres,
while the years of war, comprehended between 17M and
IBOO.furniflh on avenge of only 1,610,000 piutres. (DqMM,
Vol, il, p. 439.) In the year 1809, and eonseqnently only a
diort time before the ferolotion of Canccaa *, the balance of
trade at La Ouayra onght to have been little different from
what it was in 1796. 1 discovered in a journal of Santa Fe
(le Bogota (Semtmario, Vol. ii, p, 384), an offidal extract of
the rasters of Ox custom -house. Cor the first Bix monllu ol

* The following are the principal epochas of (hat revoln-
lioB. The nprane Jimla of Veneiuela, wlw declared they
would maintain the rights of Ferdinand VII, and who ba*
niahed the captain-general and the members of the Audietida,
assembled 10th April, 1810. The cmgrett which socceeded
the supreme Junta, 2d March, 1811, declared the indepen-
dance of Venezuela, Sth July, 1811. The congress held its
sittings at Valencia.^in the vallies of Aragua, in March, 1&13.
The earthquake that destroyed the greater port of tfic town
of Caraccas, on t)ie 26th March, 1612 (Vol. iv, p. 12), ren-
dered the Spaniards again masters of the country in August,
1812, General Simon Bolivar retook Caraccas, and entered
it in trinmph, August 16th, 1813. The royalists became
masters of Venezuela in July, 1814, and of Bogota, in June,
IBXS, In the same year. General Bolivar disembarked at
the island of Marguerita, at Carupano, and at OcumaM
The second congress of Venezuela was installed at Angos-
tura, February ISth, 1819. T\\tfwidawiental lam that uuitei
Venezuela to New Grenada, by the name of the republic ol
Columbia, was proclaimed December 17th, 1819, The ar-
mistice, concluded between the Generals Bolivar and Morillo.
is dated November 2Sth, 1820. The constitution of theRC'
public of Columbia dates August 30th, 1821. The govern-
ment of the United States recognized that Republic, Mard
8th, 1822.

S25

the, year ; daring that period the imports from Spain were
274,205 piastres; from foreign parts^ 768,705 piastres i
total value of the imports, 1,042,910 piastres. The exports
for Spain were 778,802 piastres i for foreign parts, 623,805 ',
total value of the exports, 1,402,607 piastres. We may con-
sequently regard 2,700,000 piastres as the mean term of the
exports of the port of La Guayra at the lieginning of the 10th
century, in a year when the country ei^oyed internal and ex-
ternal tranquillity*.

The ports of Cumana and Nueva Barcelona,
at the period of the revolution, exported annu-
ally, (comprebencfing the produce of the illicit
trade,) to the value of 1,200,000 piastres ; in
Hrhich were comprised 22,000 quintals of cacao,
a million of pounds of cotton, and 24,000 quin-
tals of salt meat. If we add tothe exports of
La Guayra, Cumana, and Nueva Barcelona, a
million of piastres, as the produce of the trade
of Angostura and Maracaybo, and 800,000
piastres as the value of the mules and oxen em-
barked at Portocabello, Carupano, and other
small ports of the Atlantic, we shall find the
total value of the produce exported in the an-

* I conununicated many details respecting the merchan-
dize registered in the custom houses of Spain^ for the ports
of T^erra Fhma, in 1705> to M. Dauxion-Lavaysse, which he
inserted in his Foyage d ia TriniU, Tom. W, p. 464. I drew
my information from a very instructiTe memoir of the Count
de Casa Valencia^ on the means of vivifying the trade of Ca-
raocas. M. Urquinaona {Reiac. docum., p. 13) > estimates the
total of the exports of Venezuela, in 1B09« at eight millions
of piastres.

VOL. VI. Q

cient dapitania-getteral of Caraccas, to be more
than six millions of piastres. It is very pro-
bable that the consumption of the provisions of
Europe and of other parte of America reached
nearly the same amount in the peaceful times
vhicfa immediately preceded the revolution.
As nothing is more vagne than the pretendied
balances of trade founded on the custom bouse
registers, and as we are ignwant whether the
contraband trade with the West India Islands
augments the value of registered articles, a
quarter, a third, or a half, it is not uninteresting
to verify tlie results we have just obtained by
the partial estimate of the wonts of the popula-
tion. Now it is found, by minute calculatimis
made on the spot, that the consumption of fo-
reign productions* in the Gaviemo of Cumana,
was, for each adult individual of the richest
class^ inhabiting towns, but 102 piastres yearly ;
for an adult slave, 8 piastres ; for children, not
indians, less than 12 years of age, i piastre ; for
every adult indian. in the most civilized com-
munes {de dacfrirm)y 10 piastres ; for a family of
indians, composed of four peraons entirely na-
ked, such as they arc found in the missions of

* In/orme de Don Manuel Navarete, Taorero dt la Rtal
Hacitmda en Cumana aobre el rslanca tie iabaco y lot niedm it
su alulicion Mai (Manuscript). In this rcnsoiiing on tbe
aiption, the yvortk foreign arlUlfi iiijiculi? uU mercUan-
c which is not origiiKiUy of \'ciif2Ui'hi.

227

Chaymas, 7 piastres. According to these state-
ments, and suppositig thai in the two pr6vinces
of Cumana and Barcelona, there are only
86,000 inhabitants, of whom 42,000 are Indians ;
and adding the necessary annual expences for
the embellishment and service of the churches,
for the support of the religious communities^
and the equipment of vessels, M. Navarete esti-r
mates the value of goods drawn from foreign
parts at 8S3j060 piastres, which rnidces nearly
10 piastfes for each individual, of every age and
caste. It cannot be doubted that during the
period of civil troubles, and by a more frequent
contact with the nations of Europe, luxury
has beeti prodigiously augmented in the popu-
lous towns of Venezuela ; but the population
6f towns is in Spanish America but an incon-
siderable fraction of the general population; and
with the habits of sobriety maintained by the
great mass who inhabit the country distant
from the coast, 1 conceive that the 785,000 in-
habitants, which we now attribute to Venezuela,
will require, when the counti^ shall enjoy per-
fect tranquillity, foreign productions to the
value of more than seven millions of piastres,

I entreat such of my readers as love to em-
ploy themselves on financial considerations, to
attend for a moment to these numerical results.
Burope, overloaded witli manufactures, seeks
channels for the dispersion of the production of

ii2

928-

her industry. Such is the state of dawning^
society in South America, that the population
of Veuezuela, which at most equals the mean
population of two departments of France *,
stands in need annually^ for its interior con-
sumption, of merchandize and foreign articles
to the amount of 35 millions of francs. More
than four-fifths of those articles come by dif-
ferent ways, from the markets of Europe. Yet,
the population of Venezuela is poor, frugal, and
little advanced in civilization. If, according to
the statements of imports, it appears to have a
great consumption, and feeds the industry <tf
commercial nations by its wants, this arises
from its being entirely destitute of manufac^
tures, and that the most simple mechanical arts
have scai-ccly begun to be practised there. The
maroquins and curried hides of Carora, the
hammocks of the Island of Marguerita, and the
blankets of Tocuyo, are objects of very small
importance even for the inland trade. All the
fine tissues and coloured linens used at \eae-
zaela come from foreign ports. When the
commerce of France with the American colonies
was most flourishing, before the year 1789, she
exported to them to the amount of bO millions
of francs, in the productions of tlie French soil
and industiy. This amount is little more than
that of the total value of the foreign consump-

• See above, p. 187, nolo " .

229

tHon of Columbia. I dwell on the importance of
these considerations, to prove how much the
nations of the old world are interested in the
prosperity of the free states that are forming in
equinoctial America. If those states, whilst '
harassed from without, continue to remain agi-
tated, a civilization which has not taken deep
root will be gradually dstroyed ; and the whole
of Europe, without advantage to the mother
country, which could neither tranquillize its
colonies, nor permanently re-possess them, will
be deprived, for a long period of time, of a
market fitted to give life to trade and manufac-
turing industry.

I shall add to these considerations some sta-
tistical statements little known, taken from a
very recent memoir of the Consutado de la Vera
Cruz. This document shews that Venezuela
by its entire want of manufactures, and the
small number of its Indian inhabitants, presents
in proportion to the respective population, a
greater consumption of foreign articles than
New Spain. In a period of twenty-five years,
from 1796 to 1820, the importation * fro n the

* In the commercial register pablished at Vera-Cruz^ the
imports and exports made on account of the government are
not included. For instance, in the year 1802, the extent of
trade (the same of the exports and imports), is indicated at
60,446,955 piastres. If to this had been added the amount
of 19} millions of piastres embarked on the kings account,

230

port of Vcra-Cruz, according to the registers of
the custom-house, amounted to 259,105,940
piastres, of which 186,125,113 piastres were
from the mother country. The cousumption of
New Spain in European articles, during the
same period, was 224,447,132 piastres, or
8,977,885 piastres annually. We are struck
with the smallness of this sum, compared with
the wants of a population of 6 millioas of souls ;
und therefore the secretary of the Consulado de
la Vera Cruz, M. Quiros, concludes that the
contraband exportation rose, talking one year
with another, to more tlian 12 or 15 millions of
piastres. According to these calculations, made
by persons who have a perfect knowledge of
the localities, Mexico must consume at the ut-
most, in its present state, foreign articles of the
value of 21 to 24 millions of piastres, that is,
with a population eight times greater, not four
times as much as the ancient Capitania-general
of Caraccas. So great a difference between
two markets open to the trade of Europe, on the
coasts of Mexico and Venezuela, will, I believe,
appear less extraordinary, if we recollect that
among the 6,800,000 inhabitants of NewSpain^
there are more than 3,700,000 indians of an un—

anil the value of mercury and paper for cigores, received oa
uceoutit of the Real Uacitnda, the extent of trade, in 1802,
would have been 02,077,000 piastres ; nnd in lli03, it woaU
have l>ecn 43,B»7,0»I) piastres iostead of 37,37t>,G37.

231

mixed race ^y and that the manu&cturing iiK
dustry of that fine country is already so much
advanced that the value of its home fabrics in
wool and cotton, in 1821, amounted to 10 mil^
lions of piastres per annum *(-. In deducting
the indian population^ whose wants are almost
entirely restricted to the productions of the
soil, from the total population of Venezuela and
Mexico, we find in the former country, that the
consumption of the productions of foreign in*
dustry, amount to 10 piastres, and in the latter,
to 8 piastres for every individual of all ages
and both sexes. Tliese results shew, that when
we consider the great masses only, the state of
society appears nearly the same in the most dis-
tant parts of Spanish America, notwithstanding
the varying influence of physical and moral
causes.

The shores of Venezuela from the beauty of
their ports:};, the tranquillity of the sea by which

* (Sec my Political Essay 9n New Spain, Vol. iv, p. 127).
During the 25 years that preceded the year 1820, gold and
silver were coined at Mexico lo the value of 429^10^008
piastres. See above, p. 129.

+ Balqnza del Comercio reciproco hechopor elpuerto de Vera
Cruz coo los de Espana y de America en los ultimos 25 anos,
(De orden del Conmlado de f^era Cruz, el IB de Abril 1821.)

J The following is the series of anchorage, roads, and
ports with which I am acquainted, from Cape Paria as far as
Ujo del Hacha ; Ensenada dc Mexilloncs -, the mouth of the
Rio Caribes ^ Carupano; Cumiina (See above. Vol. ii, page

they ai-e washed, and the fine ship timber that
covers them, possess great advantages over the
shores of the United States. In no part of the
world is there found firmer anchorage, or fitter
positions for the establishment of military posts.
The sea of this coast is constantly calm, like
that which extends from Lima to Guayaquil.
The storms and hurricanes of the West Indies
are never felt on the Costa fame ; and when
after the sun has passed the meridian, thick
clouds loaded with electricity, accumnbte on
the mountains of the coast, this threatening as-
pect of the sky, denotes to a pilot accustomed
to those latitudes, only a squall that scarcely
obliges him to reef or take in the sfuls. The
virgin-forests near the sea, in the eastern part of
New Andalusia, present valuable resources for

211) ; Loguna Chicn, on the south of Chuparapara (Vol.
p. U7) ; Lagma grande del Obitpo (Vol. iii, p. 21 ; Vol. vij
p. 108) ; Carioco, [Vol. iii, p. 108) ; Ensenada de Santa-Fe
Puerto Escondido ; Port de Mockima (Vol. iii, p. 358 ; Vol.
vi, p. 108) J Nueva Barcelona (Vol. iii, p. 301 j Vol. »i, p
77) ; the mouth of the Vio Unare ; Higuerote (Vol, iii, p
370 ; Chuspu ; Guatire ; La Guoyra (Vol. iii, p. 383) j Catia
Los Arccifcs ; Puerto la Cruz ; Choroni ; Sicne^ de Ocn-
mare ; Turiamo ; Burburata ,- Pateneho (Vol. iii, p. 402)
Porto Cabelh (Vol. iv, p. 201) ; Chichiribiche (Vol. iv, p
204); Puerto del Manzanilloj Coro ; Mnrncayho; Buhia
Monda ; El Portctc ct Puerto Viejo ; the island of Mnrguc*
rita has three gitoA (iiirts, I'mnpatar, Pueblo dc la Mar, and
liahia de .Iiian Griego. {Thou pnKteii m llnlics are Ihv port»
vwil ficqiiuikil )

233

the establishment of dock yards. The wood of
the mountain of Paria may vie with that of the
Isle of Cuba, Huasacualco, Guayaquil, and San
Bias. The Spanish goverament had, at the end
of the last century, fixed its attention on this
important object. Marine engineers were sent
to mark the finest trunks of Brazil-wood^ ma-
hogany, cedrela, and laurinea, between Angos-
tura and the mouth of the Oroonoko, as well as
on the banks of the gulf of Paria, vulgarly
called GoTfo triste. It was not intended to es-
tablish dock and yards on the spot, but to hew
the weighty timber into the form necessary for
ship building, and to transport it in the king^s
ships to Caraque, near Cadiz. Although trees
proper for masts are not found in this country,
it Mras yet hoped that the execution of this pro-
ject would considerably diminish the importa-
tion of timber from Sweden and Norway. The
establishment was attempted in a very un-
healthy spot*, in the valley of Quebranta, near
Guirie; I have already mentioned in another
place, the causes of its destruction. The insa-
lubrity of the place would, doubtless, have di-
minished in proportion as the forest (el monte
virgen) would have been removed from the
dwellings of the inhabitants. Mullattoes, and
not whites^ ought to have been employed in

* Vol. iii, p. 83.

hewing the wood, and it should have been r8>
raembered tliat the cxpcnce of the roads (aras-
traderosj, for the transport of the timber, when
once traced, would not have been the same, and
that, by the increase of the population, the
price of day labour would progressively have
diminished. It belongs to ship^builders alone
who know the localities, to judge, whether in
the present state of things, the freight of mer-
chant vessels be not far too dear to allow of
sending large quantities of wood roughly hewn,
to Europe ; but it cannot be doubted that Vcnc-
Kuela possesses on its maritime coast, as well us
on the banks of the Oroonolio, immense re-
sources for ship building. Tiie fine ships which
have gone out of tlic yards of the Havanah,
Guayaquil, and San Bins, have, no doubt, cost
more than those constructed in Europe, but
from the nature of tropical wood, they possess
the advantage of hardness and amazing dura-
bility.

We have just analysed the objects of com-
mercial industry at Venezuela and their im-
mense value; it remains to take a view of tlie
means of commerce which are fountl in a country
destitute of higii roads, and w[icel carriages,
and restricted to internal and external naviga-
tion. The uniformity of temperature that pre-
vails in the j;:rcatcr part of these provinces,
causes such an equality in the agricultural pro-

235

(luctions necessary to life, that the want of ex-
changes is there felt less than at Peru, Quito,
and New Grenada, where the most opposite
climates prevail on a small space of land. The
flour of the cereals is almost an object of luxury
for the great mass of the population, and every
province participating in the possession of the
Llanos, that is of pasturages, draws its nourish-
ment from its own soil. The inequality of the
harvest of maize, varying according as rain is
more or less frequent; the transportation of
salt, and the prodigious consumption of meat in
the most peopled districts, lead, no doubt, to
exchanges between the Llanos and the coast ;
but the great and real object of commercial
activity in the interior of Venezuela, is the car-
riage of products to be exported to the West
Indies and to Europe ; such as cacao, cotton,
coflee, indigo, dried meat, and hides. It is sin-
gular, that, notwithstanding the great number
of horses and mules that wander in the Llanos,
no use is yet made of those great waggons
which have for ages traversed the Pampas, be-
tween Cordova and Bucnos-Ayres. I did not
see one in a single waggon on Terra Firma;
the conveyance of goods is all made on the back
of mules, or by water. A road, however, might
be easily traced, fitted for wheel carriages, from
Caraccas to Valencia, in the vallies of Aragua,
and thence by the Villa de Cura to the Llanos

of Calabozo, as well from Valencia to Portoca-
bello, and from Caraccas to La Guayra. The
ConsiUados of Mexico aud Vera Cruz have
known how to vanquish difficuliies a hundred-
fold greater, in constructing the 6ne roads from
Perote to the coast, and from the capital to
Toluca.

With respect to the interaal navigation of
Venezuela, it would be useless to repeat here
what we have stated above, on the branchings
and communications of the great rivers ; we
shall confine ourselves to direct the attention of
the reader to the two great navigable lines tliat
exist from east to west (by the Apure, the Meta,
and the Lower Oroonoko), and from south to
north, by the Rio Negro, the Cassiquiare, the
Upper, and the Lower Oroonoko. By the first
of these lines the productions of the province of
Varinas* flow towards Angostura, by the Por-
tuguesa, Masparro, the Rio Santo-Domingo,
and the Orivante ; and the productions of the
province of Los Llanos, and the table-land of
Bogota -|-, by the Rio Casanare, the Crabo, and
the Pachaquiaro. The second line of naviga-
tion, founded on the bifurcation of the Oroo-
noko, leads to the most southern extremity of
Columbia, to San Carlos del Rio Negro, and the
Amazon. In the present state of Guyana, the

* Vol, iv, \>. 309, 454.
+ Vol. iv. |). &Cl— 5fi9.

237

navigation to the south of tlie Great Cataracts*,
of the Oroonoko is scarcely any thing, and the
utility of inland communications either with
Para, the mouth of the Amazon, or the Spanish
Provinces of Jean and Maynas, is founded only
on vague hopes. These communications are, in
respect to Venezuela, what those of Boston and
New York are in respect to the inhabitants of
the United States with the coast of the P^ific
ocean, across the rocky mountains. In substi-
tuting a canal of 6000 toises, for the portage of
Guapore ^f*, a line of inland navigation would
be opened from Buenos-Ayres to Angostura.
Two other canals of easier construction, might
join^ the one might unite Atabapo to the Rio
Negro J by the Pimichin, rendering it unneces-
sary for the boats to go round by the Cassi-
quiare ; and the other would do away with the
dangers of the rapids of Maypures §. But I re-
peat, that all the commercial views that are
directed to the south of the Great Cataracts,
belong to a state of civilization as yet very dis-
tant, and in which the four great tributary
streams of the Oroonoko (the Carony,thc Caura,
the Padamo, and the Ventuari), || will become

* Atures and Maypures.
t Vol. iv, p. 305.
X Vol. V, p. 166.
§ Vol. V, p. 260.

II Vol. V, p. 612. 606. See also. Vol. v, p. 216, on the
importance of the Guaviare ; Vol. v^ p. 479^ on the isthmus

no less celebrated than the Ohio and the Mta-
aouri, on the west of the Alleghanis. At pre-
sent, the line of navigation from west to east
alone engages the attention of the inhabitants^
and even the Meta does not yet possess the ino-
portance of the Apure and the Rio Santo Do-
mingo. On that line *, 300 leagues in length,
the use of steam boats would be of the greatest
utility to go up from Angostura to Torunos, the
port of the rich province of Varinas. It is dif-

of Rupumiri, auti the portages between the Rio Branco, the
Essequebo, and the Carony ; and Vol. v, p. 572, on the road
by land leading from the Upper to the Lower Oroonoko, and
from the Esmeralda to the Erevnto, lb.

* The title of a book that has recently appeared {Journal
of an Expedition 1400 mila uji lie Oroonoko, and ;)00 up t/if
Jrauca, by U. Rob'mson, 1822), singularly exaggerates the
length of the Lower Oroonoko, and its western tributary
streams. A voyage of 1700 Eaglisli miles would have led
the author fiir into the South Sea. A much more extraordi-
nary geographical error is found in a work composed almost
entirely of passages extracted from my Personal Narraliet,
and oeeompnnied with a map which bears my name, altliough
I there search in vain for the town of Popayon, In this
Geographical, statistical, as^TJculUiTol, commrrcinl, and polilicul
account of Colawtia, (1B'>2), it is said Vol. ii, p. 28, thai
" the <'assi(juiar<>, long believed to be an arm of the Oroo-
noko, has been found by M. du Humboldt to be an arm ut
the Hio Negro." The same nssertiuii is repeated in the
P'uUitdrKliii'; lluiuiburJi ihr m mrni Erilicschreisiig, \'ol. xvi,
p. 4«, written by a man of irrcHt merit, Mr. Hasscl. Yet.
nearly '23 years ago I went u]i llic Cassiijuiarc, in tlic diroc-
tiun «f fi-om £imlh to utirtii.

239

ficult to form an idea of the muscular force ex-
erted by the boatmen, whether they tow their
barks, or push their oars (palanca) against the
bank*, in going up the Apure, the Portuguesa,
or the Rio de Santo Domingo, at the time of
the high floods. The Llanos present a ridge of
partition so little elevated, that between the Rio
Pao and the lake of Valencia, as well as between
the Rio Mamo and the Gnarapiche, communis
cations might be opened by canals, and join,
for the facility of inland trade, the basin of the
Lower Oroonoko to the coast of the Atlantic
and the gulf of Paria-f.

United with the local interest of the internal
navigation of Venezuela, is another intimately
connected with the prosperity of the commer-
cial nations of both hemispheres. Among the
five points that appear to present the practica-
bility of opening a direct na\ngation between
the Atlantic ocean and the South sea, three are
found in the territory of Columbia. I will not
here repeat what I have already observed on
this important object, in the first volume of the
Political Essay on New Spain J : where I have

* There are windings (vueltas) in the Portuguesa and the
Apure^ and counter-forts that sometimes retain boats a whole
day.

+ Vol. iv, p. 160; Vol. vi, p. 46.

X Vol. i, p. cv, 10, &c ; Vol. iv, p. 17. See also my -."^Z-
las Gcogr, et Physique de la NouvtUe Espagiie, pi, ir>.

340

shewn that previously to undertaking any la-
boui-s on either of those points, they ought all
to be examined. It is only by investigating an
hydraulic problem in its greatest generality^
that it can be advantageously solved. Since I
left the New Continent no barometric measure
or geodesic levelling has been executed to de-
termine the lines of elevation which the pro-
jected canals ought to traverse. The different
works that have appeared during the war of in-
dependence of the Spanish colonies, are confined
to the same ideas * which I published in 1800 ;

■ I except the useful information given by Mr. Davis Bo-
binsoD, on the anchorage of Muasacuaico, Rio Sao Juan an<l
Panama. Memoirs on the Mexican Revolution, 1821, p. 203.
(See also Edinb. Rev., Jan. 1810. IFallon in the Colonial
Journal, 1617, March aodJune. BibL Dnwerielle de Genive,
Jon. 1823, p. 47 ; BUiUotka Americana, Vol. i, p.lia— 129.)
" The bar at the mouth of the Kio Huasacualco has 23 feet
of wat«r ; there is good anchorage, and the port can admit
the largest ships. The bar of the Rio San Juan, on the
eastern coast of Nicaragua, has 12 feet of water ; on one
point only there is a narrow pass 23 feet deep. In the Rio
San Juan there is from 4 to 6 fathoms, and in the lake of
Nicaragua from 3 to 8, English measure. The Rio Son
Juan is navigable for brigs and stoops." Mr. Davis Robin-
son also says " the western coast of Nicaragua is not so
stormy as it was represented to me during my navigation in
the South Sea, and a canal issuing at Panama would have the
great disadvantage of being contiuued at u distance of two
leagues in the sea, because there arc only some feet of water
Hi far as ihe isles Flamengu and I'erJco."

241

it is only by the communications which I have
since held with the inhabitants of regions the
least visited, that I have been able to obtain
some new information. I shall here state the
considerations that are most important for the
political advantage and the trade of the na-
tions.

The five points that present the practicability
of a communication from sea to sea, are situated
between the 5th and 18th degrees of north lati-
tude. They all, consequently^ belong to the
states washed by the Atlantic, to the territory
of the Mexican and Columbian confederations,
or, to use the ancient geographical denominar
tions, to the intendancies of Oaxaca, and Vera
Cruz, and the provinces of Nicaragua, Panama,
and Choco. They are : —
The Isthmus op Tehuantepec (lat. 16^-18°),
between the sources of the Rio Chimalapa
and the Rio del Passo, which empties itself
into the Rio Huasacualco or Goazacoalcos.
The Isthmus of Nicaragua (lat. 10^-12®),
between the port of San Juan de Nicara-
gua, and the coast of the gulf of Papagayo,
near the volcanos of Granada and Bom-
bacho.
The Isthmus op Panama (lat. 8^ 15'-9° 36'.)
The Isthmus op Darien, or Cupica (lat.
60 4(r.7M2'.)

vol. VI. R

,'*11W Canal or Rastadwra, bettreen fhe Rio
Atroto and the Rto San Juan of Choco,
(lat. 4'' Stf-S" 20'.)
Such is the happy position of these five points,
of which the latter wiil probably be always con-
fined to the system of small navigation, or 'm]and
coramunicationG, that they are placed at the
Centre of the New Continent, at an equal dis-
tance from Cape Horn and the north-west
i coast, celebrated for the fir trade. Opposed to
"e&ch (in the same parallel), are the seasfof
£h)^ and India, tai tmportaat <dt«tiaiABttee
|h bithudes where the tradfe-windvinHBit;' all
IM euiOj entered by Tessels Miiid% ftoni Eu-
ibpe Uid the United States. ''

fhe AMt aorthem Iflthnm^ ttet t»P Trinum-
tepee, which Heraan Corte^ ft one of 1& lle^ ~
tets to the £tnperor (%arlea 8tfa (of tbe'XHfa
October, TS30), odls the ttcreiafihd Httii,hdM so
Web the more, of late years, &ted tlie aMention
•of mnlpitoM, that during tbft poHtIca] tronbles
of KtfW Spain,, the tradb of Vera Ctta WM di-
vided biBtWMtt the UBiall porta of %ttnpioo,
l^iqttii, Hud ttaasacnalco * It has bein cal-
culated that the bavigation from Philadtiphia
to Nootka, and the month of the Rio CohunlriB,
Which is nearly 9000 marine leagues, triclf^ die
wdinary wtiy round Cape Horn, wovdd be

* Balanza del eomarda mrifano dk Vera Cm* oitntf*
£mtte el aSo de 1811, p. 19, N» 10.

243

flhortencd at least SOOO leagues^ if the passa^
from Huasacualco to Tehuantepee could be ef-
fected by a canal. H&ving had at my disposal,
in the archived of the vlce^royalty of Mexico,
the memoirs of two engineers *, who were ap-
pointed to examine the isthmus, I have been
able to form a precise idea of the local circum-
stances. No doubt the ridge which forms the
partition of the waters between the two seas is
interhipted by a transversid valley, in which a
canal of derivation might be dug. It has been
receiitly asserted, that in the time of high floods
this valley is filled with a sufficient quantity oF
water to admit of a natural passage for th6
boats of the Indians ; but I found no indication
of this interesting fact in the different official
reports addressed to the viceroy, Don Antonio
Bucareli. Similar communications exist, at
the period of great inundations, between the
basins of the rivers St. Lawrence and Mississipi,
that is, between- the lake Erie and the Wabash,
between the lake Michigan and the river of the
Illinois^. The canal of Huasacualco, pro-
jected during the able administration of the
Ooont de Revillagigeda, would join the Rio
Cbimalapa and the Rio del Passo, which is a
tributary stream of the Huasacualco ; it would
be only about 16000 toises long, and from the

* Don Augustin Cramer and Don Miguel del Corral,
t See above, Vol. {v, p. 152 5 Vol. v, 4^74 .

R 2

24i

description given of it by the engineer Cramer,
wlio enjoyed a liigh reputation, it appears that
it would require neither sluices, subterra-
nean galleries, nor the nse of inclined planes.
It must not, however, be forgotten that no
bai'ometric or geodesic levelling haa been
liitherto executed in the territory comprised
between the ports of Tehuantepec and San
Fi'iuicisco de Chimalapa ■, between tbe sources
uf ttie Rio del Passo and los Cerros ds los
Mixes. By glancing on tlie map I have
sketched of those countries, wc may conceive
that the dillicuUy of this enterprise, wlitch the
government of Mexico is about to undertake,
consists less in tracing tlie canal, than in the
labours necessary to render ttie Rio Cliimalapa
navigable for large vessels, as well as the seven
rapids of ttie Rio del Passo, from ttie ancient
emharcadhre, on ttie nortli of the forests of
Tarifu, to tlie mouth of ttic Rio £Suravia, near
the new enibarcadere de la Cruz. It is to
he feared, ttiat, on account of ttie breadth of
this isthmus (which is more tlian 38 leagues),
the Avindings and ttie beds of the rivers will
oppose obstacles to the project of opening a
cunul of sea navigation appropriated for vessels
trading to Cliina, and the north-west coast of
America ; it would, ttierefore, he of the tiighest
importance (o establish a line of navigation for
suiatl craft, or to improve the road by land.

245

passing by Chihuitan and Petapa. Tliis road
was opened in 1798 9ad 1801, and the indigos
of Guatimala, as web as cochineal and salt
provisions, have long been conveyed by that
route to Vera Cruz and the island of Cuba.

The isthmus of Nicaragua and that of Cupica
have always appeared to me the most favourable
for the formation of canals of large dimensions^
similar to the Caledonian canal, which is 103
feet (French measure) broad at the water*s
edge, exclusive of the raised way which stops
the falling in of the earth ; 47 feet broad at the
bottom, and 18i deep. In considering a com-
munication between two seas, capable of pro-
ducing a revolution in the commercial world,
we must not limit our attention to such means
as only serve to establish a system of inland
navigation by small locks, as in the canals of
Languedoc, Briare^ or in the Grand Junction,
and the Forth and Clyde canals. Some of
those canals long appeared to be gigantic enter-
prizes, and indeed they were so when compared
with canals of smaller dimensions : but their
mean depth * not being more than from 6 to 7 J
French feet, they cannot give a passage like

* Andreossi, Description of the canul of Lnnguedoc, p.
138. Huerne de Pommeuse, on Navigable Canals, 1822,
p. 64, 264, 309. Dupin, Mem. on the Marine, and the
Bridges and Highways of France and England, p. 05 and 72.
fhitcns, Mem. on the Public Works of England, p. 295.

246

the Caledonian capfd, admit merchant vewels
of heavy tonpa^ and ilviiligr-two gon fiigates.
It is, boweTer, the prii^jibility of tlus pas-
99ge vhich is diacuBsed in the project of cutting
an iBthmui in America. The pretoided jtmO'
Honqfthe two aeas^ by tlw canal of lAnguedoc,
has not spared the navigatitm a oircntt of more
than 600 leagues round the Spanish FnunKala;
and, however admirable this hydraulio woric
may be which recdves annually 1900 flat-boata^
carrying from 100 to 120 tons each, it can
only be considered as a means of inland car-
riage: since it very little diminishes the num-
ber of vessels that pass through the straits of
Gibrajtar. It cannot be doubted, that if at any
given point of equinoctial Amerioa, either in
the isthmus of Cupica, or in those of Panama,
Nicaragua, or even Huasacualco, two neigh-
bouring ports were joined by a canal of small
dimensions, (of from 4 to 7 feet deep), it would
produce great commercial activity. This canal
would act like a rml-way, and small as it might
be, would enliven and abridge the communica-
tions between the western coasts of America
and those of the United States and of Europe.
If even in time of war, the long and dangerous
passage round Cape Horn has been generally
preferred for the exportation of the copper of
Chili, bark, the wool of the vigogne of Peru,
and the cacao of Guayaquil, to the commercial

247

tnirepdt of Panama and PortobeUo^ it i8 otoly on
account of the want of the means of transport,
and the extreme misory that prevails in those
towns, which were so flonrishing at the begin-
ning of the conquest. Ttie difficulties here
mentioned increase in donyeying merchandiase
from Carthagena or the West Indies, to Qnito
and Lima; and when sent up in the direction
from north to south, by the Rio Chagre, the
force of its current must be overcome, like that
of the winds and currents of the Pacific ocean.
By rendering the Chagre navigable, employ-
ing long steam boats, establishing rail-ways, in-
troducing the camels of the Canaries, which, at
the time of my visit, had began to multiply in
Venezuela*, by digging small canals in the
isthmus of Cupica, or on the neck of land that
separates the lake of Nicaragua from the coast
of the South Sea, the prosperity of American
industry might be increased, but very indirect
influence would be exerted on the general in-
terests of civilized nations. The direction of
the trade of Europe and the United States with
the fur coast (between the mouth of the Colum-
bia and Cook river), with the Sandwich Islands,
rich in sandal wood, with India and China,
would not be changed. Distant communica-
tions require ships of great tonnage, that admit

* See above. Vol. i, p. 78, 121 ; Vol. iv, p. 182—185,
and PoHHcal Essay, Vol. iv, p. 14.

*»■

ynvSftt^iXES.vWy laden, natnritt' ^r~ ftHmcIar
passes, of the mean depth of from 15 to 17 feet,
and an uninterrupted navigation, requiring no
unloading of the vessels. These conditions are
indispensable, and it would be changing the
question to confound the canals which, by tbeir
dimensions, serve only to facilitate inland com-
munioations, and a coasting traiie (like the
canals of Languedoc and the Clyde, between
the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, or
between the Irish and North Seas), with basins
asd locks 'capable of reoeivmg the' ships em-
ployed la the trade of Canton. In « mattet that
IntereMs eveiy nation which has made some prt*-
gress in cirillzBtiai^ greater predfiion should be
used than has hitherto been done, respecting a
problem, the snocessful application of wluch de-
pends principally on the choioe of the localities.
It would be imprudent, I here repeat; to begiiv'
at one point without having examined and
levelled others ; and it would be above all to
be n^retted if the woriis were undertaken
on tori small a scale; for in voAb of thiftde-

- scription'the expenoe does not augment in pro-
pordon to the section of the canals; ^r the
breadth of the water channel.

The erroneous Idea which geograpben^ or
rather drawers of maps, have so long propa-
gated of the equal heights of the Cordilleras of
America, tbeir prolongation in the form of

249

walls and continued ridges, and finally, of the
absence * of any transversal valley crossing the
pretended central chains, has caused it to be
generally believed that the junction of the seas
is an undertaking of greater difficulty than
there has been hitherto reason to suppose. It
appears that there are no chains of mountains,
not even a ridge of partition, or any sensible
line of demarcation^ between the bay of Cu-

* I have treated of the source of these errora. Vol. iv^ p.
301 i Vol. V, p. 41, 456—464, 472, 554.

f This expression surely iodicates the focility with which a
canal might be traced. A slow ascent of from 40 to 50
toises may, indeed, become at length insensible. 1 found the
great square of Lima B8 toises above the waters of the South
Sea, yet, in going from Callao to Lima, this diflference of
level is scarcely perceived on a distance half as great as that
from Cupica to the embarcadador of the Rio Naipi. The
geographical position of Cupica is quite as uncertain as the
position of the confluence of the Naipi with the Atrato ; and
this uncertainty appears less strange when we recollect that
it extends over the whole southern coast of the isthmus of
Panama, and that no mariners, furnished with exact instru-
ments, ever run along the shore in sight of land, between the
Capes of Charambira and San Francisco Solano. Cupica is
a port of the province of Biruquete, which is but little known,
and which the maps of the DeposUo de hydrogrqfico of Ma-
drid place between Darien and the Choco de Norte. It took
its name from that of a Cacique called BirH or Biruquete,
who reigned over lands in the neighbourhood of the gulf of
San Miguel, and who fought, in 1515, as an ally of the Spa-
niards {Herera, Dec, Vol. ii, p. B). I have not seen the
port of Cupica marked in any Simnish map, but have found

250

pica, on the coast of the South Sea, and the Rio
Naipa, which empties itself into the Atrato, fif-
teen leases above its month. A biscayan
pilot, M. Gogueneche, called the attention of
government to this point in the year 1799. Per-
sons TOrthy of credit, who had made the pas-
sage with him from the Pacific Sea to the £m-
barcadere of Niupi, assured me that they saw
no hill in that isthmus of alluvial earth, which
they were ten hours in crossing. A merchant
of Carthagena, South America, deeply inte-
rested in all that regards the statistics of New
Grenada, Don Ignacio Pombo *, wrote to me in
the month of February 1803: — " Since you as-
cended the Rio Magdalena to SantarFc, and
Quito, I have never ceased to take informations
respecting the isthmus of Capica ; there are

Puerto QMeaudo b Tapka, at 7° \&' lat. (Carta del Mar de las
AnliUas, 180S. Carta de la coita ocadental de la America,
1810.) A maauscript sketch in lay possession of the pro-
vince of Cboco, confounds Ctipica aiul Rio SiU>«]ctsi, lat.
e° 30' ; yet, Bio Suboleta is placed in the maps of the Depo-
silo, soiitli, and not north of Cape San Pruncisco Salano, con-
seiiuentty, 4S' south of Puerto Quemado. According to the
map of the jirovince of Curthagena, hy Don Vicenti, LondoQ>
1816, the confluence of the Hio Napipi (Naipi ?} is 6' 40'
lat, It is to be hoped liiat Ihese uncertainties of positioii
will soon be removed by observatiuns taken on the spot.

■ Friend of the celebrated Mntis, and author of a little
wiirk on the triide of ()uin(]uin:i (?inlicias varias saire lot qni-
lias q/iebnili:i, Ciirlh. dr. Indias, 1817), which I have sevcrul
liim'!i hud occu:rion to tjuoti;.

251

only from 5 to 6 leagues from that port to the
Embarcadere of Rio Naipi, and the whole ter-
ritory is a plain {tereno enieramente Uanosy
From the foots I have mentioned it cannot be
doubted that this part of the northern Choco is
of the highest importance for solving the pro-
blem under our consideration ; but^ in order to
form a precise idea of this absence of moun-
tains at the southern extremity of the isthmus
of Panama, we must bear in mind the general
outline of the Cordilleras. The chain of the
Andes is divided at the 2° and 5^ of latitude into
three chains *, and the two longitudinal vallies
that separate those chuns form the basins of
the Magdalena and the Rio Cauca. The eastern
branch of the Cordilleras inclines towards the
north-east, and joins itself by the mountains of
Pamplune and Grita, to the Sierra Nevada de
Merida, and the chain of the coast of Vene-

* Eastera Chain, that of Suma Paz, Chingasa^ and Gua-
chaneqae, between Neiva and the basin of Guaviare^ and
Santa-Fe de Bogota and the basin of Meta ; intermediary
ehain^ that of Guanacas, Qoindio^ and £rve (Uerveo), be-
tween the Rio Magdalena and the Rio Canca^ the la Plata
and Popayan^ and between Ibagu^ and Carthago ; western
chain, between the Rio Cauca and the Rio San Juan^ the
Call and Novita^ and between Carthago and Tadb. (See my
Geogr. Atlas, pi. 24.) This last chain, which separates
the provinces of Popayan and Choco, is generally very low ;
it is, however, said to rise consi^lerably in the mountain of
Tor^, at the west of Calima. (Pombo, de fas Quinas, p. 07.)

fiS3

zuela, and the intermediate and western
branches of Quindio and Choco, run into one
another in the province of Antioquia, between
the 5° and 7° of latitude, and form a groupe of
mountains of considerable breadth, stretching
by the falU de Osos and the j4tto del Fiento,
towards Cazeres, and the elevated savannahs of
Tolu. Further west, in the Choco del Narte,
the mountains lower to such a degree, that, be-
tween the gulf of Cupica and the lUo Naipt,
they disappear altogether. It is the astrono-
mical position of that isthmus and the distance
from the month of the Atrato to its confluence
with the Kio Naipi * that should be fixed with

• The geography of that [wrl of America, between the
mouth of the Almto, the Cape Corientcs, the Cctro de Tora,
anil Vega dc Supia, is in a most deplorable state. It is onlj
more to the east, in the province of Antioquia, that the la-
bours of Don Jose Munuel Restrcpo present some points of
which the position is aiitroiinmically fixed. From Cupica to
Cape Corientes, tlie di:;tancc by land is computed tu be from
12 to 14 (?) marine leagues. From Quibdo (Zitani), where
resiilcs the Tcnieitle Gobcraailor, (the corregidor inhabits
Novita,) it takes from 7 to 8 days of navigation to go down
as far as tlic mouth of the Atrato. An error, common to
every conmion map (excepting that of M. Talledo), is plitciog
Zitara 1' too much to the north, sometimes ut the mouth of
the Atrato, sometimes at its confluence with the Naipi.
From San Pablo, situated some leagues above 'I'odo, un
the riglit bank of the Ilio Sun Jiinii, tu Quibdo or Zilura, U
DuIy one days juurncy.

253

precision ; we do not know, wliether sloops can
ascend to this point.

After the lake of Nicaragua, Cupiea^ and
Huasacualco, the isthmus of Panama merits
the most serious attention. The practicability
of forming a canal for ship navigation depends^
at the same time, on the height of the point of
partition, and the configuration of the coasts ;
that is^ on the maximum of their nearness t6
each other. So narrow a neck of land might,
by its directipn, have escaped the destructive
influence of the current of rotation; and the
supposition that the greatest height of the
mountains must correspond to the minimum of
the distance between the coasts, would not, in
our days, be justified even by the principles of
merely systematic geology. Since I published
my first work on the junction of the seas, we
remain, unfortunately, in the same ignorance
respecting the height of the ridge which the
canal must pass over. Two learned travellers,
MM. Boussingault and Rivero, levelled the
Cordilleras from Caraccas to Pamplona, and
from thence to Santa-Fe de Bogota, with a pre-
cision superior to any thing I could attempt in
that kind of research ; but on the north-west of
Bogota, from the Andes of Quindiu and Anti-
oquia, levelled by M. Restrepo and myself, as
far as the table land of Mexico, in the 1 2^ of
latitude of central America^ not one single mea-

354

sure of hei^lit has been made since my return to
Europe. It is iniicli to be regretted that, to-
wards the middle of the last century, the French
academicians crossed the isthmus of Panama
without thinking of opening their barometer at
the point of the partition of the watere. Some
observations which Ulloa has repeated, as by
chance> hare led me to conclude that from the
mouth of the Rio Chagre to the embarcadere of
Cnices, there is a difference of level of 210, or
340 feet •. Prom the Ventn de Cmces to Pa-
nama you ascend rapidly, and then descend
during several hours towards the South Sea.
It is, therefore, between this port and Cnices
that the threshold, or point of partition, is
placed, which the canal must pass over, if the
idea be persisted in of giving it that direction.
I shall here mention that it would suffice, in
order to enjoy the view of the two oceans at
once, that the mountains of the line of elevation
in the isthmus were 580 feet high, that is, only
a third higher than the Naurouse, in the chain
of the CorbiJres, which is the point of partition
of the canal of Languedoc. Now this simnlta-

* Near Chepn and the village of Penom^ne for instuice
(MSS. of the Curate Don Juan Pablo Roblet). The moun-
tains Eecm to rise towards the province of Veragua, where
even wheat is cul^vated in the district of Chiriqui del Guami,
near the village of lu Palma, Franciscan mission, dependent
on the cnllet^c of the Propaganda de Panama.

255

neous view of the two seas is remarked in some
parts of the isthmus as being very extraordi-
nary ; from which we may^ I think, conclude
that the mountains are, in general, not an
hundred toises high. Some feeble indications
of the temperature and geography of the native
plants, lead me to think that the ridge over
which the road passes from Cruces to Panama^
is not 500 feet high ; Mr. Robinson * supposes
it at most 400 feet. According to the assertvcm
of a traveller "t^, who describes with the most
ingenuous simplicity what he has seen, the hills
that compose the central chain of the isthmus^
are separated from each other by valHes, ^ which
leave a free course to the passage of the waters.**
The researches of the engineers who are charged
to explore those countries should be principally
Greeted to the discovery of the transversal
vallies. We find examples in every country of
natural openings across the ridges. The moun-
tains between the channels of the Saone and the
Loire, which the canal of the Centre would
have had to pass over, were eight or nine hun-
dred feet high ; but a neck of land or interrup-
tion of the chain near the reservoir of Long
Pendu^ furnished a passage 350 feet lower.
If we are not at all advanced in the know-

• Memoir on the Mexican Revolution, p. 2G9.
t Uonel Wafer^ Description of the Isthmus of America,
17», p 297.

U»il«li qft U», Alt, |P>|>qtjri>ftJ^W'>t;ilf

■^pke/tj. for,;t^:iliinen8ioi9a«(.Aftyg«tfu^9«l

acitwimt of Ae imaU river of tbftt:'j»ui|B: iiijki^

flows into it, have ^ven rise to great errors
Hub golf penetrates into the land 17 milea le«
.than was supposed in 1805» in ^akipg tbe plai
ofUie archipelagoofthe./iilEiJilfHJafat*. What-
;evw credit the last astronomical obserrstiai)!
appear to me^tj and on which the uuq>, <^ tbi
isthmus is founded, published by.the.Rojal
Pepositof the Marine of Madrid in ]817,:Wi
must not forget . ^at these operations . compre
bend only the nprthem coast, which app^
nfffia: y^t to have been connected either. by. i
^hain of triangles, or chronometrically (by.tht
transport of time), mth the southern .coast

• See »^ Political Easaj, Vol. iv, p. 348. In compariq
the two mspa DcpotUo htfdngrqfico de Madrid, bearing tb
title Carta aeriea del Mar de Jntilla* 1/ delat CtMat de 7Wr
. Finne detde taitlade la Triiudad katta el gelfo de HatdKni
1806, and ttie Qttarto H<ga ^e comprehende la pronuM 4
Cartagaut, 1819, we lee how well founded were the doub(

257

Now, the problem of the breadth of the isthmus
does not solely depend on the determmation of
the latitude. The government of Columbia hav*

I announced fifteen years ago, on the relative position of the
most important points of the southern and northern coasts of
the isthmus. Panama was anciently believed (Don Jorge
Juan. Travels in South America^ Vol. i^ p. 99), to be 31'
to the west of Portobello. La Cruz (1775), and Lopez
(1785) have followed this supposition, founded only on a
plan of the direction of the route, taken with a compass.
But in 1802, Lopez [Mapa del Reyno de Tierra Ftrme y sus
provincicu de Feragua y Darien) began to place Panama 17'
to the ea$t of Portobello. In ^the mcLp of the Deposito of
1805, this di£ference of meridians was reduced to 7'; finally,
the map of the Deposito of 1817 places Panama 2&^ east of
Portobello. The following are other dififerences of latitude on

which the breadth of the isthmus depends : —

Map of 1809. Map of 1817.
Southern coast between the mouths

of the Rio Juan Diaz and the Rio

Jurum^onthe east ofPanama,in

the meridian of Panta San Bias 8« 54' 9** 2}'

Northern coast forming the bot-
tom of the gulf Mahdinga, or

of San Bias, on the south of the

Islas Mulatas O'* 9' 9« 27J*

From this difference of latitudes

the results are, for the minimum

of the breadth of the isthmus,

neatly 14^250 toises, according

to the map of 1 805, and nearly

24^463 toises, according to the

map of 1817.
Punta San Bias, N.W. part of the

gulf of Mandinga 9<> 33' 0« 34J''

VOL. VI. S

iE^ bfedy feneived eaoccHut lMMBMC«it| ilaa^
Kmeted by M. Fottln, nuijrdlMol tbs gVodHiQ
le*efiiiig%jiAltk an alwiyidoir itiHapttiAn,
to be preceded I^ tenmwtric tevelUagi, wluofa
ib tiw tnrid «tne we otttemdy ottet^ I «m
anufed ibat in, those cDimtrie* comBtMmdeM
otMerntions may be ^pensed iriih, cniiccoimt
ofthewarveUoas regiuluitf <9f tlie hf»U7 T»ri-
atioaBi iritbo«t fearing erran of 4^6 teises^

Ttie points which Dnght «» be «tfeAiil)r ex*^
miried ate the Mloving :— die AMmiI i^ Am-
sacualco, between the sources of the Rio Ctuma-
lapa and the Rio del Fasso; the Isthmus (^"Nica-
ragua *, between the lake of that name, and the

Thii npe not baving been carried to the aorth in the same
measure as the bottom of the gutfj near the montti of the Rio
Mandinga, it thence resulte, tbatj accordioj^to the fintmap,
the gulf entera S4', and aocordiDg to the second, 7'. It is
probable that the changes of latitude wliidi result fram the
last expedition of IW. Fidalgo, most be attributed to the want
oiartyicial Adtuodj, and to the difficult of observing Uiesnn
with instrumenli of re&euon, amidst a group of iriMnilM, and
above a sea where the horizon is not clear. More to thewest
the mean breadth of the isthmus, between GastOle deCha-
gres, PanamBi and Portobello, is 14 manna leagues > the
wimiiiimt of its breadth (6 leagues) is two or three times less
than the lireadth of the isthmus of Suex, which M. !> Pere
finds to be fi9,000 toiaes.

* If the question here agitated related only to conoli of
tmall navigation, fit solely to enliven inland trade, I should
also have named the coast of Verapaz and Honduras. Tho

259

insnlated volcanoeB of Granoda and Bpopibacho ;
tbe Isthmus of Panoma, betwem the VentjBt de
Cruces, or rather betltfe^n tj^ Iu<Maii yiU9ge of
Gorgopa, 3 leagues Mqw GniQ^^ 9Ad the port
of Faaaina^ bet\^€^ the ^io 7f ipidad f^id the
Rio Caymito ; the bay of Mf^n^ipga apd the
Rio Juan Diaz ; the ilni^eiMula de Anacbac^n^
(west of theCiape Tiburcfli) and the gulf of Sap
Miguel^ in wJiich the JUp Qbuchunque^ or
Tuyra loses itaelf; itbe Isthmus of Cupica,h^-
tween the coast of ^he South S^a and the con-
fluence of the Bio Na^ with .the Rio Atrato ;
and finally, the Istfmm^ qf Cfiqco, bet^eeii the
Rio .Qnibdo, upper itiibutary stream of the

Golfo Duice Ml the meridian of Sq^fonatc, runs more than 20
leagues into the land, so that the distance of the village of
Zacapa (in the province of Chiquimala, near the southern
estremity of the Golfo Duke) is only 21 leagues from the
coast of the Pacific Qceaji. iThe riven of the north approach
the yrfAers which ^e CqnliUera? of lz<dco. and Sacatepeqpes
effij^ty into |hfe Sp^th S^. ^e.find on the east of Goffo
Dulce, in the partido of Comayagua^ the Rio Grande of Mo-
tagu^^ or Rio de las bodegas de Gualan^ the Rio le Camalecon,
the Ulua^ and the Lean^ which are navigable for large boats^
30 or 40 leagues inland. It is very probable that the Cordil-
lera^ which here forms the ridge of partition between the
tffo ae^, is divided by some tranav^rpfd vallies. M. Juarros,
19 >h^ iateiresting wpck he has published at Guatimala^ shews
vfi tl^t the fine vfdley 9f Chimaltenango pours its waters at
the.9^iiie tiiae on theji9UJthem and northern coasts. Steam-
boftts yfj)\ one day give activity to the trade on the livers of

MojUigmmid Folpcb^c.

Atrato, and the Rio San Juan de ChararaM
Persons accustomed to take accurate obsen
tions, if furnished only with barometers, inst]
ments of reflection) and time-keepers, might
a few months solve problems, which, dun
centuries, have interested all the coramere
nations of both worlds. If, in the enumerati
of the countries which present advantages 1
the junction of the two seas, I have not pass
over in silence the Isthmus of Cboco, that is t
plat'miferous soil, extending from the river S
Juan de Charambira to the Rio Quifado, it is
acconnt of its being the sole point on whicl
communication exists since the year 1788, 1
tween the Atlantic Ocean and the South Si
The small canal of Raspadura, which a moi
the curate of Novita, caxised to be dug by t
Indians of his parish, in a ravine perio^ca
filled by natural inundations, fociHtates the i
land navigation on a length of 75 leagues, I
tween the mouth of the Rio San Juan, bdi
Noanama, and that of the Atrato, which bei
also the names of Rio Grande del Darien, B
Dabeiba, and Rio del Choco *. During %

* I might have added the Bynonymom name of San Ji
(del Norte), if I did not fear confounding the Atrato w
the Rio Son Juan of Nicaragua, and the Rio San Jobh
Charambira. The name Dahetba is that of a feinaie n
rior, who reigned, according to the first hiitorians of the e
quest, in the mountainous countries between the Atrato <

361

wars which pi*eceded the revolution of Spanish
America, considerable quantities of cacao of
Guayaquil were conveyed this way to Cartha-
gena. The canal of Raspadura, of which I be-
lieve I gave the first intimation in Europe^ af-
fords a passage only for small boats; but it
might be easily enlarged * if the streams were
joined to it known by the names of Cano de las

the source of the Rio Sinu (Zenu) on the north of the town
of Antioquia. According to the' work of Petrus Martyr d*An-
ghiera {Oceamca, p. 52), this woman was confounded in a
local mythology with a divinity of the lofty mountains,
whence dart the lightnings. We recognize, in our days, the
name of Dabieba, in that of the hills Abibi or Avidi, given
to the Altos del Viento, in latitude 7^ 15' west of the
Boca del Espiritu Santa, on the banks of the Cauca. Where
is the volcano of Ebojito, which La Cruz and Lopez place in
the almost desert countries between the Rio San Jorge, a tri-
butary stream of the Cauca, and the source of the Rio Murry,
a tributary stream of the Atrato ? The existence of this vol*
cano appears to me very doubtful.

* Relacian del estado del Nueco Reyno de Grenada que hace
et Arzohispo Obispo de Cordova a su sucesor el Exc, Sr. Fray,
Don Francisco Gil. y Lemos 1780, fol. 68. (A manuscript
written by the Secretary of the Archbishop-Viceroy, Don Ig-
nacio Cavero.) Hepresentacion que dirigio Don Jose Igndcio
Pomho ai Consulado de Cartagena en 14 de Mayo 1807, sobre
el reconocimiento del Airatoes Zinit y San Juan, fol. 38 (MS.)
The ravine of Raspadura, or Bocachica, now receives only
the waters of Quebradas de Quiadocito, Platanita, and of
Quiado. According to the ideas 1 acquired at Honda and
Vilela, near Cali, from persons in the trade of {rescate) the
gold dust of Choco^ the Rio Quibdo, which communicates.

JbrimHi, Canci M €aHtlti; mid AgmA ofeMi
Reimg bvukti ■» e^ tBtoMiBtied M
niaiitfylike Choib, wbere It rrin tdttvb^r d
whbU yter, and Mere tfiondcir U ^rery )li
heard. Tt^ banilnetiric dbMtvsfctoUKlf Jbtt Itti
fortokiate OMAfl not hilvfaig b0e& tMtAi*«A> ^

irithUhQ ovittl taf the Hiu ife ltalpadu«, Joiii OeBlo ■
torn aodlhfllUoAiHbgedK, DMrthsTilUgeofQiiibdo. n
nilj oUad Ziton }^ b«t is a manoKript m^ wbiA I hki
JDrtKOeinidftom Chooo, aod oo whMi tiie cuhI of BMyi

dura O&t- ii- SO' ?) joina both the Rio San Juan and tbe K
Quibdo, a little above theMina de las AiumaSj tbe Tillage i
Qnibdo it placed at the conducnce of the small rimr of tk
name, wiih the river Atrato, which has raceired three leagai
hi^hertheRioAiida(pKda,nearLloro. ThegiandRtoSaoJui
r^ceivefl snccessiyely from its mouth (lat. 4" 6') at the soul
of the Punta de Chorambira, in going up towards tbe N.N Ji
the Rio Calimaj the Rio del N6 (above the villa^ of Nai
nama), the Rio Tamana, which passes near the Novita, tf
Rio Irb, the Quebrada de San Pablo, and finally, near the ti
lage of Tad6, the Rio de la Platina. The province of Oioc
is inhabited only in the vallies of those rivers : it has thn
trading coramunications ; in the north with Carthageda t
(he Atrato, the banlu of which are entirely dewrt frO
e° 4S' of latitude ; in the south, with Gnayaqiul, and, befw
1786, with Valparaiso, by the Rio San Juan ; in die ea
with the province of Popayan, by tbe Tambo de Calima, ai
by Call. From Tadi) to Noanama, in going down tl
%io &ua Juan, takes one day ; to the Tambo de Calima (h
4" 12') 4 days; and from the Tambo to Cali (lat. 3<>2y},
the valley of Cauca, 6 days ; during which you cross tbe B
Dagua, or San BuenaventurD, and the western Cordillera
the Andes irf Popayan. 1 have eniered into these local i

308

lufe ignorant of the height of the poiiil of parti*
tipn between Saa Vabio and the Rio Quibdo.
We only Inow that there are some gold-wMH-
ings in those eountriea, at the height, oi from
300 to 400 toises above the leVel of the QC^an,
and that they are never found at a lower eleva-
tion than 50 toiaes. Tlie position of the canal^
in the interior of the continent, its great dis*-
tanoe from the ooaat^ and the frequeiK; fhUs
(nmuhUtos y chi9rwf$$) oi the river% vliieh it 13
necessary to ascend cuid descend* in order to
pass from one sea to another, from the port of
Chammbim to the gulf of Darien, are obstacles
Uh> diffieult to be overcome, in order to establish
a line of great navigation across the Choco.
But that line^ even without furnishing a pas-
sage for vessels of great tonnage, will not be
less worthy of the attenticm of a wise admi-
nistration ; it will give life to inland trade

tailSj becauee the maps confound the ravine of Rasjuidiira,
which serves as a canal^ with the portages of Calima and San
Pablo. The arastradero of San Pablo leads also to the Rio
QuibdOj but several leagues above the mouth of the canal of
Raspftduru. The road of the arastradero of San Pablo is
usually taken for the conveyance of merchandize (generos)
sent from Pqpayfm, by Cali, Tambo dc Calima^ and Novita,
to Choco del Norte, that is, to Quibdo (Zitara). The geo-
grapher -La Cruz^ calls the whole isthmus between the sources
of tlMrRk) Atrato and the Rio San Juan^ Arastradero del 7M.
(On the height of the Zone of Gold, Semanario de Santa Fe,
Vol. i, p. 19.)

between Cftrtbagena and the province of Quito,
and between rhe port of Santa Marta and
Peru. We shall observe, at the close of this
discussion, that the ministry of Madrid never
enjoined the viceroy of Santa-Fe to fill up the
ravine of Raspadura, or to punish with death
those who attempted to re-establish a canal at
Ciioco, as has been asserted in a work recently
published. This supicious policy may indeed
remind us of the order given to the Viceroy of
New Spain during my stay in America, to root
up the stocks of (he vines in the provhicias in-
temas ; but the hatred borne towards the cul-
tdre of the vine in the colonies was owing to
the influebce of some merchants of Cadiz, who
were jealous of what they called their aacient
monopoly, while a small ravine that crosses the
forests of ChocOj escaped more easily the vigi-
lance of the ministry, and the jealousy of the
mother country *.

After having examined the localities of the
different points of partition, according, to the
imperfect information which I have hitherto
been able to cpHect, it remains to prove, by the
analogy of what men have executed in the state
of modem civilization, the possibility of realiz-
ing the junction of the two oceans. In propor-
tion as problems become complicated, and de-

■ Hoitjuon, Vol, ii, p. 206,

365

pend oh a great number of elements by their
nature variable, is the diflGiculty of fiung the
maximum which the efforts of intelligence and
the physical power of nations are capable of ex-
erting. During the thousands of years that
have elapsed from the unknown period of the
construction of the pyramids of Ghizeh, to that
of our gothic steeples and the cupola of Saint
Peter's, men have not raised one edifice exceed-
ing 450 feet in height * ; but shall we presume
to conclude from this fact, that modem archi*
tecture cannot go beyond an elevation scarcely
equal to forty times that of the edifices con-
structed by white ants ? If the question h<ere
agitated respected only canals of a mean size,
having a depth of only from 3 to 6 feet, and
serving merely for inland navigation, I could
mention canals long since executed, which pass
over ridges of mountains of from 300 to 580
feet high^. England alone, of which the canals

* Ancient French measure^ pied de Roi, or 75 toises.

+ The following are the partial statements for ten canals>
arranged according to the order of the height of their points
of partition :

EievatUm of the
NAME! OJP THE CANALS. PoinU of PortUiam

in French fett.

Canal of Languedoc^ or of the South, (Lengthy
123^730 toises ; mean depths -6^2 in.) ; num-
ber of locks, 100; expencc of construction, m
the time of Louis the I4th, nearly 16,280^000
francs ; at the present value of nioney 38 mil-
lions of francs. G. N 684

are 684 innnne leuguts iu length, contaioe nine-
leen that cross the points of partition between

Bltrvtteit of (k
KAMU OF TUK CAtiAia. PutiiH i/ ParliUlim

im Frrnci fret.

LeoMititltrr Canal. [Length, 37,745 loisw ; ex-
(iciic«, 14 millions of francs)' L.N 46A

HwUier'JiM CavaL (Lenglli, 16,900 toises ; ex-
pence 0 J inillioiia of francs). L.N 40a

Lee<U and Liverpool Canal. [Length, 106.700 wi-
ses i number of locks, 01 ; eitpence 14,400,000
francs). G.K 4M

CtfUfi/rfHCm/re, between the Slione Mid the Loire.
-(Lragth. ia>8O0 tflues t depth, ftfeet i mnvber
of Isda, 60 j cxpenoe, II miUiona of franca).
G.N 403

The Grand Trmk Ctmal. or that of tAe TVtnt and
JIftrWy. tLeflgth,?71,0tm toises; depai,1n>tn
4 to d-feet-, vanAer of locks, ?fij «spaKe,
ftikiiUaiiafftMCB). 13,N. »3

GtmnA /MrtfM C»iu^ (Lfl^b, 7M(>0 toisw ;
ileptb, 4f. 3 in. ; ouinber of lodui 101 ; es-
pence. 48 millions of franca). G.N. 370

CmoI de Bnare, constructed in 1642, the' most
anoiMt of the caneb, «t the point of putitkMi.
<I«qgth, i4,M0 tmau J ttoptk, 4fMt, Min.
bet 'of lodu, 49} exftence, lO wSUtnu rf
frencs). G.N 243

lAHioMi Clyde Cmal. (Len^h, 34,000 toisei ;
depth, 7) feet} number of locks, 39 ; expencc,
10 millkins of francs). 155

Caledonian Canal. (Length, 18,600 toises ; num-
ber of locks, 23 ; depth, 18 f. 0 in. ; expence,
10 millions xif francs). G.N 88

The initUa df the words Great and IaUU Navigatitm have
hem added, to distinguish llie canals, which, tccortfing to the

267

ibt rivers of the \refitern and the eastern coast,
fihgineers have ionj^ so little re^irded 5d0 feet^
that is, the he%hi; of the Mi/of divi^ioa of Ntin-
to\at, ^ thfe l^dxial of tb6 soiilh, as the ihasti-
fnufh whi(^ may be t-edfi^faaMy attained in thill
kind of hydrittlie construction, that Mr. Ferro^
net, a man justly cd^rated, conenkiers the pto^
ject as very piacfticable, df foribilfeg a canal ita
Bor^ndy, betlt^een the Yohne bud the SMht,
which niiist )>ass over a height (near Pbnilly)^
of 921 fdet above the lev^l of the Yohde at lo#
watc^. In Combining: inclined {>lanes nnid rtA^
ways intk ]At^ of navigiati on, boats have passed
into the Monmonthshire canal at a thousand
feet of elevation^ but snch wvMrks, so importiaM;
for the prosperity of the inland trade of a conn-
try, do not constitute what may be called oAnais
far sea navigation.

The discussion with w^bioh we ar^ at presekft
occopfed, i*e|;ard8 the communication from s^a
to sto by vessels fitted, frotn their structure amd
tohnsige, for the India and Chinese trade. Now,
the Industry of the nations of Ent^e presents
two examples of these oceanic communications,
on a very grtfstt scale ; one, in the canal of the
Eydet ot Hdtstein, the other in the Caledonian

English usage, are ^thtis clk^ified. (Dutens, Jdem. sur Us
tratfaux publics, p. fJl, )W, 94.) The loeks of the first class
are at lieast 04 A^a long, and 14 feet wide ; fhe' locks of
the second class are also 64 feet long, but otily 7 feet wide.

are 684 marine leagues in length, contaiuB nine-
teen that cross the points of partition between

NIMBI OF THE CAHALI. PaW(V^"'*fli»

teomiHtleT Canal. (Len^, 37.745 toisea ; ex-
pcuce, 14 million! of franca). L.N 4tt

Uudierifitld CanaL (Leogth, 15,900 toueg ( «z-
pence 6} millions of l^'ancs): L.N 400

Leedi and lAverpool Canal. (Length, 108,700 vA-
ses; number of locks, 01 i expence 14,400,000
ftancs). O.N 404

Canal d% Centre, between the Stone uid tbe Lirife.
(Length, 66,000 totiea ; depth, Sfaet | nwnber
oflocks, 80; expencc, 11 milUona of fruics).
G.N 403

269

seems to have traced the line of junction. The
navigable part is 17 leagues in length (20 to a
degree), of which there are only 6i of artificial
excavation ; the remainder forms a natural ha«
vigation on the lakes of Oich and Lochy^ sepa*
rated heretofore by a rocky ridge. This canal
was completed in the space of 16 years, admits
the passage of frigates of 32 guns, and of large
ships employed in foreign trade. Its mean
depth is 18 feet 8 inches (6'",09), and its breadth
at the' bottom, 47 feet (15«»,2). The locks, 23
in number, are 150 feet long, and 37 feet
wide.

Being guided in the practical views presented
at the end of this chapter, only by the analogy
of the labours already performed by man, I
shall first observe, that the breadth of the isth-
muses of Cupica and Nicaragua, in which the
height of the ridge of partition is very inconsi-
derable, is nearly the same as the breadth of
the land crossed by the artificial part of the Cale-
donian canal. The isthmus of Nicaragua, by the
position of its inland lake, and the communica-
tion of that lake with the Atlantic, by the Rio
San jJuan, presents several features of resem-
blance with that neck of land in the Scotch
Highlands where the river Ness forms a natural
communication between the mountain lakes
and the gulf of Murray. At Nicaragua, as in
the Scotch Highlands, there would be l)ut one

170

wtrow ridgB to pus oner ; kr, if the Aw Saa
Jum JD a gftat pnrt ^ its ewuBe JM ftnox^Q to
40 AM deep, ^1 ii aMsrtcd, it WBold <qilf i»-
qaire to be nndend ntvig^lfi in eonw ipvUit bj
Dupas of wBtM or toterd ctuumdi f .
n^th rcspecfi to the depth of tit* nccuio

> Vbk fwiot, OMT 4» opcBligi of ^ wood o^CHnoedhe,

W Juwi<^ I7 fCr- BJiaiVi ^wardi. $ce La Jfnffie, Jlftm-

mr le pottage de la mn- dm Sud a la Mer du Nord, p. 7. Tlierc
is a triple pouIbilit7 of forming the canal of Nicaragua (as
I have already stated in the Political Eudy) either from the
kkc of Ntoara^u to the golf of i'apegay^, gr jAqiq that lake
to4ibegi4f of Nicoya, or from tke la](e (le l,^(tni or Maofi-
gua, to tjie iqoiith of the Rio ^e Toeta (apd not from t^e
lalte de Leon to ^e ^f of Nicoya, as is asserted by the
usaally weU-iuforined editor of the BiUioteca Ameneana,
1823, Agosto, p. 180.) Does there exist a river that flows
from die lake of LeoD to the Pacific Ocean! Oftlibldotibt,
flMwogh qocfent ipapa rmfJL Ihecpipm^iaica^pi^ j>etfKai tba
lajus yod the sea (PpiUioi/ ^Mop, Vol. i, p. 9ji^. ^^4^'
ta^cefrom the south-ea^t extreinityof t||e lake of Nicuagna
to the gulf of \icaya, is very dlSerently indicated (from X6
to 48 mSea) in Arrowsmith's map of South America, sad in
ttiefine map of the depot ofMadnd, bearing the title AfJfor
de tat AntiUat, X8ie. The breadth of the udipaws faRtweco
the eastern aboie of th^ lake of Nicai^u*, and the gulf of
Popagnyo is from 4to & marine leagues. T>eRio SanJuan
has three mouths, of which the two smallest jare called Taure
and Cano Colorailo. In one of the isles of the lake of Kica-
nigua, that of Ometep, (here ie a volcano, SMd to be stiH
biufling.

271

canal projected in central America, it might, I
think, be even less than the depth of the Cale«
donian canal. Suchjs the change which the
new systems of commerce and navigation have
produced within 15 years, in the capacity or
the structure of the ships most commonly em-
ployed in the intercourse with India and Chwft,
that in examining with attention the official
list ^f vessdfi, which during two years (from
July 1821 to June 1823), have traded from
London and Liverpool to those two countries,
we find, on a total of 216 vessels, two^hirtUbe'
low 60D tons, one-fourth between 900 and 1400
tons, and one-seventh below 400 tons *. In
France, the mean tonnage in the ports of Bor*
deaux, Nantes, and Havre, of vessels trading to
India, is 350 tons. The nature of the opera-
tions undertaken in the most distant latitudes,
determines the capacity of the vessels employed %
for instance, to bring indigo firom Bengal, it
may appear sufficient, and even preferable, to
send a vessel of 150 to 200 tons. The system
of small expeditions is preferably adopted in
America, where all the advantages are felt of
prompt lading, and a rapid circulation of capi-
tal. The average size x)f the American vessete

* East India SJapptng-^'retum to the order of the J J owe of
Gammofu, London^ 1823. I have reduced the English inio
Fiench tonnage^ the latter being 10 p. c. less.

993

Uiat go to India round the Cape of Good Hope,
and to Fera hntnd Cape Horn, is 400 tans;
the whale-boats of the SonthSeaamoaly 900
orSOOtons. In Spanish America, from apnent
custom, ships of amt^ greater tOQitags.an ttor
ployed in time of peace. At Vera Cms for tsK^
ample, irhere tliere entered, during my staym
Mexico, from 100 to 130 resseb coming- from
^»ain, Uieir size was generally 500 tons. It it
Mily in Ume of war that shipments -of 300 tons
are made for Cadiz. i >

Tbese statements sufficiently prove, that in
the present commercial state of the world, such
a canal of junction as is projected between the
Atlantic Ocean and the South Sea, would be
sufficiently large, if by its section uid the capa-
city of its locks, it could admit the passage of
vessels of from 300 to 400 tons burden. This
ought to be the minimum of its dimensions, and
it supposes, after what we have indicated above,
a capacity nearly double that of the caxuA of
Holstein, but much less than tbat of the Cale-
donian canal ; the former receiving vessels of
from 150 to 180 tons, and the latter, frigates of
32 guns, and merchant ships of more than 800
tons. It is true that the tonnage determioies
only by approximation the quantity of water a
ship draws, sioce the excellence or defects of
its construction alters at the same time its

spe^, and its capacity for stowage. We nlay,
however, admit * that a mean depth of from
15i to 171 feet will suffice for a canal of junc-
tion intended for vessels of 300 to 400 tons ;
this is ifteen inches less than the celebrated en-
gineers, Messrs. Rennie, Jessop, and Telford,
have given to the Caledonian canal, and doable
that of the canal of the Forth and Clyde.

The gigantic works of Europe which we have
mentioned as examples, and the construction
of which has not cost more than 4 millions of
piastres, have had very small heights to pass
over5 less than from 90 to 100 feet. The canals
which cross the ridges of partition of from three

* I suppose that a foot and a half of water maj aaffice
under the keel of a vessel that navigates in a canal of which
the waters are perfectly calm, and which is carefully cleaned.
Notwithstanding the great diflTerence of construction, which
has an equal influence on the quantity of water a ship draws^
we may^ by approximation^ admit the following statements :

Aordbk DroKghitfthM Vmtdn

1200— IdOO tons 10— 20 feet.

000— 700 17—18

■

300— 400 14—16

200—800 11—12

In a matter which interests every man capable of reflecting on
the future destinies of nations^ and the progress of general
civilization, I thought it was proper to give all the staia*
mcnts on which the practical solution of the problem de«
pends. The canal of Crinan, in Scotland, is also from 11 to^
14 feel deep, on 3 leagues of length.

VOL, Yl. T

frntMla CI4rildiipn Til iin illliU ifftt^ll

iaBWiMfciiHttWBii'ilHiW^allftwiri^HKmt

tin opii*(|l^<Mni<«iwa«»[th*;«taMlAfM

^on«Uiij<n(l tpOltntfon. tW^immi
Anitht kM^iolrdnmata^oes i> tiieiaAiawa»«f

mKOn •o>'l>e<a*eni>H<) In siSii!iiag.tint)iiiiii<i««
of the seas, is less the height of the ridge which
theltiililKl Millt<ei4iaii,tliaii the •tate-aaftlw beds
of ihe levers (Krfpi fihd'iU6';ael'PaB«>)'whiiai
mwit he readered havigalile, eiih^'b^lieiD^ex-
wnted t>;iw>ohuies.Tark«dbsr|i atvai^jtif^l^
orfb^twefti^'iuid'lnfeeral denmtiffuit, ...^ .t^ijV
Wrisliae «f Nicaragua, the great doptb.of the
RiolhltiMaiii and that of the lafassfNKaMlgta,
or laff^ 'de Otmiadnj' vfaich is, adb6i^Uin^ to
Mr. Ro^iDSon, fiom 17 to 40; and^'^acinji^g
to .])|(.r,.|JiyiiTos, ^in 20 to 65. feet seema tp
tHW^rwudi i<(t)o« .wperfi(io»8».: :'riie.'w?i|^
tains -aS theisthmas -of Panama iqsf prpjtMJU;
tei 4hfe "«l«Mion 'Of the basins of partiliai

* * ComptnAtdei* Wtt.'ie'Gimilliiila, T. I, t*.''tfl. tiil
work is IS ynra anterior to'lliat or Mr. RobintoA/

275

pf the Canal du Centre^ (between Ch&lons and
Digoin)^ 9nd of the Qrand Junction canal^ (be-
tween Brentford and Braunston) : the moun-
tains <%f the Lstbmus may be still more elevated,
«nd perhaps are divided .by.no transversal valley
from, south to north. We think that more ad-
vantageous spots may be chos«n ; but we ought
here to observe that the height of the ridge is
an inseparable obstacle to. the junction of seas,
^nly, whe(i there , is xkot at the isame time:a sttffi-
^Dient quantity of upper .w:aters .fit to be con-
veyed to the point of partition. Seven or eight
locks crowded together on the oanaJis of iBriarc
and Languedoc ^^^ and regulating foUs of water
of from 64 to .70 feet, long appeared an extra-
ordinary work, notwithstanding the small di-
mension of the locks, and the depth of the
canals, of which. the section does not exceed
5 to 6 feet. The Staircase of Neptunej in the
^Caledonian canal^ presents a similar accumu-
)iation of locks^ on a scale so much more exten-
sive, that frigates can rise in a small space of
time to the height of 60 feet. Now, that work
only cost 257,000 piastres, that is five times less
than three pits of the mine of Valenciana in
Mexico ; and ten Staircases of Neptune would
cause ships of 600 tons to pass over a ridge of
j>artition .600 feet higher than the chain of the
.Corbiere.s^ between the Mediterranean and the

* Noar Rofxnv and Fonscrannc.
T !2

276

AtlanUc. X discuss here the possibility onlj of
execating- works to which there will certuiily
be no need to have recourse.

llie expence of water for feeding a canal ia-
creaseB, with the extent of the filtrations, the
frequency of pasaages, or of the lockages (ex-
dasfe*) and wlA the Bise of the chambers of
locks, bat not with their number. Tlie fecility
.of collecting an enormous mass of rain waters
■ within the tropics, is beyond what the engiOBeis
of Europe can imagine. When Lewis the 14th
ordered the gardens of Veraailles to be embel-
lished, Colbert was made to hope that the rains
would furnish, on a surface of 12,700 hectares
of plains which communicated with ponds and
reservoirs, 9 millions of cubic toises of water-f-.
Now the rains in the vicinity of Paris amount
annually only to from 19 to 20 inches, white
within tlie torrid zone in the New World, above
all, in the region of the forests, the qumitity is
at least from 100 to 112 inches |. This im-

• The exclui^e is Ihe successive filling of the lock lo en-
able the boats to ascend or descend In a canal, at the point ol'
partition.

-h Only I'j, could be collected ; the remainder vns lost b;
ftltrations, and it became necessary to construct the mochiDc
(if Marly : Huene lie Pommeuie, sur let canaux nae^able''
Suppliment, p. 45.

I Sec above. Vol. ii, p. 248, 344, 74a. The mean quan-
tity of rait) that falls annually al Kendal, on tl>e west«n
aide of England, is 57 iuche.'i ; at lloinbay 72 and IW

277

mense ditference shews that by the junction of
the springs, by feeding-trenches, and well-es-
tablished reservoirs, an able engineer might
avail himself in central America, of circum-
stances which are wholly dependent upon^the

inches } at St. Domingo 118 inches. ^Arago Annuakre du
Bur, des Long., 1824, p. 105.) M. Antonio-Bernardino Pe*
reira Lego, colonel of in&ntry of the corps of engineers, at
Brazil, thinks he found, in the year 1S21 only, at San Luis
do Maranbao, (lat. 2** 29' south), 23 feet 4 inches, 9*7 lines,
English measure, which make near 200 French inches. We
might be inclined to doubt this prodigious quantity of rein |
yet 1 am in possession of the barometric, thermometric, and
ombrometrir observations which M. Pereira Lago affirms
were made by him, day by day at those different periods.
These Brazilian observations are published in the Jnnaes
das Sdencias das Artes et das Letras, p. 64 — 79 ; and the
observer who describes the instruments he employed, says
expressly, in the resumo das ohservacoes meteorologkasj that
the plane on which the rain fell was exactly of the same
fliameter as the cylinder which contained the scale -, this
diameter was only 0 inches (English). I wish this important
observation may be verified at Maranhao, and repeated in
other parts of the tropics, where the rains are abundant ^
for instance, at Rio Negro, Choco, and the Isthmus of Pa-
nama. The quantity indicated by M. Pereira Lago, is
2j times greater than what has been observed at the mean
term, at the Isle of St. Domingo 3 but the quantity of water
that ^dls on the western coost of England also exceeds three
times that which is collected annually at Paris. There exists
very considerable differences in latitudes, that arc near each
other. Captain Roussin relates tliat 151 inches of rain*
water fell at Cayenne, in the month of February only.

oHmBtti. KociHthsiaBdiD^ the Ugb tenip^m^
tare of tbe ur> the loM ^lued by evalMrratioa *
iHll Acareely bouatetrbtdanM, hi ddep ba^n,
the sdvantagM of the ttopicol raha. !fhe ex-
perimentt made at the Poaf ifupar natafaes, by
M. de Prony, and at the canal of Languedocf-,
by MM. Pia 4fed ClaKsade, incUcBte, in the
latitoded 41* asd 431^ a prodoce of annaal eva-
potatitin of 348 lines. The experimenta vhich
I made In the tropics, are not anffidently nn-
nerons to draw a general result ; bnt in snp-
posing the atmosphere equally calm in tbe
south of France, and the torrid sone, tbe mean
heat of the year to be 15" and 27^ ceht., and the
mean humidity expressed by the degrees of the
hair-hygrometer, 82° and,86° I find, with M,
Gay-Lussac, that the evaporation of the two
zones is in the relation of 1 to 1 -6, while the
quantity of rmn-water which the earth receives,
serves as 1 to 5. We must not either forget
that canals lose by evaporation only in propor-
tion to their own surface, while they collect the
waters that fall on the vast extent of surround-
ing lands. In the volume of water which bydrav-
lie works require, we must distinguish between
that which depends on the capacity of the

• See abova, Vol. it, p. 148.
t DucTOt Metiurira tur let ijuantitia (feau ^'txigent lei
coMux dt natigalion, 1800, No. II. p. 41.

279

iriiole canal, that is, its length and lection, and
that which is determined by the locks^ that ig
by the lockage water * of one sluice, or by the
quantity of water which falla fisom the upper
into the lower channel every time a veaael
passes through a lock. These two volumes of
water lose by evaporation and filtration ;' the
latter, which it is very difficult to ertimats,
diminishes with time. The teigth and depth
of an ocetmic cqnal in the New World, must
consequently have an influence on the vohinie
of water necessary to fill it at the b^gimung,
when the excavations are just terminated, or
nitet having shut up the sliiioes, When repairs
are necessary ; but the quantity of water which
should feed the canal annually, after making
allowance for the losses caused by the filtration
and evaporation, depends on the number of
the locks, or on the relation between the quan^
tity of the lockage water of one lock^ and the

* In the collected loclui we must add the JloaHng prison,
or the volume of water id which the ship floats, or is sus-
pended in its passage from one lock to another. (Prony*
in the works of M. HneM de Pommeute, p. 23.) The con-
•iun|ition of water is therefore gpreater in going up than dei-
•otnding. The distribution of the falls, or the height of the
•liccesaive basins, have also an influence on the waste of
water in a canal, as M. Gerard has recently shewn. (Au"
naisM de Phfgique ei de Ckimie, 1823, Tom. xxir, p. 187, and
Diccroi^ Memoires, p. 80.)

„ itW»t»Wl ■llliHll»Sl|»n1lBBiluil, <l^i lp>fclii#

ttMiuMw^i' ■'iiUUi Jmw .tiNM.pvMMiMiA.ton.;4ii

Mnw tipie m the Caledoniiui canal t,

« llMMpMltj of Um caHd cf hugaaiM, or the ^rinif
.d« rtmfJHmagt of tbs wbole guu1« U uren iidlliiQU of cubic
inches, meieotibag to the nlcnUtioni of M. Cbmade. The
BODual npcqce of the lodu, for 990 donUe paasages of
boatij wu ll] mUlioni m, c, Tlus expenccj aameA bj lodu
somewhat too large fiw a very activs ^reo navigatkHi, oad
in unaU boats, it conaeqaoitly to the capadtj of the caaa)
fM !{ : |. It rpqqirei bcild^, S} milUont m, e. to TCMtfc
Uiih thewatcn after the Bhatting ap as ftr u Keaqnd, and
that qnaDtHy <^ water i* fiimisbed in 9 dayi, by the spper
-baain, or the aifUdal loaroe. (fliimiadf PaaMMMi, p. IS0,
Sn, 96ft.) The pfodoet of the en^ontioa ia eatimatBd ta
the canal, the reaervtrfrs and the brenchesj daring 8M iai/t
of navigatiop, 1,900,000 m. c. (Dacroi Mbm., p. 41.) U
comparing the Caledonian canal with that of Laagvedbc, Itmi
the nufhce of the sectioiis as A to I ; and tlw lengAof the
parts dug in the canal, (eadndii^ the navigable line of At
lakes of Scotland), as 1 : 6}. It results fan these 'atata-
nents, that the capacities ot the two caoab, oqe ol whicb
bfars flaUribbcd boats, of 100 to 120 Ions, and tbe olbar

281

It appears somewhat probable that the pro-
vince of Nicaragua will be fixed upon for the
great work of the junction of the two Oceans;
and in that case it will not be necessary to form
a line constantly navigable. The isthmus to
be passed over, is only from 5 to 6 marine
leagues ; there are some hills in the narrowest
part, between the western bank of the lake of
Nicaragua, and the gulph of Papagayo; but it is
formed of uninterrupted savannahs and plains^
affording an excellent road for carriages * (co-
mhio ceraiero) between the town of Leon, and
the coast of Realexo. The lake of Nicaragua
is elevated above the South Sea, the height of
the whole fall of the Rio Saa Juan, on a length
of 30 leagues; and the position of this vast basin
is so well known in the country, that it was con-
sidered heretofore as an invincible obstacle to

frigates of 32 guns, are almost the same ; the difference of
tbe waste of water in lockage$ arises from that of the body
of water required for filling each lock i the locks being in the
Caledonian canal ;)7 feet broad between the gates, and IGO
feet long -, in the canal of Languedoc 31 feet brood in the
niiddlc, 20 feet between the gates, and 127 feet long. We
have seen above, that the dimensions of the canal of junction
in America may be less than that of the great canal of Scot-
land.

* This is the great road by which merchandize is sent
from Cruatimala to Leon, embarking in the gulph of Fonseca
or Amapala^ to Conchaguu, port of the Fariido of $an Miguel.

thij pBHiaM!i;b<.-it«ha^Jfc<wBi*»fl>r<ftMiiiii-
ytepatiia|gi<|§;i*widiiiiiMi>i[^<ifaa#riMi-

ioblkpIicwMij <■*;■! tnl^»ifti I Jiiiwii iiiBlito-
iiidiotdy.H>iaiiakitttter tM\\km.9mml^miM.tl»^
Urtrcft The snail difference of lerd between
theAtlaatic and the Pacific Oceaos, depends,
BB 1 have said eheirhere -f-, only os dw unequal
Ikeight df the tides. The same diSerenoe is ob-
«tiT^ betwdiui the tvo seas that ara joined hy
thegteat canal of Scotland } and if it were ax
Unses, and cnutant like that of the Mediterra-

* This small fort, taJcen by tbe Eogtish in laSS, is toI-
galj called El Culillo ilel Rio Sui Joan. It la ptsoe^ te-
coirdiiig to Mr. Juuros, at 10 leagues dbtance ftom the
' eaatern extretnitj of the laguna de Nicaragua. Atxitibet
small fbrt wKt cntiBtrncted in 1671, on a rock at tbe moatfc
of the riter. Tt bears the name of Proiiio del Jliv A Sn
/if<M. Even in the 18th ccntory, the Demguaden de tm
'LagKnttt, bad fixed the attention of the Spanish goT«niii«rt,
who ordered Diego Lopez Salcedo to found the town of
Ifueva Jaen, near the left bank of tbe Daaguadero, or Bio
San Juan ; but it was soon abandoned, like the torwn of
Brussels (BruMlat), near tbe gulpb of Nicoja.

t Political Essay on New Spain, Vol. i, p. St.

283

nean, and the Red Sea *, it woald not lesa far
Tor the establishment of an oceanic junction.
The winds blow with sufficient force on the lake
of Nicaragua, to render it unnecessary to tow
the ships which pass from one sea to the other,
by means of steam-boats ; but the employment
of the moving power of steam would be of thd
greatest utility in the passage from Rialexo and
Panama to Guayaquil 'f-, where, during the
months of August, September, and October,
calms alternate with winds that blow in a con*
trary direction*

In stating my ideas on the junction of the
two seas, I have calculated only on the most
simple means, for the execution of so vast a

* Even the ancients surmounted the difficulties of the
difference of the level between the Red Sea and the pelusiac
branch of the Nile« although they were ignorant of locks,
and only knew at the utmost, how to stop up the euripes
with small beams.

t From 14 to Ifi feet broad. According to the project
of M. Laurent, the subterraneous canal would have beeo«
without interruption, 7000 toises (nearly three leagues) long,
21 feet broad, and 24 feet high. Its length would have sur-
passed by one sixth that of the famous gallery of mines of
Clausthal (the George Stollen), at Harz. In order to shew
what men can achieve in this kind of subterraneous labor, I
shall again mention the two great draining galleries of the
district of the mines of Freiberg in Saxony, one of 29,604
toises, and the other 32,438. If the latter were pierced in
a straight direction, it would pass over a space nearly
double the breadth of the Pas-de-Calais.

fn^, StenoMiigfaiei for feed}^ tt^ hifliiis
of pardtioo^ laktarraQeoiv. taaMK m'.Anv
vcre proposed hi tfcei JWwanrftUmU'pW*^ -ttg
Hthmnsof 'Puma, mid lifce tMi«:<ifi4h»«lh
iiia:«f fiUst Qnentia. wtaidi hmmttrt/lt^amf
taiM.in k^tb*. belMg prafenb^ to Ji4ni'

htom KbMni tka praotical^t)ii«f<ita; wmnic
caauttn cenlii America j^ tty: h«imi>niiii^it^
expeOM of iti emstmotiaD, vOfijtMiillilftKtiOf
(JeBTui; the graand, tad fwibhig iMift^f Isdua

baBiDS, and feeding trenches, toast depend on
the choice of the localities. The Caledonian
canal, the most admirable work hitherto ex-
ecnted, cost nearly 3,900,000 piastres, wtuch is
2,700,000 piastres less than the canal of Lan-
gaedoc-f-, reducing the mark of ulver to the
present currency of money. The sketch of the
general expence of the works of the canal of
Suez, projected by M. Le Pere at the period of
the expedition of Buonaparte to Egypt, amoonted
to 5 or 6 millions of piastres, of which a third
would have belonged to the subsidiary canals of
Curo ^d Alexandria. The isthmus of Sues,
reckoning that part which has never been

• Huemt die Pomnetue, p. 112.
I- L. c. p. 308. The keeping of this canal, from 1086 (o
ITSIf hns cost besides, the sum of 23 millioDS of francs,
{AndTcouf), Deber. d» Canal du MM, p. 280). .

285

reached by the tides, at 59,000 toiscs, (moix'^
timii 20 marine leagues) of breadth, and the
projected canal with four locks *, might receive
vessels during several months of the year (which
the risings of the Nile last), drawing from 12
to 15 feet of water. Now, in supposing that
the canal for joining the seas in the New World,
were to occasion an equal expence with those
of Languedoc, the Highlands of Scotland^ and
Suez, I do not believe that this consideration
would retard the execution of so great a work.
The New World already furnishes examples of
works no less considemble. Tlie state of New
York alone, has, in the space of six years, caused
a canal to be dug between the lake Erie and
the river Hudson, more than an hundred leagues
long, of which the expence was estimated at
nearly 5 millions of piastres -f^ in a report ad-

* Descr^t'um de PEg^t (Etat mademe), 1808, Tom. i,
60, GO, 8l» 111. The ancient canal from the Ked Sea t<i
the Nile, (Canal des liois), navigable, if not under the Ptole-
mies, at least under the Khali fs, was only a derivation of the
|)e1usiac branch, near Bubaste ; it had a devclopcment of
25 leagues. Its depth was sufficient for ships of great bur-
then, and that could navigate on the sea ; it appears to have
been at least from 12 to 15 feet.

t Warden, Description of the United States, Vol, ii. p. 107.
Morse, Modern. Geogr. 1823, p. 122. This canal, 204,590
toises long, is only 4 feet deep, (} of that of Languedoc, of
which the length is 123,730 toises.) The lake £rie is 8B
times above the mean waters of the river Hudson. Tlie

df tbiltiiit Jof^faclmM^psoiiMiMiiiurt Uttmas
or iriglir iMndMt' tboiUnM ^^Xmue^^^limib-mim

oUfcythtf^naUiiUfr iJhMi ^robiMriiMi^ «rH«Miib

'Mrii; 'tte imCM^^^MM^VMt ^«iif); ' niHiTiiiU't

- ittiwmed' p^tiiaiw brfoagliiy ia tfco uhiii yiifatt-
lAenta of Eqainoxial America, I believe that a
joint«tock BMociatioa can only be fomied irben
tile practicability of an oceanic canal capable '
of receiving vessels of three or four hnndred
teili, betwera tbe latifcades 7° and 19>, has been
proved, and the glraand fixed upon and recog-
nised. I Rball abstain from- discosring the
questiMi whether this ground "shouU Sonaa
separate republic by the name of JtmefMii^rde-
pendaat oa tbe confederation: of the United
States" as it has been recently proposed-^
£n|^Bnd} by a man whose intentions are afarayi
the most pnusewortby and disinterested*. But
^atever government may claim the toil «
which the great junction canal of the Ocean
shall be established, the benefit of this hydraulic
work ought to belong to every nation, of both
wwldswho shall have contributed to its ezeca-
tion by taking shares. The local govemihenti

289

of Spanish America can order surveys to be
made on the spot, the levelling of the ridge of
partition, the measure of the distances,* the
soundings of the lakes and rivers to be crossed,
and the estimate of the springs and rain-waters
proper to feed the upper basin. These previous
labors will require but a small expence^ but
must be executed according to a uniform
plan, at the isthmuses of Tehuantepec or Goa-
zacoalcos, Nicaragua, Ptoama, Cupica or Da-
rien, and Raspadura or Choco. When the plans
and profiles of these five territories are placed
before the public, the persuasion of the possibi-
lity of an oceanic junction will become more
general in both continents, and will facilitate
the formation of a joint-stock company. A free
discussion will shew clearly the advantages and
disadvantages of each locality, and will soon x

lead to the fixing on two, or perhaps, on one
sole point The junction company will then
submit the local circumstances to a second and
more rigid examination ; the expence will be
estimated, and the execution of this important
work confided to engineers who have practically
engaged in executing similar works in Europe.
As there seems to be no doubt that in case of
the impracticability of an oceanic canal, canals
of small section might be dug in some of the
five points we have named, to the great profit
of the share-holders, it would perhaps be advan-

VOL. VI. u

tageoui to mtko the first sviffy^at tbe eqiopce
of an ttaodaiiom. A i^p in^ht tnitspoit tibe
enpoeen v>A tMr inBtrqintentp auocefNinlyjto
tbe mmith of tbe Atrato, Bio C^agre, the b^
of MaodJiiffft, moSaaJqan* thel«k« of NSm^^
ga», tad theUtbmnu ofHvesmv^lpi^prlU^
uaot^peo. Ilira.fiHBUUy of tbe^y^r^um^ sdc^
ttv (wpranatiott «f ^ adTiwti^cKtf U}e d}^^
eat «pot8 of vbich t|w oowpaniwfi Ji to I19
mfid^ vonld gfun ia cielerity bjr t^ ffW^e -ftf^
A mere «uuliBi»i l«¥eUing( aoiiAb««wqmifH» of
thejirst turvty, filter faaving fixed on the spot
to be preferred, and the ma^itude of the work,
acoording to the tonnage of the ships or boats
to be employed, would make an appeal to the
psblic to augment the fund, and constitute an
ntsociation of exectition, dther, as we have rea-
son to hope, for a canal of oceanic mwigation,
or for canals or lines of small ttavigatiou. In
adopting the mode of execution which I have
)vtat stated, ail that prudence prescribes vonld
be complied with in an affair that interests tbe
coweierce of both worlds. The junctum con-
p9ny would find funds from governments and
^lightened citizens, n^, insensible to the al-
luremeats of gun, and yielding to noble im-
pulses, would t>e proud of the idea of haTing
contributed to a work worthy of modem civili'
zation. It is also well to remember in this
place, that the attraction of gain, the funda-

391

mental basis of all financial specnlatimui) is ilot
illusory in the enterprize for which I warmly
plead. The divid^ds of the companies in Eng-
land who have obtained the grant of opening
canals^ prove the ntility of these enterprises^
even for the shafe-holders. The tax of tonnage
in a canal of junction of the seas, may be so
much more considerable as the ships which
profit from the new passage fai going to thb
fishery of Lima^ Gachelot) or to the ncnrth-wert
coast of America^ and thence to Cfmton^ would
considerably shorten their way> and avoid the
high southern latitudes, dangerous in the bad
seasons. > The activity of the passage would
augment in proportion as traders became more
fisimiliarized with the new direction from one
ocean to the other. Even if the dividends were
not sufficiently considerable, and the capitals
placed in this enterprise did not bear the inte*
rest offered for the numerous loans made by
governments, from the coast of the Mosquito
Indisms, to the last confines of Europe, it would
be the policy of the great states of Spanish
America, to give this enterprize their isupport ;
since it would be fogetting all that experience
and political economy have taught for ages, to
restrain the utility of canals and high roads, to
the duties paid by the transport of merchan-
dize, and to count for nothing the general in*

u 2

29-2

fluence exerted on Industry and national pros-
perity *.

When we study attentively the history of the
commerce of nations, we observe Ihat the di-
rection of tlie coinmiinications with Indiii has
not been changed solely according to the pro-
gress of geographical knowledge, or the im-
provement of the art of navigation, but that
the change of the seat of civilization in the
world has also powerfully contributed to this
effect. From the time of the Phenicians to that
:of the British empire, the activity of commerce
has been. carried progressively froqi.east to west;
from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to
the western extremity of Europe. If this change
continues' mpving towards the west, which
every thing leads us to presume, the question
>on the preference given to the way to India bjr
the southern extremity of Africa, will po longer
be such as it now is. The canal of Nicaragna
(affords additional advantages to ships goin^
from the mouth of the Mississipi, beyond .what
it promises to those which take in their ladin;
;0a the banks of the Thames. In comparing tbe

* It is with respect to this beuevolent infiuence that the
works, far too exprasive, of the canal of Languedoc must
be appreciated, which cost 33 millions of franks, and pro-
duces annually, on a bare revenue of 1} miUions, oalj
800.000 franks, scarcely Sj per cent, on the capital. Such is
tdso tbe net produce of the Canal du Centre.

293

different routes round the Cape of Good Mope,
round Cape Hom^ or across a cut of the isthmus
of central America^ we must carefully distinguish
between the objects of trade, and the nations
engaged in it. The problem respecting the
way presents itself in a manner altogether dif-
ferent to an English merchant, and to an Anglo-
American ; as the problem regarding Chili>
must be differently solved by those who trade
directly with India and China, or those whose
speculations are directed either towards north--
em Peru and the western ' coast of Guatimala
and Mexico, towards China, after having visited
the north-west coast of America, or towards the
fishery of Cachelot in the Pacific Ocean. These
three latter objects of the navigation of the
nations of Europe and of the United States,
would be the most indubitably benefited by the
cutting of an American isthmus. From Boston
to Nootka ♦, the antient centre of the fur-trade
in otter skins, on the north-west coast of Ame-
rica, across the projected canal of Nicaragua,
will be 2100 marine leagues ; the same voyage
is 5,200 le£^es, if made, as it has been hitherto,

• In these estimates of distance, T have supposed, con-
jointly with M. Beautemps Beauprd (engineer in chief of the
royal marine), the way to be nearly straight ; this was suffi-
cient to obtain comparative numbers. If itinerary distances
are desired, we must augment the passages according to the
contiarietv of winds and currents, one-third or one-seventh.

by going round Cape Horn. These distances
are from 3000 to 5000 leagues for a vessel going
from London. From these stateraents, there
results a shortening for the Americans of the
United States of 3,100 leagues; and for the
English of 2000 leagues ; without including the
chance of contrary winds, and the dangers of a
navigation so different in the two ways which
we ai^ contrasting. The comparison is much less
favourable across eeuti-al Ainerica, with respect
to space and time, for a direct trade with India
and Ouna. From Londoa to Ctnten, goisg
vfflnd the Cape of Good Hop% and passing iho
equator tvriee, ts asuatly a voyage of 4,40ft
leagues ; from Bostoa to Canton^ 4^B0O i M ih»
canal of Nicaragna were dug, the leofth of way
VQold be 4,800, and 4^900 ewiioe kagnes*.
Now, itt die jHwent improved ^te of tav^a-
taoi^ Uie ordinary dttration of a royege from tfaa
ITnited States or from England, t& Cbjnu^
rcMHid the extremity of Afrilca, is from IW, to
ISOdayB-f-. Id. Jbunding the calculatitxis »
tJie aaategy of the royages from BMto4 and
Linafool to the ooaat of the Mosquito lDdiaBfl»

* It.i«6>aOOlBi^et from Lendoa to Caatoo, kjFC^w

Ham; 1400 tengHM more thu) bjr the C^)« of Goad Hi^a.
From Boatoa to ContM by Cope Horn, is £000 leagues.

i SooM rare exampleB of AS days have bisen knomxit
Boston. Wardm, Dttcr^tim of Ae Umteil Stattt, vol. t.

295

and from Acapulco to Manilla*, wc fcid from
105 to 115 dayi for the voyage from the United
States, or from England to Canton, in remain^*
ing in the northern hemisphere, without once
cutting the equator ; that in, m taking advan-
tage of the canal of Nicaragua, and the con-
stancy of the trade-winds in the calmest part of
the Pacific Ocean ^. The difference of time
would therefore scarcely be a sixth ; vessels
could not return by the same w^y, but in going
the navigation would be safer at all se^tsons. A

* T|ie GaUeon takes from 40 to 60 di^ys. See my Pol.
Enay, vol. iv^ p. 71 } and Tuckey, Maritime Geogr, vol. iii.
p. 407.

t In these estimates of time^ the employment of the power
of steam has not been calculated. The French engineers who
made an estimate of the expence of the canal of Suez, admit,
in their parallel between the navigation fh>m the coast of
France to India^ across the projected canal^ and the passage
round the Cape of Good Hope^ that by the former way, half
the distance is gained, and { or | of time. Deicript. de
I'EgypU, (Etat, moderne), tom. i, p. 111. It were to be
wished that the mean duration of the passage from London
to Calcutta and Canton, and from Liverpool to Buenos Ayres
and Lima, (and ties versa), were calculated with precision,
taking a sufficient number of years and ships to make the
influence of seasons, winds,, currents, the construction of ves-
sels^ and the errors of piloting, disappear in the total ave-
rage The duration of passages is one of the most important
elements of the movement of commercial nations, that vital
movement which augments from age to age with the im-
provement of the art of navigation.

396

nation possessing fine settlements at the eitr&-
mity of Africa and the Isle de France, would, I
believe, in general prefer the passage from west
to east. The principal and real object of the
opening of the isthmus is the prompt commu-
nication with the western coast * of America,

" We must except, however, the coast of Peru, south of
Lima, and that of Chili, which it is extremely i)if5cult to
'aacend from north to Eouth, The passsgi* would be quicker
from Europe to Valparaiso ami Africa, by Cape Horn, than
by the canal of Nicaragua. The canal will be advanta^^eom
for the trade of the westers coast south of Lima only whea
the coaiting; ii made by iteam-boBta. The tnde of North
America with China, in its preaent state, is carried on by the
three following means : 1st, The vessels of the Unked
States^ loaded with piastres, go directly from New York or
Boston by the Cape of Good Hope to CantMi, where they
purchase tea, nankeen, silks, china, &c. and return by the
same route ; 2dly, the vessels that go round Cape Horn,
dther for the seal and sea-horse fishery in the South Sea, or
to visit the north-west coast of America; Ifthey have not
obtained a sufficient quantity of furs, they take sandnl-wood,
or ebony in Polynesia, carry those productions to Canton, and
go back by the Cape of Good Hope ; 3dly, other veaadi
cany on a smuggling trade for several years, visiting so^,
cessively Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, the lole of
France, or New South Wales, some ports of South America .
and the islands of the Pacific Ocean ; in gohig, they some-
times double the Cape of Good Hope, somctimca Cape
Hon ; but as they constantly touch at Canton at the end
of this long voyage, they return to the United Statea by the
southern extremity of Africa. The cqwning of the isthmus
wlU have a powerful influence on the two latter passages.
which we have just pointed out.

397

the voyage from the Havannah^ and the United
States to Manilla, the expeditions made from
England and the Massacbnsets to the fiir^coast
(north-west coast) or to the islands of the Pad&c
Ocean, to visit iafterwards the markets of Can-
ton and Macao.

I shall add to these commercial consider-
ations some political views on the effects which
the projected junction of the seas may produce.
Such is the state of modeiHi civilization, that
the trade of the world can undergo no great
changes that are not felt in the organization of
society. If the project of cutting the isthmua
that joins the two Americas, should succeed.
Eastern Asia, at present insulated and secure
from attack, will inevitably enter into more in-
timate connections with the nations of Euro-
pean race which inhabit the shores of the At-
lantic. It may be said, that that neck of land
against which the equinoxial current breaks,
has been for ages the bulwark of the indepen-
dence of China and Japan. In penetrating
&rther into futurity, imagination dwells upon
the conflict between powerful nations, eager to
obtain exclusive advantages from the way.
opened to the commerce of the two worlds. I
confess I am not secured from that apprehen-
sion either by my confidence in the moderation
of monarchical or of republican governments,
or by the hope, somewhat shaken, of the progress

aoo

river of that name, is in my opinion, thu prin-
cipal point of the isthmus, in the most natural
supposition that the attack comes from the
north ; but neither the taking of Portobeilo nor
the fort of San Lorenzo tie Chagre, wouiil de-
termine the possession of the isthmus of Panama.
The real defence of that country consists in the
difficulty which every considerable expedition
will find in 'penetrating into the interior. On
the southern coast, which is entirely unpeopled,
this difficulty already exists for two or three in-
sulated travellers."

After having discussed the extent of the sur-
foce, the popnlatioDj the productions, and the
trade of the United-Pi-ovinces ofVeneznela, in
their- [H-esent state as well as in their more or
less distant increase, it remains for me to speak
of' the finances, or the revenue of the state.
This object is of such political importance, that
it comprehends one of the first conditions of
the existence of a government ; but after long
civil dissensions, after a war of thirteen yean^
during which agriculture has retrograded, coflt"-
mercial relations have been shackled, and the
principal sonrces of public revenue dried up,,
we can only describe a state of things altoge-
ther transitory, and little conformable to the
natural riches of the country. In order to take
ft more certain point of departure for judging
of the state of things when confidence and tran-

301

quiUity shall be re-established, we must go back
again to the period which preceded the revolu-
tion. The annual average of the clear receipts
of the whole contributions, from 1793 to 1796,
without comprehending the farm of tobacco,
was 1,426,700 piastres. In adding to this,
586,300 piastres as the net product of the
farm (the average of the same period), we find
the revenue of the Capitania general de Caracas,
deducting the expence of collecting, to be
2,013,000 piastres. This revenue has gone on
diminishing, on account of the difficulties of
maritime trade, in the last years of the 18th,
and the first years of the 19th century; but
from 1807 to 1810 it rose to more than 2,500,000
piastres (of which 1,200,000 piastres arose from
the customs, 700,000 from the farm of tobacco,
and 400,000 from the alcavala of land and sea).
All these receipts were absorbed by the expence
of the administration ; sometimes a surplus of
200,000 piastres was poured into the treasury
of Madrid, but these examples were extremely
rare. Since Caraccas has no longer received
the situado of New-Spain, resources have from
time to time been drawn from the no less im-
poverished bank of Santa-Fe. The gross reve-
nue of all the provinces which now form the
republic of Columbia, amounted, according to
my researches, at the moment of the revolution.

302

to a maximum oi 0} millions of piastres*, ol'
which the government of the mother-country
never drew more than a twelfth. I have shewn,
in ray Political Essay, that the Spanish colonics
in America, at the period of the greatest ac-
tivity of commerce and the mines, had a
gross revenue of tkirtjfsix millions of piastres:
that the internal administratirm of the mlonies
absorbed nearly twenty-nine, and that only from
seven to eight tnillions of piastres flowed into the
royal treasury of Madrid. From these state-
meats, liotmded on official docaments* and of
tbe exactness of which no doubt has been en-
tertained daring fifteen years, we are surprised
to find that in grave discussions on political
eeouowy, tbe financial embarrassmentB of the
noUter-oountry are stiU attributed so often to
its sepaiation from its cdoniea. Hie duties
oa mrportation and expcM*tation ar^ throughdot
AmenvA, the principal source of public revtoue?
thttt Muroe is become progressirely more abiiD:-
dant since the court has deprived the company
of GttipuKMM of the monopoly of trade inth
Venezuela ; a company in which, according to
the singular expresuon of a roytU cedule, '* every
body may take part without derogating from

* Don Jose Maria del Castillo, in his report to the Con-
grew of Bogota {6tli May, 1823) estimates las mlat wdi-
nariai at preaent, at onl; 5 millions of piastres.

aosk

nobility, and withomt losing honor or reputation.'*
If we reflect that of late years the custom-
house of the Havannab oaly^ has collected more
than three miUicMis of piastres; and if we con-
i^ider at the same time the extent of the. terrir
tmy, and the agricultural wealth of Vraezuela,
we cannot doubt of the prog^ressi^e increase of
the public revenue in that fine part of the
worid; but the accomplishment of this hope,
and erery other we have announced, depends
on the return of peace, and on the wisdom and
stability of the institutions that are established^
I have stated in this chapter the statistical
elements which I had occasion to collect in my
travels, and by my uninterrupted intercourse
with the Spanish-Americans. As the historian
of the colonies, I have presented facts in all
their simplicity ; the attentive and exact study
of those facts being the only means * of laying
aside vague (Conjecture, and vain declamations;.
This wary manner becomes the more indispen-
sable at a moment when we may be tempted to
yield too easily to the predilections of hope, and
of ancient affections. Dawning societies pos-
sess something of the charm of youth ; they
have its glowing sentiments, its ingenuous con-
fidence, and even its credulity; they offer a

* Hecherehes sta^iiques sur la vil/e de Paris, 1823^ Introd.
p. I et 5.

more powerful attraction to the imagiDation
than tlie querulous temper, and distrustful au-
sterity of old nations which seem to have worn
out every thing, their happiness, their hope, and
their belief in human perfectibility.

The great struggle during which Venezuela
has fought for its independence, has lasted more
than twelve years. That period has been fruit-
ful, as civil commotions are for the most part,
io heroism, generous actions, guilty errors and
irritated passions. The sentiment of common
danger has strengthened the ties between men
'<^ Tuious races, who, spread over the steppes
of Cnmana, or insulated on the taUe-land of
Cnndinaniarca, have a physical and moral or-
ganization asdiierent as the climat^niKterVhich
thiey live. The mother-country has s&veral
times reg^ned possession ofsome district j but
as revolutions tire always renewed with more
violence when the evils that prodaee tbenft can
no longer be remedied, these cMtqnecrtfl have
been transitory. In order to focilttate aXkd give
{greater enerify to the defence of this cotiMry,
the governing powers have been concentrated,
and a vast state has been formed from the
mouth of the Oronooko to the other side of the
Andes of Riobamba, and the banks of the Ama-
zon. The Capitania-general of Caraccas has
been united to the vice-royalty of New Grenada,
from which it was only separated entirely in

309

1777. This union, which will be always indis^
pensable for external safety, this centralization
of powers in a country six times larger than
Spain^ has had political combinations for its
motiye. The calm progress of the new govern-
ment has justified the wisdom of those motives,
and the Congress will find still fewer obstacles
in the execution of its beneficent projects for
national industry and civilization, in propor-
tion as it can grant more liberty to the pro-
vinces, and make them feel the advantages of
institutions which they have purchased at the
price of their blood. In every form of govern-
ment, in republics as well as in tempered mo-
narchies, ameliorations in order to be salutary
must only be progressive. New-Andalusia,
Caraccas, Cundinamarca, Popayan, and Quito^
are not confederated states like Pensylvania,
Virginia, and Maryland. Without yun/a^, or
provincial legislatures, all those countries are
directly subjected to the congress and govern-
ment of Columbia. According to the consti-
tutional act (art. 152), the intendants and go-
vernors of the departments and provinces are
named by the president of the republic. It
may be naturally supposed that such depen-
dence has not always appeared favorable to the
liberty of the communes, which tend to discuss
themselves their local interests, and that it has
sometimes occasioned debates which may be

VOL. VI. X

S06

termed ^eogra|tliicat. The ancient kingdotM
of Quito, for instance, is connected at the same
time, by the hahils and language of its mouK-
tainous inhabitants, with Peru and New-Gre-
nada. If there were n provincial ywn/a, if they
resorted to the congress only for the taxes that
are necessary for the defence and general weU
fare of Columbia, the feeling of an individual
political existence would render the inliabitants
less interested in the choice of the spot where
the central govei-nment is placed. The SMie
reAsoning applies t& New-Andalusia erGuyaaft,
which are ^vemed by intendants 'named 1^
tbe PreaKiene. It may be said that these pro-
Vinces are hitherto io a pesiticm tittte difterent
from snefa territories of the Uidted States as
have a peimtatioft below 60,009 soals. Peeu^
fiar circumstances, whieh cannot be justly ap*
pteciated at such a distance, have no doubt ren-
dered great eentralization Beceesary in the c^
admiBistratiiHt ; every chaoge would be dao^
gerous as hmg as the state has externa! enemier,
Dot the forms useflil for defence, are not always
those which, after the stmggte, sufficiently ftwor
individual liberty, and the derelofHnent of pt^
Be prospnky. History proves that this ^Mt-
*fllty, when not overcome with prudence, has
^more than once been the rock against which
the enthusiasm and the affections of nations
have made shipwreck . Without breaking the

307

ties which should for ever unite the diffistent
parts of the Columbian territory (Venesvela,
New-Grenada^ aod Quito^ a partial life may
be spread by degrees throagbout this great pc^
litical boily^ not to divide^ but augiaent its
vigor*

Ti^ powerful union of North America has
long remained insulated^ and without toa^hing
any states with analogous mstitutioiis. Al-
though, as we have observed above, the progreas
she makes in the direction from east to west, is
considerably slackened towards the right bank
of the Mississipi^ she will advance without in-
terruption towards the internal frounces of
Mexico; and will there find a European peo-
ple of another race, other manners, and a differ-
eat worship. Will the feeble population of
those pi-ovinceSy belonging to another dawning
federation, resist, or will it be enveloped by the
torrent of the east, and transformed into an
Anglo-American atate^ like the inhabitants of
liower-Louisiana ? The foture will sotm solve
this problem. On the other hand, Mexico is
separated from Columbia only by Guatimala, a
country of extreme fertility, and which has re*
oently assumed the denomination of the repub^
lie of Central America. The political divisions
Jbetween Oaxaca and Chiapa, Costa Rica and
Veragua, are not founded either on the natural
limits, or the manners and languages of the

X 2

806

natives, but solely on the habit of dependence
on the Spanish chiefs who resided at Mexico^
Guatimala, or Santa-Fe de Bogota. It appears
natural enough that Guatimala may one day
join the isthmuses of Veragua and Panama to
the isthmus of Costa-Rica; and Quito connect
New-Grenada with Peru, as la Paz, Charcas,
and Potosi link with Buenos-Ayres*. The iD=
termediate parts which we have just named,
from Chiapa to the Cordilleras of Upper Pern,
form the passage from one political association
to another, similar to those transitory forms, by
whi(^ the varioos groups of the organic king-
dom are linked in natnre. In neighbouring
niobarchies the provinces that touch each other
present those striking demarcations which are
the eSect of a great centralization of power ; ia
confederated republics, states that are placed
at the extremities of each system, are for some
time in oscillation before they acqnire A Btable
equilibrium. It would be almost indifferent to
the provinces between Arkansa and the Rio del
Norte, whether they send their deputies to Mex-
ico or to Washington. If Spanish Amerira
were one day to shew more uniformly the tot-
dency towards federalism, which the exam{^
of the United States has already excited cm se-
veral pointB> from the contact of so numy sys-

• See above, vol. vi, p. 160.

309

terns or groupes of states, confederations vari«
Dusly graduated would result. I here only
touch on the relations that arise firom this
singular assemblage of colonies on an uninter*
rupted line of 1600 leagues in length. We have
iseen in North America, an old atlantic state
divided into two, and each having a different
representation. The separation of the Maine
and the Massachusets, in 1820, was made in
the most peaceable manner. Schisms of this
kind will no doubt frequently occur in the Spa-
nish colonies; but their moral state will, it may
be feared, render such changes turbulent. When
a people of European race naturally incline to-
wards provincial and municipal independence,
while the copper-colored natives have a no less
decided taste for political divisions of territory,
and the liberty of small communes, the best
form of government is that which, without
openly struggling against a national predilec-
tion, renders it the least hurtful to the general
interest, and the unity of the whole body. It
may be observed further, that the importance
of the geographical divisions of Spanish Ame-
rica, founded at the same time on the relations
of local position, and the habits of sevei'al cen-
turies, have prevented the mother-country from
retarding the separation of the colonies by at-
tempting to establish Spanish princes in the
New World. In order to rule such vast pos-

310

sessions it would have been requisite to foml
six or seven centres of goveinment, and that
multiplicity of centres, (vice-royalties and
captaincies-general), wiis hostile to the esta-
blishment of new dynasties at the period when
they might still have produced some salutary
effect for the mother country.

Bacon* ha8 said, in his Political Aphorisms,
that " itwould be happy if nations would always
follow the example of time, the greatest of all
innovators, but who acts calmly, and almost
Tithout being perceived." This happiness does
not belong to colonies when tlrey reach tbe cri-
tical period of tbeir emancipatioii ; and least of
tdl to Spanish America, engaged in tha straggle
at first, not to obtain its complete indepoidencej
bat to escape from a foreign yoke. May tbe
agitations of party be succeeded by a doobk
6alm 1 May the germ of civil discord, dissemi-
sated during three centuries to secure the do-
ninion of the mother country, be stifled by
degrees t and productive and commercial fin-
rope become more persuaded, that to perpetO'
ate the political agitations of the New World
#9«ld be to impoverish itself, in dinunishiog
tbe consumption of its productions, and de-
priving itself of amarket which already amoantB

' • See thesrlkleof lonov&tions, inAaoM'ifjfl^icinlaitf
merai, Mo. Std. {Optra tmnia, 1730, vol. ifi, p. 33£.)

311

to more than 70 millious of piastrei. The ex-
ports from Spanish America, the United States,
France, and Great Britain^ are at present as the
numbers i,l^ l£ and 3^** Many years must
no doubt elapse before 17 millions of. i&habitr
ants, spread over a surface a fifth greater than
the whole of Europe, will ha^e fouod a stabk
equilibrium in governing themselves. The most
critical moment is that when nations, after long

• I hare flhewii in another work (PoliHoe^ Etidyy vol. it,
p. 129), that in 1806, making the most moderate calculations,
Spanish America already stood in need of an importation of
foreign merchandize to the amount of 59,000,000 piastres, a
value nearly three times greater than t^t i'fc^fuirfed hy tlue
United States, eight yean after thm independence had been
fecognized by Great Britain. To give a view of comparative
numbers, 1 shall state the imports and exports of the two
most commercial nations of the world, the English of Eu-
rope, and of America. The annual value of the imports of
Great Britain, from 1821 to 1823, amounted to 30,^208,000
pounds sterling ; the value of the exports to 80,680,800
{>ounds sterling. The exports of the United States, in 1820,
were 09,974,000 dollars ; the imports 82,586,000 dollars.
At an anterior period, from 1802 to 1804, the exports were,
mean year, 68,461,000 dollars, and the imports 75,306,000
dollars 3 whence it results that the imports of the United
States, and of Spanish America, immediately before the po-
Utieal agitations of the latter country, wen alike considttt-
-able. It must not be forgotten, that what is imported to
Spanish America, is there used, and not re-exported. The
exports and imports of France in 1821, were respectively
404,764,000, and ;)94,442,000 franks.

servitude, find themselves suddenly at liberty to
dispose of their existence for the improvement
of their prosperity. The Spanish Americans, it
is unceasingly repeated, are not sufficiently ad-
vanced in intellectual cultivation to be fitted
for free institutions. I remember that at a
period little remote, the same reasoning was
applied to other nations, who were said to have
made too great a progress in civilization. Ex<
pericnce, no doubt, proves that nations, like in-
dividuals, find ability and learning often una-
vailing to happiness ; but without denying the
necessity of a certain mass of knowledge and
popular instruction for the stability of republics
or constitutional monarchies, we believe that
stability to depend much less on the degree
of intellectual improvement than on the strength
of the national character ; on that proportion of
energy and tranquillity, of ardor and patience
whidi maintains and perpetuates new institu-
tions ; on the local circumstances in which a
nation is placed ; and on the political relations
of a country with the neighbouring states.

If all modem colonies, at tbe period of their
emancipation, manifest a tendency more or less
decided for republican forms of government, the
cause of this phenomenon must not be attri*
buted solely to a principle of imitation, which
acts still more powerfully on masses of men
than on individuals. It is founded principally

313

on the position in which a community is placed
suddenly detached from a world more antiently
civilized, free from every external tie, and com-
posed of individuals who recognize no political
preponderance in the same caste* The titles
conferred by the mother country on a small
number of fomilies in America, had not formed
what IS called in Europe an aristocracy of no-
bility. Liberty may expire in anarchy, or by
the transitory usurpation of a daring chief; but
the true elements of monarchy are no where
found in modem colonies : those elements were
imparted to Brazil at the moment wl^en that
vast country enjoyed profound peace, while the
metropolis had foUen under a foreign yoke.

In reflecting on the chain of human affairs,
we may conceive how the existence of modem
colonies, or rather how the discovery of a half-
peopled continent, in which alone so extraordi-
nary a development of the colonial system was
possible, must have led to the revival on a great
scale, of the forms of republican government.
The changes which social order has undergone
in our days in a considerable part of Europe^
have been regarded by some celebrated writers
as the tardy effect of the religious reformation
at the beginning of the 16th century. We
must not forget that the memorable epocha
when ardent passions, and a taste for absolute
dogmas, were the rocks on which European poii-

314

lies were shipwriuked, was the epocba also of
the conquest of Mexico, Peru, and Cundina-
marca; a conquest which, according to the
noble expressions of the author of tEs/mt des
Xou, leaves the mother countiy an immense debt
to pay in order to acquit itself towards human
nature. Vast provinces opened to colonists by
Castiliian valour, were united by the ties of a
common language, manners, and worship.
Thus, by a strange coincidence of events, the
reign of the most powerful and absolute mo-
narch (tf Earope, Charles the Fiftl^ prepared
the struggle of tbe Idtb century, and laid the
liasis of those political associations, which,
though scarcely traced, astonish us by th»r ex.
lent, aad the uaiform tendency of their prin-
cipled If tbe eiQancLpati<m of Spanish Ame-
rica be consoUdated, as every thing hitherto
loads us to bope, tbe Atlan^ will display on
Its opposite shores, forms of government whidi
•u« not neoessarily hostile because tbey are dif-
ibreitt. Hie same institutions, cuinot be.salu-
taiy to every nation of both worlds, and the
■gravnag provperity of a republic is no outrage
to monarchies that are governed with wisdom,
and a respect for the taws and public liberty.

315

NOTES

THE NINTH BOOK.

Note A»

\r being my intention to collect in tbis work wboteve^
can throw l^t on the history of the two AmericBs; f shall
fitate soccinctly the results of the most recent researches on
the lines of fortification^ and the tumuli found between the
Rocky Mountamt and the chain of the All^hanies. The fbr-
tifications chiefly occupy the space between the great lakes
of Canada, the MissisKlpi, and the Ohio, from the 44<^ to the
69o of latitude. Those which advance mo^t towards the
north-east are on the Black River, one of the tributary
streams of lake Ontario. Towards the west we discover
scattered and inconsiderable mountains, in the county of
Genesee, but they augment in number and greatness as we
advance towards the banks of Cataraugus-creek ; and from
that creek, they succeed without interruption, west and
aonth«-west, on a length of 60 miles* The most remarkable
antient fortifications in the state of the Ohio, are : 1st,
Newark (Licking County). A very regular octagon, con*
taining an area of 38 acres, and connected with a circular
drcumvallation of 16 acres. The eight great doors of the
Octagon are defended by eight Mrorks placed before each
opening.. 2dly, Perry County. Numerous 'walls, not iH

81S

clay, but stone. 3d1y, Maiietta, Two great squares, wjtb
twelve doors; the walls of earth arc 21 feet bigh, and 42
feet at llicir boGe. 4tbly, Circleville ; a square with eight
doors, ani] eight soiall works for Iheir ilefeacc, connecteil
with a circular foot, surrounded with two walls and a uiont.
Athly. Paint-Creek, at the confluence of the Scioto anil the
Ohio ; the fortifications are partly irregular ; one of Ihem
contains 62 acres. Othly. Portsmonth, opposite Alexandria.
Vast ruins, disposed on parallel lines, denote that this spot
heretofore contained a numerous population. 7thly. Little
Miami and Cincinnati, a wall of 7 feet high, and 0300 toiscs
long i it goes from the Great to the Little Scioto. {Journ.
of General Clintan ; Weitern tfoseifeer, p. 108 ; Wardeit, De-
tcr^tion of the United Slata, Vol W. p. 137 i ff^dg Re-
corder «/ the Ohio, Vol. ii. No. 42, p. 324j Med. Itqxu.
Vol. XV. p. 147; Ntw Seriet of the Med. Aqxw. Vol. iii.
p. 187j/fatTu'(rour, p. 149; Drake's Pietereo/ CiiieintKifi,
p. 304 } Meate't Geolog. acantnl of the Uiuted Staia, p. 478 ;
Caleb Jlwater, in the ATcheeotogia Jmerwma, or Traiuac-
titmi of the ^meriom j<n(ifiMirMix Sodety of iForcetler, Mai-
tachMtelU, 1620, p. 122, 141, aad 147.) All these square
forts are placed aa exactly to the east aa the Egyptian and
Alexictm pyramidB; when the forts have only one opening,
jt is directed towards the rising sun. The walls of these
Jioea of fortification are moat frequently of earth ; but two
miles from ChilUcothe, in the state of Ohio, we find a wall
constructed in stone, from 12 to 16 feet high, and Irota
fi to 8 Eeet thick, forming an ind^sure of 80 acres. It b
sot yet precisely known how far those works extend to the
west, along the course of the Missouri and the river In Plata ;
but they are not found on the north of the lakes Ontario,
&ie and Michigan, neither do they pass the chain of the
Alleghaoies. Some circumvallations discovered on the east
of that chain on the banks of the Chenango, near Oxford, in
the state of New York, may be considered as a very remark-

317

able exception. We must not confound theae military mo^
numents with the mounds or tumuli containing thousands of
siceletons of a stunted race of men scarcely five feet high.
These mounds increase in numbers from the north towards
the south ; the highest are near Wheeling and Grave-Creek
<diam. SOO feet, height, 100 feet) ; near Saint Louis, on
Cahokia-Creek (diam. 800 feet, height 100 feet) ; near new
Madrid (diam. 350 feet) ; near Washington, in the state of
Mississipi, and near Harrison town. Mr. Brackenridge
thinks there are nearly 3000 tumuli from 20 to 100 feet high,
between the mouth of the Ohio, the Illinois, the Missoury>
and the Rio San-Francisco ; and that the number of skeletons
they contain. Indicate how considerable must have been the
population heretofore of those countries. These monuments,
considered as the places of sepulture of great communes,
are most frequently situated at the confluence of rivers, and
on the most favorable points for trade. The base of the
tumuli is round or of an oval form ; they are generally of )a
conical form, and sometimes flattened at the summit as if
intended to serve for sacrifices, or other ceremonies to be
seen by a great mass of people at once. (See my Fiewi of
the Cordiileroi, p. 35.) Some of these monuments near
Point-Creek and Saint Louis, are two or three stories high,
and resemble in their form the Mexican teocalUt and the
pyramids with steps, of £gypt and Western Asia. Some of
the tumuli are constructed of earth, and some of stones
(Stone-Mounds), [or Cairns] heaped together. Hatchets
have been found on them, together with painted pottery,
vases, and ornaments of brass, a little iron, silver in plates
(near Marietta), and perhaps gold (near Chillicothe). Some
of these mounds are only a few feet high, and. are placed at
the centre, or in the neighbourhood of the circular circum-
vallations ; they resemble the cerritoa heckos a mano, which
in the kingdom of Quito, near Cayambe, are called qdaratO'
rw9 de Iq$ Indiog antiguoi ; they were either tribunes for hi|-

rangurng' the nssembleii p«>pl*, or plnces of sHcrifire ; nid
where they nre only from 20 to 35 feel liigli. they may b*
consiilercd iis observii lories erected In discover tiie move-
ments of a neighbouring enemy. {,4rci. Amrr. Vol. L
p. 1B3, 169, 246, 210, lOB, 178.) The great tumuli, from
80 ta 100 feet high, are most fretjuenlly insulated, and lome-
times !e«m to be of the Sfime age as the fortifications to
which they are linked. The latter merit particular atten-
tion ; I know nowhere any thing that reioroMes them, either
in South America, or the ancient continent. The regnlarity
of the polygon and circulnr forms, and tlie small works in-
tei>de<l to cover the doors of the building, nre above nil re-
markable. We know not whether they were inclosures of
tproftTij, •niih of defence against enemiea, {Relat. Htstor.
Toin-. i. 8fi}, or bitrenehed camps, as Id central Ana. The
-emlom of Bcponting the different quartei* of a town by
elrcvmvallatloDs, is observed alike in the sncteBt Tcnoch~
leitimi, and the FeravtaH town of Chimu, Mhe nint of which
I WHDiiiied, between Truxillo and tbe coait of the Soatii
8ea. {PoiMeal E$tmf, Vol. ii. p. B). T ke (miafi are ten
•batvclerietic coDBtfvctiona, dad may hEva belonged to bw-
tions who had no eonsDHmieation with one aiio^er ; tbe^
«ovcr both Americu, Ute north of Asia, and the whole east
oTBurape ) and it is uM, are still ooiwtnicted bjr the Otn^w-
haw« of the river Plata. The skulls coataioed in the (Mwili
effte Utdted Stoles, ftiraish meaaa of recogaisiag alnwA
with eettaintf, to what d^;i«e the race of men by whom thtSf
-were raised, differed fh)m ttto Indians who now inhabit die
Berne eoimtries. M, Mitchell believes that tbe sltdeUMtt of
the cavcms of Kentocliy and Tennesce " belong to tiw
-lilelays, who came by the Pad6c Ocean to the westeru eoost
of America, and were destroyed by the ancestor* «rf the
-present Indians, and who were of Tartar race (Mon^ul)."
With respect to ttie lumuU and the fbrtlGcationB, the sane
teamed writer supposes, with Mr. De Wilt Clintoa, thdt

31f

those nionimieuU ittre the wo^ka '^of SoBHtUaaTiMi^Bationg;
who, from the 11 th to the 14th ceoturf yiBited ^e coast of
Gnrenlaiid, NewfbniidlaiHl, or Vlnhnid/ or Drogeo> and a
pait of the coDtineal of North AoAorilca. (Viejia of tke dtr^
diUenm, Vol. i. p. 8^) If this hypothesis be foaQ4ed» thf
akalla fovad in tha tummU, and of which Mc- Atwater^ at C^rr
cleviUe> pof sesaee so great a munbet j oug^t to belpng^ opt to
the American, MtmgvX, or Malay raee> but to a tace vulgarity
called Caucaaiao. The engraving of. those stcuUs, in the
Memoirs of the Society of MasaachiMetts^ is tOQ ii^perfect if)
decide an historical qaestioa so well ym^^ikf to: occupy the
osteologists of both continents*. L«t qs hope tb»% the
learned men who now honor the Vnilod States^ will hjistan
to convey the skeletons of tiie iumuUt and those of lbs
caverns, to Burope, that they may be compared: together, and
vrith the ptesent inhabitants of native race, aawell as with
the in^viduals of Malay, Mongul, and Cauoasian: race; fbuild
in the ^at collections of MM. Cnviev* 8omnBting» and
Blumenbaeh. In order to advance in these kinds of reseavches*
ao importeht towards the history of the human species, it
appears to me that the attention should be directed to three
principal points ; namdy, 1st. To the osteofogic compari-
sons, which camiDt be made successfully from drawings,
descriptions, or the mere testunony of tsaveUera. The skulls
of the ancient inhabitants (of that race bdieved to be ex-
tinct), must be compared with the skulls of the different
varieties of the human race ; and we must not forget in this
comparison, that among the present natives of the new con-
tinent some tribes fomish very remaikahle varieties of con-
formation; It may suffice to cite the Tchoi^aze £s<|uimaiK
in the north, whose children are born white 3 and more lo
• the south, the Chepewyans, the Paais (Apaches) and the
Sioux; three nations, which from their traditions and their
'■ aspect, Mackenzie, Pike and Lewis, consider as having cobk
.from Asia, and being stroi^ly mnngolized. {Alofikeiukf Sie

Vol. I. |i. 375, Vd. Ui. 343 ; Pike, p. 374 ; LemU and ClorJtf,
p. 146) ; Sdly. To the rehtions of oongtroctioD or of geo-
graphical poaitioD observed hetween the moDumenU of the
United States, the banlu of the OhiOj nod the Misfonry, aal
the Mexican moumenta of Gila and Nabajoa. Thecountrjbe-
tween the 33n and 41« of latitnde, panllel to the mooth of
the Arkanzaa and the Mioaonry, ii considered hy the Azteque
historians, as the anaont dwelling of the dTilized nationa of
Anahooc. These historians place the Srat station of the
Mexicans, in the course of their migration from north to
south, on the bonks of the lakes (fidmloual) of Tega^ro,
and Tioipanogos ; the second station is marked bj the iuibi
of the Catu-Gremdti ot Rio Gila, which the Arfhen Garcea
and Font hare described in detoD {PoUHeal Et$nf, IL Vol. i.
p. S64, and in mj Mexican Atlas, maps 1 and 1). These
edi6ces, which occupy a square league, are pbcad exactly u

321

lodiatt vinagej with two public squares^ houses with several
stories, as in the Gasas GrandeSj and streets in parallel fines*
The natives of these countries, near which the fint $taium of
the Mexican nations is placed, have long beards, like the
Ainos (uihabitants of Tarakai) of eastern Asia. These art
the Yabipais, whose language differs essentially ftom that of
the Asteques. This analogy of construction among the
present and the ancient inhabitants, whatever may be the
superiority of the latter in their civilization, is a very curious
phenomenon. I know how little confidence can be placed
in the narratives of Ffay Marcos de Nizai but it cannot be
doubted that in the middle of the 18th century^ a. small
centre of civilization was still preserved in the regions situ-
ated on the north of New Mexico, at Cibora, and at Quivira.
Wlien weU-informed travelers shall one day have ezplared
the plains between the Rio Colorado and the Rio Colombia^
those plains which the ecclesiastic Escalante went partly over
in 1777, it will be important to compare the present state of
the country, and above all the names of places, with the
detailed journals we possess of the expedition of Francisco
Vasquez de Comado (1640). The Spanish historians give
strange variations to the names of places and men in thb
Mexican Dorado; (Harac, Tinhcx, Cicuic, Acuc, Huex^
Tutonteac, and the name of that king Tatarax, Senor de Uu
nete dudadet, who was made a kind of Pk«ster- John |
^' Hombre barbudo, que rezava en ores, que adorava una
crnz de oro, y una imagen de muger, Sesora del cielo.**^
(Gomara, Hut. de Uu IndUu, 1663, foL cxvii ; Herera Decade
vi, p. 167, 204} Laet, p. 297— 804 j Haje oZ EUrecho
de Fuca, p. S7; Political E$say, ii. 277; Vteio of Ae
CordUieras and Monuments, Vol. i, p. 307, 318; Pmonoi
NarraHve, Vol. v. p. 844.) The Conquistadores placed
Cibora, no doubt vaguely (according to the name of
the bisons, cibohu, or cows with humps, and long hair,
wieas carcobadoi), in lat. 30° 30' j Quivira, in kUitude 40%

VOL. VI. Y

\n rOKUitg tUe Qrst jj^panisb bistarlana with aRentfon, t,
woultt !^)peaT that the two countrieg are situated \vc«t of the
Rocky Mountains ; but Comailo statea clenrly, that in
g^ng to the north, the rivers are founil to flow, as fiir ns the
Cibola, toiviu-ils t^c wost ; and beyonit Cibola, as far as
Quivtnt, towards the eaet. There is no question however,
in any of these expeditions to the north, of a passage across
the mountains ; Quivira ia described as an immense pliun,
where it is difficnlt to mark the way. Whatever opinion
may be formed of the abrupt lowering of liie tnoontains,
north of New Mexico, it is difficult to figure, between ihe
Bocky Mountains and the Sierra Verde, a point of parti-
tion of the waters, divortia aquamm, sitntited in a plain.
Francisco Vasquez de Cornado, in liis letter to the viceroy,
com|dains of the falsehoods of the monk Marcos tie Niza ;
and to justify his return, paints the country through
which he had passed, as poor an<l savage : be is, however, so
much struck with the grandeur of the edifices at CiWa and
Qnivira, sereral stories high, built of stone and day, that
tie doubts if the natives, who he says are intelligent but
little industrious, could have constructed them. This testi-
mony of a man of veracity is well worthy of attention. Docs
<it indicate a people relapsed into barbarism, nnd who hod
preserved some knowledge of the Tnechanic arts ? Every
lionsc in Qaivlrn having a flat roof, or a terrace {asotea),
Cornado calls the whole country " la tierra de las asoteas."
Terraces of the same kind were found in 1773, by Father
Garces, in the villages of the present Indians of Moqai. BH
'the nations of the Mexican race, in their migrations to the
south, send colonics towards the east, or do the moaumenb
of the United States pertain to the autocthone nattoDsJ
Perhaps wc must admit in North America, as in Ihe ancient
world, the simultaneous existence of several centres of
Civilization, of which the mutual relations arc not known in
"history. The very civilized nations of New-Spain, the Tol-

329

. teque8> the Chichimtt^eB, mi the iifLtefffMf pnsjbenfiad tP
have issued successively^ from tjbie .6^ to the 12i)i century,
fi:om three ne^hbouriog countries situated toi^rfusd? ,th9
norths and ^led HuebnetlapoUan or TlalpsUaiVy Ani#qiieY
i»ecan, luid Aztliui or TeorAlcohvMfta. Thesd mtions
^poke the same JMngmg^, ,the|r h«d ijtxe ^ane yy^ym^gonip
faUes^ the same propensity fqr ^ sfu^e^dot^JL ^qgr^
gatiQns, the jsame hierqgly|duc paintingSylhe sajoae diy;if|iQiig
of time, the ^ame taste (Cbipese wd J^apan^) ^ nptiiig
and registWDg every thiiig. Xhe names gixen by tltmn ltp
the .toKT^ijibuiU in the .country pf A^ahiMC, were ^um of
tb^ town# they had.ftl>«iMloped mihejr apciei^ poimtry. Xbe
qiv^l^^lltifltfi 09 th^ ^exiqin table )(md waajvgaidedjjjjtb^
inbobitanta (hemaeiv^ as ^b^e ,q)rpy of 4QB(iet)mig wJtMc^h Jha4
eaust^ ehewher^ aa the TefiectioQ of ^le jpdmit^ye civilis^-
tipn 0^ Afstlan. Wba^, it. may be ^tiMi^ faust be placed
that pi^rent land of the .oplooies of Aaahvac, 4|bat qfikina
genthm, whidb d|un|)g £ye centuries, sends natiooa to*
wavds theaouth, who understand each other vithq^ut dif&-
0|}}ty, and recogniza each olh^ Cor relations ? Abi^j north
of AxnpuTj whene it is nearest Amedc», is a barbaroua
offpatry j and, in aupposing (which is geographically powil;]^)
a migratiQ^ -of southern Asiatics by Japan, .Taral(ay
(Xchqka), the Kuii^ and the Aleutian isjea, from south-
w«it to>wards the jiqrtb-east, (frpm 40o to fid"" of )ati-
tl^^ how can U be be^eved that ip so long a nvigration,
QO a WJiy 8p .^a^ily intercepted, the rem^mbiance of the in-
igAMtiona pf the parpnt country could have been preserved
with ao m|]<^ force and deamess ! The cosmogonic fables,
the pyramidal constructions, the system of the calendar, the
a^jTr^u of the tropics found in the catasterim of days, the con-
vcaita and congregations of priests, the taste for statistic enu-
n^eiationsy the annals of the empire held in the most scrupu^
Ipus ord^, lead us towards oriental Asia -, while the lively re-
mcmbranpcs of which we have just spoken, and the peculiar

Y 2

pbyalognomy wlilch Mexican civilization presents, in so
manf other respects, seem to indicate the antique exist-
ence of an empire in the north of America, between the 38*
anil 42° of latitude. We cannot reflect on the military.
monuments of the United States, without recollecting tlic
first country of the civilized nniions of Mexico. It is io
rising to more general historical considerations, in examin-
ing wiih more care than hns been hitherto done, the lan-
guages, and the usteologic conformation of different tribes, in
exploring the immense country bounded by the Allcghanics,
and the coast of the western ocean, that means will be ob-
tained of throwing light upon a problem so worthy of
exercising the sagacity of historians. In these researches
Aere can be no qnestioD either respecting the first inh&bi-
tants of America (real history does not go badtsoftr), or of
a very advanced civilization, superior, for instance, to that of
BO many nadons of Tartar or llongul race in central Asia ;
nor, finally, respectii^ the fortuitous analogy of some aoandg,
some syllables that are again found, with signiBcadons al- '
together different, in the Tschoude, Indo-pelasgtc, Iberian or'
B8«iiiie, and Welsh or Celtic tongues. [OWielm con Huviboldl,-
Bber die ■ Urbtaokner Hitpanietu, p. 95.) It is from vagtw'
and nnphilosophieal views that Indians have Mcasionally been'
believed to be discovered who speak Irish, Bas Breton, br '
the Cdtic of Scotland. The fable of Welsh iatfioiu, harin^
preserved the Welsh, or Celtic language, is of very old dalSk'
In the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, a confiised repml vras-
spread <fver England, that on the coast of Virginia the WdA-
salutation had been heard ) hao, iom, iaeh. Owen QiapelMB'
relates, that in 160D, by pronouncing some Celtic words, be*
saved himself from the hands of the Indians of Tusconm,'
by whom he was on the point of being tealpedf The sane'
thing, it is pretended, happened to Benjamin Beatty, in going
from Virginia to Carolina. This Beatty asserts that he foimd
a whole Welsh tribe, who preserfed the tradition of the*

Voyage of Madoc-ap-Owcn, which took place iu 1170! Joha
FUmki, in his history of Kentucky, hns revived these talcs
of thu firsl travellers ; ftccording to him. Captain Abrahaoi
Ciuiplain hiw Indians arrive at the post of Kaskasky, and
CODV«rM in the Welsh language with some soldiers who
Were natives of Wales. He also believes, that " far off, to
the west, on the baoka of the Missouri, there exists a tribt
wfaicb, besides the Celtic language, han also preserved some
riles of the Christian religion." (Hiil. of Kent. p. 133.)
Captain Isaac Stewart asserts, that on the Red River of
Naichiiotchcs, at the distance of 700 miles above its mouth,
in the Missisaipi, near the confluence of the river of Post (?)
he discovered Indians with a fair »kin and r«d hair, who con-
versed in Welsh, and (loasessed the titles of their origin.
" Tbey- prodaeed; in proof of what they nld of tbeir arrifal
on the.eiifrm coaat, rolls of parchment eanAiltywraprtip
in oUer-ddnsj and on which great charscters were' written
in blue, wUcfa neither Stewart, nor his fellow 'ttavdler
Dawy, a natiw of Wales, could decypher." (JVermre de
France At 5 Nm. llSfi.) These are, no doabt, the Welsh
hooka reOBotljr mentioned again in the French Joamali'.
(AenwewyelBptfKfiie, No. 4, p. 162 ; and article B6m)te in the
Dkt.da tatnca not.. Vol. xxi, p. S&2.) Wa may oboerve
firat, thai all Ihoe teatimanies are ettremely vague for the
indicaticMi of |dacea. The last letter of Mr. Owen, repeated
in tlie jonniala of Enrope (of the 1 Ith Febrasry, 1819),
place»the poata of the Welsh Indians on the Madwaga, and
divides theot inta two tribes, the Brydones and the Chado-
giana. "They speak Welsh with greater purity than it ie
Hfdke^ in the principality of Wales (!) since it ia exempt
isMa angUdnas ; they profess Christiaaity strongly mixed
with Draidiflm." We cannot read such assertions without
recollecting that all those fabuloos stories which flatter the
imagidation are renewed periodicallyundernewfonna. The
teamed and judicious geographer of the Vnited States, Mr,

Warden, enquires justly, why all tfac traces of Welsh co-
lenies and the Celtic longiie, hove disappeared since less
credulous travellers, und who in 60ine sort controul orte
another, hnvc vitited the country situated between the CHiio
and tiic Rocky Monntnin?. Mackenzie, BaTton, ClnTk,
Lewis, Pike, Drake, Mitchill, ami the editors of the new
Ardiitologia Americana, haTe found nothing, absolutely nt>-
thii^, which denotes the remnins of European colonies of
the 12th Century. The voyage also of Madoc-ap-Owea is
mttch more uncertain than the cxpeditiona of the Sc&ndina-
vians (the lelnndais Rmida, Biem, Leif, &c.) Ifwewcre
to find the vestiges of nny European Isngmge ra the north
of America, it Would be rather Teutonic, (Scandhmviaii, Gct-
inaQ, or Gothic), than the Celtic or WeUh^ which differ
MwmiFiHy frMn the Oekmaiiie toOgaes. tiit tW rtrnctoni of
tfw AonerKlM idioins appears ■ing'iSarly ttmaga to the diie-
mnt nationi who ipeah the moderb wceUia laigitages; the-
t have Imbcied thtfy sow in it HeU«i# (Semitic or
; the SpftnishcdltmiBtayBamltM, ^r Iberian): tbe
a*^h md fretach planteis, Welahj Inth; AU B*-bi«toA.
^Mpretedsieadof the Basques, Bk>dtii*Mabitant>of Wrirt,
irtw ragavd their larigaag;6« hot otaly as moittar-MBgnM, btd
«> tU sonree* of all blfter tor^utt, extand HtMafaaA koA-
rilRt totbffldtoof theSonth Sea. I niM#itlkti*tr*aeHi
■f ifaeSpuM^a^Aiglhb uavyyoiitbe nui of JPCH!* one
«f VlUnn prateAaed lUat he had tRstd tb« Biaq&tit TUM.
mi die tttUer Iriib-OaeHe at Oii Saddwieb tabwdK flee
aborts Vol. iii, V» i and ffVhi^ vm AmMA) ahr
di« Urt^. HUpmtimf, p. lf4<-kirT>. I thcnffEt K my datf
to atate wHh AankAtta m^ dmibtg <rf tlw exisi*ii«i of tiilto-
j/mericdm. I shall dten^ my opinioii only whak Ikmtat-
mhtiA with convincii^ prooft of the fact.

According to the trnditions eollecled by Mr. H«dwtMer,
An country oast of the H ississipi [JVemcri-S^Wi Flah-riW,
p by comlption), was heretofore inhabited by ■ p** j

erfiil nationr, of gigantic «la«aTe> cftUed Tattegewi, TalUgeu, oi^
AHighewi, and which gave its iMine to Iht ^iUgkamkm nieuH
tains (MUghewiaii). The AUiglMwb w«k more civiliMcl
thaa any of the other trfbee feuod hi tho novtheni dfabatc^
by the BtiropeaAS'Of the Iclth century* They fadwbilid towns
finmded on the banks of the M iantslpi 5 and the fortificattoao
which now excite the astonishment of travellers il^cffe Mk*
afnictod by Uieift la order to defhnd tbemselvea ogaTiist die
LisMii^LeiHipee (Delffwam)> who catM frt>l» the tmt^ aiul
were allied «t that period with Ihe ifengwis (Iroq«ois>. It
may be sojppoaed that tbio tafoakm tff a barbarous people
ckanged tie politieal and oforal state of flkise OMuitHes/
The AHcgfaeiHa were Tanquiehed by the Leaai*Iieni4iies> after
»ymg wtfwggki. ki their tight towardii thii B&mh, ih^y
gathered Segetiiefr tho hones of thehr reform kt septfinte
ikmuli; they descended the Mtosisiipi, and #lMit beoaime of
then»ia not koown.^ (Tram, of ihe HtBierieat ComiiUitee of
ihe Amer. PMoi. S<id&t^, Vctf. i, p. 30.) Th^ tiMtraditiolfs
of nen are attafhed arbitraiily eiidugh to stidi aikl sack
loealities^ because every natioh is intek-ested m its own vici-
nity ; but the lines of fortifieatiods of a proi^gious tengtb,
oboorved by Gapiahi Lewis on the baaksof die Missouri^
opposite the Isle of Bonhomme^ {TrmeU, p. 48) and on the
river Plata, sufficiently prove thai the andent hobitatfon of
the Alligbewis, that powerfid peojile Which I am kiclined to
regard as being of Tolteqae or Azteqoe race> extended fat to
the West of the MisstS6ipi> towards the foot of the Ro^ky
Mountains. M. Nuttal, in going iq> ihe Arkansa to Cadres,
was ioformed of the eadstence of an ancient entrenchment^
resembling a trkmgular lort. The Arknnsss assert that it is
the work of a mkUe and civilized people; whom, when Ih^y
arrived hi this country, their ancestors fought, and van*
quisked^ not by force bnt cunning. They attribute also to a
more ancient and polished people than theniselves^ the tto-
nnnsfnts of rongh stones heiqied up c^ the svmniit of the'

kills. Other monuments not I«b curious, arc the comnio'
Uioua roada of immense length, which the natives have traceil
from time immemorial, and which lead from Uie boDka of
the Arkansa, near Littlerock, to Saint-Louia on the ri^t,
and by the settlement of Mont Prairie ns far as Nachilocbes>
on the left. ^Journal ofTraveli in the Arkania terntory,
1821, p. 20.)

Do the characteristic features of colossal stature, and ui^e
colour, attributed to nations now destroyed, owe their origin
to the ideas of power and physical force in general, to the
feeling of the intellectual preponderance of the Europeans,
or are those features linked with the fables of white men,
legislators, and priests, which we find among the MexicaaSt
the inhabitantg of New-Grenada, and m many other Ame-
rican natioDB ? The skeletons contained in the tmmmH, of the
trnni nllfghnmnn country, belong, for the moat port, to a
Btonted r»ce of men, of lower stature than the Indians of
Canada and (he Miwouri. {Ar^aolof^ Jwtoioma, Vol. i,
p. 300.) The bodiei found on the bonks of the Merrimack.,
have even renewed in some authors, the &ble of the pygmies.
(Jtforte, Modem Gtograpky, 18S2. p. Sll.)

An idol discoTHed at Natcbez {Ardt^nl. Vol. i, p. S1&.
Awudt* det Vm/aga, Vol. xiz, p. 46, tiS), has been justly
compered by M.Malte-Bmn, to the images of cetettia/sptrrft,
found by FvUat among the Moogul uations. If the titties
who Inhabit the towns on the bonks of the Misdssipi, issaed
from die some country of Astlan, it must be admitted that
the Toltcqnes, the Chichimeques and the Asteqnee, frosa the
inspection of their idols, end their essays in scnlptnre, were
much leas advanced in the arts than the Meucon tribes, who,
without deriating towards the east, hare followed the great
path of the nationi of the New World, directed from north
to south, from the banks of the GUa towards the lake of Nlaa<
ragua. Jo the narrative of the voyage of Mr. Eversman to
itokbara, we find a striking description of a mountain nude

339

bj the faaods of man (cerro kecho a numo), half a league ia
circumference^ situated in the middle of the town^ and serv-
ingfortbe baseof the palace of the Chan. This artifidaL hillj
called JerkfTueB in the Biiddle of a plain, and strikes die eye
of the traveller from afitf $ it is decorated with brides and
day. I have ofiten in my worics dwelt on the analogy be-
tween the M^can UocaUu, and the pyramid of fidus, and
other edifices with stories or steps, of western Asia* We find
in the ^erk of tke Chan of Bokhara, the same mixture of
bricks and day spread in layers, that characterizes the cdn*^
struction of the pyramid of CbolnUu

It is probable enough that the invasion of the Lenhi-
Lenapes, and the destructkm of. the power of the Alhghewls;
were connected with the migration of the Caribs. Without
warranting their northern origin, and Adr passage from
florida to the Lncayan idands, I shall collect at the eUd of
this note, the result of my researches on that important asao-^
ciation of nations, so long calumniated by travellers. The
Caribs of the continent, whose country still extends from,
the coast of the province of Nueva-Barcdona (MtMtoiiet de
Firitu)^ along the i>anks of the Carony, the.Essequibo, the,
Cuyunl^and the Rio Branoo, as fiair as the equator, call
themselves Carina. . The Ottomaques call them Cofiptiia;.
the Maypures, Corona. This is nearly the word CalUpinam
(in confounding the I and r,) of the language of the women
in the Carib Islands. (See above. Vol. iii, p^ 284. Gili,
Vol. i, p. XXXV) Vol. iii, p. 107.) The Caribs of the West
Indies divide thdr nation into inhabitants of the isles, or
OubaO'honon, and inhabitants of the continent, or Balaue^
honxm. (He. o«6ao; habitation,, tca^anam, or icabaiotKm;'
continent, haloue.) Rockefarty HisL desJntillet, p. 326, S6&^
Bretorij Dkt. Caribe, p. 32. Tlie following are the names-
of the islands in the Carib tongue : Antigua, OuaU ; Saint
Bartholomew, Ouaralao; Saint-Martin> Oualacki ; Saint-.
Croix, Amonkana, Ayay, or Hay-hay ; (Fetr. Mart^ Ocean^

p> fi4) ; Augvilla) MaliMtana ; DotningD, (hutilouconboiih ;
Bnrbadoes, Oaakomoiu ; MorigaUntc, <4kAt,- Saint-Cbristo-
pfacr, Lkonaigana ; Gnailaloiipe, Calaneaatfa, (of which Pe-
tnu Martyr Oc, Lib. is, fol. tI3,hn8 made Carai/ueiTaJ ; the
Cape land only Baiaorcone ; the ]uw-lnnd only KaerehoM ;
Portorico, or Snn Juan, Boniken or '^ufroumioin. i have
collected these namea btcause the knowledge of tttem be-
come* iiiilispensahic to those nfao would study the goo-
graphy of America at the beginning of the ISth century. I
atwll add Boim other munes of islands, which, however, ato
not Carib : Guadaloupc, Gwiama. ( Qitmara, Hut. foL xxiii) ;
Saint Domingo, ' or Isla Bspa^ioln, Haiti and ^uitqu^a.
The first of these onmes signifies, in the laOgnnge of the
country, asperity, ot laouataiamm pbot: ; tb« teeoai, ■Great
ImH. (Somora, fbl.ivi);; Cnba. or yttmaadjl > Juuksr,
tK/Utagt ; TtidUad, OM. The appmimwK al tbc Carifcs
iswtry wtien ttM aau, Laet deswibad ttaMBoftfa* haaks
«f the MiirWfna (HaMBy), twe tinndred yMMq;«y sxaetly
ifl-foondUrcCwtbi*; the Uums- af . Ctrl. "UHressmt
piwim et obeW cdrpftfc,- oqiitiis la eriKm dcrtooals, instar
MitaMB BHGctdotlifis tit enten rHbr« colore tioctf; vAnI
■patkaH puffliCBk) qoohm tinw«r fMtaiuntateM dw»» Imgo,
MifeM, Midi : tceMnx pdMla tunc corpore." (i>a«r^. e/
A« ^Mt AUMf, p. M7. See also Areit^l. Jmtrieaita,
Vtltiip. MK--408.) The g^dgrMfftiaa deMMliMdotU Df
Catibma, CatMi add Cdfiori Merit sonM'tffrest^atKto. The
^p& of OrMM, <£Ulp6 of emoc^ for tA-u ri^Wei cuoe,
r^. JM'<i/f. p. K! 0.), into wh)eh the g#eat Rw Atratotbrtnra
HMStf, (Rio ««n him or Hio Shbelbn), did boi be*r a?
flMWof tbe guljrii (rf DHrieir in the letb eentul?. A pM>-
irfiM ^tdatcid b«t«nd the mottth of tWe Klo fflns (Zemt).
ilMI &at ttf fltc Atrato, waa then called Carihana. Gonnrs
(IKtr. <fe Ia« rni&w, 16iS3, fbl. 80) HAmM Ae followiBg [dacea
fratfieast to wiMt: " CrmbaMa, Zena, Car^agaul, Zaptiay
SnMtf Afarfn."' The cApe (hat boooda the gtilph tf DoricB'

88t

bA the etst, still bears the tmneciPfkniaCarlbana^m I havd
already mentioned in Ike text. Id speaking of Akmao de
0$eda> Gomara saysy '^ SaKb a tierm en CoribBaa (solar de
Cariben eomo algnnos qdieren) cpM esta a M entnala del golfo
deUraba. DdgolfodaUndm clK!ttaife70 kq^oailiastaCar'^
tagena* OtrogoUaeotaennsediadelHIaZentiyGaribaande
donde se nombran los Caribes.'* (L. e.y fel. ia et xmk,) SW*
ther eastward, tbe CaramarlBa Indkun (€siimBianri)> ibbabllnits
of the coast wbefe the |x>rt of Carthagena is aaw ntdaled, be*
Itevcdalao thai they were ef Carib origfaf . (PeA*. Mdrti Ok. p.
M, Bfir. Det. I, p. 17».) Heiera^ generally T^ry eaaet ih his
geographical hifbraiatloBy calls a bay oir the estsfeni tealt of
Versgua, Cmtikmtd, a chtuBStance the asore fitted to lia al^
leation, as the nations temned Caribs of Urabo^ ptaoed tlfeif
first dwellings baytond Urn BioDaHen or Atratd. '' Iteeian
loS^lndiosde estaiegimi quahaTia tldotfanatttiale^paaado
el Gran Rio de Dariett/* (Dec. 1, p. MSt.) Bat the anost
Imcienf name of the bay of €aiibac6> between Gartago and
the Laguna Chiriqa&y is Garavaro^ or C6robairo. {Gimtatd
Hut., foL viit. Her; Deier., p. 39« Lmt^ p^ »46.) There ex*
isted no donbt to the wesl^ anthropophagie nations, who,
88 Christopher Columbtfs has said (in the Lettera taf'w*
nma del 7 di Jmtiio UOH) " OBangianrank) vomiai eomo
noi mangiaario oltre aniimali." Garfari ot .Oariai> whieh
I erroneoosly eonfoonded (to1« ^, p, 606) tvlth Carlbana,
was ritoated at tbe south of cape Gracias a Dios and the
isle of Qniribiri^ probably near the mouth of the Rio San
Jnan» which is the imagvMer^ oi the lalce of Nicar%oa>
and one of the most important points for the projected coaa*
nroaication between the two seas* It was at Cariai Ihal
Colnmbua, by an illusion of his ardent imagLoation^ thought
be heard mentilm made ctf Chiniaj (CatayX and the filler
Ganges. The inhabitants were net of Cai^b race^ but retj
nild^ and g^ven to commerce. Columbus speaks ill of the
Mimett only of this country^ Whom lie calls liceBtioos ao*

chantrcsscs. " Quando aggiouBi, (he writes to the king and
queen of Castile,) tncontinente lUJ manilBrono dnc fanciutle
ornate di riehi vostimenti : la piii di tempo non saria tti etS
di anni undici, I'altra di sette ; tutte due cod tanta [>ratica con
tante atti et tooto vedere che earia bastato, ae fossera atate
puttone publichc vinti anni. Portovanocon esucloro polnrre
di incantamenti ealtre coaedellaloroarte." Tbe admiral re-
sisted all these arts of seduction, and hastened to send the young
girls on shore. (Lei/ernror., p.0.2&. Peir. Martyr. Oc, p. S3.
A- Ber. Dte. I, p. 132.) The same of Cariari appenrs a se-
cond time in the north-east part of South America. Goma-
ra, in describing the coust from west to cast, adds, " Da
Sant Roman al golfo triste (entre Punta Tucacas et Portocft-
bclo) ay &Q leguas en que cac Curuuui (Cora d pai« de las
Curiaiufi, Per. Nar. vol. iii. p. 626.) Del goUb triste al
golfa dt Cariari ai 100 Ic^ai de costa, pnesta tn 10 gradcM
y qw tiene a puoto de Canafistola Cbiribichi j EUa de Cu-
mana, y punta de Araia." {fiitt. de lat Indim, toL Tui.)
Fran this ancient PortttUm it results, tkat, if the golfb di
Cariari b not identical with the gulph of Cariacoyit ia bat at
a small distance. Is this repetition of the same geograpbi-
caL denominations on tbe coast of Veragna, and that of Co-
mana, connected with the ancient migrations of tbi tiatiom
of Carib race ? What I stated in the text, of the knowledge
the-Caribs of Uraba had of bien^lyphic pwintingsj is fbnnd-
ed'oB the following passage ; " Legnm peritna dictos Cor-
raler, Darieniium (FatcracsB et Caribana) prator urbantia,
inqnit se occurrisie cuidam fngitivo ex intemii occidentali-
bna magnis tcrris qui ad regulnm r^Mrtum a se profhgerat.
Is l^ientem cemens pnetorem insilivit admirrimndns atque
{wrinterpretis, qui regali hospitis sni linguam callebaht :
m quid et Tos libroa babetis, en et tob chanicteris quibua
mbsentes voa intelligat asaequimini ? Oravit una ut apertns
sibi libellus ostenderetur, pntans se litersa patriaa Tiaunun;
'Oissimiles reperit eaa ease." {Pelr. Mori. Oc, p. 66. D.)

333

Among the Canimares also, who call themacHves of Carib race^
we fiad some traces of fiireign caltivatioiu " Ajdiitecti perer*
rantes a littore parumper in ff usto candidi marmoria ae inci-*
disse dixenmt. Putant peregrioos ad eaa terras Tetiisse
quondam qui marmora e montibiis aliquando .sdnderent et
putamina ilia in piano reliquerint" In a country almost
entirely destitute of historical tradiUons, we fed asi in*
terest in a period anterior to the barbarism in which the
Europeans found the hot regions of America, on the east of
the Andes. These nations of Cauchieto, near Coro or Cu*
nana, of Caramairi (near Cathageaa), Caribana and Cariari>
were rich in gold that came from the inland monntaioa*
A part of this goU. was mixed with { of silver^ Itwaffthe
electrumoftheaodents, the native aurifisrooa sUver, ora»;
the (knquiitadorei, called it, from a word of the language of
Haiti, gvmm. (Petr. Mori. Oc.', p. 22.) In this, passage
quanini or rither. ntm, for qua is a ibrm affisted, is falsety
translated by aurichalcum.) Herera, in his Decades, (i«.p»
79), gives the name of ^voniiies to all sorts of necklaces made
of gold of mean allDy. (See the words of the Haitian
tongue that have not been collected by Gili, vol. ill. p. 224,
in Petr. Mart. p. 59, 6i.) In my sketch of the Carib .na<«
tions I have not spoken of Uiis custom attributed to the men,
of stretching themselves on a hammock, and undeigoing a
long fast, after the delivery of their wives. It appears that this
strange practice belonged to a small number of Carib tribes,
and was more common among the other natioqs of the
Oroonoko and the Amazon. {Garda, p. 172. Soutkey, vol. i.
p. 642). lliis custom was found heretofore among the
Iberians, the Corsicans, and the Tibareni. (Apollan. Rkod.
Argonaut., Lib. 2, v. 1009-1014.) . Ip several provinces
also of the south of France, hu8band9/atM>ienf couvade at the
birth of a child. The tall stature of the Caribs of the con-
tinent sufficiently confirms their northern origin 3 the first
travellers were struck by the extraordinary height of the na-

aSA:

tUc8 of norlda. Luis VdasqiKz tie AyUoafbund in liu ei-
palitian (13^0), on the coast of Chiconi nod at tlie muutb uf
Rio Jordan (between Sikvannah nad Cliarlcstowa, in soiKli
Carolinny.nmccuf liuliiuia as tall na the Caribe, but witb
long hair, " I'or aqella casta arrtba hombrcs liai vau'i ultoa y
qoe parecjim gigantea." (Gomara, fol. 22. lierera, Dec ii,
p. SoO. Ltel., p. 96.) The irarcllers of the 16th cen-
tury, wlio, like inodern travellers, bad the nigc of ex-
plaining every thiag, believed that the Indians of Cbicora
softened their bones by taking the juice of herbs, and length-
ened their menibcra by stretching them out from time to
time. With respect to tlie Asiatic origin (Anun^enne) of
tlie Carlbe, we shall only ntcntion further the I'benicion and
Raman money, which it ie asserted has been found in the
UnU«d-SMei { It «m pretended that this moa^ wh of tho
>cd OMitory, an4 had been diicovered in ■ csven mew Nuh-
^&o; ibat it it now known (jfreh^obgia, nil. !• p- 110.)
thpt they>«cn bwiad there ekber to deceive, oraccUsotoUy,
iRltk SogtMhnon^, byEupoptan platen. TheiCarthsgia-
iianisnciy of IjoiuBiHia i« fit to bepUoed by the pretendad
UscriptJona of Dightw, found in the bay of Naraugaaet, and
OB nhioh C«uat de Gebelio has fbundol such ahanrd l^po-
thests. (fietBofihe Corditltft, «61. i. p. 60.) la it very
•ertate tfaat4he fine shell, 0 toehee long and 7 haoad, dis-
covered in a iMNtrliM near Gmcjnnati, is identical with the
CtMis eomntas of the ardiipelago of the AsiadG iilMtds )
{Lntf* fitperi. T<d.i. p. 04).

NOTB B.

In order to faejUMe ih^ ooiniMUEiftNi of the late political
associtttioBsiomMil-OM^he new eoatinent, mi^ tbe ancient
states of Eprope^ I shall here giTC « dustdh of the surfaces,
and their popnlafion. The different eountries are ranged ac-
cording to their eztenii which is the least variahle statistical
element* JSvery member has been the object Xf£ a particu-
lar discussion^ and I ha^e considted every statistical work to
which I could find access. When the estimates of the
€irea differed considerably^ 1 calcidated anew the surfiices ac-
cording to the bast maps. The area of the Iberian penin-
sula^ for iiistance, is estimated at 18^166 sqiiare*leagues, and
not, as M, AntiHoB asserts, at 18»44S ; Spain, whidi was
heretofore believed to contain 16,007, or 16jM3 square
leagues, has only 15,0M. {Frmoipws de G€Q§rafia, <p. 186.
Elenwntos de la Qeofpr. de Espana, ISlft, p. 141,143.) For
the area of Portogal (9,160 square leagues), I have foUowed
*the t.*alculation of colonel FranziDi {Balbi, Euai MtaUst, sur
le Portugal, Tom. i. p. ^)* The popuktion in my sketch
is chiefly applicable to the years 182a and 18M. That of
France is founded on the enumeration of 1820, published t>y
M. Ck)quebert de Montbret, and eompMhending .the army.
The population of England b conformable to the enumera*
tion of 1821. (See Rickman, Enumeraiion of Parish Regis-
ters, 1823, p. 88 and 8&). For the population, and the area
of Egypt, I am indebted to the unpublished researches of
' M, Jomard.

COKPABIBON OF THS OHEAT POLITICAL DIVIBIONB

Square H.-

ARBANOED ACCOBDINO

rine Lafu",

TO THE OBDRB OP THEIR BEBPBCTITK ETTBKT.

20U.«d<«ree.

Ameru^a, from Cape Horn as for m the pa-

rallel of Melville'8 Sound, end Cape Borrow

foundlami)

l,I86.0ao

iuarine league, 29.

RCSBIAM EMPIRE

31ti,000

Population, 64 millioiiB. By the square

league, 87.

(Half-surface of the Moon, 014,768 squuic

leagues.)

North Akebica, from the south-east extremity

of the Isthmus of Panama, to Gb' of north

lat. (the continental part only, without the

West India islands

607,337

Population, 19,«60,000. By the square

league, 32.

South Amkhica, on the south of the isthmus of

Panama, without the West India islands

571,000

league, 21.'

Asiatic Rusbia, takiog Kara, and the moua-

tains Oural and Jaik for the western boun-

dary

4a&,mo

Population, 2 millions. By the square

Chinese Empire, comprehending the new west-

era possessions of Taschkent, Kokan, aiid

Kogend

4G3,20O

Population, 17S millions. By theequare

league, 377.

337

COMPARISON OP THB ORBAT POLITIOAL ' DIVItlONS

ARBANOBD ACCORIHMO

TO THE ORDER OP THEIR RESPECTiyB EXTENT,

Spanish AMSRiCAy compfeheoding the laLmda
PopnlatioD, 16,786,000. By the square
league, 46.

BuRoPE, as feur as the Oural

Popidation, 106 millions. By the square
league, 630.

PoRTuouESB America, (Brazil)

Population, 4 millioES. By the square
lei^e, 16,
ENtfLiSH Possessions in North America, of
which the countries altogether savage, La-
brador, and New North and South Wales)
form I or 157,000 square marine leagues ...
Population, 62,000, without the inde-
pendent Indians.
United States, from the coast of the Atlantic

to that of the Pacific Ocean

Population, 10,920,000. By the square
league, 68.
European Russia, as ftur as Oural, (compre-
hending Poland and Finland)

Population, 62 millions. By the square
league, 346.

China, properly so called

Population, 160 millions. By the square
league, 1172.

Buenos-Ayres

Population, 2,300,000. By the square
league, 18.

Indian Peninsula, (Hindostan)

Of which British India (with the protected

vol.. VI. z

SqosfeMa-
lins Uei^^iifit,
90 toadsgree.

■

971,400

304,700

367,000'

206,000

174,30^

160,40a

128,000

126,800

100,200

countries) 00,100 B([uare leagues. I'opu-
lation, 73 millioDs. Indepenilcnt India,
19,000 square leagues. Population, 2tt

Total Popalatioii, 101 loilliona. By
tlie square U'aguc, 025.

ITrrtTBD States, west of the Mississipi

Popidatlsn, 816,000 ; with the lailiane,
378,000. By tlic square league, 4.

New Spai-wvith GuATiMALrt.

Population, 8,400,000. By the square
leagtie, Ofi.
Columbia, (ancient vice-royalty of New Gre-
nada, with the Capitania -general of Caraccos)
Population, 2,78S,O00. By the square
league, 30.

United States, east of llie Miaaissipi

Population, 9,404,000. By the square
league, 121.

New Grenada (with Quito)

Population, 3 millians. By the square
league, 34.

British EMpiitG in I\dia

Population, 73niillionB. % the square

league, 810.

a Possessions of the Company (the three

Presidencies with tbc provinces newly

conquered). *4rco,4P,200 square leagues.

Population, 55J millions. By the square

kague, 1128.

C Countries ptaoed uiuler the proteclion

of the Company (Nizam, Rajah of

3d»

COMPARISON OF THE GREAT POLITICAL DIVISIONS,

Square BIa-

ARRANGED ACCORDING

rine Leagues,

TO THE ORDER OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EXTENT.

20 to a degree.

Mysore^ TOade, of Nagpoor, &c.) j^rea^

40,900. Population, 17) minions. By

the square league, 428.

Peru

41,400

Population, 1,400,000. By the square

league, 34.

Sweden and Norway

39,100

Population^ 8,Md,000. By the square

league, 90.

Venezuela, (the ancient Capitania-general) ...

33,700

Population, 785,000. By the square

league, 23.

■

The 15 Atlantic States of the United

States OF America

30,900

Between the extreme limits of Georgia and

the Maine, consequently without the Flori-

Population, 7,421,000. By the square

league, 240.

Austrian Monarchy

21,900

Population, 20 millions. By the square

league, 1324.

Germany

21,300

Population, 30} millions. By the square

league, 1432.

Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal)

18,160

Population, 1 4,619,000. By the square

league, 805.

France with Corsica

17,100

Population, 30,616,000. By the square

league, 1790.

z 2

COMPARISON OF TBS. GRSAT POLITICAL DIVIBIONS,

Square Mn-

ARRANGED ACCOEDINC

rine Lcapips.

TO THE ORDER OF THEIR REOPbCTIVB EXTENT.

iO ton <ii-K™c-

Spain

IS.OOO

Population, 11,446,000. By thesquarc

league, 703.

Chiu

14,300

Population, 1,100,000. By the square

league, "JC.

Italy

10,240

Population, 20,160,000. By the square

IcfigUL-, 1967.

British Islwds

10,000

Population, 21,200,000. By [he squ.ire

league, 2120.

« England with the principality of Wales.

^rea, 4(M0 square leagues. Population,

12,218,500. By the square lea^c, 2524.

C Scotland with its Isles, ^rea, 2470

square leagues. Population, 2,136,300.

By the square league, 864,

y Ireland, ^rea, 2000 square leagues.

league, 2645,

PRUBBIAN Monarchy

8,000

Population, 1 1,603,000. By the square

league, 1311.

Ahchipklaoo OF THE West Indies

8,300

Population, 2J millions. Hy the square

league, 301.

State of Viboinu

5,400

Population, 1,005,000. By the square

league, 1B7.

Province of Caraccas, (with Coro)

5,200

341

COMPAEISON OF THE ORSAT POLITICAL DIVItlONS^

ARBANOBD ACCORDING

TO THE ORDER OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EXTENT.

Population, 420,000. By the square
league, 40.

England

Population, 1 2,218,600. By the square
league, 2524.

State OF Penstltania

Population, 1,049,600. By the square
league, 260.

Intbndancb of Mexico

Population, 1,770,000. By the square
league, 466«

Portugal ,

Population, 8,173,000. By the square
league, 1007.

Sw ITZERLAKU . . . .'

Population, 1,940,000. By the square
league, 1175.

Egypt

Comprehending under that name the coun-
try only that receives or has received the
waters of the Nile. The space between
the Red Sea and theLybian Oasis, compre-
hends 11^000 square marine leagues, but
^ form only a desart.

Population, 2,489,000. By the square
league, 1777 (in the cultivated part
only).

Galicia ....,

Population, 1,400,000. By the square
league, 1053.
Kingdom of Aragox

Square Ma-
rin e Leagn e'l,
20 to a degree.

4,840

3,900

3,800

3,150

1,330

1,400

1,850

1,230

OOMFAUISOJ. OF THE GREiT POtlT.CAl. DmSIONB,

Square Mi-

ARRANOED ACCOBDINa

rinc Leaguei,

TO TUE ORDER OF TOCIR RESPECTIVE EXTENT.

20lo.deg™e.

league, S37.

HoLLANn (the ancient Republic)

1>00

PopulutioD, 2,100,000. hj the square

league, 1330.

Population, 1,200,000. By the equare

league, 1874.

Dbpabtmbst of theChahbntk

lac

Population, 347,000. By the square

league, 1665.

This department ami that of ihe Meurthe,

furaJBh at the same time the mean extent,

and population of a department of France.

The estimate of the whole area of America is founded on
the following calculation ; 1 found in tracing the triangles
by maps on a great scale :—
I- South America, without comprehending s,. uagou.

the Isthmus of Panama 571,290

Columbia (without Veragua,

and without the Isthmus) 69,344
Peru, Chili, and Buenos

Ayres, together 182,430

• Brazil 256.990

English, Dutch, and French

Guyana 1 1,320

Patagonian lands, south of

the Rio Negro 81,206

571,290

343

Sq. Lea.

II. Isthmus of Fanaina^ and province of Ve-

ragua 2^600

III. Guatimala and New Spain together 02^570

IV. The almost desert comitry which is not

comprehended in the territory hitherto
claimed by the government of the Unii-
- ed States^ and that of New Spain,
namely, 1° on the west of Bio del Norle,
between New Mesuco, Sonora, and New
California, from 35o to 42« of north la-
titude, from the port of Sao Francisco
as far as cape San Sebastian j a surface
of 41,102 square leagues, washed by
the Rio Colorado : 2^,on the east of the
Rio del Norte, between New Mexico, the
intendancies of Durango, and San Luis
Potosi, the territory of the Arkansas,
and the state of Missouri 3 a surface of
20,320 square leagues 61, 4»2

V. Territory of the United States 174 ,300

VI. The whole space between the northern

boundary of the United-States, and the
parallel of 08**, which passes, according
to the recent discoveries of Captain
Franklin, on the south of the Archipe-
lago of the Duke of York, by the capes
Mackenzie, Barrow and Croker. That
immense territory comprehends the Eng-
lish possessions, Labrador, the country
of the Chipeways and Russian America,
(excluding Greenland, West Main, be-
yond the parallel of 680, and Cumber-
land Island 270,385

VII. Insulary America, according to the calcu*

944

Sq.L...

lations of M. Lindenau and the maps of
the Deposito hidrogra&co of Madrid
{Zaeh't Monatl. Cfnraji., 1B17 , Dec. ). . , 8,303

Total 1,186.930

It reiiilts from these statements ;

NoTth jlmerica, on the north of the aoutt-
east extremity of the isthmus of Pana-
ma, contains 607,387

Archipelago of the West India 8,303

Population, 2,473,000.

South America, on the south of the sonth-
eait extremityofthelsthmiuofPamuna &71,2tM>

Population, 12,161,000.

If we compare these oumbers with thoie
furniBhed by the most esteemed and re>
cent statistical works, we shall Bnd, in

. redncing the English miles and geogra-
phical leagues uniformly to square ma-
rine leagues, of SO to a degree, the
total ana of America with Greenlaad,
to be, according to Mr. Morse, (_j4
m«tD st/gtem of Geography, 1822, p, 61,)
1,1(14,800 square leagues ; according to
M. Balbl (Compmdio 4> Geogrq/ta vni-
teraale, 1819, p. 308), 1,327,000 square
leagues, America, nearly as far as the
parallel 68>, according to M. Hassel
( Gatpari, Hostel, und Cannabrith, Vollst'
Erilbcschreibung, 1822, B. 16), of
) ,072,026 square leagues; namely:

345

North AmerkiBi 639,453

Insulanj 8^018

South 524,656

Mr. Hasael having publisked the detail of these ca)cuhi-
tioDSj it is easy to recognize the continental parts, which in
his estimations differ considerably from mine, made with a
more complete knowledge of the limits, and With maps jrec-
Xified by a great number of astronomical observations. In
North America, a space of 6I9OOO square leagues, between
the parallels of 36^ and 42^, has been forgotten in the ac«
count, as is not idiherto comprehended im the territory of
Mexico and the United States. In South America, the area
of Buenos Ayres, Peru, and Brazil have been estimated
d2,000+3,000-f T7,000=:I12,000 square leagues too Uttle ;
and the area of Columbia and Chili 58,000+5,000 =: 83,000
too great. Mr. Hassel by applying these corrections, would
find for North America, 801,000 square leagues -, for South
America, 573,000, and for the whole New Continent with
the West Indies, nearly as I have done, 1,182,000 square
leagues, 20 to a degree.

The division of the Spanish colonies, or to speak with
more precision, of the countries inhabited and governed by
the Spanish Americans, north and south of the equator, is as
follows :

On the continent of North America, comprehending the

Isthmus of Panama, square leagues : 95,170

Population, 8,480,000.

In the Archipelago of the West Indies 4,430

Population, 800,000.

On the continent of South America 271 ,780

Population, 7,505,000.

371,380

lliose three groups yield allogcthcr, ii popuUUon of
lU,78ft.00O. {Si-rr above, p. 127 .iml 142.)

The eurfuie of Indostun, aod its politicnl divUioits, hKv«
been eaU-ulatoil with the greatest core by M. Mutfateu, and
myself, from n ma|i bearing tlie title ; " New improptd fiutp
of India, l»2-2, fcj dlltn, Kinfisbury, <ind PaTbiiry ." We
fband 100,190 squart; mnrinc leagues, or l,3l)7,tUO squiu-e
English miles, in assigning the following limits to the pe-
nimiula of India : the moulli of the Indus and its course as
ftr lu aS" ao' of lat. Bl the N . W. of Cashemerc ; the chain
of the Himalaya nearest the Inlie Maiia9oro\'ar, to the rlrer
Tletali ; the Bomnipnuter at 9Q» of long:itiide j the sea of
Bengal, south of the isle of Masenl, and east of the river
Sankar. 1 am surprised lliiit Mr. I-Inniillon murks fur thu
whole peninsula 1,020,000 square English miles, or BS,12»
square marine leagues, an estimation one fifth too little. Tlie
statements of Playfair, which I baie fuUoweil in my work
on Mexico, and of MM. BulLi, Tenipelraan, and Hosacl,
(103,827 square leagues, 25 to a degree; 82,500 iHiuare
geogrnphical leagues ; 00,750 stpinre geographical leagues i
73,460 square geographical leagues), approach nearly thr
reaalt on which I have fixed.

The folluwing are my partial statements according to
Allen's map : lat. English territory, tlie Presidencies, 4«,a21
siiunre marine leagues; 2nd. the country in Ihe ()e|K'ndannes
of the Company (tributary, sultsidinry, and protected states)
Rajah of Mysore, 2,CUJ square leagues, The Nienm, 8,12(1;
Kftjah of Noffpoor, 6,931; Holkar, 1,002 j Oude, 2,05-2;
Qykwnr, 3,41Ui Rajpoots, 8,482 ; Sciks, 1,300; chiefs of
Buddelkund, 1,220; Bopaul, 494 : Sitarra, 1,185; Trovea-
GOre, 658 ; Siudin, 2,308 ; altogether 40,<)0tl square leagues.
3cd. Independent states : Lahore and Seizo, 10,935. Stnde,
3,643) Nepal, 4,335; Goa, I'ondichcrry, Chandernagor,
Mtriie, Tranqiicbar, Palicotc, &c., 153: together, l£i,0(kj
square leagues. Total, IIIO.IM square leagues.

347

The population of £iiglaiul» acoording to the enumeration
of 1377> was S,300>000. The ciljr of London then con-
tained only 35,000. (Lowe, Pir€$ent State of EngUmd,
Ap. p. 3). The foUowuig is, according to Mr. Cleveland,
the increase of the population of Great Britain within twenty-
years : in 1801, the population amoOBted to 104>43,642 ; in
1811, to 12,500,803; and in 1821, to 14,358,800. In
estimating the popxdation of the Russian empire with Poland,
at 54 millions, 1 reckoned 2 millions (or the Asiatic part
only. Official statements (Petersbvger Zeitschrift, June,
1623, p. 204), gire 1,006,105 to Siberia $ namely, Tobolsk!,
572,4713 Tomsk^ 340,000; Jeniseisk, 135,000; Irkutsk,
400,500 i Jakutsk, 147,015 ; Ochotsk, 6,703, and Kamt-
achatka, 4,506 5 I add lor the parts situated on the east of the
Oural Mountains, that is, for | of the government of Perm,
\ of the government of Orembourg, and the Kirgises,
1,606,195 inhabitants ; Siberia, properly so called, 450,000
inhabitants.

According to the great imperial geographical map of China,
the number of taxable persons amounted in 1700, to 143
millions. M. de Klaproth, thmks that 700,000 may be
added for the army, and the persons exempted from tax-
ation 5 80 that China, properly so called, probably contains
150 millions. For Tartary, 6 millions may be reckoned
(with the exception of Hiibet and Cor^.)

Note C.

Whatever relates to the remains of the native population
having a great interest fur the friends of humanity, I shall
here mark : Ist, the state of the missions of the fathers of
the Observance of Saint Francis^ in the province of BarcelonB|
missions that are vulgarly called of Piritu, and dependant on
the college of the Purissima Concepcion de Propaganda Fide
at Nueva Barcelona 5 (See above. Vol. vi, p. 8, &c.) 2d. The

state of the miiaions of the Oroouokn, ibe Cossiqaiarc, tUe
Rio Kegro, an(f the Atabapo, in the province of Guyana,
(Vol. IT, p: 457, &c.), alike governed by the brothert \>j iht
OhtfTvaitce of the college of Nueva Ibrcelona : 3d, the state
of the misBtons of Carony, east of Angostura, in the pro-
vince of Guyana, confided to the Catuloninn Capuchins.
(Vol. V, p. 70.)

1° Siaie of the Mitiiont of Pirit
Bnrcfhna ii

I lie province of JVuetxi

■ula DooHiin d« Ouimaik ^e A
tu JiiuCB^[nno d* Pumey.

- ■- !(d«eiii«Bo«i(ht.(D.)

Jien Ap.y Einuigiliiu, (p
!Dii Fonr dc Cu>». (M.:

liDHW Api>lUB.d.UgaBnr. 1
uUul*diAriT<.(Mj -

Mra it BcHlwIa III la Cand
,iiiiCblipa1cAhTi.(UJ -

lrVlmbi)d«OrDpl.(M.,
tan dc li Margulia [M.) '-

349

This state of the population of 1709, was commonicated
to me, at Nueva Barcelona, by the president of the missions
of Piritu« Among 24,778 inhabitants there are only about
1,500 whites (Etpanoles) and mulattoes : all the rest of the
population is of pure Indian race. An enumeration of 1792,
believed to be more exact, yielded in 16 pueblos dt ndigion :

2,196 Indian families, or 8,284

247 whites, and free mulatto families, or ... 1,351

DUpersos (insulated without the villages) 2,643

12,178

In 1 6 pueblos of doctrina :

4,944 Indian families, or 17,967

51 white and mulatto families, or 246

Dispersos 40

18,253

Consequently, in all the villages subject to the government
of the Observantin monks in the province of Nueva Bar-
celona :

Indians . 26,251 .

Espaiioles 1,597

Dispersos 2,583

Total , 30,431

Must we conclude from the comparison of the states of
1792, and 1799, that the Indian population of the province
has diminished, or does not the difference proceed from the
negligence of the last enumeration and the exclusion of the
dispersos f

2o State of the Missions of the OroonokOf the Cassiquiare and
the Bio NegrOf in the province of Spanish Guyana,

in 1796.
SanFelipc 52

San Miguel 102

SanBaltasar 80

Esmeralda 92

Smita Barbara 94

San Fernando 236

Maypurcs 48

Carichana : 100

CaHo de Tortuga 117

Uruana 5tlS

Encaramadft 412

Cuchivero 320

CiudadReal 408

Gnaciparo 98

"' Uruunn ., 100

' Gaaraguamyco 133

" Aripao 84

San Pedro Alcantara 22G

LaPiedra 103

Platanar 356

Real Corona 609

Tapaquire 429

Boibon 343

Cerro del Morro 150

Orocopiche 558

Buenavista 230

Atures . 47

San Carlos 272

San FnuidKo Solano 442

Tomo 165

Tuamini 119

Quimbuena 00

Maroa 79

Vacira 07

Total

351

3<> Afissiom of Carony in Spanish Guyana, in 1797.

Sonlt.

Cupapui 872

Santa Rosa de Cura 036

Santa Clara deYaruapana 228

Aycaba 178

San Pedro de las Bocas de Parana 660

Santa Blagdalena de Currucay 200

San Serafin de Abaratayme 27d

Miamo 287

Cmnamo ; 6t2

Villa del Barceloaeta 414

Pueblo de los Dolores de Maria 801

Nestra SeBora del Roe. de Guatifiati 782

Son Josef de Ayma 630

San Juan Baptista de Avechica 614

Santa Cruz del Monte Calvario ^^10

Santa Anade Purisa 604

Nestra SeTkOra de los Angeles 641

San Buenavetura de Guri 603

Divina Pastora 498

Tupuqueri 6GG

Palmar 698

San Antonio de Usiatano 684

San Fidel del Carapo 763

Santa Eulalia de Murucuri 613

Pueblo del San Francisco del Alta Gracia. . . 961

Nuestra Seiora de Belin de Tumeremo . . . 333

Caruachc 400

Upata 667

San Miguel de Unala 487

Carony 699

Total 16,102

1 composed, during my navigation on the Apure, the

Oroonoko^ the Atabapo, the Rio Negro^ and the Cassiquiare^

wilh the aid nf the misisionarlcs, a sketch of (he native tribes,
who now inhabit the forests and BavanDahH comprehended
between (hose rivers, antt between the Caura, the Ventuari,
and tlie Carony, on a surface of more than 19,000 square
marine lengues. This geographical distribution is not with-
out interest for the history of nations. L attempted at first
to arrange the names according to the analogy of the lan-
guages, and the liypothesis which the missionaries, the sole
hifltorianii of those countries, have formed on the filiation of
the Indian tribes ; but I wai compelled to abandon thbt pro*
ject, because more than ^ would have remained what the
classificating botanists call incerta tedit. A trareller cannot
offer finished labors ; but what the reader has a right to re-
quire of him, is to present cnndidty such materials as he col-
lected on the spot. Those which I here mark are disposed
alphabet call y, a pretty certain means of preserving them
from ethnographic hypotheses, and of foeilitattng researches.
Experience having proved to me that nations whose names
appear almost identic, are sometimes of different race, I
have, nntwilh standing the fear of repetition, not joined arbi-
trarily the tribes that present those analogies of denomina-
tion. Father Caulin did not penetrate beyond the cataracts ;
I have, however, made use of his work whenever the con-
fbnnity of the orthography of names gave me confidence iu
tbeidentity of the tribes he mentions, with those contained
in my own list. A manuscript catalogue {Calahgo de ten-
gvas If nacJonc« del Rio Orinoco), kindly communicated to
me by father Ramon Bueno, during my stay in the mission
of Uruana, I found highly useful. 1 shall also cite to this
sketch the pages of the Personal NoTrative, which furnish
the most ample information on the tribes now believed to be
the most numerous, and important. I know that those tribes
often take their denomination from words : men, ton of *aek
or luch a chipf (vol. V, p, 182) ; descendant of suck or »uch
a cauTageoui animal ; there is always, however, in the

353

8im(ile names of nations someUiing moonmental, whidi,
as the learned researches of BOL Abel Rennisal, WOhelm
de Humboldt^ Klafiroth^ Marsden^ ^Ritter^ and Vater^ have
proved^ may becdme of high importance to the history of
distant migrations. The analogy of roots, and etymological
artifices have, no doubt, given rise for ages to absurd reve-
ries, and historical romances. We shall not recognize the
Qnaquas of New Andalusia, in a tribe of that name who
dwell on the coast of Guinea } or the Caraccas Indiansj of
Carib race, inhabiting the high vallies, in the name of
an Iberian spot, cited by Ptolemy ( Geogr. ii, 6, p. 46), and
which appears connected with the Basque root, eatf signify-
ing height, suamnit, or elevation. {WUkelm vm Hwmboldt^
Urbewokner iBipaaieM, p. 68). The mutability of vowels,
and the permutation of consonants, which take place in con-
sequence of organic laws, produce, without counting the
words that have imitative sounds (onomatopoeia), fortuitous
resemblances in thousands of tongues and dialects, of which
the number might be submitted to the calculation of proba-
bilities. If we compare one single language, not to those
from one root, for instance, a Semitic root, (Indo-Germanic
or Welsh (Celtic), but to the whole mass of known idioms,
the chance of those accidental analogies becomes the greatest
possible, and from that appearance, the prodigious variety
of languages of the two hemispheres seem linked together,
nexu reteformi. Analogies of sound cannot always be con-
sidered as being analogies of roots ; and although the learned
who study these analogies, have a claim to encouragement
and gratitude, in thus awakening the attention of linguists,
it is not less true that the study of words should always be
accompanied by that of the structure of languages, and a
complete knowledge of grammatical forms. It were to be
ignorant of the state of modem philosophy, not to recognize
the eminent services which the etymological researches of a
small number of men of solid erudition have rendered within

VOL. VI. 2 A

hiilf a cmlnry, to the philo3n|)hiuid stuity or iMiguagHtte
Mollnnil, ti(.-r)nauy, GngUnd, ami t'raace.

Tribm of the Oroonoko, of Us hrantha, and ill Itibutarg

Ariiiftcotos (Caura ; Carapo,
tributarj' strcAni of the Ca-
roni, RiodcAguostllancasor
Rio Farime -, R. Paragua ;
Berbice).

Achoguns (Mettt and Cravo,
Ijibutary of the Metn; Tjoivei

Achirigotos (ErevatOj Para-
gua).

AriviQos (Upper Courn).

Abanis (Oroonoko, usually A-
tures, AmanavL-ni).

Aruros (Oroonoko, east of
May pu res, Amanaveni, A-
turcfl).

AreririaiiaB (Ventuari, Mana-
plore, Erevato).

Ajures (Ventuorio, R. Poro).

Aguaricotoa (Rio Caura, near
the rapids oFMura).

Amarizanos (Mtita),

Acarianas (Curuname ; Jao).

Aberianas (Venluari ; Jao,
HOiirces of Ihu Purunaonc).

Amuisanasor Amozana (Cassi-
quiare anil Rio Parime).

Alures (Bourtes of the Oroo-
noko; Raudal Majiani),
Vol. V, p. 13, 141, aio.

Ariiiuvia(R. Negro, Itinfviui).

M<:«

■a).

AmacotM (Er«vuto).
Abacarvag (gourcea of the Aio

de Agma Bloaeu or Qia

Variate).
Aru««ie-(Ou^Ri)L
AUrniyoB (Gsquibo).
Atuwiyes (R. Esijiiibi)).
Acurias (Berbioe).
Abat-nrvQ (Upper Paragua).
Ariguns (Caara>.
Arevirlianua (R. Pttrime).
Atapeimns (Up]H-r Orooneke).
Amarucatos (R. Parime).
Avimns (Rio Auvann).
AqucreeotoE (a nation a1mo^l

extinct).

Ntgro,

Berepaquinavis .(Ri

ttitiivini).
Barinagntos (R. Paragua,

butary uf the Carooi).

Chorotas (Mcta).

Ciiyabas (between the Carooi

an<] the Cuyuiii).
(Iiaviitovi (Carih-tribe).

885

Clmpoaoas (B.. Negro)*

(MttvjflA .(£«qiiibo);

(CfK^luijgatos (R. Parime).

Chinatos <R. Parime).

^hirapas {AuTAna) •

Cabres, Caberres (Guaifiare^
Ariari* Aiqjbfiyob Mnne at
pCqcbivc^). Vol. V, p. Wl^
.205^ 209^ 424.

Clmenap (Coeiaaa^ iiVt^^t^ry of

the^eta).
Caridaqu^res.

Cjbaipo?.

Candaltti.

(lapavacbi^.

Cataras (Meta).

Curacicanas (Ventoari, and its
tribntary Monipiare) . Vol. v,
.p. 006.

Cberuvichahena (Rio^egro^
Rio Tomo).

Carives^ Caribes^ Cariua^ Calli-
nago (Paraguay 'Upper Cau-
jra). Vol.iii, p. 284; Vol.iv,
p. 193, 465, 016; Vol. y,
p. 204,200,.860,424 3 Vol.
yi,p.iVJ.

Garianas (Paragua; Ucamu).

Cadupiaapos /(Upper Caura^
Erevato) .

Cbiricoas (between the Meta
.^nd the Apore).

Civitenes (Ventuario, Hio Pa-

ro).
Cario^acos (Upper iOroonoko,

Rio N^ro, If aeoma ; Ven-

tnari Padamo).
Cogeoas <R. Negro).
Carignaoa^ <R. de Aguas

Bbpicas).

2>.

Deesanas (Casriqoiare).
Banvasanas (Upper Oroo-

Aol(c»).
Davinavi (Veamu).
Daricapvaoaa <aoorees of Ae

Rio Negro).

£.

Eqninabts or'Marivitanos<Up-
per Rio N^gro between the
Rio Temi and Azacami) .

EmarucHos (Upper Oroonoko).

Gujancamos or Chiayanicoinos

(Caura).
Guainares (sources of the Ma-

tacona). Vol. v, p. 666.
Gnaycas (sources of the Oroo-

noko, Cano, Chigiiire). Vol.

V, p. 666, "760.
Guaraunos (mouth of the Oroo-

noko.) Vol. ill, p. 216, 277 ;

Vol. V, p. 729.
Guaripacos (Upper Caura) .
Guaypunabis (Inirida). Vol. v,

p. 205. (Serrania Mabicori

and Cano Nooquene). Vol.
2a2

356

iv, p. 521 ; Vol. V, p. 204,
200, 42a, 48S,
Guanifnanusc (RJo Negro).
Ounmos (Lower Apure). Vol.
iv. p. &84 i Vol. V, p. 565,
<!30.

Giuuiuiris (aourcea of the Rio
Caripo).

Quasurionnes (southern bank
of the Upper Rio Negro) ,

Ouapes (Rio Negro) .

OuaoaYajofl (Esqulbo).

Guajamura (R. de Agnus
Bluncos).

Guinoves (Upper Oroonoko).

Guahibofl (Mcta). Vol. iv, p.
608) Vol.v, p.0,l61,234,
644.

Quayres (Upper Oroonoko).

Guabttribo8 (Upper Oroonoko).
Vol. V, p. &03.

Guarsres (R. Parime).

Guayumoros [Upper Oroono-
ko).

Guaranaos (R. Parime).

Gajones (Upper Oroonoko).

Ouaneros (Padamo).

Quacamayas (Padamo).

Guaiquirts ? perhaps hereto-
fore between the Cauro, et
the Cuchivero. Vol. iii, p.
215 and 281, note J.

Joditanas (Erevato).
JuaoH (CHura,K

Jabacuyanas (Upper Oroo-
noko; Conoconumu, Jao).

JayrcB (Upper Oroonoko) Rio
Coiioconumo ; Jao).

J.'Lvarannos IVeDlnari, Mania-
pire).

Jayures (Jao, Conoconumo).

Janiros (between the Meta and
the Apure, between ttw
Vcntuari and the Jao.) Vol.
iv, p. 417, 563 i VoL t,
p. 9.

Jcnnicaros (Upper Oroonoko),
ichapaminaris (Padomo).
Jpunicotoa (Paragua), Vol. t,

Kiriquiripas (Paragna, Ere-
vato) .
Kirikiriscotos (Serb ice).

L. andM.

LibirioDOB (VentlUuio, Ria

Paro).
Maypurea heretoFiire (Raudal

Quittuna; between the B.

Sipapo and R. Capuana ;

Jao; Rio Negro et Pata-

YiU.)
Maciniiavi (Caura).
Macurotos (Crevato, Upper

Manetibitanas (R. Siapa).
Marebi tanas (R. Negro).
, Mnyepien (R. Negro),

357

Mayanaos (sources of the Es-

quibo).
Maoonos (Padamo).
Macusis (R. Aguas Blancas^

Esquibo).
Maysanas (Cassiquiare).
Mapojos (Caura).
Macos-Piraoas (Cataniapo).

VoL V, p. 124, 162.
Macoe (Canra, Ventuari, Pa-

rueni, Paragua). Vol. r,

p. 006.
Macos«Macos (sources of the

Oroonoko).
Maquiritares (between the Jao

and the Fadamo ; Ventuari).

Vol. Y, p. 606, 666.
Manivas (Rio Negro, Aquio).
Mariosas (mouth of the Oroo-
noko].
Maguisas (Upper-Caura).
Meyepures (Oroonoko, Ama-

naveni, Ventuari, Caura,

Guanami).
Morononis (Jao, Ventuari).
Biaripizanas (Cassiquiare, IL

Guapo, R. Negro). Vol. ▼,

p. 206.
Mariquiaitares (Padamo).
Matomatos (sources of the

Oroonoko).
Manisipitanas (R. Negro).
Marivisanas (Ventuari).
Mapanavis (Ventuari).
Motilones (Caura).

Maymones (U. Oroonoko).
Maasarinavi (Ventuari).
Bfiariritanos (Bio Negro)* Vol.

T, p. 206, 206.
Malsanas (Cassiquiare).

Otoinacos (between the Meta
and the Apure). Vol. v, p.
616, 668, 668, 638, 668.

Ocomesianas (R. Gnanauii,
western bank of the Jao).

Ojes (Cnduvero).^

Paraguanas (source of the Es-
quibo) .^

Piriquitos (R. Parime).

Panivas (Padamo).

Pujuni (Caura).

Puinabis (Guaviare).

Poimisanos (between Atabapo>
Inirida et Guaviare).

Paragini (Ventuari).

Purucotos (Cara).

Parabenas (Caura).

Poignaves, or Puinabis (Ini-
rida). Vol. V, p. 148, 666.

Paracaruscotos (Paragua).

Puinaves (Ventuari). VoL ▼,
p. 204.

Purugotos (Upper Caura, Pa-
ragua).

Paudacotos (Upper Caura).

Paravencs (Erevato).

358

Parenfts (OfooiiDko, Mstaveni,

VeDtuarJ). Vol. v, p. 145.
Potttiari (Venituari).
Parecas (Vichada, Venituari,

between the Cuclihero and

the Cano Torluga.)
Piiipuitrenes(VCntuario,l'uro).
Pumyanas (H- Aguas blancits,

Cavlra.)
Parabenas (R. Agaas hlancaa,

Cailra).
Putchi^irinavos (Upper Rio

Ntgro. Vol. V, p. in').
Fajacotos (Padamo)-
Palenkes (Caura).
FsriuTanas (Padamo).
Pajuros (Cuehivero).

Quriquiripos (Caura).
Qmnipaa (UrooDoko; usual)

Aturea).
Ouaquos (Cuehivero}. Vol. ii

p. 262.
Quiaanio (Upper Oroonoko).

SoUtas (S. Metft, Phnte, be-
M'eeh Vichada and Guavi-
are). Vol. 17, p. fi45.

Si^Hu%g (I^Mlamo).

Sercucumas CErevnto}.

Sa^aijucrrs (Attthapo, Xemi.
Uua, tributary of Guavfam}.

Tabnjaris (Caum).

Tacutaca.

Taparitas (between the Mcta

and Apure).
Tomnzas (Lower OrooDokoV.
Tasumas (Aguas blancas £s-

quibo).
TamianacDS (south-eaat of the

Encaramada). Vol. iii, {).

284 } Vol. V, p. 695, 626.
Toazannas (Siapa).
Taparitas (Apuie].
Tiau (nation extinct).
Tujaiona..
Tamanaques (south-east of the

Encaramada). Vol. iii, p.

284; Vol. V, p. 59fi, G26.

U. V. et Z.

Ules.

Unimaiuivi ( Upper Oroonoko).

Varinngotoa (Carony, CorspD.}

Voquiaro), (nation AlmoM ex-
tinct. Upper Oroftboko).

Viras (Caura).

Zaparas (S^squibo, Rio de
Aguas blancas).

359

I h^ve |ii9t giY^a ft list of more tl^aa 200 tribfiB ipr^ad
over a Sfnce h W^tXf^ larger than S)|a^^^^ tf^ese tribes li^^evo
Iheutselve^ to bq at toa^t a|t for<^gt to eaoh otker w th^ Dogr
lish> the Daoesv and the Ge^WMiia^ ( o^fyp^re e^presc^ly
the nations of Blir^pe that ¥ei<nig to 4)e &^ipi9 root ; for we
have often obfe«ved in Hub worl(» h^w npMcbi in the dis-
persion, 1 had aknasl aaid in the 'great shipwreck of th«
AmericaB aatioiiiu umpk dialeelB haye hy ikgre^ ^Mn the
appearance of languages essentially d^erent. The sta^ of
the organs of the voiee> the peri9iitatio|i of coQSonaQtSj the
carelessness of pfonaBeiation; rentier it difficult to rac^guia^
the analogy of the roiMs. The fesear<4aB qf MA|- Heofcs*
weMerand ]>aponceail« iaNovOi Ammem repi4er it prpbaW?
iluit the tongues acattered heretpfpie over BHwe thw iSOi»oao
sqnare leagoes^ helareen the Alteghanies and U^ Rocky
MonDtainsiy the Udses of Canada and the Caribbean sea^ ar^
cediioed to a very small number of root^ of which the Lenni-
Lenape (Deh&ware), the Iroquois^ and the iloridian are the
most important. It may be enquired* whether among the
tribes of the Oroonoko of whieh we hi^ve given the nomen*
dature^ and which^ it is painful |o relate, now comprehends
perhaps not 80^000 i|i4ividHals, there exist fi tp 10 languages
^liferent fttnn each other, like t)ie (Gierman, the &lavoniaq>
the liasque, and the Welsh? This, cpiestion can only be
Bolved by the study of the priated grammars which we owe
to the care of the missionaries. My brother M. William de
Humboldt, the sole Helenist who has acquired a profound
knowledge of the Sanscrit, the Semitic tongues, and filmost
all the idioms of Europe, without excluding the Basque, the
Welsh, and theljiungarian, has been employed for a great num-
ber of years on the whole of the languages of the new cQpti-
oent. He posesses more materials for this study than have
hitherto been collected^ and the work in which he willspon
make known the tongues of the new continent, will spread
a new. light on that important branch of onr knowledge.

360

I liRvc often Bpoken in my voyage to the Oroonako, ot ■
the influence produced by the immense savannahs of America
(between the Apure, the Meta, and the Guaviare, and between
the Bourcea of the Essequebo, and the Rio I'srime, or Rio
BrsDCo), on the manners and language of the natives. The
LlanoB excite and cherish the taste fur d wandering life,
even in a region of the world where there are no herds to
give milk, and where the Jndiot vagoi y andanM live only
by hunting and fishing. The Llanos contribute al90 to
generalize a small number of tongues, and spread them
over a vast space. (Vol. iv, 44* ; Vol. v, 14, 605.) Tb*
greatest mass of the nations we have just named inhabit a
country covered with forests and mountains, and in which
there is no other path than the conrse of rivers. The diffl-
onlty of removing, and the obstacles which the force of the
vegetation, and the depth of the rivers C^pOM to hanting
and fishing, have led the savage to beemne an hMlMndinan.
It Is on this motintalnons region, between the EmenUa, the
flourcei of the Canniy, Ae sonrces (^ the Apare, and that of
file Atahapo, where man is insulated and Immoveable, that ttie
appearance of the greatest dirersity of toi^aes haa been
produced. The degree of harbatism hi irtJch Qraee wan-
dering people, the Gnemos, the Achaguas, and the Qtomadts,
were heretofore fbnnd, differs as mvdh from that of the
BfacoB, the Caradcanas, wm) the Maqniritares, who are fixed
to thte soil, and given to cultivation, as their itatntc, and the
coloar of their skin (Vol. r. A67). The nations of tlw Up*
per-Orootioko inhabit plains covered with fercsta, in the
midst of which rise lofty monntains, but they are not, iwd>
periy speaking, a mountainoas people. Here, as on the table-
land of Asia, conquering hordes issued from the steppes in
the vicinity of the raoonUins and forests. The wariike and
wandering Caribs have long been the masters and the
scourge of those countries which they pass through to seise
Upon slaves. In their stn^gle with the Cobres, they were

861

Ihe predoroinant natioD c^ die Lower Oroonoko, at fvere tht
ilKiaypunabis, enemies of the BfanitiTitaiMy between thv A-
tabapo, the Caaaiqaiare and the Rio Negro, (Vok v. 204,
^08). The Idioms of conquering nations have been gene*
ralised, and have sonrired the national preponderance;
where thejhave not been substituted altogether for the natiTe
langui^es, they have left insulated words on their passage^
which have been mixed, incorporated, agglomerated to Ian*
guages entirely different. Those words, recognfaeed by the
dissimilarity of the sounds, are in barbarous countries the
sole monuments of the antique revolutions of the human
race. They have often a singular form, and in a comitrj
destitute of traditions, present themselves to the iniagina^
tion like the vestiges of the animals of the primitive world,
and which buried in the earth, are in contrast iHth the forms
of the animals of onr days.

European dvilisptioo, like all foreign and ifiif>orfetf civill*
^sation, ascends the rivers, whidi native dvilizationdescendsi
as is proved by the histoiy of the people of Indus, the Gan-
ges, the Euphrates, perhaps even the Nile. It cannot be
doubted that anterior the barbarous hordes which now inhabit
the forests of Guyana, those countries were peopled by
another race more advanced in civilisation, and who had
covered the rocks with symbolic traces. Those painted
rocks form a particular sone between the Atabapo and the
Cassiquiare, the sources of the Essequebo and the Rio Bran-
CO, the Uruana and Caliruta, where the Tamanaque traditions
on the deluge of Amalivaca are connected with the sculp*
tured figures in granite. (VoL v. 000). In the torrid as wdl
as in the temperate zone, on the east of the Andes, as on the
east of the Rocky Mountains, in that long series of nations
which have successively inundated the plains, a feeble gleam
of civilization had preceded the barbarism that existed
when the European colonists passed over the Alleghanies, and
along the banks of the Lower Oroonoko. Walls of a pro*

3ti*2

digiuua ki^lh, coast tnuteil of atuDc uc earth, ia thi! United
States, ilenote the existenuc of |W|iu1olu toivus, or uf furti-
fied camps nad placos at (he conttuiMicG uf gr«fit riven.
NoMitlistaniling ihe iUusiuiis uf ItaU'igb U"! Kcyinis, do
traces lia^e hitLerto been lUscovcrcd in Uuyiiaa of ao edi-
fice in stone. Had tbe nntions of Ibc Urouuoku reiuaiae«i
ubaniloned to the nisei vcs, ihc civiltzntiiin uf Peru uiul tbe
table-land of Ntiw GrcnailH, And tbat «f Ibc ein}urc3 of tbe
Inc& uud Uie Ztujue would huve penetmted luwanls tbe es^t,
foUowiu^; tlic coursu of the Cniiuetu, the Rio Negro, nnil the
UtiU (Vol. V, BUD, WM, U3D.); but this DtDveoKnt of
HiUive cultivation would have been flower tboa thu of
foreign.

. :4 MQ BUt igaorsnt thmt Uagiuagts wluch k»*e bo. Uton)-
tw« KK pRUy generally conaldercd witb <tiMWa ; (wcvilt
■ernHmu Aorrorem) those sound) appetr to lu but the
wild' c^ of PBtuiVi becABM oar tbria mat SMumA to wizc
Uw ^»4AtioH-t btn we muH not forgot Un«:thare is «at>-
dwrwwtr in which tugaaecs ahvuld tm it»di«d thwitbat
' tfcdlaoUiig'tbe indHvidualities of a fotcign litvatore.

■_ IbB HHUt WKultiTated tcm^ea on ioteraMMg wjlh rcapeei
to their atnictiira aud iatetior oigaoiMtion. The ttoluust
KMo^y ^B U17 pre&rWcc to the plMta which gmi he ett>
ployed uMfuny ia the Wti, or wfakh Mgpieiu natioasl
weBllhi he Melu to ualyie ill tha fDrnu tif (he vegetaMe klog-
doiBt hathwe to apptahesd propetlyUie oigwUfttkuiof one,
he mMt know them alL In the samenwuinertwcainnatre'
date the tongow fato fasuhei, without Atodying k great num-
ber ofthose that differ In their goamtDfttical ttmebaro. If the
mitltiplkity of langveges existing on a small Ap«e. oppose*
great cdiMadea to the communication of differeat tribes, it
gives them the advantage of preserving a character of indi-
viduality, witbont which all that belongs, to national physi.
ognoray is effaced. Beside, and 1 dwell with pleasure on
this drcumalaiKC, none of tbe Ameiican tonguea are in that

afis

sMe df bilrbarisin wUidi has loiig beea cffronMuBly believed
to characterize the iliCftncj of natioos; iall hsie fixed gram«
matical forms^ for the parts easentially organic in aft idionot
are formed at the same time. (William de UluAbaldt^ on
the ilrogresshre development of languages, iu the Memmrs de
VAcad^nie Roy ale de Pruue, liB23.) The further we pene-
trate into the structure of a great number of idioms, the more
vfe distrust the great divisions of tongues (by bifurcation)
into synthetic and analytic. These classes, somewhat like
the great divisions of organized bodies, present a deceitful
simplicity, to which the naturalist b^ns to substitute a dis«
tribution by small nux^erous groupes, connected as if inter-
woven together. To ask i^ this multiplicity of idioms is
primitive, or the effect of progressive deviation^ is to enquire
if that variety of plants that embeilish the earth has always
existed, or if (according to the hypothesis of the great natu-
ralbt of Upsal) the species have been diversified by mutual
fecundation. Questions of this kind do not belong to his-
tory, but to the cosmogonic fables of nations.

N(yrBD.

The following are the very incomplete statements which
have been hitherto obtained on the population of the ancient
vice-royalty of fiuenos Ayres, designated, under the gdvem-
ment of the mother country, by the name of Provincias del Hio
de la Plata, and divided into intendancies and governments,
(Buenos Ayrcs^ Montevideo, Paraguay, Salta del Tucuman,

364^

Cordova del Tucuman, Charcas, La Vaz, PobMi,
Cruz (le la Sierra, Clii<iuitoB, ond Moxos) :

I. AUDIENCIA DB BuEKOa-AvBEB.

Political divisions.

BuenosAyres 120,000 130,000 250,000

Cordova 7&,000 46,000 100,000

Tucuman 60,000

Snlta (with the Vale dc

Catamarca and Jujuy) 60,000
C>i;o (Mendoza and S.

Juan dc la Fronlera) 7J,000
Paraguayand Missions.,. 140,000
Santa Fc, between Rios

and Banda Oriental ... 60,000
DistricW not estimated . . . 73,000

Total 665,000

(See BrackenTidge, royage to South America, 1820, vol. ii.
p. 47. Mr. Rodney, by diffcrept calculations, finds either
480,000, or u23,O00. Menage Id Ikejijtemth Omgrei*,
leiB, p.M.)
XI. Addiencia op CaARCAs.
Political divisions.

Intendance of Charcas.
Charcas (La Plata orChu-

■^ quisaca) la.OOO 16,000

^^ Zinti 25,000 35,000 60,000

•*■ TamparaeB 12,000 28,000 40,OCO

•***■ Tomina 12,000 28,000 40,OO0

'■^ Pkria 13,000 37,000 50,000

''^" Oruro 6,000 B,000 15,000

'*'"CatBiiga« 8,000 17,000 26,CM>0

"^"^ 02,000 IM.OOO 240,iK>0

365

Intendance of Potosi :

Potost 14,000 21,000 85,000

Atacama 8,000 2S,000 80,000

Lipes 8^000 12,000 20,000

Porco 15,000 115^000 180,000

ChaTanta 40,000 00,000 100,000

86,000 280,000 815,000
Intendance of la Pbz :

LaPaz 14,000 20,000 40,000

Ptoijes 00,000 80,000 90,000

Sicasica 20,000 40/)00 00,000

Chalamani 15,000 85,000 50,000

Omasuyos 80,000 80,000 00,000

Larecija 25,000 40,000 05,000

Apolobamba 5,000 80,000 85,000

109,000 231,000 400,000
Intendance of CochabamlMi :

Cochabamba 80,000 70,000 100,000

Sacaba 15,000 45,000 00,000

Tapacaii 80,000 70,000 100,000

Arqoe 10,000 25,000 85,000

Palca 0,000 14,000 20,000

Clissa 35,000 06,000 100,000

Mizqae 8,000 12,000 20,000

Yalle Grande (Jesus de

Montes Claros) 3,000 70,000 100,000

104,000 371,000 535,000
Santa-Cruz de la Sierra,

Moxos et Chiquitos 220,000

(Brackenridge, yol. ii. p. 80.) I have rectified the names
of the provinces.

pRiHctpAL ToWK£, In the AuilleDcia of Huenoa Ayrea ;
Buenos Ayres GO,fM>0 ; Montevideo 700O ; San Miguel dc
Cordova tiOOO i Saiila Fe GOOO ; Tucumnn 5000 ; Salta
0000 i Meiidozn BUOO j Asuin|)cion 12,000 j La Candearin
5000. In the omiiencia of Choreas : La Pni 40,000 ; Po-
ta^&i,00iQi La Plata 16,000; Orura 16,000; 2inlilS,0O0i
Oiopcsu 2^,000 ; Zorale 12,000.

These estimates of the population are incomplete for the
iaisur regions of Ihc Audiencia of Buenos Ayres ; for in-
Btanee, for Salta, Saiitc Pe, Bandi Oiicntal and £ntrc Rios,
the uJculatioDJs perhaps too low; it amonntsfroin^be years
.1017 lo 1820., for thcAudienciaofCbarcas, with Sapta Cruz,
.MoxQE, and Chiguitoa to 1,716,000, comprebending the
.(UitiTCs i far the Audiencia of Buenos Ayres, u^ilhotit the In-
ijiaruj 655^00, total 2^71,000. M. Scbmidtmeyer. in his
^i^lfifaf^ar^ ^iijgagt ifl OnU, reckons l,lOOjPQ0,iia^Bbitants
fyf the twijp,0f I>,f,l«ta, and 1,300,000 for .^ frtmndat
deja SUrra. J,t agpws to me probable that before the re-
^»l9ltrt|Qn,)tbp,WJli^,-i«»IIP"-">lo"'^' and mixed population
of the whole vice-royalty, pa;*ipm}f-tofhe dtWNnnhefuig of
4t|eX?ifplati{ipj>rqvii>cerby the Brazilian Porti^^pes^, and of
Itf^n^uay^Doctor.FKiiizia, exceeded 2{ mil^ivjas^jif whom
;i;{Oq^OOiO^«^ IqdiwiA.

867

NOTB £.

The rapid increase of the population t>f the TTnlted SU&ted
has been the basis of so many calculations of political econo-
my in Europe^ that it becomes liighly interesting to Icnow
with precision the principal statements. In order to com-
pare the numbers^ and fix them with exactness^ we must
have recourse to the first sources, that is, to the tables
printed hj the Congress^ add cleared of the typographical
errors by which they are sometimes disfigured. The popu-
lation of 1800, which was i^,306,032, is stated by Mr. Mel-
lish (Dratxli, p. 60CO» at 5,308,844 ; by Mr. S^bert (Statiti.
Annals, p. 72), at 6,319,762; by Mr. Harvey (Edin. TXit.
Jawrn. 1823,4). 42), at 5,309,758. 1 shall here transcribe
a Jiote, which I owe to the kindness of M. Gallatin, who
long occupied the place of jninister of the public treasure at
Washington, and whose departure from Europe has recently
caused so much regret to those who know how to appreciate
talents, and generous sentiments.

" The exactness of the following official inlbrmafion may
be depended I on :

17M. -

'1000.

1»10. •

4S20,

Under the name if
hUtckt if coinpreheno-
fd also tbe>«Qp|N»-
colaofad .people, tf
which the nomber b
rery small in tl^
Umted States.

MtM [

(Free.*
C Slaves

1,17.2,120

&9,SH

697,«97

4,.103,m
109,^4

5,862,093

186y«43

1,191,3^7

7,868,282

288,149

1,637,668

Total . .'

3,929,328*

.'>,80r>,032'

7,^9,903

9,637,999

" There are Bcreral obserrsticnii (o be made in colcnhtiiig
the increase for every period of ten yeart.

" 1st, The inhabitants of the countriea situated on the north
of the Ohio, (States of the Ohio, Indiana, and the lUinois, ud
the territory of Michigan), and also the inhabitanti of the
territory forming at present the state of Missiasipi, were not
numtwred in 1 790, and they ought to be added to the enn-
meiation of that year. I calculate that they were at Out
period;

Whites 10,e00-v

Free Blacks SOo(u,800

Slares l.aoo)

" adly. Three counties of the sUle of Alabama hmn been
omitted in the estimate of 1820, bat it is known that they
contained more than 12,000 inhabitants, of which neariy
8000 were whiles, 4000 slaves, and 60 free bladu^

1 1603. colli J

S69

'Mtbly, la order to cabtokte the octeo/ iaoreiMe^ we most

include, not only tlie aoqniiHioii of Xousiaaar but alao the

' emigntionft ftomBorope. With respect lo the white popula-

tion, we may, I think, asaeit,* that the annuel mean of the

• emi^Fanto arriving in the United Siatei la nendyMiOOOy or ra*
wlher between 7^000 and 14,M0f for aMiough tbere have been
. yean cf 28>0M and of 6ga00, the average of the emlgvatioii

fvom Europe is not above 14,000, nor below 7000. > The
.increase of the black/ populatbn -is entirely natnial, with
. the exception of the period from 1800 to 18|0> during which

we mnstinclude, not only.the nuoiberof Uackafcuad in

• liowsiana; but alio neady ^iOOO Afrioansi imported during
the yearal804 to lOOJi Ihepermd ta whieh South Gandina
permitted die importation of slaves^ We should always

• consider in these ealcolatlons tiie whole of the black popula-
tion, freeand enslaved* •

'^Although we havfi not yet sufficient statementa to obtain

definitive results on the annual births and deaths, it may bo

^ affirmed that for the white population, the former are- below

. Bve, and the latter below two, in an hwidred. The natural

annual diffimnce or increase is 2*0 in an hundred.**

I shall add to the above infonnati<m given by Mr.. Galla-
tin, some other numerical statements :

The total populatwn in 1810, was 7,380,003 -, in 1820 it
vras 9,687,809 ; increase 88 p. cent.

The whU^ population, in 1810, was 5,882,098 3 in 1820 it
was 7,856,082 ; increase 84 p, cent.

The ilate population, in 18L0, was 1,191,864 ; in 1820 it
was 1,537,568 ; increase 28 p. cent

The population of free coloured people, in 1810, was
186,443 ; in 1820 it was 238,149, increase of 21^ p. cent.

The calculation of the area of the United States, which 1
gave above, in Chapter xxvi, supposes the astronomical
verification of five great lines -, those of the- coast of the

VOL. VI. 2b

Atlantie, ifae AUeghonjr HuuDtwns, the oonree of the His-
sissipi, the RockyMouataiiu, and the cotuts of the South Sea,
that diride the confederation into four natnnil sectiont. If
the general maps that have hitherto been traced, had no
other errors than those of abiolule longitude, and in preserv-
ing the diBerences of re/olioeloDgitude, they displaced equal-
ly with regard to Europe (for instance to the meriAaaa cf
Paris or Greennich), the five great lines we have just
named, the area of the partial diviiiona would not be alter-
ed. In order to eatimate the effects of these unequal dis-
placiugi, I have compared on every map used for the calcu-
lation of rarftces, the longitude of New York, Ktt«bur^, the
confluence of the Ohio and the Misglssipi, and of Tao«, a
village of New Mexico, eitualed, so to speak, on the prolongn-
tion of the Rocky Mountains, and the bay of Nootka. The
three first points arc founded on the excellent observations of
M. Ferrer, Niew York is 8° 22' W eastof Mortoof the Ha-
vannah, and this point being 84" 42' HA' by my obswvatioBs
of the satellites, and according to the oceitlatioDS of M. Fer-
rer, 84° 42'' 43* west of Paris, wc may admit, for the abso-
lute longitude of New York, 78° 20' 9". (Conn, dei tempt,
1817, p- 320 nnd »30 ; and my Astr. Ohs. Vol, S, p. 108).
The well determined longitudes of Pittsbuig (82"18'30*),
of Albany (78" 4' 46*), and of Lancaster (78'>39'8O0 eervi-,
by the proximity of those three points to (he mountains,
to contain within just limits the chain of (he Alleghanies.
The line of the Mississipi is fixed by observations made W.
the mouth of the Ohio (OL" 22' 46*), and at New Orleans
(92* 28' 15'). Ihe chain of the Rocky Mountains which
divides the country west of the Mississipi into two great
sections, is not yet so accurately determined as to its longi-
tude as the three preceding lines. I suppose Taos of New
Mexico at 108° 60' ; Lewis and Clarke place the central
chain of the mountains iu the purallel 45°, at 1 14° 46' ; but

S7r

tbto pDsitioo b probaUy fiMr too miM^ to the wettj althoij^h
the pandldi chains of the Bocky Moontaiiis fill a space of
more than 8* of loogitade, in tUs paraHd. The coast of
the Pacific Ocean has heen surveyed with the greatest care
by Vaneonver^ Galiano, and Valdes } the rdaiwe UmgiUtdea
leave JitUe to desire> bat .tiie aftsoMc loagHiidaf jrenudn in
VQcertaiaty more than half a d^ree. Aceordiag to the
learned researches of Ifr.Otonanns, the Nook of theFrieads
atlbe isle of Nootka is probably I880 W* -, but the partial
resnlts of Galiano (tf" ^6' 40^^Marchand (fii^ 36/ 44^» Cook
(fi^ M^JbO*) and of Vancpiurer (S^ M' 6tfO» fore not in tiie
aocordance we might liave hoped from the concnrrence of so
many ehrondmc^rSy and such a series of lunar distances,
(fitt my Obt. a$inm. Tom. ii, p; 096^ and OUmmu, Geogr.
Ufiieimuktmgm, Tom. ii, p. 489).

The fite great lines of demarcation which we have just dis-
cnased^ divide the immense territory of the United Stales
into four uneqnal parts :

«) Between the Atiaan^ coast and the AUeghanieSf in suppos-
ing those mountains prolonged on the north ', towards
I^ttsbuig, and on tlie south, by following the banks of
the Apalachioola. According to this prolongation, pro-
posed by Mr. Ciallatin in a very interesting memoir
which he permitted me to insert in the Political Essay on
New 6pain> (Vol. iv. p. 824), the grestest part of Florida
ia comprehended in this first division, the area of which
I found to be at least 8849000 square English miles, or
S7«064 square marine leagues. I calculated separately
the portion of the Atlantic States that fidls on the west of
Ihe Alleghany Mountuns, those mountains crossing the
states of New York^ Pensylvania, Virginia, and North
Carolina. The extent of country which we must deduct
from the total territory of the Atlantic Stales, compre«
. bending West florida, is 97,071 square miles. In divid-
ing the 884,000 square miles of the first division in the

2b 2

north-east States (from the Delawar to the Munc), And
in the south-east states (from Maryland to Florida), we
And far the former 110,991 square miles; and for the lat-
ter 213,009 square miles. The AllanHc Slave-Slate»
(states with slaves situated on the east of the Alleghanies)
exceed a little the area of France. The whole of Florida
contains, according to my calculalions, ft9,187 square
mites, of which 62,310 are on the east of Apalocbicola,
and 6,877 on the west of that ri«r, MJI. Carey and
Lea estimate Florida at 57,750 square miles. The divi-
sion of Alleghanies into several parallel chains renders the
partitiou of the United States situated on the left bank of
the Mississipi, a little arbitrary, in two portions, on the

" east and crest of the mountains. The 15 Atbut6e StaUt
(from Georgia to the Maine, consequently without the

' floridaa) becupy, on the two sides of the monntaias, ac-
cordiag to Mr. Warden, 386,000 square m3es ; according
to Mr. Morse, 377,446, and accordhig to H. Melisb,

- 3fl6jOeO. In adopting the latter Dumber, and in estimat-
iug«t 97,071—8,877 =80,194 square miles, the 16 stales
lying on ithe west of the Alleghanies, we find the territory
of the United States comprehended between the Atlantic

~ Ocean and the mountains, without Florida, to be 275,606
' aquare miles, and with Florida, 328,116; which, results
agree with those I found from direct measures. Mr. Gal-
latin, in 1804, estimated this division, without Aimprehead-
ing Florida, at 320,000 square miles, which seems to
prove that this statesman, so well versed in the statis-
tics of his country, had allowed more than .38S,4KM sqoaie
miles, for the total area of the Atlantic Statu, or,' tint he
had traced the line of division by a chain less eoateriytban
the Alleghanies.
P) Bttaeen the AUegianiex and the JVumiipi, at most 606,000

- square English miles, or 60,020 square marine leagues.
I find, without that part of Florida situated on the west of

373

AjraJachicolay 599^23 square miles. Mr. Gallstin had
well estimated that surface at more than 580^000 square
miles. If the partial Talue of the two sections » and 0 are
affected by the uncertainty of a line of demarcation pass-
ing by one of the numerous chains of the Alleghanies^ the
total value of « + f remains less doubtful^ because it de-
pends only on the portion of the coast of the AtUintic^
that of ihe kkes^ and the course of the Mississipf . The
divisions of the United States into two great scctionsi on
the east and west of the Mississipi, \b, from its very na-
ture, the most exact of all ; and the maps whidi we pos-
sess at presoit, disagree only on account of the uncer-
tain form of the peninsula of Florida, and the want of an
accurate representation of the coast of Georgia, of Alaba-
ma, and of the territory of the Mississtpi. Mr. GaHAtin
finds for the value of » + B, comprehending Florida,
958,000 square mQes; Mr. Warden, 909,000; Mr.
Melish, 952,000. I have fixed on 980,000 square miles,
or 77,700 square marine leagues 5 but Mr. Brum's map,
fur which several astronomic positions were employed,
gives 972,000 square miles. All these calculations of
the area prove, that the limits of the errors are in the ac-
tual state of the geography of America, between one twen-
ty-sixth and one thirty-fifUi. The errQrs.even in Europe
amount in many countries^ to one-fortieth., (JntUlon,
Geogr. p. 14S).

y> Between the Miuiaipi and the Rocky Mountains : 808,4oO
square miles, or 72,681 square leagues. As many doubts
have been recently thrown out lespecting the area of the
territory of the Missouri, I have again made the calcula-
. tion on a great number of maps ; of which the result for the
part of that territory between the Mississipi and the Rocky

* . Mountains, oomprehending the state of Missouri, is
098,862 5 689,806; 692,277 i 696,277 square miles. Mt-

374

Morse catimalee this ana much too bigb at BOO,000 Equare
milea. The territory of the Arkansas only, of h great part
of which Major Long has taken very exact surveys, ia
125,865 square miles. 1 found the state of Louisiana od
the east of the MissiBsipi, 6200 aqoare miles, and oa the
west 45,300.
J Bettueen the Rocky Mounlaiiit and the coant of the Paci^e
Ocean : 208,400 square milea, or 24,081 square mariae
leagues. This is the territory of Columbia, of Oregon or
the west, which must not be confounded either witb the
teriilory of the noTlh.weit , between Ifdie Superiour anil
lake Michigan, now comprehended in the territory of
Michigan, nor with the Eagliah western territory, which
the members of the North West Company pass orer. 1
have found on different maps, for this fourth great division
of the United SUktes, 28U,034 ; 288,391 j 284,92a ; and
200,400 square English milea. The territory of Oregon
(Columbia), Arkansas, and Missouri, comprehending the
state of this latter name, furnishes, according to my cal-
culation, an area of 1,107^000 square miles, on immense
region, which in 1820 did not contain 83,000 inhabitants
of European origin.

The United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean,
ROW comprehend an area of 174,008 square leagues, 30 to
a degree, or 2,086,800 square miles. Mr. Morse coropnlcs
the area at 2 millions of square miles, the half of which be-
longs to the territory of Miarouri, Arkansas, and Oregon.
M. Warden, fa the French and English editions of bis etstis-
tiral work (Introd. Vol. i, p. xlix and li,) had estimated that
•HffaCe at more than 1,636,000 square miles; and if beseems
at a later period in the French edition (Vol. v, p. 100, and
Bulletin lU la SoriH^ de Gfygraphie, vol. i, n° 3), to iix on
1,687,000, that diminution of surface arises only from an er-
ror caused by the reduction of leagues into square miles. The

«75

terrilory comprehended between tli« Miaiisaipi and the Fteifid
Ocea&i does not oontain 741^414 aquare mflee (namelyf the
state of Lotiisbna, deductiiig whit Is ea^ward of theMis-
sissipi, 48,900 — 9,2U 2 80,006 1 terrkoiy of Ariumsas»
76^1 1 twiUMTj of the Missouri, 446,884^ territory of
the West, lOO^li"* (H^tirdmi, Vol. i, p. 101 s VoL hr, p.
608, 668) I hat 1,166,800 square miles. A weU-iafbrmed
geographer, whom Mr. Warden had employed in those eaku-
lations o£ surface, lepealed tliem at my desire 5 and, in em-
ploying Uie real ksgarithnu of reduction, Ibiand the tenritory
of Miasonriy oon^nreheDdi^g the slate of that ntme, neariy
asIdid,to bo 600,iKM> square imles, instead of 446,834;
the territory of the West, S84/KH) square miles, ioetead of
180,114 1 and the tarritory of Arkansas, 426,866 square
mflas, iostead a£96,fi6l* These partial errors, which bear
only on the most unpeopled part of the Ameriean territory,
and ficom which the calculations of sorfoee in the English
edition of Mr* Warden's work are entirely exeoqpl, ptoduce a
total di£ference of more than 400,000 square miles, or
38,400 square marin<9 leagues* M. Adrian Balbi, who m his
statistical essay-on the kingdom of Portugal has collected a
great numbes of preeions materials for Ike study of political
economy in general, ooBSputes tlie ofir* of the United States
(Vol. i, p. 269,) to be 2,146,000 Italian square miles, 60 to
a degree (288,000 square marine leagues). Hiis estimate is
neariy one-fifth too gosat* On the other hand, the results fixed
on by Mr. Moras, in t very instructive work just published
at Boston, with the title Sfttem of Modem Oeograplty, di£fer
yery little from mine for the eastern part of the confederation.
He fties the United States at 377,446 square miles } now,
deducting 90,200 for the portion of those states lying west
of the Alleghanies, and adding 62,300 for Florida, on the
east of Apalachicola, we obtain, for the division a, 380,600
square miles. The eight states and territories situiAed be«
tween the Atlantic States and the Mississipi, comprehending

37e»

tbii eastern {wrt of Ihe slate of LouUUtu, are computed by
Mr. Morse at 484,000 aquare miles ; and the whole division
3 {adding 90,200 -1- 6,800 for the portion of the Atlanlk
Statei and Florida, on the west of the Allegbatiies), at
&B1,100 square miles. It thence results for * + |3, 920,700
square miles, only one ninety-GFth less than the area wtuch
I stated (see above, p. 179,) for the tarritorj of the United
States east of the Misstssipi.

A surface of 2,086,800 square miles fiinusbed to the in-
dustry of n laborious people wisely governed, is ten times
larger than Prance. It need not be augmented by lubstitut-
ing, as some American engineers hare seemed recently to
desire (on occasion of the rectification of the limits of Cana-
da), geocentric latitudes (the angle formed by the inclination
of the earth with llie equator) for ordinary latitudes. {Quart.
Joura. o/Sdencet, 1823, Jan., p. 412.)

In compering the area of the great diviiion* with the
nnmber of inbabitanta which the enumeration of 1820 yields,
W«find:
L In the 15 Atlantic States (from Maine to
Georgia), consequently without the Flo-
rida on both sides of the Alleghanies,
on 30,900 square marine leagues, or
370,000 square English miles :

Absolute population 7,420,764

Relative population on the sq, mar. lea. 239

TI. Between the Atlantic States and the left
bank of the Mississipi (also without Flo-
rida), on 43,000 square leagues.

Absolute population 1,982,908

Relative population on the sq. mar; lea. 47

III. Between the right bank of the Missis-
sipi and the coast of the Pacific Ocean, on
96,S00 square leagues, or 1,156,000
square miles.

877

Almolate popalatioii^ withoul the la-

dimna 234,230

RdaiiTe popdlalion of the whites on

the sqaare league 2} •

It results from tii^ee calcoktioiis, in which the errors in.
tlw estiawte of snrfiioes can have no sensible infloenoe on the-
relative population, that the United States on the east of
&e Mississipi (without comprehending the Flbridas) con-
tained in 1820, on an area of 77,700 square marine leagues,'
or 730,000 square English miles, an absdute population of
9,403,700, and a rdatiTe population of 129 inhabitants to
the square marine league. -If the relative population of the-
whc^ territory of the United States, from the Pacific to the
Atlantic Oceai^'was in 1820, 66 inhabitants to the square
league,, it. nmst.haTe- been at the end of the year 18fl2, (when
I fidd, in supposii^ an nnilbrm increase, a total popidation
of 10;220,800}y a little above 68. The immense angmenta-:
tion of the population on the east, of the MississipL becomes
little sensible if, according to a simply mathematical abstrac-
tion, we divide the whole population over the entire surface
of the territory.

I have discussed in this note the uncertainty that hangs
over objects of the highest interest in political economy ; I
have particularly fixed my attention on the countries situ-
ated on the west of the Mississipi, and of whidi the destiny
will in the lapse of ages have a powerful influence on the
state of the northern provinces of Mexico. In order to ob-
tain an accurate knowledge of the area of the United States,
we need not wait for the period when 174,000 square leagues
are trigonometrically surveyed. It is by means simply as-
tronomical, by the combination of a great number of observ-
ed latitudes, and chrofum/eirxcal Ixmh traced in different direc*-
tions, that we can rapidly obtain precise statements, indis-;
pensible in every good administration. Amidst so much
uncertainty, it were to be wished that the Congress of Wash-

378 «

thgton would caltect the mnterinls already obtained, in ord^
to fix by cnlculation, I do not any tlie area of every
state Riid every territory, but the tot&l area of the four great
natural divisions comprehended between (he coast of the
Allnntic Ocean, the central chain of the AUegbaniea, the
eoUrie of the Mississlpi, the Rocky Mouatains, and the Paci-
6c Ocean.

The population in the English possessions in the aeigh-
bourhood of the United Stales, is now perhapi one-sevenlli
greater than 1 sapposeil, in the table p. 143. It was computed
in 1814, in Lower Canada, 33&.U0O ; in Upper Canada,
9&,O0O i iu New Scotland, 100,000 ; in New Bronawick,
60,000 ; in Newfoundland tmd at Cape Breton, 18,0M ;
jn all, 608,000 inhabitants. (Carey and Lea, BularUal,

Ift order lo facilitate tht rodnctioDs of larficc*, we ihall
h«n repeat that a iqnare moiiiM kagnc (SO to ft itfffne), l>
11-V71S Engliah iqwre mSaa (of 694 to a dcffca), or
1-MU sqaan Frenoh lei^nei (U to a d^m)> or 0-a6S»
geognpUcal e<|nare lei^aai ()9 toadegroc), Qr91taHMi
square miles [60 to a degree).

Note F.

, Ogcvviid by attranocaical detmmnatiraa on tke wwtbera
froBtierof theSpaaiihGuyuus, I hod great intcreat, durii^
my ttavBlt, in collecting all that baa any relatiea to Ifae dia-
patea concemlug the limita between tlie crown* of Portvigal
and Spain, This Eaforination waa necessary in arier to com-
plete the memoir I addreated od my return from th« Oroo-
n«ko, to the first secretary of state, Don Mariano Lena de
Urguyo (See above. Vol. r, p. SWi 418 > Vol. vi, p. 3»1).

879

Without pretanding 1^ ||iTe a eoittplele history of thaie Om^
miiiiciM of botmdarks, whidltheigiioMeartiftcAof SurdpeMi
diplomtey have pMvented from bdag more wefiil fo tiie aa*
trdnomicml 0og$afhy of^the NeW Cootiiitot, I shall here
auccinetlj fiabUdi; the ideas Which iaay throw light oa that
^uestioa i iod of vrhidi those that rdbte to the n^ototioDa
of the Ifith centory, are taken from vnpublished pieces pre-
aer^ed in thd arohlres*

. The dtaeussiond tdaodttang the boundaries between the

courts of Madrid and FMdgiAt have lasted dnrng three cen«

turies. They at first touched only on maritime Interests^ the

possessioh of islands and coasts i by degrees they hsfe ex^

tesHled to the inieridr of Sooth Arnica. The eclebreted MB

of pope iyenndet «tk (May 4th^ 1409) in ivror of Spidn^ Watf

sn^iiithe iaooo spirit as the lessUmWn bull of the year

1446, iftnid by pi^^Niooias Ml hi listor of Portugal. The

former phu!ei the linb tf demttrtatfim an hundred kagoei

east of the Islands of Azores a^ Cape Vert, and gives to th^

Spaniaids dl that on the #est of that line had n<>t been oc-*

oupied brfore Christmas in llie year 14n. It says oonfiis-i

edly enough, ceatam leueas a quaUbH imklamm qua tmigarU€f

nuncupaniur d6 lag Aworti y fkka Verde. Cardinal Bemb^i

who, in his daasieal styk, pcosoAea all new denominations,

aimply myt, GorfsHtsli mmkt^ no doubt {J^Vm.^ accordhig td

Xenopbon de Lampsaeo^ lib. 6^ c 31, Mma^ lib. 8, c. 0,)

the Gorgada fdonmif uttAmt^ atiquando Garganum) opposite

the Byssadiom Ptromontannm* The island of Saint Anthony

is, no doubly in the aseridlan of the island of San Mtdiaeli

but there are tf* of longitude firam the meridian of the

most western iskad to the meridian of the most eastern

of the Azores. A new bull of the 34th November, 1408^

leaves the same doubts ; but in the treaty of TordesUlai

(June 7, 1484), the meridian of the demarcation was carried

to 870 leagues, instead of 100, from the Cape Vert islands.

The measure of the leagues not having been indicated, the

380

liiutt divuoria reaches, accor<lilig to different hTpotheSM, thtf
mouth of the Rio FranciBCO, or Bio Janeiro, ot the meridian
of Saint Paul, which is fltill placed i" to the east of Grand
Para. Pope Julian sanctioned the treaty of Tordesillaa bf'
a butl issued January 24th, 1506 ; but the dariog voyage
of Magellan, and the diseoveries (1500 — 1504) of the moulb
of the river Amazon, by Vicente Japez Pinson, of Cape San
Augufitin, by Amerigo Vespucci, and (he ports of Santa Cms
and of the Bahia of Todos Santos, which had preceded that
voyage, engaged the courts of Madrid and Lisbon to as-
semble in 1&14, the congreu of piloti and cotiaographen at
the bridge of Rio Caya, between Yelvea and Badajoz. The
Spaniards accused the Partugueie of having altered the
distance from Gilolo to the coast of Brazil, and prove vic-
toriously that the Moldccu belonged to the Castillian do-
nwins. The celebrated mathematician Falein, had taught
the pilots the lunar methods by wbidi they mi^ ileteiBiine
the distance of a ship from the line of demareatiati, con^-
dfred as a first meridian. Tlua line contributed no doubt
powerfiiUy to the ardor wkh whidi af that period tbe proper
methods were sought, of finding the longitude by precise
means. . The congress of coamognphers st Paotte A Caya
went oo. slowly, and the dispntea between the two oatioiu
resftectiog the possessions of the archipelago of India, oeif
concluded by a treaty at Saragoasa, the SSd of April^lftlS.
(Dor Jaan^ydtm Antonio de VUoa,DiiMrt. hitlorica f geo-
g(e^luca Mobrt el meridtono de itmareaatm. ilaiTid,11«,
Saiatar de tot pngrntot de la h/dngn/ia en EtpaSid, 1809, p.
116. Cetpada, ilydrogra^, cap. *, p. 198, 14», IM).
Spain ceded the Moluccas for the sum of 3M,O0O ducats, re-
serving the right of again possessing il«^ of the property at
those islands whenever tbe amount of the purduue ahooU
be returned. The union of the two crowns under Philip'Sd,
calmed for some time national hatred, or rather, compelled
it to appear to be appeased ; but from the end of the ITlh

century, the establisbment of la Vohrna d§ San Sacramento,
Bear the moath of die Rio de laTkta> gate rise to disputes
respecting Uie Bnadliin Kinits. The Spanisirds destroyed
this setttement, aadanevir congress of cosmographers as-
sembled at Fuemte dt Caifa, which lasted from Uie 4th of
November [168t], to the 2Sd of January, 1682. It had been
stipulate at the beginning of the oegociations, that if they
were not settled in the space of three months, they fhoM be
MubndUedio the dediion of the Sovereign Pontiff. When: we
consider tlie state of the wcuid ah hundred years before the
declaration of independence of thel United' States, we are
tempted to doobt what is proved by the most authentic do-
cuments preflfenred in the' archives. It was- uselessly dis-
cussed, whether the 870 leagues mentioned in the treaty of
Tordedlla^ formed 92^ 14', or a less number of d^greesj and
wliether that distance ought to be reckoned in th^ arefaopiB-
lago of Cape Vert, from tiie centre of the island of Saint
Nicolas, or (as the Portuguese insisted), from the iwestem
extremity of the island of Saint Anthony. According to these
detached arguments, the cosmo^^raphers of Lisbon sought to
carry the meridiano de denktrcacion 13 leagues west of the re-
constructed settlement of San Sacramento. The congress of
la Puenie de Caya separated without having decide-any
thing, and the points in litigation wer^not submitted.to the
sovereign Pontiff as had been agreed. During the Kibble
reig^ of Charles 2d, the Portuguese gained every where
upon their neighbours in America, on the side of Paraguay,
on the banks of the Amazon, and on the Bio Negro. By the
peace of Utrecht, Spain renounced the possession of San
Sacramento. Nearly forty years passed in the most com-
plete inactivity on the part of the ministry of Madrid, when
Queen Barbara, daughter of John 6th of Portugal, sought to*
avail herself of the extreme weakness of her husband Ferdi-
nand 6th, king of Spain, in order to be useful to her country,
and terminate the struggle respecting the limits in l^outh

America, \a favor of the court of Lisbon. Thecbiefofa
sqaadron, Don Josef dc Yturiaga, was nnmed director (pn-
ffier cmnmiuario) , of an expeditiao intended lo tail along the
northern frontier of the Copilaiiia general of Grand Par*, en-
ter the Amazon by the Oroaaoko and the Rio Negro, and go
«p the Amazon aj fnr u the province of Maynas, and per-
bapa even pass by land to tbe confines of Paraguay. (See the
correipondencc of Loefling with Linneeus, xaJotri Loeftngi
HtT Hispanicum eller Haa, til Spmuta Ldndirna uti Evrapa
och yfmeriea. nw, p. 84—90). The expedition set aail
from Cadii, February 15th, 1764, having on board adiemlst,
m naturalist, and a geographer. The naturalist was tbe oeltt-
brated Loefting, who, after having examined the conntiy
round CuHMDE and Nnam Barcriona, die misuCMi ct Pliibi
Md Catani, died the viotin of hii leal, at Hmta KiiUia de
Mfrucwi, {lABomoM calls this village Merecuri, Anville, Mu>-
Mnrir) a little to die south of tbe confiuenoe of the Oroo-
noko with tha Rio Caroni, tbe 2Sd of Febroair, 1756. Etn*
ttago aude the necesaary preparations for the projected
Mivigation on those rivers, in the island of Trinidad. He ea-
lered the month of the Orooaoko, at the end of Jidy, tTM,
with fiS small craft. {Gi>iUat, Lanehat, Piroguat, and Ctoi-
gwiat.) Dysrateries and fevers made great romgea among
Ihe troops, and evea-aeveral hundred Indians fell wck. The
fcr*rw -of la Vieja Guyana could only be reached on tbe
OteeAth day. (See above, vol. v, p. 766 and 8S1, fcc.)
(HMf went ap do less slowly as for as Cabrnla, near the
mouA of the Rio Apnre. Several barks iinpradently eqtos-
«d to the son on the beadt, si^it ; the fevers continaed, and
rowers {bogat), boats, and money were at the same tiine
wanting. Two of the commissaries, Don Eusebio de AHw-
rada, and Haa Joseph Solano, went to Santa Ve de Bogota
In search of funds ; they came back after six months' ab-
sence, in 1756. Solano alone, with a small part of the ex-
pedition, passed over tbe great cataracts of Atures and Mvf-

383

pnrei. He did not go liirUier than tbe mmftk ct the Rio
Guaviare, where ha fojaaded Sw^JhammioM AMehago (Vol.
r, p. 210, 2IMI, 625> 944, and BI9. of Don j^poUmarw Diez
de la FiunU, which I.took from th^ archives of the province
of Quizoi^ aMtti east of Qaijto). We have ahnady ahewn in
another pteoet that^he aftfoboaUpd inatnimenle of the eipe^
diHouitfthe tepmrfancft were, neither carried to theialhmiia of
PimicUa« lo <he fUo N^sgio, to the CaaMqoiare> or the Alto
Oroonokp, above it« coQAuence with :the Giiaviare and the
Atabfl^Bo. Thia vaat aninlryy In wliidi ao pfeciae obaerra^
ti^n had bcgn attewptcj beJJMna asf jowmef^ had at thai time
been irisited onlir Jbf .iome ioUiera who w#re aent by Solano
on difoovary» upd bf Don ApoUinario de hi Aienla. He
fomrtmcted a npaU /oH with tmnka of trees at the point
of the hifiircatloQ of jfte Orooneko* entered the Eio Padamo
to Tittt the Qktarapene Indianp^ and ibwded the misaion of
the EemeraUaj Tivitfi the Maqniritares, from whaooe he
made a fruUleBs encoreioo towards the Rio Geliette, and tb^
Cerro Yumariquin (Vol, v, p. 57^ 682). Don ApolHoario>
whose name I have oitiw heard pronounced by the Indians
of Rio Negro, and theB^meraidfk* affirmst in his journal pre*
served at Quito, that at the departure of the expedition of
Solano (17M), cooaeqnendy ten years after the voyage of
Father Roman. (VoL v, p« 48B, &c.), many persona in the is-
laad of Trinidad stiU doubted of the commnnication of the
Oroonoko with the Amason, and that' they had no precise
idea of the eusfteoce of the Casaiguiarc, and of its jonction
arith the Rio Negro*

While Don Josef Solano made efforts to pacify the Uf^r
Giayaoat Ytoriaga remained on the banks of the Lower
Oroonoko. This chief of the Commiaswn of the boundarieg,
bod, it is asserted, secret orders to prevent any definitive
conclusion of a treaty. He wished to please the minister of
the Indies, Areiaga,.and above all, the successor to the crown
of Spain, DoD Carlos, who reigned at Naples. That prince

384

FoulJ not openly oppose the projects of his mother Queen
Uorlwra, and the Fortu^eze porty; the treat;, it \
known, would be hostile to the interests of Spain, tknd aS
that remained was to gain time in creating obstacles. The
craft constructed to convey the remainder of the troops be-
yond the cataracts, on the frontier of the Capitania generd I
of Grand Para, were ready to siul, and the orders of
King Ferdinand the 8th were precise. Yturiaga caused s '
Te Deum to be sung at MuiUco (Vol. v, p, 689, &c.) i
during the ceremony, set fire clandestinely to the fleet,
which was said to have been burnt accidentally. But n '
little pains had been taken to conceal this stratagem, that it
wns instantly discovered. The Portugucze commissaries of-
fered to send their own' boats for Yturiaga, bat he answered
that be would wait for orders from Madrid. Ferdinand 6(h,
wearied of the raipence and the delays of Ytnri^a, recalled
the expedition. Solano and Albarados embarked, I believe
in 1761,' at La Ouayni, for San Sebastian. Yturiaga, after
tnvin^ long inhabited the small town of Mnitaco, where he
hoped to re-establUh his health, died at the iriaod of Har-
goerita. The comptaints made against him by the monlu,
iadby his collea^et the other commissaries of the bounda-
liei, emlnttered the latter part of his life. Don Apollinario
DIcz de la Fnente returned from Spain to the Orooaoko with
the pompons titles of Capitan poblador del ^Ito-Orhneo'f
Cabo mUUar del Fuerte de Catuqitiare i he was aflerwardi
made governor of the province of Quixos, and Oumografo'^
la real Expedidon de linUtes del Maranon. If we may jd^
from his mamiscripts, the cosmogrspbers assembled at the
congress of Pnente de Caya, in 1624, were better inftmned
than this emissary.

The labors of the commission of the boundaries of
the Oroonoko which I iiave just related, were also u
fraitless as the treaty signed January 12th, 1760, at Ua-
drid, by which the Portugueze and Spanish nations re-

38S

leed the line of demalt^Mw, and promised to recognize
ther limits between BlraKiU Buenos Ayres, and Peru,^

the ridge of some moimtaias, and the cofurse of the
s. This convention declared fortnally *' that it was kxkr
ible to fix'by observaHons of longitude Uie line of de-
»Uioo on the coast, and.in the interior /* a confessioa
nore singular, as Don Jorge Juan, and Don Antomo de
a, had pcoved, in a learned memoir (Dmiariatum
ygru^iea sobre el meridioMO de demareaeUm entre lot
de PertMgat if de B^foma), poblisbed alter their return
, Quito, in 1740, that the limit ought to be fixed by the
r of the treaty of TohtesiBas, and according to two
es of interpretation, of which that, treaty is snscq>tifale,
sr 1^ 50', or V-W, on the east^f the town of Grand
u The convention of 1750 was -renewed and confirmed
bdrid, October 11th, 1777 ; but the execution of sUpu* '
ins made without local knowledge, and in consulting only

imperfect maps, was attended with greater difiiculties.
ling more was attempted on the side of the Oroonoko,
the Rio Negro ; the whole attention of the two courts
directed towards the limits of Paraguay, and the banks
le Caqueta, the Rio Blanco, and the Amazon. . The Bri-
er Don Jose Varela, was sent (1782— 1780) to Monte-
D, M. d'Azara to Paraguay, and M. Requeiia to Maynas.
rever incomplete the labours^ of the commissaries have
lined, it cannot be doubted that astronomical geography
derive great advantages, if not the results only of their
stigation are made public, but the observations on which
e results are founded. The map by Asara of Paraguay,
those of Brazil, executed at Rio Janeiro, by order oi the
ister of marine, Don Rodrigo de Souza Coutinho, in
I, by the captain of a frigate, Don Antonio P^es da
i. Pontes Lemos, have been rectified according to a part
liose observations ) but the longitudes being all chrono-
rical, the discordance in the time pieces of the Spanish
OL. VI, 2 c

S86 ^^^1

and Portugueze peographers, and tlic uucMtaiiity of the po-
sitions which served as points of departure, tlirew great con-
i\itiion on tbb determination of the bounilarics. 'I'he coim
of MMlrid, wearied of the expenre and di-lsy, dissolved the
commission in 1801 ; and some ycu-i nfterwards, the mili-
tary occupattou of tlie cigplatine province by the Portuguese,
pat nil end for n long time to the diseiiMiotis respeetisg the
longitude, and tile dilatory exceptions of diplomacy.

Note G.

In milking known to the learned of Europe the physical
properties of the cow-lrec (see above. Vol. tv, p, 212, 226,
981 i Vol. Ti, p. 211), I hod compared iU nonridiing milk,
%bt 'frith tile juice of plants that abound in ramitcfaoac, like
thejmce of theHcvea, but with the milk oftbePapayer. 1
had tried some chemical experiments on the latter, whic&
appeared to me a strongly animalized substance, TwooiF
my friends, MM. Boussinganlt and Rivero, irtioae import^
ast Ubours I have already had occasion to meatioD (Vol. Vi,
p. 310, and 2fi3), and who are much better nMed tt
chemistry than 1 was at the period of my voyage, have n*
cently made the chemical compositioa o! the jiilce of Afc
Patb de f^aca, completely known. The ft^owEng is lit er-
tract of Ae analysb sent to me by those chemists in a letttt
from Maracay (between CaraCcas wid NucTa V^lenda), tbtefi
February 13th, 1823.

" The milk," says M. fionssingauU, " which we hsiTC «nt-
lized at your dekire. Is produced by the Palo de teche, or the
P^aca. This tree grows in abundance on the moaDtains that
command Perequito, sitnated north-west of MarAcay, Htb
vegetable milk possesses the same physical properties as ttiiit
of the LOW, with this difference only that it is a little mote
slimy. It has also the same taste, but its chemictkl proper-

SKETCH OF A GEOGNOSTIC VIEW

SOUTH AMERICA,

On the North of the River of the Amazons, and
on the East qf the Meridian of the Sierra Ne-
vada de Jkterida.

The object of this memoir is to concentrate
the geognostic observations which I was en-
abled to collect in the course of my journeys
among the mountains of New Andalusia, and
Venezuela, on the banks of the Oroonoko, and
in the Llanos of Barcelona, Calabozo, and the
Apure; consequently, from the coast of the
Caribbean sea, to the valley of the Amazons,
between the parallels of 2^ and lOi^ north lati-
tude. In describing objects as they successively
appear to the traveller, every fact remains in-
sulated ; he relates what he has seen in follow-
ing the windings of roads, and a knowledge is
thus acquired of the succession of formations
in such or such a direction ; but we cannot
seize their mutual connexion. The order of
ideas to which the personal narrative of a jour-
ney should be restrained, has the advantage of

VOL. VI. 2 D

3i)-2

Tnaking lis distinguish more easily what is the
result of a direct observation, or that of a com-
bination founded on analogy ; but in order to
comprehend in one point the geoguostic view
of a vast part of the globe, and contribute to
the progress of geognosy, which is a science of
connexion, we must i-elinquish the sterile accu-
mulation of insulated facts, and study the rcla-
tions that exist between the iocqualities of soil,
the direction of the Cordilleras, and the mine-
ralogical nature of the territory.

I passed through an extent of country ia dif-
ferent directions, of more than 15,400 square
leagues. It has already been the object of a
^ognostic sketch, traced hastily on the spot,
after my return from the Oroonoko, and pub-
lished in 1801, by M. de Lametberie in the
Journal de Physique (Vol. xlv, p. 46). At that
period, the direction of the Cordillera on the
coast of Venezuela, and the existence of the
Cordillera of Parime, were not known in Europe.
No measure of height had been attempted be-
yond the province of Quito ; no rock of South
America had been named ; no description ex-
isted of the superposition' of rocks, in any region
of the tropics. In such circumstances, an essay
tending to prove the identity of the formations
of the two hemispheres, could not fail to excite
the interest of geognosts. The study of the
collections that I brought back, and four years

393

of journeying in the Andes^ have enabled me to
rectify my first views, and to extend an inves''
ligation which^ on acoomit of its novelty, bad
been favorably reqeived. The mineralogical
descriptions of every rock have been given in
the preceding chapters ; it now only remains to
collect the scattered materials, and mark the
pages where the detail of the observations are
foand. That the most remarkable geognostic
relations may be more easily seized, I shall treat
in an aphoristic manner, in different sections,
the configuration of the soil, the general divi-
sion of the land, the direction and inclination
of the beds, and the nature of the primitive, in-
termediary, secondary, and tertiary rocks. The
nomenclature I employ in this memoir, is that
of which I recently stated the principles in a
work on general geognosy *.

SECTION I.

Configuration of the Country. — Inequalities of
the Soil. — Chains and groups of Mountains. —
Ridges of Partition. — Plains or Llanos.

South America is one of those great triangu-
lar masses which form the three continental

♦ See my Essay on the position of Rocks in the two Hemi-
spheres, 1823.

parts of the SMithem hemispbere of the gk>bft.4
It reacoibies Africi'i more in its exterior eou6j
ration than New Holland. The southern ex-
tremities of the three contiaente are so placed,
that in crossing from the Cape of Good Hope
(lat. 33° 55'} to Cape Horn (lat. 55° 58') and
doubling the south point ofVan Diomen's land,
(lat. 43° 38'), we see those extremities stretch-
ing on towards the south-pole in proportion as
we advance towards the east. A fourth part of
the 571, (MH) square marine leagues* which
South America contains, is covered with moun-
taiDB distributed in chains, or accumulated in
groups. The rest are plains fonning long un-
interrupted bands covered with forests or gra-
mina, flatter than in Europe, and. rising pro-
gressively, at 300 leagues distance from the
coast, from 30 to 170 toises above the level of
the Ocean. (See above, Vol. iv, p. 310 j and v,
260.) The most considerable chain of South
America extends from south to north, accord-
ing to the greatest dimension of the continent;
it is not central as in Europe, nor for removed
from the sea-shore, like Himalaya and Hindoo-
Koh ; but thrown towards the vestera extre-
mity of the continent, almost on the coast of
the Pacific Ocean, In fixing the eye on the

* Almost the double of Europe, See above, p. 33G.

ties differ senaibly front tiioie of ammal miUu- H 'ca& be
mixed i^ith any proportion of water, and, in' tliat stut^ does
liot coagulate by ebuQition, nor it it curdled by fK^ids, like
the milk of the eovr.. Instted of beiqgf jpsed^tai^ byvam-
meniac, it ia rendetsd more liquid^ and Hub' cluUiiclertiiidi*
cates the absence of caontchoac ; fiur we b»re obseried that
in the jaices containing this principle, ammoniac pcedpitatei!
the smallest quantit3E» winch when dHe^ possess^ thfer pro-
perties of elastic gum. Alcohol slightly coagulMies the milk
of the cowwtree : it is someHnng less than a ooagnhuis, for
the akofaQl.oDly readers it mdredifBelilt to fikrate/the^aieBi
The new milk lightljs reddens the heliotrope ; it boils «t the
temperature of IQ^, and at the pressure (P 799. Under-
going the actkm of heat» it presents at first the same pheilo*
mena as the milk of the cow ; a pdlicuk forms on its sui-
fiu:e> whidi prevents the disengagement of the aqutous var
pours. In raising, successively the pellicula, and makiiig it
evaporate at a mild heat, an extract is obtained resembUng ^
kind of paste > but if the. action of heat is Iwiger continued,
oily drops are formed which augment in propqrtion as the
water is disengaged, and end by composing an oily liquid, in
Mhich swims a fibrous, substance that dries and hardens as
the temperature of the oil augments, and spreads a smell
like that of fried meat* Vegetable milk is separated by the
nction of heat into two parts ; one fusible, of a sacculent
nature, the other fibrous^ of an animal nature. If the evap-
ocatton of the vegetable milk is not carried too far, and the
fusible matter is not boiled, it may be obtained without al-
teration. It has the following properties $ it is of a yellow-
ish white, transhidd, solid, and resists the impression of the
finger J it begins to melt at 40° eentigr. y and, when the
fusion is complete, the thermometer indicates (K)°. It can-
BOt be dissolved in water, but is dissolved easily in esseatial
oils ; with which it also combines, and forms a composition
analogous to cerat -, alcohol at 40"^, dissolves it totally hy

2c2

388

ebullition, nnil it is precipitAt«d by cooling ; it is sapomjiablt
by caustic potash ; nnd, when put into ebullition with am-
moniac, forms a soapy eniulsiop. It is dissolved by hot
nitric Bcid, with a diseDgagement of nitrous gas, and forms
oxslic acid. This matter appears to us to resemble hot
bees-was, anil it may serve for the same use, for wc made
it into wax candles.

" Wa obtained the fibrous matter by evaporating the milk,
pouring off the melted wax, washing the residue with an es-
sential oil to carry off the last jiortions of wax, pressing tbe
midue, and making it boil for a long time with water in
order to volatize the essential oil. Notwithstanding this
operation, the smell of the essentidl oil cannot be altogether
taken away. The fibrous matter thus obtained is brown,
because it is no doubt somewhat altered by the higfa tetnpe«
ratnre of the melted wax ; it has no taste, and pnt on a hot
iroa, turns, swelb up, melts, and is carbonized, spreading a
■mell of broiled meat If treated |with a Stated nitric
acid, a gas Is disengaged from it which is notnitrou*- gaS)
the fibrous matter is transformed into a fot yellow hubs in
tbe sdme manner as muscular (Icsh, when azote gas is pre-
pared by the process of M. Bertholet. The aloobol does not
dissolve the fibrous matter, and we have employed thatliqind
to obtain it without alteration. In treating the extract of
vegetable milk by the reiterated action of s|Hrit8 of wine,
and pouring off the hot liquor, the matter is at length obtain-
ed in white and flexible fibres j in that state it dissolves easily
in diluted hydrochloric add. This substance has the same
diaracters as the animal filH'ine. The presence in v^etaUe
milk of a product which is only found ordinarily in the secre-
tions of animals, is a very surprising lact, which we shouU
announce with great circumspection, if oric of our most oel^
brated chemists, Mr. Vauquelin, had not already found tbe
animal fibrine in the milky juice of the Carica Papaya. It k-
mains to examine the liijuid which, in the milk oflhtPaladt

Leche, holds in suspension, in a state of chemieal division, the
two principles which we have recognized above, the wax and
the fibripe. The v^etable milk, ponred on a filter, passes
vriththegreatestdiffiadty; bat if. alcohol he added, it forms a
slight coagidum^ and the liquid, paaseib more easily. The li-
quor, when filtrata4> reddcos the hdiotrope, and deposits no
crystals. Evaporated^ to the cootistence of a syrup;, and
treated with; rectified ak^kd, it left, a little saccariae mMter 3
but the principal mass wsis not dissolved. The indissoluble
portion in the alcohol had a better tastei 'When. dissolved iki
water, the ammoniac Ibnns a precipitate, asf^ll as thephos*
phate of soda. We thence presumed that it contained a
magnesian salt ; in fiict, a drop of the solution being placed
on a plate of glass near another drop of phosphate of am-
monia, when mixed together, characters have been formed,
by means of a glass tube. It is known that this tDriHng"
property belongs to ammontaco-magnesian phosphate, and
the process to Dr. WoDaston. We thought that an acetic
acid was combined with magnesia ; but the sulphuric acid
did not disengage the smell of vin^ar ; it formed a sulphate,
and carbonized the liquor : we are therefore ignorant of the
nature of this acid. The matter which remains on the filter
has the aspect, when dried, of unrefined wax, and melts, ex*
haling the odour of meat. The vegetable milk left to itself
becomes sour, and acquires a disagreeable smell. During
this alteration carbonic acid is disengaged ', and an ammo-
niacal salt is also formed, for the potash disengages volatile
alcali. Some drops of add prevent putrefaction.

'' The constituent parts of the milk of the cow-tree are ;
1st. wax; 2d. fibrine } 3d. a little sugar; 4th. a mognesian-
salt which is not an acetate ; and 6th. water. It contains
neither caseiun, nor caoutchouc ; but we found by incinera-
tion, silica of lime, phosphate of lime, and magnesia. Such
is th^ summary of the experiments made by M. Rivero and
myself on this nourishing juice. The presence of fibrine ex-

390

pliuDS the iiatrilivc pro{>crly of Uie Pala dt Lei-ie,
respect to the w.ix, we arc ignorant of lite eSect it prodnnd J
ordinarily on the aaiinnt economy ; in this inslance, esperi-
cnce proves that it is Dot hurtful, since we estimated the
quantity at half the weight of the vegetable mtlk . The eow-
ti«c would be cultirated with advantage were it only in order
to extract the wax, which is of an excellent quality; ami
would be a new source of wealth to add to the fine ogrieu)-
tunil productions of the vallka ofAragua." L ardently wish
that those able chemists MM. Rouaeingault Mid Rirero,
may continue their labors on the milky jiticcs of tho cqui-
noxial plants.

996

profile which I have given * of the configura*
tion of South America, under the paraUet of
Chimborazo and Grand Para» aoross the plains
of the Amazon^ we saw the land low towards
the east^in'atalus, like an inclined pbwie^ under
an angle of less than 35 seccmdcf^ on a length of
600 marine leagues. If, in the ancient state of
our planet, the Atlantic Ocean, by some eictnh
ordinary cause, eyer rose to llOQ feet above its
present levd (a height one^third less than the
interior table-lands of Spain and Bavaria>> the
waves must have broken in the province of Jaen
de Bracamoros, against the rocks that bound
the eastern decUvity of the Cordilleras of the
Andes. The rising of this ridge is so inconsi-
derable compared to the whol^ continent^ that
its breadth in the parallel of the Cape of Saint-
Roch is 1400 times greater than the mean
height of the Andes.

We distinguish in the mountainous part of
South America^ a chain and three groups of

^ Map ofOoluwMa, according ta tk4 Oiirommkal chiervan
tian$ ofM.de Humboldt, by A. H. Brui, 1023^ to which arc
joined the prpfiles of the Cordilleras and the plains. In
tracing an outline by the pandlel of 5^ south latitude^ from
Jaen de Bracamoros^ as fer as Cape Saint-Roch> in the
greatest breadth of South America from west to east, iMe
find 880 leagues, qv a regular slope of t^ feet In the l&i^e
of 17^130 jn^ de rot, or of 6 lo inch in the mile of 9^1 toises.
(See Vol. iv, p. 454.)

•396

mountains, namely, theCordillemof the Andes,
which the geognost may follow without inter-
ruption, from Cape Pilares, io the western part
of the strait of Magellan, to the promontory of
Paria, opposite the island of Trinidad ; the insu-
lated group of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,
the group of the Mountains of the Oroonoko, or
of ia Parime, and tliat of the Mountains of Bra-
zil. The Sierra de Santa Marta being nearly in
the meridian of the Cordilleras of Peru and
New-Grenada, navigators fell commonly into
the error of supposing the snowy summits
which tbey descry in passing the month of the
lUo Magdalena, to be the northern extremity
of the Andes. I shall soon prove that the co-
lossal group of the Sierra de Santa Martai is al-
most entirely separate from the mountains of
Ocana and Pamplona, . which belong to the
eastern Cordillera of New Grenada. The hot
plmns through which runs the Rio Cesar, and
tfhtch extend towards the valley of Upar, sepa-
rate the Sierra Nevada from the Paramo de
Cacota, south of Pamplona. The ridge which
divides . the. waters between the gulph of Ma-
racaybo and the Rio Magdalena, is in the plain'
on the east of the Laguua Zapatoza. If the
Sierra de Santa Marta has long been erroneously
considered, on account of its eternal snows, and
its longitude, to be a continuation of the Cordil-
leras of the Andes, the connexion on the other

397

hand, of that very Cordillera with the motin-
tains on the coast of the provinces of Cnmana
and Cai*accas, has not been recognized. The
chain of the shore of Venezuela, of which the
different ranges form the Montana de Faria,
the isthmus of Araya, the Silla of Caraceas,
and the mountains of gneisis-granite north and
south of the lake of Valencia, is joined between
Portocabello, San Felipe and Tocuyb (by the
Torito, thePicacho de Nirgua, the Palomera^ aiid
Altar), to the Paramos de las Rosas and Niiqai-
taoj which form the north-^east extremity of the
Sierra de Merida and the eastern Gordfllem of
the Andes of New Grenada. It is suffideht to
have here indicated the connexion, so impor-
tant in a geognostic point of view ; fw the de-
nominations of Andes and Cordilleras being
altogether in disuse for the chains of mountains
which stretch from the eastern gulph of Mara-
cay bo to the promontory of ^ria, we shall con-
tinue to desi^ate those chains, stretching from
west to east, by the names of the chctm of the
shorcj or coasUchain of Veneztiela.

One of those insulated groups of mountains,
that is, of those which are not branches of the
Cordillera of the Andes and its continuation
towards the shore of Venezuela, is on the north,
and the other two west of the Andes ; the for-
mer is the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta ; the
two others are the Sierra de la Parime, between

4° and 8° of nurtli latitude, and die Moutaaitis
qf Brazil, between 15" and 28° south latitude.
This singular distribution of great inequalities
(tf soil produces three plains or basins, that con-
stitute altogether a surface of 420,600 square
leagues, or four-fifths of all South America, east
of the Andes. Between the chain of the roast
ef Venezuela and the group of Parimc, tin-
plains of the ,'Jpure and the Loiver Oroonoko ex-
lend ; between the group of the Parime, and
tkat of the Mountains of Brazil, the plains of
iht ttmaittit, the Rio Negro, end the Madeira,
sod betweaa the grovpt of BratUl and the
4etitbeiii exticmity of the continent, the plains
of Rio de la Plata, and of Patagonia. As the
gtovp of the I^ime in Spanish Guyana;, and
thftt of Bmeil {or of Minas Geraes and Goyaz),
■do not join the Cordillera of the Andes of New
Grebnda atid Upper Peru, towards the west, Che
thru plluna of tlra Lower Orocmoko, the Ama-
son, aad the lUo de la Plata, cougmunicate to-
gether by land-straits of considerable breadth.
"Diese straita are also plains stretching from
noKh to Boath, and crossed by ridges imper-
oCptible to the eye, but forming divortia aqua-
rum. Hiese ridges (and this striking pheno>
menon has not hitherto fixed the attention of
geognosts), these ridges, or lignes de faites, are
placed between the 2° and 3° of north latitude,
and the IG" and IS" of south latitude. The

S99

^si ridge forms the partition of the waters^
which throw themselves into the Lower Oroo-
noko on the north-east, and into the Rio Negro
and the Amazon on the south and south-east ;
the second ridge divides the tributary streams
of the right bank of the Amazoa and the Rio«
de la Plata. The direction of these lignes de
faites is such, that if they were marked by the
chains of mountains they would unite the groups
of the F^me to the Andes of Timana (Per^
Nar.Yoi^y, p. ^26), and the mountains of Br^
zil to the promontory of the Andea of Santa
Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamba, and Potosi.
We make a supposition so vague, only that the
outline of this vast portion of the globe; may be;
more easily perceived. These risings in the;
plain, in the intersection of two plains slightly
inclined, those two ridges, of which the exist**
ence is only manifested, as in Volhinia * by the
course of the waters, are parallel to the chain
of the coast of Venezuela;, they present, it may
be said, two systems of counter-slopes little ideve^,
lopedj in the direction from west to east, between
the Guaviare and the Caqueta, and between,
the Mamori and the Hlcomayo. It is also wor*

• Oo the partition of the waters between the Dnieper (or
the Hack Sea), and the Niemen (or the Baltic)^ See the hp^
drograpkic map of Poland, by MM. Perthes andKomarcewikff,
1809.

VOL. VI. 2 E

4(H)

riiy of remark, that in the southern hemisptiefflj^
the Cordillera of the Andes sends an immense
counterpoise towards the east, the promontory
of the Sierra Nevada de Cochabainba, whence
begins the ridge stretching between the tribn-
tary streams of the Madeira and Paraguay to-
wards the lofty group of the mountains of Bra-
zil or Minas Gcraes. Three transversa) chains
(the mountains of tlie shore of Venezuela, of
the Oroonoko, or Parime, and the mountains of
Brazil) tend, it may be said, to join the loogi^
tndinal chain (the Andes), either by an inter-
metfiary group (l>etween the lake of Vale&ciaantt
Toeuyo) or by ridges formed by the intersec-
tion of oovntar-slepes in the plains. The two
extremities of the three LIa:aoa which eommn-
idcMte by land-Btraitg, the Llanos of the Lower
Orooaoke, the Amazon, and the Rio de ]a l^ata
er of Baenos Ayrea, are Bteppe8> covered with
gramma, while the intermediary Llaaes, tliat
of the AowzfHi, is a thick forest. I^th respect
to- the two land-straits, forming ban^ directed
fihom nortfr to south (from the Apure to Caqueta
acresB the PiroTiBf» de los liuios, and t^
sowrees of the Manner! to Rio PiIc<mK^o, across
the province of Mocos and Chiquitos) they dis-
play bare and grassy steppes like the plains of
Caraccas and Buenos Ayres.

In the immense space of land east of the
Andes, which comprehends more than 480,000

4Qfl

square marine lei^eft^ of which 02,000 IM h
moQ&taiaous cooDtry^ no gronpe liSM to the.
region of perpetual snows ; none even attaiiiii the
height of 1,400 toises. This lowering of the
mountains in the eastern region of the New
Continent,, extends as fio* as 60^ of north lati-
tude ; while in the western part, oft the prei^
longatiion of the Cordilleras of the Andes, Che
highest summits rise in Mexico (kt 18^ 50"), to
2^770 toises^ and m the Roeky Mm^OisA (Ib».
37"" to 40^) to 1,000 toises. The iMnlated
groupe of the Allegfaanies, which cmvMpoftds
by its eastern position and ^refction with the
groupe of Brazil, does not surpass 1,040 toised^l
The lofty summits tfaerefm^, excee^g th^
height of Mcmt Blanc, belong otAy to the longi*
tndinal chain that bounds the basin <^ the Vt^
cific Ocean, from the 55^ south to the 68^ nor^^
that is to say^ the Cordillera of the Anden. The
only insulated groupe that can be compiled
with the snowy summits of the equinoxial Andes,
and which attains the height of nearly 3,000
toises, is the Sierra de Santa Marta ; it is not
placed on the east of the CcNrdilleras, but be-
tween the prolongation of two of their branches,
those of Merida and Veragua. The Cordilleras,

« The cdbmaaut pokft of the Alleghanies is Mount Waih.
isgloa^ in New Hiuap6hire> U^ 44|^ According to Gap^
USa Partridge it is 0634 Englifh feel.

2e2

4oa

where they bound the Caribbean sea, in that
part which we denote by the name of Chain
of the shore of Venezuela, do not attain UtB
extraordinary height {2,500 toises) which tbey
reach in their prolongation towards Oiita and
Merida. In considering separately the groupes
of the east, those of the shore of Venezuela, Pa-
rime, and Brazil, we see them diminish from
.north to south. The highest summits of each
groupe are the Silla de Caraccas (1350 toises),
.the peak Duida (1300 toises), the Itacolami and
,the Itambe * (900 toises). But, as I have already
observed in another place -f-, it would be an
etror to judge the height of a chain of moun-
taips solely from that of the most lofty sum-
ipit^. The peak of the Himalaya}, most ex-
Aptily measared, is 676 toises hi^er than the
phimborazo; the Chimhorazo 900 toises higher
than Mont Blanc ; and Mont Blane 653 toises
higher than the peak Nethon ^. These differ-

* According to the meaaure of MM. Spts and Msrtins,
the Itambe de ViHa de Principe is 5S90 feet high. {Martbt'i
Phytiognomy of FflaiuenTeUlu in BTaxiUen, 1824, p. 23.)

t See my first memoir on the mouotaina of India, in the
AnnaUt de ehimie et dt phyrique, 1818, Vol. iit, p. 313.

J The Peai lewahir, lot. 30° 22' 19* ; long. 77° 35' 7"
east of Paris. Height 402S toises, according to MM. Hodg-
son and Herbert.

^ This peak, called also peak of Ancthon or Malahita, or
eastern peak of Maladetta, is the highest summit of the
Pyrenees. It rises 1787 toises, and consequently exceeds

40^

^nces do not furnish the relations of the mean
height of the Himalaya, the Andes, the Alps;
and the Pyrenees, that is, the height of the back
of the mowfUamSy on which arise the |>eaks^
needles, pyramids, or rounded domes. It M
that part of the back where the passages are
made, that furnishes a precise measure of the
minimum of the height attained by the gteeX
chains. In comparing the whole of my uiea^
sures with those of Moorcrc^, Webb tmd
Hodgson, Saussure and Ramond, I estimate the
mean height of the top of the Himalaya, be-
tween the meridians of 75^ and 77^ at 2450
toises ; the Andes * (at Peru, Quito, and New

Mont Perdu 40 toises. (Vidal and Reboul^ in the Annates
de chinue, torn, y, p. 234, and in the Journal d^ phytu/ui;
1822, Dec. p. 418, Charpentkr, Eii<n tut la comtii. giognoil.
deg PyrStUes, p. 823, 539.)

* In the passage of Qaindiu, between thr'valley of Mag«
dalena and that of the RioCaaca, I found the colminant point
(la Garita del Parama), at 1798 tobes of absolute height ; it
is however, riegarded as one the least elevated. The pcusdgH
of the Andes of Guanacas, Guamani, and Micuipamptt ai^
te8pectively2300, 1713, and 1817 toises above the surfkcift 6t
the ocean. Even in 33^ south latitude, the road which croines
the Andes between Mendoza and Valparaiso is 1987 toilsei
high. See my Aiiron. Ohs. Vol. i, p. 312, 314, and 319,
i^dldas, Semanario de Santa Fe de Bogota, torn, i, p. 8 ahcl
88. I do not mention the Col de TAssuay, where I piadsed*,
tiear la Ladera de Cadlud, on a ridge 2428 toises high, b^-
^cause it is a passage on a transversal ridge that joins two pn^
i^allel chains. '

Grenada), at 1850 toises -, the top of the AIp«
Eiod Pyrenees at 1150 toisefl. The difference of
the mean height of the Cordilleras (between the
parallels of 5° north and 2° south) and the Alps
of Switzerlaod, is consequently 200 toises less
than the difference of their loftiest summits ;
and in comparing the passages of the Alps, ve
see that the mean height of their tops is nearly
the same, although the peak Nethou is 600
toiees lower than Mont Blanc and Mont Hose.
Between Himalaya* ond the Andes, on the

* Tht pat*«ges of the UtmsUys that lend to CUnew Tkr-
torj in HiodoBUn (Niteq-Gtuul, Bamaarn, Chaloalghati, &c.)
are from 2400 to 3700 toiicB of absolute hei^hb With res-
Pfct to tbfl meat elevated top of the Himalaya, 1 bave ckoMS
it niooag the peak* placed between the meridiADi of the laltfl
Afaoawrowu and Balvapore, they only bavipg beep owa-
sured with great precision -by MNU Webb, HodgKWi oiod
IlertwrL (Jrial. Baearck. Vol. xiv, p. It7. &?«! Edbth.
Fluk Jimn,, 1823, w-18, p. 312). We know no newan w
jncuK^ wya Ctptaia HodgM^, south-east of JkC 90' iV,
mUmg^TT'Sl', There maybe still loftier evomuta in
tbe pucidiao of Qomkpnr mu] thqt of Riugpor ) and it ba|,
in bd. beea concluded, aceonUng to ovglea taken at very
gmt distance^ that the pwJt of Cbainalari. near whi^ Tnr>
ner pBH«d in guiing to Tino-Lwnbu, ud the peak Dbawa*
Iji^iri, south of Uuttung, near the source of the Ounda<d(i
was 28,077 English feet, (4390 toiacs) high. (Journ. ^ (iU
itgy. /iMh«v 1831, Vol. ij, p. 242.) The niewuie of Dfaa*
walagiri by Webb, s« ably discussed by Mr. Colebrok^ wa«
copfinued by Mr. Blake \ but, in the table furnished ia Uu*
memoir, I th'oti^ht it would be more pmdent for the ^ossoti

contrary, (considering those chains in the limit*
which 1 have just indicated^) the dtflference be-
tween the mean height of the ridges and that
of the loftiest summits preserves nearfy the
same relations, In applying an analogous rea^
soning to those groupes of mountmns which we
have made known, at the east of the Andes, we
find the mean height of the chain of the shore of
Venezuela to be 750 toises ; of the Sierra Pa*
rime, 500 toises ; of the Brazilian groupe, 400
toises ; whence it follows that the mountains of
the :eastem region of South America, are, be*
tween the tropics^ to the mean elevation of the
Andes, in the relation of 1 to 3. The following
is the result of some numerical statements^ of
which the comparison affords more precise
ideas on the structure * of mountains in general.

to give the prcferoice «o the peak ItmMr, meimred by Mr.
Herbert, Tlioae measures will be discussed in another place.
^ The necks or paucLges indicate the mmimum of the height
to which the ridge of the mountains lowers in such or such a
country. Now, in casting a look on the principal passages
«f the Alps of Switzerland, (eol de Seigne, 1363 t. -, eol
Terret, lldl U i Moit-Cenis, lOW t. ; Petit Saint-Becnard,
1125 t. ; Grand Suint-Bernard, 1246 t. ; Simplon, 1029 t. -,
Saint-Goihaid, 1065 t. ; la Fourche^ 1250 t.) | and on the
neck des Pyren/es (Picade, 1243 t. 3 Bcnasque, 1231 t. -, k
Ol^re, 1196 t. J Pin^e, 1291 tj Gavarnic, 1197 t.; Cava-
rhte^ 1151 1. ; Tourmalet, 1126 t.) ; it would be difficult to
affirm that the top of the Pyrenees is lower than the mean
height of the Swiss Alps, (liamond. Voyage au Mont^Petdu,

406

MOU«T»llf».

■n» bisbBi

ffX^iSj?'

Himalaya (between nor. lat
SO'lB'i.ndai-aS'.andlong

75" 23' and 77" 38')

4020 t.

2450 t.

I : 10

Cordilleraa of the Andes (be-

tween lat. &<> nor. and 2'

3350 t.

18501.
11501.

1 : re

1 : 21

1 : 1-5
1 : 1-6

Alps of Switzerland

Chainof the shore of Venezuela

1350 1.

7S0 t.

Groupe of the mounlains o
Patimc

1300 t.

500 t.

1 : 2-6

flOO t

400 t.

1 : 2 3

If we distinguish among the mountiuns those
which rise in detached masses, and form small
insulated systems (the groupes of the Canaries,
the Azores, the Sandwich Islands, the Monts
Dores, the Euganees), and those that make a
part of a continued chain (Himalaya, Alps,

p. 23.) What characterizes the latter chain, is the relativt
height of the summits (that is, the elevation of those sum-
mits compared with the top), which is much lest in the Py-
renees, in the Andes, and in Himalaya ; for even in adopting
the measure of Dhawalagiri (4380 t.). we stilt 6nd for the
Himalaya, only the relation of 1 : 1*7.

407

Andes^) we may observe that, iiQtwithstandihgf
the immense height * of the summits of Isome
insulated systems^ the culminant paints of the
whole globe belong to continued chains, to the
Cordilleras of central Asia^ and South America.
In that part of the Andes with which I am best
acquainted, between 8^ of south latitude, and 2P
of north latitude, all the colossal summits are of
trachyte. It mayalmost be admitted as a general
rule, that whenever the mass of mountains rises
in that region of the tropics much above the
limit of perpetual snows (2300-^2470 toiSes),
the rocks vulgarly called primitive (for instance
the gneis-granite or micaslate) disappear, and
the summits are of trachyte or trapean-pon-
phyry. I know only a few rare exceptions to
this law in the Cordilleras of Quito, where the
Nevados of Conderasto and Cuvillan, placed
opposite the trachytic Chimborozo, arc^ conr-
posed of micaslate, and contain veins of sul-
phurated silver. In the same manner, in the
groupes of detached mountains that rise
abruptly from the plains, the loftiest summits

•

* Among the insulated systetM, or sporadic mountains, th6
MowDa Roa is generally regarded as the most elevated sum*
mit of the Sandwich Islands ; it is computed at 2600 toises,
and is yet at some seasons entirely stript of its snows. (Per*
sonat Nar. Vol. i, p. 105). An exact measure of this summit^
6ituated in very frequented latitudes, has during 25 years,
been claimed in vain by naturalists and geognosts !

408

(Mowna Roa, Peiik of TeneiilTe, Etna, Peak of
tlie Azores), furnish only modern volcauic
i-ocks. It would however, be an error to extend
that law to every other continent, and to admit
ia geueral that, in every zone, the greatest ele-
vations have produced trachi/tic domes ; gnets-
granite and mica-slate constitude, in the almost
insulated groupe of the Sierra Nevada of Gre-
iiada, the Peak of Malhacen*, as they also
constitute in the continued chain of the Alps,
the Pyrenees, and probably the Himalaya-f-, tlw
Bummits of the ridge. Perhaps these pheno-
meuB, discordant in appearance, are effects of
the same cause ; perhaps granite, gneiss, and
all tbepretended^'iut/iVeiVe^i^uRiaitmouRlatiu,
are owing to volcanic forces, as well as the tra-
chytes ; but to forces of which the action re-
sembles less the still burning volcanoes of our
days, ejecting lara, which at the moment of its

* Thu peak, accordiag ta the survey of M. Oemenle
"RxKLoa, is 1620 toiaes above the level of the sea, consequent-
ly 39 totsea higher than the loftiest top of the Pyrenees (tk
granidc peak of Methoo), and 83 toiaes lower than tke trs-
chytic peak of Teneriffe. The Sierra Nevada of Grenada
fbmu a system of mountains of mica-slate, passing to goeis
and (iay-elate, and which contains shelves of euphotide aod
green-stone. Sec the excellent geognoatic memoir of Don
Joae Rodrigues in the Ann, de Chimie, Tom. x%, p. fKt.

t I/we may judge from the specuneos of rocks eollecteil
in the ntckt and jxuiaget of the Himalaya, or rolled down bj
the torrentf.

409

/eruption enters immecUatefy into oontaot with
the atmospheric air ; but it is not here my pmv
pose to discuss this great theoretic question. >
After having examined the general stmctiire
of South America according to consideraticms
of comparative geognoMy^ I shall now state sepa^
rately the different systems of mawstams Md
plains^ of which the mutual connection has so
powerful an inflnence on (lie state of industry
and commerce of the nations of the New Con-
tinent. I shall give only a general view of the
systems placed beyond the limits of the region
which forms the special object of this memoir.
Geology being essentially founded on the study
of the relations of juxta-position and place, I
could not treat of the chains of the shore and of
Parime separately, without touching on the other
systems placed south and west of Venezuela*

A. Systems qf Mountains^

#. CoBPiLiJBRAg OF THB Anpss* Tbis is the
most continuedj^ the longest,, the most constant
in its direction from south to north, and north-
north-west, of any chain of the globe. It ap-
proaches the north and south poles at unequal
distances of ftom 22^ to S^* Its develope-
ment is from 2800 to 3000 leagues, (20 to a de-
gree,) a length equal to the distance from Cape
Finisterre in Galicia to the north-^ast Cape
(Tschuktschoi-Noss) of A«ia. Somew^atless than

410

the half of this chain belongs to South Americat
and runs along its western coast. On the nuth
of the isthmus of Cupica and of Panama, after
an immense lowering, it assumes the appear-
4tnce of a nearly central ridge, forming a rock;
dyke that joins the great continent of North
America to that of the south. . The Iot landi
«n the east of the Andes of Gnatimala and
New Spun, appear to have been overwhelmed
by the floods, and now form the bottom of the
-Caribbean Sea. As the continent bej^ood the
parallel of Florida agiun widena towards the
.east, the CordiUeFOB of Dorahgo and New
Mexico, as well as the Rocky Moonuin* which

411

kenzie river, (lat/69®, long. 130J**), more thaii
twelve degrees west of the green-stone moun-
tains*, known by the denomination of the
Copper Mountains, and visited recently by Cap-
tain Franklin. The colossal peak of Siunt
£lia, and that of Mount Fairweather, of New
Norfolk^ do not belong, properly speaking, to
the northern prolongation of the Cordilleras of
the Andes, but to a parallel chain (the mari-
time Alps of the north-west coast), stretching
towards the peninsula of Califomia,. and con-
nected by transversal ridges with a mountain-
ous lan/dy between the 45^ and 53^ of latitude,
with the Andes of New Mexico (Rocky Moun-
tains). In South America (and my geognostic
table is particularly restricted to that part of
the New Continent), the mean breadth of the
Cordillera of the Andes is from 18 to 22

i
135<» : mouth of the Coppeiviniiio river, according to Franklin,
115* 37' ; according to Mackenzie and Heame, 111® : mouth
of the Slave River^ in the lake of that name, according to
Franklin, 112^45'; according to MBckensie, Il3^ west of
Greenwich). From these statements it results, 1st. that the
Rodcy Mountains are in the parallel from 60® to G5% at 124*
to 125° long, wegt of the meridian of Paris ; 2d. that the
northern extremiity of the chain, west of the mouth of Mac-
kenzie river. Is 130® 20' of long. $ and, 3d. that the grouped
of the Copper-Mountains is 118* and 119® long., and Ot^imd
68® latitude. FrankHn^s Journal to the Polar Sea, p» 638;- '^
^ See an excellent geognostic memoir by Mr. Richard*
son, in Franklln*s Joum. page 528,

412

leagues •. It is only in the huits of the :
tains, that is, wliere the Cordillera is 8Welle<l bj
count ffr-furts, or divided into several chains
nearly parallel, and that are rejoined at inter-
vals, for instance, on the south of the lake 4^
Titicaca, that it is more than 100 to 120 leagues
broad, in a direction perpendicular to its axis.
The AndES of South America bound the plains
of the Oronooko, the Amazon, and the Rio de
la Plata towards the west, like a rocky wall
{Crttt d€ filon) which bad been raised across a
crevice 1300 leagues long, and stretching from
soQtk to north. This heaved up port (if it be
penaitted to use an expression fboaded on a
geogmtic hipothetis\ comprises a surface of
0ttj9OO square leagues, between the parallel of
Cape Pillar* and the northern Choco. In order
to form an idea of the variety of rocks which
this space may furnish for the observation of
t^ traveller, we must recollect that the Pyre-
nees, according to the observations of M. Char-
pentier-f, occupy only 768 square marine
leagues.

■ * The bicMltb of this iromenas ckaia i» a pbenomeooa
wqQ worlky of att»tioa. The Swim Alpi extend io Um
CrisootudiD the Tyrol, toabrcadthofSeutd 4aieapMi,
kotb tn the UMridlans of ^e kike of Cobo, and tbe caatoo
Apesall, aitd ia the meridian (rf Bunno aad TegeniMa.

t Neorljr ISM •qwre lea^uei of FnuKe. See Enai Mr
let Pyrenkt, p. 0.

413

The name of Andes m the Qaicfana language
(language of tbe Inea), which wants the conso^
nants d^f^ and gy Antis, or Ante, appears to me
to be derived from the Peruvian word anta, sig-
nifying copper^ and metal in general. They
also say anta chacra, mine of copper ; antacttri,
copper mixed with gold ; puca anta, copper, or
red metal. As the group of the Altai moun-
tains * has taken the denomination in the
TVtrkish dialects of the word altar or altyn, in
the same manner the Cordilleras , must have
been termed Copper-country ot Anti-suyu, oa
account of the abundance of metal which thef
Peruvians employed for their tools. The Inca
€rarcilasso, son of a Peruvian princess, who
wrote with an affecting simplicity the history
of his native country in the first years of the
conquest -f^/ gives no etymology of the name
of the Andes. He only opposes Antt-suyUy or
the region of summits covered with eternal
snows (ritiseca)^ to the plains or Fimcas, that
is, to the lower region of Peru. I thought that
the etymology of the longest cfiain of the globe
would have some interest for the mineralogic
geographer.

Klapfih^ Ana polm^aUa, f. 911. It appetis to mi
prebftble that tbe tribe of the Aniis g^ve its name to

the mouotains of Peru.

t Basil Hall, Journal in Chili and Peru, 1824, Vol. i,

p. 3.

414

The structure of the Cordillera of the Andes,
that is, its disposition in several chains nearly
parallel, which are rejoined by knots of moun-
tains, is very remarkable. Our maps indi-
cate this structure in the most imperfect man-
ner; andwhat LaCondamine and Bouguer had
guessed, during their long stay on the table-
land of Quito only, has been generalized and
ill-interpreted by those who have described the
whole chain according to the tjrpe of the equa-
torial Andes. The following is what I could
collect that was most positive by my own re-
searches, and an active correspondence of
twenty years with the inhabitants of Spfmish
America. The group of islands very near each
Other^ vulgarly called Land of Fire, in which
the cbun of the Andes begins, is a plam from
the Cape of Saint Esprit as far as the canal of
Saint Sebastian. The country on the west of
this canal, between Cape Saint Valentin and
Cape Pilares, is bristled with granitic moun-
tains that are covered (from Morro de San
AgiiedatoCaboRedondo) with calcareous shells.
Navigators have greatly exaggerated the height
of the mountains of the Land of Fire, among
which there appears to be a volcano still burn-
ing. M. de Churruca found the western peak
of Cape Pilaris (lat. 52° 45' south) only 218
toises * ; even Cape Horn is probably not more

* Relacion del viage al Etbrecio de Afagelltmei. Apptnditt,
1793, p. 70.

415

than 500 toises * high. The plain ectendff on
the northern bank of the strait of Magellan,
from the Gape of Virgins, to Cabo Negro ; at
that Cape the Cordilleras rise abruptly, and fill
the whole space as far as Cape Victoria (lat. 52^
22"). The region between Cape Horn and the
southern extremity of the continent somewhat
resembles the origin of the Pyrenees between
Cape Crenx (near the gulph of Rosas), and the
Col de Pertus. The height of the Pbtagonian
chain is not known ; it appears, however, that
no summit sooth of the parallel of 48^, attains
the elevation of Canigou (1430 toises), whieh is
placed near the eastern extremity of the Pyre-
nees. In the southern country, where the sum-
mers are so cold and short, the limit of the
eternal snows must lower at least as much as in
the northern hemisphere, in Norway, in 63^ and
64^ latitude, consequently below 800 toises^.

* It is very distinctly seen at 60 miles distance^ which,
without counting the terrestrial refractions^ would give it a
height of 408 toises.

t I have founded my judgment on the limit of the snows
between 48^ and 6io in the Patagonian lands^ and on the
analogy of climate of the Malouine islands (lat 51* W),
the only point equally south which we know with precision.
The mean temperature of the whole year in the Malouines,
(6*3 cent.) corresponds, it is true, with that of Edinbuigh
(lat. 56* 57^ in the northern hemisphere ; but such is the
difference of the division of heat, between the different sea-

VOL. YU 2 F

416

The great breadth, tlierefore, of the band of
snowthat envelopes these Patagonian summits,
does not justify the idea formed of tbeii- height
by travellers, in 40° of south latitude. As we
advance towards the Island of Chiloe, the Coiv
dilleras draw near the coast ; and the Archipe-
lago of Chonos or Huaytecas appears like the
vestiges of an immense group of mountains
overwhelmed by the floods. Arms of narrow
seas (esteros) fill the lower vallles of the Andes,
and remind us of the fiords of Norway and
Greenland. We there find, ranged from south
to north *, the Aevados de Maca (lat. 45° 19'),
ofCuptana (lat. 44" 58'), ofYanteles (lat. 43"
52') of Corcovado, Chayapirca (lat. 42" 52') and
of Llebcan (lat. 41 » 4»'). The peak of Cuptana
rises like the peak of Tenerifte, from the bosom
of the sea ; but being scarcely visible at 36 or
40 leagues distance, it cannot be more than

80IM, in the two hemispheres, on the same line, that the
mean temperature of the summers at Ediohurgh is 14*6',
ant] at the Malouine blands scarcely 1 1° 4'. Now, the
isotherm line (equal summer) from IL" to 12° passes in
our hemisphere, on the eastern coast of Westrobornir, in
64* of latitude, and it Is known that these cold summers
correspond with a height of perpetual snows, of 750 to 800
toiees. See uiy memoir on the Tiolherm Unet, p. 112.

* Manuscripts and maps of Don Jose de Moraleda. {See
also Sir Charles Gicsecke iu Scoretby's voy, to West-Creen-
lanil, p. 497.)

417

1500 toises high. Corcovado^ placed on the
coast of the continent, opposite the sonthem
extremity of the island of Chiloe, appears to be
more than 1950 toises high ; it is perhaps, the
loftiest summit of the whole globe, south of the
parallel of 429 south latitude. On the north of
San Carlos de Chiloe, in the whole length of
Chili to the desart of Atacama, the low western
regions not having been overwhelmed by the
floods, the Andes there appear farther from the
coast. The Abb6 Molina *, always pMitive in
what is doubtfiil, affirms that the Cordilleras of
Chili, form three parallel chains, of which the in-
termediary is the most elevated ; but to prove
that this division is far from general, it sufficed
to recollect the barometric survey made by
MM. Bauza and Espinosa, in. 1794, between
Mendoza and Santiago de Chili. The road
which leads from one o( those towns to the
other, rises by d^^rees from 700 to 1987 toises ;
and after passing the col des Andes (La Cumbre,
between the houses of refuge called Las Cala*
veras and Las Cuevas), it descends continually
as far as the temperate valley of Santiago de
Chili, of which the bottom is only 409 toises
above the level of the Ocean. The same sur-
vey has made known to us the mmimum of

* Saggio, p. 4, 2Q, 48. Compared with the manuscripU
ofM, Nee, botanist of the JMUIaspina expedition.

2 F 2

418

height at Chili of the lower limit of snow, hi
the 33" of south latitude. 'Vhe limit does not
lower in summci- to 2000 toiaes*. I think we
may conclude, according to the analogy of the
snowy mountains of Mexico and southern Eu-
rope, and considering the difference of the
evtivale temperatures of the two hemispheres,
that the real Nevadas at Chili, in the parallel
of Valdivia (lat. 40"), cannot be helow 1300
toises; in that of Valparaiso (lat. 33°) not
lower than 2000 toises, and in that of Copiapo
(lat. 27") not below 2200 toises of absolute
height. They are the limit numbers, the mini-
mum of elevation, which the ridge ;of the Andes
of Chili must attain by different degrees of
latitude, in order that their summits, more or
less grouped, pass not the line of perpetual
snows. The numeric results which I have just
marked, and which are founded on the laws of
the distribution of heat, have still the same -im-
portance as they had at the period already dis-
t^t of my travels in America ; Jor there does
not exist in the immense extent of the Andes,
from 8° of south latitude to ike strait of Magel-
lan, one Nevada of which the height above tke
level of the Ocean has been determined, eitlier by

■ On the tottikem declicity of the Hinudaja, the sdowi
begin 3° nearer the equator, at 1970 toises.

419

a simple geometric measure, or hy the combined
means of barometric, and geometric measures ♦.

The Andes, between 33^ and IS'' of south lati-
tude, between the parallels of Valparaiso and
Arica, present towards the east three remark-
able counter-forts, the Sierra de Cordova, de
Salta, and the Nevados de Cochabamba. Tra^
Tellers partly cross, and partly go along the
side of the iS/erra de Cordova (between 33^ and
31' of latitude), in their way from Buenos Ayres
to Mendoza ; it may be said to be the most
southern promontolry which advances in the
Pampas, towards the meridian of 65"^ ; it gives
biith to the great river known by the name of
Desaguadero of Mendoza, and extends from
San Juan de la Frontera and San Juan de la
Punta to the town of Cordova. The second
counter-fort, the Sierra de Salta and the Jujui>
of which the greatest breadth is 25"" of latitude,
widens progressively from the valley of Cata-
marca and San Miguel del Tucuman, towards

■

* The simultaneous employment of both these means is
necessary wherever a base cannot be measured at the level
of the sea^ or a plan taken from the table-land on which the
base has been measured as far as the coast. The want of
|x>rtable barometers, and ignorance of the use of instruments
of reflexion, and artificial horizons, retard the progress of
physical geography in the high chains of mountains ; and
has been especially prejudicial to the hypsometry of the
Andes, and the Rocky Mountains.

420

the Rio Vermejo (longitude 64°). Finally, tbc
third, and most majestic coimter-fort, the Sierra
Nevada de Cochabamha ami Sanla Cruz (from
22° to ITi" of latitude), is linked with the knot
of the mountains of Porco. It forms the point of
partition {divortia aquantm), between the basin
of the Amazon and that of the Rio de la Plata.
The Cachimayo and the Pilcomayo, which rise
between Potosi, Talavei-a de la Puna, and La
Plata or Chuquisaca, run towards the south-
east, while the Parapiti and the Guapey (Gua^
paiz, or Rio de Mizque), pour their waters into
the Mamori, towards the north-east. The ridge
of partition being placed near Chayanta, south
of Mizque, Tomina, and Pomabamba, nearly on
the Bontbern declivity of the Sierra de Cocha-
bamha in the 19° and 20* of latitude, the Rio
Guapey is forced toflowaround the whole group,
in order to reach the plains of the Amazon,
like the Poprad in Europe, a tributary stream
of the Vistula, to attain the southern part of
the Carpathes of Tatra in the plains of Poland.
I have already observed above, that where the
mount^Ds cease (west * of the meridian of

* I suppose, with Ca|)tsiii Basil Uall, that the port t^
Valparaiso is 71° 3L' west of Greenwich, and I pl»ce Cor-
dova 6° 40', and Santa Cmz de la Sierra 7* 4' east of Val-
paraiao. The longitudes indicated in the text, &nd conelanll]'
referring to the meridian of the Observatory of Paria, uc

421

66i^), the ridge of partition of Cochabamba
goes up towards the north-east, to 16^ of lati-
tude, forming by the intersection of two planes
slightly inclined^ one wall only amidst the sa-
vannahs, and separating the waters of the Gua^
pore, a tributary stream of the Madeira, from
those of the Aguapehy and Jauru^ tributary
streams of the Rio Paraguay. This vast coun-
try between Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Villabella,
and Matogrosso, is one of thd most unknown
of South America. The two cotinter-forts of
Cordova and Salta present only a mountainous
territory * of small elevation, and which is
linked to the foot of the Andes of Chili. The
counter-fort of Cochabamba, on the contrary,
attains the limit of perpetual snows (2300
toises),and forms in some sort a lateral branch of
the Cordilleras, diverging even from their tops
between La Paz and Oruro. The mountains
composing this branch (Cordillera de Chirigua^
naes, de los Sauces and Yuracar6es), stretch
regularly from west to east ; their eastern de-

not taken from jmblished maps > they are founded on com^
binations of astronomical geography of "which the elements
will be found in the Analysis of my Atlas of South Ame-
rica.

* I can scarcely believe that even the town of Jujuy is
650 toises above the level of the Ocean, as Mr. Redhead
pretends in his book Sobre la dilaiacUm del (ure aimoiftrko.
(Buenos Ayres^ 1819>) p. 10.

423

clivity * is very rapid, and their loftiest sum*
mits are placed not at the centre, but in the
northern part of the gronp.

The principal Cordillera of Chili and Upper .
Perui after having thrown towards the east Uie
three counter-forts of Cordova, Sdta, and Co-
chabamba or Santa Cruz, is, for the first time,
ramified very distinctly into two branches, in
the knot of Porco, and Potosi, between 19" and
20° of latitude. These two branches comprebmd
the table-land extending from (^rangas to
Lampa(lat. 19^0 — 15") and which contains'the
small alpine lake of Paria, the Desaguadero,
and the great Laguna of "nticaca or Cbocuito,

on the banks of this lake, near Tiahuanacu, and
in the high plains of Collao, that ruins are found
which attest a state of civilization • anterior
to that which the Peruvians attribute to the
reign of the Inca Manco Capac. The eastera
Cordillera, that of Le Paz, Palca, Ancuraa, and
Pelechuco, join, north-west of Apoiobaniha, the
western Cordillera, which is the most extensive
of the whole chain of the Andes, between the
parallels 14" and 15°. The imperial iuwn of
Cuzco is placed near the eastern extremity of
this knot, wliich comprehends, in an area of
3000 square leagues, the mountmos of Vilca^
nota, Carabaya, Abancai, Huando, Parinaco-
cha8, and Andahuaylas. Although here, as in
general, iti every considerable widening of the
Cordillet^ the grouped summits do not follow
the principal axis in constant and parallel direct
tions, a phenomenon was however observed in
the general disposition of the chain of the
Andes, from lat. 18" well worthy the atten-
tion of geologists. The whole mass ofthfr
Cordilleras of Chili and Upper Peru, from the
strait of Magellan to the parallel of the port of
Arica (18* 28' 35"), is directed from south to
north, in the manner of a meridian at most 5<>
. N. E. ; but from the parallel of Arica, the coast
and the two Cordilleras east and west of the

* Garcilaiso, CometUaru}* ReaUii T. i' p. 21,.

424

Alpiuc lake of Titicaca change tbcir direction
abniptly, and incline towards the north-west.
The Cordilleras of Ancunia and Moquehua, and
the longitudinal valley, or rather the basin of
Titicaca, which tht-y inclose, are directed N.
42° W. Further on, the two branches again
unite in the knot of the mountains ofCuzvo, and
thence their direction is N. 80' W. This knot,
of which the table-land inclines to the north-
east, presents a real curve, nearly directed from
east to west, so that the part of the Andes north
of Castrovireyna is thrown back more than
242,000 toises towards the west. So singular
a geological phenomenon reminds us of the
variation (Tidlure of the veins, and especially of
the two parts of the chain of the Pyrenees, pa-
rallel to each other, and linked by an almost
rectangular elbow, 16,000 toises lopg, near the
source of the Garonne * ; but in the Andes, the
axes of the chain, south and north of the curve,
do not preserve a parallelism. On the north of
Castrovireyna and Andahuaylas (lat. 14'), the
direction is N. 22* W., while south of 15', it is
N. 42* W. The inflexions of the coast follow
these changes; the shore separated from the
Cordillera by a plain 15 leagues broad, stretches
like the Cordillera at Arica, between 271° and

* Between the mountain of Tcntenade snd the Port
d'Espot ICkarpenUer, p. 10).

425

ISi" of latitude, N. S"* £. ; from Arica to Pisco, be-
tween 18i^ and 14*^ latitude, at first N. 42" W.,
afterwards N. 65" W. ; and from Pisco to Trux-
illo, between 14* and 8* of latitude, N. 27* W.
The parallelism between the coast and the Cor-
dillera of the Andes is a phenomenon so much
more worthy of attention, that it is repeated in
several parts of the globe where the mountains
do not in the same manner form the shore.
To this consideration is joined another which
relates to the general outline of continents. I
fix on the geographical position of the point
(14'' 28" south latitude) where, on the parallel
of Arica, the inflexion of the coast, and the
variation d^ allure of the Andes of Upper Peru,
begin. The resemblance of configuration which
the triangular masses of South America and
Africa display, is manifest in many details of
their outline. The gulphs of Arica, and of Ilo
correspond to the gulph of Guinea. The in-
flexion of the western coast of Africa begins 3"*
north of the equator ; and if we consider the
Archipelago of India geologically, as the re-
mains of a destroyed continent, as the link be-
tween eastern Asia and New Holland, we see
the gulph of Guinea, that which forms Java,
Bali, and Sumbava, with the Land de Witt,
and the Peruvian gulph of Arica, following
from north-west to south-south-east (lat. 3^ N.
lat. 10° S., lat. Hi"* S.), almost in the same di-

rection aa the extremities of the three conti-
nents of Africa, Australasiaj and America •.

After the great hnot of mountains of Cuxcn and
Parinacocbas, in 14° south latitude, the Andes
present a second bifurcation, on the ea6t and west
of the Rio Jauja, which throws itself into the
M&ntaro, a tributary stream of the Apurimac-f-.
The eastern chain stretches on the east of
Huanta, the convent of Oeopa and Tarnia, the
western cliain, on the west of Castrovireyna,
Hnancavelica, Huarochcri, and Yauli. The
basin, or rather the lofty tahle-land which is
inclosed by these chains, is nearly half the
length of the basin of Chucuito or Titicaca.
,Two mountiuns covered with eternal snow,
seen from the town of Lima, and which the in-
habitants name Toldo de la Nieve, belong to ttic
western chain, that of Huarocheri.

On the north-west of the vallies of Salca-
bamba, in the parallel of the ports of Huaura
and Guarmey, between 11° and 10° latitude,
the two chains unite in the knot of the Hua-
nueo and the Pasco, celebrated for the mines
of Yauricocha or Santa Rosa. There rise two
peaks of colossal height, the Nevados of Sasa-

• See above, p. 303.
+ See !e Plan del curto de lot Rioi HuaUaga y Vcajjali fir
don Padre Sobrtvkla, nui. The Apurimac forms, con-
jointly with (he Bcni, the Rio Paro, which takes (he name
of Ucnjrali, after its couBucace with the Hio Pachilea.

427

guanca and of la Viuda. The table-land ' of
this knot of mountains appears in the Pampas
de Bombon *, to be more than 1800 toises
above the level of the Ocean. From this point,
on the north of the parallel of Huannco^ (lat.
11°) the Andes are divided into three chains,
of which the first, and most eastern, rises be-
tween Poznzu and M una, between the Rio Hu-
allaga, and the Rio Pachitea, a tributary of the
Ucayali ; the second, or central, between the
Huallaga, and the Upper Maragnon ; the third,
or western, between the Upper Maragnon and
the coast of Truxillo and Payta 'f'. The eastern
chain is a small lateral branch which lowers
into a range of hills ; directed first towards .the
N.N.E., bordering the Pampas del Sacramento
afterwards towards the W.N.W., where it is
broken by the Rio Huallaga, in the Porigo,
above the confluence of Chipurana, the eastern
chain loses itself in 6V of latitude, on the north-
west of Lamas. A transversal ridge seems to
join it with the central chain, south of Para-
mo J, de Piscoguanuna (or Piscuaguna), west
of Chachapoyas. The intermediary or central
chain stretches from the knot of Pasco and
Huanuco, towards the N.N.W. between Xican

t .

• Political Essay, Vol. iii, p. 341.

+ See above. Vol. V, p. 39.

X See above. Vol ii, p. 253— Vol. v, p. 742.

496

and Chicoplaya, Hiiacurachnco and the sources
of tbe Rio Monzan, between Pataz and Pajatan,
Caxamarquilla and Moyobatnba. It widens
greatlyin the parallel ofChacbapoya8,and forms
ainountainoustemtory, traversed by deep vallies,
excessively hot. The central chain, in 0° lati-
tude, on the north of Paramo de Piscoguaninia,
throws two branches towards La Veilaca and
San Borja. We shall soon see that this latter
branch forms, below the Rio Neva, a tributary
stream of the Amazon, the rocks that border
the famous Pongo de Manseriche. In this zone,
where northern Peru draws near the confines of
New Grenada in 10" and 5' of latitude, no sum-
mit of the eastern and central chains rises as
high as the region of perpetual snows ; the only
snowy tops are in the western chain. The cen-
tral chain, that of the Paramos de Callacalla,
and Piscoguanuna, scarcely reaches 1800 toises,
and lowers gently to 800 toises; so that the
mountainous and tempered land which extends
onthenorthof Chachapoyas towards Pomacocha>
La Veilaca, and the source of the RioNieva,
is still rich in fine trees of quinquina. Aftar
having passed the Rio Huallaga and the Pachi-
tea, which with the Beni forms the Ucayali, we
find in advancing towards the east, only ranges
of hills. Tbe western chain of the Andes,
which is' the most elevated and the nearest
to tbe coast, stretches almost in a parallel with

429

the shore N. 22^ W., between Caxatambo and
Huary, Conchucos and Guamaehaco, by Caxa-
marca^ the Paramo de Yanaguanga and- Mon-
tana towards the Rio de Guancabamba. It
presents (between 9"" and Ti"*) the three Nevados
de Pelagatos, Moyopata^ and Huaylillas. This
last snowy summit^ situated near Guamachuco,
(in y** 55^ latitude) merits the more particularly to.
fix attention^ since from thencecmthenorth, as far
as Chimborazo^ on a length of 140 leagues^ there
exists not one mountain that enters the region
of perpetual snows. This depression or absence
of snows^ extends in this interval^ over all the
lateral chains, while^ on the south of the Ne-
vado de Huaylillas, we constantly observe that
when one chain is very low, the summits of the
other surpass the height of 2460 toises. In
order to fix attention the more on the branch
of the Andes which extends on the west of the
Amazon, that of Conchucos and Caxamarca, I
shall here repeat that it was on the south of
Micuipampa (lat. 7^ 10 that I found the mag-
netic equator.

The Amazon, or as it is customary to say in
those regions, the Upper Maragnon, passes
through the western part of the longitudinal
valley which lies between the Cordilleras of
Chachapayas, and Caxamarca. Comprehend-
ing in one point of view, this valley, and that
of Rio Jauja, bounded by the Cordilleras of

Tarraa and Huai-ocheri, we are inclined to
consider them as one immense basin 180 leag^ues
}ong, and crossed at the first third of its length,
by a dyke, or ridge 18,000 toises broad. In
fact, the two Alpine lakes of Lauricocha and
Chincbaycocha, wbicb give birth to the river of
the Amazons and the Rio de Jauja, are placed
south and north of this rocky dyke, formed by
a prolongation of the knot of Huaniico and
Pasco. The Amazon, in issuing from the lon-
gitudinal valley, that bounds the chains of
Caxamarca and Chachacocha, breaks, as we
have already sud in another place *, the latter
of those chains, which merits the name of cen-
tral without being the most lofty; the point
where the great river penetrates into the moun-
tains is very remarkable. Entering the Ama-
zon by the Rio Chamaya or Guancabamba, I
found opposite the confluence, the picturesque
mountain of Patachuana; but the rocks on
both banks of the Amazon begin only between
Tambillo and Tomependa (lat. 5* 31', long.
80* 56'). From thence to Pongo de Rentema,
a long succession of rocks follow, of whi<ih the
last is the Pongo de Tayouchouc, between the
strait of Manseriche and the village of San
Borja. The course of the Amazon, at first di-
rected north, and then east, changes near Pu-

• Vol. V, p. 41.

431 ^

yaya, three leagoeii north-east of Tomependatt
In the whole of this distance^ between Tambillo
and San Borja, the waters force u way^ more or
less narrow, across the sand-stone of the Ciordil-
lera of Chachapoyas. The moantmns are lofty
near the Embarcadero, at the confluence of the
Imasa, where trunks of Cinchona, which might
be easily transplanted to Cayisnne, or the Cana^
ries, approach the Amazon. Hie rocks in the
famous strait of Mafiseriche, are scarcely 40
toises high; and further eastward, the last billi
rise near XeberoSt towards the mouth of the
Rio Huallaga.

In order not to interrupt the description of the
Cordilleras, between the ]5*and5i^ of latitude^
between the knots of the mountains' of Cuzco and
Laxa, I have hitherto passed over in silence the
extraordinary widening of the Andes near the
Apolobamba. The sources of the Rio Beni
being found in this counter-forty which stretches
towards the north, beyond the confluence of
that river with the Apurimac, I slmll designate
the whole group by the name of the counter-fort
of Beni. The following is the most certain in^
formation I have obtained respecting those
countries, from persons who had long inhabited
Apolobamba, the Real of the mines of Pasco,
and the convent of Ocopa. Along the whole
eastern chain of Titicaca, from La Paz to the
knot of Huanuco (lat.l7i* to lOi') a very wide

VOL. VI. G

pDuotainoiis land lies towards the east, at Ih*
back of the declivity of the Andes. It is not a
widening of the eastern chain itself, but rather
of the counter-forts of small height that follow
the foot of the Andes like a penumbra, ftlling
the whole space betw'een the Beni and the Pa-
chilca. A chaio of hills bounds the eastern
bank of the Beni to 8' of latitude ; for, accord-
ing to the very exact infonnatlon I received
from father Nacisso Gilbar, the rivers Coau^c^
pod Magua, tributaries of the Ucayali (Sowing
la the 6" and 7" latitude), come from a moun-
tainous land between the Ucayali and the Jqvari.
The existence of this land in so eastern a longi-
tude (prob^ly long. 74*), is so much more re-
^iiarkable, as we find at four degrees of latitude
fiirtber nor(b, neither a rock nor a bill on the
east of X^beros, or the mouth of the HuaUaga
(long. 77" 56').

We have just seen that the counter-fort of
Beni,a8ortoflateraI branch, loses itself towafds
&■ of latitude ; the chain between the Ucayaii
^d the HuaUaga terminates at the parallel of
T in joining, on the west of Lamas, tbe chain of
Cbachapayas, stretching between tbe HuaUaga
and the Amazon. Finally, (he letter chaif),
which we have also designated by the name o_f
central, alter having formed the rapids and cft?
taracts of tiie Amazon, between Tomependa aiul
1^ Boija, tunu towards the north-nofth-w«ftu

and joins the wedVeiii obalb, that cfCflMhmaHi^
or the Nevadcfft of Felagatbs atid Hnag^lilla%
and forms the great knot (^ the mbmntmmf of
Loxa. The n^uean he^t' of this: Inat .is onljr
1000 to 1900 toisto^ itS' teraj»^ra»e ctimata
renders it peculiarly- fitted, iw tiaat vfegefiaticm;
of the&ees of qninqijinaiy tbe^ finest ktrida: of
which grow inthi^ delebrated' fotesto of ^ Oaxt^
numa- and Uritiiising% bettireNend;hfe& RiD' Zrfbaora
and the Gachiyalctai ahd^hetwMn TovAftobacatfil
Guancidiiapibai. Foi^ ag^ befbre the^qllln<|aiIlli
of Popayah add^ Santas ^e de Bogola (dOff;
lat. 'H^'' W6% oi HnacarAchneo^ Hnamalidii
and Huanuco (south lat. 9^ to 11^), was knOTrn^
the kndt of the mountainb'of Loxa was'regalrd-,
ed as the sole re^gion front whence the ftbrlffige
bitrk of Cuit)bona could be obtained This
knot occupies jtbevasl^ territory between <}uaitt
oabamba, Avayaci^ OjSaj andthe miaedtowsi^
of 2^ora and Loyola^ between >5i^ andrdi^ Of
latitude^* Some of the summits (the PoralMbr
of Alpiachaoa, Saragurli, Sayamlla, Gueidng^
ChulucaBas^ Guamani> and Yamoea^ whicdi^K
meastir^d), jrise froitat IdSO to 1720 toises^ but ^m^
Q^as 9groupe c6yered with snow^ which in tUi:
latimde fells only above 1860 to 1900 -toises off
abedutb height. Ih desoendihg tbw&rds ther
ea«l> totheRio!Santiago and tb^Rio of ChfH
maya, two tributary streams of the Aibatfotf^
the riiotMaiiis lower r^dly ; : bt^een SaO

2 G 2

FdSpe, Matai*, and Jsea de Bracamons, tbcy
4tie not mora than 500 or 300 t^SM.
' As we advanoe from the moontMns of mica-
alate >of Loxa towards the north, between the
Patamos Of Alpadiaca and JBarar (in latitade
S°.lft')> ^ l™ot of monntains is tapiified into.
two branches that comprehend the longitu-
dinal valley of Cuenca. This separation lasts
on a length of only 12 leagues; for in the ^
27' of latitude, the two Cordilleras join anew
in the hnot of Jssuai/, a trachytic groupe, of
which the table-land, near Cadlud, 2428 toises
high) enters nearly into the region of perpetual
snow.

At the knot «f the mountains of Assuay,
which affords a very frequented passage of the
Andes, between Cuenca and Quito, succeeds
(lat. 21" to 0° 40' south), another division of the
Cordilleras become celebrated by the labors of
Bouguer and La Condamine, who have placed
their signals sometimes on one, sometimes on
the other of the two chains. The eastern is that
of Chlmborazo (3350 toises) and of Cargoai-
razo; the western, the chain of the volcano
Sangay, the CoUaues, and of Llanganate. The
latter is broken by the Rio Pastaza. The bot-
tom of the longitudinal basin that bounds those
two chains, from Alausi to Llactacunga, is a
little higher than the bottom of the basin of
Cuenca. North of Llactacanga, 0° 40' latitade,

t43S

between the tq)6 of Yliniza (2717 t.) and Co-
topaxi (2950 t^)^ of which the £3riiier belongs
to the chain of Chimborazo^ and the latter to
that of Sangay, is placed the knot of Chisincke;
a kind of narrow dyke that shuts in the basin^
and divides the waters between the Atlantic
Ocean^ and the South Sea. The AUa de
Chisinche is only elevated 80 toises above the
surrounding table-lands. The waters of the
northern declivity form the Rio de San Pedro^
which^ joining the Rio Pita, throws itself into
. the Gualabamba, or Rio de las Esmeraldas. The
waters of the southern declivity, designated
more particularly by the name of Cerro de Tio-
puUo^ run to the Rio of S^ Felipe and Pastaza,
a tributary stream of the Amazon.

The hipartitUm of the Cordilleras re-com-
mences and continues from 0^ 40^ of south to
0^ 20^ of north latitude ; that is, as far as the
volcano of Imbabura, near the villa of Ibarra.
The eastern Cordillera displays the snowy sum-
mits of Antisana (2992 toises), of Guamani, Ca*
yambe (3070 toises), and Imbabura ; the west-
em Cordillera, those of Corazon, Atacazo^ K-
chincha (2491 toises), and Cotocache (2570
toises). Between these two chains, which may
be regarded as the classical soil of the astrono-
my of the 18th century, is a valley, part of
which is again divided longitudinally by the
hills of Ichimbio and Poignasi. The table-landi;

of Puembo and Chillo lie on the east of those
hills; and those of Quito, Inaquito, and Turn
bamba on the west. The equator crosses the
summit of Nevado de Cayambe *, and the
valley of Quito in the village of San Antonio de
Lulumbainba. When we consider the small
mass of the knot of Assuay, and above all, of
that of Chisinche, we are inclined to regard the
three basins of Ciienca, Hambato, and Quito, as
one long valley (from the Paramo de Sarar
to the Villa de Ibarra) of 73 marine leagnes,
4 or 5 leagues broad, having a general direction
!N. 8° E. and divided by two transversal dykes,
one between Alausi and Cuenca (2° 27' south
latitude), and the other between Machacbe and
Tambillo (0° 40'). No where in the Cordillera
of the Andes are more colossal mountains
beaped together, than on the east and west of
this vast basin of the province of Quito, one
degree and a half south, and a quarter of a
degree north of the equator. This basin, the
centre of the most ancient native civilization,
after that of the basin of Titicaca, touches tow-
ards the south, the knot of the mountains of
Loxa, and towards the north, the table-land of
the province of Los Pastos.

* The heights of Chimboruzo, Rucupichincha, Cayambe,
nnd Antisana, which are different from those stated by La
Condamine, in the inscription at the couvent of Jesuits at
Quito, arc the result of my own geodesic measuceiaents.

437

In tills ppovincef, a little beyond the Villa of
Ibarra, between the snowy sammitil of Coto-
cache And Imbabura, the two Cordilleras of
Quito join, and form one mass, extending to
Meneses and Voisaco^ from 0^ 21^ nor. lat. to 1^
1 3\ IcaJl this mass, on which the volcanoes of
Cumbai and Chiles rise, the knot of the moim-
tains of Loa Pastos, on accomit of the name of

•

the province that forms the center^ The vol-
cano of Paste, of which the last emption took
place in the year 1727, is on the south of Yenoi,
ne^ the northern limit of this groupe, of which
the inhabited tablelands are more than \009
toises above the level of the Ocean. It is the Thi-
bet of the e^uinoxial regions of the New World.
On the north of the town of Paste (north la-
titudel^lS^; long, 79*410, the Andes again
divide into two branches, and surround the
table-land of Mamendoy and Almaguer. The
eastern Cordillera contains the Siehega of Se-
bondoy (an alpine lake that gives birth to the
Putumay o) , the sources of the Jupura or Caqueta,
and the Paramos of Aponte and Iscanse. The
western Cordillera, that of Mamacondy, called
in the coimtry^ Cordillera de la CostOy on account
of its proximity to the shore of the South-Sea,
is broken by the great Rio de Patias, which re-
ceives the Guativa, the Guachicon, and the
Quilquase. The table-land or intermediary
basin has great inequalities ; it is partly filled

438

by th« Paramos of Pitatumba and Paraguay,
and the separation of the two chuns appeared
to me indistinct as for as the parallel of Alma-
goer (lat. 1°54'; lon^. 79° 15'). The general
direction of the Andes, from the extremity oi
the basin of the province of Qnito to the vid-
nity of Popayan, changes from N. 8^ £. to N,
36^ £. ; and follows the direction of the coast
of Esmeraldas and Barbacoas.

On the parallel of Almagner^ or rather a little
north-east • of that town, the geolog:ical con-
stitution of the land displays very remarkable
changes. The Cordillera, which we have just
marked by the name of the eastern, that of the
lake ofSebondov. widens considerably between

439

Siller a of New Orenadoy to that which lies be-
tween the Magdalena and the Cauca/ towards
Mariquita ; and that of the western CordiUera
of New Grenada J to the chain which continues
the Cordillera de la Costa from the basiti of
Almaguer, and separates the bed of the Rio
Cauca from the platiniferons territory of Choco.
In order to be clearer^ we may also name the first
chain^ that of Suma Paz^ after the colossal
groupe of mountains on the isouth of Santa Pe
de Bogota, which throws the waters of its east^
em declivity into the Rio Meta. The second
chain may bear the name of the chain of Qua-^
nacas or Quindiu, on account of the two cele*
brated passages of the Andes, in the way from
Santa Fe de Bogota to PopayanV The' third
chain may be called that of Cboco, or of the
shore. Some leagues on the south of Popayan
(nor. lat. 2P 2V), west of Paramo de Palitara
and the volcano of Puraoe, a ridge of micaslate
runs from the knot of the mountains* of Saco-
honiy towards the north-west, and divides the
waters between the South Sea and the Carib^
bean Sea ; they flow from the northern decli-*
vity into the Rio Cauca, and from the southern
declivity, into the Rio de Patias.

The tripartition of the Andes, which we have

* See my Essai giogn, sur ie gisemeni des roches, p. 130 and
131.

440

just stated, (nor. lat. U ° — 21 °) reminds tlM
geogno^t of that which takes ptace at the 1
source of the Amazon in the knot of the monif
tains of Huamtco amd Pasco (south lat., 14*0 1
but the most western of the three chains tbat
bound the basins of the Amazon and the Huat-
la^ is the loftiest ; white that of Choixi, or tin
shore, is the least elevated of the three chaiai
of New Grenada. It is ignorance of thia tri-
partition of the Andes in that part of Soirtfa
America near the Rio Atrato and the istlunus
of Panama, which has led- to so many cntMeous
judgments on the possibility of a canal of junc-
tion between the two s

441

dilleras, and above all^ the spreading of <(tieir
branches^ have a powerfiil inflaenM on the
prosperity of the nations of New Grenada. The
diversity of the superposed table4ands and oli^
mates vaiies the agricultural productions as
well as the diaracfa^ of the inhabitants; it
gives activity to the exchange of products^ and
renews on a vaist surfoce^ on the ncMh of th^
equator, the picture of the sultry vallies, and
the cold and temperate plains of Peru. It is
also worthy of remark that^ by the sepwutiofi
of one of the branches of the Cordillertt of
Cundinamarca, and the deviation of the Isbidn
of Bogota towards l3ie north-east, the coiossal
groupe of the mountains of Merida is enclosed
in the territory of the ancient Capitanm-generat
of Venezuela, and that the continuity df the
same mountainous land from Pamplona to Bar^
qjaesimeto and Nirgiaa^ has, it may be said, fa«
cilitated the political union of the ColumUah
territory* As long as the central chain (that of
Quindiu) displays its snowy summits, no peak
of the eastern chain (that of La Suma Pae)
rises, in the same parajUels, to the limit of per-
petual snows* ^Between 2^ and 5i^ of latitude,
neither the Paramos, situated on the east of
Gigante and Neiva, nor the tops of la Suma
Paz, Chingasa, Guachaneque, and Zoraca, sur-
pa^ the height of 1900 to 2000 toises ; while
on the north of the parallel of Paramo d*£rve

442

• (lat. 5° 5'), the last of tlie Nevados of the cen-
tral Cordillera, we discover in the eastern chain
the snowy summits of Chita (lat. 5° 50'), and
ofMucuchies (lat. 8° 12'). It thence results,
that from 5° latitude, the only mountains co-
vered with snow during the whole year, are the
Cordilleras of the east ; and although the Si-
erra Nevada of Santa Marta is not, properly
speal(ing, a continuation of the Nevados of
Chita and Mucuchies (west of Patute, and east
of Merida), it is at least very near their meri-
dian.

Arrived at the northern extremity of the
Cordilleras, comprehended between Cape Horn
and the isthmus of Panama, we shEdl confine
ourselves to the indication of the loftiest sum-
mits of the three chains -t- which separate in
the knot of the mountains of Socobotii, and the
ridge of Rohle (lat. 1" SC — 2° aC). I begin
with tbe most eastern chain, that of Timana
and Suma Paz, which divides the tributary
streams of the Magdalena and the Meta ; it
stretches by the Paramos de Chingasu, Gua-
chaneque, Zoraca, Toquillo (near Labranza
Grande), Chita, Almorsadero :}:, Laura, Cacota,

* The snows called at Saata Fe, Meta de Herveo.

i See above, 248.

t This PanuDO is situated between the bridge of Chitaga
and the village of Tequia. The Rio Chitaga throws itself
into the Sarare, and the Rio Tequia, into the Rio Sogamozo.

443

Zumbador, and Pdrqueras^ towards the JSierrst
Nevada de Meiida* These Pttramos indicate
ten partial risings of the back of the Cordille-
ras. The declivity of the eastern chidn is ex-
tremely rapid on the eastern side, where it
bounds the basin of the Meta and the Oroono-
ko ; it is widened on the west by the counter-
forts, on which are situated the towns of Santa
Fe de Bogota, Tunja, Sogamoso, and I^eiva.
They are like table-lands fixed to the western
declivity, and which are from 1300 to 1400
toises high ; that of Bogota, (the bottom of an
ancient lake), contains bones of Mastodontes,
in the Campo de Gigantes, near Suacha.

The intermediary, or central chain, runs on
the east of Popayan, by the high plains of Mav
basa, the Paramos of Guanacas, Huila, SaveliU
lo, Iraca, Baraguan, Tolima *, Ruiz, and Her-
veo, towards the province of Antioquia. In the
S^ \&' of latitude, this chain, the only one that
displays recent traces of volcanic fire, in the

The Paramos of ^ Almoaadero and ToquiUo are the most
lofty sommito which, on the road from Merida to Santa Fe
de Bogota, do not enter the region of perpetual snows. MM.
Rivero and Boussingault found that the Paramo of Almor-
sadero is passed at the elevation of 2010 toises, and the
Paramo ^ Cacota at 1700 toises.

^ The passage of the Montana de Quindiu, on the road
from Ibaque to Carthago, is between the Nevados of ToiUmai
and Baraguan.

snmmits of Sotara and Purace, widens consider-
ably towards the west, and joins the western
chain, which we have called the chain of Cho-
co, because the planitiferoua land of that pro-
vince lies on the slope opposite the Pacific
Ocean. By the union of the two chains, the
basin of the province of Popayan is shut on the
north of Cartago Viejo, and the river of Caoca,
in issuing from the plain of Buga, is forced,
froiO the Salto de San Antonio, to la Boca del
Espiritu Santo, to open its way across themonn-
tams, during a course of from 40 to 50 Jeagues.
"^ difference of the level is very remarkable,
in the bottom of the two parallel basins of
€8uca and' Magdalena. "Die former, between
Caliand Ciuitago, is from 500 to 404 teises ; the
IfUter, from Ndva to Ambalema, is frbm 265 to
ISfFtoIses high. It might be said, aceording to
different geolt^cal hjrpotbeses, either tiaA the
deebndary formations were not acdnmulat«d to
thfcf fame thickness between the eastern and
coitral, as between the central and western
•hfuns ; or, that the deposits have been made
oik the base of primitive rocks, unequally heaped
dp on the east and west of the Andes of Qain-
diu. The mean difference of this thickness of for-
mation, or of these heights, is 300 toises. The
rocky ridge of the Angostura of Carare, branches
from the soutii-east, from the oounter-fort of
Muzo, through which. winds the RiO'Negro.

443

By this ccmnter-fprt, and by thosid that come
from the west, the eastern and central chains aif^
proach betwera Nares^ Honda, and Mendalea. In
foot, the bed of the Rio Magdalena is nai;rowed
in 5^ and &^ 1 8^, by the mounUuns of Sergento bh
the east, and by the counterforts that we linked
with the granitic mountains of Mariquito and
S. Ana, on the west. This narrowing of the
bed of the rirer is in the same parallel with that
of the Cauca^ near the Salto de San Antonio $
but, in the knot of the m^^nntains of Antioquia^
the central and western chains join each other,
while betweai Honda and Mendales, the topii
of the central and easltem remain so for re*
moved, that it is only the coqnter-forts of each
system that draw near and are confounded to^
gether. It is ^o worthy of remark, that tfad
central Cordillera of New Grenada displays the
loftiest summit of the Andes in the northern
hemisphere. The peak of Tolima * ^t. 4^ 46'),
of which the naime is almost ujpknown in Eu«
rope, and which I measured in 1801, rises at
leaflet 2865 toises high. It consequ^atly sur-
passes the Imbabura, and the Cotocache in Hbe
prsVince of Quito, the Chiles of the table-IandfiT
of los Pastos, the two volcanoes of Popayan^

' * <Fhe second rank (»f height^ in the northern hemisphere,
mm^ears to be oooupied by the Necado de Hwla (lat. 2o 55'),
betWtefi Nctsga and Odilichao. M. Caldas estinjiates it
saop toises. (See SemoMfio ^t Bogota, Tom. f^ p. 6.)

and even the Nevados of Mexico and the
Mount Saint Elie of Russian America. The
peak of Tolima, which in form resembles Co-
topaxi, yields perhaps in height only to the
ridge of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,
which may be considered as an insulated sys-
tem of mountains.

The eastern chain, also called chain of Choco
and the coast (of the South Sea), separates the
provinces of Popayan and Antioquia from those
ofBarbacoas, Raposo, and Choco. Little ele-
vated in general, if compared to the height of
the central and eastern chains, it however pre-
■ senta great obstacles to the communications
between the valley of Cauca and the shore *.
On its western slope lies the famous auriferous
and platini/erous land -j-, which has during

* The frightful roads that crosa the western chain, are
those of Chisquio (east of the Rio Micay), Auchicaya, bs
Juntas, Sunt Aug^tin, opposite Cartago, Chami, and Uirao.
(Semm., Tom. i, p. 32.

t Ttie Choco fiarba(;oa3 and Brazil are the only countries
of the earth where the e^stence of grains of platina and of
palladinm has been hitlierto fully ascertained. The small town
of Barbacoas is situated on the left bank of the Rio Tdembi
(tributary of Fatias or the Rio del Castigo), a little abore
the confluence of Telembi and the Guagui or Guaxi, nearly
in 1" 48' of latitude. The ancient Provinda, or rather the
Partido del Stapoto, comprehends the insalubrioua land ex*
tending from the Rio Dagua, or San Buenareuttum to the Ria
Iscuonde, the southern limit of Choco.

49d

ges yielded more than 13^000 marks of goCcP
nnually to commerce. This alluvial zone is
rem 10 to 12 leagues broad : it attains its roaxi^
lum of riches between the parallels of 2^ and
^ of latitude, is sensibly impoverished towards
le north and south, and almost entirely disap^
ears between IP of north latitude and the
quator. The auriferous soil fills the basin of
^uca, as well as the ravines and plains on the
'est of the Cordillera of Choco; it rises some-
mes nearly 600 toises above the level of the
5a^ and descends at least 40 toises *. Platina
iud this geognostic feet is worthy of atten-
on), had hitherto been found onfy on the west
f the Cordillera of Choco, and not on the east,
ot withstanding the analogy of the fragments
frocks, of greenstone, phonolite, trachyte', and
^rruginous quartz, of which the soil of the two-
escents is composed. From the ridge of Los
Lobtes, which separates the table-land of Al-
laguer from the basin of Cauca, the western
bain forms, first, in the Cerros of Carpinteria,
aist of the Rio San Juan de Micay, the continua-
on of the Cordillera of Sindagua, broken by
le Rio Patias ; then, lowers towards the norths
etween Cali and Las Juntas de Dagua^ to from

* M. Caldas assigns to the upper limit of the zone of gold

uhmgs, only the height of 350 toises. (Seman., Tom. i,

18) ; but I found the Idvaderos of Quilichao, on the north

Popayan, 665 toises high. {Attron, Ohs., Vol. i^ p. 303. )t

VOI-. vr. 2 H

450

800 to 900 toises of height, ;m<l sends consider-
able coiiiiter- forts (in 4j° — 6° of latitude) to-
wards the source of the Calima, the Tamana,
aud the Andagueda. The two former of these
auriferous rivers are tributary streams of the Rio
Rio Sao Juau del Choco ; the second empties
its wiiters iuto the Atrato. This widening of
the western chaJn foruw the mountainous part
of Clioco : here, between the Tado and Zi-
tara, called also Francisco de Quibdo, lies the
isthmus of Rjispadura, become celebrated siuce
^ mcJEt^ traced en it a uavigablei line betwe«»
thf) two ecea^a, *. The culminant point of tlus
system of uoiiatains appears t» be the Peak of
Torra, situated on the south-^st oClSovlta't!.

The northern extremity of this, widening of.
the Cordillera of Choco, which I have just de-
scribed, correspcmds with the junction of the:
same CordiUera towai-ds the east, with the cfa»-
tml (^aib, that of.Quii^u. The niountuns ti.
Antioquia,. on which we have the excellent obser-
vadtioDS (^Mr. Restrepe{, may be called a knai <^

* See above. Vol; vi, p. 2fl0.

t I am surprized, that Af. I*bmbo has compared the nm
del C/uco, which does not enter into tfic r^ioa of noiM.
not even perh^is into that of the Paramoa (mc above,. VoL
V, p. 742), to the colossal mountains of Mexico. (Notieiai
variat- sobre hs Qmnat, 1814, p. 67.)

t Semanario de Bogota, Tom. ii, p. 41— 4G. Thu-me-
moir contains at the same time, the results of astrononucsl
obserratioDs, the measurcB made with the barometer, and
statistic statements on tite ^Tdductions and trade of this in-

4SI

numHiains, be'c&ask' 6ii th^ northilni lioiif of &e
pfains of^ Bttga, or the 1>£ifim 6f C^iica, they join
the central aAd westerft 6hains. We have seen
above, that the ridge of the eastertt Cordillera
t^mahiH sepdMtedf by 3S leagues of distance
frolkh the khtf<,i^o'th^t the iiai'ro^ng of the bed of
^e Rio Mdgdalenai, between Honda and Amba-
feiba, i^estilts only from the approximation 6^
thef cdtititei^-foftS bf Minquita. and (juaduas.
Thkrti i^ Hdt ihetewTt) properly speiaking, a
^roupfe of mountaStfS, if^tweeri 5® and 6i^ of la-
tittfdfe, tmitfirg ^t the same' time the three'
^Haiii^d In ifhfe grbA|>6 of the province of Ari-r
fio^uist, which fo^ms tb^ junction of the central
^d westerA' C6rditlerafll, we may distinguiish
iwo ^eat masses, one, b'etween the M agdIaTena
and the Cauca; the other, bietween the Cauca
and the Atrar6~. The fifst 6t ^heae masses is
KAted' most imfai^diateTj^ to' (h& snowy summits
6f Hei*Vfe6 ; it giW birth oh' the east, to Rio
de' ia, INliel, and* the Nare ; and towards the
n'61'th, to Force and Neehi ; its mean height is
oMy from VM^t6 1350' toises. The culminant'
point appears t6 be placed Aear Santa Rosai,
south-west Of the celebrated valley of Bears.
(f^alte de Oso.i.) The towns of Rio Negro arirf

ter^sting province, of \^lilch I attempted to trace, in 1810,
the'fii'st gedgrapliical map, ffoild tli^ labors of M. Maniie)
Jose de Reslrepo. (See 24lh PI. of my Atlas.)

2 If 2

45-2

Mariuilla are built on table-lands 1060 toises
high. The western mass of the knot of the
mountains of Antioquia, between the Cauca and
the Atrato, gives rise, on its western descent, to
the RioSan Juan, Bevara, and Murri. It attUDs
its greatest height (and that of the whole pro-
vince of Antioquia) in the Alio del VientOy north
ofUrrao.knownto the first Ojnja/rfaf/orw by the
name of the Cordilleras of Abide •, or Dabeida.
This height (lat. 7" 15'), does not however ex-
ceed IdOO toises. In following the western
slope of this system of mountains of Antioquia,
we find that the point of partition of the waten
that flow towards the South Sea, and tbe

453

fcctly known; il ts observed only that their
lowering is in general more rapid and complete
towards the N.W., on the side of the ancient
province of Biraquete ♦ and Darien^ than tow-
ards the N. and N. E., on the side of Zaragoza
and Simiti. From the northern bank of the Rio
Nare^ near its confluence with the Samana^ a
counter-fort stretches out, known by the name
of la Simitarra^ and the mountains of San Lu-
car. We shall call it the Jtrst branch of the
groupe of Antioquia. I saw it^ in going up the
RioMagdalena^onthe west^from theRegidorand
the mouth of the Rio Simiti^ as fkr as San Bar-
tolome (on the south of the mouth of the Rio
Sogamozo) ; while, towards the east, in 71® and
8i® of latitude, the counter-forts of the moun-
tains of Ocana ^ appear in the distance ; they
are inhabited by some tribes of M olitone In-
dians. The second branch of the groupe of An-
tioquia (west of Samitarra) proceeds from the
mountains of Santa Rosa, stretches between
Zaragoza and Caceres, and terminates abruptly,
at the confluence of the Rio Nechi (lat. 8® 33^),
at least if the hills, often conical I, between the

* See vol. vi, p. 249, note.

t The moantains of Ocana^ linked to the Sierra de Pe-
rija, branch from the eastern chain (that of Suma Paz) on
the N. W. of Pamplona.

X I saw in sailing the Tetias of Cispata^ Santero^ Tolu,
and San Martin (Ut. ^ 18^-0'' 32^).

raoutb of the P-ioSiinu and the small town of Tulu,
or even the calcareoas heights of Turbacu and
popaj-Tiear Carthagenaj may not be regarded as
the most northern prolongation of this second
branch. A third, advances towards the gulpb
pf Uraba • or Darien, between the Rio Sai^
Jorge and the Atrato, It is linked towards the
south, with the Alio del /'letito, or Sierra de
Abide, and is rapidly lost, in advancing as for

08 the parallel of 8°. Finally, the fourth
branch, of the Andes of Antioquia, placed on the
west of Zitara and the Rio Atrato, undergoes,
long befprp it enters the isthn^u^ of P^i^an)^ such

9 d^pre^sion, th^t betufeen the gnlpt of Cupipa,
and the ^ml^rca^ere of the Rio Na^pi^ij we ftnd
oiff]F ^ pl^ln^ acft^ whiqh M- Cr9gi)en^«he has
I^J^te^ a c^nal of juncfipn of the tfro seas.
It ^ou^d be interesting tp Itnaw the pf>nfi|^ra-
tio^ pf ttte ^) betw^n pftpe C^ar^hine, Of
^ulpb of St. Migqef, ap4 pa^ 'Hburon, abpve
^Ij ^W^rfls the source of the Rip Tqyra ^d
C^aciii^ue, or C}ii^?unque, in pfder t(t de^
te^inp with precision where tjie la^tMat^in^
qf th^ ififhmus of PaQ^^na b^^a to, i^e^ inpHiV^
tains of which the elevation does not appear to
be above 100 toises high. "Pie ii^fe^ior of Dar-

* See above. Vol. vi, p. 331 ; and Sflnanan« <fe fogvM,
Tov. ii, p. 83.
\ Vol. Vi,' p. 266.

465

four is not more unknown to geographers^ than
the humid, insalubrioiis . land, coTered with
thick forest^ Which eKtends on the north-west
of Betoi and the oonfluenoe of Be vara With the
AtratO) towards the isthmus of Bwama. All
that we hitherto know positively, is, that be-
tween Cupica and the tefit bank of the Atrato,
there is either a land-strmt^ or a total aJbsence
of the Cordillera. The mountains of the isth-
mus of Panama may, by their direction and
their geographical position, be considered as a
continuation of the mountains of Antioquia and
Choco ; but on the West of Bas-Atrato, there
scarcely exists a ridge in the plain. We do not
find in this country a groupe of interposed
mountains like that which indubitably links
(between Barquesimeto^ Nirgda, and Valencia)
the eastern chain of New Grenada (that of
8unia Paz and the Sierra Nevada de Merida) to
the Cordillera of the shore of Veneimela.

In order the better to impress on the memory
the results of my laborious researches on the
structure a^ configuration of the Andes, I
shall collect them in the form of a table, be-
ginning with the most southern part of the
New Continent. We shall see that the Cor-
dillera of the Andes, considered in its whole
extent, from the rocky breaker of Diego Ra-
mirez, a^ far as the isthmus of Panama, is
MwetiQies ramified into elmins more <or less

456

parallel, and sometimes articulated by immense
hnots of mounta'tm. We distinguish nine of
those knots, and consequently an equal nam-
ber of branching points and ramifications. The
latter are generally bifurcations : the Andes are
twice only divided into three chains, in the knot
of Huanuco, near the source of the Amazon,
and the Hoallaga, (lat. 10° to 11°,) and in the
knot of the Paramo de las Papas (lat. 2P), near
the source of the Magdalena and the Cauca. Ba~
sins, almost shut in at their extremities, parallel
to the axis of the Cordillera, and bounded by
two knots and two Iftteral chains, are charac-
tenstic features of the Btructure of the Andes.
Among these knots of mountains, some, for in-
stance those of Cuzco, Loxa, and Los Pastos,
are 3300, 1500, and 1130 square leagues, while
others no less important in the eyes of the
geologist are restrained to ridges or trans-
versal dykes. To the latter belong the Altos
de Chisinche (lat, 0° 40' south), and the Los
Robles (lat. 2° 20^ north), on the south of Quito
ftnd Popayui. The knot of Couzco, so cele-
brated in the annalsof Peruvian civilization, pre-
sents a mean height of from 1200 to 1400 toises,
and a surfoce nearly three times greater than the
whole of Switzerland. The ridge of Chisinche,
which separates the basins of Tacunga and
Quito, is 1580 toises of absolute height, but
scfircely a mile broad. The knots or groupes

467

which unite several partial chains^ have not
the highest summits^ either in the Andes, or,
for the most part, in the great Cordilleras of
the ancient continent ; it is not even certain
that there is always in those knots a widening
of the chain. The greatness of the mass, and
the height so long attributed to points whence
several considerable branches issue, was found-'
ed either on theoretic prejudices, or on £Edse
measures. Men amused themselves by^compar-
ing the Cordilleras to rivers that swell as they
receive a number of tributary streams.

438

UEMlSl-yKHE.

SNOTS AND CDAINS OF THH ANDES IM SOm

Lat. 6G" S-y

Rock of Diego Ramirez. Cape Horo. Palago-

nian Andes. Vestiges of the rocky isles of

Huayleeas and Chon.js. Corilillerns uf Chili,

reinforced on the east by the three

Lat33'— 31°

Counter-forts of the Sierra de Cordova.

Lat.27*_2a''

of the Sierra de Salta.

l«tJ11t'>— 1B°

and Santa Cruz.

Lat.

Knot of Pobco and Potosi. Division in two

aoio-ior

chain;, cost and west of the basin of THicaca :

Eastern chain, 1 Western chain.

or la I'az and Pulca, | or Tacoa and Areijuij)n

4»9

80UTHBHN
HBMI8PHBHK.

Lat. 2° 27'

IPf^Tfl ANQ C9Af9{| Of Ttt^ 4^9Bf |ir fOVTif

AMKRICA.

I^t. ()»4(K

^^,v.>',.ii mil .

MORVHB^M

^uoT Qr A89.174T* Two f;b»)^^ OS ibe ^^
9n^, west of t^e )ww pf Al^W apd Uambato.

or of Cotopaxi. j pf pf jC!jbii|iborazo.

_ I i«

Knot (or rafter p^gp) qw (C^ip^ejpB. Two
icl^aiiif, .0^ the i^^^t fiod W^^ <>f ^^ Talley of

^(eri| f^n, I W^)«m qhain,

pr of AfttjimM? \9r9f Pchf ncha.

■ »<ift»i .^if tn »!i. .ii^.i; , .i ii. I iJiiAJiJ I

The equator paises on the summit of Cayambe
WM(l9MB(|Bc (bekmguig to the eastern ehahi of of Antisa-

na.)

Lat.

Knot op Los Pastos. Ramificajtion in two
chains^ on the eas( apd w^t of t|ie table-land
ofAlmafinier.

'I 'k

1 r T-r-i 5 r—

I^t. IKnqt. Off TSf 8oii|i9i;is Of tbi IjIaqdalbna and
1o56'-t2o2P] 7p^ ^idab 9F Los BoB^Jsa. Three chains,

divided by the basins of the Magdalena and
Cauca.

Eastern chain,

or of Umana, Suma

Paz, Chita, & Me-

rida.

Central chain,
or of Guanacas, Quin-
dia, and Erve.

Western chain,
with the platinifcruus land
of Choco.

WOHTBERN

"""'jHZI

hat. ai"— 7°

Snot of the Phovinob of Antioouia in which
only the chains of Quindiu tnd Cboco join.
The eastern chain approaches by counler-fortt
towards Honda.

Lat. V—S"

tioijuia into four bmnchea ! Isl. of Simitami;
2d. ofCaceres,Necbi,and AltosdeTolui 3d.
between the Rio S. Jorge aad the Atrato ; 4lh.
on the west of the Atrato. This last branch, ex-
tremely low, appears to be linked at the utmost
ly an inconsiderable ridge, (aemlj to the
mountainous groupe of the isthmus of Panama.

■

461

Among the basins which the sketch, of the
Andes presents^ and which form probably as
many lakes or small interior seas^ the basins of
Titicaca^ Rio Janja^ and the Upper Maragnon,
have respectively 3500, 1300^ and 2400 square
leagues of surface *. The first is so inclosed, that
no drop of water can escape except by evapora-
tion ; it is a repetition of the shut up valley of
Mexico*!*, and of those numerous circular basins
which are discovered in the moon, and are sur-

* I shall state in Uiia note the whole of those estimates
which interest geologists. Area of the Andes, from the
Land of Fire to the Paramo of las Rosas (lat. OJo nor.)»
where the mountainous land of Tocuyo and Barquesimeto
hegins^ part of the Cordillera of the shore of Venezuela,
58^000 square leagued, 20 to a degree ; the fonr counter-
forts of Cordova, SaltayCochabamba, andBeni alone, occupy
23,300 square leagues of this surface, and the three basins
contained between the 6« and 20® of south latitude, 7200
square leagues. Deducting 33,200 square leagues for the
whole of the inclosed basins and counterforts, we find in 65^
of latitude, the area of the Cordilleras elevated in the form
of walls, to be 25,700 square leagues, whence results
(comprehending the knots, and admitting the inflexion of the
chains,) a mean breadth of the Andes of 18 to 20 leagues.
{See above, p. 400.) The valleys of Huallaga and the Rio
Magdalena are not comprehended in these 58,000 square
leagues, on account of the diverging direction of the chain,
east of Chlcoplaya and Santa Fe de Bogota.

. t We consider it in its primitive state, without respect to
the trench or cleft of the mountains, known by the name of
Desa^ue de Huehuetoca,

rounded by lofty moutttftiiTB. Art iihtiieb^ Al-
pine lake characterizes tbe badin of Hahnemaci^
or Titicaca ; this phenomenon is so much morfr
worthy of attention, as in South America- thoie
I'eservoirs of fresh water are almost entirely
wanting, which are found at the foot of the
Alps of Europe, on the northern and sonflient
descent, and which are permanent during the
season of drought. The other bastBiS of the
Andes, for instance, those of Jauja, tlie Upper
Maragnon, and Cauca, pour their waters into
natural canals, which may be considered as so
many crevices placed either at one of the tat-
tremities * of the basin, or on its banks 'f-,

463

great masses of moantakffi into several chains,
merits partienlar eonsidemtioa with respect to
the height more or less considerable of the bottom
of the inclosed basins^ or longitudinal tallies^
Geologists have bitherta been much more oe^
eupied by the saceessive narrotring of these
basins, their depth compared with the walls of
rock that surround Ihem, and the correspondence
between the re-entering and saliant angles,
than by the level of the bottom of the vallies.
No precise measure yet indicates the absolute
height of the three basins, of Titicaca, Jauja,
and the Uppei' Maragnoa * ; but I was fortu-'
nate enough ta be able to determine the six*
other basins, or longitudinal' vallies, which suc-
ceed each other, as by steps, towards the north.
The bottom of the valley of Cuenca, between
the knots of Loxa and Assuay,^ is 1350 toises ;
the valley of Alansi and of Hambato, between
the knot of the Assuay and the ridge of Cht-
sinclie, 1320 toises ; the valley of Quito ^ in

* I am. inclined to believe that the southern part of ihoi
basin of the Upper Maragnoii, between Huary and Unaoara^
chuco, surpasses at least 360 toises; for I found the mean
waters of Maragnon, near Tomependa> 11)4* toiseft above the
level of the Ocean ; and, according to the analogy of the
course of the Magdalena> between Neiva and the Angostura
of Cayare^ the Upper Mamgnon^ may^in a course of 4^ of
latitude, liave a fall of 160 toises^-

i The valley of Quito, iTUiquito, and Turubambai ought to

49i

the eastern part, 1340 toiaes ; and in the western
part 1490 toises ; the basin of Alinaguer 1160
toises ; the basin " of the Rio Cauca, between
the lofty plains of Cali, Buga, and Cartage, 500
toises; the valley of Magdalena, first between
Neiva and Houda, 200 toises; and further on,
between Honda and Mompox, 100 toises of
mean height above the level of the sea-^-. In

be geagnosticall; considered a» the same valley as thai of
Pucmbo and Chillo. The interposed hills of Ichimbio and
PoiDgasi mask this communication.

* In order to compare this basin, which is the moat fer-
tile port of the province of Popayan, and the basin of tbe
Magdalena with those of the ancient continent, I shall here
mention the table-lands of Mysore in India (420 to 410
toises) } the interior of Spain (350 toises) ; of Switzerland
between the Alps and the Jura (270 toises) j of Bavaria (260
toises), and of Swabia (ISO toises).

. + In the region of the Andes comprehended between 4' of
■outh latitude and 2° of north, the longitudinal ro/Iief, or
basins inclosed by parallel chains, are regularly between
1200 and 1500 toises high ) while the transversal vallica are
remarkable for their depression, or rather the rapid lower-
ing of their bottom- llie valley of Patias, for instance,
ranniog from N. £. to S. W. is only 350 toises of absolute
height even above the junction of the Rio Guachicon with
the Quilquasi, according to the barometric measures of Mr.
Culdas; and yet it is surrounded by the highest summits, the
Paramos de Puntaurcu and Mamacondy. (Semaa. Tom. i,
p. 28, and Tom. ii, p. 140.) In going from the plains of
Lombardy, and penetrating into the Alps of the Tyrol, by«
line perpendicular to the axis of the chain, we advance more
than SO marine leagues towards the north, yet we And the

4efr

this regi^, which has been measared with pre^
cisioD, the diffeceiit basins lower from the eqnar
tor, very sensibly towards the north. In ge-
neral the elevation of the bottom of the in-
closed borins merits great attention from those
who reflect on the causes of the foniation of
the vallies. I do not deny that the depressioos
in the plains maybe sbmetimte the eflOBct of
ancient: pek^ic cnirentSy ^r slow erosions. I
am indined t» bcUere that the. transversal val*
lies, resembling crevices, have been widened
by running wUers; bat these liypotheses of
stuxe$swe eniwris oennat well he api^ied to the
Gompletdy indjosed basins of Titicacaand Mexi-
co. These basins, as weU as those of Jauja, Guen^
ca, and Almagunery which lose their waters only
by a lateral and narrow issue,^ are owing to a
cause more instantaneous, niore closely linked

boOom of the vaU«y of the Adigeand of £ysack near Botxen>
to be only 182 toisea of absolate height, an elevation which
esLceedfl bm 117 toisea that of Milan. (S^e above, Vol. iv,
p. Sll.) From Botzen however, to the ridge of Brenneo
(culminant point of 746 toises), is only 1 1 leagues. The
Valais is a loogitadiBal valley ; and' in a barometric measure-
ment which 1 made very recently from Faris to Naples and
Bertin, i was surprised to find that from Sion to Brigg, the
bottom of the valley only rises to from 225 to 350 toises of ab->
solute height -, nearly the level of the plains of Switzerland,
whieh^ between the Alps and the Jura (for instance, be-
tween Berne, Thoun and Fribroug), are only from 274 ta
300 toises.

VOL, VI. 2 I

466 '

with the heaving-up of the whole chain. It
maybe said that the phenomenon of the steeps or
naiTO\r di>cIi\itieK of Sarentiial and of tU6 valley
of Eysack in the Tyrol, as repeated at every Etep,
and on a greater scale in the Cordilleras of
equinoxial America. We seem to recognin
those longitudinal sinkings, those " rocky
vaults," which, to use the expression of a great
geologist *, " are broken when extended over »
great spac^ and leave deep and alioost perpen-
dicular rents."

If, to complete the sketdi of ths stmctore
of the Andes, from the Land of Fire to the

H'them Polar Sea, we pass the limits of South

467

and extending by Guatimala, as &r as llie con-i
fines of Mexico, In tbis space it remains cbn«
stantly near the coast of tbii South Sea, where;
froih the golpb of Nicoya to Soconnico (lat.
^i© — ifio)^ ig^ firand ' a. long' series of Tokap*
noes^, inost frequently insulated/ itadsome-^
times linked to counitev-^fortB or Itrtoral Jbtincfaes*
FkEissing the istfamusof Tdiuahtepee or HuBstU
6ualco5 on the Mexican territdry^'tlie CoidiHera
of central ^mmra remains in Jkhe intendance of
Oaxaca^ at an equal 4Hstaii^ ftom i^' tvrd
oceai»; and then iiil8i^to2l^bfhdi!tu4e^iW>m
Misteca to the mines of Zimapan^ draws near
the eastern coaM. It attains nearly in t&e pa^

* See the list of tw€^ty*Qne volcMO^ of Guatimala^
partly extinguished, and partly sUU btnuing, given by Mr.
Arago and myself, in the Annwnre du Bureau de$ UmgUudes
pour 1824, p. 176. No mmmtaiii of Gnatimala having been
hitherto measured, it is so much the more important to fix
approocimatively ,the height of the FQloan de agua placed
between the Volcano of Facaya, and the Fi^an de Fitego,
called also Volcano of Guatimala. Mr. Juarros expressly
says, that this volj^ano, which destroyed by torrents of water
and stones, on the 11th September, 1641, the Ciudad Vieja,
or Almolonga, (the abcient capital of the country, which
most not be confounded with the Antigua Guatimala), is
cotered with snow during several months of the year. This
plhenomenon seems to indicate a height of more than 1760
toises. (Compendio de la Hisi. de Guattnaia, Tom. i,
p« 7)'— B6 ', Tom. ii, p. 951. Remesal, Hist, de la Province
de San Fxcente, lib. iv, cap. 6.)

2l2

466

rallel of the town of Mexico, betveen Toluea,
Xulapa, and Cordoba, its maxiraum of tieigfat ;
there, several colossal summits rise to 2400 and
2770 toises. Farther north, the chain c^led
Sierra Madre • runs N. 40° W, towards San
Mi|^iel el Grande and Gaaoaxuato. Near the
latter town (lat. 21° C 15"), where the richest
silver mines of the known world are found, it
takes an extraordinary breadth, and is divided
into three branches. The most eastern advances
towards Charcas and tbe Re^ de Catorce, and
lowers progressively (turning to the N.E.} in the
ancient kingdom of Leon, in the province of Co-
hahuila and Texas. That branch stretches from

469

stretch to -the N^N.E, towards Lake Saperior^
may probably beacontinnation of the mountains
of Ozark. Theyseemtobecharaet6rized by their
metallic wealth as a prolongation of the eastern
Cordillera of Mexico^ The western branchy
or Cordillera, occupies a part of the provihc6
of Guadalaxara» and stretches by Culiacan^
Aripe^ and the auriferous lands of the Pimeria
Alta and la Sonora^ as &r as the banks of the Rio
Gila (tat. 33P—S4% one of the most ancient
dwellings of the Azteque nations. We shall
soon see that this western chain appears to be
linked, by the counter-forts that advance to^
wards the west, with the marithne Alps efCalu
forma. Finally^ the central Cordillera of Anaf-
huac, which is the most elevated, runs first from
south-east to north-west^ by Zacatecas towards
Durango, and afterwards from south to nortb^
by Chihuahua, towards New ftf exico. It takes
succesi^yely the names of Siierra de Acha, Sierra
de Los Mimbres, Sierra Verde, and Sierra de
las GruUas, and joins towards the 29° and 30°
of latitude, by counter-forts, two lateral chains,
those of the Texas and la Sonora, which ren-
ders the separation of the chains more im-
perfect than the trifurcations of the Andes in
South America.

/That part of the Cordilleras of Mexico which
is richest in silver beds and veins, is compre-
hended between the parallels of Oaxaca and

470

Cosiqninaebi {lat. 16^°— 29°) the sole lands of
produce or alluvia), that contain disseminated
gold, extend still some degrees more towanU
the north *. It is a very striking phenomeDtm,
that the gold-washing of Cinaloa and Sonora,
like that of Barbacoas and Choco, on the south
and north of the isthmus of Panama, is uni-
formly placed on the west of the central chain,
on the descent opposite the Pacific Ocean.
The traces of u still burning volcanic fird,
which was no longer seen, on a length of 200
leagues, from. Pasto and Popayan to the gulpfa
of Nicoya (lat. U° — 91"), become veryfreqdeht
«m tbewestern coast ofGuatimala (Irt-Qi" — 16°) ;
these traces t)f fire again cease in the mountains
9f ^eis-graniteofOaxaca,and reappear, perhaps
for tbe last time, towards the north, in the cen-
tral Cordillera of Anahuac, betweea the 181°
and 191" of latitude, where the Tolcaboes of
Taxtla, Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Tolnca, JornllOy
and Colima, appear to be placed on a ereviee -f

* Acvording to lUe diTisioti of tbe mines of Mexico iA
eight gronpes (See my PolU. Euaf, VoL iii, p. ISS), the
minea of Cosiquiriachi, Batopil«9, and Fanrsl. belot%- to tbc
groupe of Chihuahua, in the intend&nce of Durango orNeV

t On this zone of'rolcanoa is the parallel of the greatest
heights of New SpBiD. (See Polil. Essay, Vol. i, p. ftl.) K
th« Surrey of Captain Bnil Hall (fitracb from a Jotf-
nai xerUten on lie cototi of ChUi, Fern, mJ Mexico, 1834,

which extends from £.&£. to W.N.W.> from
one ogean. to M^Pther. ^This line :of jsummits,
of which deyeral eater/into the limit ot perpe-
tual anowsi 'and which ^re the loftiest of the
Cordilleras ^'om the peak of ToUma (lat. 40^
46^Iior.)> is almost perpendicular to the gves^
axis of the chain of Guatimala and An^huac. ad«
vancing to the 27th parallel, constantly N. 42^ £•
It is, as I have observed above, a charactericitic
featbre of every knpt, qc widening of the Cor-
dilleras, that the grouping of the summit^ ni
independent of the gienersil .direction of thi^
axis. The b^ck of the inQnntains in New^Sptiin
form very elevated plains^ where carriagei^ can
roll On a length of 400 leagues^ /totn; the ca4
pital to Sant&-Fe and Taos, near tfa^ l9burce$ of
Rio del Norte. This immense, tabl^-land, in
19^ and 244"* of latitude, remains constantly at
the height of 950. to 1200 toi8es,.that is^ at the
elevation of the passages of the Great Saint
Bernard and Splugen. We find on the back of
the Cordilleras of Anahuac, which lower pro-
gressively from the town of Mexico towards
TlK>s (northern limit of the Provincias intemas)^

VoL ii, p. 370), yields results alike certain in latitude as in
io^q^tude^. the volcano of Colima is oti the north of the
parallel of Paerto^de Navidad, in W* 36' of latitude; and,
like the vdcano of Tuxtla, if not beyond the zone, at ka^t
bejTond the mean paraUei of the Tokanic fire of Mexico, a
jiarallel which appear^ to fiedl between 18<»'59^ and 19^ 12'^

473

a succession of baaiiu: tbey are separated by
hills little striking to the eye of the traveller
because tbey rise bat 250 to 400 toiaes above
the surrounding plains. These basins are some-
times closed, like the valley of Tenocbtitlan,
where lie the great Alpine lakes, and sometimei
present traces of ancient ejections, destitute of
water.

Between lat. 39> and 38", the Rio del Norte
forms, in its upper coarse, a great lon^tudinal
valley ; and the central chain seems here to be
divided into several parallel ranges. Hiis dis-
position c<Hitinaes, towards the nwth, io the
Rocky MountmHs*, where, according to the

473

late height. Towards 40^ of latitnde, on the
south of the sources of Fadouca, a tributary

published in the United States). Spamih Peak is sneoeeded
towards the norths by James Peak (dSo 88' lat. lOT" 52'
long.) between the sources of the Arkansas and the Fadouca,
a tributary of the River Platte {Ne-brasca), that is^ shaUow
-water, in the langnage of the Otoes Indians, and not as
marked on a new French nnap, Rio de la Plata, rivitre iav"
gent !) Finally, in lat 40<» 8^^ lo^g. 108^ 80', between the
two branches of the River Platte^ rises the Bighorn, or
Highest Peak, of Captain Pike, perhaps the Sierra Almagre
oftheinhalritants of New Mezica. The central moontain
of these three great anasscs, James Paak, is estimated at
11,500 English feet (1798 toises) of abscdute height j but
this height trigonometrically measured, is only 8507 English
feet (1330 toises) : the height of the base above the level of
the sea (468 toises) is not founded on a barometric measure-
xnent, but on the estimates, somewhat vague, of the descent
of the three rivers Platte, liissonri, and Mississipl {Long,
Exped, Vol. ii, p. 82, 882. Ap, p. zxxviii). Captain Pike, from
analogous h]rpotheses, but which are certainly not so good
as those of Major Long and Mr. James, assigned 1260 tbises
of elevation to this table-land, or these plains at the back of
the Rocky Mountains. Mr. James computes in two cats,
the loftiest summits of the Rocky Mountains to be, in 85*
latitude, 10,500 English feet (1042 toises) ; and in 41%
nearly 12,000 English feet (1876 toises). The lower limit
of the perpetual snows appeared to him in 38{o latitude, to
be 1630 toises, a height which, in the system of European
climates, corresponds to 40<> of latitude. The astronomical
positions assigned by Major Long, to the eastern declivity of
the Rocky Mountains (107o 20^ west of Ptois, in 88<> of lati-
tude) appear to merit great confidence, the Peaks being

474

stream of the river Platte, a branch known hj
the oamt: of the Cotes Noires * separates to-
wards the nortli-east from tlie central chain.
The llocky Mountiuns seem at first to lower
considerably in 46" and 48° ; and then rise to
4»° and 49°, where their tops are 1200 to 1300
toises, and their ridge near 950 toises. Be-
tween the sources of the Missouri abd the river
Lewis, one of the tributary streams of the C^-
gon or Columbia, the Cordilleras form in wi-
dening, an elbow resembling the knot of Cuzcof.
There also, on the eastern declivity of the Rocky
Mountains, is the partition of water between
the Caribbean Sea and the Polar Sea. This

fates (lBtaSH.^:noiiib);^oaih«iftel. :tTlb»,-iidg9
that ■^aMit& the Rol!kjFMoUfitaili8iati>9t«h«i
fta^i Wtst. to caatt toirtodsJrfdieS^pQiMifj.lK^^
«4feon fhei Intaitt of the< .MiiBo«H» W^:!^ 9f
tfae £ttke Winnipei^ and the SUbwti J^fltev . I W?
hste iwfaa; the central GordtUertt of Mei^iiMt^fl
the Bodcy-Moantains fi^liotr.th«i,diroc|M»']&i
1•>.W^ Mm fiso te:3d<^oMiBititiidle[> tlte;«hw»
fiih»tliit peiiit'totheBolia>;8eB»'is,)>Ailonged
iiitheHaireetion.N. 94<»W^.lmdBBtiBia the;p(M>
rtUd 40*^ at the inbath of the Jfaokefab dt

In thni developing the stracture of the Cot^
diHeras of the Andes from 56^ souths to >be-
yond ihe arctic circle, we have iseen that its
Aorthem extremity (Idng. ISO^ Sf/), is nearly
61^ of tongitude west of its soath^m extremity
(long. 69^ 4O0 ; this is the effect of the long
duration of a direction from S.E. to N.W. tm the
noith of the isthmus of Panania* By the extras
ordinary breadth of th^ New Coiitinoit^ in the
30* and 60^ of north latitude, the Cordillera of
the Andes^ continually drawing nearer the
western coast in the southern hemisphere^ is

* The eastern boundary of the Rocky Afounialns'VieB'^

la 380 latitude 107o 2(K longitude.

4(y> 108o30'

e3o 1240 40^

68o :...130"30'

removed 400 leag^ucs on the north from the
source of the River de la Paix. The Andes of
Chili may be considered as the maritime Alps*,
while, in their most northern continuation, the
Rocky Mountains are a chain of the interior of
a continent. There exists no doubt, between
23* and 60° of latitude, from the Cape Saint
■Lucas in California to Alaska, on the western
coast of the Sea of Karatschatka, a real Cordil-
lera of the shore; but it forms, as we obsei-ved
above -f*, a system of mountains almost, entirely
distinct from the Andes of Mexico and Canada.
This system, which we shall call the Cordillera
fl^ Caiifomia, or of New Albion, is linked be-
tween lat. 33° and 34** with the Pimeria alta, and
the western branch of the Cordilleras of Ana-
buae; and between 45' and 53° of latitude,
with the Rocky Mountains, by transvere^
ridges and counter-forts tbat widen towards the
east We shall learn from well-informed tra-
vellers who may one day pass over the unknown
land between Cape Mendocino and the source
of the Rio Colorado, if the connexion of Uie
maritime Alps of California or New Albion, with

* A chain of the shore, geognoiticiJIy speaking, is not a
range of mountoina that forma of itself the coait ; this name
is exleoded to a chain separated from the coast b]r a narrow
plain.

+ Vol. »i, p. 410, &c.

477

the western branch of the Cordilleras of Mexico^
resembles that, which, hotmthstanding the de-
pression, or rather total interruption oblierved
on the west of Rio Atrato, is admitted by geo-
graphers, between the mountains of the ilthmus
of Panama, and the western branch of the Andes
of New Grenada. Hie maritime AipSj little
devated in the peninsula of Old California^ rise
progressively towards the north in the Sierra of
Santa Lucia (lat. S4¥^)y in the Sierra of San
Marcos (lat. S?""— 38^) and in the snowy moun^
tains near Cape Mendocino (lat. 39^—41'') ; the
last seem to attain at least the height of 1500
toises. From Cape Mendocino^ the chain fol-
lows the coast of the Pacific Ocean, but at the dis-
tance of from 20 to 25 leagues. Between the lofty
summits of Mount Hood and Mount Saint
Helen, in 45^'' latitude, it is broken by the great
Rio Columbia. In New Hanover, New Corn-
wall, and New Norfolk ^^ these rents of a rocky
coast are repeated, these geognostic phenomena
of ^fiords that characterize western P&tagonia,
and Norway. Two volcanic peaks are placed
where the Cordillera turns towardls the west
(lat. 58i^ longjaQ"* 40') f , one of which,Mount

* Harmon^ Journal of Travels in the interior of North
America, p. 78. '

t Trigonometrical measurements made by the expedition
of Malaspina, and which appear to deserve entire confidence^

478

Saint Elie, perhaps equals Cotopaxi in hught;
the oilier, Fair Weather Mountiun> equals
the height of Mount Rosa. The elevation of
the former exceeds all the summits of the Goiv
dilleras of Mexico and the Rocky MountaioB,
on the north of the parallel IQi' ; it is eren the
culminant point in the northern hemisphere, of
the whole known world north of S0<* of latitude.
Towards the north-west of the peaks of Saint
Elie and Fair- Weather, the chun of CalifiDraia
widens considerably * in the interior of Hnanan
America. The volcanoes multiply in number
as we advance towards the west, in the penin-
sula of Alasca, and the Isles desRenards, where

479

teiTaneous fires, at its two extremities ; towards
the north, in 60^ of latitude^ and towards the
south in 28^ in the volcemo of the Vir^ns *. If it
were certain that the mountakis of Califortiia
belong to the western branch of the Andes of
Anahuac, it might be ' said that the v^canic
fire, still burning, abandom^ f he central Cordil-
lera when it removes froni ihe coast, that is
from the volcano of Colima r'and that the fi^e is
borne on the ^ipjrth-we^tVy, the peninsula of Old
Califomiai Mp)w^ 3p^t Cllie^ and the peninsula
of Alaska, towards the Aleutes Islands, and
K^ntschatkiU

I shall terminate this sketch of the structure
of the Andes, ;by recapitulating the principal
features tbat characterize the Cordilleras on the
north-west of Pftrien.

Lat. 8M1^ Mountains of t))e isthmias of Pa-
nama, VerajB^a, and Costa Bica, slightly
linked to the western chain of New Grenada,
which is tha&of Choco.

Lat. 11^-1 0^ Moijmtains of Nicaragua and
Guatimala ; line <rf volcanoes N, 50° W., for
the most part still burning, from the gulph of
Nicoya to the volcano of Soconusco.

* Volcanes de las Virgenes. The highest summit of
Old California, the Cerro dc la Giganta (700 toiscs), appears
to be also an extinguished volcano. (Manmcripi ^f Colimtl
CoMlmizo.)

480

Lat. 16^ 18°. Mountains of gneiss-granite id
tlie province of Oaxaca.

Lat. 18}°-191°. Tracbytic knot of Anohuac,
parallel to the Nevados and the boming vol- -
canoes of Mexico.

Lat. 19l*'-20°. Knot of metoliferous moun-
tains of Guanaxuato and Zacatecas.

Lat. 2U-22'. Division of the Andes of Ana-
huac into three chuns :

Eastern chain (of Potosi and Texas), conti-
nued by the mountiuns Ozark and Wiscon-
san, as far as Lake Superior.

Central chain (of Durango, New Mexico, and

481

In the groupe of QuitOy 0^ to 2^ south lat.
(Chimborazo^ Antisana, Cayambe, Goto-
paxi^Collanes^Yliniza^Sangai^Tunguragua.)

In the groupe of Cundifunnarca, lat 4i^ north
(peak of ToKma^ on the north of the Andes
of Quindiu).

In this groupe ofAnahuac, from lat. 18^ 59^ to
19^ 12^ (Popocatepetl or Great Volcano of
Mexico and Peak of Orizaba). If we eon-*
sider the maritime Alps or mountains of
California and New Norfolk^ either as a
continuation of the western chain of Mex-
ico, that of Sonora, or^ as being linked by
counterforts to the centraT chain, that of
the Rocky Mountains, we may add to the
three preceding groupes :

The groupe of Russian America^ from lat. 60^
to 70^ (Mont Saint Elie). On an extent of
630 latitude^ I know pnly twelve summits
of the Andes that reach the height of 2600
toisesi and consequeatly surpass 140 toises
the height of Mont Blanc. Three only of
the twelve summits are placed on the north
of the isthmus of Panama.

/5. Insulated Groupe of the snowy Moun-
tains OF Santa Marta. In the enumeration of
bhe different systems of mountains, I place this
groupe before the chain of the shore of Vene-

VOL. VI. 2 k

zucia, althcragh the latter, being anortheni pro-
longation of the Cordillera of Cundinamarca, is
imrot'diately linked with the chain of the An-
des. The Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is
contained within two divergent branches of the
Andes, that of Bogota, and that of the isthmus
of Panama. It rises ahniptly like a fortified
castle, amidst the plains extending from the
guIphofDarien,by the mouth of theMagdalena,
to the lake of Maraoaybo. I have stated tUiove*
the ancient error of geographere, who have
considered this insulated groupe of mountfuns
covered with eternal snows, as the extremity of
ibe high Cordilleras of Chita and Pamplona.
The loftiest ridge of the Sierra Nevada de San-
ta Marta is only three or four leagues in length
in the direction from east to west ; It is bound-
ed (at nine leagues distance from the coast,) by
the meridians of the capes of San IMego Atd San
Augttdtin. The culminant points^ called £l Pi-
cacboandHorqueta-l-, are placed near the west -
em border of the groupe j thcy are entirely se-
parated from the peak of San Lorenzo, alike

• Vol. v\, p. 386.
t Avcording to tlw obserrationi of M. Fiilalgo (Twrm
firtM, hoja tercera, Madrid, 1817), the Horqneta ii aituilcd
lat. 10* 61 ', and long. tFl" 29' Cad., in supposing S. liuta
<tB* long. Cad. ; it thence regutts, if with M. Oltmaos, wc
adopt 7e» tg' Par. for the latter port, 76° 68' Pte. for the
Horqueta,

4»

eoifefeA witb eternal taamn^ hut mAf fmtr
kagoesF (bstant fioAtthopoH of Sintft Maria
towards tbe a EL isMrtMi hMmpeA hmal
tfae hdgbta tl»ti: soiTOMdtd Uii vffi
bacor %. Mttib 6f OavtMa^inak NcrpMciia itaah-
raremotit hats Utbwt6 aBoertaaked Mia ftdglil
of the SmnsL Navacta^ wbieb DatipiaMa aftai*
to be one of tbeUgbeat awatataiB^ef tbt iiMCIih
em btaiisphara^ Cbafhirtatwam fiwtldaltiM tite
mmmrMi of dirtftnoa a^nUth titer gaMpe ia
diaaoiveMdataea, JfiftU alom IfaHi aOMtaiaet
of bcigfat^^ Tbia auastae^ iiolirifhalaoaiy
the miftMenitsr of tarnatnlal raftiwaoi^ wnwJA
he kt»defifiMtifhbadbfitt»i|ai^ilitlaia»
ridiaii of Horifiiett^. aad if the enoniei Mp
longitude diA not readev the dbtialce tk» tine
enoa^ir sannala ang^rtaiii. Ilia diaaet ptopf
Oat the grwfpe ci tbr iaountaaoa of Siaia
Idkrta are «*jffii<^ fhe aedettt cli-

aaata of the iaftda (H^tpm ttdiemM} that an*-

^ Peak of Saa Lorenzo, a/iCotStttg td JfUtAgo, lat It* 0'
45^ long. 67® 6(K Cad. Turhaco, according to my observa-
tioiift, lat. 10» 18' 6*, long. IV 4V M' Ptar. (Tte dieri-
«ans of Godb aad Ptois diSnr 8^ 89/ 87*.)

f Pcmbo, NoUcias varias sobre loi QuiMas, 1824> p. 07
md laa^ Id thb work, fliltd witiri imAiI knoMrkdge^ tli^ la-
^tadcf of the Peak tf Saa Loienao i» kidioirted at 16P 7' ia^>
instead of 11^ 7^ W, an eit9r w mnch tin store dangerota,
as the Horqueta is there called la Siefrm nmi avanta^ ai
mar,

2k2

484

round tbem, on the east, towards the Rio Palo-
mino; on the south, towards the villages of Va-
lencia de Jesus and Santa Maria Angola, towards
the sources of the Rio Cesar, and towards the
(''aile de Vpar, anciently known by the name of
the Villa de Reyes ; and on the west, towards
the Aracataca *. Low . lidges and a saccessim
of hills indicate perhaps an ancientconnection of
the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta on one side, by
the jilto de las Minas-^ (on the west of Idgnna
. Zapatosa) with the phonolitic and granitic rocks
oi Penon and Banca X, and on the other, by the
Sierra de Perija with the mountains of Chiligu-
ana and Ocaha, which are the counter-forts^ of

485

y. Chain of thb Shorb of Venbzubul. ThL»
18 the. system of monntains of which the confi-
guration and direction have excited so powerful
an mfluence on the state of cultivation and
eomme'rce of the ancient Capitania general of
Venezuela. It bears dilTerent names (ipouni*
tains of Goro^ of Garaccas, of BergauUn^ of
Barcelona, ofCumana, and of P^a); butall
these names bdong to the same chain^ of which
the northern {mrt runsi constantly along the
boast of the Garibbean Stsk. It would be su-
perfluous to repeat here that this system of
mountains^ which is 1^ leagues long **, is a pro^
longation of the eastern Gordillera of the Andes
of Cundinamarca. There is an immediate con-
nection of the chain of the shore with the Andes,
like that of the Pyrenees with the iQOunt^ns of
Asturia and Galicia; it is not the effect of trapfi-
versal ridges, like the connection of the Py-
renees with the Swiss Alps, by the Black
Mountain and the Cevennes. The points of
junction, hitherto so ill inidioated by the maps,
are found between Truxilio, and the lake of
^Valencia. The following are the details of that
junction.

We have observed above that this eastern chain
of New Grenada stretches on the N. E. by thp

* It is more than double the length of the Pyrenees, fron^
Cape Cr^uz to the point of Figuera.

486

Sierra Nevada de Merida, as well as by the foar
Paramos of Timotes, Niquitao, Bocouo, and lai
Rosas, of which the absolute height cannot be
less than from 1400 to 1600 toises. After the
Paramo of las Rosas, whicli is more elevated
than the two preceding, there is a great depres-
sion, and we no longer see a distinct chain or
ridge, hot a hilly ground*, and high table.
Imids surrounding the towns of Tocuyo and
Barquisimeto. We are ignorant of the height
even of Cerro del Altar, between Tocuyo and
CarsBacatu t but we know by the recent mat>
mtW of MM. Rivero wid Bouesingaalt, that
the most inhabited spots are from 800 to 350
tofses above the levcj of t^ Ocean. The limils
of Hie momitaiaous land between Tocuyo uid
tlie TOlKes of Ara|^a are, the plains of San Car*
loe im the south, and the Rio Tocuyo on the
north ; the Rio Siqnisiqne throws itself into
ftat liver, f'rom the Cerro del Altar on the
K. E. I(nnu<d8 Gnigve wd Valencia, snooeed,
«B nAateant points-fs the fnonota&as «f SanU
Maria (between Bvda and Kirgua) ; then ifae
Pioat^o de Nirgua, supposed to be 600 totses
high ; and finally Las Palomeras and £1 Torito
^betwera V^enda tuid Ningua). The Ime of
parlStiui of water runs from west to east, from

* See abotv, Vo). tv, p. 348 ; vi, p. 800.
t HS. of General Cort«6.

487

Qiiibor to %he Iqfty savawmhs of LoudoDj near

Santa Rosft. The waiters flow on the norths

towards th^ Golfo trUU of the Caribbean Sea ;

and on the aputh, towards the ba3in9 of the

Apure and the Oroonoko* The whole of this

mountainDus oountry which we have just m^de

known, and by which the chain of the shoire of

Garaccas is Imked to the Cordilleras of Cundi-

namarca, enjoyed some celebrity in Europe *,

in the middle of the nineteenth century ; for

that part of this territory, formed of gneiss*

granite, and lying between the Rio Tociiyo and

the Rio Yaraoui^ furnishes auriferous veins of

Buria, and the eopper-mine of Aroa, which is

still worked in our days. If, across tlie knot qf

the tnountains qf Barquisimeto, we tra^ the

meridians of Area, Nirgua, and San Carlos,

which are so near each other, we observe that the

N. W. of that hmot is linked with the Sierra de

Core, called also Sierra de Santa Lucia, and on

the N. E. with the mountains of Capadare,

Porto Cabeilo, and the Villa de Cura. It may

Jbe said to form the eastern wall of that vast

circular depression of which the lake Maracay*

bo is the center, and which is bounded on the

south and west, by the mountains of Merida,

Ocaiia, Perija, and Santa M arta.

The chain of the 8hoi*e of Venezuela, of which

* Vol. iii, p. 528.

488

the existence was recognized by IMerre Martyr
d'Angbiera *, presents towards tfae center, and
the east, the same phenomena of stmctnce
which we have remarked in the Andes of Peru
and New Grenada; namdy, the division intOBe-
veral parallel ranks, and the frequency of longi-
tudinal basing or vallies. But the irruptions of
the Caribbean Sea having it appean over-
whelmed very anciently a part of the mountains
of the shore, the ranks, or partial chidns are in-
terrupted, and some basins are become ocetmc
gulphs. To comprehend the Cordillera of Ve-
nezuela in mass, we must carefully study the
direction and windings of the coast frnn Ponta

489

from south to north, either from Valencia and
the vallies of Aragua, to Burburata and Tnria^
mo, or from Caraccas to La Goayra. The hot
sources * issue from those ^anks^ those pf Las

• See aboTc, Vol. iii, p. 109 j Vol, it, p. 6«, 187, IW^
«nd 271. The other hot sources of the Cordillers of the
shore, are those of S. Juan, Provlsor, Brigantin, the gtdph
pf Cariaco, CamacfiUr, sa^ It^n^ MM. Rivero and BoiiS<v
singault, who visited the thermal waters of Mariara» in Fe-
bruary, )823, during their journey from Caraccas to 3BQta
Fe de Bogota, found their fi^aximMm to be 64» cent. I found
it at the same season, only 50-2^. Has the great earthquake
of the 26th of March, 1812, had an influence on tha tempo*
rature of these sources ? The able chemist whom I haye
just mentioned, were strucH like myself, with th^ great pu-
rity of thjs ho( waters that issue ^om the primitiTc roclc^ of
the basin of Aragua. *' Tboseof Onoto, inrhich flow at t)ie
height of 380 toises above the level of the sea, have no smell
of sulphurated hydrogen j they are without taste, and can-
not be precipitated, either by nitrate of silver or any r^c-
tive» When evaporated, thiey have an inappreciable residue,
which consists of a little silica and a trace of alcali j their
temperature is only 44*6% and $he bubbles of air which are
disengaged intermittingly, are fit Onoto, as well as in the
Itherm^l waters of Mariara, of pure gax azote (Se0 above.
Vol. vi, p. 80). The waters of Mariara (244 toises) have a
faint smell of sulpburated hydrogen j they leave by evapora-
tion a slight residuum^ that yields carbonic acid, sulphuric
acid, soda, magnesia, and lime. The quantities are so small
that the water is altogether without taste.'* (Letter pf M.
Boussingault to M. de Humboldt, in the AnnaUi de Phye.
ei de Chimie, torn, xxvi, p. 81.) During my journeys I found
the source of the Comangillas only, (near Gnanaxuato i<i

Tnncheras (90*4°) uii its suutlicm slope, aud
those (^ Onoto and Maiiara on its southern
slope. The former issne trom a gntnite with
large grains, very regularly stratified ; the latter
from a rock of gneiss. What especially cha-
racterizes the northern chain, is a summit which
is not only the loftiest of the system of tlie
mountains of Venezuela, but of all South Ame-
rica, on the east of the Andes. The eastern
summit of the Silla of Caraccas, according to
jay barometric measurement, made in 1800, is
1350 toises high *. MM. Boussingault aud
Itiverq carried an excellent barometer of For-
tln, ta 1822, on this very summit, which they
found to be from 135U toises ; this proves that
nptwitbetonding the commotion which took
plapQ on the SiUa during the great earthquake

Modco/) BtStl hotter ibm tha tbemwl mten of lai Trincbe-
ffu, rittuted oa th« soath of Porte CabeUo. llie wntert of
Oomangniu flow at 1940 toises high, umI are alike remoric-
ftble for their purity, and their tempemture of M'S- eent.

* Vol. HI, p. ft06, Vol. tv, p. 21. The Silla (^ CanccH
ii only ao, totan lower Abb the Canigou in the Pyreoeea.
As CaraooM, Santa Pe 4e Bog^ota, and Qaito, amy be consi-
dere4 aa ibe three oapitals of Colimbia, I shall here repeat.
Id order tb estaUiafa a preeise eoteparisoa of the height of
<koee three towas, that the inhabitants of Caracoai rwog-
nke at once in the ■umnit of the Silla which tximmaDdc
their town, die level of the plaim of Bogota, and a point of
lAA toiaes, which is less elevated than the great square of
Quito.

491

ofCaraccaSy that Dumntain did not •ink 60 or
00 CoiseSy aiB several North Amerieaa Joumals
asserted* Foor or five leagues s<mth of tiie
northern chcAn^ which is Chat of Mariara, laSifia,
and Cape Codera^ the motratains oi Goiiipa,
Oeumare^ and Ptanaqaire^ form ttie JoieMeni
dudn * of the coast, wUch stretdies in aparalkl
direction firom Gaigue to tiie mouth of the Bio
Toy, by the Guesta of Ynsma, and the GaaciBio.
l%e latitudes of the Villa de Cura and San Joan,
so erroneously placed on our maps, enabled me
to ascertain the mean breadth of thewboleCoiw
dillera of Veaesoela. Ten or tvdve leagues ^
may be counted from the descent of the
northern chain which bounds the Caribbean
Sea, to the descent of the southern chain
which bounds the immense basin of the Lifmos.
This latter ehaw^ designate a)so by Xh» name
of tiie Mtrnd iifmntmns^ is umsHx low^r ihm
the northern eMn ; and I scarcely bdieve that
the Sierra de GuayraSma attains the height oi
J200 toises, although this has been recently
afl&iincd.

The two partial cfaaiBs, that of the int^Hcr,
and that which lies along the coast, are linked

^ Vol. iv, p. ler, aao, w».

t Tke breaM is very considerable towards tlie east^ re*
gardfng tlie Cerro de Flores (lat. 9^ 2S^ sooth-wesl of Bum^
pam aad Orlts^ as pkeed on the limit of tlie Lknof de
Calabozo.

49S

by a ridge or knot of mountains • known by
the uamee of Altos de las Cocuyzas (845 t.) and
the Higuerote (835 t.) between Los Teques and
La Victoria, in 69'' Sff and 69° Sff of longitude.
On the west of this ridge liea the basin, entirely
inclosed -f-, of the lake of Valencia or the Valles
de Aragua; and on the east, the basin of the Ca-
raccas and of the Rio Tuy. The bottom of the
former of these basins is from 220 to 250 toises
high ; the bottom of the latter is 460 toises
above the waters of the Caribbean Sea. It re-
sults from these measures, that the most western
flf the two longitudioal vallies of the Cordillera

• Vol. W, p. 77. 80.
' t This boBin contains a ttnall tyttem of inland ritert, nhich
ido not communicate with the Ocean. The eonthern chain
of the Cordillera of the shore of Venezuela is so depressed
towards the south-weet, that the Rio Pao is sepantcd from
the tributary streams of t}|e lake of Tncarigua or Valencis
' (Vc4. XV, 14S and 154). Towards the east, the Rio Toy,
_w)uch takes its rise on the western declivity of the, knot of
moanttuns of Las Cocuyzas, appears at first to throw jtsdf
into the Tallies of Arngua ; but hills of calcareous tuf, form-
ing a rhlge between Consejo and Victoria (Vol. !t, p. 80),
force it to take its course south-east. In order to rectify
what is sud above (Vol. iv, p. 162, note *) on the compo-
sition of the waters of the lake of Valencia, I shall here men-
tion that MM. Boussingault and Rivero found no traces in
them of nitre of potash, but ^ of carbonat of soda nnd of
magnesia, muriate of soda and sulfate and carbonate of
lime.

493

of the shore is the deepest ; while in the plains
near tlie Apure and the Oroonoko, the declivity
is from west to east ; but we must not forget
that the peculiar disposition of the bottom of
the two basins, which are bounded by two pa-
rallel chains, is a local phenomenon altogether
separate from the causes on which the general
structure of the country depends. The eastern
basin of the Cordillera of Venezuela is iioC
shut up like the basin of Valencia. It is in the
knot of the. mountains of Las Cocuyzas, and of
Higuerote, that the Serrania de los Teques and
OripotOj stretching towards the east, form two
vallies, those of the Rio Guayre and RioTuy ; the
former contidns the town of Caraccas, and both
unite below the Caurimare. The . Rio Tiiy rvos
through the rest of the basin, from west to east,
as far as its mouth, which is situated on. t;he
north of the mountains of F^naquire.

The northern range of the mountiuns of the
shore of Venezuela seems to terminate at Cape
Codera; but th|s is.only an apparent interrup-
tion*. The coast forms a vast nook, thirty-
five marine leagues in length, at the bottom of
which is the mouth of the Rio Unare, and the
road of Nueva Barcelona. Stretching first
from west to east, in the parallel of lO* 37', this
coast draws in at the parallel 10** 6', and re-

• Vol. ii, p. 262.

494

aames its ancient direction (10» 37'— 10» 44')
from the western extremity of tbe peninsula irf
Araya, to tBs eastern extremity of Montma de
Paria and the island of IVinidad. It remlti
from this position of tbe coast, that the nwge
of monotuns ne» the shore of the pnmncet ef
Caniccas and Barcelona, betveen the meridiaB
66" 32' and 68* 29', and which I saw on tlw
soath of the bay of Higuerote ; and on ttie
north of the Ltanoft * of Pao and Cacbipo^ nmst
be conNd««d as tbe cobtiaintio» of the soidkem
cAoM ^ FeneMM^cif and as bdng linked towiu^
tbit west with tbe Sierras dc Fanaquin and
OtniMM. *S%» ebaiB of the 'wtmot nftiae-

495

Cbpe Cktdem imd the Silla cf Caa«ottM)ii^^
Oil the meridiaii of CunUtam. The aicMtooi^
dateilf tbepenineula of Aroyaaod MadqilMiv*
arejoin^bythe ridge or htot of mmmtnhUtf
Mmtfbre^^ to the «ciDthem ohiin^ tknl of Bms*
qnitay Bergeotiii^ Torihiiqoiri^ QmA^^ a&dfihitt^
diaro|. I haver mcntkned id dootinf pho^
thaA tUe ri^S^ not moire tlMtoiUDtataiefal^
sohrttf height^ Ime^m theaaiclBrittfeToiQtitoni«r
Mr pbnet^ |m«tiited the irtnipaell Of lie
Otoeli^ mA ibA Qiiiott «f Ae gdlpte ef iMiM
wdOerialdo. Oh thetratt ofGapdCodeni^dM
nortfaem chain^ oompfoeed of prfmififife graialae
roekfl» disphtjni the k^ieet summits of the Whole
Cordillera of VeMzuelat but the eulmfaMOit
poiBte oa the eadt of that Cb|>^ ave omn^osed
in the eeathem ohms, of seoondtoy calcwdeM
rackSi We have seen above^ theft the peek of
Twimiqpihi, at the bade of the GoobUar^ ft
lOliO toises^ while the bottom «f tlw higbiraU
Uee of the cx>n^eat of Caripe Kr end of Ooartta
deflenAngostm, are4l2 and 63dt<ri8ee<}ridNiOu
kite bdgbt. On the east of tine tl^ of Itou

tbc idwii of CdnuuMOM^ atoordfaiK to tmf ^kmtnti»UI, is
10* W 11\

• VoL ii, p. aen I VoL ti, p. ee, &o.
f Vol. ii, p. MO i Vol. m, p. lee.

% Vol. iu, p. 174.
§ Vol. iii^ p. 04.
H VoL iii, p. 116.

406

pire, the southern chain sinks abruptly towards
the Rio Arco and the Guarapiche ; but, in quit-
ting the main land, we sec it again rise on the
southern coast of the island of Trinidad, which
Is but a detached portion of the continent, and
of which the northern side indubitably displays
the vestiges of the northern chain of Venezuela,
that is of the MoDtana de Paria (the Paradise of
Christopher Columbus), the peninsula of Arayn,
and the Silla of Caraccas. The observations of
latitude I made at the Villa deCura (10° 2*47"),
the farm of Cocollar (10° 9* 37"), and the con-
vent of Caripe (10° 10' 14"), compared with the
position more anciently known of the southern
coast of Trinidad (lat. 10* 6') prove, that the
Bouthera ch£UD, south of the basins of Valencia
and of Tuy * and of the gulphs of Cariaco and
Faria, is still more constant in the direction
from west to east than the northern chfun from
Porto Cabello to Punta Galera. It is highly
important to know the southern limit of the
Cordiilera of the shore of Venexaela, because it
determines the parallel at which the Llanos or

* The bottom of the first of these four basins bounded by
parallel chains, is from 230 to 460 toises above, and that of
the two Utter from .30 to 40 toises below the preseot level
of the sea. Hot waters gush from the bottom of the gulph
of the basin of Cariaco (Vol. iii, p. 199), as from the bot-
tom of the basin oE Valencia on the continent (Vol. iv,
p. 167).

497

the savannahs of Caraccas^ Barcelona, and Cit-
mana begm. Greographers^ who are fond of
copying, and of stereotyping^ for ages^ the chains
of mountains and the branches of rivers which
the caprice of the draftsman has traced on
some well-known maps, never cease to figure,
between the meridians of Caraccas and Cu-
mana, two Cordilleras stretching Ifrom north to
south, as far as 8r of latitude ; to which they
give the names of Cerros de Alta Gracia, and
del Bergantin *; thus rendering a territory of

* See all tlie FwnuA, Eng^b, and German maps pal>-
Ikhed before the Map of Columbia, by M. Bru6 (!«»)> for
which a part of the materials were employed which I had
collected on the extent and direction of the chains of moun-
tains. The source of the error whidi we find in Nieolosio>
Sanson (1600), and Die Flste ^700), must be attributed to
the practice of the first geogvaphers of America, of enlarg-
ing beyond measure, the breadth of the Andes of P^ra and
New Grenada^ and placing them so fiur towards the east,
that Quito is sometime found on the meridian of Cumana
(Vol. V, p: 853). In H^s manner, die steppes of Vene.
xnela were coTcred with ^^ountains that linked the grovpe of
ih€ Parme with the chains of the shore of Caraccas. De
risle places the f^aiiey of Saj^na near the range of moun*
tains which Sanson had raariked as going from north to
iouth, from Barcelona to the Oropnoko ; this proTes that he
had some confused idea of the mountains of Caripe, inha-
bited by the Chaymas Indians. D*Anville, according to
systematic ideas on the origin of rivers, figures a ridge be*
tween the sources of the Unare, the Guarapiche, the Pao,
and the Manapire (Vol. iv, p. 301). This is the pattern

VOL. VI. 2 L

498

25 leagues broad, moiintainous, where, we
aliould seek in vain a mound of a few feet in
height.

In fixing our eyes on the Island of Maipie-
rita, composed, like the peninsula of Araya, of
micaceous slate, and anciently linked with that
peninsula by the Morro de Chacopata and the
isles of Coche and Cubagua *, we are inclined
to recognize in the two mountainous groupes of
Macanao and la Ve^ de San Juan, the traces
of a third chain of the Cordilleni of the shore
of Venezuela. Do these two groupes of Mar-
gnerita, of which the most westerly is above
600 toises high -f-, belong to a sub-marine chain
stretching by the isle of Tortuga, towards the
Sierra de Santa Lucia de Coro, on the parallel
ofll"? Mustweadmit, that in 1 U^ and 12)°
of latitude, a fourth chain, the most northerly
of all, stretched heretofore by the island of Her-
manos, by Blanquilla, the Orchila,' Los Roques,
Aves, Buen Ayre, Curacao, and Oruba, towards
Cupe Chichivacoa ? These important problenE
can only be solved when this chain of islands
parallel to the coast Ijave been examined by a
well-informed geognost. It must not be for-

whlch haa been hitherto followed, and £rDm which Sarrilk
himself has not ventured to deviate in his map subjoiDed to
Caulin'a work.

• See Vol. vi, p. 94.
t Vol. ii, p. 48.

490

^> ' ■ 4

gotten^ that one great irraption of tbe
appears to ha^e taken place between ^inUhid
and €rrenada% and that no viinue ebe In tte
long series of the Little Antilfeg^ two ne%b-
bouring* islands are so &r removed fixmi eaeb
ether* We recognize the eff^ of the tm^mU
i^rotaHanin the direction of the coast of lUnl-
dad^ as in the coastsof the provinces ctfCuBaafei
and Caraccas^ between CSape Faria and I^ta
Araya^ and between C!ape Codera and Fnrto
(3abello -f . If a part of the continent has been
overwhelmed by the Ocean on the north of the
peninsula of Araya, it is probable^ that the
enormous sand-bank which surrounds CubaguA^
Coche^ the island of Marguerita^ Los Fraiks^
la Sola, and the Testigos^ marks the extent and
autline of the submerged land. Hiis sand'-baidc
or placer of 900 square leagueSi is only well

^U\B affirmed that the island of triaidad is traversed ia
^ qprthem pact by a chain of prioiitive slate, and tbit
Cbenada furnishes basalts. It wonld be important to e^*
amine of what rock the island of Tobago is composed « it
appeared to me of a dazzling whiteness (Vol. ii, p* ^ j
Vol. \v, p. 45) j and on what point, in going from Trinidad
towards the north> the trochytic and trapean system of the
ifittle Antilles begituB.

t The sao^e effects of the current of rotation^ akid the
B^me regular direction E. apd W., may be remarked oppo-
site the coast of the main-land, on the shore of Portorico, of
Haiti or Saint-Domingo and the island of Cuba^ between the
Punta Maysi and Cabo Crux.

2l2

500

known in all its extent, by the tribe of the
Guayqu«ries; it is frequented by these IndiaK
on account of its abundant fishery in calm wea-
ther. The Gran Placer is believed to be sepa-
rated only by some canals or deeper farrows of
the bank of Grenada, which have almost tbe
.same fonn as the island of that name, from
the sand-bank that extends like a narrow dyke,
from Tobago to Grenada, and which is recog-
nized by the lowering of the teroperatare of the
water*; finally, from the sand-baoks of Los
Roques and Aves. I know that ablenangtiton
deny these communications, because they con-
sider the bottom of the sea in a difeent point

501

of land, to the isles of Lobos and Coche. The
partial retreat of the waters on the coast o^Cu^*
niana • is incontestable^ and the bottom of the-
sea has been raised -f at several epochs^ by tiiei
effect of earthquakes ; bnt these local pheno^*
nomena, already so difficult to explain by the
action of volcanic force^ the changes in the di-
rection of currents^ and the swelling of the
waters which are the necessary consequences;
are still far removed from the effects which are*
manifested at once on several hundred square-
leagues.

J. Group OF THE Mountains of Parimk. It-
is essential to mineralogical geography to^ de-
signate by one name the whole of the moun-
tains that form one system. In order to attain
this end, a denomination which belongs only to
a partial groupe, might be extended over the:
whole chain ; or a name employed^ not suscep^
tible by its novelty of giving rise to homogenic
mistakes. We know how confused the orogra-:
phy of the interior of Asia has remiuned^ from the:
obstinacy with which the vague names of Mus-»
tag^ properly called Mussur, have so long been*
preserved. The mountaineers designate every

• Vol. iii, p. 184.
+ Vol. ii, p. 220. Compare also BoUingbroke, Voyage
to Demerary, p. 201. Ideas of the progressive and con-
tinued hcaving-up of the land prevails also in Sweden and
the Molucca islands. ...

503

groupc by a peculiar denomination ; and a chain
Is generally considered as forming a whole,
only when it is discovered from afer boiHiding
the horizon of the plains. We find the names
of anoivy mounlaitu, repeated in every lODe
(Himalaya, Imaus), white (ATpes, Alb), black
attd blue. The greater part of the Sierra Pa-
rime is in some sort turned by the Orooooko.
I have, however, avoided a denomination which
alludes to this circumstance, because tbepvnpe
of mountains I have to make known, extends
far beyond the banks of the Oroonoko. It
stretches to the south-east, towards the banks
of the Rio Negro, and the Rio Praoeo^ to the

503

the Rupunuri or Rupunuwini^ a tributary of the
Rio Essequibo. This country is one of the most
unknown parts of South America^ and is cover-
ed with thick forests and savannahs ; it ip inha-
bited by independent Indians^ and crosaed by
rivers of dangerous navigation, on account of
the frequency of the bars and cataractq.

The system of the mountains qfJParime^ sepa-
rate the plains of the Lower Oroonoko from
those of the R^io Negro^ and the Amazon ; it
occupies a territory of trapezoide form, com-
prehended between the parallels of 3^ and 8^,
and the meridians of 61^ and 70i^. I indicate
here only the elements of the loftiest groupe,
for we shall soon see that towards the south-
east, the mountainous country, in lowering,
draws near the equator, and the French and
Portugueze Guyanas. The Sierra Parime ex-
tends most in the direction N. 85^ W. and the
partial chains in which it divides towards the
vest, generally follow the same direction. It
is less a Cordillera or a continued chain in the
sense given to those denominations when ap-
plied to the Andes and Caucasus, than an ir-
fiegular grouping of mountains separated from
each other by plains and savannahs. I visited
the northern, western, and southern part of the

San Joacquim^ the Rio Uraaco^ one of the tributary stream!
of the Rio Negro.

504

Sierra Parime, which by its position, and its ex*
tent of more than 25,000 square leagues, well
deserves to be withdrawn from the n^lect in
which it has been so long buried. It renuuH
from the confluence of the Apure as fiu- as the
delta of the Onxmoko, constantly three or foor
leagues removed from the right bank of the
grei^ river ; only some arrotesy or rocks of
gneiss-granite, amphibolic-slate, and greenstone
advance as far as the bed of the Oroonok-o, and
give rise to the FE^ids of Tomo and of la Boca
del Infiemo *. I shall name succeasively from
N.N.E. to S.S.W. the difibrent chains whkib Mr.
Bonpland and myself recognized in proportion
proached the equator and the river of

505

this chain, which is not 300 toises high, separates '
the tributary streams of the Oroonoko and those
of the Rio Cuyuni, between the town of Upata,
Cupapui, and Santa Marta*. On the west of
the meridian of the rapids of Camiseta (long.
67^ 10"), the high mountains in the basin of the
Rio Caura, only commence at 7^ W of latitude/
on the south of the mission of San Luis Guaragna-
raico, where they produce the rapids of Mura«
This chain stretches towards the west by the
sources of the Rio Cuchivero, the Cerros del
Mato ^j the C6rbatana and Maniapure^ as fiEur as
Tepupano, a groupe of granitic rocks of strange
forms, that surround the Encaramada« The
culminant points of this chain (lat. 7^10^ —
7^ 28^) are placed, according to the information
I gathered from the Indians, near the sources of
Ca£io de la Tortuga. The chain (^ the Encara-^
mada {, displays some traces of gold. It is also
celebrated in the mythology of the T^^ma-
naques ; for the painted rocks it contains are
associated with ancient geogonic traditions. The
Oroonoko changes its direction at the con-
fluence of the Apure, breaking a part of the
chain of the Encaramada ; the monticules and

♦ Vol. V, p. 700.

t PI. 15, 16, and 20 of the Geographical Atlas, aad the
Personal Narrative, Vol. v, p. 673.

J Vol. iv, p. 460, 170 ; Vol. v, p. 827.

606

the scattered rocks in llie plain of Cajmcliino •,
and on the north of Cabruta, may be consider-
ed either as the vestiges of a destroyed counter-
fort, or, (on the hypothesis of the igneous origin
of granite,) as partial eruptions and heavli^
up. I shall not here discuss the qm-stion, whe-
ther tlie most northerly chain, lliat of Angos-
tura and of the great fjdl of Carony, be a conti-
nuation of the chain of Encantniada. 3d. In
navigating on the Oroonoko fi'om north to
south, we see small plains and chains of luoun-
taias'f alternately on the east, of which we
cannot distinguish the profiles, that is the sec-
tion perpendicular to their longitudinal axis.
From the mission of the Encaramada to tbe
month of the Rio ^ma, I reckoned seven
times this alternating of savannahs, and high
moimtfune. First, on the south of the isle
Cucunipani, rises the chain of Chaviripe (lat.
7" IC) ; it stretches, inclining towards the
south (lat, 6° 2(r — 6" 40'), by the Cerros del
Corozal, the Amoco^ and the Murcielago, as
&r as the Erevato, a tributary stream of tbe
Caura. It there forms the rapids of ParuJ,
and is linked with the summits of Matacuna.
4th. Tbe chain of Chaviripe is succeeded by
that of Baraguan (lat. 6° 50' — 7° 5'), celebrat-
ed for the strait of theOroonoko to which it gives

■ Vol. V, p. C7&.
t Vol iv, p. 408.
t Vol. V, p. 085.

607

its name. The Saragtiaca^ or mountaiB of
Uruana, composed of detached blo<^ of gra-
nite, may be regarded as a northern counterfort
of the chain oi Baraguan *, stretching on the
south-west towards Siamaca, and the moun-*
tains (lat, 5^ 5(K) that separate the sources of the
Erevato and the Caura from those of the Veni-
tuari. 5th. Ch43un of Catichana ami qfPtmuici
(lat 6^ 250f of a wild aspect, but surrounded
by charraidg meadows. Kles of gnmite crowned
with trees, and insulated rocks of prismatic
fiorra, <th9 Mogote of Cocuyssa and the Man-*
marata f* or CasiUUto of the Jesuits), belong to
this chain. 6th. On the western bank of the
Oroonoko, which is low and flat, the Peak of
Uniana rises abruptly more than 3000 feet
bigh. The cmmter^farts (lat. S"" 35' — 6^ 40")
which this peak sends towards the east are
crossed by the Oroonoko in the^ai Otfoi 'Ca-
taract (that of Mapura or the Atures) ; Anther
on they joi% and rising in a chain, stretch X
towards the sources oi the Cataniapo, the ra*
jHds of Venituari^ situated on the north of the
coi^uenoe of the Asisi <lat. 5® 10") and the
Cerro Cuaeva 7th. Five leagues south of the
Atures is the chain qf Quittuna ^, or qf May-

♦ Vol. It, p. 602 ; Vol. t, p. 664, e04.

t Vol. iv, p. 640, 644.

X Vol. ▼, p. 48, 65, 110.

§ Vol. V, p 133, 16G, 107, 664.

jiures (lat. 15° 13'), which forms the bar of the
Second Great Cataract. None of those lofty
summits are placed on the west of the OrooDO-
ko ; on the cast of that river rises the Cunava-
mi, the truncated peak of Calitamini, and the
Jujamari, to which fiither Gili attributes an ex-
traordinary height. 8th. The last chain of the
south-west part of the Sierra Parime is separat-
ed by woody plains from the chain of May-
pui*es ; it is that of the Ccrros de Sipapo (tat.
4^ 5(f), an enormous wall, behind which the
powerful chief of the Guaypimabis Indians in-
trenched himself during the expedition of So-
lano. The chain of Sipapo * may be considered
as the beginning of the range of lofty moun-
tains that bonnd, at the distance of some
leagues, the right bank of the Oroonoko, where
it runs from S. E. to N. W. between the mouth
of the Venituari, the Jao, and the Padamo (lat.
3° 15'). In going up the Oroonoko, above the
cataract of Maypnres, long before we reach the
point where it turns, near San Fernando del
Atabapo, we find the mountains are removed
from the bed of the river-t-, and from the mouth
of the Zama there are only insulated rocks
in the plains. The chain of Sipapo (if we con-
sider the lofty summits as making a part of it,

• Vol. v,p. 174.
t Vol. V, p. 1J)3,

509

which are seen constantly on the north * in na-
vigating from Santa Barbara to the Esmeralda),
forms the south-west limit of the system of
mountains of Pari me, between the 70i® ai)d 68^
of longitude. The modem geognosts have ob-
served that the culminant points of a groupe
are placed less frequently at its centre than to-
wards one of its extremities, preceding, and
announcing in some sort, a great depression ^
of the chain. This phenomenon is again ob-
served in the groupe of the Farime, the loftiest
summits of which, the Duida and the Mara^
guaca, are in the range of the most southerly
mountiuns, where the pliuns of Cassiquiare and
Rio Negro begin.

These plains or savannahs, which are not co-
vered with forests in the vicinity of the rivers,
do not, however, display the same uniform con-
tinuity as the Llanos of the Low^r Oroonoko, of
the Meta, and of Buenos Ayres. They are inter-
rupted by groupes of hills (Cerros deDaribapa j;,)
and by insulated rocks of grotesque forms ^

♦ Vol. V, p. 613.
+ Montblanc^ Chtmborazo.
X Lat. 29, long. 69^ 12' between the Itiniveni or Conan-
cbitc and the sources of the Tama^ a tributary stream of the
Alacavi and the Atabapo.

§ Piedra de Kemarumo (lat. d"" 20 0> Piedra de la Guahiba^
Piedra de Astor^ on the banks of the Atabapo ; rocky wall
of Guanari with two towers near the Rapids of Cunanivacari^

SIO

that pierce the soil, and fix from afer tlie atten-
tiou of the traveller. Tliese granitic, and oftea
stratified masses, resemble pillars or edifices in
ruins. The same force which heaved up the
whole groupe of the Sierra Porime, has acted
here and there in the plains as far as beyond
the equator. The existence of these steeps and
sporadic monticula, renders difficult the precise
fixation of the limits of a system in which the
mountains are not longitudinally ranged as in
a vein. In proportion as we advance towards
the frontier of the Portugueze province of Rio
Negro the high rocks become more rare, and
we no longer find the shelves or dykes of gnei»-
granite which cause rapids and cata^icts in
tbeFhwFS.

Such 18 the snrfece of the soil between the
68i* and 701" of Icmgitude, between the meri-
dian of the bifbroation of the Oroonoko, and
that of Sftn Ferntmdo de Atabapo ; further on,
westward of the Upper Rio Negro, towards the
source ot that river, and its tributary streams
the Xii and the Uaupes (lat. 1°— 2i°, long. 72"
— 74°) lies a small mountainous table-land, in
whiph Indian traditions place a Laguna de oro,
that is a lake surrounded with beds of aurife-

Fiedra de Culimacari (lat. 2° 0' 42") on the banks of the
Casaliiuiare ; GlorieU de Cocuy (lat. l" 40') and Piedra de
Ubumone on the banks of the Rio Negro. {See Vol. v,
p. 233, 242, 371, OT2, 399, 400, 409, 412.)

511

rous earth*. At Maroa^ the most westerly
mission of the Rio Negro, the Indians assured
me that that river^ as well as the Inirida (a tribu-
tary stream of the OuayareX rises at the dis-
tance of five days march, in a country bristled
with hills audi rocks. The natives of San Mar-
cellino speak of a Sierra Tunuhy, placed near
thirty leagues west of their Tillage, bttween the
Xie and the Icanna. M. de Condamine heard
also from the Indians of the Amazon, that the
Quiquiari (Iquiari of Acuna and Frits), comes
from ^^ a country of mountains and mines^
Now, the Iquiari is placed by the French astro-
nomer, between the equator and the mouth of
the Xie (Iji6), which identifies it with the tgui-
are that fiedls into the Icanna. Wc cannot ad-
vance in the geognostic knowledge of America^
without having unceasingly recourse to the re-

* Vol. v^ p. 819^ ttO^ 830. Aooordlng^ the joumab of
AeuQa^ and Firtz, tbe llaiuuii Indians (Manoas) drew gold
from the banks of tbe Yquiari (Iguiare or Iguare), of which
they made blades. The manuscript notes of Don ApoUi-
nario also make mention of the gold of the Rio Uaupes.
(La Condamine^ Voyage d VJmazane, p. 98, and 129 ; and
above^ Vol. v^ p. 318, 830, 064.) We must not confound
the Laguna de Oro, which is said to be found in going up the
Uaupes (nor. lat. Qo 40^) with another gold lake (south lat.
1° 10') which La Condamine calls Marahi or Marachi (water),
and which is nothing but a soil oflen inundated, between
the sources of the Jurubech (Urubaxi) and the Rio Marahi,
a tributary stream of the Cac[ueta.

searches of comparative geography. Tfie small
system of mountains, which we shall call pro-
visionally,thatof theJOurce*o/Me/{(OiVcgToo»z</
the Uaupes, and the culminant points of which
are not probably from 100 to 120 toises high •,
appear to extend towards the south to the ba-
Bin of Rio Yupura, where rocky ridges form the
cataracts of the Rio de los Engaiios and the Salto
Grande de Yupura (south lat. 0° 40* to north
lat. 0° 28'}, and the basin of the Upper Gua-
Tiare towards the weet. We find in the course
of this river, from 60 to 70 leagues west of San
Fernando del Atabapo, two walls of rocks that
bound the strait (nearly 3° 10* nor. lat. and 73i'
long.) where the excursion of father Mantella
finishes, lliat missionary told me, that in going
up the Guaviare, he perceived near the strut
(Angostura^ a chain of mountains bounding
the horizon on the south. It is not known
whether those mountains traverse the Guaviare
more to the west, and join the cfntnter-farfi
which advance from the eastern Cordillera of
New Grenada, between the Rio Umadea and
the Rio Ariari, towards the savannahs of San
Juan de los Llanos. I doubt much of this
communication ; if it had taken place, the
plains of the Lower Oroonoko would commu-
nicate with those of the Amazon only by a very

• Vol. V, p. 332.

513

•

narrow land-strait, on the east of the moitn-
tainous country which snrrounds the sooroe of
the Rio Negro; bat it is more probable that this
mountainous country (a smaU system oi moun-
tains, geognostically dependent on the Sierra P&r-
rime), forms something of an island in the Llanos
of Guaviare and Yupura. Father Pugnet, guar-
dian of the convent of St. Francis at Popayan,
assured me, that when he went from the mis-
sions settled on the Rio Caguan to Aramo, a
village situated on the Rio Guayavero, he found
only savannahs destitute of trees*, eictend-
ing as far as the eye could reach. The chain
of mountains placed by several modem geogra-
phers ^f* no doubt to adorn their maps, between
the Meta and the Vichada, and which appeara
to link the Andes of New Grenada with the
Sierra P^me, is altogether imaginary.

We have ndw examined the prolongation of
the Sierra Parime on the west, towards the
source of the Rio Negro : it remains for us to
follow the same groupe in its eastern direction.
The mountains of the Upper Oroonoko, east-

* What forest do the maps place ia those countries {Selva
Grande or El Ayrico) ? The whole territory between the
Upper Oroonoko and the missions of Caqaeta is so unknown,
that the positions of San Jnan de los Llanos, Caguan, Aramo,
and the confluence of the Rio Fragua with the Yupura or Ca-
queta, may be more than half a degree false in latitude.

+ For instance, the great map of South Jmerica, by
Arrowsmith.

VOL. VI. 2 m.

5i4

ward of the Raudal ties Gualmnbos (nor. lat.*
1° 15' long. 67° 38'), join tlie cliain of Paca-
raina (Pacarahina, Pacaraymo, Baracayna),
which divides the waters of the Carony and the
Rio BruDco, and of which the micaceous schts-
tus, resplendent in their silvery lustre, became so
important in the fable of the Dorado uf Ra-
legh*. The part of that chain cantaining the
sources of the Oroonoko hafi not yet been ex-
plored ; but its prolongation more to the east,
between the meridian of the military post of
Guirlor and the Rupunuri, a tributary stream of
thp EssequibOj is known to me-f-by the tra-

• Vol. V, p. 797, 798, 041, 857.

t The fbllowing is a ligt of the unpnhluhed rotterials
on which I fbtuid my description of the eastern port of the
Siern Farime': l^Joumal of Nicolas Hortamui (1740)1buiHl
among d'Anville'i papers (Vol. v, p. 694, 791), and cmd-
mnnicated by his heirs. S* Written notes (.1778) dictated by
Santos, when he passed from tlie missiooB of Carooy to the
plains of Rio Branco, crossing the ehaio of Pacaraina, which
he calls Pacaraymo (Vol. T, p.STS, 839, B40). This mona-
script, and thie following, are preserred in the BTebireB oT
Nuevft'OnayiUiB, whence I took copies. 3« Jotimalof Doolfi-
colas Rodriguez, the friend of JSantoB.from Barcelooetta to the
confluence of the Rio Mao (Uahu), and the Rio Bninco, I
traced a map on the rery accurate indications of Thitmia and
distances contained in this valuable manuscript. 4'> Two very
detailed maps of thccaptaio of-tbe frigate, and the astrano-
mical geographer of the FortugBeze commission of the
boundaries, Don Antonio I^res de Sylva Pontes Lcme, and the
captain of engineers, Don Ritardo Franco d'Almeida de

615

vels of two SpaaiardB^ f Don Antonio Santos^
and Nicolas Rodrignea, and ako by the geodesic
labors of the Ptortnguese Bontes'and Almeida.
There are two porbiges little fraiqjaented^ be-
tween the Rio Braaco and, the Rio Esaeqnibo
(the portages of JSaranm and thclakeuAmncu),
oni the sontta^of the chain of Fbcafaina; they
fecili&te the road Ay lamd that' leads ^frbm
the Villa of the Rio Negro to Dutch GAyana «.
The portagei on tbe'oc^trary, betifo§h the basin

SenQi (|78iT and 18Q4)^ These mmniacripl maj^/cpntaining
the whole detdl of the trigonometric ranrey of tl|^ windings
of the rivers, were obligingly oomttmnicated to M. Laple
and myself, by the Conntlif LInhares. It niay be afllrdied,
that the course of few rivers in Europe has been marked by
more miimie tiperatioBS than thA of tte RI^Bmneo, dUe Uni-
ricuem^ the Yacutn^ add the Maho i and we may regret that
in the ttnte^ buMrlsmf te^wMdith^ geegmpliy of 'the vast
eonntrtes tf SfMuiish^M Port^gwbe AariericK yetahfu,v prerfr-
lection fof shoh f%erona pfoeMbn hi^ tk^mSM'mfftetHt^h
wildndd allneittehriMMMiUgiiiip. ^MoCetfoftheVoyagb
madb by Fnmciso*r)>]osel! Rodf^oer'iBflMla/^LIeirt^iiaur *-0b-
lonel dMhe-first regiarfentof Ibt Mne al FaHi,'wheir elttl^^
by the Rio BraneD9ihlr*IUiM,'>aBfl tHsMraonrprioflUd'HiK
pdinri;^ iUA -UrfiUmi^' iff ier6ssingi(nMI)^th4 pmtagv/«tr
ischmus^tlMseparsMft bii*#N(lMilh cff^Cerro Cottiieamtf, tlite
bMdis of ^le Rl0'Srailwdb*the*B«eqttlbo (VM. v]> 480)1.
F'rfwe'Adtfi&flfmatlori'tb tN^Wmlneis of Mv BHm, ktflb««
Bidor of Pbrtu|^r'at<Mife eDtirt'ofFNtoc«; '^ ':' f ^-"^

^ Th«pdrti^'^Oftbe lake AliiiMi <Ambtti)/tftltwedif IRh
CMoPrfe%^a,^ A iHbiAaryst^etftf'oifthe Hlo Mahu and the CalSo
TaVari'euhf or- Tfturicdi^/i^ ten leagues liShh of INe p6rtago
of Saraum (Vol. v, p. 480).' ^' '" *■ ' '^ ^ ' •*' '^' "

2m 2

$16

of the Rio Branco. and that of the "fcaiOTf ,

crosses the summit of the chain of Pacaratna.
-On the northern slope of this chain rises the
Anocapra (Annca-para? Nocaprai), a tributary
stream of the Paraguamusi or Paravamusi ; aQ<l
on the southern slope, the Ai-aicuque, which,
with the Uraricapara, forms the famous VaUey
of Inundations"', above the destroyed mis-
sion of Santa Rosa (lat. 3° 46', long. 65° IfSe).
The principal Cordillera, which appears of little
breadth, stretches on a length' of 80 leagius>
from the portage of Anocapra (long. 65° 3ft') to
the left bank of the Rupunuri (long. 61° 50"),
,iiDllowing the parallels of 4*^ 4' and 4° 12'.

* V«l. V, p. 101. The Rio Uraricapan throwa itself into
Abe Unricuen, called Cvrantara in the manuscript of Rodri-
^ei, end which utxj be considered as tbe western tiraiidi of
tbe Kio Braoco, while the eastern branch is the'Hwntv,
which receives the H^u. The two bfanchea join 'near the
fort of San Joaquim of the Hio Branco. The Spaniards of
Cafony bfigan to pass the chain- of Pacaraina, and fix tbem-
selres on tbe Parti^eze territory, in the yeaca 1770 an<
1373, Hiey established aoccessively the missions of Santa
Rosaj 8an Jiian Daptista de Ci^iicaf a (Cadacada) and Sao
Antonio (Caulin, p. 00) -, but those Tillages, or rather assem-
blages of huts, were destroyed by the Portuguese. Wars
are unhappily but too Irequenl in this part of America, be-
tween the neighbouring missions of two riral natima. . The
map of Pontes marks at the junction of tbe^uvguanasi
and the Rio Paragua (a tributary of the Carony), the village
of San Vicente, lat. 4*^ 25' ; the point where the Spanish
military post of Guirior is placed.

617

We there distingnigh; from west to' 6asty the
mountains of. Fttcanma^ Tipique, Tauyana^
where rises the Rio Parime (atribiitarjrstrGiaHai of
the Uraricaera), Tubachi^ Gristaux (lat. 9" 56',
long. 6SP Sis'), and Canc^iri. The/ Spanish: trar
Teller, Rodrignez, marks the eastern part of thp
chain by the name of Qmmirapaca i, but as tb^
geognostic descriptionof a eQU4tryQaiiiio^.ipfike
any progress mthout adopting g^n^ral n^mes^
I. continue to give the namp of Pacaraina to the
whole of Uiis Cordillera, which jUnks the monn-
tains of the Oroonoko, to those qf the interior
of the Dotch and Fmch Gpyaoas/ ai^d wbich
Ralegh V and Keymis had made known in
Europe at the end of the 16th century. This
chain is broken by the Rupunuri and tiie Esse^
quibo, so that one of their tributary streamed,
the Tavaricuru, takes its rise on the southern
declivity, and the other, the Sibarona, on the
northern. In approaching the Essequibo, the
mountains are more developed* towards the
south-east, and extend beyond the 2i^ of north
latitude. From this eastern branch * of the*

* The culminant points of this eastern- branc)i^. are froo)
S.£. to N.W. i the Sierras of Cumucumu^ Xirivi> Yavianu^
Paranambo, Uanararl, and Puipe. I believe that' the groups
of the mountains of Cumucumu (Cum-Ucuamu) in the map of
Pontes, taken on the spot, is the Cerro del Dorado or Cerro
Ucucuamu of the journal of Santos^ and the Acucuamo of
Caulin (Corografiiia, p. 176) between the Mahu and the Ru«

chain of Pacaraina the Rio Hupunnri i
the Cerro Uassari. On the right bank of the
Rio Branco, in a still more southern latitude
(between 1" and 2° north) is a mountainoos
territory in which the Caiitamini, the Padaviri^
the Cababuri (Cavaburis) and the Pacimoni
take their source, from east to west. This west-
ern branch of the mountains of Pacaraina sepa^
rates the basin of Rio Branco from that of the
Upper Oroonoko, of which the sources are pro-
bably not found on the east of the meridian of
66° 15' : it is linked with the mountains of Un-
.turoD and Ynraariquin, lying S.£. of the mis-
skni of 'Eemeralda *. From the wIm^ of these

puiMnf. Th^Ialelp-JhraccM, wbicb SantM plan* bitbe
VidiUe of the Lagnna Kukn^ recdla the mme of lake
Ammca (Amacena, Amacu), of which the exlatenoe, alradf
aimoaiiced by the inrgeoa Hortonatm ds HUdeabeiiB, haft
been cntlfied by the oniat recent tnvcb. (Vel^v, p. TBI.

I* Xhe^IndiBM who inhabft th« b«du of the Bip Bnaco^
told BL FoatM that the tUo Bfoojabl or Cahnana, whiA flam
into the Rio Bnnco, at S* 38' of latitude, and whiiAthePot^
tugnese wUien ascended in canoee daring twenty days, orcr
innnmenble rap ida and catancta, commiuicates with the
Cababory.whldi is at once a tribolary stream of OeRk) Negro
and the Cassiqaisrej {8a above. Vol. t, p. 877, 418.) If
Ihii notion be correct, 0Qrmi|M prolong the conrM of the Fs-
davlri mudi too &r towards the north. It famishea, according
to the anthor of^the CorognphiaWimlitmU (Vol. ii, p. MB),
a portage to the UmaTaca (no doubt the Macarra, a tributary
stream of ttieUn>er Oroonoko). lam surprised at tite detail

519

considerations it results, that while on the west
of the Cassiquiare/ between* that river,, the
Atabapo, and the Rio Negro, we find only yajst
plains, in which rise some monticules and insu-
lated rocks; real counter-fbrts stretch . on the
east of the ^Jassiquiare^ from N.W. to SJL and
form a continued mountainous teijitory ais fiir
as the 2^ of north latitude. The bttin only, or
rather the transversal valley of RioBranco,
forms a kind of gulph, a succession of pluns

given in Arrowfliidth*8 map, of dieaoiuoeioftlieFMbviri>
placed in a* latitude, wUla in the mannacript maps of Pirates
these sources are marked at Ij^ Heretofore the Daniba, the
Fkidaviri^and the UavaeayWere supposed to join the Rio Branee ,
having three distinct months, and forming a delta of trilm*'
tary streams.- (SesStarifU/le*«fiMtp,whidi accompanies the Go-
rography of Canlin). The great inundations of Seriveni^aad
Caritamini (lat, 1V*8* north) have no doobt |^en rise to
the fable of lakeManvato, on the mqp of the Amaxon traced
by M . Reqaena, first conmiislBary of the boondaries in the ser-
vice of the King of Spidn. These innndations, and the muform
assertion of the Indians, (hat the Rio Bioo^ahi commnni-
cates with the Cababury, may also have contributed to the
hypothesis of the imaginary lake which SurviUe places west
of the Rio Branco, and which he links at the same time to
that river alid the Oroonoko (Vol. v, p. 86l)« I shall here
observe, that the lake AmUca of Hortsmann, and the two
upper branches of the Rio Branco, the Uraricnera and the
Mahu, which is the classical country of Dorado of Ralegh,
are found, according to the astronomical observations of Por«
tugueze travellers, between the parallels ^ and 4®, while
Surville's map enlarged that space from 4® to the equator.

520

and savannahs {campojf) several of which pene-
trate into the mountiuoous hmd, from south lo
north, between the eastern and western branches
of the chain of Pacamna, to the distance of 8
leagues north of the paraUel of San Joaquin*.

We have just examined the southern part of
the vast a^stem of the mountains o/Parime, be-
tween the 2° and 4° of latitude, and between
the meridians of the sources of the Oroonoko
and the Essequibo. The developement of this
system of mountains towards the north, between
the chain of Pacaraina and the Rio Cuyuni, and
between the meridians 66° and Blj", is still
much more unknown. The only road fi-e-
quented by white men is that of the river Para-
gua, which receives the Paraguamusi, near the
Guirior. We find indeed, in the journal of Ni-
colas Rodriguee, that he was constantly ob-
liged to have his canoe carried by men {arra-
strando) by the cataracts which intercept
the navigation -f ; but we must not forget a

* We find savannahs between the Mnyari and theTacntu.
but ea«t and west of those rivers, between the Tacutu and (he
Rupunuri, the country is Ml of mounlsins. Id conBideriiig
the whole chain of Pacaraina, we observe that the eastern
groupe, that of Ccrro Cumucumu, is much loftier than tbe
western, which contains the sources of tbe Carilamini.

+ In ascending from Barcelonetta to the portage between
Anocapra (no doubt Anoca-para, aater of Anoca), and Arai-
ctique^ across the Sierra Pacaraina, we find along the banks

521

circumstance^ of which my own experience
furnished me with frequent piiopfisit— -that the
cataracts in this part of South America are
often caused only by ridges, of cocks which
do not form real mountains. Rodrigiu^ names
but two between Barcelonetta and the mission
of San Jose ; while the missionaries place more
to the east, in G^ latitude^ between the. Rio
Carony. and the Cuyuni * the Serraniw of Usu*
pama and Rinocote. The latter crosses the
Mazaruni, and forms 39 cataracts in the Esse-
quibo *f-, from the military post of Arinda (lat.
5^ 30^) to the mouth pf Rupunuri.

With respect to the continuation of the sys-
tem of the mountains of Parime, south-east of
the meridian of the Essequibo^ the materials
are entirely wanting for tracing it with

of the Piragua an4 the FkLrfgaamiui^ from north |o southj the
confluence of the Carony aiid the Rio Pto^gua j the month of
the Rio Hore -, the Cerro.PtoigQa^ near the western bank of
Paragua ; Raudala of Onjmh, Gnajquirima^and Carapo ;
the Cerro del Gallo ; the Tillage of San Jose i the mouth of
Cano de Espuma s the Randals of Gnajguari and Para s the
great Randal of Majsa ^ the Boca of CaBo Icapro ; the Boca
of Paraguamusi, and the Raudals of Anocapra. {Razan de
lo que ha sucedido a Don Nicolas Rodriguez durante iu na-
vegadon en el Rio Paragua y en Uu Miaianet alias de las
Reverendos Padres Capuchinos de Carony, fol, 7Ab moiitt-.
script),

* Map which accompanies father Caulin*8 work.
-f Van Buckenrader, Map of the Colony of £ssequibo^ 1706.

522

priicisloti- The whole interior of the Dutch,
Freoch, and Portugueze Guyanas, is a terra m-
cognita ; and the astroDoinical geography of
those countries has scarcely made any progresf
during thirty years*. If the American limits
recently fixed -f- between France and Portugal,
should one day cease to belong to the ilhisious
of diplomacy, and acquire reality, in being
tnuxd on tiie territory by meaiu of astronuiu-

* It i« certain that M. Lc Blond, correspoiidait of the
Academy of Stiencea, in going up the river Ofapock, not-
withstantling all his aeal, only reached a little beyond the
month af tbs SoacarL The aources of the AfV*'*^ (A'*^"-
Bri), the OyvgnxiL, the CanK^I, and the TMKpri (tribnta'-
ries of the Oyapock), and the-AraoiiDa^tribptacTof theMa-
roni), are very near each other, in 3° 30' latitude, and 35°
10' l<H)gitnd6. A Toynge of discovery ihould be made from
this point of French Guyana, towards the confluence of the
Rio Branco with (be Rio Negro, ii^the dbvctiM & 76* W., An
a distance of 230 leagnes. The borders of French QnyanaUe
between C«pa Orange and tiie nioutli of the Maroni, S. E.
and N. W. Na#i ia a perpendlealar direction to the dnre
«X Csqrenne/ none of the prtttmded greatexpe^tumi aftht k-
leriof have kd white men beyond Honnt Triponpov and Ibe
poM-of the RonlMmyenea Indians, at the distance of nxire
than 70 leagnesit - The commuideations opened by land be-
tween the Ca^tBolB' of Rio Negro and the Aoreof Otqnns
liarc been directed solely along the Rio EBsequilNi, on ac-
count of the fticility furnished by the proximity of its tribu-
tary streams to those of the RJo Branco.

t In consequence ol the treaty of Vienna. rSee above. Vol
V, p. 84S.

cal observations^ (as was projected in 1817,)
this undertaking would lead geograplucal en-
gineers to that unknown region which, at 3i^
west of Oayenne, divides the waters between
the coast 6f Gnyana and the Ainai^. Till
tliat period, which the political Mate of Bniiil
seems to retard, the geognostic table pf the
groupe of Pb^me can cmly be completed by
scattered notions collected in the PortugueiEe
and Dutch colonies. In going from the Uassa-
ri mountains (hit. 2^ 25', long. 6P S(f) which
form a part of the eastern branch of the Cordilr
lera of Ptocarainn, we find towards the east, a
chain of mountains called by the missionaries
Acaray and Tumiiucwraqjite ^. Those two names
wander on our maps between Oi^ and 3^ of

* The Sierm TVmiicsrafiie (Tamamiicimqiie of Canlin^
Tmniicuciiniqiie of Arnnrfmitfa) mppmnAiot.thm first time
on the map of La Cim } aiid> aa the mmm b there twice
l^aoed with a dSffimpoe of S^ of latitude, Udi double nomi-
natkm has been veligloiiily repeated oa the m^M of StinriUe,
Boache^SbC The geograpber Stnmm, who. In his Camrte rf
ike rintr rfiki jimamm»^ froeed Jmm ike fiarraimfe effaiker
.^ieiffui(16eo)ihad-tbe merit, in eappretaiDg the lake Fuiase
and the Sierra Waearima (Pkearahiaa) whieh had tUl then
been figured in the direetioo of a meridian, to have ftnt
traced with some precieion, a chain of moantaina etretching
parallel to the eqoator, between the northern flonroes of the
Eseequibo, Maroni, and Viapoco (Oyapock), and the south-
ern sources of the Urixamina (R. de Trombetas), of Curu-
patuba, and of the Ginipape or Kio Paru.

Dortli latitude. Ralcgli Unit made koowA* la
1506, the syfitera of the mountains of Parime'
between the sources of the Rio Carony and tbc
Es8equibo,bythe naineofWacarima{Pacarima^,
and the Jesuits Acuna and Artedia furnished, in
1639, the first precise notions of that part of
this system which extends from the meridian of
Efisequibo to that of Oyapock +. There they
place the mountains of Yguaracuru and Para-
gnaxo, the former of which gives birth to a
gold river (Rio de oro)', a tributary stream of
the CurupatubaJ; and according to the as-
Bertim of the natives, subterraneous noises are
sometimes heard from the latter. The ridge of
this chain of mountains, which ^ may be fol-
k>wed iaa direction S. 85° £., from the peak
Duida, near the Esmeralda (lat. 3° 19*)^ to the

* Vol. ▼,?.!«, fcc..

t Vol. ▼. p. 8«Gu

t When wc know that ittTAmanaogoId is oiled eariarif
in CarUi, oaricHra ; ii].Penivian>cori ('ntrUi we euUy recog-
mze in the nemei of the raoanlaiiH &nd riTcn.f Ygivra-cnnt,
Cor&^fKtuba), which we have juit marked, the indicattoo of
an apiiferona soil. Such is the. analog of ihaimporUd noU
in the American tongues, which otherwise differ altogether
from each otber^ that 30a leagues west of the mountain
Ygnracuru, on the hanks of the Caqneta, Pedro de Unas
heard of the province of Caricuri, rich in gold washings.
(Vol. r, p. 823). The CurupeUiba folia into the Amizoa
near the Villa of Honle Al^rc, N. £. of the qiouth of the
Rio Topayos.

Mtky

8SS ^

i of the Hia Maoiay^ near oape NMdf(kiL
)i dividMyin the paraUel:8% the nortkeRi
St 4^ ;the Etaequibi^ 4he Maroai, -and^the
iflik, fpom the soathem 8eiireei:iaf Abe Bkr
b0|B8^ Cornpataba, * and Fara, XlftQ aMU
PHKOOunter-forts of ^thie diaindmw^ aeaitf
Wifnp, at the distance of Meea leagnear
»r)gre. the first heights tba( we .'peroeifed
iHBring left Xeberos^aad thcumovth of tiie
dl^. They ai^ cmurtantly seen in^Miigafc-
sMthe month of the Rio Topayo stowaiAi
of Panky from the town of Santarem) to
irim. The peak Triponpon *f- is plaeed
f in the meridian of the former of those
I, and is celebrated among the Indians., of
r Maooni. More to the east^ at Melgaipo^
erras do Velho and do Paru | are still dis-
iguidied in the horizon* The real limits
is series of sources : of the Rio lV>omh[etas

U. Ti, p. 481. ^eealso La Condamine't^ Foffoge to ike
Wj p. 143. The distance at which we see iboae coun-
ts gives them 200 toises oF absolute height. Thej are^
er only, says Condamine, fhe anterior hills tii i'long
ifmoiintuns extending from west to esist, and of which
nunits form the points of partition of the waten ;
irthem waters flow towards the coast of Cayenne and
uUv and the southern towards the Amazon,
jttt, ^ 10', long. 10 36^ west of the meridian of Ca-
g according to the map of Guyana, published at the
6/ tke Marine, Ifill.

BrazU; Vol ii, p. 207,

526

are iKtter known towards the south than tbe
north, where a monntiunoiiB fNmntry appean to
advance in Dutch and French Guyana, as fu
as from 20 to 25 leagues of the coast. Hm
numerous cataracts of the risers of Snrinam,
Maroni, and Oyapock, prove the extent and
the prolongation of rocky ridges: bat notiiing
hitherto indicates that there exists in those re-
gions (as sometimes has heen Hastily an-
nounced), continued plahu, or table-lands some
hundred toises high^ fitted for the dtltivatioo
of the pluits of the temperate zone.

I have just collected into one geognoatic table
all the materials I possess on the ^siem ^ fke

S25

rapids of the Ria Maimye, near cape Nord (lat.
1^ 5OO9 divides, in the parallel 2°^ the northern
sources of the Essequibo, the Maroni, and the
Oyapock, from the southeiti sources of the Rio
TrombetaSy Curupatuba, and F^mi. The most
southern counter-forts of this chain draw nearer
the Amazon, at the distance of fifteen leagues.
Ttiese are the first heights that we perceived
after having l«ft Xeberosvand the. mouth of the
Huallaga*. They are constantly seen in navigat-
ing from the mouth of the Rio Topayo towards
that of Paru, from the town of Santarem: to
Almeirim. The peak Tripoupou*f- is placed
nearly in the meridian of the former of those
towns, and is celebrated among the Indians, of
Upper Maroni. More to the east, at Melgaipo,
the Serras do Velho and do Paru % are still dis-
distinguished in the horizon* The real limits
Qi this series of sources of the Rio TVomfafetas

* VoL vi» p. 481. JSeetdao La Condamine'tj Foffoge to the
Amazon, p. 143. The distance at which we see those coun-
ter-forts gives them 200 toises of absolute height. They are^
liowever only, says Condamlne, fhe anterior hills of a long
chain of mountains extending from west to east, and of which
the . summits form the points of partition of the waters ;
the northern waters flow towards the coast of Cayenne and
Surinam, and the southern towards the Amazon.

t Lat, 2® 10', long. 1<» 3d' west of the meridian of Ca-
yenne, according to the map of Guyana, published at the
Depdt of the Marine, J 817.

t Ccrographia Brazil; Vol, i\, p. 297.

528

the Atlantic Ocean, the Llanos or plains of tb«
Amazon rise only 194 toises •. What most
characterizes the gronpe of the mountuns of
Parimc are the rocks of granite and gtieiss-gra-
nite, the total absence of calcareous secondary
formations, and the shelves of bare rock (the
Tsif of the Chinese deserts), which fill on tbe
surfoce, immense spaces in the savannabs -f.

;. Groupb of thb Mountains op Bhazil.
This groupe has hitherto been figured on the
maps in as singular a manner as the monntiunB
of the Iberian Peninsula, Asia Minor and Persia.
llie temperate table-lands and real chains of

529

to 400 toisM^ is comprehended within very
narrow limits, nearly between 18^ and 2SP
&!Quth latitude ; it does not appear to extend^
between the provinces of Goyaz and Mato-
Grosso, beyond 53° of longitude^ west of the
meridian of Fiiris.

When we regard in one view the eastern con-
figuration of both Americas^ we perceive that the
coast of Brazil and Guyana, from Cape Saint
Roque to^the mouth of the Oroonoko (stretch-
ing S. £• to N. W.), corresponds with that of
Labrador, as the coast from Cape Samt RqquQ
to the Rio de la Plata correspojids with that of
the United States (stretching firom S. W. to
N. £.)• The cluun of the Alleghanies is oppo-
site to the latter coasts as the principal Cordil
leras of Brazil are nearly parallel to the shore
of the provinces of Porto Seguro, Rio Janeiro,
and Rio Grande. The Alleghanies, generally
composed of grauwakke and transition rocks,
are a little loftier than the almost primitive
mountaios (of granite, gneiss, and micaslate,)
of the Brazilian groupe ; they are also of a far
more simple structure, their chains lying nearer
each other, and preserving, as in the Jura, a
more constant parallelism-

If, instead of comparing those parts of the
New Continent situated north and south of the
equator, we confine ourselves to South America,
we find on the western and northern coasts in

VOL. VI. 2 N

sfto

their whole length, a i-ontiimed chain near ^
shoi-e (the Andes and the Cordillera of Venezu-
ela), while the eastern coast presents masses of
more or less lofty mountains only between Ibe
12* and 30° of south latitude. In this space of
360 leagues in length, the system of the moun-
tains of Brazil corresponds geognostically in its
form and position, wilb the Andes of Chili and
Peru. Its most considerable portion lies between
the parallels 15° and 32°, opposite the Andes of
Potosi and la Paz, but its mean height is five
toises less, and cannot even be compared with
that of the mountains of Parime, Jura, and
AuTbrgne. The principal direction of the Bra-
zilian cfaaioB, where they attain the height of
four to five hundred toises, is from south to
north, and from soutb-south-west to north-
north-east; but, between 13^ and 19° the chiuns
are considerably enlai^d, and at the same time
lowered towards the west. The ridges and
ranges of hills seem to advance beyond the
kmd struts which separate the sources of the
Rio An^ay, Parana, Topayos, P!araguay,
Gu^mre, and Aguapehy, in 63" of longitude.
The western widening of the Braziliazt gronpe,
or rather the undulations of the soil in the
Campos Parecis, corresponding with the cowi'
ierforts of Santa Cruz, of Sierra, and Beni*,

• Vol. vi, p. 421, 431.

531

^ich the Andes send towards the east, it was
beretofbre concluded that the system of the
mountains of Braril was linked with that t>f
die Andes of Upper Pbrn. I partook myself of
this error in my first geog;no6tic labours.

A coast chain (Serra do Mar) extends nearly
parallel with the coast, nortb-east of Rio Jar
neiro, lowerii^ considerably towards Rio Doce,
and lofiing itself almost entirely near Bahia
(lat. 12^580. According to Mr. Eschwege«,
some small ridges reach Cape Saint Roqne
(lat. SP 12"). South-east of Rio Janeiroi, the
Serra do Mar follows die coast behind the Isle
Saint Catherine as far as Torres (lat. 29^ 26^) ;
it there turns towards the west and forms an
elbow stretchmg by the Campos <^ Vacaria,
towards th ebanks of the Jacuy ^.

Another chain lies west of the shore chiun <^
Brazil, the most lofty and considerable of all^
tbatof Villarica^, idiich Mr. Eschwege marks by

• Oeogiiottidl«f BemdUt vm Bratk^, 1822, p. 6. The
Kflaettane of Bahia abounds in lignites. Id. p. 9.

t Mtauucript noU» ofM. AugusU de SmiU fftlMre. I owe
to that great naturalist, whose extended views comprehend*
ed all that interests phyaicaigeograpliy, some important rec-
Cifiealkms of my sketch ou the Braailian system of moun*

taihs.

t Height of the town above the lev^ of^ the oea, 680
toises. This height proves that Villarica is placed in the
cbain itself (Sarro do Espinhap)), for the table-land of iUi-

2 N 2

532

the name of Serra do Espinhafo^ and considers
as the I priDcipal part of the whole structure of
the moDDtains of Brazil. This Cordillera loBea
itself towards the north*, between Minas Nom
and the southern extremity of the C^itania of
Bahia, in 16° of latitude. It there renuuns
more than 60 leagues removed from the coast
of Porto Seguro ; but towards the south, be-
tween the parallete of Rio Janeiro and Saint
Paul (lat. 22° — 23°), in the knot of the moun-
tains of Serra da Mantiqueira, it draws so near
the Cordillera of the shore (Serra do Mar) that
they are almost confounded together. In the
same manner the Serra do Espinhofo follows
constanllv the direction of a meridian

'683

ent extent to furnish lands for cnltivation
where temperate climates prevail by degree9,
that may be compared with the delicious cli-
mates of Xalapa, Guaduas, Caraccas, and Ca-
ripe. This advantagCi which depends at once
on the widening of the mass of the chain, and
of its counterforts, is no where found in the
same degree, on the east of the Andes^, not even
in chains of a more considerable absolute
height, for instance in those of Venezuela and
the Oroonoko. The culminant points of the
Serra do Espmhafo^ in the Capitania of Minas
Geraes, are the Itambe (932 1.), the Serra da
Piedade, near Sahara (910 t.), the Itacolumi^
properly Itacunumi (900 t.)* the Pico of Itabira
(816 t.), the Serras of Carai^, Ibitipoca, and
Papagayo. M. Auguste de Saint Hilaire felt a
piercing cold in the month of November, there-
fore in summer, in the whole Cordillera of
Lapa, from the ^lla do Principe to the Morro
of Caspar Snares *.

We have just recognized two chains of moun-
tsdns nearly parallel, but of which the most ex-
tebsive (that of the shore) is the least lofty.
The capital of Brazil is situated at the point
where the two chains draw nearest, and are
linked together on the east of the Serra de

* Sketch of a voyage to Brazil, p. ^. Eschwege, p. 5^
12D-Mj and above. Vol. v, p. 858 j Vol. vi, p. 402.

534

Madtiqueira, if not by a transversal rtdge, at
least by a mountainous territory. According
to ancient systematic ideas on the rising of
mountains, in proportion as we advance into «
country, it was supposed that a central CordU-
lera existed in the Capitanta of Mato Grosso, J
much loftier than that of Villarica or do Esjm-M
hafo ; hut we now know (and this is confirmeji
by climateric circnmstances) that there exisM'fl
no continued chain, properly speaking, to thtV
westward of Rio San Francisco, ffli the frontiers
of Minas Geraes and Goyaz. We find only a
groape of moimtains of which the calminant
points are the Serras da Canastra (south-west
of Paracatu) and da Marcella (lat. \Bi' and
19'10°), and further north, the PyrineoB stretch-
ing from east to west (lat. 16" W betweea Vil-
laboa and Mejaponte). ' Mr- Esdiwege has
named the groupe of mountains of Goyaz the
.Serra dos Vertentea, because it .divides the
waters between the southern tributary streams
of the Rio Grande or Parana, and the northern
tributary Mreams of Rio Tucanttnes. It nu)s
towards the south beyond the Bio Grande (Fa-
ranaX and approaches in 23° latitude by ^
Serra do ^ittnca, the Espinha^. It attains
only 300 to 400 toises of height, with the ex-
ception of some summits N. W. of Biracata,
and is consequently much lower than the chun
of Villarica. •

535

Further on^ west of the meridiau of Villaboa^
there are only ridges aud a series of monticules
which, on a length of 12^, form the threshold or
division of water (lat« 13^r— 17^), between, the
Araguay and the Parana! ba (a tributary stream
of the Parana), between the Rio Topayos, and the
Paraguay, between the Guapore and the Agua-
pehy. The Serra of S. Martha (long. ISi^") is
somewhat lofty, but geographers, or rather
the drawers of maps, have preserved the habit
of singularly exaggerating the height of the
Serras or Campos Parecis, on the north of the
towns of Guyaba and Villabella (lat. 13^ — 14%
long. 68°-r62^). These Campos, which have
taken their name from that of a tribe of wild
Indians *, are vast barren table-lands, entirely
destitute of vegetation, and in which the
sources^ of the tributary streams of three

* Patriota, 1818^ No. 1> p. 48 ; No. 6, p. 40, 61. The
wc$tern part of these Caimpos is caUed Urucumanacua, be-
tween the Secary and the Camararej two tributary streams
of the Rio Topajos.

t The neighbouring tributary streams of the Topayos are'
the Juruena^ and the Camarare ; those of Madeira, the Ale-
^re, the Guqpore, and the Sarare ; those of Paraguay, the
Aguapehy, the Janru, and the Sipotobu. Villabella, of which
the position may one day become important for the inland
trade between the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata, is placed
(lat. 15* 0', long. 62o IBO on the right bank of the Guapore
or Itenes, a little above the confluence of the Sarare. On
the south of Santa Barbara, the Aguapeby (a tributary stream

536

great rivers, the Topayos, the Madeira, and the
Paraguay, take their rise. The learned author
of the statistical description of the Capitania
of Mato Grosso, M. Almeida Serra, calls*
Atlas Serranias (high mountains), those of the
banks of the Aguapehy ; but we must not for-
get, that in a flat country, mount^ns of 500 feet
high appear lofty ; above all, if (like the rocksof
Baraguan aad the Morros of San Juan+) the
mass is inconsiderable. The most recent ma-
nuscript maps of Brazil place, 1st. the Serra da

of the Fanguay and the Rio de la Plata), ^iproacbea so near
the Rio Alegre, (a tributary of the Ouapore anil tfaeAmazon),
that the portage is only S322 b-afoi long. A canal waa there
attempted to be traced during the ministry of Count de Bni-
cm (Eiehieege, 6emimf,p.7) ; a clrcumstancethatvoaldnot
prove alone, thcabaence of chaina of mountain*, for opemt^
and transveraal vallaya are fimnd in the greatest Cordillcni.
A degree below the confluence of the Paraguay and the Janni,
which receives the Agu^iehy, a marshy soil begins. It
extends as for aa Albuquerque, and its inundadons (Ut. 17*—
19*) have giren rise to the &ble of the Lsgunn de Xarayea^
as the inundations of the Rio Parime (Rio BraBGo),ga.Te birth
to the hble of the LagunalVime (Mar del Doradoor Rnptam-
wini). SeePdtriofa, 1813, No. A,p.S3,andfaaMfcriplMy
of BraiU, takta from 76 paTticKlar m^w, at thx dtfCt ^
MajuofRio Janaro, bg SUcan PaitUt Leme, 1804.

* Geographical and politicsl view of the Capitania of
Mato Groaso (ITfil), by the seijeant-mqar of engineers,
Ricardo Frenciaco de Almeida Serra.

t In the Lower Oroonoko and in the Uanoa of Venezuela,
^ee above, VoL iv, p. 278, 603.

637

Melgaera or do9 LinriteSy on the west of Villa-
bella, betweea the Guapore and the Baures;
2d. the Serra Baliia, between the Buenos and
the Alegre ; and 3d. tlie Cordillera of San Fer-
nando^ between the ancient missions ^ San
Jnan Bauptistaand San Jago (lat. l&^—W^) ad-
vancing in the province of Chiquitos to 64i^ of
lon^tude, and approaching within 40 leagues
distance of the counterfort of the Andes of
Santa Cms of Sierra; bnt these labours, al-
though executed at the hydrbgraphic Dep6t of
Rio Janeiro, do not merit much confidence in
the western regions of Brazil, that terra mcog-
nita, which extends from Cochabamba to Vii-
labella« The form of the insulated mountains
in the plains of Chiquitos, the lakes between
the missions of San Rafiael, San Jose, and jSan
Juan Bauptista, copied from d*Anville and La
Cruz, are become stereotypes on every map for
eighty years past; and it is certidn that a land-
strait, a plain covered with some hills, in 62^
and 66^ of longitude, unites the great basins
of La Plata and the Amazon. M. Eschwege
obtained precise information from some Spanish
planters, who came from Cochabamba to Villa-
bella, on the continuity of those basins or sa-
vannahs.

According to bis measures and geognostic
observations, the high summits of the Serra do
Mar (the coast chain) scarcely attain 660

538

toiscs ; tliose of the Setra do Eipinhafo (chain
of ViUarica), 950 toises ; those of Serra do lot
t^erteates (groupe of Canastra and the Braziliu
Pyrenees) 450 toises. Further west, the war-
foce of the ami seems to present bnt alight an-
dulations ; but no measure of height has been
made beyond the meridiao of Villaboa. On-
sidering the system of the moontains of Braul
in their real limits (as we have indicated
above), we find, except some conglonientefi,
the some absence of secmdary fonnatinu with
which we were struck in the system oi the
mountiuns of the Oroonoko (gronpe of Parime).
These secondary formations, which rise to con-
BJderable heights in the Cordillera of Venezuela

tote of reoent traces of volcaiiio fire^ and,
tbe exception of the coast id Venexiielay
I exppeed to the violence of efurthviakee.
■pean height of the three systems 4unini»be6
1 north to south, from 760 to 400 totses ^ ;
B of the culminant points {jmuuma of the
bt of each groupe), from 1350 to 1000 or
ttlses. It results from these obserrationsy
fjhe loftiest chain, with the exception of the
ft jnsulated system of the Sierra Nevada of
aaJdartai*, is the CSordillera of the ahore.of
wnela, which is itself but a continuation of
Indes. In taking a view of the north, we
in central America (lat. 12^— 30^),andnwth
nrica (lat. SO — 70^), on the east of the Andes
Suatimala, Mexico, and Upper Louisiana,
same regular lowering which struck us
ards the south. In this vast est^it of land
i the Cordillera of Venezuela to the polar
le, eastern America presents two distinct
ems, the groupe of the mountains of the
It Indies, of which the eastern part is volca-
and the chain of the AUeghanies. The
ser of these systems, partly overwhelmed in
floods, may be compared with respect to its
tive position and form, to the Sierra Pbr
B ; the latter to the chains of Brazil, run-

* See above, Vol. vi^ p. 406.
t See above^ Vol. vi^ p. 481«

ning alike from S. W. to N. E. The culrot
nant points of those two systems rise to 1138
and 1040 toises. Such are the elements of this
curve, of which the convex summit is placed in
the chain of the shore of Venezuela :

AMERICA, ON THE EAST OF THE ANDES.

t HOriMTAINS.

MUIIMA OF UEICBT).

Groupe of B mil ,.

Graupe of Porime

Chain of the shore of Ve- >
nezucla J

Graupe of the West lodiea. . .
Cbuii of the AUeghanies

lUicolutni soot.

(south hu.aoj").

DiiitiB 1300

(north lat. 31°).

Silla de Caraccos.... 1350
(north lal. lOt").

Blue Mountains 1138

(north lat. 18!^).

Mount Washingtoo. 1040
(north lat. 441°).

I have preferred mdlcathig^ in this table the
culminant points of each system, to the mean
height of the line of elevation ; the culminant
points are the results of direct measures, while
the mean height is an abstract idea somewhat
vague, above all when there is only one groupe
of mountains, as in Brazil, Parime,and the West
Indies, and not a continued chain. Although

541

it cannot be doubted that among the &v€ sys-
tems of mountains on the east of the Andes^
and of which one only belongs to the southern
hemisphere^ the chain of the shore of Venezuela
is the most elevated (having a culminant point
of 1350 toises, and a mean height from the line
of elevation of 750X we yet recognize with sur-
prize, that the mountains of eastern America
(whether continental or insulary), differ very
inconsiderably in height above the level of the
Ocean. TJieJwe groupes are all nearb/ of a tnean
height of Jrom^is to ^even hundred toises ; and
the culminant points {maxima of the lines ofele-
vation)y from one thousand to thirteen hundred
toises. That conformity of eonstruction on an
extent twice as great as Europe, appears to me
a very remarkable phenomenon. No summit
on the east of the Andes of Peru^ Mexico, and
Upper Louisiana, enters within the limit of per-
petual snew*. It may be added, that with
the exception of the AUeghanies, no snow falls
sporadically in any of the eastern sj^tems which

* Not even the W^te Afountams of the state of New
Hampshire^ to which Mount Washington belongs. Long
before the accurate measurement of Captain Partridge, I had
proved (in 1804), by the laws of the decrease of heat, that no
summit of the White Mountains could attain the height as-
signed to them by M. Cutler, of 1000 toises. (See my
Spanish memoir : Ideas sobre el Imite inferior de la nieve
perpetua in V Aurora b Carreo de la //avaita^No. 220> p. 142.)

we have just examined. Prom these consider-
ations it results, and above all, from the com-
parison of the New Continent with those parts
of the ancient which we know beat, with En-
rope and Asia, that America thrown into the
aquatic hertiisphere* of our planet, is still mora
remarkable by the continuity and extent of the
depressions of its surface, than by the height
and continuity of its longitudinal ridge. The
mountains beyond and within the istfaraos of

* The southern hemisphere, on account of the unequal
distribution of seas nnd continents, has long been marked aa
an hemispbere etninentlj aqnntic \ but the same toeqnality is
found when we consider the globe as dirided not accord-
ing to the equator but by meiidians. The gre&t masses
of land are joined together between the meridian of 10^
west, and ISO" east of Paris, while the hemisphere emi-
neatly aquatic, begins on the west of the meridian of the
coast of Greenland, and ends on the east of the meri'
^an of the eastern const of New Holland and the Kurile
Isles. This unequal distribution of land and water has the
greatest influence on the distribution of heat on the surbce
of tlie globe, on the inflexions of the isotherm lines, and the
dimateric phenomena in general. For the inhabitants of the
centre of Ifiurope the aquatic hemisphere may be called
western, and the land hemisphere eastern ; because in gnig
(o the west we reach the former sooner than the latter.
It is the diTision according to meridians, which is ia*
tended in the text. Till the end of the Ifith cenlur;, the
western hemisphere was as much unknown to the nutioiH of
the eastern hemisphere, as one half of the lunar globe it lo
us at present, and will probabl; alw^e remain.

543

Panama, but on the east of the Cordillera of
the Andes, scarcely attain, on 600,000 square
leagues, thq height of the Sc&ndinavian Alps,
the Carpathes, Monts-Dores (in Ativei^gne), and
the Jura. One system only, that of the Andes,
unites in Americft on a Jong and naittCiW sone of
3000 leagues, all the summits which are more
than 1400 toises high. In Europe, on the con-
trary, even considering, with too systematic
views, the Alps and Pyrenees as one sole line of
elevation, we still find summits far fi'om this
line or principal ridge, in the Sierra Nevada of
Grenada, Sicily, Greece, the Appenines, perhaps
also in Portugal, from 1500 to 1800 toises
high*. The contrast between America and
Europe, with respect to the distribution of the
culminant points which attain 1300 to 1500
toises, is the more striking as * the low eastern
mountains of South America» of which the

* Culminant points $ Mulhacan of Grenada^ 1026 toises -,
Etna, according to Captain William Henry Smith, t700 t.
Monte Como of the Appenines, 1489 t. If Mont Tomoros
in Crreece and the Serra Gaviarra of Portugal, enter, as is
aaaerted, tvithin the limit of perpetual snows (PouquetUie,
Tom. ii, p. 242, and BcJb'u, Essai staiUHque 9ur le Portugal,
Tom. i, p. 68, 98), those summits, according to their posi-
tion in latitude, should attain 1406 to 1600 toises. Yet on
the loftiest mountains of Greece, the Tomoros, the Olympus
of Hiessalia, the Polyanos of Dolopes, and Mount Parnassus,
M. Pouqueville saw, in the month of August, snow pre-
aerved only in stripes, or in cavities sheltered from the rays
of the sun.

544

maxima of the elefation is only from 1300 to
1400 toiscs, are placed on the side of a CordiU
lera of which the mean height exceeds 1800
toises, while the secondary system of the moun-
tains of Etrrope rises to maxima t^elevatkm of
1500 to IKOO toises, near a principal cbun of
1 >200 toises at least of mean height.

MAXIMA UF THE LINE OF ELEVATION IN THE
SAME PARALLELS.

Andtt of Ckdi and Upper Peru. Croupe of Ue UoMlami of
Knots of mouDtaioB of Braiil, a littk Imia tban
Porco oad Cuzco, SAGO the CcTcnnn, SA) to 1000

545

This tabled contains the whole system of
mountains of the New Continent ; namely : the
Andes^ the maritime Alps of California or New
Albion, and the five groupes of the east. I
shall subjoin to the foots I have just stated, an
observation no less striking; in Europe, the
maxima of secondary systems, which exceed
1500 toises, are found solely on the south of
the Alps and Pyrenees, that is, on the south of
the principal ridge of the continent. They are
placed on the side where that ridge draws
nearest the shore, and where the Mediterranean
has not overwhelmed the land. On the north

• In order to justify the correctness of the comparisons fur-
nished in this table, we shall mention the following heights :
Mont Mezin (Cevennes) 1027 toises 3 the Puj de Sancy,
vulgarly called the Puy de la Croix, summit of Mount Dores
in Auvergne, 072 t. ; the Reculet (Jura), according to the
last survey of M. Roger, officer of engineen, 880 1. ; Mount
Taddiandamalla in the Gates of Malabar, according to the
operations of Colonel Lambton, 887 t. -, the White Moun-
tains of New Hampshire, in the northern part of the Allcg-
hanies, rise to 1040 1. ; but towards the south, a few instances
in Virginia, the Peaks of Otter (Blue Ridge), are considered
as very lofty ; according to Morse, they are 486 1. -, accord-
ing to Tanner, 607. The mean height of the line ofeleva"
Hon of the Alleghanies is nearly 450 t., consequently at least
200 t. less than the mean height of the Jura. The table to
which this note refers, furnishes the comparisons only of the
loftiest summits, the maxima of their ridges, which we must
take care not to confound with their mean height

VOL. VI. 2 o

$46

of the Alps and Pyrenees, on the contrary, tire
most elcvuted secondary systems, the Carpa-
thian and the Scandinavian mount^ns* do not
attain 1300 toises of height. The depression
of the line of elevation of the second order is
consequently found in Europe as well as in
America, on the side where the principal ridge
is farthext removed from the shore. If we did
not fear to subject great phenomena to too
small a scale, we might compai-e the difference
of the height of the Alps and the mottntams of
eastern America, with the ditrercncc of height
ohserved between the Alps or the Pyrenees, and
the mountains Dores, Jura, the Vosges, or the
Schwarzwald.

We have just seen that the causes which
heaved up the oxidated crust of the globe in
ridges, or in groapes of mountains, have not
acted very powerfully in the vast extent of
country that stretches from the eastern part of
the Andes, towards the ancient ccmtinent ; that
depression and that continuity of plains are
geologic facts, so much the more remarkable;
as they extend no where else on more di&rent

* The Lomnitzer Spiz of the Carpathian, is, according to
M. Wablenberg, 1345 toises ; the Sneehaetta, in the chain
of Dovrefielci in Norway (the highest summit of the whole
ancient continent, on tiie north of the paroUel of &&°). it
1S70 toiMB above the level of the sea.

847

latitades. The five systems of mountains of
eastern America^ of which we have indicated
the limits, divide that part of the continent
into an eqnal number of basins^ of which only,
that of the Caribbean sea has remained sub-
merged. From north to south, from the polar
circle towards the strait of Magellan, we see in
succession :

•• Thb jUkBin OF THE Mississipi AND OP Canada.
An able geologist, Mr. lEdwin James, has
shewn recently * that this basin is compre-
hended between the Andes of New Mexico,
or the Upper Louisiana, and the chains of
the AUeghiwies which stretch towards the
north in crossing the rapids of Quebec. It
being quite as open towards the north as to-
wards the south, it may be designated by
the collective name of the basin of the Mis-
sissipi, the Missouri, the river Saint Lawrence,
the great lakes of Canada, the Mackenzie
river, the Saskatchawin, and the coast of
Hudson's Bay. The tributary streams of
the lakes and those of the Mississipi are not
separated by a chain of mountains running
from east to west, as traced on several maps ;
the line of partition of the waters is marked
by a slight ridge, a rising of the two counter-

• Long, E»pedUim, Vol. i. p. 7 ; Vol. ii, p. 380, 428.

2o2

548

slopes in the plain •. No chain exists be-
tween the Kources of the Missouri and the
Assiniboiii, which is abranch of the Red River
and of Hudson's Bay. The surface of these
plains, ahiiost all in sa\'annahs, between the
polar'^ea and the gulph of Mexico, is more
than 270,000 square marine leagues, nearly
equal to the area of all Europe. On the
north of the pai-allel of 42°, the general slope
of the land runs towai*ds the east; on the
south of the parallel, it inclines towards the
south. To fonu a precise idea how little
abrupt are these slopes -f, we must recollect
that the level of Lake Superior is 100 toises ;
that of Lake Eric, 88 t. : and that of Lake

549

^ r

Wards the i^est, between the Mounts Qsark.

anit the foot of the Andtii. of Upper Ix>a-
' iBlmoL (Bochif Mountains, lat 3S^--^38^, tW

iM^ii of the Mississipi is considerably raised

in the vast desart described by Mr. Nuttal.

It pieaente a series of small table-lands, sob- ^
' cteding each other by' degrees/aitid of which
'the most westerly (the nearest the Rocky •'

Monntiuns. between the Arkansas "and tfie

Pflidbiica)^ rises more than 450 toises. ', Major

Long' measured a base to determine the p6-

* , ■ • • ^^ . »

sition and the height of James Peak. In the

great basin of the Mississipi;, the line that

■ ■

separates the forests and the savannahs runs^
not, as may be supposed, in thef manner of a
parallel, but like the Atlantic coast, and the
Alleghany mountains themselves, from N.E.
to S.W*, from Pittsbourg towards Saint Louis,
and the Red River of Natchitotchcs, so th&t
the northern part only of the state of the Illi-
nois is covered with gramina *• This line .
of demarcation is not only interesting for

* Manascript Observations of Mr. Gallatin. Beyond,
lat ii^ on the west of the savannahs or fields of the Missouri,
'e again find forests at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Be-
veen this chain and that of the coast (the Maritime Alps of
^ew Albion), there are plains in which wood is scarce ; but
I passing the Maritime Alps, the forests recommence, and
le country as far as the mouth of the Rio Columbia, prc-
mta all the advantages of Tennesse and Kentucky.

550

ttie geography of plants, but exerts, as we
have said above, a great influence on the
feeble culture and population north-west of
the Lower Missiasipi. In the United States,
the savannah countries are more slowly co-
lo7iized; and even the tribes of independent
Indians, are forced by the ligour of the cli-
mate to pass the winter along the rivers,
where poplars and willows are found. The
basinsoftbeMississipi, of the lakes of Canada
and the Sai nt Lawrence, are the largest of Ame-
rica ; and although the total population does
not rise at present beyond three millions *,
It may be considered as that in which, be-
tween the 29° and 45° of latitude, O^Dg- 74"
— 94°), civilization has made the greatest
progress. It may even be stud that in the
other basins (o{ the Oroonoko, the Amazon,
and Buenos Ayres), agricultural life scarcely
exists ; it begins on a small number of points
only, to replace pastoral life, and tbatof fisfa-
iDg and hunting nations. The plains be-
tween the AUeghanies and the Andes of
Upper Louisiana are of so vast an extent,
that similar to the Pampas -f- of Choco and

* Vol. Ti, p. 142.

t The Palm-trees extend towards the south, in the Btrnpu

of Bueooa Ayres, aiul in the Cisplatinc province, to 34« anJ

3A*. (/lugutte it Saint Hilain, Jperm d'lm f^oyagt u

Bruit, p. 60.)

551

■

Buenos Ayres, Bambousadees {Ludolfia,
Miega) and Palm-trees grow at one of their
extremities, while the other during a great
part of the year is covered with ice and
snow.

0. The basin of the gulph of Mexico, and
OF THE Caribbean Sea. This is^ a continua-
tion of the basin of the Mississipi, Louisiana,
and Hudson's Bay. It may be asserted, that
all the low lands on the coast of Venezuela
which are preserved on the north of the
chain of the shore, and of the SietTa Nevada
de Merida, belong to the submerged part of
this basin. If I treat here separately con-
cerning the basin of the Caribbean Sea, it is
to avoid confounding what, in the present
state of the globe, is above and below the
surface of the watei-s. I have already shewn
in another place, how ^uch the recent coin-
cidence of the epochs of earthquakes observed
at Caraccas, and on the banks of the Mis-
sissipi, the Arkansas and the Ohio *, justi-
fies the geologic views which regard as one
basin the plains bounded on the south, by
the Cordillera of the shore of Venezuela ; on
the east, by the Alleghanies and the series of
the volcanoes of the West Indies ; and on the
west, by the Rocky Mountains (Mexican

• Vol. iv^ p. 0.

552

Andes) and by the series of the volcanoes of
Giiatimala. The basin of the West Indies
forms, as we have already observed, a Medi-
ten'oneait with several issues, the influence of
which on the political destinies of the New
Continent depends at the same time on its
central position and the great fertility of its
islands. The issues of the basin, of which
the four largest* are 75 miles broad, are all
on the eastern side, open towards Europe,
and agitated by the current of the tropics.
In the same manner as we recognize in oar
Mediterranean, the vestiges of three ancient
basins by the proximity of Rhodes, Scarpento,
Candia, and Cerigo, as well as by that of
Cape SorcUo of Sicily, the island of Pantela-
ria and Cape Bon of Africa ; in the same
manner the basin of the West Indies, which
surpasses the Mediterranean in extent, seems
to present the remains of ancient dykes that
join+ Cape Catoche of YucutaD, to Cape

* Between Tabago and Grenada ; the isle Saint Martin
and the Virgin Isles, Porto .Rico and Saint Domingo, and
between the Small Bank of Bahama and Cope Caaaveral of
Florida.

t I do not pretend that thia hypothesis of the rapture and
the ancient continultjr of lands can be extended to the eastern
foot of the basin of the West Indies, that is, (o the series of
volcanic islands in a line from Trinidad to Fortorico. Sk
the information I gave. Vol. iv, p. 36, &e.

553

Saint Antoine of the island of Cuba ; and that
island Cape Tlburon of Saint Domingo^ Ja-
maica, the Bank of La Vibora^ and the rock
of Serranilla to Cape Gracias a Dios on the
coast of the Mosquitos. From this disposition
of the most prominent islands and capes of
the continent, there results a division into
three partial basins. The most northerly
has long been marked by a particular deno-
mination, that of the Gulph of Mexico; the
intermediary or central basin may be called
the Sea of Honduras J on account of the gulph
of that name which makes a part of it ; and
the southern basin, comprehended between
the Caribbean islands and the coast .of Vene-
zuela, the isthmus of Panama, and the coun-
try of the Mosquitos Indians, would form the
Caribbean Sea * . The modem volcanic rocks
distributed on the two opposite banks of the
basin of the West Indies on the east and
west, but not on the north and south, is also
a phenomenon well worthy of attention. In
the Caribbean islands, a groupe of volcanoes,
partly extinguished and partly burning,

* This denomination is so much the more exact when ap-
propriated to the southern part of the basin ,of the West
Indies, that the people of Carib race were disseminated on
the neighbouring continent and in the Archipelago, from
the Caribana of Darien as far as the Virgins. See above>
Vol. vi, p. 22 and 329.

554

stretches from VT to 18°; and in the Cordil-
leras of GuEitimala and Mexico from 9° to
l9i° of latitude. I saw at Che north-west ex-
ti'emity of the basin of the West Indies
the secondary formations dip towards the
south-east; along the coast of Venezuela,
rocks of gneiss and primitive mica-slate
dip towards the north-west. The basalts,
amygdaloides, and trachytes, which are
often surmounted by tertiary lime-stones,
appearonly towards the eastern and western
banks.

u. The Basin of the Lower Oroonoko, or
THE Plains op Venezuela. This bas'm, like
the pl^ns of Lombardy, is open to the
east. Its limits are the chain of the shore of
Venezoela on the n6rth; the eastern Cordil-
lera of New .Grenada on the west ; and the
Sierra Parime on the south ; but as the latter
groupe extends on the west, only to the me-
ridian of the cataracts of Maypures (long.
70° 37'), there remains an opening or land-
strait, running from north to south, by
which the Llanos of Venezuela communicate
with the basin of the Amazon and the Rio
Negro. We distinguish between the basin of
the Lower Oroonoko properly so called (on the
north of that river and the Rio Apure), and
the plains o/Meta and (ruaviare. The latter

565

fill the space between the mountmns of Pa-
rime and New Grenada. The two parts of
this basin have an opposite direction ; bat
being alike covered with gramina, they are
usually comprehended in the country 'un*
dei: the same denomination. Those Llanos
(steppes, savannaks, or prahies) extend in the
form pf an arch from the mouth of the Oroo-
noko, by San Fernando de Apure, to the con-
fluence of the Rio Caguan with tho Jupura,
consequently on a length of more than 360
leagues.

1.) Part Gf the basin of Venezuela rtamk^
from east to west. The general slope is to-
wards the east, and the mean height from 40 to
50 toises. The western bank of that great sea
of verdure (thar de jferhas) is formed by a groupe '
of mountains, several of which equal or sur-
pass in height the Peak of Teneriffe and
Mont Blanc. Of this number are the Para-
mos del Almorzadero, Cacota, Laura, Por-
quera, Mucuchies^ Timotes, and Las Rosas.
The northern and southern banks are gene-
rally less than 500 or 600 toises high. I
have given elsewhere an ample description of
the soil of the Llanos (Vol. iii, p. 285, 349;
Vol. iv, p. 293, 300, 313, 317, 330, 394; Vol.
v, p. 670 ; Vol. vi, p. 4, 17, 43, 73.) It is re-
marked with some surprise, that the maximum

of tlic (lepressiun of tlic basin is not in ft<
tentei-, but on its southern limit, at the Si-
erra Puriino, filong wliich runs the thala-eg of
tlic Oroonolto. It is only betivecn the incri--»
di:in5 of Cape Codera anil Cuniana, where a'
great pai-t of the Cordillera of the shore of
Venezuela iiaa been destroyed, that the
waters of the Llanos (the Rio Unare and the
Rio Ncvcri) reach the northern coast. The
ridge of partition of this basin is formed by
Small table-lands, known by the names of
Mesas d'Aniana. Guanipa, and Jonoro. (Vol.
iv, p. 30; Vol. vi, p. 48.) In the eastern
part, between the meridians 63° and GB", the
plains or savannalis pass, towards the south,
beyond the bed of the Oroonoko and the
Imataca, and form (in approaching the Co-
juni and the Essequibo,) a kind of gulph
along the Sierra Pacaraina (Vol. v, p. 760;
Vol. vi, p. 504).

2.) Part of the basin of Veneztiela run'
ning Jrom south to north. The great
breadth of this zone of savannahs, of from 100
to 120 leagues, renders the denomination of
land-strait somewhat improper, at least if
it be not geognostically applied to every
communication of basins bounded by high
Cordilleras. Perhaps this denomination ra-
ther belongs to that part where the' groupe

S5f

of almost unknown mountains is placed, that
surround the sources Of the Rio Negro. (Vol.
vi, p. 512). In the basin comprehended be-
tween the eastern declivity of the Andes of
New Grenada, and the western part of the
Sierra Pari me, the savannahs, as we have
observed above, stretch far beyond the equa-
tor, but their extent does not determine the
southern limits of the basin we here examine.
The latter are fixed by a ridge that divides
the waters betwe^i the Oroonoko and the Rio
Negro, a tributary stream of the Amazon.
The rising of .a counterslope almost imper-
ceptible to the eye, forms a ridge that seems
to join the. eastern Cordillera of the Andes to
the groupe of Parime*. This ridge runs
from Ceja (lat. 1® 46'), or the eastern slope of
the Andes of Timana 'f', between the sources
of the Guayavero and the ilio . Caguan Xy
towards the isthmus that separates the Tua-
mjni from Pimichin ^. In the Llanos y con-
sequently, it follows the parallels of 20° 3ff
and 2P Ab\ It is remarkable, that we find
the divorlicL aquarum more to the west, on

• Vol. vi, p. 3»7.

+ See my Map of Magdalena (Geogr, Atlas, pi. xxiv).

!|: Xhc former is a tributary stream of the Guaviare, the
latter of Yupura.

§ Isthmus of Javita, or portage of Pimichin (Vol. v^ p.
259, 260, 279, Geogr, Atlas, pi. xvi).

558

,^5!^S!

the back of the Andes, in the knot ofnumn-
tains containing the sources of the Magda-
lena, at a height of 900 toises abow the level
of the Llanos, bctn-cen the Caribbean Sea and
the Pacific Ocean •, almost in the same lati-
tude (1" 45'— 2° 20'). From the isthmus of .Ja-
vita towards the east, the line of the partition
of the water ia formed by the mountains of
the groupe of Parime ; it first rises a little on
the north-east towards the sources of the
Oroonoko (lat. 3° 45' f) and the chain of Pa^
caraina-f- (lat. 4° 4' — 4'' 12"); aftenrards,
daring a course of 80 leagues, between the
portage of the Anocapra;} and the banks of
the Rupunuri, runs very regularly from west
to east; and finally, beyond the meridian 61°
50*, again deviates towards lower latitudes,
passing between the northera sources of the
Rio Suriname, the Maroni, and the Oyapok,
and the southern sources of lUo Trombetas,
Curupatuba,andParu(Iat.2°— PSC). These
indications suffice to prove that %\x\& first Une
of partition of the water of South America
(that of the northern hemisphere) . traverses
the whole continent between the parallels of
2* and 4*. The Cassiquiare only has cut its

• Vol. V, p. aas, 326 i Vol, vi, p. 489.

+ Vol.Ti, p. 520.

% Road from Rio Borneo to RiaCarony.

559

way across the ridge we have just described.
Thq hydraulic system of the Oroonoko dis-
plays the singular phenomenon of a bifurca-
tion where the limit of two basins (of the
Oroonoko and the Rio Negro) traverses the
bed of the principal recipient. In that part
of the basin of the Oroonoko which lies
from south to norths as well as in that lying
from west to east^ the maxima of the depres-
sion are found at the foot of the Sierra Fa-
rime, we n\ay even say on its outline.

3. The Basin op thb Rio Nbgro and thb Ama-

•

zoN. This is the central and Largest basin of
South America. It is exposed to frequent
equatorial rains^ and the hot and humid cli-
mate developes a force of vegetation to
which nothing in the two continents can be
compared. The central basin, bounded on
the north by the groupe of Parime, and on
the south by the mountain^ of Brazil, is al-
most entirely covered by thick forests, while
the two basins placed at the two extremities
of the continent (the Llanos of Venezuela
and the Lower Oroonoko, and the Pampas
of Buenos Ayres or the Rio de la Plata) are
savannahs or prairies, plains destitute of
trees and covered with gramina. This sy-
metric distribution of savannahs bounded by
impenetrable forests, must be connected with

physical revolutions which have acted* at
oDcc on great surfaces.

1.) Part a/ the bastn of the Amazon, run-
ning from west to east, between 2° north and
12" south, is 880 leagues in length. The
western shore of this basin is formed by the
chain of tlie Andes, from the knot of the
mountains of Huanuco to that of the sources
of the Magdalena. It is enlarged by the coun-
terforts of the Rio Beni +, rich in *gera-salt,
and composed of several ranges of liilis (Ia(,
8*> 11' south) that advance in the plains on
the eastern bank of the Paro. These hills are
transformed on our maps into Upper Cordil-
leraa and Andes of Cuchao ;{;. Towards the

• Vol. iv, 336 i Vol. \i, p. 01, &c. Martuu, Pigt. rfer
P/lamen con Btom., p. 13.

tVol.Ti, p. 442. Thercainome of thi» great river, respect-
ing the coarse of which geographers have been so long divided,
is Uchaparu, probably uafer (para) of Ucha ; Beni also sig-
niGea rioer, mtter; for the language of the Maypares hu
nialtiplied analogies with that of the Moxos (Vol. r, p.
148) } and veni {oueni) signifies water in Maypurc, as una
in Moxo. Perhaps the livcr retained the name of May*
pure, when the Indians wlio spoke that language had emi-
grated to the north, towards the banks of the Oroonoko.

X The Andes of Cuchao, placed in Arrowsmith's map at
lOJo-iSn Qorth of the fabulous lake of Itogagualo, are no-
thing more than the mountains of Cuchao, placed by Lb
Cruz, lat. 13", south-west of that lake. This gct^niphcr by

661

north, the basin of the Amaoon, of which the
area (244,000 eqoare leagoea) is only a mth
less than the area of all Earope^ rises in a
gentle slc^ towards the l^erra Ptoime. At
66^ of west Imigitude the elevated part of
this Sierra terminates at 3i^ of north lati-
tude. The gronpe of monticules ^at sur-
round the souree of the Rio Negro, the Ini-
rida and the Xie (lat. 2^) the scattered rocks
between the Atah^io and tiie Cassiquiare^
appear Hke groupes of fshiods aad rodks in
the middle of the fdain. A part of those
rocks is covered wkh signs or symbolical
sculpture.. Nations, very diffisrent from ttose
who now mhabit the banlcs of the Ctesi-
quiare, penetrated into the savannahs ; and
the zone of painted rookey extending more
than 150 leagues in breadth, {nreslents traces
of ancient civilization. On the east of the
sporadic groupes of rocks (between the me-
ridian of the bifurcation of the Oroonoko
and that of the confluence of the Essequibo
with the Rupunuri), the lofty mountains of
Pktrime commence only at 9^ of latitude;

ft atruige error, has covered plains with moimtains of which
they are entirely deslitiite. He forgpt that in the oolopies,
moute si^ifies almost exdusiTely a forest, and he has traced
chains of mountains wherever he has written monies de cacao,
as if the cacao-tree did not belong to the hottest region of
the plains.

VOL. VI. 2 P

562

where the plains of the Amazon termiiiaie.
The vast gulph which they seem to form id
the upper part of the basin of the Rio Bnmco,
jind the windings of the southern slope of the
Sierra Parime, have been discussed above *.
The limits of the plains of the Amazon are
still more unknown towards the south than
towards the north. The mountains that ex-
ceed 400 toises do not appear to extend in
Brazil on the north of the parallel of 14^ to
15" of south latitude, and west of the merU
dian of 52'^ ; but it is not known how far the
tnountainous country is prolonged, if we may
call by that name a territory bristled with
hills of one hundred or two hundred toises
high. Between the Rio das Vertentea and the
Rio de Tres Barras (tributary streams of the
Araguay and the Topayos), several ridges of
the Mounts Parecis run towards the north.
On the right bank of the Topayos, a aeries of
monticules advance (according to manuscript
maps recently framed at the hydrograpfaic
Depot of Rio Janeiro) as far as the parallel of
5° south latitude, to the fall (cachoeh-a) of
Maracana; while further west, in the Rio
Madeira, of which the course is nearly pa-
rallel with that of the Topayos, the rapids
and cataracts, (of which seventeen are rec-

koned between Guayramerim * and the fiai^
mous Salto of Tbeotonio^) indicate no rocky
ridges beyond the parallel of 8^. Theprin*
cipal depression of the basin of which we
have jost examined the outline, is not found
near one of its banks, as in the basin of the
Lower Oroonoko, but at the center, where
the great recipient of the Amazon forms a
longitudinal fiirrow inclined from west to
east, under an angle of at least 25 secionds X»
The barometric measures which I made at
Javita on the banks of the Tuamlni, at Vadva
on the banks of the Cassiquiare, and at the
cataract of Rentema, in the Upper Marag-
non, seem to prove that the rising of the
plains of the Amazon towards the north (at
the foot of the Sierra Parime), is 150 toises,
and, towards the west (at the foot of the Cor-
dillera of the Andes of Loxa), is 190 toises,
above the level of the Ocean ^. It is to be
hoped, that when steam-boats go up the
Amazon from Grand Para as far as Pongo

* Above the conflnenee of the Madeira and Mamor^> which
ft Brazilian journal^ justly esteemed (Pairiota, 1813, p. 288)^
places in lO"" 22^ 30* of latitude, while it marks the con-^
flueDce of the Madeira with the Guapor^, at iV 64f 48*-

f Above the confluence of the Madeira and the Jamary.

I See above, Vol. vi, p. 396, note.

§ Vol. Y, p. 251, 347, 650, 551, and Rec. d'Obs. Astr.
(Tol. i. p. 315.

2p2'

664

de Manseriche, in the province of Mayitas,
the barometric measurement of the coarse, of
this river, which is the thalweg of a plain
fifteen times the extent of the whole of
France, will not be neglectefl.

2.) Pari of the hasin of the Amazon slrttch-
ing from atmtk in north. This is the zone or
land strait by which, between 12° and 20° nf
south latitude, the plains of the Amazon
communicate with the Pampas of Bnenos
Ayrcs. The western bank of this zone is
formed by the Andes, between the knot of
PoFCO end Potosi, and that of Hutamco and
Pasco. Partofthe«Mm(er^/^*sg^rteRtoBeni,
which is but a ^dening of the Cordilleras of
Apolobamba and Cuzco*, and the whole
promontory of Cochabamba'^, advance tow-
ards the east tn the plnns of the Amazon.
The prolongation of this promontory has
given rise to the idea that the Andes are
linked with a series of hills which the Serras
dos Parecis J, the Serra Melgueira, and the
pretended Cordillera of San Fernando, throv
out towards the west. TTie almost unknown
part of the frontiers of Brazil and Upper

• Vol. vi, p. 432.
t Vol. vi, p. 41».
t Vol. Ti, p. 038.

Beru merit the attention <tf traveliera* It
appears from the most recent notions we can
collect, that the ancient nussion <tf San Jose
of ChiquitDS (nearly lat. V; long. O?"" 10",
supposing Santa Cruz de la Sierrai lat. 17^
25' ; long, m^ AT), is situated in the plains,
and that the mountains of die counterfort of
Cochabamba terminate between the Guapaix
(Rio deMazque) and the Phrapiti, wUchlower
down takes the names of Rio San Miguel and
Rio Sara. The savannahs oi the province of
Chiquitos communicate on the north With
those of MoxoSj and on the south with
those of Chaco*; but^ as we have observed
above, a ridge or line of partition of the
water is formed, by the intersection of two
plains slightly sloped, which takes its orij^n
on the north of LaPlata(Chuqui8aca) between
the sources oi the GuapaixandtheCachimayo,
(a tributary stream of the Pikomayo), and as-
cends from the parallel of 20^ to that of ISi^
of south latitude, consequently on the north-
east, towards the isthmus of Villabella -f*.
From this point, one of the most important of
the whole hydrography of America, we can
follow the line of the partition of the water to

* Cdrta de las Missiones de los Moxot de la CompaSia de
fetus de el Per^, 1709.

f Between the tributary stream of the Paraguay and the
ladeira^ Vol. vi, p. 685.

' the Cordillera of the shore (Serra do Mar).
It is seen winding (lat. 17°-'20°) between the
northern sourcesof IheAraguay.theMaraohao
or Tocantines, and the Rio San Francisco, and
theaouthemsources of the Parana. Thissecond
line of partition, which enters into the gi-oupe

* of the mountains of Brazil, on the frontier of

* the Capitainerie of Goyaz, separates the
flowings of the basin of the Amazon firom

' those of the Rio de la Plata, and corresponds,

I' south of the equator, with the Une we have

indicated in the northern hemisphere (lat.

2^-4°), on the limits of the basins of the Ama-

' zon and the Lower Oroonoko *.

If the plains of the Amazon (taking that
denomination In the geognostic sense we
have given it) are distinguished in general
from the Llanos of Venezuela and the Pam-
pas of Buenos Ayres, by the extent and
thickness of their forests, we are so much the
more struck by the continuity of the savan-
nahs in that part running from south to north.
' It would seem as if this sea of verdure
stretched forth an arm from the basm of
Buenoe Ayres, by the Llanos of Tucuman,
Manso, Cbuco, the Chiquilos, and the Moxos,
to the Pampas del Sacramento •(-, and the

• Vol. vi, p. 577.

t This Pampasj which SobrevjeU first made kaown, besrs

«67

savannahs of Napo^ Guayiare, Metai, and
Apiire *. His arm crosses^ between 7^ and
3P of south latitude^ the basin of the forests
of the Amazon, and the absence of trees on
so great an extent of territory (the prepon-
derance which the small monocotyledon
plants have acquired) is a phenomenon of the
geography of plants which belongs perhaps to
the action of ancient pelagic currents, or
other partial revolutions of our planet

€. Plains of thb Rio db ul Plata, and of Pata-
gonia, from the south-west slope of the groupe
of the mountains of Brazil, to the strait of
Magellan, from 20^ to SS"" of latitude, lliese
plains correspond with those of the Missis-
sipi and of Canada in the northern hemi-
sphere. If one of their extrcimities draws less
nigh the polar regions, the other eAters so
much further into the region of palm trees.

' cilsd the name of Pajonal (plain which prodacea straw), be-
tween the Rio Paro, a tributary stream of the Ucayali and

' the banks of the Huallaga.

* I have named the plains covered with gramina^ In the

' order in which they succeed each other from south to north,
lirom the 30^ of south, to the 9^ of north-latitude. The sa-

' vannahs between the Rio Vermejo and the Pilcomayo,
{south lat. 22o-25p) are called LUtno8 de Manso, after the
name of a Spaniard who made the first essays of cultivation

• in those desert countries. {Brackenridge, Vol. 2, p. 17).

That pavt of this vast baam cxtentling from the
eastern coast towards the Rio Paraguay, (that
is the Capitania of Rio Grande, west of tbu
island Saint Catherine, theCisplatine province
of Pai-aguay properly so called, between the
Parana and the Rio Paraguay) does not present
a surface so perfectly smooth as the part h-
tuated on the West and south-east of the Rio
de la Plata, and which has been known for
ages by the name of Pwnpas, derived from
the Peruvian or Quichua language*. Geog-
nostically speaking, these two regions of east
and west form only one basin, bounded on
the east by the Sierra de Villarica or do Es-
plnhazo, which loses itself in the Capitama
of Sunt Paul, towards the panUkl of 34° ;
issuing on the north-eaSt by the monticules^,

" Hatm Pampa signifies in that language, a great pbin.
We find the word PaSKpa aUo in Riobamha and QuaOahoM-
ha i the Spaniards, in order to soften the geogiaphical names,
change the p into h.

t On the sooth of the VilU of tuyaba, or rather on the
south of the RioHbotetey (Emboteteu or Mond^;o)t a raooa-
tainous coantrr stretches towards the south, known by the
pompous names of Cordiiitnu of Amambaj, of Sao Jose, and
of Maraca|ou. Accordii^to the fioe manuscript loap <rf die
ancient viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata (by Doo Miguel de
Ifostairia, 1804), of which 1 owe the commnnicatioa to the
kindness of M. Malte-Bnin, the whole uorthem part of IV
raguay, between the mission of Curuguati (lat. 24|o) and
the rivers Mbotetey and Monice (Yaguari) is full of hiUi-

from the Serra da Canastra and the Campos
Parecis towards the province of Parag^y )
on the west, by. the Andes of Upper Fteru
and ChUi ; and on the north-west^, by the
ridge of the partitiaii of the waters which
runs from the connter-fort of Santa Graz de
la Sierra^ across the plains of the Ghiquitos,
towards the Serras of Albnqnerqne Oat. 19°
20") and San Fernando* That part only of this
basin lying on the west of the Rio Paragnay,
and which is entirely covered with gramina
(thick forests extend towards Parana, and
the sources of the Uniguay)^ is 70^000 squai'e
leagues* This snrfooe of the Pampas or
Llanos of Manse, Tucuman, Buenos Ajrres,
and eastern Patagonia, exceeds consequently
four times the surfece of the whole of France.
The Andes of Chili narrow the Pampas by
the two counterforts of Salta and Cordova *:
the latter promontory, of which we know
with precision the extent by the astronomical

Geographers also figure a chain of moantains between
28^ and 34 Jo of latitude, in the province of the Missions and
the Cisplatine) province of Brazilt a chain supposed to se-
parate the waters of the Uraguay from those of the eastern
coast ; but these Cordilleras are probably not 200 toises high.
In comparing the maps of d'Anville, Varela, Dobrizhoffer,
and Azara, we perceive that with the progress of geography
the mountains of those countries gradually disappear.
* Vol. vi, p. 418.

570

'• observations of M.M. Espinosa and Ban-
- za *j forms so projecting a point, that
there remains (lat. 31°-32°) a plain only 45
leagues broad between the eastern extrcmily
of the Sierra de Cordova and the right bank
of the river Paraguay, stretching in the di-
rection of a meridian, from the town of Nu-
eva Coimbra to Rosario, below Santa Fe.
Far beyond the southern frontiers of the an-
■ cient viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, between

■^' the Rio Colorado and the Rio Negro (lat. 4
38°-39°) groupes of mountains seem to rise in
the form of islands, in the middle of a muri-
atiferous plain. A tribe of Indians of the
south •(• (Tehuellet), have there long borne

* The ofGcars of the Sponisli roarine quitted ihe expedi-
tion of Malaapiaa at Lima to rejoin it at Buenos Ayre9.
Tliey determiaed the latitude and longitude of Mendoza
(lat. 32° 52' i long. 11' SS*) and S. Luis de la Panto (lat.
33o IS' ; long. G8» 40- Meotwia* de lot NavegaMu, Vol. i.
Appendix, p. 181). We find the town of CoidoTa, accoiding
to those positions, to be lat. 31<>22'; long. 66*lT'i ad-
mitting with M. Bauza, according to the Map of the toutk-
em Ocean comprehaiiled betaeen Caye Horn and the Copt of
Good Hope, (Madrid, 1604,) the town of Cordova to be 1°
47' the east of San Luis de la Punta, La Cruz, and Airow-
smith supposed this distance to be 9* SO* and 3" 4'. M.
Baiiza, who has visited that country, admits the difference oC
longitude of Cordova and Santa Fe to be 3*, while Anow-
smith makes 2° 36'. Observations are wanting between
Tucuman, Asuncion, and Santa Fe.

i Het, man ; lehuel, noon.

571

the characteristic name oi^ men of the numn^
tains {CalUleket) or Serranbs. Trom the pa-
rallel of the mouth <tf the Rio Negro to
that of Cabo Blanco (lat. 41''— 47^), scaU
tered mountains on the eastern Patagonia
coast denote more cdnsiderable inequalities
in the inlands. All that part however of the
strait of Magellan^ from the Cape of Virgins
to the North Cape^ on a breadth of more than
30 leagues^ is surrounded by savannahs or
Pampas^ and the Andes of western Patagonia
only beg^n to rise near the latter cape^ exert-
ing a marked influence on the direction of
that part of the strait nearest the South Sea,
and going from S. E. to N. W.

If we have given the plains or great basins of
South America, the names of the rivers that
flow in their longitudinal furrows, we have
not meant by so doing to compare them to
simple vallies. In the plains of the Lower
Oroonoko and the Amazon^ all the lines of the
declivity reach no doubt a principal recipient,
and the tributaries of tributary streams, that is
the basins of different orders^ penetrate far into
the groupe of the mountains. The upper part
or high vallies of the tributary streams are con-
sidered in a geological tahle^ as belonging to
the itiountainous region of the country, and
placed beyond the plains of the Lower Oroo-

579

noko and the Amazon. Tbe views of the geo-
logist are not identical with those of hydrogra-
phy. In the basin which we have called that
of the Rio de la Plata and Patagonia, the waters
that follow the lines of the greatest declivities
have many issues. The same basin cmtains
several vallies of rivers ; aiid when we examine
nearly the polyedric snr&ce of the Pamfot and
ttie portion of their waters which, l^e the
waters of the steppes of Asia *, do not ga to
the sea, we conceive that these plains are di-
vided by small ridges or Unes of e2eMUtoii,and
have alteniating slopes -f-, inclined, witli respect
to the horizon, in opposite directirau. la ntler

57S

speakings according to one great division of the
surface of South America in those haiAins^ we
have called the basin of the Rio Negro and the
Amazon. Tbe law reg^ons^ trhich are bounded
by the southern and northern declivities of the
mountains of Pfetrime and Brazil, and which
the geologist ought to mark by one name, con-
tain, according to the no less precise language
of hydrography, two basins of rivers, those of
the Upper Oroonoko and the Amazon, sepa-
rated by a ridge (indication of alternating slopes),
that runs from Javita towards Esmeralda. From
these considerations it results, that 9Lgeolagioal
basin (nt venia verbo) may have several reci-
pients, several emissaries, divided by small
ridges almost imperceptible^ and may contain
at the same time the waters that go to the sea
by different furrows iodependeiit of eacli other,
and the systems of inland rivers flowing into
lakes more or less charged with saline matter.
A basin of a river, or hydrographic basin, has
but one recipient, one emissary ; if, by a bifur-
cation, it gives a part of its waters to another
hydrographic basin, it is because the bed of the
river, or the principal recipient, draws so near
the banks of the basin or the ridge of partition
that the ridge crosses it in part.

The distribution of the inequalities of t^e sur-
face of the globe does not display any limits
strongly marked between the mountainous coun-

«!4

try and the low regions, or geologic ba^M,'*'
Evt^nwhei'ctlie real chains of mount^ns rise Hke
rocky dykes issuing from a crevice, counter-
forts that are more or less considerable, seem
to indicate their lateral heaving-up. While I
recognize the difficulty of well circumscrihiDg
the groupes of mountains and the basins or
continued plains, I have attempted to calcu-
late their surfaces according to the statements
coiitained in the preceding sheets.

SOUTH AMERICA.

I. Hqontainous wa.x :

HiuJH L«gun.

Andes 68,900

Chain of the shore of Venezuela 1,900

Sierra Nevada lie Merida 200

GrDUpeofParime 25,800

System of the monntainB of Brazil 37,600

114,400

II. Plains :

LlanoB of Lower Oroonoko, Meta and

Guaviare 20,000

Flainsof the Amaeon 260,400

Pampas of Rio dele Plata, and Patagonia 136,200

Plains between the eaEtem chain of the
Andes of Cundinamarca and the chain
of Choco 12,300

Plains of the shore, on the west of the

Andes 20,000

466,900

d7&

The whole surfiu^e of South America id
571^300 square leagues (20 to a degree)^ and
the relation of the mountainous country to the
region of the plains is as 1 : 3^9. The latter
region, on the east of the Andes, is more than
424,600 square leagues, the half of which con-
sists of savannahs, that is^ it is covered with
gramina.

Section II.

General partition of lands.'^Direction and in-
clination of the layers. — Relative height of the
formations above the level of the Ocean.

We have examined in the preceding section,
the inequalities of the surface of the soil, that
is, the general structure of the mountains, and
the form of the basins left between those moun-
tains variously grouped together. These moun-
tains are sometimes langiiudinal, by narrow
bands or chains, similar to the veins that pre-
serve their tendency at great distances (Andes,
mountains of the shore of Venezuela, Serra do
Mar of Brazil, Alleghanies of the United States);
sometimes they are in masses with irregular
forms, in which the heavings-up seem to talce
place as on a labyrinth of crevices or a heap of
veins (Sierra Parime, Serra das Vertentes).
These modes of formations are linked with an

576

hypothesis of geognosy *, which has at least the
.tdvantage of being founded on facts obaervtid
on historic lines, and which strongly charac-
terize the chains and groupes of niountaius.
Considerations on the aspect of a country arc
independent of those which indicate the nature
of the soil, the hcterogenity of matter, the
superposition of the rocks, and the direction
and inclination of the bedS; the latter will be
stated in the second and third sections of this
memoir. With respect to the relief and the
connection of the iDequ&lities of the soil, the
half of the lunar globe ie now, perhaps, better
known than the half of the terrestrial globe,
and the geology o/Jbrmations, for ever inacces-
sible to physical astronomy, if not devoted to
dangerous errors, advances with extreme slow-
ness, even in the countries of Europe nearest to
each other.

In taking a general view of the geol(^cal
constitution of a chain of mountains, we may
distinguish five elements of Erection too oftn
confounded in works of geognosy and physicd
geography. These elements are : —

* See the new utd importaal observaliou on tbe origia
of the chains of monntaiiis, io a work well fitted to fix tbe
attention of geognoets : Resultatn der neueilen geogn. Fon-
ciungtn des Herre Leopold eon Buch, ziuammonges telle wiW
uberiezl von K. C. von Lemkard, p. 307, 382, 438, 470,
476, 606.

677

a.) The Longitadinal axis of the whkAe chain.
fi.) The line that divides the Meters (dwartia
aquarum).

7.) The line of ridges or elevation passing

along the maxima of height.
i.) The line that separates into horizontal

sections, two contignbus formations.
€.) The line that follows the rents of stra-
tification.
This distinction is so much the morenecessary,
as there exists probably no chain <m the globe
that fhmishes a perfect paraUelifon of all these
directing lines. In the Pyrenees,' for instance,
m, fi, y do not coincide, but i and « (that is, the
different bands of formations which come to
light successively,' and the direction of the
strata) are sensibly parallel to «, or to the di-
rection of the whole chain *. We find so often
in the most distant parts of the globe, a perfect
parallelism between • and «, that it may be sup*
posed that the causes which determine the di-
rection of the axis (the angle under which that
axis cuts the meridians), are generally linked
with causes that determine the direction and

* The direction of the longitudinal axis » in the Pyre-
nees, and that of the formations 3> whfch appear successively
at the surface of the soil, as in long bands^ are N. 08° 73"*
W. Now, as the line of the maxima of height y, is not pa-
rallel with the asus », it results from the fine observations of
MM. Palassou^ Ramond and Charpentier^ that it must ne-
cessarily pass by very different formations.

VOL. VI. 2 Q

iin-

itttJ

578

incHnation of the strata. This direction of
the stmta is independent of that of the hands
of formations, or their visible limits at thewir-
face of the soil; the lines i and « sometimes
cross each other, even when one of them coin-
cides with >, or with the direction of the longil
dinal axis of the whole chain, Tlie relief o{
country cannot he explained with precision on
a map, nor can the most erroneous opioions
on the place and superposition of soils be
avoided, if we do not seize with clearnesB the
relations of the ^ectmg UtKi which we have
jnst mentioned.

In that pftrt of South America which makes
the principal object of this memoir, imd which
i& boimddd by the river Amazon on the sooth,
and en the vest hy the meridian of the snowy
monntains (Sierra Nevada) of Merida, the dif-
ferent bands or zones of formations t, are senai-
My paratle) with the longitudinal axis « of the
chains of mountains, basins, or itttcrposed
pkuns. It may he said in general that thegnr-
nitic tone, (uniting under that demxainBtieB
the rocks of granite, gneiss, and mica^late)
follows the direction of the Cordillera of tbe
shore of Venezuela, and belongs exclusively to
that Cordillera and the groupe of the moan-
tains of Parirae ; since it no where pierces the
secondary and tertiary soils in the Llanos or
basin of the Lower Onxmoko. It thence re.

679

raltS) that the same formations do not ocHUti*
tute the r^^on of plaiiiB and of moaniaina.

If we may be permitted to judge of the ttme-
ture of the whole Sierra Artme, from the ooa^
siderable part which I have examined in 8^ of
longitude^ and 4^ of latitude^ we may believe it
to be entirely composed of gneiss-granite; I
saw some beds of green-^tone^ and ampiabdlio
slate^ but neither miea-skte, clay^date, nor
banks of greeii lime-ston*^ although many phe-
nomena vender th» presenoeof tiiefomerof those
rocks probable^ on the east of the Mayfmiesand
IntheehainofPacaruna. The geological forma-
tion of tibe groope ofBanme, is^consequcntlystill
more simple than that of tbeBraoiliangrovpe^ in
which granites^ gooiss^ and imca-slate^ areocfver-
Mlwith thonscbiefer^ ohloritousqtiarti;(Itacelu^

'inite)^grauwakkeiandtran8itiottUme8tone'iH but
those two groupes have in commonyUS we have
already mentionedy the absence of a real i^s-
tem of secondary rocks ; we find in both some
fitegments only of sand^ttone or silicious eon-
gplomerale. In theOordilkra of ^t& shore of
Venezuela ^^ the granitic formations ptedomi-
nate ; but they are wanting towards the east,
and especially in the southern chain, where we

* See my Esaay on the position of rockt, p. a6> asd
fschwege, Oeogn. Oemilde, ^. 7> 17, 24.

t On its liniils and divisions, <ee Vol. vi, pp. 48(!l^^505,

2q2

580

observe (iu the missions of Caripe and around
the giilpli of Cariaco) a great accumulation of
secondaiy and tertiary calcareous rocks. From ^
the point wliere the Cordillera of the shore k
linked with the Andes of New Grenada (long.
7U°), we observe first the granitic mountains
of Area and San Felipe, between the rivcre of
Yaracui and Tocnyo*; these granitic fonua-
tions extend on the east of the two coa-sls of
the basin of the f'aliies of .-iragua, in tht
DMiihem chain, as far as Cape Codera ; and is -i
the -southern as far as the mountaioB {Altas
■ Savanas) of Ocumare.- After the .remarkable
interruption of the Cordillera of thesbore in
the province of Barcelona, the graaUic rocks
begin to appear in the Island of Marguerita
and in the isthmus of Araya, and cpntlnue per-
haps towards the Bocas del Drago ; but on the
east of the meridian of Cape Codera, the
northern chain only is granitic (of micaceous
slate) ; the southern chain (Morro de Nueva
Barcelona, Archipelago of the Caraccas isluids,
Cerro del Bergantin, vicinity of Cumanacoa,
Cocollar and Caripe,) is entirely composed of
secondary limestone and sandstone.

* Manuscript notes of General Cortes : my own obscrn-
tioDB be^n only in the meridian of Fortocabetlo (long. ?0°
37') and terminate at that of Cerro de Heapire (long. OS"
Sl')> near Cariaco.

581

If, in the gramiic sail which is here a Veiy
complex formation^ we would distinguish mine-
raiogically between the rocks of granite, gneiss,
and micaslate, we must recollect, that accord-
ing to my local observations, - the granite with
large grains, ,not passing to gneiss, is very rare
in this country. . It belongs peculiarly to the
mountains that bound the basin of the lake: of
Valencia towards the north ; for in the islands,
of that lake, in the mountains near the. tovm of
Cura, and in the whole northern chain, between
the meridiaB of Victoria and Cape Godera^ gneiss
predominates, sometimes alternating (Sillade
Caraccas) with granite, or passing (between
Guigue and Villa de Cura, mountain of Cha-
coa) to micaslate*. The micaslate is the most
frequent rock in the peninsula of Araya ^ and
the groupe of Maoanao which forms the western
part of the island of Marguerita. On the west
of Maniquarez, the micaslate of the peninsula
of Araya loses by degrees (Cerro de Chupai-u-
paru) its half-metallic lustre ; it is charged with
carbon and becomes a elayslate (thonschiefer) Xi
even an ampelite (alaunschiefer). The beds of
granular limestone are most common in the
primitive northern chain, and, which is some^

♦ Vol. iv, p. 213, &c.
+ Vol. u, p. 291.
: Vol. vi, p. 101.

vrint remarlmbte, tbey are SatmA in gagam, mi
not in mlcaslate.

We and at the back of thk gnuiitS^ or
rather micaalatfr^iMiv aoil of ttn ■oMtaa
cbun, on tbeuoth oftheViDaaf CaIi^afr■l-
sition soil, compoaed of ,
serpentine, micaceooi
carlmnted date*. Thm
of thii territory is fiamed by
Between Paiapara, Ortti, md tlM-iCkfiO ds
Fiona (lat. 90 98'—^ S*'; Vmg. 7IPtf««r VT),
pbonolitbci and am^dalosda an tamk aattM
very border of the baiin of the Umm^ that not
fattenul sea which beretolbre filM tha whob

583

covered in the whole eastern part of South
AmeridlL The doee connection obdenred in
the soil of Parapara^ between greenstcoae^ am-
phibolic serpentine, and amygdaloides contain-
ing crystals of pyroxene; the form of the Morros
of San Jaan, which rise like cylinders above
the table-land s the granular texture of their
limestone surrounded by trapean roduk, are ob-
jects worthy the attention of the geolog^t, who
has studied in the southern Tyrol^ &e effects
produced by the contact of poroxenic porphy-
rys*.

The calcareous soil of the C!ordillera of the
shore is tiosC frequent^ as we have already ob-
served, on the east of Cape Unare^ in^ the
southern chain; it extends to the gulph of
Paria, opposite the island of Trinidad^ . where
we find gypsum of Guire, contiuning sulphur.
I have been assured that in the northern chain
also, in the Montana de Paria^ and near Cam-
pana, secondary calcareous formations are
founds and that they only begin to appear on

* Leopold de Buck, Tableau geoiogique du Tyrol, p. 17.
I learn by very recent letters from M. Boussingault, that
these singular Morros de San Juan which furnish a lime-
stone with crystalline grains^ and thermal springs^ are hol-
low» and contdn immense grottos filled with stalactites,
which appear to have been anciently inhabited by the na-
tives.

584

the eitst of the ridge • of rock (Ceri"© de Mea-
pirc) which joins the calcareous groupe of Goa-
charo to the groupe of micaBlate of the pain-
sula of Araya ; but I have not had occasini io
verify tlie justness of this observation. Tbe
calcareous soil of the southern chain is com-
j)osed of two tbrinations which ^pear distinct,
the limestone of Cumanacoa and thatofCaripe.
While I was on the spot, the fonner appeared
to me to have some analogy with the zecbstein,
or alpine limestone ; the latter with jarassic
limestone ; I even thought that the latter gra-
nular gypsum of Guire might be that which
belongs in Europe to zechstein, or is placed
between zecbstein and variegated sandstone.

585

uperposed^ that the sandstone of the Impossible^
ad the Agtuis ealientes, constitute the same
oil. The muriatiferous clay (with petroleum and
unellar gypsum) cover the western part of the
cninsula of Araya^ opposite the town of Cu-
tiaoa, and at the center of the island of Mar-
;iierita. This clay appears placed immediately
»y micaslate, and covered by the calcareous
irechia of tertiary soil. I shall not decide if
iLraya, rich in disseminated muriate of soda*
lelongs to the formation of sandstone of the
^possible, which from its position ' may be
compared to variegated sandstone (red marl).

Fragments of tertiary soil surround indubi-
ably the castle and town of Cumana (Castillo de
kin Antonio), and they also appear at the south-
west extremity of the peninsula of Araya (Cerro
ie la Vela et del Barigon) ; at the ridge of
Meapire, near Cariaco ; at Cabo Blanco, on the
west of la Guayra, and on the shore of Portoca-
)ello ; they are found consequently at the foot
>f the two slopes of the northern chain of the
Cordillera of Venezuela. This tertiary -f- soil
is composed of alternate beds of calcareous
iglomerats, compact limestone, marl, and clay,
containing selenite, and lamellar gypsum. This

• Vol. iii. p. 94.

t Vol. ii, p. 206—209, 290, 291 ; Vol. iii, p. 204 -, Vol.
v'l, p. 93.

S86

whole system of very new beds appears to roe'i
constitute but one formation, which is found at
Cerro de la Papa, near Carthagena, and in tiie
islands of Guadalonpe and Martinico.

Such is the geological distribation of the soils
in the mountainous part of Venezuela, in the
gToupe of Parime, and in the Cordillera of the
shore. It remains to characterize the forma-
tions of the Llanos (or of the basin of the Lower
Oroonoko and the Apure) t but it is not easy to
determine the order of their saperposition, be-
cause in this region ravines or beds of torrents
and deep wells dag by the faandi of man are
entirely wanting. The fonnations of tbe JJano/i
are, lat. a sandstone or conglomerate, with
rounded fragments of quaftz, lydian, and kei-
selschiefer * joined by a ferruginous clayey ce-
ment, extremely tenacious, olive brown, some-
times of a viTid red : 2d. a compact limestone,
(between Timao and Calabozo) which, by its
smooth fracture, and lithographic aspect, ap-
proadtei the Jura limestone : 3d. alternate
beds -f- of marl and lamellar gypsum (Mesa de
San Diego, Orti2, Cachipo). These three for-
mati<ms f^peared to me to succeed each other
in t^e order I have just described, tbe saad-

^'*See Humboldt, Euiu geognotlujue, p. S19, and above.
Vol. iv, p. 384— SB7.

t Vol. iv, p. 3«4 ; Vol. vi, p. 41).

stone leaning in a concave position towards the
north «, on the transition slates of Malpasso,
and on the south, on the gneiss granite off Pto*
rime.. As the gjrpsom often hnnediatdy corers
the sandstone of CalabOEO^ whioh appeared to
me on the spot, to be identical with oar soil of
red sandstone, I am nnoertain of the age of its
formation. The secondary rooiks of tiie Uamm
of Cnmana, Baroelonft, and Caiaooas, occupy a
space <^ more than 5000 sijnanft leagnes. Their
continuity is so much the more remarkable, as
they appear to be wanting, at least on the east
of the meridian of Porto Cabello (70^ ST) in
the whole basin of the Amazon, unless they are
covered by granitic sands. The caused which
have favoured the accumulation of calcareous
matter in the eastern region of the chain of the
shore in the IMmoa of Venezuela (from \QIP to
8^ north), have not acted nearer the eqaator, in
the groupe of the mountains of Pteime, and in
the plains of the Rio Negro and the Amazon (lat.
8^ north, to P south). The latter plains how-
ever, furnish some shelves of fragmented rocks,
on the south-west of San Fernando de Atabapo,
as well as towards the south-east^ in the lower
course of the Rio Negro and the Rio Branco. I
saw a sandstone in the plains of Jaen de Braca-
uoros which alternates at the same time with

* Muldenlbraiigc Lageruog.

__.-,_ „r.]W

a nks of sand, and conglomerated ga/iV* of pd^
phyry and lydian *. MM. de Spix and Mardusf
affirm that the banks of the Rio Negi-o, on the
south of the equator, are composed of variegated
sandstone; those of the Rio Branco, Jupnra,and
Apoporis, of quader sandstone; and those of the
Amazon on several points, of ferruginous sand-
stone J. It remains to examine if, as I am now
inclined to think, the limestone and gypsum
formations of the eastern part of the Cordillera
of the shore of Venezuela, dilTer entirely from
those of the Llanos, and to what soil belongs
that rocky wall ^ which, by the name of Galera,

* GeogD. Ebb&j, p. S31.

f Ueber die Pkyaiognomie det Pflamenreicht in SriuUien,
p. 13, 14.

% Braune) ei$eiuckumget Sandateia-CongUmerat (Jtonsani
of the Engliah geolt^sts, between the jura-limestone aod
green sandstone.) MM. Sptx and MarUos fiiund oo rocks
of quBdersD ostein, between the Apoporis and, the Jsi>aTB,
the e4UDe sculpture which we have made known from the
Essequibo to tlie plains of Cassiquiare, and which seems lo
prove the migrotioaa of a people more advanced in civifiza-
tion than the Indians who now inhabit those countries.
(Vol. V, p. 600.)

^ VoL iv, p. 379. Is this wall a succession of rodu of
dolomie or a dyke of quadersandstone, like mer du DiaUe,
{TeufeltmaueTiJ at the foot of Harz ? Calcareous bands (corsi
banks) either bands of sandstone {effects of the revulsion
of the waves) or volcanic eruptions, are commonly fbond ou
the borders of great plains, that is, on the shores of antienl
inland seas. The Llmot of Venezuela furnish examples of

fi89

hounds the steppes of Calubozo, towards the
north ? The baain of the steppes is the bottom
of a sea destitute of idands ; .it is only on the
south of the Apure^ b<etween that river and the
Meta, near the western; bjabk. of the Sierra, that
some hills appear, Monte Parure ^^ la Galera
de Sinaruco^ and the Cerritos of San Vicente.
With the exoisption of the fragments- of tertiary
soil which we have indicated above, we remfurk,
from the equator to the parallel of 10^ north
between the meridian of Sierra Nevada de Me-
rida and the coast of Guyana), if not an absence,
at least a scarcity of the petrifications which
strikes the geognosts recently arrived from Eu-
rope.

The nuuAma of the height of the diflTerent
formations diminish regularly in the country
we descrit;^ with theit relative age. Hiese
maxima for gneUs^grmite (Peak of Duida in the
groupe of P^ime, Silla de Caraecas, in the chain
of the shore) are from 1300 to 1360 toises; for the
limestone of Cumanacoa (summit or Cucurucho

those eruptions near Parapara^ like the Harudje (AfoiM ater
PUn,) in the northern boundary of the African desart (the
Sahara). Hills of sandstone rising like towers, walls, and

•

strong castles, and offering a great analogy with the qua-
dersandstone, bound the American depart towards the west,
on the south of Arkensas. (Long. Vol. ii, p. 298, 389.)

* Near the Alto de Macachaba (manuscript of the Ca-
non Madarioga).

59U

ofTui-imiquii'i), 1050 toises; for the limestoni:
of Caripe (iiiountains that sarround the table-
land of the Guarda of San Agmtia), 750 L; for
the sandstone alternating with the UinestoDeof
Cumanacoa (Cuchilla de Gaanaguana), 550t;
for the tertiary soil (Punta Araya) SCO t. It
appears to me superfluous to remark, tiist the
relations between the age of the fonnations,
and the height they attain, vary d^nitely in
other regions of the globe, where the secondaiy
rocks often rise above the primitive. The
study of the absolute height of rocks presentB
(ess interest since the geologists for the most
part have abandoned the Wemeriaa faypotbe^,
of a fluid of which the level has

591

The extent of eountry of which I state
the geological conBtitution, is distingaished
by the prodigioas regalarity observed in the
direction of the strata of which the rocks
of diflTerent ages are composed. In ray per-
sonal narrative, and my EMoy on the position
of soils, I have already often fixed the attention
of my readers on a geognostic Ikw, which is
one of the small number that can be verified by
precise admeasurements. Occupied, since the
year 1792, by the parallelism or rather the lox-
odromism of the strata^ examining the direction
and inclination of the primitive and transitibn-
beds, from the coast of Genoa across the chain
of the Bochetta, the plains of Lombardy, the
Alps of Saint Gothard, the table^land of Swa-
bia, the mountains of Barentb, and the ]dmns
of northern Germany^ I was struck vnth the
extreme frequency, if not the constancy of the
hot. directions 2f and 4 of the compass of Frei-
berg (direction from south-west to north-east).
This research, which I thought might lead to
important discoveries on the structure of the
globe, had then such an attraction for me that
it was one <^ the most powerful motives of my
voyage to the equator. In joining my own ob-
servations with those of a great number of able
geognosts, we perceive that there exists in no
hemisphere a general and absolute umformity of
Jirection, but that in regions of very considerable

5»2

extent, sometimes an setierttl Otousand sqtiarr
leagues, we obnei-ve that the d'trectityti, and still
more rarely the incU»atiot>t has been determined
hi/asi/stem of particular ftircen. Wc discovpr
at great distiinces, a parallel ism ^loxoclroroisra),
a dircctiou, of which tiie type is manifest amidst
partial perturbations, and which ofti'n i*cniairt«
the same in primitive and transitioa soils. Tbe
direction of the strata pretty gencndly, and this
fact must have struck Palasson and baussunv
even that of the waters which are Ua distant
from the principal ridges, is identic with the
direction of the chains of mountains, that is
with their longitudinal axis.

In studying in a given system of rocks the
relations which the direction of the strata pre-
sent, either with the meridians or the horizon
of the spot, I proposed to myself for every coun-
try, the following quetions; Can wc recognize
a cMiformity of direction, a loxodromismof the
strata, comprehended in a great extent, where
are the perturbations so frequent that no law
manifests itself? Is there a simultaneous con-
stancy in the direction and the inclination, or
are the strata running N. E. — S. W. sometimes
inclined to the N. W.. sometimes to the S. E. ?
Do the laws comprehend the formations of dif-
ferent ages, or may other relations of direction
and inclination be observed in the primitive
and secondary rocks ? Are not the disturbances

593

tbemselves subject to certsdn rules^ so that the
partial changes of direction are most frequently^
90^9 and lead to a total change of * inclination ?
Is there a parallelism between the direction of
the strata and that of the nearest chiun of
mountains, cyr has that direction of strata a re-
lation with the principal chiun, or a very dis-
tant oceanic coast ? When we call the assem-
blage of rocks of which the strata have the
same direction^ a hxodromic system of rocks^
and when, in a vast country, several of those
loxodromic mf stems touch each other, are the
changes of direction always sudden, or are there
progressive passages on tijbie limit of contiguous
systems? The same soil does not furnish
the traveller with the means of answering so
great a number of important questions ; but the
progress of positive geognosy can only be ad-

* I allude to tbe case where^ in b chain of mounisini of
mica-slate-gneiss, the general direction of the strata is hor,
4 (from 8. W. to N. £.) with the inclination to the N. W.^
and where the deviations are generally her, 8 (from S. E. to
N. W.) The inclination ohserred in that mvene dirMctum
will not be as it would be towards the N. £., but towards
the S. W. There is therefore a total change of inclination
from north to souths or rather from N. V^. to S. W. Tlus
regularity in the mode of deviation^ which often occupied
my attention in passing over the Andes, has lately engaged
the attention of M. Steininger {Erloschene f^ulkanej p. 3). and
of M. Reboul, {Joum, de Physique, 1822, December, p.4t5)>
on the banks of the Rhine, and in tbe Pyrenees.

VOL. VI. 2 R

vanceti by never losing night "f tlie totality of
the elementH on which tlie knowledge of llie
general structm-e of the globe depends.

Venezuehi is one of the countries in which tlie
parallelism of the strata of goeis-gnmite, miea-
slate, and clay-slate is most strongly marked.
The general direction of these strata is N. 50°
E., and the general inclination from 60° to 70*
north-west. Thus I recognized them on a
length of more than an hundred leagues, in the
chain of the shore of Venezuela ; tu the strati-
fied granite of las Trincheras near Porto-Cabel-
lo (VoL iv> p. 197) i in the gneiss of the isles
of the l&ke of Valencia (Vol. iv, p. 122) ; and
in the Ticinity of the Villa de Cura; in the tran-
sition slate and greenstone on the north of Pa^
rapara (Vol. iv, p. 260) ; in the way from la
Goayra to the town of Caraccas, and in all the
Sierra de Avila (Vol. iii, p. 412, &c. and 488) ;
in Cape Codera (Vol. iii, p. 375) ; and in the
micfi-slate and dayalate of the peninsula of
Araya (Vol. ii, p. 285 ; Vol. vi, p. 99). The
same direction from N. E. to S. W. and this
incliae^tiop to the N. W., are again observed,
although less decidedly, in the limestones of
Cumanacoa (Vol. iii, p. 80) at Cuehivano, and
between Guanaguana and Caripe. The excep-
tions • to this general law are extremely rare

• Vol. ii, p. 285 i Vol. iii, p. 417—418 ■ Vol. iv, 69, 74—

695

In the gneiM-granite of the Cordillera of the
shore ; it may evto be affiritied^ that the i$werse
directum (from 8. E. to N.' W.) often bears
with it the inclination towards the S. W>

As that part of the groupe of the Sieira Pa-
rime which i passed over^ contains mnch more
granite* than gneiss^ and other rocks distinctly
stratified^ the direction of the layers' MtiM be
observed in ^this groupe only on a rtanatt number
of points ; btit I was dtea stmck in this region
with the coito tanejr of the phenomenon of iaxo--
dromism. ■• The amphibolic slates ' of 'Angos-
tura ran N: 45^ R like the gneiss of Guar-
pasoso (Vol. ▼; p. 224)/ whiiih form the bed of
the Atabapa, and like the micaidate of the pe-
ninsula of Ara]^ although there is a distance
of 160 leagues between the limits of those
rocks.

The direction of the strata, of which we have
just related the prodigious uniformity, is not
entirely parallel with the longitudinal axes of
the two chains of the shore, and of Pbrime«f-.
The strata generally cut the former of those
chains under an angle of 35^, and their inclina^

* The granite of Baraguan only, is at the same time
stratified, and crossed by veins of granite ; the direction of
ihe beds is N. 2(^ W. (Vol. iv, p. 004.)

t Vol. iii, p. 448.

2r2

596

mes one of

tioii towards the north-west, becomM"*
the most powerful causes of the dryness which
prevails on the southern declivity * of the
mountains of the coast. Can It be admit-
ted that the direction of the eastern Cordillera
of New Grenada, which is nearly N. 45° E._
from Santa Fe de Bogota, to beyond the Sierra
Nevada de Merida, and of which the chain of
the shore is but a continuatiou, has had an in-
fluence on the direction {hor. 3-4) of the strata
in Venezuela ? That region presents a very re-
markable loxodromism with ttie strata of mica-
slate, grauwacke, and the orthoceratite lime-
stone of the Alteghanies, and that immense ex-
tent of country (lat. 56°-68°) lately visited by
Captain Franklin -f-. The direction N. E. —
S. W. prevails in every part of North America,
as in Europe in the Fitehtelgebirge of Fran-
conia, in Tannus, Westerwald, and Eifel, in the
Ardennes, in the Vosges, Cotentin, in Scotland
and intheTarentaJse, at thesouth-west extremity
of the Alps X- If the strata of rocks in Vene-
zuela do not exactly follow the direction of the
nearest Cordillera, that of the shore, the paral-
lelism between the axis of one chain, and the

• Vol. iv, p. G2, &c., 240. This eoulhem tleclivily ia
however less rapid ttian the northern.

t Journey to the Polar Sea, L824j p. 629, &34.
t See my Geognottic Ettag, p. 68.

sg?

strata of the formations that compose it^ are so
much the more manifest* in the groupe of
Brazil.

Section III.

Nature of the Bochs. — Relative Age and Supers
position of the Formations. — Primitive, tran^
sition, secondary, tertiarjf J and volcanic Soils.

The preceding section has developed the geo-
graphical limits of the formations^ the extent of
the direction of the zones of gneiss-granite^
micaslate-gneiss^ clayslate,. sandstone^ and in-
termediary limestone^ which come succes-
sively to light. It remains to indicate., suc-
cinctly the nature and relative age o£ these
formations. In order not to confound facts
with geognostic opinions, I shall describe these
formations without dividing them^ according
to the method generally followed^ into five
groupes of primitive^, transition^ secondary.,
tertiary, and volcanic rocks. I was fortunate
enough to discover the types of each groupe, in
a region where, before my voyage, no rock had

* According to the manuscript notes of M. d'Eschwc^,
and his Geogn. Gemdilde von BrasiUen, p. 6. The strata of
the primitive and intermediary rocks of Brazil run Tcry re-
gularly^ like the Cordillera of Villarica(Serra do £6pinha9o)
hor, 1*4 or hor, 2 of the compass of Freiberg. (N. 88« E.)
The inclination of the strata is generally towards the E.S.B.

been named. The great iDCOnrcnience of ibe
antient classifications is that of obliging' tbe
geologist to establish fixed demarkatioas, whBe
he remains in doubt, if not respecting tbe spot
or the immediate superposition, at least on the
number of the formations which are not deve-
loped. How can we pronounce in many cir-
cumstances, on the analogy which a limestone
with but few petrifications may present with
intermediary limestone, and zechstein, or a
sandstone superposed on a primitive rock, with
variegated sandstone and quadersandstone, or
finally; mnriatiferous clay, with the red marl of
England, and the gem-salt of the tertiary soils
of Italy ? When we reflect on tfie immense
progress made within twenty-five years, in the
knowledge of the superposition of rocks, it will
not appear surprizing that my present opinion
on ^e relative age of the formations of Eqai-
noxical America, is not identically the same
with What I advanced in 1800. To boast of a
stability of opinion in geognosy is to boast of
an'extrem« indolence of mind ; it is to remain
stationary amidst those who go forward. What
we observe in any one part of the earth on the
composition of rocks, the subordinate beds
they contain, and the order of their position,
aJ« facts immutably true, and independent of
the prt^ress of positive geognosy in other
countries, while tbe systematic names imposed

599

on any particular formation of America^ are
founded only on the supposed analogies be-
tween the formations of America and those of
Europe. Now^ those names cannot remain the
samc^ if^ after farther examination, the objects
of comparison have not retained the same place
in the geognostic series ; if the most able geo-
logists now take for transition limestone, and
green sandstone, what they took formerly for
zechstein, and variegated sandstone. I believe
the surest means by which geognostic descrip-
tions may be made to isurvive the change which
the science undergoes in proportion to its pro-
gress, will be to substitute provisionally, in the
description of formations, for the systematic
names of red sandstone,' variegated sandstone,
zechstein, and jura-limestone, names drawn
from American localities (sandstone of Llanos,
limestone of Cumanacoa and Caripe), and to
separate the enumeration of facts which are re-
lative to the superposition of soils, from the
discussion on the analogy of those soils * with
those of the antient continent.

* The whole of positive geography being uothing but a
problem of the series or succession (either simple or periodi-
cal) of certain terms which represent the formations, it will
be necessary, in onier to understand the discussions con-
tained in the third section of this memoir, to recapitulate
succinctly the table of formations considered in the most ge-
neral point of view. This sketch will rectify what was pub-

I. CO ORDINATE FORMATIONS OP GRANITB, GNBISS,
AND MICABIATE. '

There are countries (in France, the vicimty
of Lyons ; in Germany. Freiberg, Naundorf)

lished nine years ago, Vol. !ii, p. 108. 1. Soil, vwlgarli
called primitite ; granite, gneiss, and micaslate (or oscilltf-
ing gneiss, between grnnite and mlcaslate) ; very little pri-
mitive day-slate ; weiastein with serpentine [ granite with
disseminated amphibol ; amphibolic slate ; veins «nd sluft
layers of grecnslone. 2. Transition sml, composed of frag-
mentary rocks, (graawacke,) cakariferoua slate and green,
stoae (first traces of organization ; bamboosacees, madre-
pores, productus, trilobites, orthoceratlteSi evamphalites).
Complex and parallel formations, a) aUereaM beds of gwy
and stratitous limeslona, anthracitous micuUte, anhydre
gypsum, and grauwacke; b) dayslate, Uack-limestone,
grsuwacke with greenstone, syenites, transition-granite, and
porphyries with a bose of compact feldspar ; c) euphotides,
flometimea pure and covered with jaspar, someUmes mixed
with amphibole, hyperstein, and grey limestone ; d) pyroy-
cnic porphyries with amygdaloidcs and zirconien syenites.
3. Stcondary toU, beginning by a great destmctian of mow^
cotyledon plants, a) co-ordinate and almost contemporaiy
formations with red sandstone (rothei totes tiegende), qnarzier
porphyry, and fem-coal. These beds are less connected by
nltemance that; by opposition. The porphyriea isnie (like
the trachytes of the Andes), in domes from the bosom of in-
termediary rocks. Porphyrific brechias, which envelope the
iinariifere porphyries, b} Zcchstein or Alj^ne limestooe,
with mamo>bituminons slate, fetid limestone, and variegated
gypsum i Productus aculeatus. c) vari^ated sandstone {hatlt
tandstem) with frequent beds of limestone j falae oolithesi

601

"where the formations of ^granite and gneiss, are
•extremely distinct; there are others^ on the
contrary, where the geognostic limits between
those formations are little marked, and where
granite, gneiss, and micaslate appear to alter-

ibe upper beds «re of Taiiq^ted mBiA, oiken milriatiFeroaB
{red marl, idUihan)^ with hydraled gypsum and fetid lime-
stone. The gemsalt oscillatea flvm lechstein to mtMcliel-
ftEalk. d) limettone of Gottingen or mvschelkalkf alternat-
ing towards the top with white sandstone or qoadersand-
stein ; .(Ammonites nodosoSi encrineii, Mjtiios socialis) :
clayey marl is fbnnd at the two extremities of moscbelkalk.
e .) while sandstone^ quadersandstdn^ altematiTe with lias^
or limestone a gryphees ; a ({oantity of dicotyledons mixed
'With monocotyledon plants^ f.) jurtT limestone^ complex fbr-
aaation ; a quantity of arenacioms intercalated marL Wc
most frequently observe from below to above; lias (mamous
limestone with gryphites), oolithes, limestone with polypiers,
slaty limestone with fish^ and crostoices, and hydrated glo-
bular iron. Amonites planuiatus> Ohryphaa arciiata. g.) se-
condary sandstone widi Hgnites« Iron sand| weald clay;
^reen sand, or green sandstone h.) chlorite, tufted, and
'white chalk; (planerkalk, limestone of Verona). iV« Ter-
Mary soil, beginning by a great destruction of deootyledon
plants, a.) day and tertiary sandstone with lignites ; plastic
clay ; moUass, and nagelfluhe, sometimes alternating, where
chalk ia wanting, with the last beds of Jura limestone ;
soecin. b.) limestone of Paris or coarse limestone, limestone
with circles, limestone of Bolca, limestone of London, are-
nacious limestone of Bognor; lignites, c.) silicious lime-
stone, and gypsum with bones alternating with mad. d.)
sandstone of Fontainebleau. e.) lacustre soil with porous
mculieres. «.) alluvial deposits.

nate by layers, or pass often fioin ooe to liie
other*. These alternations, and these passages,
appeared to me less common in the Coi'diUeni
of the shore of Venezuela than in the Sierra
Parime. We recognise successively, in the
former of these two systems of mountains, above
all, in the chain nearest the coast, as predo-
minating rocks from west to east, granite (long.
70°— 71°) gneiss, {long. 681"— 70°), and mica-
slate (long. 65i° tiOj°) ; but considering in mass
the geognostic constitution of the ahore, aad
the Sierra Parimt^, \vc prefer to treat of granite,
gneiss, and raicaslate, if not as one formation,
at least, as three co-ordinate formations strictly
linked together -f-. The clayey primitive slate
(urtkonckiefer), is subordinate to tqicaslate, of
which it is only a modification. It no more
forms an independant soil in the New Conti-
nent, than in the Pyrenees and the Alps.

tt. Granitb which does not pass to gneiss is
the most common in the western pari of tlic
ctuun of the shore, between Turmero, Valencia,
and Porto Cabello, as well as in the circle of
the Sierra Parime, near the Encaramada, and
at the Peak of Duida. At Rincon del Diablo
(Vol. iv. p. 167) between Mariara and Hacienda

* See my Bitay on the position of rocks in 1A« ttuo hani-
iphetet, p. 67, 69, 71, 74, 7(f.

t See iibovc. Vol. iv, p. 277 ; Vol. v, p. 867, 858.

603

de Cura, and at Choao (Vol. iv. p. 116, 167), it
has large grains, contidning fine crystals of
feldspar, 1 i inches long. ^ It is divided in prisms
by perpendicular vents, or stratified t^^larly,
like secondary limestone, M las Trincheras
(Vol. iv^ p. 198) ; the strait of BatBgnan in the
valley of the Oroonoko, (Vol. 4v,'pw'602), and
near Gnapasoso, on the badkA <if the JMl^bapo
(VoL y, p. 224). The stratified gr»iit«^ of ^the
Trincheras, giving* birth to vei^.hot springs (from
90*3^ cent.),"appear8 firom the inclination of its
layers, superposed upon gneiss^ #hich is seen
farther southward in the islands of the lakes of
Valencia; but conjectures of sufierposition
founded only on the hypothesis of an indefinite
prolongation of the strata, are little certain ;
and perhai)S the granite masses which form a
small particular zone in the northern range of
the Cordillera of the shore, between 70^ 8^, and
70^ 50" of longitude * were heaved-up in pierc-
ing the gneiss. The latter rock is prevalent,
both in descending from the Rincon del Diablo
towards the south, to the hot-springs of Ma-
riara, and towards the banks of the lake of Va-
lencia, and in advancing on the east towards
the groupe of Buenavista, and the Silla of
Caraccas, and Cape Codera. In the region of

* In supposing Nueva Valencia long. 70^ 34', and Villa
deCuralong, 70** 5 \

604

the chain of the shore of Venezoela, where
granite seems to constitute an independent for-
mation from IS to 16 leag;ues in length, I saw
no foreign or tubordinate layers of gneigs, mica-
slate, or primitive limestone •.

The Sierra Parime is one of the most exten-
sive granitic aoits existing on the globe -t- ; but
the granite which ia seen alike bare on the
flank of the moantains, and in the pliuns by
which they are joined, often passes to gneiss.
(Vol. iv, p. 55i).) Granite is most commonly
found in its granular composition, and inde-
pendent formation, near the Encaramada (Vol.
iv, p. 462), at the strait of Baraguan, (Vol. iv,
p. 502), and in the vicinity of the mission
of the Esmeralda. It often contains, like the
granites of the Rocky Mountains (lat. 38°—
40°), the Pyrenees, and Southern Tyrol, ara-
phibol crystals;};, disseminated in the mass,

• Primitive limestone, cTery where so comnion in mica-
slate and gneUs, is found in the granite of the Pyrenees, at
port d'OO, and in the monntains of Lobourtl {Ckarjitttifi,
fur /a eonit. geogn, da Pyreneei, p. 144, 146.

i Seeahove, Vol. vi, p. dOI. 620. To prove the extent
of the continuity uf this granitic soil, it will sutHce to ob-
serve that M.Lechenault de la Tour, collected id the bars of
the river Mana, in French Guyana, the same gneiss ^-
ni'es (with a little amphibol) which I ohservcd three faun'
dTvi: Icngues more to the west, near the confluence of Ibe
Oroviioko and the Guavinrc.

t 1 did not observe this mixture ofumphibol in the gra-

60S

but without passing to syenite (Vol. v, p. 18,
435). Those modifications are observed on
the banks of the Oroonoko, the Cassiquiare» the
Atabapo, and the Taamini. The blocks heaped
together which are foand in Europe on the
ridge of granitic mountains (Riesengebirge in
Silesia^ Ochsenkopf in Franconia), are above
all remarkable in the north-west part of the
Sierra P^rime, between Caycara, the Encara-
mada, and Umana, in the cataracts of the May«
pures and at the mouth of the Rio Vichada
(Vol. v, p. 177). It remains doubtftil if these
heaved-up masses^ of cylindric form (Vol. iv»
p. 540), parallelipedes rounded on the edge, or
balls of 40 to 50 feet m diameter (Vol. v, p. 616,
&c.), are the effect of a slow decomposition, or
of a violent and instantaneous heaving-up. The
granite of the south-east part of Sierra Farime
sometimes passes to pegmatite % composed of
laminary feldspar, enclosed in curved masses of
crystalline quartz. I saw gneiss only in subor-^
dinaie layers ^\ but, between Javita, San Car-

nite of the chain of the coast of Venezuela^ unless at the
summit of the Silla de Caraccos (Vol. iii^ p. 605).

* Sckryt-granii. It is a simple modification of the com-
position and texture of granite, not even a subordinate layer.
It must not be confounded with the real pegmatite, gene-
rally destitute of mica, or with the geographic stones (wtgas
mapajas) of the Oroonoko (Vol. v, p. 569), which ooraun
streaks of dark green mica variously turned.

f The magnetic sands of the rivers that furrow the gra-

tiOG

lofl ilel Rio Nfgio, and the Peak of Duida, th^
granite is traversed by numerous veins of diffei-
rent ages (Vol. v, p. 401), spread over vritk
rock-crystal, black touruialioe, and pyrittt
(Vol. V, p. 229, 506). It appears that ihe«[
open veins become more common on the costofi
the Peak of Duida, in the Sierra Pacarama, abi
all between Xurumu, and Rupunuri (tributai^
streams of the Rio Branco, and ttie Essequiboji
where Hortsman the traveller, discovered
stead of diamonds * and emeralds, a mine, o^
oven of rock-crystal (Vol. v, p. 792 ; Vol. vi,
P.518J.

d. Gneiss predokninates along the Cordillera
of the shore 6f Venesuela with the aj^tearanceB
of an independant formation in the northeni

nftic cWn of the BnearaniBdft (Vol. ti, p. MS), seem b> de-
note the proximitjrof amphibolic or chloritic ilate {lunbiavi
or^ chloTtt tchUfir), either in layers in the granite, or aapcr-
posed on that rock (Vol. v, p. 676).

* TheM fables of diamondi are very ancient on the coast
of Farla. Petras Martyr relates, that at the beginning of
the sixteenth century, a Spaniard, Andr^ Mm^es, bought
of a joDDg Indian of the coaat of Paria " adamanleni won
pretiotum, duot wfantit digiti articulot longunt, nagtU tuUtm
polUcii articulum tet/atmlem erauiludme, aculum utrohujae tt
coatit 8 pulchre_fi>rmatU conttantem." This pretended adamat
juoenii paritnsu resisted the lime. Fetrus Martyr distin-
guishes it from topazes by adding, " offenderunt et topsoo*
in Uttore," that is, on the coast of Faria, Saint Martha, and
Veragua. See Oceanica, Dec. iii, lib. iv, p, 63.

407

■

chain, from Cerro del Chuao, and the meridian
of Choroni, as far as Cape Codera ; and in the
southern chain, from the meridian of Guigue,
to the mouth of the Rio Tuy. Cape Codera,
(Vol. iii, p. 375), the great mass of the SiUa, of
Galipano, and the land between Ouayra and
Caraccas (Vol. iii, p. 417,620, 527, 528, 532),
the table-land of BuenaTi8ta(Vol. iv, p. 74), the
islands of the lake of Valencia (Vol. iv, jp. 161,
168, 177X the mountains between Guigue^ Ma-
ria Magdalena, and the Cerro de Chacao (VoL
ii, p. 273, 277), are composed of gneiss ^ ; yet
amidst this soil of gneiss, inclosed micaslate re-
appears, often talquous in the Valle de Canri-
mare, and in the ancient Provincia of los Ma-
riches (Vol. iii, ^. 531) ; at Cabo Blanco, 'west
of la Guayra (Vol. iii, p. 402) ; near Caraccas
and Antimano (Vol. iv, p. 59, 60), and above all,
between the table-land of Buenavista, and the
vallies of Aragna^ in the mountain of the Co-
cuyzas and af Hacienda del Tuy (Vol. iv, p. 78,
91). Between the limits which we have here
assigned to gneiss, as a predominant rock (long.
68 i^ — 70i°), gneiss passes sometimes to mica-

* I have been assured that the islets Orchila and Los
Frailes arc also composed of gneiss. Curasao and Bonaire
are calcareous. Is the island of Oruba> in which pepiies of
native gold of a considerable size have lately been founds
primitive ?

008-

slate, wliile tlie appearance of a
granite is only found on the summit of ihu
Silla de Caraccas * (Vol. iii, p. 508); it would
still require to be examined with more care^
than I was able to do, whether the granite ot
the top of Saint Gothard, and of (he SiUa of
Caraccas, reposes effectively on micasiate and
gocisst or if it has merely pierced those rocks
rising in the form of needles, or domes. The
gneiss of the Cordillera of the shore, in the pro-
vince of Caraccas, contains almost exclostvely
garnets, rutilc, titanite and graphite, dissemi-
nated in the whole mass of the rock (Vol. iii^
p. 417, 418);. shelves of graniUar limestone
(ib.) and some metatUferous veins (Vol. iii, p.
525, 532 ; Vol. iv, p. 269). I sbaU not decide
whethei' the grenatlferous serpentine of the
table-land of Buenavista be inclosed in gneiss,
or whether, superposed upon that rock, it do
not rather belong to a formation of loeixcfeur
(heptinite) similar to that of Penig and Mitt-
weyde in Saxony (Vol. iv, p. 79, 92).

In that part of the Sierra Parime wUichM.
Bonpland and myself visited, gneiss forms a
less marked zone, and osdllates more frequently
towards granite than mieaslate. I found no
garnets in the gneiss of Parime. There is no

* The SiUa ia « mountiun of gneiss like Adam's Peak (iiv
the island of Ceylon), and of nearly the some height.

609

doubt that the gneiss-granite of the Oroonoko
is a little auriferous on some points (Vol. iv^
p. 471 ; Vol. V, p. 678, 857 ; Vol. vi, p. 215).

y. Micaslate forms with clayslate {thon-
schiefer\ a continued soil in the northern cliain;
of the Cordillera of the shore, from the point of
Araya, beyond the meridian of Cariaco, as well
ad in the island of Marguerita. It contains,
in the peninsula of Araya, garnets disseminated
in the mass, cyanite (Vol. ii, p. 285), and when
it passes to clayey-slate, small layers of native
alum (VoL ri, p. 93, 99, 102). Micashite con-
stituting an' independant formation, must be
distinguished from micaslate subordinaJte to a
soil of gneiss, on the east of Cape Codera. The
micaslate subordinate to gneiss, displays in the
valley of Tuy, shelves of primitive limestone
(Vol. iii, p. 92), and small layers Of graphic
ampelite (zeicheschiefer) ; between Cape Blanc
and Catia, layers of chloritic, granatiferous
date, and slaty amphibol (Vol. iii, p. 404) ; and
between Caraccas and Antimano, the more
remarkable phenomenon of veins of gneiss in<-
closing balls of granatiferous diorite * (grun^
stein) (Vol. iv, p. 59, 60).

In the Sierra Parime, micaslate predominates
only in the most eastern part, where its lustre
has given rise to strange errors (VoL v, p. 838,

* See my geognostic Ei^say, p. 337
VOL. VI. 2 s

<1»

857). Tlie amphibolic slate of Angostura (Vol.
V, p. fi9y), and masses of diorite in balls, witU
concentric layere, near Muitaco (Vol. v, p. 691),
appeal- to be superposed, not on micaslate, but
immediately on gtieiss-granite. I conid not,
however, distinctly ascertain whethet- a part of
this pyritous diorite was not inclosed on the
banks of the Oroonoko, as it is at tbe bottom
of the sea near Cabo Blanbo (Vol. iii, p. 405^
tknd at the Mohtafia de Avila, Id the rock that
it covei-s. Very lai^ veins, with aa irregular
direction, often assume the aspect of short
tMfers; and the balls oi diorite heaped together
ih hills, may well, according to the analogy of
so many cones of basalt, have issued from the
crevices.

MicMlate, chloritic slate, and the rocks of
slaty amphibol, contain magnetic sand in tire
tropical regions of Venezuela, as in tbe most
northertl regions of Europe. The gairiets are
there almost equally dissf^minated in the gneiss
(Caraccas), the micaslate (peninsula of Araya),
the serpentine (Buena vista), the chloritic slate
(Oabo Blanco), and the diorite or gr<eenstone
(Antimano) : we shall see further oti, that these
gtfrnets re-appear in the tractiytic prophyfies
that crown the celebrated metal liferoBs moun-
tain of Potosi, and in tlie black and pyroxenk
masses of the small volcano of Yana-Urcu, at
the back of Chimbofiuso. - -

Tbe petnpleum, and this phenomeoon u well
wwtby of attention, isauea from i^ aoil of piica-
slate in tbe gulph of Cariaoo (Vol. li, p, 290).
If; farther east^ an the banks of tbe Arco (Vol.
iii, p. 97 s Vni, iv, p. SIX and near Carktco
(Vol. ii, p» 216, 390)» it seems to gush from
seoondaFy Umeakme formationSj it is probaUy
only heoaose tlM^ forniations repoipe on mica*
slate (Vol. vi, p. 97},. The hot springs of Vene<*
isuela have nko thw origin in, or ratber bdow^
ihe primitire rooks. They issue from grwiite
(Las Trinohf ras), gn^ss (Mariara and Onoto),
aad tbe. cal«anM>ns and armaeioQi rooks that
cover the primjctiye rocks (MArros de S. Juan^
Aergimtin^ Cariaep), The earthquakes and
eabterraneow 4etonatiops, of which the seat
bes been erroneoisly sought in the calcareooff
moantaim of Oamaoa, hwe been fiilt with most
^lence in the granitic soils o^f Cai9cca6y and
Che Oreonoko (Vol. iv, p. 24» 45). Igneous
lAenomena (if their existence be really well
mrfilted)^ are attributed by tbe people to the
graoitie peaka of Duida and Gnaraco, and also
to the calcareous mounUun of Cuchivano (Vol.
W, 9.9&i VoL V, p. 550,551).

JProm the whole of these observations^ it re-
suItSy that gneiss^ranite predominates in the
immense groupe of the mountains of Parime,
as micaslate-gneiss does in the Cordillera of the
shore ; that in the two systems, the granitic

2s2

soil, unmixed with gneiss and micaslate, occu-
pies but a. very small extent of country; and
that in the chain of the shore, the formations
of clayey slate {thonschiefer), micaslatc, gneiss,
and granite, succeed eacli other in such a
manner on the same hand from cast to west
(presenting a very uniform and regular tnclj-
■nation of their strata towards the north-west),
that according to the hypothesis of a subterra-
iieoiis prolongation of the strata, the gitwiCa of
las Triiicheras and the RIneon del Diablo, may
•be superposed on the gneiss of the Villa de
Cnra, of Buenarista, and Caraoeta ; and the
j^neiss superposed in its turn, on the tnicaslate
and clayslate of Maniquarez and Chuparnparu
in the peninsula of Araya. I have already ob-
served in another place, that this hyptotheas trf*
a prolongation of every rock, in some sort in-
definite, founded on the angle of inclination
which the strata present on the surface of the
soil, is not admissible, and that according to
similar and equally vague reasoning, we should
be forced to consider the primitive rocks of
the Alps of Switzerland as superposed on tb«
formation of the compact limestone (^ Achsen-
berg, and that limestone (of transition, or iden-
tic with zechstein ?) as being superposed on
the mollassus of tertiary soil.

613

IL FORMATION OF CLAYEY-SLATE (tHONSCHIEFER)

OF MALPASSO.

If, in the sketch of the formations of Venezue-
la, I had followed the received division into pri-
mitive, intermediary, secondary, and tertiary
soils, I might be doubtful what place the last
layer of micaslate should occupy in the penin-
sula of Araya. This layer, in the ravine (Aroyo)
of Robalo, passes insensibly in a carbu rated and
shining slate, into a real ampelite. The direc-
tion and inclination of the strata remain the
same, and the tJumschiefer, which takes the
aspect of a transition-rock^ is but a modification
of the primitive micaslate of Maniquarez, con-
taining garnets^ cyanite, and rutile titanite
(Vol. vi, p. 101, 102). These insensible passages
from primitive, to transition soil, by clayey
slate that becomes carburated, at the same
time that it presents a concordant position with
micaslate and gneiss, have also been observed
several times in Europe * by celebrated gcog-
nosts. The existence of an independent for-
mation of primitive slate {urthonschiefer), may
even be doubted, that is, of a formation which

* See the excellent work of M. dc Ocynhausen^ f'ersuch
einer geogn, Bexchreib, von Olferschlesien, 1822^ p. 67, 62,
415.

614

is not linked beluw by layers containing Bome
vestiges of monocotyledon plants.

The small thonschiefer bed of Malpagso (la
the southern chmn of the Cordillera of the
shore), is separated from micaslate-gneiss by
a co-ordinate formation of Berpentiiie and dio-
rite. It is divided into two shelves, of which
the upper presents greea steatltous slate, mixed
with amphibol ; and the i^ower, dark-blue slate,
extremely fissile, and traversed by nnmerous
veins of quartz (Vol. iv, p. 281). Icoolddil-
cover no fragmentary layer (groutcacA'e), nor ktt-
selschiefery nor chiastolithe. The kieseitehi^er
belongs in those countries to a limestone for-

iii. forbiation of sbrpbnti?^ and diorite
(grbbnstonb of juncalito).

We hwm indiented abawp, a Uyw of groimti-
ferous serpentine inclo^d ip the gneiis of 3ye-
navista^ or perhiq[M9 superposed on that rock;
we here find a raal sml of serpentine^ altemtuing
with diorite, and extending from the ravine of
Tucutpjaemo 9s fpv as Juncalito. The diprite
fprnjs the great mag^ of this sojil ; * it is of a darK*
gre^n colour, granular with small grains, and
destitute pf quartz ; its ma^s is formed of small
crystals of feldspar, intermixed with crystc^ls
of amphiboL This rock of digrite i/s covered
at its surfece, by the effect of decomposition,
with a yellowish crust li}(e that of basalts, and
dolisrites. Serpentine pf a dpll olive-gr^n^ 4nd
smoo|;h fcacture, mixed mth falueish steatite,
^nd amphiboly presents, lilfLC alp^ost all the co-
ordinate formations offliofrite ofid serpetftiife (in
Silesi^ at Fichteljgpelirge^ if) the valley of Paj-
gorry, jn the Pyrenees, ii^ the isle of Cyprus,
.and in the copper mountains pf circumpplar
America) •, traces of copper (Vol. iv, p, 279).
TVhere the diorite, partly globular, draws near
the i^een slate of Majpasso, real beds of
green slate are found inclosed in diorite.

* FrAoklin'a Jouri^ to the Polar Sea, p. 520.

^)t6

Tlie fiae Baussurlte n'bicb we saw in Che Upper
Oroonoko in the bands of the Indians, seems
to indicate the existence of a soil of euphotidc,
superposed on gneiss-granite, or the amphibolic
slate of the eastern part of Sierra Parime. (Vol.
V, p. 383, 384, 563, &c.)

IV. GRANULAR AND MICACBOUB LIMESTONE OF TEE
MORR08 OP 8AN JUAN.

The Morros of San Juan rise in a soil of dio-
rite, like towers in ruin. They are formed of a
cavernous greyish green limestone, of crystalline
texture, mixed with some spangles cf mica, and
destitute of shells. We recognize in tbem
masses of hardened clay, black, fissile, charged
with iron, and covered with a crust, yellow
from decomposition, like basalts and ampfaibo-
lites. A compact limestone containing vestiges
of shells, is joined to this granular limestone of
the Morros of San Juan, which is hollow with-
in (Vol. iv, p. 279 ; Vol. vi, p. 583). It is pro-
bable that in further examining the extraordi-
nary soil, between Villa de Cura and Ordiz, ia
which I could only collect specimens of rock
during one day, many phenomena may be dis-
covered- analogous to those which M. Leopold
de Buch has lately described in South Tyrol •.

• Tyroter Bothc tem -26 ten Julius, 1822 ; and Geognostic
Letter of M. de Buch to M, de Mumholdt, 18£», p. 13.

617

M. Boussingault) in a very instructive itaemotr
which he has recently addressed to me/, calls
the rock of the Morros a " problematic calca-
riferous gneiss.** This expression seems to prove
that the plates of mica take in some parts an
uniform direction^ as in the greenish dolomie of
Val Toccia.

y. FBLSPATHIC SANDSTONE OF THB OROONOKO.

The soil of gneiss-granite of the Sierra Parime
is covered by fragments^ (between the Elncara^
mada and the strait of Baragnan, and in the
Island of Gnachaco), in its western part, of an
olive-brown sandstone, containing grains of
quaitz, and fragments of feldspar, joined by
a clayey-cement, extremely compact. This
cement, where it abounds, has a conchoid
fracture, and passes to jasper. It is crossed by
small veins of brown iron-ore, which separate
into very thin plates, or blades. (Vol. iv, p.
573.) The presence of feldspar seems to indi-
cate that this small formation of sandstone (the
sole secondary formation hitherto known in the
Sierra Parime), belongs to red-sandstone or
coal *. I have hesitated to join it to the sand-

^ Broken or intact crystala of feldspar are found in the
to^e liegende, or cool sandstone of Thuringia (Freiesleben
geogn. Arheiien, Vol. vr, p. 82, 85, W, 104). I observed in

9tone o/tke Umos, of which the relative anti-
quity htts appeared to roe to be lees verified.

VI. FORMATION OF THE SANDSTONE OP THE J,LA.SOS

OF CAL1.B0Z0.

I place the foriaationB in the succe§afve order
which I thought I perceived from my first tio-
pi-essions on the spot. The carburated elate or
tbonschiefer of the peninsula of Araya connect
the primitiTe rocks of gneiw-granite, and mica-
slate gneiss, with the transition soil (blue and
grem slate, diorite'; and aerpentioe nixed with
amphibol, granular greenialv^iwy fimataaej of
Molpa6So,Tucutunemo,aadSanJuaB. Towards
the soutfa, thesandstoneo/ihelJanMKStt OQ this
transitioDHSoiU it is desUtuteof ihelle, aad com-
posed (savannahs of Caloboza) of roHnded frag-
nents of quartz *, kietelsehiefer and lydian,

Hedeo a very aingUlu agglomerated feldspathic fonnntkw,
superpeaed upon, pniutps inclosed In, red saadstone, ncsr
GuWBXD^i. £et mj PoOiioat Emof, Vo^. U, p. IW, 18« ;
Mmi nj work Ml the jmifim «/ roctm, 9. 2 »,

* Id QenBMty, jsaodstooea which belong ja^uUtaUy to
red sandstone, cpntain aIso [near Weiderstadtj iv Tbnrii^)
gatets, and rounded fragments {FrUfUbea, Vol. iv, p. T7)-
7%e]r lisTe on that account been designated by the name of
nagel/luhe (MeinickCj in the Nalur/oTicher, St. 17, p. 48). I
ithall not «ile the pudding-stooes subordinate ,t« tlue jged «snd-
stone of the Fyreoees, because the age of thft M«d-
Mooe, destitute of wol, may be c^tested <Ckarpen/«er, p.

619

cemented by a fiemigiiicmsy diye-brotro clay.
(Vol. iv, p. 384, 885.) We there find fragmenls
of wood^ In great part monocotj^edoD^ aod
numies of brown fatm. Some lajen (Mow de
Fafa) preMot gnons of very fioe qaarts? I nw
no fir^menlB of porphyry, or limertone. Thoie
Imtnenn beds of eaaditeiie tlwt cover the
JUanM of cteLovrer Oroondko and theAma*
zoo, merit die greatieet atteaitkmof tnurdlmi.
By their aspect they draw near the nagelflnhes
or pnddiiig-stonee of the niolassns soil, in which
calcareow veetiigee are alio often wanting,
(Schottwyl and Dieebacfa/ in Switoerland *) ;
bat they appeared to me by their poeitioa to
have rather a relation to red sandstone. They
can no where be eonfonnded with the gran-
wackes (fiagmentary transition-rocks) which
MM* BoDssingaiiilt and fivreiti'f- foond along

4t9). Layenof fCfrf Am roimdedgseiit'of ifwvtsafe in-
iStrnd in the Me ^mde oTThiirbgiB, (Fneiakhen, Vol. hr,
p. 97) ttnd in Upper Sileaift (Ooytoniai, Beich. van Ober^
sehktun, p. 110).

* Bhimier, AnmHtn 4tr ailgem. siAiteh. GesdMiaft, P. I.
p. 49.

t Tkow traTelleTB -not oi^ lerelled their route by means
of ihe barometer^ but alio dttermhied the position of a great
number of points by meridian obserrations of the Sun and
Canopus^ and by the use of a thne-l^eeper. 1 shall here
trunscribe some liAitudes thvt are Tery uncertara on our
maps : Maracay^ lOo 16' 58'^ ; San Cartes, 9o W 10^; Bar-
quisimeto, 9» 64^ 35" } Tocuyo, 9'' 16^ 61 " -, TruxiUo,

Ii20

the Conlillcras of New Grenada, bordering the
steppes on the west. Does the want of frag-
ments of granite, gneiss, and porphyry, and the
frequency of petrified wood *, sometimes dico-
tyleilons, indicate that those sandstones beloii;
to more recent formations, which fill the plum
between the Cordilleras of Parime and the
shore, as the molassus of Switzerland fills the
space between the Jara and the Alps } 1 dis-

»" 50' 36" } Famplona, 7° 17' 3". The foUowiag ue the
namcf of the towns which MM, Uonuingnult, RWero, inA
myself have obscrred at diffierait epochms. but not ahnyi
ia the same setllemento. The firai iBlitude U thatiriiiAl
have publisheil ; (he second, that of the twro irarellen I hftte

621

cussed this problem in another work * ; but the
materials hitherto collected are too incomplete.
It is not easy, when several formations are not
yet developed, to pronounce on the age of are-
nacious rocks. Even in Germany, the classic
soil of geognosy, the most able observers are
not agreed on the sandstone of the Black Fo-
rest, and of the whole country south-west of
Thuringer-Waldgebirge. M. Boussinganlt, who
passed through a part of the steppes of Veneasu-
ela long after ine, is ^f opinion that the stmd*
stone of the Lianas of San Carlos^ that of the
valley of San Antonio of Cucuta^ and the table-
lands of Barquisimeto, Tocuyo, Merida^ and
Truxillo, belong to a formation of anlient red
sandstone^ or coal. There is in fiict real coal
near Carache, south-west of Paramo de las
Rosas.

Before a part of the immense plains of Atne-
rica was geognostically examined/ it might
have been supposed that their uniform and
continued horizontality^ was owing to alluvial
soilsp or at least to arenacious tertiary soils.
The sands which in the country qf the Baltic,
and in all the north of Germany cover coarse
limestone and chalk, seem to justify these sys-
tematic ideas, which have not failed to be ex-

* Sur ie g'uement dts roJie^ dans le$ dtujc Mmisphlrcg, p.
230.

tendrd to the Sahara, and the steppe^ of Ads.
But the observations which we have beea able to
colli-'ct, Ruflice tu prove that in both worlds, the
pitiiiis, the ateppes, ami the desarts, cootaioa
great number of formatioDS of different ages,
and tliat those formations often appear with-
out beiug covered by alluvial deposits. The Ju*
riv-limestone, gem-saltj (plaios of the Meta and
Pataj^niaJ and coal sandstone, are found in tbe
Llanos of South America i the quadersaud-
stone * (desart between the Arkansas aod tbe
Canadian river; River Plata), a saliferous soil,
beds of coal*^, (declivity of the AU^haniest
baidts of the Ohio), and limesCooe vith ^ triio*

* Long. Expedition, Vol. ii, p. 293. Tbe physiogTioinj
of tbcM rocki cut in walls and pyramidi, or divided in
rhombM blodcs, mmus no doubt to cbarmcteirae tbe qntder-
sanditone ; but the aandatone of the euteni deeliTitya^lfce
Rnckjr Mauntain, in wbidi tbe kamnd IrnveUcrHr.JMiei,
Ibanl Hlt-aprlngs (ttefa), \Kf*n at gyfuaa, aad ao coal,
(L. e, VoL a, p. 397, 404,) appear rather to bdong to Ta-
Floated sandstone (bunit tatiditm),

f Z. e Vol. i, p. IS, Tbii coal inuucdlatelj' corm, as
In Bt^noi, (he gramraAe, or transitlon-«uubioae.

t C. «., Vol. i, P.14T. In tko plaiu nTllie Upper MiaHny
the luDcatone ii incii^iwtely oorcnd by a McoDdaij lisae-
•lone wiUi tvnituUa^ IteUevcd to be junaaic, while a lime-
atone with ^;ypheei, rich in lead-ore, and which 1 sbonld
ba*e believed to be Btitl more antient than ouCtbic limestone
and analogoui to tiai, is, according to Mr. James, {L. c,
VU. fi, p. 41t,) ^aced above the moat recent fonaatioB of
■anditone. Has tbia superposition been well ascertained?

€83

biteB (Missou^y above Coyneil Bloff^ fill the
va*t pUdns of LouisUma and Canada. In ex-
amining the rocks which the inde&tigable
CaillMd has collected in the Lybian desart^
and in the Oasis of SiWa^ we recognize sand-
stone similar to that of Thebes ; fragments oi
petrified dicotyledon wood (fixun 80 to 40 fioet
long), with rudiments of branches and medul-
lary concentric lajrers, coming perhaps from
tertiary sandstone with lignites * ; chalky with
spatanges and anachyteiB^ limestone (Jurassic)
with nummulites partly agatized; another
llmestenewith snotd) graiM^f aaijpfeyed in the
MnBtrudtioQ tif the terapk ^ Jofnter Ananon
(Dm la^Beydah) ; mud geasalt with SnlplHir sttd
bitumen %. 'nvsse examples ^liffioiently prove
itM tJhe ^iaiiis.^ (LimmJ sttppesi emd dcmrts,
bat« ttot that iiiiif*rtnity of tertiarjr rocks
wiiidb has been lo^ geniMdly 8Q(vposed. Do
t!ie&ie pieMS>eftibbotted*5eqier/'or|wiUe«^
£gypt, *whleh VL Booplawl picked «|i in the

* fohnation of ibollitoQi.

t tt.tib Btfbb jttttiy MMM}tdi«8 \t tUt MMM17 liiiMIOfM)
^bick YteMJblBii th^ miMt bf FllMft, and dkDoMic fafccottic
Iprlmular ^^i^ oontool with the iQ^teioMlc <giaiite ^tf Em-
dtfSM, is « modification t>f the limettone with niiiBiniilites of
Siwa ? The primftive mountains from whieh the maiUe
widi small gtains was believed to be ettracted, If there is no
d^<^tion In Its ^gfatatiter appearance, ate far diMuii Item
tbeOlMliibfShrft.

savntitinlis of Mni-culona (ncnr CurataqmclK),
belong ti) tlu: sandstone of the Llanos of CaU-
liozo, or to n soil superposed on that sandstonet
The foi-mer of these suppositions would ap-
proacli, according to the analogy of the obser-
vations made hy M. Rozicre in E^pt, tbe
sandstone of Calabozo of tertiary nageffinke.
(Vol. vi, p. 49).

VII. FOR.MATI0.N OF COMPACT LIMESTONE OF CUM A-
NACOA.

A blueish-grey compact limestone, almost
destitute of petrlfnctiona, often crossed by small
■^ of carbu rated lime, forms monnt^nswitli

626

iron-ore, spathic iron, (Vol^ iv, p. 384,) and
even rock-crystal * ; and as subordinate layers^
1st. numerons strata of carburated and slaty
marl, with pyrites (Cerro del Cuchivano, near
Cumanacoa); 2d. quartzons sandstone, alter-
nating; with very thin strata of clayey slate.
(Qnetepe, south of Cumana; Cerro del Impos-
sible; table-land of Cocollar; Cerro de Saca.
Muiteca, near Catuaro, probably, also the basin
of Guarda de San Agustin, and the Purgat6rio).
This^ sandstone contains springs. . In general it
only covers the limestone of Cumanacoa^ but
it appeared to me to be sometimes inclosed
(Vol. iri, p. 11, 23, 94, 181>; 3d. gypsum with
sulphur, near Guire,^ in the Golfo Triste, on the
coast of P^a (Vol. iv, p. 386). As 1 did. not
examine odl the spof the position of this yellow-
ish-white gypsum with small grains, I cannot
pronounce with certainty on. its relative age.
The only petrifactions of shells^ which I found
in this limestone formation, are a heap of tur-
binites and trochites on the flank of Turimi-
quiri, at more than 680 toises high, and an
ammonite seven inches in diameter, in the
Montana de Santa Maria, north north-west of
Caripe. I no where saw the limestone of Cu^
manacoaj of which 1 treat specially in this ar-

* Tbe zechstein of Gross-Oenner in Thuringia^ also iu«
closes rock-crystal. Fmeslehen, Vol. iii^ p. 17.
VOL. VI. 2 T

&2()

licle, repose on tlie sandstone of the LMitun ; if
this superposition takes place, it must be found
in descending the table-laud of Cocollar tow^
ards the Mesa of Aoaana. On tbe soatboi
coast of tbe gulpb of Cariaco, the limestou
formation (Punta Delgada), probably cove^
withont tbe interposition of auotber rock,
micaslate that passes to carburated claysla
In the nortbem part of tbe gulph I saw di^
tinctly this clayey formation at the depth oi tit
or three fathoms in tbe sea. The sub marine hqf
springs (Vol. iii, p. 199) appeared to me ta gush
from ntica8late,Iike tbe petroleumofMaaiquares
(Vol. li, p. 290). If any doubts remain as to the
rook OQ which the limestone o^ (hmanacoa is
immediately superposed, there ib none respect-
ing the rocks which cover it, such w IsU. the
tertiary limestone of Cumana, near Pugt» Del*
gada, and at Cerro de Meapire (Vol. iii^p* Wl)i
2d. the sandstone of Quetepe and Turimiqvirii
which forming layers also in tbe limestooe of
Cumanacao, belongs properly to tbe laltersoil;
the limestone of Caripe, which we have often
identified} in -the course of this work, with Ju-
rassic limestone, and of which we sb^l apeak
in the following article.

VIII.FOBMATION OF COMPACT LIMESTONE OF CARIPE.

In descending the Cuchilla of Guanaguam
towards the convent of Caripe, we find another

627

more recent for laaticm^ wfaite^ with smooth frac-
ture, or imperfectly conchoid^ at^d divided in ireiry
tfain layers, which (Vol. iii, p. 107,) succeeds to
the bhtidi^'gny limestane/tnjiationofCkimanacoa.
I call tins in the first instance the Hmestant
fmrmatioa q^ Caripe, on account of the cavem
of that name which is inhabited by thousands
ef noctomal iNurds. This limestone appeared
to me idffltical, 1st. with the limestone of Marro
de fiarcdona^ and the Chimaaas Islands (Vol.
iii, p. S65 ; Vol. Ti, p. j80) which contains snail
layers of Idaok tUsekchi^er, (slaty jasper,) destir
tnte of yeuis of (jpiartz, and bneaking into fing--
ments of paraUelopid form ; 2d. with whitish-
grey limestone, with »nooth fracture of Hsnao,
whioh seems to co^er the sandstcme of the
Uanos (Vol. iv, p. 386). We £nd the /ormar
Ham i^Canpem the Island of Cui)a (between^the
fiayamiah and Batabano^ and HbetWeen ithe port
4Xf Trinidad and Rk> OnauijaboX as in the idets
^>tbe Caymans.

i have hitherto described the secondary
limestODe- formations of the chain of the shore,
without giving them the systematic names
wiiidi may connect ithem with the formations
nf Europe. During my stay in America, I took
the limestone of Cumanacoa for zechstein, or
alpine limestone^ and that of Caripe iov Jurassic
limestone. The carbu rated and slightly bitu-
minous marl of Cumanacoa, analogous to the

2t2

IS' J

628

layers of bituminous slate, which are very no-
nierous • in the Alps of South Bavaria, apt)eaf^
ed to me to characterize the former of th(
formations; while the dazzling whiteness
the cavernous soil of Caripe, and the fonn
those steps of rocks rising in walls and cor-
nises, brought strongly to ray mind the Ju-
rassic limestone of Streitbcrg, in Franconia, or
of Oitzow, and Krzessowice, in I'ppei" Silcwa.
There is a suppression in Veneznela of the dif-
ferent soils, which, in the antient continent,
separate zechsteiu from jura-!iinet;toiie. The
sandstone- of CocoUar, which sometimes covers
the limestone of Cumanacoa, may be consider-
ed as variegated sandstone ; but it is more pro-
bable that in alternating by layers with the
limestone of Cumanacoa, it is sometimes re-
pulsed to the upper limit of the formation to
which it belongs. The zechstein of £arope
also contains very quartzous sandstone -t*. The
two limestone soils of Cumanaco and Caripe
succeed each other immediately, like the alpine
and jura limestone on the western declivity of
the Mexican table-land, between Sopilote, Mes-
cala, and Tehuilotepec. These formations per-
haps pass from one to the other, so thai iht

* I fouDd them also ia the Peruvian Andes, near MonlaD,
at 1600 toises high.

+ Ste my Geogn. Essay, p. 367.

629

latter may be only an upper shelf of zechstein.
This immediate covering *, this suppression of
interposed soils, this simplicity of structure, and
absence of oolithic lajrers^ have been equally ob-
served by able geognosts, in Upper Silesia and
in the Pyrenees -f-. On the other hand, the im-
mediate superposition of the limestone of Cu-
manacoa on mica-i^ate and transition clayslate,
the rarity of the petrifications which have not
yet been sufficiently examined, the layers of
silex passing to lydian stone, may lead to the
belief that the soils of Cumanacoa and Caripe
are of a much more antient formation than the
secondary rocks. We must not be surprised
that the doubts of the geognost, when obliged
to' decide on the relative age of the limestone of
the high mountains in the Pyrenees, the Appe-
nine^ (south of the lake of Perugia,) and in the
Swiss Alps, extend to the lime-stone soils of the
high mountains of New Andalusia, and every
where in America where the presence of red
sandstone is not distinctly recognized.

IX. SANDSTONE OF BERGANTIN.

Between Nueva Barcelona and las Cerro del
Bergantin (Vol. vi, p. 162) a quartzous sand-

♦ L. c.p. 281^201.

t Cart von'Oeyhausen, p. 258. 450 j Charpeniier, p. 444,
446.

630

stone covers the (jumssic) limestone of Camf*
nacoB. Is it an arenacious rock, analogous to
gre^t santiitone, or does it belong to the s&Q^
stone of Cocollar f In the latter case, its pre-
sence seems to prove still more clearly, that
the limestones of Cumanaco and Caripe art
only two parts of the same system^ alteroatiag
with sandstone, sometimes qnartzous, sotoft*
times slaty.

X. OYPSUM OF THE LLANOS OF VENKZUELA.

Deposits of lamellar gypsum, containing' nu-
merous layers of marl, are found by fragments
in the steppes of Caraccas and Barcelona; for
instance, in the tabte-land of San Diego, be-
tween Ortiz and JHesa de Ptija; near the
mission of Cachipo. They appeared to me to
cover the (Jurassic) limestone of Tisnao, which
is analagoQs to that of Caripe, where we find
it mixed with masses of fibrous gypsum (Vol.
iv, p. 386; Vol. vi, p, 49). I have not giveH
the name oi formaiions, either to the sandstone
of the Oroonoho, or that of Cocollar^ to the
sanilstone of Bergantiti, or the gypsum of the
Llanos, because nothing hitherto proves the
htdependcnce of those arenacious and gypsotis
soils. I presume it will one day be ascertained
that the gypsum of the Llanos covers not only
the (Jurassic) limestone, of the Llanos, but Is

631

sometimes enclosed in it like the gypsum of
Golfo Triste on the east of the (Alpine) lime-
stone of Cumanacoa. I'erhaps the great masses
of sulphur (VoL iii, p. 104 ; Vol iv, p. 50, 386)>
found in the layers, almost entirely clayey, of
the steppes (Guayuta ; valley of San Bonifeuno;
Buen Ptetor ; confluence of the Bio Pao with
the Oroonoko), belong to the marl of the gyp-
sum of Ortiz P These clayey beds are so much
more worthy of the attention of travellers, since
the fine observations of M. de Buch, and several
other celebrated geognostSi on the ciwemmUy
of gypsum, the irregularity of the inclination of
its strata^ and its parallel position with the two
declivities of Haras, and the (heaved-up) chain
of the Alps, on the simultaneous presence of
sulphur, oligist iron *, and the sulphurous acid
vapours which preceded the formation of sul-
phuric acid, seem to mamfest the action of
forces that reside at a great depth in the in-
terior of the globe ^,

* GypMm wilh oligUl tnm la the Tsriegated itndstone,
BOQth of Dftt (dqMurlment of the Landes).

f Leopold von Buch, Besultate geogn. Forsch., 1824^ p.
471-473. Friedrich Hoftnann, Beitr. xur geogn. Kenntnist von
NorddeutsMand, 1822, Vol. i, p. 86, 93. Bou^, Mim. sur
IM terroins $econd. du venant nord des ^Ips, p. 14. Frdei-
Uben, Kupferichiefer, 1809, Vol. ii, p. 124. Boeislak, Geol,
iTdl. i, p. 265.

\l. lOKM.VTlON OF MrRlATIFEHOUS CLAY (wiTH
lUriMEN AND LAMELLAR GYPSUM) OF THE «-
MN>ll V iF A3.\YA.

i>.-.< i-. ■.'. iiTTTseiits a Striking analogy with

■:.:.':->'.-.r .■■.--':fr-*M"n (muriatiferous clay), which

*. :.»•■; -i7r:'<(:Eted as accorapanyiDg gem-salt in

... .,.;.,. • I- -v^ salt-pits of Araya (Har^a),

;.ii; ::--ii::-- :ie artention of Peter Martyr

■ :_;■!. i--i. i: -::^ btsiiiiiing of the 16th cen-

■: ■ " .. . .'. i"4 It probably fecQitated

■ i;'i'i:~ . "iitf jufh. lad the formation of the

, ■:::'.: i ," ;i-in.-,'. Pie dav is of a smoky co-

v.:v •'.^'•-•^\\iix:-i YTii perr'jleiiiii. mingled with

633

difficulties in both hemispheres : these masses,
of which the forms are very irregular, display
traces every where of great commotions. They
are scarcely ever covered by independent forma-
tions ; and after having long been believed on
the continent of Europe, that gem-salt was ex^
dusively.pe^^uliar to alpine and transition lime-
stone/ it i& now still more generally admitted,
either from reasonings founded on analogies,
or from suppositions on the prolongation of the
layers, that the real position of gem-salt is
found * in variegated sandstone {hunte sand*
stein). Sometimes gem-salt appears to oscil-
late from variegated sandstone towards mus-
chelkalk.

I made two. excursions on the peninsula of
Araya. In the former, I was inclined to con-
sider the muriatiferous clay as subordinate to
the agglomerate (evidently of tertiary forma-
tion) of Barignon and of the mountain of the
castle of Cumana, because a little to the north

• See Klemschrod, in Ltimh. Tatckenb. 1821^ Vol. i, p.
148. Humboldif Estai geogn, p. 271. Hantmann, Jung'ers
fiozgeb., p. 177. Perhaps the gem-salt oscillates from
variegated sandstone^ at the same time towards alpine lime-
stone (zechstein), and towards muschelkalk. An excellent
geognist, M. Oeyhausen, places it in the lower layers of
muschelkalk. {Karsten, Archiv,, 1824^ St. 8^ p^ 11). See
also MM. de Decker^ Oeyhaiuen^ and la Roche in HerthOj
B. 1, p. 27.

634

of that castle I had found shelves of hardened
day *, containing lamellar ^psum incloMd in
tertiary soil (Vol. iii, p. 11). I believed tbat
the muriatiferouB clay might alternate with the
calcareous agglomerat ofBarignon; and near
the fishers' huts situated opposite Macanao,
agglomerate rocks appeared to me to ptene
the strata of clay. In a second excarnim to
Maniquarez and the olaminiferous slates of
Chaparuparu (VoL vi, p. 93), the connexion be-
tween tertiary soil and bituminous clay, seemed
to me somewhat problematical. I ezamined
more particularly the spot oiPenas negratvxiat
the Cerro de la Vela, E. S. £. of the mined
castle ot" Aravii. The limestone of the Pti

«36

kalk (limestone of Oottingae), and the mlife-
fous and bitummoag day of Araya as repre-
TCnting variegated sandttanei but these pro-
blems can only bd solved when the mines of
those eoontries toe votked. Some geognosts,
who believe that the gemsalt of Italy penetrates
ihU^h sell above the jofa limeatone, and even
chalks, may be led to take the liiiiestotie of
Peiiae NegfOi^eftab of the layers of compact
limestone, destitute of grains of quartz and
petrificationg, which we i&eet with f^qnently
amidst the teftiitry aggkmemte cf Barignon^
and of Castfno de CnmanA ; the salitoons clay
of Amya, would appear to them analogoas to
the ptastit eloff of Paris ; or to the clayey
Selves (dief et tonttla) of secondaiy sandstone
with ligaites, which cMitain salt-sprhigB, in iBeK
gidm and Westphalia 4^. However difficult it
may be td distingoish iepataiefy the layers of
marl and tfoy belonging to variegated sand-
Mcne, muschelkalk, quadersandstone, Jurassic
limestone, secondary sandstone with lignites
(green and iron sand), and to the tertiary soil
above ebalk, I believe that the bitumen which
every where accompanies gemsalt, and most

• TettUry sambtdne with ligaitefl^ or molaatus of Ar-
gOTia.

i Manuscript notes of BtM. Dechea and Oeybansen (See
also Buff, in NoggenUh, RheMomd Wet^. Vol. iii^ p. 63).

6:^6

frequently ^jalt-spriugs, chaiucterizes tlie mu-
riatifurous clay of the peninsula of Araya,&atf
the island of Marguerita, as linked with fisrma-
tions placed below the tertiary soil. I do not
say that they are anierior to that soil, tor
since the publication of M. de Bach's' observa-
tions on the Tyrol, it is uo longer permitted to
consider what is below, in space, as necessarily
anterior, relatively to the epocha of its forma-
tion.

The bitumen and petroleum still issue, as
we have shewn above (Vol. W, p. 290 ; Vol. vi,
p. 97), from micaslate; these substances are
ejected whenever the soil is shaken by a 8ul>-

687

stantly anhydrous) are the effect of overflowings
across the cretrices which have traversed the
oxidated crust of our planet, and penetrated to
the seat of volcanic action. The enormous
masses of muriate of soda (chlorure de sodium)
recently thrown up by Vesuvius*^ the small
veins of that salt which I have often seen tra-
verse the most recent lithoide lavas, : and of
which the origin (by. sublimation) appears
similar to that of oligist iron deposited in the
same vents -f*, the shelves of gem-salt and sali-
ferous clay of the trachytic soil in the plaina
of Peru, and around the volcano of the Andes
of Quito:}:, are well worthy the attention of
geologists who would discuss the origin of for-
mations. In the sketch which I here trace,
I confine myself to . the simple enumeration of
the phenomena of position^ indicating at the
same time some theoretic views by whidi ob-
servers placed in more advantageous circum-
stances than I was myself^ may direct their
researches.

* Laugier and Gailla^ in the Annates du Mus,, 6e annte,
No. 12, p. 485. . The ejected masses in ldStl2, were so con-
siderable, that the inhabitants of some villages round; Vesu-
vius, collected them for their domestic use.

f Gay-iiUssaCj on the action of volcanos^ in the /inn, de
chimie. Vol. xxii, p. 418.

t See my geogn. Essay^ p. 261.

XII. AGGI-OMERATE LIMESTONE OP BARIGON, THB
CA8TLB OP CUMANA, AND THE VICINm' OF PORTO
CABBUX).

Tbi8 is a very complex formatitm ; present-
ing that mixture and that periodical return of
compact limestone, of qnarzous sandstone, and
of agglomerats (limestone brecbia) which pe-
culiarly characterizes, under every zone, the
tertiary sml. It forms the mountain of the
castle of Saint Antonio, near the town of Cu-
Hiana, the south-west extremity of the penin-
snla ef Araya, the Cerro Meapire, south of
Carf aeo, and the vicinity of POrto CabeHo (VdL
ii, p. 2fi4, 290 ; Vol. ii^ p. 10, 181. 406; Vol.
IT, p. 207 1 V<A. vU p. 96). It contaioa 1* a
compact limestone, generally of a wlutlflb
gr^, or yellowish white {Cerro de Barigm), ^
ifbicb some very thin ehrfves are entirely desti-
tute of petHficationa, while others are filled
with cardites, ostracites, pectens, and vesHges
of Ilthophyte polypieri : '2^ a brechia in which
an iqitymerable nujnber of pelagip shells are
found inixedwith grains of cpi^^z aggiutinated
by a cement of caH>onate ef lime; 3" a caka-
reous sandstone with very fine rounded grmns
of quartz (Punta Arenas, west of the village of
Maniquarez), and containing masses of brown
iron ore : 4*^ shelves of marl and slatey clay

6S9

destitute of spangles of mica, but inclosing sele-
nite and lamellar gypsum* These shelves of
clay appeared to me to form constantly the
lower layers. There also belongs to tbli ter^
tiary soil, the limestone tuf (fresh water forma*
tion) of the vailies of Aragua (Vol. iv, pu IQO^
186)^ near Victoria, and the fiagmentary rock
of Cabo Blanco, at the west of the, port of bi
Guayra. I dare not designate the latter by the
name of nagelfluhe, because that word kidi^
eates rounded fragments, while the ficagmenta
pf Caba Blanco are generally angnlar, and
compesed of gneiss, hyalin quarts, and diloriit-
ous slate, joined by a limestone o^nent. This
cement contains magnetic sand *^ madreporites,
and vestiges of bivalve pelagic shells. .The
diiferent fragments of tertiary soil which I
found in the Cordillera of the shore of Vene-
zuela, on the two slopes of the northern cbai%
seem to be superposed near Cumana (be-
tween Bordones and Punta DelgadaX in the
Cerro of Meapire, on the (alpine) limestone of
Gumanacoa ; between Porto Cabello and the
Rio Guayguaza, as well as in the vailies of
Aragua, on granite ; on the western declivity
of the hill formed by the Cabo Blanco, on

* The magnetic sand is no doubt owing to chkNritous
slate, which, in these latitudes, forms the bottom of the sea.
Vol. iu, p. 404 ; Vol. vi, p. 610.

G40

giieiss ; and in the peninsula orArafa/on salT
ferous clay. Tins latter mode of position is
perhaps but a simple opposition*. If we
wonld range the different merabei-s of the ter-
tiary series according to the age of their for-
mation, we ought I believe to regard the bre-
chia of Caho Btatico, with fragments of primi-
tive rocks, OS the most ancient, and make it be
succeeded by the arenaclous limestone of the
castle e^Ciimana, destitute of horned silex, yet
somewhat analogous to the (coarse) limestone
of Paris, and the frah utter soil of f'ictoria.
The clayey gypsum, mixed with calcareous
brechia with madrepores, cardites, and oysters,
which I found between Carthageoa and the
CeiTo -de la Popa, and the equally recent
limestonea of Guadaloupe, and Barbadoes "f-,
(limestones filled with pelagic shells resem>
bling those that now exist in the Caribbean
sea) prove that the tertiary soil (soil of upper
sediment), extends far towards the west and
north.

These recent formations, so rich in vestiges
of organized bodies, furnish travellers who are

* An-nicil ^ufiagerung, according to the precise lan-
guage of the geognosts of my country.

+ Moreau de JDnii^s, Hist. phy>. dei jlnhtle* franc. Vol.
i, p. W4. Brotigniart, Descr^t. giol. des environs de Parit,
1822, p. SOI.

641

&miliarised with the zoological character of
rocks, a vast field of observation. : To examine
these vestiges in the layers superposed as by
steps, the one on' the other, is to study the
Faunes of different ageSy and compare them. to-
gether. The geography of animals traces the
limits in space according to the diversity of
climates, which determine the actual state of
vegetation on our planet. The geology of or-
ganised bodies, on the contrary, is a fragment
of the history of nature, taking the word his-
tory in its proper acceptation : it describes the
inhabitants of the earth according ta the suc-
cession of time. ' We may recognise in mu-
seums, kinds and species; hut the Faunes of
different ages, the predominance of certain
shells, the numerical relations that characterize
the animal kingdom, and the vegetation of a
place, or of an epocha, should be studied in the
sight of those formations. It has long appeared
to me * that in the tropics as well as in the
temperate zone, univalve shells are much more
numerous (in their species) than bivalves. From
this superiority in number, the organic fossil
world furnishes, in every latitude, a further
analogy with the intertropical shells that now
live at the bottom of the ocean. In fact, M.

. • Essai geogn, p. 42.
VOL. VI. 2 V

64« ^^^B

Defrance, in a work • full of new aiul ingauom
ideas, not only recognizes this preponderance
of the univalves in the number of kinds ; but
also observes, that in 5500 foSBil species of
univalve, bivalve, and mulHvatve shells, cihi-
tained in his rich collections, there are 3066
univalve, 2108 bivalve, and 326 mtdilvalve ; the
univalve fossils are therefore to the bi\'alre =
3:2.

Xni. FORMATION OP PTBOXEMIC AMTaDALOIltt
AND PHOneUTK, BETWEEN OWtlZ AND CBRRO DB
rLOItfcB.

I place at the end of the formations of Vene-
zuela the pyroxenic ainygdaloide soil, and the
phonolithic {porphyrsckiefer), not as being the
only rocks which I consider as pyrogenoas,
but as those of which the entirely volcanic
origin is probably posterior to tertiary soil.
This result is not owing to the observatitms I
made at the southern declivity of the Cordillera
of Uie shore, between the Morros of San Juan,
Parapara, and the Llanos of Calaboao. Id
that region, local circumstances- would rather
lead us to regard the amygdaloides of Ortis as
linked to a system of transition rocks (amphi-
bolic serpentine, diorite, and carburated slate

t Table of organised fowil bodies^ 1814, p. 51-^ ISb.

64S

oi MalpasBo) which . I described above * ; but
the imiptkMi of the trachytes across Mcks pos-
terior to chalk in the Emfim^ieB,' and in other
parts of Ekirope^ joined to the phepoBien<m of
the total abMBce ^rf* fragments of pjmoenrc
porphyry, tfach3rte^ basalt, and phonolithe -fs
in the conglomerate, qr fragmentary rocks an-
terior to the most recent tertiary soils, renders
it probable that the appearance of ini^an
rocks at the snf&ce of the soil^ ia tiis effeet of
one of the last revolutions of oitr pteek, even
where the irroptiob has taken place by crevices
(veins) which cross the gneiss-granite^ or tran^
sition rocks, not covered by secondary and ter-
tiary formati(ms«

The small volcanic soil of Ortiz, (lat. 9^ 28"
— S'' 36") forms the antient du>re of the vast
basin of the Llanos of VeneBuelSr; it is com^
posed on the points wheie I <H>ttld iBsnmtne it,
- of <mly twa kinife of rocks>- namely, of amygda-
loide and ph<molithe (Vol. iv, pi 281, &c.) The
•greyish bine amygdaloide contains fendilated
crystals of pyroxene and mesotype. It forms

• Vol. ▼!, p. 61S.

t The fragments of these rocks appear only in tufs, or
agglomerats> which belong essentially to basaltic soil, or
surround the most recent Tolcanos. Every Tolcanic forma-
tion is enveloped in hrechia, which is the effect of the iitup-
tion rUxUfi^LeoipfHd von Buck, RuuUate geogn, Fanck,
p. Stl.

2u2

bfUls with concentric layiii-s, of which CM flat-'
teiied centre is nearly as hard as basalt. Nei-
ther olivine aor ainphibole can be distinguished.
Before it appears like an independent soil, and
rises in small conic hills, the amygdaloid^
seems to altcrrmte by layera with the diorite,
which we have seen above mixed with carbu-
ratcd sJEtle, and amphibolic serpenliqe. Tliese
close relations of rocks so different in appear-
ance, and so fitted to embarrass the geognosy,
give a gi-eat interest to the vicinity of OrtU|.
If the masses of diorite and amygdaloide which
appear to ub to he layers, are very large veins,
they may be supposed to be formed and
heaved up simultaneously. We are now ao-
quaiated with two formations of amygdaloide;
«ne, the most common, is subordinate to ba-
saltic soil ; the other, much more rare *, belongs
to pyroxenic porphyry -(-. The amygdaloide of
Oriit drawjs near, by its oryctognostic chs^ac-
ters, to the former of those formations, and we
are almost surprised to find it fixed, not to
basalt, but to phonolitej;, an eminently feld-

* We GdiI examples of the latter io Norway (Vardekullea,
near Skeen), in the mouaCains of Tburingerwold, in Sputh
Tyrol, at llefeld in Harz, and at Bolanns ia Mexico, &c.

+ Black porphyries of M. de Buch.

t There are pholoaitbcs of baaaltic soil (the most ao-
"tiently known) and phonolithea of trachytic soil (Andes of
Mexico). See my Geogn. £ssay, p. 347. The former are

645

spathic rock, in which we find some crystals of
amphiboly but pyroxene very rarely^ and never
any olivine. The Cerro of Floi*e8 is a hill co-
vered with tabulary blocks of greenish grey
pfaonolithe, inclosing long crystals (not fiendi--
lated), of vitrons feldspar, altogether analogous
to the phonolithe of Mittelgebirge. It is sur-
rounded by pyroxenic amygdaloide ; it would
no doubt be seen in the depths issuing imme-
diately from gneiss-granite, like the phonolithe
of Bitiner Stein in Bohemia, which contains
fragments of gneiss stuck into the mass.

Does there exist in South America another
groope of rocks, designated preferably by the
name of volcanic rocks, and which are as dis-
tinct from the chain of the Andes, and advance
as far towards the east, as the groupe that
bounds the steppes of Calabozo? Of this I
doubt, at least in that part of the continent
situated to the northward of the Amazon. I
have often directed the attention of geognosts
to the absence of pyroxenic porphyry, trachyte,
basalt, and lavas (I range these formations
according to their relative age), in the whole
of America eastward of the Cordilleras. The

generally above the basalts; and the extraordinary deve<
lopement of feldspar in that union, and the want of pyrox-
ene have always appeared to me very remarkable pheno-
mena.

existeace even of trachyte has not yet been

verified in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, which
lioks the Andes w^ith the chain of the shore of
Venezuela. It would seem as if the votcanic
fire, after the formation of primitive rocks,
ODuld not pierce into eastern America (Vol. vt,
p. 583). Perhaps the little wealth, and the
little frequency of argentiferous veins observed
in those countries, arises from the absence of
more recent volcanic phenomena*. M. d'Escb-
wege saw at Brazil, some layers (veins?) of
diorite, but neither trachyte, basalt, doleiite,
nor amygdaloide ; and he was therefore more
surpriaed to see, in the vicinity of Rio Janeiro,
an insulated mass of phonoUtbe, entirely uroilar
to that of Bohemia, pierce the gneisG b(h1-(-. I
am inclined to believe that Ameriia, on the
east of the Andes, would have burning volcanos
if, near the shore of Venezuela, Guyana, and
Brazil, the series of primitive rocks were inter-
rupted trachytes. The trachytes, by their fen-
dillation, and open crevices, seem to establish
that permanent communication between the
surfiuse of the scul and the interior of tbe globe,
which is the indispensable condition of tbe
existence of a volcano. If we direct our course
from tbe coast of Paria, by the gneiss-granite

; * See mj geogn. Essay, p. IIB, 120.
i Manuscript notes of Baron d'Eschwege.

647

of the Silla of Caraccas, by the red sandstone
of Barquisimeto aodTocuyo, the slaty moun-
tains of the Sierra Nevada de Merida, and the
eastern Cordillera of Cundinamarcai toPopayan
and Pasto^ taking the rumb of the west and
south-wieist^ we find in the vicinity, of those
towns the first volcanic mouths of the Andes,
still burning, those which are the most northerly
of all South Amerioa; it may be added, that
those craters are fpun4 where the Cordil)eras
begin to furnish trachytes at a distance of 1 8
or 25 leagues from the. actual coast of the Pa-
cific Ocean *. Permanent communications, or
at least such as ara frequently renewed, be-
tween the atmosphere and the interior of the
globe, have^only been preserved along that im-
mense crevice on which the Cordilleras have
been heaped up ; but the subterranean volcanic
forces do not display less activity in eastern
America, in shaking the soil of the Cordillera
of the shore of Venezuela, and of the groupe of
Parime *(*• In jdescribing the phenomena which

* I l>dic¥e the first hypothesea on the relation between
the buroing of volcanoes, and the proxinoity of Uie aea, are
Ibund in a very eloquent work, little li^i^^n, of Cardinal
Bembo : ^ina diahgus (See Opera omnia Petu BemH, Vol.
ill > p. 60) 3 and in Fieenti AUaru Crucu Ftiuvim ardens,
1632, p« 164 and 236).

t See the dassical work oi M. de Hoff, on the spheres of
oscillations, and the limits of earthquakes, bearing the title :

•^

accompanied the great earthquakeof Caraccas*^
the 26th March, 1812, I mentioned the deto-
nations which were heard at different periods,
in the mountains, altogether granitic, of the
Oroonoko. The elastic forces which agitate
the soil, the still-buniing volcanos, the hot
sulphurous springs, sometimes coutainingfluoric
acid/the presence of asphultum and naphtha in
primitive soils, all lead us towards the interior
of our planet, of which the high temperature is

Garhichte ihr not. VeTandrTungen tier Erdolerfiadie. 1824.
Vol. ii, p. 5lfl.

* I stated iQ another place lUe influence which this great
catnstrophe exerted on the counter- resolution which the
royalist parly succeeded in producing at this epocha in
Veneztiela. Nothing ia more curious than the negociation
which was opened on the Sth of April, by the republican
government, placed at Valencia in the vdlies ofArsgoa,
with Archbishop Prnt (Don Norciso Coll y Prat), to eog»ge
him to publish a pastoral letter fitted to tranquillize the
yieople respecting the wrath of the divinity. The Arch-
bishop was permitted to say that this wrath was merited no
account of the disorder of morals j but he was enjoined to
declare positively, that politics and syatematic opinions on
the new social order had nothing in common With it; (dt-
clarrtT que lajuttieia divina a lot mat ha querido eostigar a tot
vicios moralfs, sin que el ttTrettiolo lenga conenon alguna con
hs siitetnas y reformat politicas de Venezuelc). Archbishop
Prat lost his liberty after this singular correspondence.
Bee the official documents, published in Pedro de Vrquinaona,
Reladon dommentada del origen y progretot del trastomo de
lat provincios de Venezuela, 182B, Vol. i, p. 72 — 83) .

649

felt even in our mines of the least depths and
which since Heraclitus of Ephesus, and Anax-
agoras of Clazomane^ to the Plutonism of mo-
dern times, has been considered as the seat of
the great agitations of the globe.

The sketch I have just traced famishes all the
formations we know in that part of Europe,
which has senred as the type of positive geog-
nosy. It is the fruit of a labour of sixteen
months, often interrupted by other occupations.
The formations of quartziferous porphyrj;;, py-
roxenic porphyry and trachyte, of grauwacke,
muschelkalk, and quadersandstein, which are
frequent towards the west^ have not yet been
recognized in Venezuela ; but it may be also
observed that^ in the system of secondary rocks
of the antient continent, muschelkalk and
quadersandstein are not always clearly deve-
loped, and are often by the frequency of their
marls, confounded with the lower shelves of
Jurassic limestone. The muschelkalk is almost
a lias* with encrinite, and quadersandstone (for
there are doubtless many above the lias or
limestones with gryphites) seems to me to re-
present the arenacious layers of the lower
shelves of jurasdic limestone. I thought it my
duty to give an extensive developement to the

* See the judicious reflexions of M. Bou^^ in his Memoir
on the Alps, p. 24.

GdO

geognostic descnption of South America, not
only on account of the interest of novelty which
the study of the formations in the equiaoxial
regions excites, but also on account of the ho-
norable efforts which have recently been made
in Europe to verify and extend the working of
the mines in the Cordilleras of Columbia, Mex-
ico, Chili, and Buenos Ayreg. Great capita
have been formed to attain this useful end. In
proportion as public confidence has enlarged
and consolidated those enterprizes, from which
both continents may derive such solid advan-
tages, it becomes the duty of those who have
acquired a local knowledge of tbese countries,
to publish the materials that are fitted to give a
juit appreciation of the relative riches aad po-
sition of the ore-mises in different parts of
Spaoisb America. The success of the associa-
tion for Ote working of mines, and that of the
labors undertaken by the order of free govem-
megts, ifi far from depending solely on the im-
prorement of the machines employed for drain-
wg off the waters, and extracting the mineral,
on the regular and economical distribntitui of
ihe subterraneous worhs, or the ameliorations of
preptf-tUion, aTMlgamatioH, and melting; the
success d^)ends also on a thorough koowledge
of the different £uper;H)£e(f soils. The practice
of the art of the miner is closely linked with
the progress of geognosy; and it may be proved

651

tbat several millioiui of piastres have been
rashly expended in South Ameriea, firom a
complete ignorance of the nature <^ tlitfonna^
turns, and the position of the roekSy in direct-
ing the labors ^research. It is not solely the-
precious metals which should now fix the at*
tention of the neW associatUms of mm^ ; the
multiplication of steain-engijie9» riders |t in-
dispensable^ i^^rever wood is not abundant, or
of easy transport, to seek at the saone time to
discover coal and Ugfdtes. In thi9 point of
view, the precise knowledge of red wndstone,
or coal-sandstone, quad^wmdstein and mplas-
8US (tertiary formation of lignites), often cover-
ed with basalt and dolerite, is of great practical
importance. It would be difficult for a^ Euro-
pean miner, recently disembarked, to judge of
a country with a new aspect, and when the
same formations cover an immense space* I
flatter m3r8elf that the work I now publish^ as
well as my Political Essay on New Spain, and
my work on the Position of rocks in the two Ae-
mispkeres, will contribute to diminish those ob-
stacles. They may be said to contain the ^st
geognostic knowledge of places of which , the
subterraneous wealth attracts the attention of
commercial naticms, and they will serve to class
the more precise notions which ulterior re-
searches will add to my labors.

The republic of Colombia in its present li-

mits, furnishes a vast field to tlie enterpWrinif
spirit of the miner. Gold, platina, silver, mer-
cury, copper, gem-salt, sulphur, and alum, may
become objects of important workings, "nie
production of gold alone amounted before the
epocha of the civil dissensions*, mean year, to
4700 kilogrammes (20,500 marks of CasdIleX
This is nearly half the quantity furnished by
all Spanish America, a quantity which has an
influence so much more powerful on the vari-
able proportions between the valne of gold and
silver, that the extraction of the former metal
has diminished at Bi'azil, during forty years
past, with sui-prising rapidity. The quint (a
tax which the government raises on gold-wash-
ings), and which in the Capitania of Minas
Geraes, was, in 1756, 1761, and 1767, from
118, 102, and 85 arobas of gold (at 14! kilo-
grammes), is fallen, according to manuscript
notes kindly furnished me by the Baron d'Esch-
wege, director-general of the mines of Brazil, tn
1800, 1813, and 1818, to 30, 20, and 9 arobas;
an arob of gold having at Rio Janeiro, the
value of 15,000 cmzades. According to these
estimations, the ancient produce of the gold
of Brazil, making deductions for fraudulent ex-
portation, was in the middle of the 18th cen-
tury, in the years of the greatest wealth of the

* See mj Folitlcal Easay, Vol. iiij p. 384.

6S3

goU^washingSj 6600 kilogrammes, and in our
days, from 1817 to 1820, 600 kilogrammes less.
In the province of Saint Pkiul, the extraction of
gold has entirely ceased ; in that of Goyaz, it
was 803 kilogrammes in 1793, and in 1819
scarcely 75. In the province of Mato Grosso
it is almost nothing; and M. d*£schwege thinks
that the whole produce of the gold of Brazil
does not amount at present, to more than
600,000 cruzades (scarcely 440 kilogrammes).
I dwell on these precise results, because, in con-
founding the different epochas of the riches and
poverty of the washings of Brazil, it is still
affirmed in all the works that treat of the com-
raerce of precious metals, that a quantity of
gold equivalent to four millions of piastres,
that is 5800 kilogrammes of gold *, flows into

*' The error u^donble^ {Eschwege, Journai vob BranUen, -
Vol. i^ p. 218) ; it Ifl probable that BrazUian goU, paying the
^umt, has not during forty years past, risen to 5500 kilo-
grammes. 1 heretofore- shared this error with all the wri-
ters -on political economy, in admitting, from a memoir of
M. Correa de Serra, otherwise highly instructive, that the
quint in 1810, was still (inste&d of 26 arrobas or 379 kil.)
61,200 Portuguese ounces, or 1433 kil. j which supposed a
product of 7105 kil. (See my Pol. Euay, Vol. iii, p. 394.
Malte Brun, Geogr, Vol. v, p. 675. Lowe, present State of
England, 1822, p. 267.) The very exact information given
from two Portugueze manuscripts on the gold washings of
Minas Grerues, Minas Novas, and Goyaz, in the Bullion Re-
port for the House of Commons, 1B10, ace. p. 29, goes as far

Earope annually, from PortDgueze America.
If, in commercial value, gold in grains prevails
in the republic of Columbia over the value of
other metals, the latter are not on that accoant
less worthy to fix the attention of government,
and individuals. The argentiferous mines of
Saint Anne, to Manta, Santo Cbristo de las
Laxas, Pamplona, Sapo, and la Vega de Sapia,
give rise to gi-eat hopes. The rapidity of the
communioationa between the coast of Colom-

only as 1794, when the firinto do ouro of Brasil was 53 ar-
robas, which indicates a product of more than 3900 kil.
paying the quint. In the important work of Mr. Tooke (on
high and low pricet, P. II, p. 2), this prodnct is atiU esti-
mated, meao /ear (L810— 1821), aceurding to Sir. Jacob,
at 1,738,000 piaatres i while, according to official documcnis
in my possession, the mesn of the quint of those ten yean
amounts only to 15 arrobas, or a product ^inl of 109&
kilogrammes, or 155,000 piastres. Mr. John Allm had al-
ready reminded the Contmittet of the Bullion Report, in his
critical notes on the table of M. Brongniart, diat the de-
crease of Ae product of the gold-washinga of Bra^ had
been extremely rapid since 1794 {Report, p. 44} i and die
notions giren by H. Auguste de Saint Hilaire indicate the
same desertion of the gold-mines of Brazil. The antiat
miners become cultivators (Biat of the t»oH remarkaUt
pUmti of Braxil md Paraguay, 1B24, fntrod., p. O, and 31).
The value of an arrobe of gold is 15,000 crazades of Biaifl,
(each cruiade being 50 sols.) According to H.Pranzini, the
the Portugueze on^ is equal to 0,028 kil., and 8 ODfas
make 1 mark ; 2 marks make 1 avrate), and 32 arratels make
1 arroba.

655

bia, and that of Europe^ gives the iame kiterest
to the copper-mines of Venezvela^ and New
Grenada. Metab aie a laerdMmdize pordnsed
at the price of labour, and an advance of ca-
pital ; in the conntries where they are produced
they form a part of commercial wealthy and
their extraction vivifies indostry in tbe most
barren and mountainous soils. The profits of
mines b^ing from their nature often irregular^
and as an interrnption in the subterranean
labors, while it causes an irreparable loss,
shackles the plans of a prudent administration,
the system of as^dation now applied in Eng-
land to the metallic riches of the New World,
will produce the most happy effects, if these
associations are of long duration, and if the men
invested with their confidence, unite, with the
practical knowledge of the art of the miner,
that of mechanics and modem 4;bemistry ; and
do not disdain to avail themselves of the light
spread in America among men who have fol-
lowed the labors of working and amalgama-

tion; finally, if they know bow to guard
against those illusions which the exaggerated
hope of gain never fails to excite.

In the map of Columbia which I now pul>-
Itsh (Miarch, 1825), the limits are indicated
such as they were when the congress, conform-

imbk Bt!fui% the revolution of the coloaies,
the wbote coaet of the Mosqiutos, from Cope
Gracias a Dios to the Rio Cbogre. compre-
hending the Island San Andres, had been sepa-
rated, by the royal cedule of the 30tb Novem-
ber, 1803, fioni the Capitania general of G»a-
timala, and added to New Grenada. We find,
for the mean extent of a departtneot of Colam-
bia, 7700 square marine leagues; for the mean
extent of a province, 2400 sqnare leagues ; one
of the twelve new departments of Columbia con-
eeqnently exceeds in extent thirty-three times,
and oBe of the thirty-eight provinces twelve
times a department <rf France (Vol. vi, p. 187).
The mean population of a department of
Columbia, of which the surface is equal to
twice that of Portugal, is 232,000 souls^ that is,
half less than the mean population of a depart-
ment of France. Venezuela, that is the antient
Capitania general of Caraccas, has nearly half
the surfece of the actual presidency of Bengal,
but its relative population is thirty-six times
less. Nothing is more striking than this dif-
ference between the antient civilization of
India, and those countries of South America
where mankind appears to be a colony recently
established. In the tables of population of tjie
fine map of Indostau, published by Mr. Carey,
in 1824, under the auspices of Colonel Valentine
Blacker, chief q£. the geographical engineers at

659

Calcutta, the English possessions, and of the allies
of Great Britain, are estimated at 123,000,000 ;
namely : British territory in India, eighty-three
millions ; allies and tributaries, forty millions.
The states which I had considered above (Vol.
vi, p. 336) with Mr. Hamilton, as being inde-
pendent, are become allies of the company.

2x2

^^^^^^^^^1

■■■■■^■^■^^^^^I^^^H^^^^^^^I

^^H

Smtbmkmt «» *UB Hbioht. oy lui. Moar »x^*»K»aiAi3^^

oe VKi,(Bzi;m.A Auovt niK LtVEL of tde Sea. ■

ri.*CEi

?,;e

MAKES or TBE OBICSVSU, >

AND T*BXAT10K».

lOAO raoM La Guavra to Ca-

mACCAl:

M.iqni!li,Mlheentninc«otaic

Tbe whole Ttrnlinp of Ibi! n»d i.

•tCMl tbkt leads tu C>nccu

iBdicaled in thi« MtU fren

Ciirucnti - . -

320

MM. BouaiiDgiiuh & Rircra.

El SaIk., nncirnt fort

479

P«6I(P1. rv. 465 1.)

UVrntt -

61»

(UuD>boldt, 606 t.)

La Cumbrc. tbr highest put

or the roxd

764

Ht., 713 t.

Cnnn-u, m the middle of the

■tract of Cnnbobo

477

Ut., at lliB gnaX m^mn. UC t.

Ettlera Peak of Itw »iUa 0/

Curacciis ■

3S0

Bw»MU,i*-.aS. UW-, Boot

aiufTiiidt ADit Rirvro, (Jan

Boao fhoji Cahaccas to Mr.-

I2:b, 1823;, 1351 iL^i-o.

Hill of BuemiviftA -

83S

Humboldt.

Village of San Pedro

.■>g4

Mnmcrin- in Ibe ».lliea of A™.

590 I.)

giia - - .

223

B.nadK,

LsViclorU .

270

Hf. (R. aBdR.!g4 1.)

NnvTs Vulencia

2,i4

Ht. [B. and R- 247 t.

Villa of Curs

26l\

Humb.

Snn Carlos -

B. and It.

CiUj.boio(lbe sm.ll tsble- Uod ,

weio ID Ibe Llanoa

Ht.

B. and R.

Tocuyo ...

322

B. and R.

Truxfllo

420

B. and R.

MeridB

B. and a.

Psnitno of Muciicbit*. liinitn;

to SieiTB Nevadn dr Moridn

2120

B. and It.

MottNTAiH* OF New Andalu-

CumsDH

Homboldt.

297

Ht.

104

Ht.

Table Ifiud of CorollAT

4Da

Hi.

Summit of Tnrimiquiri

iObO

Ht.. . litUe douhtfnl, trigon. ma

Cucbilta of GiianagugtiA

5ti

Ht.

Convent of Diripe -

412

Ht.

Tuble-land of Gmirda of San

Angnilin -

533

Hi.

Catuaro

lyo

Hi.

SiEHHA Parime and tbe bniihs

of ibc Orooaoko ud tbe Rio

Neero:

Soil of the fon^ata round Jari-

U and tbe EamenUda

ISO

Ht.

ThePeakotDuid. -

Fort o( Sati Cu:\m &>;\ ¥.u]

1300

Negro - - -\ >'a \\\<..,«.\«i.'ift»**.'^\.

661

The barometrical survey, of which I gave the
results in my Collection of Astronomical Obser-
vations (Vol. i, p. 295—298), has been recent-
ly rectified and extended by two travellers well
versed in every branch of the physical sciences,
MM. Boussingault and Rivero. Wherever my
early results differed from theirs, I have given
the preference to the latter. M. Boussingault
has transmitted the detail of his measurements
to the Institute of France. . It must not be for-
gotten, that in my profil of the road from La ,
Guayi-a to Caraccas (PI. iv.) published in 1817,
the heights of Torrequemada, Curucuti, and
Puente del iSalto, are simply founded on ap-
proximative estimates, and not on real mea-
sures. . {Per. Nar.y Vol. iii, p. 409.) At Salto,
la Venta, and Cumbre, M, Boussingault's re-
sults and mine differ but little ; in the measure-
ment of la Silla, which is the loftiest mountain
of those countries, the agreement (accidentally
no doubt), is within one toise ; but in the town
of Caraccas my heights appears less faulty.
I believed the custom-house to be 491 toises;
the barracks, 462 t. ; the Trinity, 454 t. ; the
great square, 446. According to MM. Bous-
singault and Rivero, who are furnished with
excellent barometers of Fortin, the middle of
the street of Carabobo is 477 toises above the
level of the sea. W^c did not measure at the same
parts of the town, and modern travellei-s give

662

tlie bankii of Hio Guayre 406 t., while (if there
is no incorrectness of cyphers in my jounifil) I
found the height 414 t. nearlaNoria(5«ralwTe,
Vol. iii, p. 449). In this uncertainty respecting
the partial results, I have confined myself to tbe
indication in the preceding table, for the torn
uf Caraccas, of tbe kvel of the street ofCarabo-
bo. Tbe agreement of ray observations with
those of MM. Rivero and Boossingault, in the
vallies of Aragua, is very satisfactory, for the
latitudes, as well as for the heights.

Observations made to verify the progress gf the

663

sone^ had beeo conjectured from the begiimiDg
of the 18th century ; and the questions which
the Academy of Science addressed to M. de la
Perouae * tended to explain the part which the
attraction of the moon might have in these pe-
riodical changes. MM. de Lamanon and
MoDges made^ in 1785^ a series of very valuable
observations in the Atlantic Ocean, lafe. P 5^
N. and 1^ 34' 8.^ during three days and three
nights^ from hour to hour^ at a season when the
temperature did not change from night to day
li^ Reaum. : but it remained to verify the
uniformity of the progress of the barometer in
the interior of the continents, in changeable
weather, at various heights above the level of
the sea. The solution of those problems was
the object of a study which I pursued with the
greatest care during four years, north and south
of the equator, in the plains and on the table-
lands of the Cordilleras, at the height of from
1800 to 2100 toises. As no other naturalist has
hitherto had the facility of devoting himself to
those researches on a scale of height so con-
siderable, I shall insert by degrees, in this
work, an extract of my horary observations.
In order to give more interest to those I made
at Venezuela, I have added the barometrical

* Voyage de la Perouse autour du monde, Vol. i, p. 161 -,
Vol. iv, p. 267.

664

hci(^|tfi of Lima, in the southern hemisphere ; of
Sierra Leone ; and of the southern table-land of
India. The following tables fiiniish the horary
variations of the shore of Cmnana, La Guayra,
Peril, the coast of Africa, and the Isle Taiti ;
those of Mysore (400 t.) ; of the valley of Ca-
raccas (480 t.) ; of Ibague, in New Grena-
da, at the foot of the Andes of Quindiu (703 U);
of Popayan (911 t.) ; of Mexico (1168 t.) ; and
of Quito (1492 t.). All these observations are
unpublished, with the exception of those of
Captain Sabine, which I borrowed from the
excellent Meteorology of M. Daniell (His. Es-
says, 1823, p. 254).

665

HvRABY VA»uTio!it AT Cdmama, nob. LAT. 10* 27 fi2"
HBiOBT. 16 ToiBBs. {OiitreaHont of MM. Humboldl am

JULV 1799.

JULY 1799.

Thel7MS0ib-B«.33757

Th.J6"

rbeSSrtSOk B>r.337.43

Th. 18"

.»+^'

337'63

+ 31

337.63

13 IE 0

317.61

21 U 1

337 J4

337-12

Th.23«

337 Jl

Tb.23»

;l36-74

— 4

337.03

- 34

3MS3

337.14

3<G.S3

Th.21"

337.32

.137.34

.137.53

•J

337.7a

+ 11

3.17.61

Tb. 18°

+ u

337.90

114

337.45

137.21 Th. 18*"

184

337.B2

AUGUST 17S9.

+ 21

337.71 Th. 20=-

19 >t I

337.6S

16 at 18b Bbt.. 136.63

Th. 18"

336.81 Th. 32"

+ 21

337,20

336.62

314

337.10

Th.22"

— *

336i3

337.02

. .**

:i36.76 Th. 21-

336.80

+ 11

337.79

17 at 0

336.73

337.51

Th. 18"

336.eO

337.7

336.10

Tb. 23'

, ?**

338-14 Tb. 32«

336.03

+ 214

33B.42

— 4

335.90

234

337.93

3SC.12

Th. 19"

20 It 3

337 J3 Th. 24"

330.40

— 4

336.80

336.63

lOJ

337.7* Th. 19"

104

336.70

+ '.

337.90

+ 11

336.82

337.11

Th. IB"

336,51

Th. 18"

. i?*

33740

184

336.34

„.+ ^

337.63

204

336.81

Th. 1!»

21 Bt 1

337.33

Th, 23"

+ 31

33E,B&

337.04

^234

336,70

— 4

336.83

IS.t 04

336 J 1

, .^

137.25

336.37

+ '

337.81

Th. J9"

335.92

Th. 31''

337.64

336,34

184

337.24

Th. ao"

+ 214

337.98

From the 18th

to the 34th of Ji.tr.

clorl[,iiitonii,b]ow-

22>t 0

337.7s

regalarlrittiroa

337.21

Th. 23"

ing from south-

.<ut to aouth, alODg

— 4

336.9S

On the letbuf Au-

• ^

33732

giut, dcren shocks of »a

, ?*

337.64

f'tr felt «( CaruMoD. The

hv^DX^

+ 1

337.71

Th. lao

Mr of Dclac, Id

the momliur. GO" to

337.52

58" ( in the •fUTOoon, 48" t«"50".

HoRlKV Vasiatiumo «

CuiuxA, HcisBT, l&TWMa- (CmA-

AUUITST IJ99.

ADBVST IJW. 1

TW18rt+llkS«.336J5

12 33671 Tb.lB>
IR S36.7S

» 336.94

+ 11 337.12 Tt.21.

23 33J.07

SS 337.07

19 M 0 337.00

1 336/» ■nu23»
• 336.45
H 336.30
- 4 336JM
5 336.32
H 336J7
10 3.T6.80
+ 11 336 93 Th. 19*

13 336-S<

TWQtfiVk Bar. 336J0

+ 21* 33t80 TV.J1.

221 a37M

S3j 336J0

24 at I 33«70

3 33<J*

— 2t 53«5l TLS-

7t 33CJ0

9 33«« TLC

+ 11 3J7ilS

23 337J0

ttat 3 33«-»

- 4 336J» n.»
S 33tB»

7 33«-»

+ to S3jje

■

667

UORABY Va.RIAT10NS AT CuMANA, HsiGHT 15 TOiftBA. (Cofl^f-

AUGUST 1799.

Thc27at— 41k
H

H
+ 11

21
+ 23
28at 0§
1

+ 11
12

+ 21

Bar.33ff^I

336^9
33li75
336.83
336 80
336.75
336.70
336.90
337.18
337^
336.9&
336.70
336.62
336^
336.18
336.U
3.36.25
336.60
.336J&0
336.40
337.27

AUGUST 1799.

Tlul7,5«

Th.25^0

Th. 25,7o

Th. 180

The28iit23ib Bar. 336.76

29 ac 0

3364&0

T1l24»5o

336.25

— 4

335J5

335.78

336.05

Th. 19,7<»

10*

336.52

+ l»

336 57

33640

Tb* ld,2o

335.72

- m

336.17

Tli.210

336.25

+ 21

336.75

2lf

336.70

336.60

30at 2

336.60

Th. 24«

336J5

— 4

3.35.72

335.74

336.2S

+ "

336.50

Th. 19o

HoBART Variations at Cumana, Height^ 10 toisss. {Conti-

nuatwn.)

6 at

NOVEMBER 1799.

Ilie3dat20ih Bar

.336.80

Hie 5 at +1 lb Bar. 336.86

+ 21

336.83

336.32

4 at 1

336.04

- IH

396.28

— H

335.92

337.30

336.20

+ 21

337.64

+ H

536.42

337.76

336.26

6 at 0

336.47

On the 4th of November, at 4h 12^ ia the afternoon, a violent ahocfc of an
earthquake took place. (See above, VM. iii, p. 315, 316.) Thermonicler in
all the obaervationB at Comana, at the divirion of Reaumur.

HoBABT Vamiatioks ATLAGtiAVBA.NoK. Lat. 1(K-38* IO"; Hnavr,

& TOiaKS. {Ob.ieivatiunt of MM, BoiiiiiiigauU and RiMro.)

..„„„.

MOV-BMBBIt.

Day*.

Honn.

HiUlidct.

TUeriu.

CUDk

Hysr.

Diiy». Houn. MilliuH-l. ''^™

Hjjr-

763.es

23-0

7 7SJ.20 27 0

76SM

2hA

8 7S3.0 27.0

»i

7IM.0

25.R

«7

+ 9 763..SS 36Ji

7G4.D

iJ.o

10 mas SSJ

r63.35

■i»\

11 7'i3.>5 as.o efi

763.75

nej

mids>, 753.09 2S.3 I 3S

n2x

2S.S

M1.96

S8.R

Prom a n-dodi bi tb anriorlUI mtJ-

—

niphl. Tlii'ie obsrTv utinm vcrc mudr niit

;62.;5

27. .t

ii:i

m^mL-turccolciimBl. Hj^.ofS.

^u^-

NOVEMBER 1823.

NovEMneti 1829.

24.R

State Of the

■l

&IMeofUc

.ky.
Bug wothcr.

761-70

26.5

£■

Ay.

762.06

IIB

762,8(

■H.i<

[momidg.]

762.65

25.3

7S3,0

24.h

76J33

74.5

OK KUlW.

763.7C

2fi.J

763.30

26.0

764.20

'26.7

764.31

2fi.h

76S10

2R,4

7C4.0

2M.'/

76J.15

aH.3

76ZJS

aw.4

7fil.P5

2fi.3

762.0

■il.H

too

761.65

^. •rnlkr.

763.70

•/.b.\\

inc wealhpr.

760.65

2H.0

dbii. wt.lb«.

763.Hi

2hM

»-■.

760.60

27.;

9;(

clouded.

764.2S

2H,:i

H(.

760 60

27 .S

retytloudrf.

764 JO

27.7

Ith

761.0

■.(6.4

erraing}.

763 JS

27 H

me weatbcr.

761JiO

■J6H

i:j

rlandv.

oon

762.05

■iim

762,05

V« ,1

27,0

IM)

761.15

?«fi

762.35

76 f.

27.0 1

7H,0

26.6

•)1

HoBARv Variatioks *t La Guayba, Hkioht 5 ioisbs. (C<tiitinuation.)

NOTE mi B 1823.

DKKHIU 1892.

SWWoflho

^-3

Stele of the

sky.

i "

»ky.

JS3.25

27.3

fine.

762.20

24.5

J63.46

2B.fi

763.^0

37.0

763.IS

18.7

■f

769-90

27.9

flO

itorry.

7fi0.25

29.2

evening).

763.15

28.2

7fil.O

ai.i

761.35

27.8

761.15

27.0

dondy.

763.0

26 0

762.60

26JI

762.65

27.0

(morning).

761.45

Jfi.5

«s

(morniDg).

762.0

27.8

blue.

761.10

26.5

761.70

28 0

763,0

■ij.a

761.35

2dA

[BTening).

76-1.70

2S3

760.e0

26^

'63.^0

29.0

760.70

a:.7

763.10

29.0

oliKure.

760.65

27 Ji

blue.

761.15

28.0

lOO

(evening).

761.0

26.5

/B2.0

37.7

100

itonu.

763.50

26J

7S1.65

367

763 3S

25.5

(mowiDg).

763.0.^

asJi

763.95

a?.o

76S.S0

26.0

764.20

2rj

fine.

762.0

25.0

114

(mamlDg).

763.65

27.7

763.75

36.0

EflleAtiet

763.60

27.3

764 0

2G.5

100

761.50

26,3

fevcniiijrl .

764.25

26.8

fine we.ll.cr.

761.65

27.4

(ereniug).

I hnre cited aborc, (Vol. iil, p. 3BS)

764.80

27.1

toaiB bor.oburratioDB miuleM L<i GaHvni.

lOi

763.65

37.8

100

OaU]e5tl> Miirch, 1832, Colonel Unif

midt

763.70

26.9

founil, at the bouse of the Coiuuianclnnt,

761.0

26.0

764.20

27.5

in tlic morniiiK, and iit 4 iu ttto cvenini.

■1-

763.95

28.7

761,50 : the til. mirkcd 24° aod 279 cent.

761.80

27.9; 92

{Bvr.ning).

M. Lhd. (26 Feb.) oUerred oi. tbe se.-

763.30

26.0

>ho

te»t

000,76

.05,

betb

etm.beiDi(26».

070

HosARV Variations at Liha, Soittii Lat. 13' 3' S4"
HudRT ai ToiBxi. {Obterv. uf M.de HmtboUli).

NoVEMHGtt, IBOl.

NoveMBB>,ieot.

D.p.

Houra

Hkramet

ni.F.

D.y..

Hno™

Buwtel

ni.Pk

329.90

fi3.3

329,32

78*

W0,<0

329.49

fia

330.(i9

329 J3

32i

330.M

65J1

33»JS

330.13

3».W

SJ.B

330-00

J30.37

6S.5

■1

329.y2

(18.5

330.a.^

6b.5

329.80

I2i

330.13

329.78

330.87

eas

329.73

2li

330.83

330,00
330.13

330.27
33BJW

76.5

330.54

329.88

ei>.s

330.54

329^9

791

330.7S

fi4.3

329.4«

-fi

330.69

-4

3a.59

i»i

330,27

63.5

329.73

71-'

330.26

330.54

20j

330.54

70.3

330.67

23|

329.89

(eo,5

530 81

61.5

■21

329.59

330.94

329.32

3.tOfl4

3W.05

328,93

The vCKtLer vu foggj at CiUta

328.86

64.3

de Lima lill Ore io ibe monmg.

330.00

on the yth November. Tbe b*-

330.00

330.13

wilh iin FicellcDl English hanisw

330.13

fiS.S

(cr uf GHbary, beloo^ag to M. de

330.13

Quereilo, captain of ■ »hip, enm-

330.13

maodiDg the Spanish frigate ta A^

20J

3.W.S9

fy»,. (The hundredth, of EnflU

22i

330,40

incheawMcrethiceil iato fr»eti<™

330.13

of iine> of the audenl French foot).

329.8fi

1 have hcru previously nou-cl Mine

■a

329.46

l'.i

Peruvian

liscrva

jooi, in

DnIerlD

' of tbc rqwilor.

' north and tootb

671

Horary Variations at xn Port of Callao, South Lat.
12'' 3^19^'; HuGiiT a T018K8. (Observ. of M. de Hum-
holdi.)

NOTXMBER, 1802.

N0TRMBBR9 1802.

Dayi.

Oovp.

BoDPMt.

Th. cent.

Dty.

■ — f~

Eloiup.

BariMMt.

th. cent.

8 Not.

337.05

337^

183

837^

337.13

20.4

367.23

19.2

9 Nor.

336.90

. 20.1

33M5

336.75

S3(L68

20.4

33643

22.8

336.65

336.45

336.50

836.50

18.4

«»

336.75

336.85

337.10

17J

336.95

16.5

337^

386^

337.25

336.15

3S7.25

336.90

16.7

337^.

. 16.3.

316.84

3364)8

337.55

336J2

«»

i 337.65

, 17.3

336.60

337 J»7

336.65

■

337.45

15i

336.62

16.0

337 JO

19.2

1«

336J»

337.25

330.80

337.06

336^7

16.4

336J0

17i

336 S»

3364»

21.5

337.25

18.0

1 a

336.60

672

r Variations obiirtbd on tbb Coast or Aruci,

AND A* TAITt.

At SiBkKA Lbonb (Lat. 6° 30'NoB.) BT Captain Sambb.

Bw.

T1»nn.

Bw.

tWm.

M«-.», .tai*. 29.875

B1.9>P.

H».9l«t.|. l«k

S9.sra

+ aii 29 M<

S9Jlt

«J',

22 29.873

aajm

Uar. 21 0 39^C

+ KZi

njm

«i 2V.873

asMi

a StJiK

B«o

M*r. 33 3

39Jr4

H 39J10

- *

a9.7N

— * 39.Me

eia

29.778

Si 30.813

W.80S

9 »JtU)

80"

+ 10

S9JI4

eis*

678

Horary Variations at Chittlkdrooo, on tbx tablh-

JLAND OF My sorb (NoRTB LaT. 14° llOf ^T TB* KLBVA"
TION ok 400 TOIftXS, OBSHRVED BY CaPTAIN ELaTER.

Dare.

Hoan.

Biromet.

Therm.

Dayi.

Hours.

Baromet.

rherm.

Aug. 5

27^1

75 F.

Aug. 6

27.45

70 F.

27.48

27.43

27.48

—

27.42

— .

27.415

27.43

27.47

27.46

27.51

27.50

27.51

Aug. 7

27M

27.51

27.45

15 .

27.44

—

27.44

27.47

27.44

27.60

27.48

27.51

27.48

27.51

27.49

Aug. 6

27.47

I'be barometric heights, in

27.45

hundredths and thodsandths of

—

• 27.42

the English inch, in the obscrra-

27.42

tions of Africa, Taiti, and Asia.

27.42

The latter were made during

27.45-

rainy weather, and at the season

27J&0

of monsoons.

27.50

VOL. VI.

«74

S AT C*I14CC*S, NOBTU Lat. 10" aCSO";

NOTEMBSK AND DSCCMBIII, 1799.

D.p.

lioan.

Baromet.

a! a.

D.r»-

Hon™

TTk™.
ofR.

Nov. SO

lyj

30.170

13»

Dcc3

20i

304.S3

304.21

15°

:i04.40

n.f

304.05

304.25

304.00

2ii

301.20

Dec.l

303.B3

304.1S

303.fi0

303.52

18.7"

0
1

303.U
303.78

303,00
303,25

303.00
303.20

WJl'

303 8*

303-75

13>>

303.60

I9i

304.00

303 92

304.10

304,03

16.4°

20i

304.20

•23

nn3,80

A-

■'1

304 32

■

675

HoBAET Variations at Caraccas, Hbioht 480 TOisci.

{Continuation.)

I>BCRMBS&« 1799.

Days.

Hovn*

20
21
23

4
10
11
21

4
11
21

BAipoiet*

303.62
303.80
303.05
303.60
302.75
303 JO
303 45
803.70
303.52
302.54
303.10
304.00
302.9S

Therm.
ofR.

45.50
1430

Days.

Hours.

Baromet.

Therm.
oTR.

302.54
803.10
303.55
303.90
302.75
893^

17.80
13.4<

From the 3Qith of Howaihtr, till
the 8th of Daoenber, a aerm sky ;
but from the iMth to the,^4th of
December, lm||etaoiis raiy and
winds.

Horary Variations at Ibaous, North'I^at. 4^ 27^ 46" ;
Hriobt 703 ToiSRS. {Oiterv, of Af.dw Humboldt).

•

SBrrjuaxRylSOl.

Sbvtbmbrb, 1801.

33 at Oh

Bar. 292.8 Th.l8oR.

24 at 20h

293.0 Th. 19.30

292.5

+ 21

293.7 Th« 20.20

— 4

293.3 Th. 19<»

25 at 0

293.6

292.7

— 4

292.8 Th. 20.00

293.0

293.1 Th. I8.20

+ 11

293.1

f93.4

293.1 Th. 17.60

+ H

293.5 Th. 17.70

+ 21f

293.4

18i

294.0

S4at 0§

2933

+ 21§

294.6

2§

292.7 Th, 190

26iil 2|

293.7 Th.21.3»

-« 4

292.5

- 4|

293.5 Th.l8.2o

292.8

294.3

293.2 Th. I60

+ "

294.5

+ "

2933

294.2

293.2

+ m

294.7 Th.2r

Tlie small town of Ibague is situated

27 at 1

294.1 ^

in a hiffh n

illey at the foot of ttie

— 4

294.0

Avdea of Qaio^a.

2 Y 2

srs

ftoHAKv Vakiatioms at Popitax, Nob. Lat. 2° 26' 17"^
tlmaaT Oil toibes. (Obieri-aliott madr i» May, 1801, if

Mat, leoi.

Mav

laoi-

16 IL .1h

27-J,a

Til. IBa

1<)

27n i

274-7
374.9

19 Bt 2

2;5.A
2/53

- S(

27S.5

275.^

+ 11

27S.fl

+ 10

275.1

20 HC 20

a7o.3 Th, U-

arsj

Tb. \W'

+ 22

2754

215.1

2lTt 0

275.1

]7Bt 3

274 4

274.5

274.3

275.0

274.4

+ U

275 3

274.7

Iti

275J

+ a*

374.9

+ ai

275,3

274.9

Tb. 15-

275.0

274.9

Th. 14-5°

32 At Z

274.4

+ 21

275.1

— 3

274-1

IS-l 0

274.9

+ 10

275,1

— 2

27 4,,!

274.3

r of (he divliLon of

-.74.5

R«diimur ;

bcb*

hciilUU, M •! (°-

274.9

miiDH, LimA, CaIIko. CBrRrnv iM

276.3 Til. H"

677

Horary Vamations obssavbd at Mexico^ axd at Qmro,

BY M. D&.JEIUMBOLDT«

At Mexico, Nor. Lat. 19o 25' 45"; height 1168 Toisst, in June 1803.

26 at 8b

259.70

Th. 6V> P.

27 at 111"

259.78

+ 11

259.87

+ 12

259.70

Th. 62*

259.75

Th.61*

259.45

Th. 6r

- 16

259.40

— 16

259.21

Th.59«

18i

259.75

Tlu 58.50

+ 204

259.65

Th. 630

+ 21

259.90

Th. 650

^2U
2l|

259.65

21*

259.85

Th.66o

259.55

Th,67o

259.68

258.58

Th. 73.50

22i

259.60

Til. 680

— 3* 3

25a70

Th. 7lo

2.^9.55

Th. 68.50

258.70

27 at Oi

259.70

Th. 71«

258.75

Th. 700

— 4

258.90

Th. 70O

+ "

259.26

Tb. 67o

259.47

Th.64o

259.00

Th.64«

At Quito, South Lat. Oo 14'; height 1492 TOUEt; in April 1802.

4 at 201"
21
23

Sat 2
3

10
12
204
22
Gat 04
3J

244.00
244.32
244.25
244.15
244.15
243.60
243.75
243.80
243.61
244.22
244.70
244.70
214.70

Th.57« F.

Th.60«

Th^6:io

Th.65*'

Th. 59'

Th.55«

Th, 540

Th. 52«
Th.51^5
Th. 580
Th. «7o

Th. 6I0

HoraryVariations at the Table-
land Of Antisana, south lat.
Oo .32^ 52" ; HEIGHT, 2104 TOisst,
(Obsavaiions of M. tk Humboldt].

Mar. 16 at 4^

8
13
18

208.60
208.78
208.20
{^08.50

Th. 8« K.
Th. 7.2o
Th. 6"
Th. 5.4o

6 at H^

H
10

19
20{
22
22}

7 at 24

4
7

Hi
124

244.61

Th. 560

244.25

Th. 540

244.15

944.10

Th.47o

24370

Th. 45«.

244.45

Th.(>3o

944.65

Th. 660

244.70

Th.67«

244.70>

244.65

Th. 66.50

244.65

Th. 58«

244.15

Th. 52o

243.90

Th.63«>

The horary variations of Quito and
Antisana were obserred in raioy wea-
ther. They are at that pen6d lean
feasible 9 and less regular than at
Mexico, and Santa Fe de Bogota.

678

In order to avoid in the preceding tables the
frequent repetition of the words morning and
ei^ening, the hoTire are counted (according to
the ancient method of astronomera,) from the
passage of the sun over the meridian, so that
the 21st hour corresponds to nine in the morn-
ing. The barometric heights are indicated
cither in millimetres (in the observations of
MM. Boussihgault and Rivero), or io liDesf, and
hundredths of lines of the French foot (in my
observations at Cumana, la Guayra, Callao,
Lima, Caraccas, Ibague, Popayao, Meuco,
Quito, and Antisana) ; or finally, in inches, and
hundredths of the English inch, (in the obser-

679

from 16^ to 2U, are greater than the real
variations, because at those epocbas the ba-
rometer and thermometer rise and sink to-
gether.

The sam6 thing has happened in respect to the
horary variations of the bafdraeter,aj9 takes place
with respect to a great nnmber of important phe-
nomena, which the history of physfcal discoveries
displays in the first instance, that are either
vaguely perceived, or carefully examined, but
published by insulated observers, who enjoy little
celebrity. Thesie phenomena remain forgotten if
the learned, or the academies, which in every
age exert a great influence on the progress of the
sciences, have not made them an object of theii'
researches. When, afterwards, by the union of
several observers known by other labours, or by
a more complete disqussion of the phenomena,
doubts are dissipated, things are then eagerly
recognized as anciehtly known, which it is no
longer permitted to neglect as ill-observed*. A
learned man, father Cotte, who has rendered
essential services to meteorology, attributed, in
1774, notwithstanding the uniform testimony
of so many travellers who had visited the tro-
pics, the regularity of the horary variations to
the imperfection of the barometers, that is,
to a small quantity of air contained in the
void of Torricelli, and susceptible of being di-
lated and condensed by the increasing and de-

creasing lietit of the day*. The first horary
observations having beea made only near the
coast, Mr. Playfuir, whose extensive knowledge
and superior abilities have never been contested,
believed for a long titne-f- that the atuiospheiic
tides observed in the equinoxial zone, vere
owing to the alteroatiog winds from land aad
sea. The periodical regularity of those tides any
now be regarded as one of the physical pheno-
inena that are best known and most universally
verified. It has been ascertfuned at the same
time in the vast extent of the Ocean, and ia
the interior of the land ; in plains, and at two
thousand toises uf height ; between the tropics,

681

'- MM. Varin, de Hayes, and de Glos* re-
marked, in 1682, in a voyage undertaken by the
King^s order, to Cape Verd and the American
islands, *^ that the barometer at Goree is general-
ly lowest when the thermometer is highest, and
nsually two to four lines higher at night than
in the day ; and that this instrument changes
more from morning till night, than from night
till morning.**

The observations of father Beze, on the as-
cension of the barometer in the coolest hours
of the day, are also no less vague and inexact 'f*.
He has been erroneously cit^d % by some natu-
ralists, as having discovered at Pondicherryand
Batavia, in 1690, the regularity of the horary
variations in the tropics. Father Beze observes
only, '^ that he is of the opinion of one of his
friends, who thinks that the height of the baro-
meter being so constant in the eq[uinoxial
i*egions, may serve as a common measure, sure,
and easily found, for all the different nations of
the earth/' It appears singular that Richer,
charged by the academy in 1671, to examine if
the (mean) barometric height was the same at
Cayenne and at Paris, had not fixed his atten-
tion on the horary variations ^.

* M^in. de fJcad., Vol. vii, p. 462.
t The barometer and thermometer mount at the same
time, from sunribe to nine m the morning.

; L. c. p. U;;9. § L. c. p. 323.

682

'I'liv ptiuuoiiieiioii of horury variations vas
ubscrvcd in 1 72*2, for the first time, and pretty
conii)li:tdy in the tides of day and nigbt, by a
Dutcti naturalist, whose name has not descoid-
cd to oiir times. It is said, in the IMfrsty
Journal of the Hague: "The mercuiy rises*
in that part of Dutch Guyana, every day regular-
ly from O'' io the morning to nearly lli^; afta
which It descends till towards S** or 3^ in the af-
ternoon, and then returns to its first heigtL It
baa nearly the same variations at the woe
hours of the nigbt ; the variation is abont ) of
a line or i of a line, at the utmost a whole line.
It were to be wished that the philosophers of
Etirouc woLiUI niiike tlieir conjecliires on this

683

years later^ near this coast of SoriDam, oa the
banks of the Oroonoko, confirmed, with the
exception of the hour of the maximum . of the
morning, the precision of the fi^st view ef the
periods ; they prove also that the Dutch trayel-
ler had watched several nights to determine the
mifdmum which precedes, two or three hours
the rising of the sun. With j^pect to the
'^conjectures of the philosophers of Europe,"
of which the correspondent of Surinam desires
to be informed, we cannot hitherto offer any
that are satisfeetory.

Father Boudier«, from 1740 to 1750, bad
observed Uie barometer at Chandemagor in
India. He remarked, in the manuscript jour-
nals preserved among the papers of M. de Flsle, '
'^ that the greatest elevation of the mercury
takes place every day towards nine or ten in the
morning, and the least elevation towards three or
four in the afternoon, and that during the great
number of years that the barometer has been
fixed at Chandemagor, there are not eight or
ten days in which this uniform movement of
mercury has not been observed.** Yet Chander-
nagor is situated nearly at the extremity of the
equinoxial region, in 22° 5r north latitude.

The academicians who were sent to Quito in

• Sec Cotte, Traits de Meteorologie, p. 24»., B. Memoiret
Mur Ul MeUorohgie, Vol. ii, p. 802.

6B4

1735, bad no knowledge when they left'^rope,
of the observations made at Surinam, on (he
regularity of the atmospheric tides ; MM.
Boaguer and Condaraiiie attributed the disco-
very of this regularity to oue of their col-
leagues, M. Godin. " I also made some obser-
vation, says la Condamine ♦, on the barometer,
in the year 1741, at fii-st with M. Godin, and
afterwards alone, in order to confirm M. Go-
din's remark, who first perceived several daily
and periodical variations. I found the baro-
meter at its greatest height towards nine in thi?
morning, and at its least towards three in the
afternoon ; the mean difference (at Quito) was
li of a line." M. de la Condamine, in his Re-
lation du Voyage h CAmazone, returns to the
same subject. " M. Godin," be says, " remarked
that the variations of the barometer (iu the
equinoxial zone,) alternate very regularly ; one
experiment consequently suffices to judge of the
mean barometric height-)-."

* Voyage to the Equator, p. SO and 109. Bou^uer, who
speaks with the same brevity of the observation of Godio,
adds, tliat tlie variations of the buromeler at the equator,
tve two to three liaes at the seashore, and about one line hC
Quito, (figure de ta Terie, p. 39), We see by the work
of M. ThibBult de Chanvalon, that Bouguer's manuscripts
contaJncd agreat number of unpublished burary observations.
Foyage H la Martinique, p. litS (22).

t foyage H la Rio. den .4maz., p. 33. I have futmded on

685

In 1736, a naturalist, whose sagacity and
rare merit were not sufficiently appreciated by
his contemporaries, M.Thibault de Chanvalon*,
first reduced the horary observations he had
made in the West Indies, into tables. " The ba-
rometer,** he observes, in a work which was not
published before 1761, " is entirely useless at
Martinique to indicate the variations of the
weather; but it affords a singularity which
merits to be studied in all its details, and which
had been already perceived by an observer at
Surinam ; but either from the small confidence
which travellers generally inspire, doubt was
preferred to inyestigation, or because it re-
quires some celebrity to give credit to extraor-
dinary facts, the truth was never clearly pre-
sented to the public. The regularity of the
horary variations may be said to have been un-
known till the journey of M. Godin to Quito.
•Soon after my arrival at Martinique, I per-
ceived that the barometet* mounted insensibly
the whole morning, and after having remained
some time without movement, began to lower
at sunset. The most considerable revolutions
of the atmosphere do not alter this periodical
movement of the barometer, which coincides

an analogous observation^ the table I have given for the ho-
rary observations applied to the calculations of the height of
places^ in my collection of Attron, Obs., Vol. i^ p. 289.
• f^oyage to Martinique^ p. 136 CiO, 21, 26).

686

safficiently with the horary Tuiatitms of tbe
magnetic inclioation. Amidst the most vioknt
rains, winds, and storms, the mercury rises or
sinks, if it be its time to mount or descend, as
if the air were perfectly calm. The same varia-
tion takes place at Senegal ; for Mr. Adamsao,
to whom I mentioned it on my arrival in
France, had verified the fact by a long series of
observations made by a friend in Africa, to
whom he had sent a barometer."

Since the year 1761, Doctor Mutis, who cul-
tivated every branch of physical science with
success, observed the atmospheric tides at
Santa Pe de Bogota, with the greatest assidoity,
and iliiriii^^ furty years. Above all, he fixed

687

introduction of a memoir somewhat rai'e, and
which bears the title of Ohservadanes meteoro^
logicas de las ultimos nueve meses de el aho^
1769. The horary observations made at Mex-
ico were at first regarded by Cotte, as oiinng to
the imperfection of the instruments ; bnt^ from
the year 1784^ consequently long before he
could have any knowledge of the labors of La-
manon^ he recognized * his first error^ in attri*
buting the phenomenon ^^ which he thinks he
observed in Europe^ to a cause which has some
relation to the atmospheric tides occasioned
by the mpqn.'*

Neither the observations of Thibault de
Chanvalon (1751)^ nor the small number pub-
lished by Alzate (1769) corresponded to the
tropical hours, that is^ to the epochas when the
barometer arrives at the convex, or concave
summits of the curve of its diurnal variations ;
in the voyage of Le Perouse, MM. Lamanon
and Monzes made the first continued observa-
tions in 1785, from hour to hour, during three
days and three nights. They were then in the
middle of the Atlantic Ocean, between the pa-
rallels of 1^ nor. lat. and 1^ south lat. ^

The labors of Lamanon are eight years ante-
rior to those which were undertaken at Calcutta

• Memoirs of Meteorology, Tom. ii, p. 304.

t f^oyage de la Perou$e, 1797, Tom. iv, p. 267, 264.

by MM. Tmil, Farqiilmr, Pfiarce, and BalfbrDr;

but as the results of the latter were inserted in
the fourth volume of the Astatic Researchrs,
published at Calcutta in 1795, while the voyage
of the unfortunate Perouse appeared only in
1797, the observations of India acquired more
celebrity in Europe ; and from them, at my
departure for America, I learat the regu-
larity of the horary movemcuts of the baro-
meter. Ideas too systematic on the periodicity
of all the maladies in the torrid zone, and on
the influence of the moon on the vital move-
ments, had fixed the attention of some English
physicians in the West Indies and at Calcutta,
on the variations of the weight of the atmos-
phere. Doctor Moseley • speaks of horary
changes, in his Treatise on Tropical Diseases
(1792, p. 3, 550, and 556), and Doctor Balfonr,
who had not less faith in lunar and solar in-

" " The barometer," saja Moseley, " presents a phenomc-
iiun.in theEngiish West India Islands, and otherregionsof the
trnpjcs, which is not yet verifieil in the temperate zone; the
mercury has two movements by day ; one of descent, the
other of ascension ; they correspond to the diurnal progress
of the sun. 'flie mercury mounts as the suu approaches the
zenith and the nadir, and descends ns the sun recedes from
those points." This coincidence is not rigorously trne.
The author might have observed that the maxima precede
the passage of the sun by the zenith and tht nadir, from one
to three hours, and that the minima succeed that passa^ an
equal number of hours.

689

fluence on fevers tlian the physicianGi of Jamai-
ca^ had the patience to observe the barometer
at Calcutta in 1794^ during a whole lunar revo-
lution^ every half hour.

I began^ with M. Bonpland, the series of my
observationsTon the variations of the weight of
the atmosphere, July 18th, 1799, two days after
our arrival atCumana^and continued them care-
fully during five years, from the 12^ of south la-
titude to the 23^ of north latitude, in plains, and
on table-lands of the same height as the peak of
Teneriffe. Since the period of my voyage to the
equator, this phenomenon has occupied the at-
tentionofalmostall the travellers and naturalists
furnished with instruments fitted to make accu-
rate observations. I shall confine myself to the
mention of the observations of M. Horsburgh *
during his stay on the coasts of China and
India; of Captain Kater, in the high plains
of Mysore ; of M. Ramond, in Auvergne ; of
MM. Langsdorf and Horner -f-, who in Krusen-
stem's Voyage, united more than 1400 ba-
rometric heights; of M. d*£schwege, in the
missions of the Coroatos Indians, and on the
table-land that surrounds the presidio of S.

• See the letter of this learned navigator^ to Henry Ca-
vendish, i'* the Phil. Traru,, 1805, p. 178, and in Nicholson's
Joum., 1806, Vol. xiii. No. 50, p. 16 and 56.

t Mem. de FAcad. de Petersbourg, 1809, Tom. i, p. 450,
486.

VOL. VI. 2 Z

Joa6 Baptiata in Brazil*; of M. Arago, ^
Spain afld Francef ; of M. Freycioet, at Rio*
Jaociro and in the South Sea; of M. SimonoffJ;
astronomer of the voyage ofBilinghausen, who^
during the yeai-s 18-20 and 1821, observed
alone, from hour to hour, more than 4300 bar»^
metric heights in the southern hemisphere, b6»
tm:cn 10° and 30° of latittide; of OtptaiB
Sabine, on the western coast of Africa ; of MM.
Boussiogault and Rivero, at La Guajn-a, and M.
the Cordilleras ofColombia; and of M. Daperey^
commanding the French sloop la Coqiiilt^,
who, in his voyage roand the world, touched at
Payta on the coast of Peru. In the actual state
of the physical sciences, it is Tw longer neces-
sary to verify by new observations the existence
of a phenoftiaion so generally recognized ; ve
rather engage travellers who caRnot in their
joamies in the interior of a continent, folloic
the movement of the diurnal variati(ms every
half-hour, during several moons, to direct their
attention successively to the particular circDm-
fitances that accompany, or modify the atmos-

* Journal von BTOtiUen, Tom. i, p. 1*74; Tom. ii, p. 141.

+ See the result of the meteorological observutioiu gi^ea
by this learned naturalist at the end of everj year, in the
JnnaUt de Chimie et de Pbyiique, from the year, 1616.

X luan Simonqf, Beachreibung dn Sillinghautuchen Enl-
dekkuTtgireite in dat sUdliche EUmeer, 1824, p. 33.

691

pheric tides. Before we ascend to the first
causes^ we must establish the empirical laws.
Those laws comprehend continuity (the want
of all irregular interruption), in the movements
of ascension, or lowering ; the limit^hours or
periods of the maxima and minima ; the dura-
tion of time that the barometer is apparently
stationary ; the mean extent of the horary vari-
ations in different latitudes and at different
heights; the influence of the seasons, or the
phases of the moon on the tropical hours^ and
on the ei^tent of the variations. The observer)
who, in any spot on the earth, would throw
light on any part of i$o complicated a phenome-
non, must (even ip the tropics, where the mean
drawn from a sipall number cf statements, fur-
nishes results that are sufficiently exacts) relin-
quish every other kind occupation. To mark
the period and extent of the small successive
increase or decrease*, requires continual obser-
vation (ohservatio peurpetua). The horvy va-
riations of the barometer may be compared in

* During the summer solstice, the equinox of autumn,
and the winter solstice of 1806, as well as during the spring
equinox and the summer solstice of 1807, I made continued
oluervations at Berlin, conjointly with M. Oltmanns, and
furnished with a magnetic glass of Prony, on the horary va-
rintioos of the magnetic inclination, during twenty-nine days,
and twenty-nine nights, every half-hour. The limits of the
errors were 0" to 8'' in arc.

2z3

this respect, to those of the magnetic inclina-
tion ; and the celebrated astronomer * who
alone on the continent of Europe marks Uke
latter, measuring daily, during several hoDis,
the amplitude of the elongations of the mag-
netic needle, will tell us, in publishing his pre-
cious observations, what patience and long
assiduity such a species of labor requires.
I advise the traveller, when he arrives within
the tropics, to certify by observations during a
day and night without discontinuing, whether
the epochas of the limits are effectively, "m the
spot where he would fix his stay, 21 ''-22^;
4b-5'' ; 1 0*'-l l"" ; 1 S^-IGK This previons labor wiU

693

uninterrupted asqeuding and descending move*
ment. At the periods when the mercury during
twenty-four hours, attains the maximum, and
the minimum, m, 9?^ m* and n% the direction of
the movement remains constantly the same,
from m to n, and from m' to n\ whatever may
be the hours in different places of the earth, to
which the concave, or CQUvex summits of the
curve of diurnal variations correspond! Wb
scarcely find in thousands of American obser-
vations, one OJT two exceptions to the Ilaws I
bave ascertained. Accustomed to an uninter-
rupted regularity, the observer is so much
Btruck by the slightest anomaly, that he 13 often
tempted to attribute it to some negligence in
the observation, or the lyant of perpendicularity
in the instrument *. At Cumana, for instance,
on account of this continuity of the move-
ments, one day and one night suffice to ascer-
tain the type of the progress of the barometer ;
while in Europe, we must take the mean, not
of a decade, but (as we shall soon shew), at
least of twenty or thirty days.

II. Epochas of the maxima^ and the minima.
Duration of the stationary state. There is
something vague in the manner of indicating

* See above, in the observations at Cumana^ August 24th
and 30th (Vol. vi^ p. 666).

the upoclias of the limits. We must determiue
at the Bame time the moment when the mer-
cury attains its minimum ami no more changes
sensibly, and the moment when the mercury
begins again to mount. It happens, as in every
thing susceptible of a maximum and a mimmum,
that the increase and diminution of the tides of
the atmosphere and the ocean, near the ex-
treme limits *, are in proportion to the square
iOf time elapsed since the epocbas of the maxima
and the minima- The barometer consequently
remains stationary in appearance, before its
movement becomes retrograde. This statiotiary
state lasts a longer or shorter time, like the
state of the flux of the sea at low water. If, at
Calcutta, for Instance, the heights observed were:

at V' 0' 29,97 (angl. measurt.)

ahSO' 29,97

S*" 0' 29,96

4" </ 29,'9fl

&• C 29,96

G" 30' 29^

7" 0' 29,OT

7''30' 29,98

It may be said, either that the barometer has
attained its minimum at S*", that it kept at the

same height till &> 3(f and then began to re-

• Laplace, Sytieme du Monde, I8I3, p. 84.

605

mount ; or, (wlach is more tbi^retlcally exact,
sapposing cha^g^ ^bai 9x6 Duperc^ived \>y
oqr senses, and alike rapid on both sides of the

summit), we may in^cate g =4^ 45', as

1^ real epocha of the minimum* I have learnt
from loog experiencej t^bat there is often more
regularity in the period with vespect; tp th^
hours of the ^par^n^ maximum and ^>mmuiit,
than in the duration of the stationary state.

Tb^ app^ent miniffifm W98 attain.^^ ^^ iSouth
America, for insliwcej^ yevy {uiifornaly dufipg
wbole monti^ ft from 4 to 4^ 15^ ]f^ the aft$r-
jtpon^ but at the same seasop t]l>e ba>raa)eter vff^e
visibly, sometimes from 0^> sometimes from 6i^.
I have ther^fore^ u} my tables, plowed tbe sj^s
of the maximum and the mnu'i^ui^X^ Mid — )
near the hours when the mercury appears to
have attained the concave and convex summits
of the curve. It would have been impossible
for me to express by the half^sum of equal
heights, the moment that corresponds thoreti-
cally to the real summit, my occupations not
having permitted me to do more for discover^
ing the extent of the variations, than observe at
the hours when the barometer attains its appar-
rent maximum, or minimum. According to this
remark, the assertion of Dr. Balfour, that the
mercury has a prevailing tendency to descend
from 10^ in the morning till 6^ in the evening,

is somewhat vague, because the time that the
mercury continues to preserve its maximum and
minimum, of height, is comprehended in the ex-
pressed interval. The tendency of the mercury
to descend, or rather the iDtervaJ between the
maximum of the rooming, and the minimtun of
the afternoon, can only be determined by
knowing with precision the balf-daration of
the stationary states near the limits of 10'' and
4'".

The observations published at Calcutta being
the only ones that have been made during a
whole moon, every half-hour, served me to find
the difference between the real and apparent
maxima. The following is the tropical instant,
and the duration of the stationary state, for
twenty-seven days.

607

OBSERVATIONS AT CALCUTTA.

DATS.

APPABBNT
MAXIMA.

BEAL
-MAXmA.

DVBATION.

S"* 30'

8" 45'

Oh 30^

9 0

10 0

2 0

9 0

10 30

3 0

9 30

9 45

0 30

9 0

10 30

3 0

10 0

10 15

0 30

10 0

10 15

0 30

8 30

9 0

1 0

8 0

9 30

3 0

9 30

10 15

1 30

9 0

9 45

1 30

9 30

10 30

2 0

9 30

10 30

2 0

10 0

10 30

1 0

8 0

10 45

5 30

9 0

9 30

1 0

8 0

8 30

1 0

9 0

9 30

1 0

10 0

10 15

0 30

11 30

11 45

0 30

9 0

10 0

2 0

10 0

10 45

1 30

10 30

10 45

0 30

10 0

10 45

1 30

9 0

10 0

2 0

8 30

9 45

2 30

It results from this table, tbat, vrea in tlie
places where, near the extremity of the eqai-
noxial zone, the horary variations become less
regular than at Cuniana, the epocha of the
maximum does not vary as much as the dura-
tion of the stationary state. We find for
Calcutta : ^m

Mean of the npp. max Ob 17' ^^H

of the real max ... 10 &

of tluration... 1 86

Now, the variations of the ^parent maximum
are separated from the mean, more than eigh-
teen minutes of time, fourteen times (m twenty-
six ; while the same separation of 18' is found
in the duration of the stationary state, nineteen
times. The epochas at Calcutta of the apparent
maxima and minima are, employing the ob-
servations of a whole month, 9^ 15' in the
morning, S"" 36' afternoon, 9^ 32* of the evening,
and S** 12' of the morning. The reai maxima,
that is the real epochas of the maxima, succeed
' nearly an hour to the apparent maxima.

Are the epochas of the extreme limits, which
we have called, with M. Ramond, the tropical
hours *, the same over all the earth ? That

• Wendeslunden, houn iawhicb the movement refunu on
itself, and which must not be confounded with ibe houn of
the tTOpical or equinoxiat year.

699

question^ in the present state of our knowledge,
cannot be completely solvlsd. We know gene-
rally only the apparent, and not the rettl
epoehas ; even the former att hot always indi-
cated with sufficient precision. Travellers have
observed the maxima and the 'mifdfMy as it
were by chance, sometimes at the moment
when the limits were attained, sometiihes an
hour later, and while the barotkieter was in a
stationary state. The numerous olMMrvations
of M. Ramotid proVe that, in the tetnperate
zone, in 45^ Ahd 46^ of latitude, the tropical
hours, or UmiUhjour^, chaiige from summer to
winter, iand that the two points of the diurnal
maximum ahd minitAum, draw nearer noon in
proportion as the cold augments*. We are
yet ignorant whether similar changes do not pre-
cede, in a part of the torrid zone, (at Quito and
Bombay, for instance,) the epocha Hiheia, under
the influence of local ciMumlstances, in the
rainy season, it is said, that the re^lalr type of
the horary variations has altogether disap-
peared. We cannot too much recommend this
point to the researches of travellers. I shall
here note what I have hitherto collected with
most certainty on ttie epocha of the maxima
and the mintrna.

* Mem. de tlnsL, l&m, p. l03. {BibL UmvtrnUe,
Fecrier, 1824, p. 03.)

700

A. l/'ithin the tropica, or near their limits.
A new ruvibtoii of all the obfiervatioos I had
luadu, north and south of the equator, in Span-
ish America, from 23' north latitude, to 1?
south latitude, in the low regions of the steppes,
and forests, aud on the hack of the Cordilleras,
where the mean temperature is equal to that of
the north of Europe, has not obli^d me to mo-
dify the results which I puhlished in the Phya-
cal Table uf the equatorial regions. I erery
where observed that the barometer attains its
maximum at 9^ or dV' in the morning ; that it
descends slowly till noon, but rapidly from
noon till 4'^ ; that it re-ascends till 11^ at
night, M-hcn it is ;i litlk- \(>\Vt'v t1i;iii ;it 0** in liie

701

duration of the stationary state near the limits
is almost null^ as at Cumana^ the changes are
announced when the limit is attained, by a
change in the convexity of the column of mer-
cury. The variations appear to be independent
of those of the temperature and the seasons. If
the mercury was descending from 2.** till 4**, or
rising from 4^ till 11^^ a violent storm, an earth-
quake^ showers^ and the most impetuous winds,
would not alter its movement ; which nothing
appears to determine but the real time, or the
position of the sun. The regularity of the va-
riations was constant in the rainy season^ both
in the thick forests of the Atabapo, and on the
table-land of Pasto (1600 toises) and of Mex-
ico. When the duration of the stationary state
was prolonged, it was most frequently at 4^ in
the afternoon, and fix)m 4^ till 9^ in the morn*
ing. At Lima, the maximum of the evening
oscillated from 9 J** to I UK The observations
I made at 4^ in the morning are, unfortunately,
the least numerous. The only place where
during the course of my voyage I remarked a
great deviation, is the town of Quito, situated
in a narrow valley, and close to the volcano of
Pichincha. I could only make observations in
this valley during the months of January, Fe-
bruary, and March, where the maximum, in
very variable and rainy weather, was rather
near noon, than at 9^ in the morning, and where

702

the baruinettit- continued to desc^id without
interruption from noon till midnight. If the
variations were alike irregular at the foot of
Pichincha, during the whole year, the type of
those variations would probably not have been
ascertained by M. Godin. I regret not having
watched often enough at night at Quito, to
judge of the nocturnal tides; but the recent
observations which M. Dupen-ey, commaading
the French sloop la Coquitle, has collected in
his voyage round the world, prove, that, south-
west of Pichincha, at the pojnt of Payta (lat.
5° 5' south), the epochas of the limits are very
regularly, iii the month of March, S*" in the
morning and S** in the afternoon, 11^ in the
evening, and 3*" in the morning. This result is
drawn from a fine series of observations made
.every fifteen minutes during six days and six
nights, with a barometer of Fortin. The fol-
lowing table, indicating the hundredths of mil-
limetres, and the degrees of the centesimal
thermometer, is extracted from a manuscript
journal, kindly communicated to me by M.
Arago.

703

0BSBBTATI0N9 AT PAYTA, IN 1823.

^,.

..„.,

.........

rB.««««rK«.

ItliMuch.

782.20

M.0-

76-2.40

25.3

782.40

25.0

762.70

26.7

762.80

20.7

762.70

27.9

762.60

26.8

762.10

26.9

nooD.

701.60

28.2

-60.80

48.7

7S9.20

29.1

—

769.20

28.8

739.20

27.6

759.30

27.7

761.40

26.9

762.30

26.7

101

762.30

26.3

762.40

26.2

I'i

702.20

36.1

midniirht.

782.30

26.0

Sth March.

761.80

26.8

761.10

25.5

—

760.70

25.3

760,80

26.3

761.20

25.3

761.50

25.6

762.30

27.0

762.20

26.6

noou.

7ni.20

89.5

—

750.80

80.9

750.80

30.5

760.00

30.4

ll>

761.00

27.3

769.50

27.4

midnight.

762.80

20.4

Ill companng the hours of tbe maxima imd
the minima in different zones, we must not con-
found the observations that are made in cir-
cumstances altogether different. We must dis-
tinguish the places where, during the whole
year, in the time of drought, as well as of raios,
the barometer furnishes a regular periodic
movement ; and the places where, during the
rainy season and mott-ioonSy this movement is
interrupted or rendered insensible. According to
Thit>ault de Chanvalon, the infiucDce oi these
causes is not observed * at Martinique ; I re-
marked it on the continent of Spanish America,
only at Quito, in the month of April, and at
Vera Cruz, when the north wind blows with the
greatest violence. Dr. Cassan asserts, that he
found great irregularity in the island of Saint
Lucia, south of Martinique. " We have ob-
served," he says-(-, "with great care t^^e famous
variation of the barometer, which is indepeo-
dent of the apparent constitution of the atmos-
phere, and has been celebrated by Godin and
Chanvalon. The periodical movement of as-
cension and lowering, takes place^ no donbt,
twice in twenty-four hours ; but the hour of
the movement appeared to me much less regu-
lated than is pretended." This assertion of Dr.

* Voyage il la Martiuique, p. IM (2-)).

t JouTtial tie PInjs., 1790, Tom. 30, p. 208,

705

Cassan loses its importance, when we reooUect
how little precision this naturalist generally
observes in his labors. He does not admit that
the movements of the mercury, even in their ir-
regularity, correspond perfectly with the move-
ments of the Ocean on the western coast of
Saint Lucia ; he pretends also '^ that the baro-
metric formuliEi used in Europe cannot be ap-
plied to the measure of the height of the moun-
tains situated in the tropics.** The few obser-
vations that have hitherto been pubtishe4 on
the horary variations in the island of Saint
Domingo * might lead us to suspect inequali-
ties which ifould only disappear by employing
the mean ; but it is to be feared that travellers,
by not observing from hour to hour, have con-
founded either the different epochas of the star-
tionary state of the barometer, or the effects of
the rainy season, and of that of drought. An
observer in India, who merits the highest confi-
dence, M. Horsburgb, has made very curious
remarks on the climateric and local circum-
stances, which sometimes mask, or alter the
type of the amospheric tides, even in the torrid
zone. He saw that the rains at Bombay inter^
rupted the period altogether; but that a tendency

* Chanvalon gives for the limit-hours + 22; — 6 ; + 10 ;
Moreaa de Saint Mery : +28; — 3 ^ M. Moreau de Jon-
n^, + 21 > — 2 ; +1 i—l3, {Hist. Ph^i. dei Ant Branc,
Tom. i, p. 417.)

VOL. VI. 3 A

70fi

to regularity is observed, whenever, even for
soirte hours only, the weathei begins to grow
clear. In the same suason, and in the saine
latitude, tie atmospheric tides are very sensihl*
m the open sea, while the periodicity disappears
oil the coast *. M. llorshurgh also observed,
that the high lands that bound the strait of
Sincapore (a pass of small breadth) suffice to
iimrk the regularity of the horaiy variations.

It may appear surprising that at the foot of
the Cordilleras of Venemela, New Grauftda;,
Quito, and Mexico (at Cuniana, La Gurivra,
Calabozo, Guayaquil, Payta, Lima, and Vera
Cruz), the variations attain their extreme limits
at the same hours as in the high vallies and
table-lands of Caraccas, Santa Fe de Bogota,
and Popayan (between 500 and HOO toises);
while in India the configuration of the lands
modify in a very striking manner the phenome-
non of the atmospheric tides. This difference
between America and a small part of equinoxiai
Asia, appears to arise from climateric circuib-
stances; almost every where between the tro-
pics, the same wind (E.N.E. or E.S.E.) brings
layers of air of the same temperature; but in
India, the variable monsootis occasion extraor-
dinary gusts against the elevated parte of the
land. Their effects are not felt for from the

* NkhoUon's Jaunt., Vol. xiii, p. 20.

707

coast^ for M . Horsburgh found at sea, in the
latitudes of India and China, an uninterrupted
barometric penodicitjfy at all seasons. It is^,
above all, in studying the position of places,
where tlie deviations of the type are manifested,
that the cause which produces the regularity of
the atmospheric tide& will be made clear.

Since my departure from Lima, the professor
Pon Hipolito Unanue, and the American Gap-
tain Samuel Cprson, found, on the coast c^
Peru and Chili, the same hours of the nuiximwn
and minimum that ai*e indicated in the preced-
ing tables (Vol. vi, p. 670) ; but M. Unanue
informs me, that ^^ these hours appear to change
in ascending the Cordilleras of Peru ; and that
this delay, in the epochas of the extreme
limits, appears to him to be owing to the winds
which blow differently on the coast of (he Pa-
cific Ocean, and in the nairow vallies of the
Andes.* I do not doubt the possibility of those
changes of epochas ; but no naturalist has hi-
therto published a series of observations which
indicates them in a regular manner. The
question is, whether the winds and rains (as
during a part of the year at Bombay and Ce^n*.
ton), disarrange the movement of the barome-
ter, so that no type of regularity can be ascer-
tained; or, (which is very different) whether
places exist in the equatorial zone, where al-
ways, or at one season only, atmospheric tides

3a2

708

»T« reiiiitrkeil, of which the epochas of ■
and minima sverve regnlarlf (more than tvo
hours for instance), from the period d 4k till
Qk in the morning, and from 4^ till lOjk in the
evening r The table placed at the eod of this
memoir will shew that in the only parts t^ the
earth where a sufficient nambcr of obseiratioiis
have been made to farnish with precisioo the
liours when the variations attain the extreme
limits, nearly thirty observers have found a
strilcing accordance * in the return of the saoie
epochas.

Places where it has been often too lig'htly as-
serted that the periodicity of the atmo^iberic

709

appeared to be marked by causes of perturbi^
tion. We now know that this assertion de-
mands some restriction for Rio Janeiro. M-
de Freycinet, who stopped at this port in his
last voyage round the worlds found, in the
month of August^ consequently in more serene
weather, the greatest regularity in. the horary
variati<ms *.

OBSERVATIONS AT RIO JANEIBO, IN 1820.

■OUR8. OF THB
OBSBBVATIONf

+ 766.71

nudnight. ...
13

766.77
766.69

766.16

— 766.66

766.67

766.78

786.00

«0

706.36
766.49

+ 766.91

766.96

HBI0BT8 or

THB BABOMK^

TBB in hUD-

dredtlis of

millimeter.

DOURS or TBS
0B8BRTATIO2C8.

23. .
noon.

1...

2 ..

3...

4...

6...

a...

7...

8...

9...

10...

HBI0BT8 OF
THB BAROMB-

TBR in hun-
dredths of
millimeter.

706.66

766.96.

766.76

766.04

764.28

764.49

764.43

766.33

764.69

766.38

766.66

* Barometer of Fortin. The heights are reduced to the^
temperature of zero. If we would have them corrected of
the error of the level, it would be necessary to add 0*«,922.

710

These results are even confinned by older
observations than those of Lamanon. M. San-
chez Dorta has published iu the greatest detail,
in the first volume of the Memoirs of the Aca-
demy of Lisbon, the barometric heights ob-
served at Rio Janeiro, at three periods of the
day, (morning, noon, and evening) during the
whole year of 1785. In this table, of more than
a thousand observations*, we scarcely find two
or three days in a month where any irregularity
is remarked t but the hours indicated not being
precisely those of the extreme limits, it is better
to have recourse to the table in which M. Dorta
gives for every month the mean of the hours
\S\ 20\ 22h, 24'', 2">, 4^ &, 10^.

* Mem. da Acadtmia Ktal dot Sctmdat, 1799, Vol. i, p.
397. The barometer was of the i»iistructian of M. de Mi-
galh&es.

711

¥^

tti

•

•<

•

^N,

tN.

X 1 ...

•

a .

t>i

o >

*■

■ •

•

fS\

■ ^

S «

■i.i'

•

» «

^ n

% 8

•

^ S

•

••

•

s s

•

QD
QD

■
CO

•

^ ■

QD
CO

•

5 o

•

r o

% a

1 «

tN.

.S E

•

CO
CO

^ a

f-l

1
1

•
1

The barometric heights* are indicated id
this table in hundredths of lioeg (antient mea-
sare of the French foot). Id order to disengage
them from the influence of the temperatare, or
reduce them to the freezing point, I have added
the mean temperature of the limit-bouts in
which the mercury attains the maximum and
the minimum. The periodical moTement of
the horary variations at Rio Janeiro are, os
every where else, 'where the mean of well-made
observations can be taken, of the greatest r^ii-
larity. Nor would It have been extraordinary
if among 1095 partial observations, pnhUshed
by M. Durta for the year 1785, more numerous
anomalies had been found; for Rio Janeiro
(lat. 22° 54') is like the Havannah (lat. 23^ 9"),
Calcutta (lat. 22° 34'), Canton (lat. 23" if) and
Macao (lat. 22* 1 2*), near the limit of the torrid
zone, where the perturbating influence of the
temperate zone begins to be felt.

The doubts thrown on the regularity of the
horary variations of the coast of Brazil, are
spread still more to the east, as far as Macao, a
spot situated at an equal distance from the
equator, in the northern hemisphere. A series

* We must add twenty- eight inches to every height, «o
that the meaa he^ht of the barometsr a.% Rio Jaaeiro, «t
10" in the morning, in the month of July was SS** 4".

713

of very valuable observations <^ made during
three years by the Abb6 Richenet, of the con-
gregation of Saint Laaare^ proves, that on the
southern coast of China, the atmospheric tides
display the most admirably constancy, and that
their period is ascertained day by day, without
the necessity of having recourse to the mean. I
shall choose the driest month (January), in
which there was not one day of rain, and the
most humid month (June), in which twenty
days of rain yielded 732 millimetres of waterf-.

* TheM impiibUihftd 6b8erTBtioiii« of which I owe the
comiDaiiieatioD to the kindness of Lord StnthaUan^ who
long resided at Canton and at Manilla, were made with two
barometers of English constmction, with a thermometer of
nuaima of Six, and with an hygrometer of Saossure. The
baiometric heights, in hundredths of an English inch, are not
corrected by the temperature.

f Quantity of water ftdlen at Macao in 1814, in one han-
dled aad fifty-foor days of rain, of which thirty-six were
accompanied by thunder : V^ 7.6^ English measure.

^^^^^^^1

■ CO

%
1

7i!^^^^^^

eSSPPSgSFg

SSS8SS=2S3

1
4

t ■

am,

-^«^.,gSgg2

fc.'

S5SS&SSSSS

EieSS^PggiEl?

30.26
30.24
30.30
30.32
30.33
30,30
30.34
30.33
30.10
30.14

30.24
30.21
30,28
30.28
30.28
60.27
30.32
30.32
30.10
30.13

30.35
30.26
30.34
30.39
30.34
30.32
80.35
30.41
30.20

30.1U

•A.V,,KV, 1 _„„,.„S§gSS

715

The regularity of the variations marked in
the preceding table, are found in more than a
thousand heights, which I carefully examined
on the registers of the Abbe Richenet. During
the course of the whole year 1814^ the centi-»
grade thermometer descended at Macao in Ja-
nuary, to 5^ below the freezing point ; it rose
at the end of August, to 30*4^. There were
frequent tempests, and thirty-six stormy days ;
more than 2.316 of rain water fell, and amidst
80 many climateric changes, I did not remark
one single period of seventeen hours during
which the ascending and descending movements
of the barcmieter (from 5^ in the morning to 10^,
from 10^ to S^ in the afternoon^ and from 5*^ till
10^ in the evening) had been interverted.

On the east of Macao, in the South Sea, MM.
de Langsdorf^ Horner, and Simonoff founds by
a mean drawn from 5700 horary observations^
the limit«hours nearly the same, namely : M.
de Langsdorf, taking the mean for the north
and south torrid zone + 9*» 40^ in the morning ;
i— 3^ 55' afternoon ; + lOj^ in the evening;
*-— 3i^ after midnight : M. Simonoff, in taking the
mean for the space contained between the pa-
rallels of 10^ and 30^ south latitude : + 9^ 24'
in the morning ; — 3^ 24' in the afternoon ;
+ 9^ 30' in the evening ; and — 3^ 18' after
midnight. The Russian astronomer made ob-
servations in the equinoxial region of the At-

lantic Ocean, nearly in the same latitudes as
Lamanon: but the observations of the latter
being much more numerous (extending from
22° 55' south lat. to 26° north lat., and corros-
pondiug with every hour comprised in 32 days
and !12 nights), the results to be drawn from
them appear to be more worthy of cunfidence.
M. Simonoff stops at + 9'" 39' lu the morning;

— 3*> 23* afternoon ; + 9^ 47' iu the evening:

— S"" 25' after midnight. These epochas of the
maxima and the minima, determined by the
mean with extreme precision, and by the ob-
server, prove, that notwithstanding a difference
of 140° of longitude, the atmospheric tides fol-

' low the same hours * within 18 minutes, in tbe
equinoxial regions of the South Sea, and the
Pacific Ocean.

^,Intke temperate zone. When I endeavoured,
in the physical table of the equatorial regious-f-,
to call the attention of the learned of Europe to

* Thia regularity or correspond e ace of epochas east and
west of America, ia no doubt verj striking; but to disengage
the AUantie retulU of M. SituoDoff ^m the iaflucDce of the
temperate zone, where he passed from 24° to 20^ north lati-
tude ; I calculated, on the registers which he confided to
me, ouly the obaervatioos made between 6° 26' south lat.
and 8° 22' north lat. In that extent of the Atlantic, I find
+ 0^ 42'ui the morning, —3^ 80 'afternoon, + e*" 48' in the
evening; —311 2/ cfter midnight.

t See my essay on thq geography of plants, 1807, p, S4.

717 >

tlie stady of the atmospheric tideSi I ventured
to predict that ^^ in the temperate climates,
where the horary variations of the weight of the
air are concealed beneath a multitude of local
causes that make the barometer rise and foil
irregularly, the mean^ drawn from a great num-
ber of olmervations made from hour to hour,
proves that, in the high latitudes, like those of
the torrid zone, the mercury rises and sinks at
determinate epochas.** That proof, thanks to
the zeal of naturalists^ has been completely ob-
tained. We shall follow the variations of the
tropics towards the temperate zones. M. Si-
monoff has observed that the hours of the max-
ima and the minima are manifissted by partial
observations, and without having recourse to
the mean, in the Ftoific Ocean, between the
tropic of Capricorn, and the 30P of the south
latitude ; and in the Atlantic Ocean, between
the tropic of Cancer, and the 2SP of north la-
titude. If the greater extension of the tropical
climate in the southern hemisphere, be confirm-
ed by other travellers, it will be linked with
many phenomona which the temperature, the
trade-winds, and the vegetation of monocoty-
ledon arborescent plants, present. Mr. Hors-
burgh found on the east of Africa, in the seas
of India and China, that the variations were
more regular, and greater, from 10° north lat.
lo 26° south lat., than from 10° to 20° north of

718

till' tt|ii>tfT .M. Leopold »le linch, in his
viiy.-iLTf lo tlic Canary Islands, obtained, after
tuvnry day-* of !i:iroim'trir obsen-ations at 1^
P:iim:i<. in tlu- (Jran Canaria, for the extreme
liniit>, 10^ and II'' in the morning, 4''in the after-
noon, and 11" in the erening*. M. CoateWe,
duiinir the course of the meteorological obser-
vations, Tt'liich he was charged by the Instimte
of Egypt to make at Cairo, in 1799, 1800, and
1S((1. did not knoir the periodicity of the \aria-
tions of thu barometer between the tropics; bat
a few weeks sufficed to shew him that at all
sciisons. in 3(1=3' of north lat., the mercnry rises
f.-oin o*" to 51'' in the moniiuir, till lU"" and lOi'';

Vl9

that the barometric variations were subject to
certain laws. Van Smnden announced !n the
year 1776, the existence of a diurnal period : he
employed the method of the meanj to exclude
the effects of accidental perturbations ; bat he
fixed hours for the mwcitna and minima (+1i^;
— 6^* ; +10^ ; — 22** astronomic time), which, ac-
cording to the position of Pranecker, and the
analogy of the observations of Koenigsberg, ap-
pear little probable. Cotfe *, Hieitimer, Planer,
aiid other members of the Meteorologic Society
of Manheim, asceriained that the passag[e of the
Sun dver the meridian, tended to make the ba-
rometer descend, and that that inistrument was
gefaerally lower at 2^ in the afternoon, than in
the morning and' evening. Due la Chapelle
carefully obsei*ved the more or less swelled con-
vexity of the column of mercury, and conclud-
ed from his labors, that the barometer lowers in
the south of France, from 7h in the morning till
2lb in the afternoon ; that it rises till lOi^ in the
evening, and again descends rapidly during the
night. All these assertions were vague and con-
tradictory : the first precise observations made in
Europe on the horary variations of the barome-
ter, were by M. Ramond. ." I obtained,** says
that excellent observer -f-, " analagous results to

* Joum de pAy«., Tom. xxxvii^ p. 104.
t Metu. de VTnstUutpour Vanmk- 1B08, p. 100^ 103 and
107.

720

those of M. de Humboldt at the equator, but
the hours of variation diflfer according to the
seasons ; the tropical hoars for winter, are Bt B^
in t he morning, 9^ in the afternoon, and 9^ in tbe
evening. In summer the lowering appean to
begin at S^ in the morning, is continued till 4^ ia
the afternoon, and begins again at 10^ in tbe
evening. My observations being made aloni^
it was impossible for me to determine tbe noc-
turnal variations with sufficient precisioa ; Ar
in our climates, whole months of aanduoos
obsen-ation do not suffice to limit the qnanti-
tic8 which one single night of the equator far-
nishes in all their purity."

All the remarks of M. Rainond on theepocbas

721

ran rises later ; but the type * of summer
(+20^;— 4i^; +10^) is almost identical in £u«
rope with that which .L ascertained in the torrid
aone (+ 20**;— 4J!» ; +11''). It would be interest-
. ing to know if this analogy holds at the epocha
of the minimum which takes place after mid-
night (16i^X ^^ epocha for w;hich numerous
statements are wanting in our climatea.

A traveHer who has devoted himself with
success to the measurement of mountains, M. de
Bbrrot -f*, asserts^ from a series o^ observations
which he made every half-hour, during 14 days
and 14 nights; that at Milan, the epochas of the
fimiteare:— I8M+2311; 4i»';+18^ It can-
not be doubted that, in studying (be tables of
the horary variations of the barometer, publish-
ed lune years ago by M. Arago, aad which I
regard, on account of the perfection of the in-

* The type of the winter in Europe, taking the mean be-
tween the horary observations of MM. Ramond, Marque Vic-
tor, and BiUiet, appears to be -f 2 4^—2|''; 4-91^ Thedif-
fsrences presented by the epoeka of the UmU in winter and in
summer seem to prove, that the most proper hours for ob-
eerrers of the barometer, in our observations in Europe, are
(if we would wish them to be uniform for the whole of the
year), 9|^ in the morning ; 3^ afternoon ; and 10£^ at night.
The minmum of the morning in Europe seems to fall be-
tween d'* and 4** after midnight.

+ Rme in den Pyrenaen van Freidrich ton Parrot, 1823,
p. 11. This maximum of the morning (one hour only be-
fore midnight) appears to me very late.

VOL. VI. 3 B

slrii'ment, tod the clioice of tbe liours i^t*> afl^
4^), as tbe most instructive which we hitherto
possess, the mean of the two decades goffices t»
shew that the mercury sinks between 9^ ia
the morning, and 4'' in tbe afternoon ; bot in
order to determine tbe quantity of variations,'
to know if tbe maximum is attained at 9' or at
I 111, requires more days of observation in tbe
temperate zone than M. Parrot could deroto at
Milan.

III. Extent of the horary v(matwim. Id col-
lecting tbe whole of my observations at Cuma-
na, I find, for that part ofthe tropics, and at the'
level of the sea, the extent of tbe variatioos re-
duced to zero of tenaiperature, from 9^ m Uie
mornmg tHl 4'» in the aiftemoon, to be I . Itf' or
2.47". I sbafl add to the results of Cumana
those of Caraccas, corresponding to an eleva-
tion of 406 toises.

f 3

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7&)

M.Boussingaalt, in transmitting to me for the
Academy of Sciences^ the observations of the
horary variations made during a whole year,
conjointly with M. Rivero, at Santa Fe de Bo-
gota, speaks as follows of the limit-hours r *' It
is a fact established by your labors, and verified
by ours, that the mercury between the tropics
attains its maximum between 8^ and 10^ m the
morning ; then descends till near 4^, and iis at
the minimum between 3*^ and 5^ in the after-
noon ; that it then ascends till 11^ at niight,
without reaching, however, the same height
at which it was at 9^ in the morning ; and
finally, r&-descendis till 4^ in the morning,
without going as low as it was at 4^ in the af-
ternoon. In consulting the whole of our obser-
vations made at Santa^Fe de Bogota, in 1*823 and
1824, (and there are more than 1200 of them),we
remark that the greatest height observed, took
place July 16th 1824, at 9^ in the morning : it
was^ reduced to the temperature of zero, of
0.56388"*. The smallest height was observed
Nov. 5th, 1823, at 4^ in the evening : it was
0.55768". During whole months the barome-
tric heights observed at the same hours, at
Bogota, do not differ 0.4'° ; and the mercury in
the space of a whole year, only oscillated at the
epocha of the maximum of 9^ in the morning,
between 0.55928°*, and 0.56388™; and at thf
epocha of the minimum of 4^ in the eveninf

between 0.5576a*, ivml 0.66185°. Tliese i
the extreme oscillations." M, Boussiogaalt
found the tides a,t Bogota, from the 4th to tint
5ti) of JuHUAry, 1824, as follows: (1^^)
;itiO.70""( {17''> 561.00; (a^) 56275; {^)
662-75; (33'') 562(35; (ooonj ali2.30 ; {l"*)
561,60; (2'') 561.25; (3") 560^; (4'-) 560.50;
(5"-) 560,65; {&) 561.1fl; (7'') 5fil.$5 ^ (9^)
562.60; {10'')562.7S.

M. Arago has submitted to » neyt ex^miaiv-
ti«a tlie obs^rrBtioo^ vad^ by MM. 3oifMN9r
gault aud Rivero ia November 1822, at the
pojrt of La |Qu^y», almost ip the ni^ridiw flf

^^0 of the qentigr^Q th^rnionwtBr* \^ find^
tb^fj&om^t^e 2;M November to tfce 7th Do-
ii^^pbet^ the me^ of i^ in the uomipg vv
?gyai to 760.05'™'; tb*»t of lO^ to 760,0»»:
that of 4!' in the evening, to 757.44""^ ; and tliW
«oii9equwtly, the* meao diiimal rfirisj^too vb9
2;44f'». Xhe partial, diflfer^cw of tiUe (i?i|5
varied from 2,04""° to 2,92"°. In compaiioff
all the absolute heights of th^ barometer ob-
Sflfvsd at 1)4 Guayra at the same hour oa dif'
fere^it days, differencos are remarked that rise
to 2.10'""'- M, Arago • thinks, from the ob-
servations of MM. Boussingault and Bivero,
that^at the equator as in the temperate climates.

797

the barometric height of noon may be consider-
ed, without sensible errors, as the mean of
the day. My observations^ made at diffe|rent
heights^ north and isouth oi the e<{aatorji seem
to prove that the mean of noon is generally n lit-
tle more elevated in Eqninoctial America^ than
the mean of 9^ and 4f^^ the barometer idescbnd-
ibg muoh less rapidly from S^ tifl noon, than
from noon till 4^. t draw this renlt fronr 2JS0
ebservati^ms taken by chance 6tMn my regis*-
tersl

A long mAifi D^OtaervatiOYis made ota a tible-
liemd of Indies at the foot of the Hninda}ra» *
eantiot lead to an analagous result^ becanse tibe
nuurimum of the morning is not indicolted ;' but
iStiat series gives witib prwision tftie mean oF the
Hoars: of* AoAb^ 9^ in ffae afMnloon^ j^ in the
evening, and 4^^ in the mornings in hundredths
of the English inch.

f ^ FmadftHamittDd^itoraMrlf *iBNidiailan,^A
kiDgdom of Nepaul, 1819^ p. 390. la cbin|Niriilg 9** In the
^mtiji abd'4^ inUi^ mdrtiilig, it mii8l Ml be IbrgdmOi that
the maxmum of the eveniog ticte falls between 10>^ an4 ll**.

t^ r^ w t^ t^ <o .n o -v w in

■•J

s
1

' a

25.43
2.5.18
25.13
24.98
25.03
25.22
25.34
25.36
25.36
25.26
25.22

a
z.

25.41
25.18
25.13
24.96
25.03
25 ..32
25.28
25.31
25.31
25.35
25.19

25.40
25.19
25.11
24.94
25.01
25.16
25.24
25.24
25.27
25.21
25.18

25.16
26.20
25.13
24.98
25.05
25.20
2531
25.31
25,32
25.28
25.25

May- - - -

June

July

September -
October - -
November -
December -
Januaiy - -
February- -
\ Marcli - -

7»

As we are ignorant of the mean temperature
of the epochas of the day and night when these
observations were made, on the table-liEmd of
Kathmandn, the meanof the barometric heijg^hts
from 3^ in the afternoon till 4^^ in the morning,
cannot be directly compared together; but the
observations of M. Dorta * made at Brazil, (the
most numerous and complete which have
hitherto been published on the horary varia-
tions in the southern hemisphere), fiimish the
possibility of a direct comparison. I have
added the mean temperature of the hours ex-
pressed in degrees of the thermometer of Fah-
renheit. In reducing to the temperature of
zero the barometric mean of the following
table, we find for 10^ in the morning
28*" 2.01M . fop noon 28*" 1.57" ; for 4*" in the
afternoon 28*" 0.97**; for 10^ evening 28*" 1.81ii.
The extent of the variations is therefore from
10^ in the morning till 4^ in the afternoon,
2.34""; that from 4^ in the afternoon till 10»»
in the evening 1.89"". The mean of noon is
0. 1 7"", more elevated than the mean of day,

* Mem de Acad, de Lhhoa , Tom. ii, p. 397—398. M.
Dorta having made observations only every 2 hours^ we
could not present the barometric heights of 9** in the morn-
ing and ll** in the evening, which I should have preferred.
The heights are expressed in inches and hundredths of lines
of the French foot, and are not yet reduced to the tempera-,
turc of zero.

computed from tbe masimum of the mormag,
and the minimum of the afternoon. The extent
of the variations were the same in the hottest
months (January and February), and in the
coldest (Juae and July).

731

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732

TTie 6rst uatui-alUts • who remarked the
great regularity uf tbe aseendiog and descenit-
tag movement of the Iwronieter witbin the
tropics, were struck with fhe inequality wh'icV
they observed in the extent of the %'ariatio«is
between two consecutive days, alike calm and
serene. It happens, for instance, that the co-
Inmn of mercury attains a greater height rhaa
usual at the hours of the maximtiat of the erco-
ing ; that it diminishes very little during tbr
night and till A^ in the morning ; that the to-
pometer rises much more from 4^ till 9^ in the
morning than it descends from 9*" in the raoni-

733

two kinds of movements^ which modify^ and add-
to each other ; and it may be said that the ba-
rometer remains lower one week than another
in the torrid, as in the temperate zone. The
knowledge of the limits of the absolute maxima
and minima is very important for the measure-
ment of heights by, means of the barometer,
whenever between the tropics, without corres-
ponding observations^ we deduce from a smstU
number of observations made on a particular
spot, and at certain hours of the day^ the state
of the barometer at every consecutive hour of
day and night. Bouguer, La Condamine, and the
greater part of the travellers who have spoken
after them of horary variations, confound the
extent of the oscillations corresponding to one
atmospheric tide, with the changes of the mean
heights of the barometer in different weeks or
different months. Bouguer says * that the co-
lumn of mercury in the torrid zone varies from
21 to 3 lines ; but that the variations at Quito
are only 1 line. The former part of this asser-
tion can relate only to the extreme accidental

* Ftgurt de la terre, p. 39. Caldas, in the Semanario,
Vol. 1, p. 248. Don George Juan thought he remarked n
diminution in the extent of the oscillations, in proportion as
he approached from the tropic to the equator {OUerv, Atiro-
nonUcoi, p. 1)0). He fixes this extent at Petit Goave, at 2^
line, and at Guayaquil, at 1| line.

734

vftriatlons, and not to the cittent of the Wrl?
tlons during a whole tide. In re^'icwing the
whole of my observation*, made at difi^mt
heights, and in latitudes more or less near fhe
eqafrtor, it seemed to me that the extent of the
vnriattons diminishes very Httte with the eleva-
tion of the spot, nnd thnt it dimnnshes still less
than the barometric mean of different days. At
Cumana, La Guayra, Payta, Lima, and Rio Ja-
neiro, at the level of the sea in both henri-
Bpheres, the mean extent of the osctUatfons et
atmospheric tides is at most from 2.4""" to 3
nrilllmeters ; and the (Kfll^ence of the absdilte'
helgUtfi^ observed at the same hours of drflferetti
days; amomits' to 3, rarely to 4 milfiineteM*^

* A barometric Ueigbt at the epocha of the muMite, Dot
btfftig^MtutMreil wHfa b befgSt obttrvcd in aflothcnr itttk, tt
t)Me|Mttl&'ef the mutlmmm, the diffcrCaw of *ie lAtlihlf
h«i$hk Kt tbr Mnoc hoan in diSvent ««ek>; may. {MriH^tf
betsM then th« mitent. of the hmntj asciUatioBS. A trwd*-
ler who would meuore the height of a mouiMdM bj mcun
of the barometer, without haring correB ponding obstmtioiu
on the eoBst, aod vho suppOBetf the coldnta of matn^t*
be invariable at Cumana (neglecting the coDiideratioo of tbe
horary oscillations, and that of the difference of the abaolnte
banmelnff hdghlv, lu— kj^g fVMn' tht^sccuniulBtiaM at- tie-
oettnta iaeqaalltiM in the extentof tfae dhuUal aMiIblibib)i
would- deceive hitawMaonwiiiatainttiASitae1erp;'iorl'tKK'
thft haromcttr,. Joh^ldtb, at 11'' in the moratnif, at^KU^,
and Aug^uat Mtb, at 4^* in the afMrnooil, al 33it7>'. Gtitmt
Lane found the barometer at Lk Guayta, al WMti^ 98lh t»'

735

l%ee!t!teHt of the femtlrf oseiilatioM 8t Lima
fktt. 12^ 2^ seoth), appeteed to ms a Utik; leA
<17 to 3.3)^ tbam near tbe eqnatov (3.6 toSJS^
hi tbe forests of AtalM^ and of Rao Negro«

Bniary, 1823, at0.7e609« (th. 15^cent.)s Vlebniar)rS8tt>,
«tf O.Tmem (lil.M;ll*)rMiirch 1«C» «»0.7Me5« (th. WJ»^^
and Marek &th^ at ^TSMSra (Ok. Mi#). tf the rdalive ew
Mcttm of the liomffy nmlioiu be iior naglactadj, there re-
maioy only, a» araowce of crmr U the measuremeol of
moimtains, withoat a correaponding^ observation, in tbe tro*
pVcB, the difference of absolnte barometric heights'; antf in
dlstiBgufahing' between* the difference ef extreme ApisftlMi
afid the osciUatioes of thet ^Ml^aiMaPomul the meaabero-
mtinc height we maji conceive that the probable Ikfdt of
the ewov arising Irom tbe faiise we diwnse« will rarelj be
abotve fifteen or twenty meCrea. This e^tiniete ia important
for those whe, in the barometric leveUiogiL projected for ex-
amining proviiiionaUy the ijithmnsscs ef Unasacnalco, Da-
tien, and Piinama» may employ only one berQmeier.. In order
tokoaw ewK^y the number ««C h>okfi whieh a. canal ^e^uires,
we iiui3t^ even between the tcqpics, where every circnm-
atanpe ia so fiavorable to. the i|se of the becQineter for the
levelliag of the^ s^nl, employ two. ieatniisiente: the one
abonU remain on tbe seashore^ or» which is preferable,
ahssild fbllQW the second baaometer fronv station to station,
as in the levelliQg opesationa estecuted by MM»de Parrot
aiNL Eegelhenlt» between the North and Caspian Seas. If,
on the cQetrsvyA. we seek only to know approximetely (at
alipii^ Mventy metres) the height o( the ridge of pariUum
whieh peesenta a faivorabte chance for cuUmg am itthmuf, one
beRometer wiU suffice, which must be observed in going and
net^HHiig, as ought always to be done in the tkfonometric
measuremtn/^ of diftanees.

736 f

In ascending from the coast of V^iezuela on
the table-laud of Bogota, the difTercnce of tfie
diurnal maximn and minima, (nutwithstaDdtng
the difference of 1365 toises of height), dimi-
nishes only one-fourteenth, and c<inseqnently,
not in the relation of the biirometric heights of
the places we compare. The coni|>arisoo of the
same hours ou different successive daj-s fur-
nishes at Santa Fe de Bogota •, and at Popayiin
(911 t.), scarcely the difference of three or four
millimeters in the space of a whole year. The
following tables prove, that a great equality in

* See Semanario de Bogota, Tom. i, p, 50, 83, 115, 177,
^16, 355, 290. I calculated for every day the mean
height of the barometer, and by the diunial osdllations
tbe extended mean of the oscillations in whole months ;
the results are marked in hundredths of lines of the
French foot. M. Caldas aimounccs in an indirect manner
(Semanario, Tom. i, p. 65), that tbe epochal of the timiU, er
tropical houT$, which I published in my Esva/ on the Gtogra-
phg of Plants, are not those which M. Mutis fonnri on the
plains of Bogota ; this doubt does not appear to me to be
well founded. MM. Bousstngnult and Rivero have confirm-
ed the epochft of the maxima and niininM which I had an-
nounced i and even M. Mutia, who is accused of not beii^
very communicative, told me, when I shewed him my rois-
ters, " that the periods observed at Cumana were nearly cod-
fbrmable to those resulting from his researches, but that in
the hottest dnys, the mariinum wus attained at Santa Fe de
Bogota, at S** in the morning." This latter observation le-
calls tlie difference of the tropical hours remarked in En-
rope, by MM. Itamond, Harqu^ Victor, and BiUiet, betwees
the hottest and coldest seasons. (See above, p. 719).

737

the extent of every tide, produces on the back
of the nioantains^ a surprising uniformity in
the mean barometric heights of the months. I
shall here present successively the results of the
observations made on the same spot (at Santa
Fe de Bogota), in 1807 and 1818, by M. Caldas,
and in 1823 and 1824, by MM. Boussingault
and Rivero. The latter, made with much more
exact instruments, merit the highest confidence.
M. Caldas finds for the twelve months of the
year 1807 :

MAZIKA.

Jannary S47.d3

Febmny 249.88

March 840.88

April 249.42

May 249.67

Jooe 249.67

July 249.60

Angiut 249.42

Sqptember 249.42

October 249.38

November 248.92

December ...r 248.85

iCINUfA.

I^IFTBaBNCK.

247.00

l.Ofr

24a88

1.00

247M

1.40

247.92

1.60

248.00

1.67

248.00

1.67

247.88

1.67

247.92

1.60

248.00

1^2

247.91

1.42

248.00

1.92

247.60

1.16

The mean of 642 barometric heights^ observed
by the same naturalists, from January to July
in the year 1808, presents the following re-
sults :

VOL. vr.

MBAN OrTHB HQRABY VARIATIONS OViavSl HONfOS '
ON TUB TABLB-LANO OP BOOtlTA.

.•..».T..e ....»-

KXTBNT or
TBB OH-

"""'"■■

"""'■

-»■"'

OP TH«

January . . .

24D.n4

217 99

1.05

i3.a' R

February...

248^1)

247.85

0J)3

14.«

MakIi

S4B.02

a4».oa

0.99

1S.7

ApHl

249.04

248.04

1.00

I4.S

M.y

2 HI .20

•Uii.i-i

0,9«

13 f

Jane

240.17

218,20

0.8U

13.H

249.13

248.17

0.95

M. Caldas having pablished the mean tem-
peititure of every day, and the maxima and
miiuma of the temperature of whole months,
but. not the temperature from 9^ in the morn-
ing till 4^ in the evening, the barometric
heights of 1807 could not be reduced to the
freezing point. The case is tlie same with res-
pect to the diurnal observations from January
to July 1808. It may, however, be admitted,
that the mean temperature of 9'' in the morn-
ing (on the table-land of Bogota) is nearly 1.2°
lower of the centigrade thermometer, and the
mean temperature of 4'' in the afternoon 1.8^
higher than the mean temperature of the month.

739

o
as

<
Q

^5Sil3153333323§3§333

'flllO|lt(|ptO

!!!!2iS55IS55!!5

sfJiaoiQiiii

00 OO 00 0% Ok

j;s;!^s$s^&si;i

'xiat

s:25ssss:asaiss;8^ss

'JDIDIIva)!

45^55525252522^

J ,«mm

2235222*3

V19f|

'8oei

•M Olecr^ « «e t^tt o^ O 2 M c« 2 *A

Ailh

*tfiio;|*npto
•UP

9SSSS

ot M «s M «4 A CO jn CQ «!) -^

MlltUMl

2i!!ll!i3l?Bi5sl

3{J|9aiayroq

'XHTQNTr

s^s2gsssass£^sss;3

-awi nvdff

tUOHWnpM

1 • • • • ^a • ••••••■ _*

•nqSpq
9]j|»aiaiiq

00090000000040000000000000009}

e«e4cie904e4e40iMe«e^e«c«C4

'808T
'XHVANVr

•ii4e4c«d^iovi>>aDo»o^ciro<«io

3c2

740

In examining for seven months the mean ba-
I'ometric height of the days, observed by M.
Caldos, I find the least height to be 247.^ ; and
the greatest 249.0". This difference of 1.^, or
2.7*°, is the effect of smE^l inequalities of dinmal
oscillations which accumulate by degrees. It was
3.12""°, in the observations of M. BonssinganlL
Once only the extent of the variations of the day
was but 0.63""" ; and once only it rose to 3.64"'.
In comparing the observations day by day fiiun
9** in the morning till 4*> in the afternoon, I find
that in the observations of M. Caldas, the varia-
ttons at 9h were from 248.30ii to 249.50" ; and at
4'' from 247.00>' to 248.66h ; whence result the
differences for 9^ of 2.7°", and for4\3.y.

■„....„,.

als35Sal3s5332a1

sqi m „t IB
HUSH on V a

558.68
558.90
559,03
559.03
55833
558,73
558.37
557.76
558.00
558.95
558,44
556,88
558.48
559,14
553,23
559.90

■8u><u«u
oqi ui ^ w

"ESSl MU

2:;22S5i;ssassssss .

ii!^iisi3ss^lsB

>11 "I h6 >»

■KB! -Ma

-«'" — "2 = 22=2

-■3M3W4Jia

3.46
3.23
V.34
2.41
3.60
2.30
3.57
3,09

1.53

2 63
3.69
2.69
2.49

559,48
559.65
559.95
560.18
560.03
5G0.63

560,02

560,36
559.66
559.01
569.93

659,73

■8oiuaoai
«!» «! ir, V
uuaMoHva

■EEBI 'on'

S::2285SSSSSa8SS

,o„..„,„

1.72

1.80
1,90
1.97
3.24
1,48
2.20
2.66
2.54
2.14
333

2.22

-DOOIU9U>

aqi uj ,|» 11

559,46
559.63
560.38
560.28
560.03
560,20
56133
5I».73
559,74
559.81
559.94
559.90

559.93

-Sinaioin
9i|1 ni ^B w
tiaiaNOHta

561.18

562.09
563.18
562.00
562,44
562.81
563.95
563.40
563,35
562.08
562.33
56173
563.03
562.01

■EEBI -oaT

-"«"■■-"- — 2 = S232

743

The heights of the barometer are in hun-
dredths of millimeter. We shall choose two
months only on the whole year, of which we
are in possession. M. Boussingault justly ob-
serves, that " the mean monthly heights are
greatest in June and July ; and the least in
December and January, when the earth is
nearest the sun." The following are tbe mean
heights reduced, as in the table of the month of
August and December, to the temperature of
cero. t have placed by the barometric mcfto,
the mean extent of the diurnal oscillations from
9^ till 4'', and the msan of the temperature cor-
responding to those epochas of the morning and
afternoon. M. Ramond, from the year 1814,
faai thrown great light on the curioas phenome-
non of the monthly o&cillatioas of the baroofe-
ter,

743

' llli!!!!g!ll

a'"

liiiissilsp

Ifljii

iiiiil

^ a» « CT ■»--«.« e« ea -, O.

IslsjSBilsll

does d e 3 d o 6 d d

llllll

744

The movement of the barometer at Bogota
Is of surprising regularity; the mean hdgfats
acquire their minimum at the winter solstice,
augment till after the summer solstice, and
again decrease, without presenting' any other
anomaly than that of the month of May. This
new and curious remark, is owing to the ob-
servations of MM. Boufisingault and Rivera^
and which those able naturalists found confirm-
ed by the observations of M. Caidas, made in
1807. In our temperate climates, at Stras-
bourg for instance, the observations of M. Her-
renschneider, during fourteen years, (indicated
In lines of the French foot, and reduced to 15^
centigrade temperature^ prove that the montb-

746

raryoficillationB extremely uniform. At thesame
hours the barometric heights scarcely differ
from 2 to 2i millimeters during whole months.
But sometimes the north winds, which are so
impetuous in the gulph of Mexico, blow back
the air as &r as the table land of Anahuac,
and suddenly raise the mercury^ This blowing
back caused the barometer to mount * on the
23rd March, 1783, at lO'' at night, 264 lines,
while the minimum of all the heights observed
in the whole year (20th January, 1783) was
259.31&. In deducting the effect of the periodi-
cal oscillati(Mi8^ the extreme variations attain
at the same hour of the maxima and the minima,
by a concurrence of accidental circumstances,
at most 3,Qf^ or 8i millimeters. We are sur-
IMised to see this constancy in the extent of the
oscillations on a table land, where, in 19^ 25' o^
latitude, the thermometer descends in winter,
between 4^ and 5^ in the morning, several

DiMtrfudofi /inca iobre la awrcra boreal del \4 Nov, 1199,
p. 14). I saw the barometer of Mexico descend at the
epocha of the mtntsiiim^ to 268.2>^ (therm. 22"* cent.) I saw
U highest at the hour of the maximum, 200^^ (therm.
18.8").

^ Political Etsay, VoL i, p. 83. Daring this blowing
back of the air« which is borne towards the boreal regions
of the south, the centigrade thermometer does not sink at
Vera-Crus (in the lower layers of the atmosphere) lower
than from 20"^ to 18^ and at most to 16.5o.

746

degrees beluw zero. The tatth winds oa the
eastern coast of Mexico, at Vera-Cms, (lit.
19° 11') often interrupt saddeoly the regularity
of the horary vanations^ duiing 5, 6, and em
8 days, and make the mercury oscillate firom
333 to 341 lines, (difference 18 milUmeterB).
I have stated in another place the importance
of which this phenomenon, studied by M. Oita,
captiun of the port of VentrCmz, in all its
various modifications, is become for tha safety
of navigators who would sail in these dan-
gerous latitudes. By inspecting the barometer,
the proximity of the tempest, its force and
duration may be prognosticated with great pro-
bability. I saw in the possession of M. Orta,

747

We see that in advancing in the plains and
on the back of the Ck>rdiUera89 from the equator
towards the trojNCS, the proximity of the tem-
perate zone renders the barometric mean of the
months more and more anequal^ because the ac-
cidental caqses begin to act with greater force.
At the extremity of the northern torrid xone, at
the Havannah (lat. 23^ 8')^ the mean barometric
height of the months differs with respect to their
general equality, very little from the mean
height oi the months at Rio Janeiro (lat.
22^ 54'), which is situated near the extremity
of the southern torrid zone. It is interesting
to compare, from the excellent observations of
MM, Dorta, Robredo*, and Ferrer -f*, the
variations of the weight of the atmosphere in the
vicinity of the two tropics. At Rio Janeiro^ the
extreme barometric mean of December and
August ; and at the Havannah, that of Septem-
ber and January, diflisr nearly 8 millimeteris,
while at Bogota, nearer the equator, the monthly
mean does not swerve H millimeters.

* Ob$erv. meiearohgieat hechoi en la Havana y miel pueblo
da Ubqjaif (maDiucript).

t Conn. da$ tempi pour IBM, p. 338.

t Rio Janeiro : mean height, bar. in December 1786,
387.02" (th. U.T cent.) ; in AuguBt, 340.69^' fth. 22.1<') ;
at the Havannah <l8ia— 1812), in September, 761 .28"'' (th.
28.9> cent.) ; in January, 768.09"^ (th. 21.1*). Reduced to
the temperature of zero, the difference near the tropic of
Capricorn is, 8.3^" : near the tropic of cancer, 7.0"».

tiAVANNAH. — Mean of the numtks during tbt
years, 1810-1812.

January .

Februaty 0.7(

March 0.76498 .

April O.-KIOl 26.1

May 0.76109 M.l

Jonc 0.764U tt.i

jDly 0.76459 W.fr

August 0.701S3 S8.6

September 0.79006 S7.B

October 0.76174 26J

November 0.761&S S4«

Sgccmbt^r ■ , O.TOGae «.l

749

the tempestuous winds from the south *. The
meteorologic journal of M, Robredo proves
that these differences are alike remarked far
from the coast, in the interior of the island. It
48 not the mean of the months that differs more
near the tropic of cancer than new the tropic
of Capricorn, it is rather the extreme heights
owing to accidental causes. At the boundary
of the southern torrid aone, the extreme osciL
lations ^ of the barometer attain only 21 mil-
limeters (9.3^) ; at the extremity of the northern
torrid zone, they are often 25 millimeters^
sometimes 30^°^ <lS.3tt). The southem.hemi-
sphere^ south of the parallel of 23^, contains a
very small portion of land ; and the atmosphere

* The hurricaneB are not in g^iend accompanied by such
-an extmordinary lowering of the barometer as is imagined
in £arope. I possess 60 barometric obsenratioas made by
•the captain of a ship, Don Tomas de Ugarte, neurly from
hoar to honr« at the Havannah, during the terrible hurricane
of the 97th and 28th of. August, 17M. When the tempest
was most violent, the column of mercury sunk only 6 lines
(II.81U1). Kirwtfn asserts howcTer, that at the island of
Saint Bartholomew^ the barometer has been seen to lower in a
hurricane (1792), 42 millimeters. Irish Tram., vol. viii,
p. 887. Is this fact as well certified as a lowering of 25
. millimeters at the Isle of Fraoce ? (Moreau de Jonnh, Hiti.
pkytM des Ant., Tom. L p. 420). See on the barometric
heights observed on the coast of Chili, Espmosot Memonas
de los Naveg. £fp., Tom i, p. 129, 134, 179.

t In December and March. See Mem, de Lisboa, Tom. ii.
p. 397.

t ^-

the mean of the m

J>ut the greatest ^

w-hole year on th<

WM), was only 4 i

At Cairo, where

the mem horary ti

0.6" or 0.8» (1.10-

▼ariatioTO are incoii

fer from those whicl

Janeiro. M. Coutell

cuiy vary only 22 n

three years, from tht

batioBB. These limr

• 1 fiwi from the mu
"Wienet, the mean of the
■» Macao, as follows : 80

«**) 5 ao.2« (th. «e») J a
»'8e (th. 81-) J aoj» ^^

(th. 80»^ • 5IA in /.I. ...

7«l

nearer than at the Havannah, in the system
of American climates.

The diminution in the extent of the horary
irariations, in advancing from the equator • to-
irards the pole^ was remarked by M. Ramond^*
4w soon as he began to compare the results of
liis observations at Clermont-Ferrand with
4;hose which I liad collected in the torrid zone.
^'The extent of the variations^** says this
able naturaiist, ^* is half less in France than
between the tropics. The nummum of tiie
variations in our climates is in spring: the
^ascent of the day in Europe is nearly equal to
the preceding lowering, while in the tropics

* At Senegal (lat. 16<> 6d'> a weU-informed travcUer M.
de Beaafort, found recently, by means of obsenraticma that
comprdiend two months and a half, the extent of the
horary oscillations to be t/^am. He gives for 7>> in the
morning 0.7029" (th. 21o); for noon 0.7664 (th. 26''); lor 4^
in the afternooD, 0.766Sb (tk 29°) j and for 8*^ in die even-
ing, .0.7067'* <th. W*). Reduced to the temperature of aero,
die observations of noon, and at 4i> in the afternoon give,
0.7619>^, and 0.7631 ■, and not, as is asserted in a leiter ad-
dressed to M. Jomard (January 26di 1824), 0.76di», and
0*7668». {Bulletm deUi8oe.de Giographk, p. 14, 68).
Hertha, 1825, n. 3, p. 143. These observations little ac-
cord with wliat has been found in every other part of the
earthy where the barometer has every where been seen lower
at ^ in the afternoon, than at 8*^ in the morning, and at noon.

t Mem. de VInsiiiut, 1808, p. 107, and 1812, p. 46.

these quantities differ from single • to'cfoul^^
M. Arago, whose meteorological observations
already comprehend 9 years, and who dispoeed
them in such a manner as to place most in
evidence the value of the diurnal variatioo'^
of the barometer, finds, that the descending
oscillation at Paris, from 9'' in the morning till
3" in the afternoon, is only 0.8""" (CSSi') ; and
that in reducing all the heights to the same
temperature, the mean of 15 to 20 days sof-
fices, at all seasons, to ascertain the existence
and movement of the horary oscillations J.
We have seen that the mean of the barometric

* According to my first view, the type of the moreinait
of the barometer, on the shore of the equinoctial sea, ap-
peared to me as follows : the mean barometric height U
St* in the morning, will give, h + O.&u ; at 4'' in the after-
noon.h — 0.4>'; at 11^ at night, h + O.l'' ; at 4>>^inthe
momii^, h -— 0,2". It results from this hypothesis, for
9>> in the rooming, 338.30" ; for noon, 338.02'>^ ^ for •I'' in
in the afternoon, 337.40"; for U*' et nigh^ 337*1"; fcr
4** in the morning 337.00". See my Euag on the Gtogr.
of I'laitU, p. 91, and my Fee. tfOit. aatr., vol. i,p. S8S,
289.

t See the important discussions in the Anncda de chame»
dt phgnqme. VoL iii, p. 443 ; Vol. vi, p. 439 ; Vol. ix. p. 4SS;
Vol. xii, p. 421 } Vol. xv, p. 416 ; Vol. xviii, p. 407.

f It is to be regretted that the observations at Paris sod
Geneva cannot be compared, the latter containing no de-
ment that serves to make known the horary obaemtioiis-
(L. C-, Vol. vi.p. 440).

759

heights of the months, differs 1.2»»^ near the
equator, and 8»^, near the tropies of cancer and
Capricorn (at -Rio Janeiro and the Havannah).
At Paris (lat. 48^ 5(f) the monthly mean gene-
rally varies from 8 to 9 millimeters* in one
year. The compensation of these accidental
variations is such, that at the center of tern-'
perate Europe, one month suffices to approach
at least | nearer the mean value of the baro-
metric heights, than that which we find on
the confines of the equinoctial and temperate
xone *tr.

M. Marqu6 Victor found at Toulouse (lat.
43^ 350 the mean of the extent of the horary
oscillations, LS""* ; he remarked no connection

* I wish 1 could compare Paris with some spot placed in
the same latitude^ on the eastern coast of America ; but we
lunre. hitherto no precise obserrations on the horary varift-
tions of the barometer^ except those which an observer fiill
of zeal, M. Jules Wallensteini has lately made at Washing-
ton (lat 38* 55'), where the mean temperature (14.T* cent)
10 4 degrees above the mean temperature of Paris. The
barometric heights of the different months varied at Wash-
ington in 1824, 14^"^, or 6i lines ; which proves how
much the atmosphere is subject to great variations, on* the
eoittm coatt of the United States. (Amer. Trans,, 1894,

p. 1)'

t In' some years it has happened that the barometric

mean of the months has differed less at Paris than at Rio

Janeiro, and the Havannah. This difference was only from

6i to e§ millimeters, in 1816 and 1819;

VOL. VI. 3 D

754

betneen the greatness of the horary oacilI&-
tions, und the seasons * -, but this conaeetiaD
is manifest at Paris by the mean of 72 inoDthi.
Hie extent of the oscillations from 9'* in the
morning till 3i> in the afternoon, was foond, b
tlie months of November, December, and Jan-
uary, to be only 0.54""" ; and id the tfaree fair
lowing mouths, -f- 1.05"™. Hie same differeaoe
is manifested in the obeervations made by M.
Kainond, at Clermont-Ferrand, M. BiUiet
found in 18-22 and 1823, the extent of tiK
horary variations at Chambery (lat. 45° 34') to
be in winter, 0.90<»>> and 0.82°°* ; and at the
same epochu, at Paris, 0.6*" and O.T^*. Od
the contrary, in the summer months of 1822,

765

for Paris, scarcely 0*78**; for la Cfaapelle^,
near Dieppe, 0.36i»n. I knov of no precis or
numerous observations for the latitude of 60^ ;
but M. Bessel has pubUsbed a very importlmt
result wbioh corresponds td the paMdlel of
KoBuigsbet^ (lat 54"" 4SI')> i^Me the ttMan of
eight years of observations made by M. S6tnmer
with the same instrument^ and reduced to the
temperature of 10^ cent, gives, for 9> and 0^ in
the morning, 337.351" » for Strand 3^ in the
afternoon, 337.264" ; and for 9^ and 10^ in the
evening, 337.351". The extent of the horary
oscillations is therefore at that high latitude,
only 0.067" (scarcely the one-^tenth of a milli-
meter), or 4 times kss than at P^ris. M. Bessel
adds, that those observations at Koenigsberg
are so precise, that, notwithstanding the small-
I16S9 of the oscillations, the value of the horary
variation is ascertained in the mean of each
yearf.

l%e mean height of the hour of noon at
Pftris, scarcely diflfers in a whole year, accord-
ing to the remark of M. Arago|; one-tenth

* Mean of four years (from 1B19 to 1822). The small-
ness of the oscillations perhaps depends^ according to M.
AfttgOj on the elefatiuu of the ffpot, which is not a table-
land. M. Nell de Br^aut^, in the Bibi. univ,, Tom. xw,
p. 105.

f Schumacher f Aitron, Nichrichten, 1823, p. 26.

t Annalet de Chime, Tom. ix, p. 428. M. Billiet finds
that at no season, at Chambery, the mean of noon dtSers |

3 D 2

756

ot' a iiiilHiiieter from the mean height detet-
iiiiued hy the observations of 9** in the mmiuDg,
and Sii in the afternoon. M. HerrenKhndder
observes that in 16 years (1807-1822), the ba-
rometric mean of noon differed only 1.6"™; and
the general barometric mean of Strasboiuf
only one-foitieth of a millimeter. The foUov-
ing table presents the results of nine yean
made at the roval observatorv of Paris :

767

I have added in the preceding pages a great
number of unpublished materials to those dis-
persed in different works. I shall conclude
this task by indicating the laws, or rather
the most general relations^ . which the singular
phenomenon of the smajl atmospheric .tides
presents:

1° The horary oscillations of the barometer
ai*e felt in every part of the earth, in the torrid ,
as well as in the temperate and frigid zones, at
the level of the sea as well as at elevations ex-
ceeding 2000 toises. These oscillations are
periodical, and every where composed of two
ascending and descending mavements. The
two atmospheric tides are not in general of
equal duration *. In comparing results of un-
equal exactness, and obtained by thirty obser-
vers, between 25^ of south latitude and 55^ of
-north, we find differences of 2 hours for the
epochas of the mcuvima and the minima.: ia ex-
cluding five results only, the maximum of the
morning foils between 8i^ and lOi^ ; the mini'
mum afternoon, between 3** and 5*" i the modn-
mum of the evening between 9** and l\\ and
the minimum between 3^ and 6^ in the morn-
ing. It is to be presumed that those limits will
be found to be drawn much nearer when a

* See the Table of the general statement of tiie horary 06-
servations. The result most generally is, for the duration of
the ascending and descending- tidcs^ between the tropics^
6i^ 6^ 6h, and b^.

758

greater number of ofosenratiDiiB of equal pRci
flion are made for the different soneB. Prari'
sionally, we may adopt ai the type most goat
rally recognized of maxima and mimima ; in tli
equatorial zone: + 211^; — 16^; + IM^
— le*-. Id the temperate zone: + 20|S — W
+ 9^**; — 14^, astronomical time, reckoned fioi

DOOQ.

^. In the temperate zone the ^wcbos <rf tii
wtajcimtim in Ibe morning and the mimimwm (
the evening, ai-e one or tiro honra neanr tl
passage of the sun over the meridian in viati
than in summer; but the type of i
that which most resembles the type t
betwe<?r. th" tn»nics. Observations are wantiPi

169
meiioii be general * in Europe^ it remmns to be

^ Some elMMPvalioiiB nuKle fai Bvrope in the hollows and
on the declivity of nouptMna^ and the M^poeition of tbe di»-
placing of the air in the layers superposed on each other^
have led some naturalists to believe that the tnaxima and
the minima could not eoindde at la Onayra and Caraocas ;
on the coast of theSouth Sea .(far mstance at F^iyta), and
at Popayan^ or fibnta Fa de Bogirta; at Yesa Cruz and at
Mexico ; on the coast of Malabar^ where M . Horsburgh ob-
served^ and on the plains of the Mysore and of Nepaul.
Hie preceding tables prove that these 4et9hU are ah^ethmr
unfounded with regard to the table4aHds eitaated between
the tropics. The observatioBs of M. Ramond^ made ait the
height of 210 toiaeSy at CBennont-Ferroadj grve as a right to
suppose from analogy^ that in the elevated plains of La
H andia^ in Spain, at 320 toises^ we should see the barolne-
ter ascend at the same hours as at Talencia ot Cttdiz. We
have abeady maUtloned> that the observations at flkdnt Ber-
nard and Geneva, were nfmde at two periods of the day the
least fitted to shew us the oscillations of the mercuryi at
the rariable hour of sun-rise, and the ihted hour of two in
the afternoon. These periods precede uaeqftally the meuima
and the minima. In Che dbservatiohs at Geneva the barome'''
ter is at sunrise, fai winter as in summer, a fittle higher than
at two in the afternoon ; but at Sahit Bernard, during the
twelve months of the year 1024, the mean of sunrise was
five times lovrer (January, April, June, August, October,)
three times higher (February, May, July), and four thues
equal to the mean of two in the afternoon. (Baugtter, Fig*
de la Terre, p. 09. Deluc. Rech. sw les Modif. de VMm., %
620, 030, and 590. BihL Umv, pour 1020. Jnillet, p. 190^
Tom. X, p. 20. Daubuitson, dam le Joum. de Phyg., Tom.
Ixxi, p. 24). In the rapid lowering of the barometer on the
22d of February, 1823, the maximum of the descent took

MCertaineii if it be produced on eiLtended table-
lands, as well as in ntcks or narrow passages.

4°. We see every where (as may be supposed)
that the variations slacken near the concaTe
and convex summits of the curve they repre-
sent ; that is, when the barometric heights at-
tain alternatively their maximum and their »■/•
nimum t and in some parts of the earth the

place at the eune hour at Saint Bernard «nd Geneva. (BiU.
Ihie,, Tom. xxii, p. 111). These uncertainties on ibe
isocbronism of the oacillations can never be removed, tiU we
posaess the meaa observations mode at the limil-houn, for
Geneva and Saint Bernard, Milan and the village of Sim-
plon, and for Treoto and Inspniek. It may also happen
thai tha netkt of land situated on the top of the Alps, and
auirouaded with lofty summits, retard and modify the pe-
riods of (he wiaxiuKx an<l the minima, and that this k>cal b-
fluence ceaaes in table-Iand« uf greater extent. In order to
know if a want of tsochronism Is manifest in the torrid utne,
in certain circumstances, 1 have recently engaged HM,
BoussingauU and Rivera to observe their barometers s'rimil-
faneously at Santa Fe de Bogota, and at la Chapelle de
Notre Dame de Guadaloupe, which seems as if it were fixed
to a rock almost perpendicularly above ihe town, with a
difference of height of 322 (oises. Mr. Daniel {MeUor. hitagi,
1623, p. 360), thought he recognized in the obaervatioiu
made during the last voyages to the polar regions, especiall;
in Melville Island, and at the Rocky Mountains, that the
barometer rises in 74" of latitude, when it falls in 41*.
That learned naturalist appears to attribute this phenome-
non to atmospheric currents, of which it is not eaey to verify
the existence.

761

mercury appears to remain stationary doring a
very considerable time. That time varies from
15' to ^ I and in determining with precision
the half-duratian of the stationary state, we
should distinguish between the real instant of
the maximum, and the epochawhen (he baro-
meter ceases, as to our senses, to rise or fiedL

5^ In the torrid zone in general, between the
equator and the parallel of 15^ north and south,
the strongest winds, storms, earthquakes, the
most sudden variations of temperature and hu*
midity, neither interrupt nor modify the period-
icity of the variations. This is the more wor-
thy of attention, as in some parts of equatorial
Asia^ where the monsoons blow with violence,
(for instance in India^) the rainy season entirely
masks the type of the horary variations, and
that at the same period when these variations
are insensible in the interior of the continent,
on the coast, and in the straits, they are mani-
fested without aixy alteration within the same
parallel, in the open sea.

a^. Between the tropics, one day and one
night suffice to know the limiUhourSy and the
duration of the small atmospheric tides ; in the
temperate zone, in 44^ and 48^ of latitude, the
phenomena oi periodicity are manifested at all
seasons with great clearness, in the mean of
from fifteen to twenty days.

7^ The unequal extent of the diurnal varia-

763

ticMis in the torrid xoiie, produces, at the saoH
hours of different months, more or lem taaa-
derable difTcrencea of barometric baight. Tin
extent of the oscHlatiou defaeases in propgrtin
as the latitude, and the annual TarialicHiB, ovinf
to accidental pertarbations, angmciit. n
mercary is generally a little less ekerated ii
tbe Mortma of the evening than in the wuuim
of tbe morning. If we confine ounelTcs ii
precise observations, sufficiently numeroos b
yield a mean worthy of belief, we find that tki
extent of the oscillations in the torrid zmie, be
twcen the equator and the panllel of 10°, in tin
tide of from 9^ in the morning till 4^ in tbe af
temoon, is, in tbe plains, 2.6— 'to 3.3— '(p. 7A5);

763

but little the mean of the diurnal oscilia-
tions^ and the extremes of those oscillations.
The mean of the hour of noon between the
tropics, is constantly (some tenths of iniliime*
ter) more elevated than the general mean oi
the day, taken from the masitnum of 9^ in the
morning, and the minimum of 4^ in the afterw
Boon. In adrandng from the equator towards
the polar regions, we find the diffiBrenoes of the
barometric heights from 9^ in the morning til)
4^ in the afternoon ; 0^-20^ lat 2.5F^ to 3.0«»;
2y-80P lat. 1.6"« ; 43^^^ lat. 1.0^ > 48MSr»
lat. 0.8«»; 55^ lat 0.2"°».

8^. Hie monthly barometric means diflSsr fh>m
each other, in the trojncs, from 1.2"^ to
l.d°» ; and at the Havannah^ Maeao^ and Rio
Jandro, near the tropics of cancer and Capri-
corn, from seven to eight millimeters^ neariy as
in the temperate zone. Hie extreme Tariations
of the year are at the same hoars, aear the equa-
tor, from four to four and a half millimeters 9-
they sometio^es rise to 21°^°^, at the extremity
of the equinoxial zone, near the tropic of Ca-
pricorn, and to twenty-five and thirty millime-
ters near the tropic of cancer. The limits of
the extreme monthly oscillations in the tempe-
rate climate of Europe, are in the ascending
movement, half as near again to each other, as
within the tropic of cancer : this difference bcr
tween the two zones is much less sensible in the

764

Uinits uf the descending osciUations. The in-
terruption of the horary oscillatioDs near the
tropic of cancer (in the gulph 'of Mexico) is a
prognostic of the proximity of tempests, of their
force and duration. The monthly means of tiic
barometric heights diminish regularly from
July to December and Januarj-, on the table-
land of Bogota (p. 73!lX and even in the soutb-
em hemisphere, on the coast of Rio Janeiro (p.
731). The blowing-back of the north winds at
the extremity of the northern cquinoxial zone,
raises the mean of December and Januanr.
above that of July and August (p. 726 and 748.

9°. Within the tropics, as well as in the tem-
perate zcoie, in comparing the extreme swerv-
ing of the barometer from month to month, we
find the limits of the ascending oscillations
two or three times nearer than the limits of the
descending oscillations *.

10°. The observations hitherto collected have
not indicated a sensible influence of the mooD-f-

* According to the meteorological journal (manuscript)
of M. Don Antonio Robredo, at the Havannah, the extreme
OSoillatioQS in 1801, were, in the maxima of the months
30.16'° (angl. measure), and 30.41'" j in the minima, 39.52
and 30.38. Difference of the maxima, 5.28'^ : of the m-
mma, IS-SO""". At Paris and Strasbourg the extreme as-
cending oscillations do not vary more in different mouths,
than from 10 to 12 millimeters ; the extreme deEccnding os-
cillations vary from 20 to 30 millimeters.

f Laplace, Euai Phil, lur lei probabilitis, 1825^ p. 119,

7€6

on the oscillations of the dtmospheie*. ^ Those
oscillations appear to be owing to the sun,

123^ 274 } Co«n, de» tempt pour 18Sd> p. 312. The influr
eoce of the lunar attraction would be more easily ascertained
between the tropics^ when the accidental pertorbations mask
so little the play of the horary variations. I watched seve-
ral nights, without observing any thing setisftictory on this
subject ', but M. Mutis assures me he discovered that '' at
Santa Fe de Bogota the barometer mounts and descends
most in the quildratures, while at the epocha of the oppo«
sitkms kind conjunctions^ the difference of 11^ at night and
3i|i> in the morning becomes extremely smalL*' M. Galdaa
fSemanario, Vol. i, p. 65) mentions also this observation of
bis master. It were to be wished that the meteooblogical
journals which M. MuUs kept during thirty to forty years,
were carefully examined, if several of those precious manu-
scripts were not dispersed after his deaths during the
political troubles of New Grenada. M. Botissingault, who
devotes himself with the same ardour to the examination of
every physical phenomenon^ has again gone over the labours
of M. Mutis (employing much more perfect instruments) in
the syzygies as well as the quadratures^ at the hours of the
passage of the moon over the meridian^ but he could not ascer-
tain the lunar influence on the barometric heights. He writes
to me from Santa Fe de Bogota, (February 9th, 1886), '' I
dare not altogether deny," he writes, " the lunar influence
on the mean height of the mercury, but I believe that if that
influence exists, it is scarcely sensible, because it is lost
among the other causes of the horary variations.*' Seeking
to collect in this wdrk whatever can throw light on the Me^
teorology of the torrid zone, I believe it will be agreeable to
naturalists to find at the end of this memoir, a part of
M« Boussingault*s observations on lunar influence. It will
be seen that the mean of the syzygies differs only O.IG'

iflim

766

which acts, not by its mass (by attraction), b
08 a calnrify'mg orb. If the solar rays, in m
dtfying the temperature, produce period
changes in the atmosphere, it remains to be i
plained wtiy the two barometric nunima neai
coincide with the hottest and coldest periodi
the day and night.

rram the mean of the qtudntnra. Toaldo thoi^^fat he I
fnuuil by tlie mean of 40 jean, and b; emplojing % ndl
little exact, that the bnronwter in Italy is higher in the f
draturea than in the lyzTgiea, in the apogee tfaaa id tht ;
rigee. (De la ImJI. degU oitri, 1761, p. 123. LawOtrUi
Htlv., Torn, iv, p. 133. Jomn. da ?hyi.. X'*W, iwM,
310.)

76T

M K
W "^ -

Z "

5 H

0 2

e a

■is .

D ■ B

SP <

5 ■< O
h o b

e«»sa» •«=

lA iS U3 u^ (O U3 u| •^■2jil|i^

a»eeoeooooo0)O

gfegf 8|3S :||8

iKfetb(0(0(b<05p;p(p(psS
ddooooodoooo

||j|||i|6-S|-|

768

The first column indicates the days when th
observations of 9h were nearest the epocht <
the syzygies, and quadratures. In the tempi
rate zone a decade often suffices to ascertai
the periodicity of the atmospheric tides; bottl
preceding table renders it probable that with:
ttie tropics, twelve days of observations, tl
days of sizygies and quadratures, are not sul
cient to disengage the lunar effect from ace
dental perturbations. More positive resul
would be obtained, if, after having collected
great number of observations made at the ii
stant of the passag;e of the sun and mooa ovi
iiw meridian, the regular effects of the diuni;

769

OBSKBVATIONS OV HORARY VARIATIONS (NOT RBDVCBD
TO THB SAME TBMPBRATVRB) MADB BT M. BOUBSIN-
CAVLT AT SANTA TB DB BOGOTA, IN 1824, TO BXAM-
INB THB INVLUBNCB O* THB PAS8A6B OF THB MOON
OTBR THB'MBRIDIAN ON THB OSCILLATIONS OF THB
BAROMBTBB.

January 4
Januarys

January 3- 9**

noon

9
10
11

January 6 8i

9
10

0.56900*

0.66265

0.56225

0.56180

0.56095

0.56005

0.55957
0.55955
0.56190
0.56070
0.56100
0.46275

0.56275
0.56265
0.56230
0.56160
0.56125
0.56080
0.56050
0.56065
0.561 10
0.56155
0.53260
0.56275
07)6245
0.56315
0.56300
0.56295

Teinp.of B. 14.5*^;.
165
16.3
16.5
16.5
16.5
16.3
16.2
16.0
16.2
16.1
16.2
163
16.5
16.8
16.2
16.2
16.5
16.2
16.4
16.3
16.8
16.5

•^

16.8
16.8
16.2
16.1
16.1

VOL. VI.

770

OBSBBVATIONS OF HORART TABIATIOHS BT H. WtVUB-
CAHLT, AT SANTA FB DB BOOOTA (Omtimiatim).

January 6 1^

0.66265-

noon

0Ji6205

0.56155

0.56115

0.66080

0.56070

0^6265

0.56255

JaDUttry 7 4

0.56145

0.66275

0.66300

0.66295

056260

Temp.

ofB. 16.2'C,
16.6
16.5

16.5

S-

16.3

165

16.2

15.8

«.

155

15.9

ISiO

16.1

16.0

16.1

§■

16.0

771

North nnd South Torrid ZtMic.

3e2

1 1

■S

1
1

■s

■5

1
1

5 H

s =

5 1

s 1

o o

5 =

£ 1

-2 £

!ii«L

i 5

Sl^ ,i

: 1 I

sis

2 s

« B

pi '=

o e

S "

ij« ■

773

MEAN HEIGHT OF THE BAROMETER IN THE TROPICS,

AT THB LEVEL OF THE SEA.

Among the numerical elements of which
physical geography has long required a precise
determination, the mean height of the barome-
ter at the level of the sea in the different zones^
is one of the most important. This determina-
tion comprehends two questions entirely dis-
tinct : 1st. What is the mean absolute height
of the barometer on the coasts of Europe, and
of equatorial America ? 2d. Is that height the
8ame, or does it differ in the temperate and
torrid zones? These problems have not hitherto
been solved. The determination of the abso-
lute height supposes the exact estimation of
the effect of capillctrity, that is, of the depres-
sion of the mercury in the tubes of the barome-
tnetric basin. M. Arago has been occupied by
these very delicate researches^ in comparing the
barometers of the construction of Fortin, with
barometers with syphons. He will soon pub-
lish the results of this labor, which will be the
more interesting from being linked with the
question respecting the invariability of the mean
weight of the atmosphere in a long lapse of ages.
I shall here only treat of the difference of the
mean barometric heights in the parallel of 49^,
and in the equatorial regions. This research had

774

particularly fixed my attention at thepeiiod
when I quitted Europe. I bad carefully com-
pared two of my baronieten with tbat from
which M. Bouvard published the metewotogi-
cal variations made at the observatory of Pm.
I thought I should find at Cumana * oa the an
shore, the mean height of 337.8^ or 762J)3r,
at 25" of the centigrade tbermometer, wfaick
gives at the temperature of zero, 758JS9"*.
As at this period (1799) the mean height at tbe
level of the sea in Europcl-, was suppose^ ao-

* M. Caldu, whom luigiiiiiuy political
snatched from the Bciencei at an age when he codd Kill
hare randered them much Bervice, thinks that the difcam

cording to Sbnoklmrg, tobe:7Sk.lS^ (tftthe
temperature of ^Mro^ I naturaUy ooaacduded
from that compadriBGO^;thatitfae ianfmgtric mean
'Ot the level of tke^ea m the tdnid zone, ^mts a
UtHe les9 than m the temperate^. tUiicertala
with respect: tO' the capillarity of the bamiaeter
I had employed, I estimated tlpat diflfeieaoe at
two millimeters in my View of the Efmnoxidl
Reguna, and which I attributed to the ittoend-
ing^ movement of the tropical atmosphere,
which bears the layer of air strongly heated,
towards the polar regions. CHaving madci ^with
my instmments, long joumies by land ftom

p. 107. Schumacher Jstr. Nachr* Beit., Tom. ii. No. 46 ;
Hertha, n. 3, p. 240. Oa the almost constant depresdoa
which the barometer undergoes near Cape Bern, wherethe
western winds blow impctuonsly^ see Knumitem, Rsc. de
M^ hfdr., Tom. i,p. 29; Ui^ld 4» Buck; in Cmert,
Ann der Fhytik.^ Tom. xxv, p. .230 ; Id. Baremetrische
fFmdrote, p. 4.

* See my Euay oh the Geography of Planti, p. 90. In
the ^rst half of the IBth century. Richer, Bonguer; Lar Con-
damine, UUoa^ and Don Jk>ige Juan, believed that the baro-
meter at the level of the equinoxial 8eaf> was 27^'' 1).S" i
2S^^ O'S or 28^ VK The instruments used by those travel-
lers had no doubt the air but very imperfectly expelled, for no
correction being employed for the temperature, the barome-
tric heights mnst have been found too great. If the meau
barometric heights at the level of the seas of Europe, have
been recently a little exaggcmted, it is no doubt on acoount
of the uncertainty that envelops the effect of capiUarity.

776

Paris to Marseilles, Murviedro, Madrid, and
Corogne, before I embarked for Cumana, 1
could have but little confidence in my deter-
mination. Fortunately, I can now substitute
another far more precise. MM. Boussingault
and Rivero, before theyembarked for LaGaayra,
compared, conjointly with M. Arago, two excel-
lent barometers of Fortin, with that of the ob-
servatory of Paris. The two barometers have
preserved the same difference which they had
in Europe. M. Boussingault found, at the level
of the ocean at La Guayra, the mean of Oe
maxima and minima observed during twelve
days, to be 760.17°"° {at the temperature of
zero). M. Arago, from nine years of observa-
tions at Paris, estimates the mean barometric
height (reducing it to the temperature of zero,
and the level of the Ocean •) at 760.85™.
The difference of the two mean heights, deter-
mined as it were by the same instrument, rises
consequently to 0.68°™. We must not forget
that in the torrid zone, accidental causes have
also an influence on the mean height. I have
tried to estimate carefully the probable limits
of those changes ; and it results from the ana>

■ Mean bar. height at Parii, (Royal Observatory),
74S.48™, Difference between the Obaeiratory and (be
port of Havre, according to a year of corr«apon<lent obser-
vatbni made with compared instromeiKs : (.42"^.

777

logy of well-obsenred facts^ that eiren at La
Gaayra, in another season^ the barometric
mean, deduced from the maxifna of 9^^, and the
minima of 3i\ might have been found a milli-
meter more or less. In order to leave no doubt
on the question here agitated, we should be
able to compare the mean of nine years at
Paris, with the mean of one year on the coast
of Venezuela. But hitherto we possess one
whole year of horary observations for one place
CHily in the tropical zone, between 0^ and 15^
of latitude ; that place is the table-land of Bo-
gota, raised more than 2600 meters above the
level of the equinoxial sea.

MBAN TEMPERATURE OF CUMANA. HYGROMETRIC
AND CYANOMBTRIC 8TATB OF THE AIR. .

During a stay of six months and a half at
the town of Cumana (lat. 10^ 27' 62") I occu-
pied myself simultaneously by researches, 1st.
on the mean temperature of the place*, the
increase of the heat at different hours of the
day, the temperature of the sea during the flux
and reflux ^, the intensity of the heat of the

• See Per. Nar. Vol. iii, p. 386, 468, 508, and 669.
f L. c, Vol. ii, p. 142, 184 ^ Vol. ui, p. 646.

778

•^

sun measured at diflercnt hours by the therm*- <
meters placed in the shade, and in the sua ; 2d.
OQ the horary variations* of the barometei-;
3d. on the liygrometric -f-, electric, and cyaoo-
tnetric state X of the atmosphere ; 4th. on era-
poration ; 5th. on the quantity of rain that fiaUs
ill different months ; 6th. on the deciinatioo
and inclination of the loaded needle^, and on
the intensity of the magnetic force ; 7th. on
the mirage, and the influence which the rising
and setting of the sun exerts on the inHexion of
the trajectories ||. The preceding'volumes coo-
tain a great numher of the results which I ob-
tained; I shall here treat specially of the dis^
trihution of heat in the different months of the
year, and of the hygrometric, cyanometric, and
electric state of the air of Cumana. The expe-
riments I made on the evaporation and inten-
sity of the heat of the solar rays, will be deve-
loped later, and will serve as a term of compa-
rison in the statement of the meteorological phe-
nomena observed on the back of the Cordilleras
of Quito and Mexico. I made observations at
Cumana, with the thermometer, the whaleboae

• i. e. Vol. vi, p. (661-770).

+ Vol. ii, p. 91 i Vol. iii, p. 64 ; Vol. iv, p. 146.

t L. c. Vol. ii, p. 95, 100 i Vol. iii, p. 450.

i Vol. iii, p. 822— «45.

Jl Vol. iiii p, 642—654.

779

bygrometer of Deluc, and the cyanomeker of
jSaosaare^ dttring the months of July, Augufit,
October, and November 1799, and also during
the month of August^ 1800 ; not every! day, but
often, in order to seiae the progressive increase
better, ten or twelve times in the same day. Dur*-
ing my journey to Caraccas, and the Oroonoko, I
begged a very intelligent person, aealous in
inch researches! M. Faostin Rabio, to mark the
indications of a thermometer of Dollond on a
register, (and which was concordant with my
thermometer to nearly 0.2^ cent.) three or four
times a day, to 7^ or 8h in the morning, 2^ and
4^ in the aftemooui and 11^ at night. This
thermometer was placed in the shade, in an
airy spot, far from the' reflexion of the soil, at
the Faubourg of the Guayqueries Indians. Cu^
mana being regarded as one of the hottest,
dryest, and healthiest places of the low regions
of equinoxial America, it is important to make
known these partial observations. J take them
by chance, out of 1600 I possess; they will
serve, above all, to certify that the climate of
the tropics is much more characterized by the
duration of the heaty than by its intensity, that
is, by the maxima of temperature which the
thermometer attains on certain days. I never
saw that instrument at Cumana, below 20.8®,
nor above 32.8® cent. ; and I found on the re-
gisters of M. Orta, whose thermometers were

780

compared by mine, with tbosc of the observa--
tory at Paris, that at Vera Cruz, the maximum
of heat in thirteen years, had only three times
attained 32" cent., and once 35.7"; while i
have seen the centesimal thermometer at Paris*J
at 38.4°.

• See Artigo, "on the extreme icmperatures »
Paris, in the Antittaire du Biireav dei Long., far l8Sa, p. )SI

781

I. OBSERVATIONS OP M. DE HUMBOLDT.

Jic/y.

Tk.R.

Hggr. Del.

Ai^.

Th.R.

Hygr. Del.

6«»

18.70

54o

8^m.

18.90

54«Uiie.

183

55 eloady.

ISA

53 itorm.

59 blue.

7e.

18.7

- - blue.

mid.

173

603

Un.

19.0

11m.

223

52 blue.

6iB.

16.7

53 blM.

m)on.

243

4e.

• •

51 bloe.

22.4

49 iloni.

193

61 OTcrctst.

6«.

20.2

00 Uoe.

mid.

67 Uoe.

•

7m.

19^

00 Uae.

7ft n.

21.1

51 bloe.

■ooo.

DOOII.

25.0

28.2

49.5 Uue.

47 storm.

22.5

8e«

19.2

56 bloe.

lla.

18.1

56 blM.

18.5

60.2 bloe.

jimg.

20.3

54 Uoe.

58 Uoe.

• •

noon.

23.6

lOi

23.4

47.7 bloe.

223

48 itorm.

11 n.

05 nin.

mid.

183

00 blue.

56 bloe.

Oct.

Se.

22.5

00 storm«

20.4

00 bloe.

^n.

213

• •

184^

57 clouds.

HOOD.

21.6

* s

10ft

59 blue.

23.8

m m

mid.

62 Uoe.

23.9

• «

00 bloe.

noon.

53 Mae.

- -

3e.

233

213

• •

22J>

47.6

20.9

-•

203

51 blue.

19.2

00 mists.

tin.

18.1

53 wind.

19.2

mid.

18.0

00 Uoe.

mid.

19.1

00 mists.

8«

19.2

573 bloe.

8ft

203

53.5

19.5

523

11}

22.5

49 cIoud«.

243

495

noon.

24.0

3 e.

49.5

2e.

23.5

47 storm.

50.3

50.5

20.5

11 n.

^6A

J^^^^^^^^^^l

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^l^^^^^

■

782

■

..^Il

{Contimtalion.)

Hi/g^

Del.

Oct.

Th.R.

Nw.

TA. 72. Uygr. DtL

10*

23»

S1.80

.V>

23. «.*»

20.2 M.2

23.S

5D.5

20.1 &l^

23.3

17.7 61

t3.&

53.5

19.2

ia.8

Rwumur)

18 reduced la Ihtt of dwctl-

mid.

18, fi

ssLs

liu«oflbi:obMmtorTiilPanvw*i<di.

MrordinK

to mnirdiOT made lAn

S3.5

nr reloni

to Europe, vu tanj

0.37" cunt

loo high. The fan^io-

3
5
IBo.

33*
19.1

50 -S

48-8
II2.3

dicBliant ue Hit contciml bv itc

17th uFAu^at, when thetber

iaiUnt {by the coolinj of llie upprr
Injcn of Ibe sir) n fine bilo n>
formcil around tlie mooo. On the
2!ith of August, darioe n faticas
north-FUtt Bind, Ibe tiienDOmctet
unki[»^ intbe enningto 17.5° S.
This wu the bcgiDDing of the Kiiall
nima which fumi what the pcopk ef
CuiDUUi call the winter season.

Da^s coosidered u cicesunj}
hoi St CumBUB, 1799, and ISM,

27 Aug. si Doon 24.0" Ramnor.

W 2<.&

10 Oct. Iba whole
dav 2*.2

thewbolcaight 33.0

2fi March It 2^ ■ 25.7

14 MBrat4» ■ - 26.0
When the tberniometer at Com-
rw, has been at 23'^25» (h^gr. »
Deloc), during threedays, wenpc-
rience n fecluig of cold when tk
thermonieler dcaceuds after a ilora
of ram, to 18''— 19c, R. (hyjToiBnrf
(i2o Dcluc). S« above, Vol.y.?.

783

Stpk,

Tk.Ri

Hfgr.

Stpt*

Th. R.

fffgr.

8b m.

99.8*

82» Smarare.

9^m.

20.2»

4lo

10 n.

30J

noon.

22.9

mid.

193

9 m.

313

Se.

22.2

8 m.

mid.

20.7

noon.

Un.

10 m.

32.5

Inftn.

80.9

5§m.

noon.

237

7 m.

20J

1 n.

173

3«.

22.5

ILn.

noon.

Is.

S2.8

87 DdM

11 n.

187

23.0

11 n.

22.5

183

Se.

223

333

213

tin.

5 m.

3e.

In.

noon.

233

32 blae.

23.5

19.5

43
35
49

3
6
11 n.

19
193

70nin.

9m.

3€.

In.

233
2&0
20.2

33
31

8 m,
3e.
11 n.

173
233
19

43
33

9m.

283

27 blue.

From lit to 4tli SepCmnber^ brgi

10 n.

223

45 min.

of Sftottmre, Cram 5tk to 16th Sqp

mid.

183

50 hhie.

tembery liygr. of Delue.

le.

24.0

19J

37 ndn.

mid.

183

3 m.

183

■

^^B

OBSBRVATIONR OP THE CVANOMETBR.

D»y..

CyaHom

Tk.R

HygT.

Dap. C3a>um.Tk.R. 8

la^ag.

19 Ag.

31"

22.4'>

3H<>Ddi>e.

SSnoon.

24.5

7 I6.a 17.S 39

SOnoon.

24.B

Ji 18 IM 384

31 noon.

3B.9

8 20 19.6 SIJ

11 Sept.

81 20 U.3 Si

0 SOJ SIJ u

20.3

41.5

9* 19 22.6 Si

20.2

11 19 33-5 30.J

noOD. 18 23 29

31.5

17.?

22.9

.30

3e.
14

23.6

The obmrv»Uon» of tbc c^tm

13.7

of tbe iotcuwtr of the Ugbl 'a

21.2

regions. Cilm Bnd sereae dif

1»

21.7
23.8

35.4

ehuscn. Tbe i>bwTT»tioQ *linqt
Mnith, or new (he zenith. "Wl

wind rise*, the UuC of the iiky Ixe

liCtlB p&ler, without Bnf chuga

8 m.

J 4.5

17,5

bjgr., or the veuculu' vapgn be
visible. Thecolourof tbe ikri

IB.5

20.8

i9'S

nWy Hi Cumaoa, from 32" lo

IB.4

while .t P.ria (by 20o R. of la

I6..t

1<I.2

41.7

tun>) it is mon frninenlly 16».

17.0

20.1

times (the 3lM of August, •od «

17.8

21.3

of Seplember) the «Vy »m a^

21.4

3B.2

nnlc.nitbont there being the Icaat

21.7

ofwiDd. Snmbove.voL ii.p.9S

■23.h

22
23
17

23.8
24.5

34.3

29
39
32

Y65

Often, in a very strong wind, we enjoyed an
extraordinary coolness, although the theiino^
meter had only lowered 1.5^ R., and the hygro^
meter of Deluc had moved but 9^ towards the
point of extreme humidity. The stars do not
scintillate at Gumana, above 25^ of elevation ;
yet on the 34th and 36th of October, the scintil-
lation became very sensible to the zenith, when
the thermometer had descended rapidly to
18.5^ R. The scintillation seems to augment
at Cumana, less by the humidity, than by a
sudden cooling, and by asc^iding and descend-
ing currents that mix layers of air of very dif«
ferent densities. The hygrometer indicates so
little sciptillation, that I have seen it pass from
50^ to 59^, even to 63^ (division of Deluc), and
yet the stars, far from scintillating, preserved,
bdow 36^, their tranquil and planetary light.
These phenomena confirm the ingenious expli*
cation given by M. Arago, of scintillation.
(Vol. iii, p. 313-316, 638; Vol. iv, 94, 467)-
No hail ever fidls at Cumana, although the
electric explosions are frequent two hours after
the maximum of heat. When the thermometer
was 34^ R. in the air, the coolest water which
the inhabitants prepared by evaporation (by
exposing it to the currents of air, in pots that
transude a little), was 3P R. Mr, Chisholm
says ** I never could refresh water within the
tropics, in vases, below 73^ Fahr." (17-7° R.)

VOL. VI, 3 P

986

Some ddicate experiments wfalch T i
verify the point of extreme humidity of my
whalebone hygrometer, at the moment of my
departure from CumaDa tbr Caraccas, led nv
to suspect that towards the end of October,
that iBStroment indicated i.8° of too great ha-
midity. The 50th degree of ray hygrometer of
Deliic, was perhaps equid only to 84.7" of <be
hair hygrometer, while the 50° of an hygrometer
d Deluo, well rectified in those extreme points,
make HB,S° of the biur bygrometar of SauEsma
The 5th of September, at 3^ io the afternoon
(th. aa^R-s hygr. 36° Del.), I taw large drops
of rath ffdl from a sky quite blue, and without
jfOy traeea of cloods. 'Hie 'same day, between
tidon and 3\ the thermonteter rose, in the
^u<ec»tB of CmniUia, in the shade, but exposed to
the refleotion df the edifices, five feet above the
soil, to 39« ft. (8ti.2» cent.). The inhabitmts
qf'Cumana are exposed to ^at heat dta^ng "the
greater part of the year, in the open ah; in the
ttreeta, and gridt squares, (ttt n white and pom
dxry soil. Wiieh the mean teroperatarc of the
day (frdm sun^se to sun-set, withoot reokon-
ing the night), is 22°-24'' R., great coolness is
enjoyed between 17°-J19° R. (21.80-B3;7*cent).
Tn the driest time, during- the nigiit, (at 19°
B..), the hygrometer of Deluc 6&ea keeps np at
30^ (65.3" Sausisure). Sunrise makes the h^rro-
meter niove to humidity, but v6ry slowly. 'Sin

787

17th September, the hygrometer of Deltic, at
4fc in the morning, 44.7^ (th. 17^ R.). Dnring
tueiligbt, which lasts but some minutes, hygr.
45.5^ (th. 17.5^). The evaporation cansed by
the first tinreflected riays of the sun prodaees
cold. At 6\ a little wind is felt, as in Europe ;
hygr. 44.50 ^th. 17.»>) ; at 6J\ hygr. 38^. The
19th September^ hygr. at midnight, 35® (th.
19.4®) ; at ^ in the morning, hygr. 39® (th,
19®) ; it fi>> in the morning, hygr. 41® (th. 22®
R.). Ill examining the whole of my hygrome-
trie observations at Cumaoa, I find 22® R.
(37 J)® cent.) of tempemtare*

Mean of the day, July 47.fl* of night 50.2o of 24^ 61.9^

A«g. 45.4 68.0 51.7

Oct. 46.7 05.7 51.4

Mean of 3 months 46.6 56.7 51.7 Deluc.

or 89.5 89.1 86.8 Sauss.

At Geneva^ the mean of 1796-1802 also yields
82.3® of the hygrometer of Saussure, but by
9.6® cent, of temperature. When the estimates
of the atmospheric humidity in degrees of the
hygrometer of Saussure, draw near each other
(between 83®-89®), the arithmetical mean differs
very little from the real hygrometrical mean.
The error would become serious between 70®
and 90®, as we may be convinced in examining
the table of the tension of the vapors, founded

3f2

TftS

on the fine experiments of M. Gay-Lossac.
Daring several singularly dry days in the
month of September, I sjiwthe hair hygrometer
descend at Cuuiana to 64° ('29.5' of the wbale-
bone hygrometer), at a temperature of 28.7^
cent.

Rains and Storms.

The rainy season, which in other parts of the
tropics yields 100 to 113 inches of water (Vd.

vi, p. 27(1) per year, produces scarcely seven to
eight inches at Cumana. I collected in Sep-
tember and October (rainy season) :

Auguat 31 3.2"

September 8 2.0

9 6.4

12 fl.l

15 2.1

IS 6.7

18 8.B

■**' 30 0.7

October S 8.8

4 13.7

C 3.3

22 tO.&

24 0,9

28 4.2

30 O.B

72.3 lines, or 0.163*.

791

Ull ^ in the ilteroowi, m tfying it T^itb the
CJectroinet«r Qf V(4(m 9»^ terrace tl^irty leet
high, and entkely ope«. )t^fome^ sudden); m)
strmg that tb« diTei|:«»Cfi qf IM l^aU* n«es ^
d^t Unet, uid it i» booO mt lov^r pjecesfiw^-
Sd arm tiic fttstroioept with 4 Tnc]^4 The ^lec-
tricitjt often panKs front ^^tivp tp nc^iy^^
witfaoirt thainder h«iag h^fwdt In a fffeftt z^n^
ber of storms the electric charge of the air ^ir-
peated to me to be negative twenty minutes
before the strongest explosions, atthongh I
made my experiments for from any trees, in the
middle of the Salado, in a vast pliun. The nun
that falls during the stono, is sometimes of the
temperature of 17.8° ; and I then found it a
degree colder than the air, at the moment of
the shower. Having made many experiments
in the open country, in temperate climates, at
Salzbourg, Bayreuth, Vienna, Marseilles, and
Corogne, I can affirm that the electric charge^
which becomes sensible within the tropics,
during the storm, in the low regions of the air,
is of surprising intensity. After three quarters
of an hour of storm, lightening, and rain, I saw
in the electrometer of Volta, without the con-
ductor being armed ^th a wick, a separation
of the balls of ten lines. Often, at the instant
of the thunder, the electricity does not change
from + into — , or from — into + ; sometimes
these passages are not accompanied with any

790

lowest, 7i Doctor Heberden has seen dUferences
as fur 06 fifteen feet in height. I ivmaHtedno
difference on the 28th September, and the 3d
of October, between the two stations of tfaeon-
bronieter. The rains of these conntriei an
electric, and are preceded by very sensible signs
of electricity on the electrometer of Volta,
armeil with a burning wick. What stmck me
above all at Cumana, was, that a few miniites
before the rain fell, the hair hygrometer conti-
nued not only to indicate 67° to 68**, which is &
considerable drought for that country, but that
(without any change of temperature) it rrfni-
grades one to two degrees towards drought, in
proportion as the sky becomes obscure, and

789

The most violent showers produced parti-
ally 14 lines of water, which falls in drops of
an ttiormous size ; and this characterizes the
small rains of the tropics, that they fsdl in drops
whidi remiun at a great distance from each
other. There have been years (1798 and 1799),
when during nine months, from December to
September, the rains did not yield two inches
of water. In the New Continent, the drought
of Cumana^ PuntaAraya, and the island of Mar-
^uerita, can be compared only with the pro-
vince of Ciara in Brazil, where sometimes
(1792-1796) it does not rain during several
years. {Corogr. Bras, ii, p. 221.) The vege^
tation, notwithsttoding the drought, is fresh at
Cumana, for instance, near the Chora de Ca-
puchinos. The dew is almost null ; the little
water that falls at Cumana descends in showers
with extraordinary rapidity ; these showers last
in general but from fifteen to twenty minutes.
X saw Ah lines at the maximum, fell in six mi-
nutes. All my measurements were made in
cylindric vases, and in such a manner that the
evaporation could not lead to error. During
the great storm of September 16th, 1802, at
Cumana, I placed two cylindric ombrometers, at
heights which differed only twenty-two feet per-
pendicularly. It rained with violence from
3^ 26' to 4^ 5' ; I found in the most elevated
ombrometer, 6jo lines of water^ and in the

792

explosion ; at other times the electricity whicft.l

was positive 14 lines, becomes suddenly zero, at.
the instant of the thunder, remains null during i
four or five minutes, and again hecomes positive, .
The great electric clouds appeared to me ia
general to be much more elevated in the torrid
zone than in Europe, and the people believe j
that the thunder much more rarely reaches the '
earth.

793

II. OBSBRVA'nONS OF DON FAUSTINO RUBIO.

I shall give only the partial observations in degrees
of the thermometer of Fahrenheit, hr the two months
of January and May, of which the mean temperature
diffisrs most.

■

JAMVART, 1800.

THBmMomn*

THSaHOMBTSR

nnufoioTB*

DATt.

•t7kin

It 2k In

•tUk

tiieaMn^.

at Bight.

78-

82°

81»

•

^H^^H

^^^m^^^^^^^^^^^^B

^ ^^H

'^trnH (Coilteiiafkin). ^H

OBSERVATIONS OP DON FAU5TINO RVBIO.

MAT, 1800.

TIIEa>I01IET»

THMV»KET»

TIIEHHOMETBEt

air'io

tl 3' in

■til'

the awraiug.

.ItdsU.

81'

89>

84»

73 1

795

The uniformity of the temperature at the
same hours is very remarkable; in the same
two months, according to the very precise ob-
servations of MM. Boussingault and Rivero, in
th& climate of Bogota, called extremely vari-
able, the centigrade thermometer varies in the
diffel^nt days, but I* or 1.5^ It results from
the whole of the^e observations, of which I am
in possession, that we may admit for

CUIIANA (6 t)

Mean temperature of the year TJ.V cent.

The hottest month 29.1
The coldest month 26.2

S. Fk dk Bogota (I960 t.)

Mean temperature of the year 14.6° cent.

The hottest month 16.8
The coldest mouth 14.4

The observations from the 19th of Novem-
ber to the 26th of August only, give for Cu-
niana, employing only the minimum of 7*" in
the morning, and the maximum of 2*^ in the
afternoon :

HHAN or TDK MONTMS.

November 22.7ff' R,

December 21.70

January 21.49

February 21.M

March 21.20

April 23.04

May 23.36

June 22.71

Jnly 21.7B

Auguit 22.00

Mean... 22.10 B.

or 27.a0ci;ni

Perhaps the general mean of Cumana is some
decimals more, because the temperature of the
months of September and October a little ex-
ceeds that of the month of August. The mean
of the extreme (masima) of heat, surpasses only
3.3° cent, the mean of the whole year. In
comparing the mean temperature of three
towns of the republic of Columbia in which a
great number of meteorological observations
have been made, we find, Cumana (lat. 10°
27' ; height 5 toises), 27.7° cent. ; Caracc;is
(iat. 10° 31'; height, 480 1.) 21.5°; Santa Fe de
Bogota (lat. 4° 35' ; height, 1366 t.) 14.6°. At
the extremity of the torrid zone, at the Havan-
nah {lat. 23° 10') the mean temperature of the
air differs very little (2.1° cent.) from the mean

797

temperature of Cumana ; but the difference
of the coldest month in these two places is 5***
{See above. Vol. iii, p. 386 and 463.)

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE HEIGHT OF THE LAKti Ot^
NICARAGUA ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE SEA.

In discussing above, the obstacles which may
prevent the possibility, and even the utility of
an oceamc canal, (similar to the Caledonian ca-
nal, and the canal recently completed in North
HoUand^) between the eastern and western
coasts of America, I spoke of the great height of
the basin of Nicaragua. I regretted at the
same time, that since my return to Europe, no
precise measurement has been made in the isth-
mus of Huasacualco, Ni(»n^a, Panama, and
the Atrato. (Vol. vi, p. 241, 253, 269, 281.)
It is only at the moment when these sheets are
about to appear, that I have had a communica-
tion of a very important document, which
proves that, " by order of the court of Madrid,
addressed to the captain-general of Guatimala,
Don Matis de Galvez, the engineer Don Manuel
Galisteo executed a survey, in 1781, by means
of a water level, from the gulph of Papa-
gayo, on the coast of the South-Sea, as far as
the Laguna de Nicaragua ; and that, by three
hundred and thirty. six stations of ascent, and
three hundred and thirty-nine stations of des-

798

cent, (ascensos: 604" 8'"^, (>tstil!e meagnre^
descmsos : 470'' 1'" 7^), the surface of tlie luk»,
of Nicaragua was found to be elevated 134**]
7*" 1^' above the South Sea. But the lake t^
88" 6'° deep; so that its bottom is stilt 4^.
Castillian feet above the level of the South Sea^
The Rio Panaloya, by which the lake of Lecu
communicates with the lake of Nicaragua, ^
presents a bar (salto) of from 25 to 30 varasT
(According to M. Ciscar, 1 vara casteltana = S
feet of Burgos = 0.429'.) This docament doea
not mark the direction and the extreme point
of the line of levelling, its object being only the
determination of the height of the lake ; it does
not appear to be hitherto proved that the ridge
of partition has every where the great elevation
of 85 toises; and that between Realejo aild
Leon, the gulph of Papagayo, or that of Nicoya,
and the lake of Nicaragua, there exists no de-
pression of soil, no transversal valley fit to re-
ceive the waters of a canal of great navigation.
In the survey made by the commandant of the
castle of Ooioa, Don Ignaicio Maestre, and the
engineers Don Joaquim Ysasy, and Don Jose
Maria Alejandro, it was affirmed that the lake
of Nicaragua has no natural communication
Trith the South Sea; it was observed at the
same time, that the mountainous land (aspero
y monlttosoj, between the Villa of Grenada, and
the port of Culebra, renders all communicatioa

799

by canals extremely difficulty if not impossible
on that point. According to the testimony of
Captain Cochrane, (Jtmmal of a Residence and
Travels in Columbia during the years 1822 and
1824, Vol. ii, p. 448), three ranges of hills se-
parate the bay of Cupica, and the banks of the
Naipi. {See above, Vol. vi, p. 250.)

BOOK X,

CHAPTER XXVII*

Passage from the Chast of Venezuela to the
Haoamnak. — Oeneral View of the Population
of the fVest Indies, compared with the Papu^
lotion of the New Continent, with respect to
the Diversity qf Races, Personal Liberty,
Language^ and fVorship^

SiNCB the improvement of the art of iiaviga-'
tion^ and the increasing activity of commercial
nations, have drawn the coast of the two conti-
nents nearer to each other ; since (he Havan-
nah', Rio Janeiro, and Senegal scarcely appear
to ns more distant than Cadiz, Smyrna, and
the ports of the Baltic, we hesitate in calling
the attention of the reader to a passage from
the coast of Caraccas to the island of Cuba.
The Caribbean Sea is like the basin of the Me-

VOL. VI. 3 G

802

ditei-rativan ; and if 1 here note some observa-
tions drawn from my nautical journal, it is that
I may not lose the thread of my narrative, and
to i-ecall some facts that are connected with
meteorology and physical geography in generd.
In order to know well (hc modifications of the
atmosphere, they must be studied on. the decli-
vity of mountains, and in the immensity of
seas ; there is no passage however short, do
voyage even to the Canaries, or the Maddia
islands, which may not ^ve rise to aew views
in the minds of naturalists long accustomed to
interrogate nature in the retirement of their
study.

We sailed from the road of Nueva Ba^f^elo-

60A

small elevation above the level of the waters.
Some doubts having been recently throvm on
the astronomical position of Tortuga, I- shall
here state that^ by the time-keeper of Louis
Berthond * the centre of the island was QPA9^
AQTj west of Nneva Barcelona. I believe that
lonjg^tnde to be a little too west»ly«

November 26th.— A dead calm, so much the

more unexpected, that in general the breeze

• ■ • I ■

ftom the eastward blows fresh on this coast
fhnn the beginning of November, while from
the month of May till October, the N:W. an<l
S. winds are felt occasiomAy. At th6 period
of the N.W. wind, a current ^f* is observed run-
ning from west to east, whichr sometimes fevora
during two or three weeks, th^ dite^et 'uaviga-

tion from GEurthagena to the itrland'^f Tmiidad*

■ .... ^ . ...

Hie south-wind i» regarded as very thihealthy
on all the coast of the continent, bringing {bb
ibis people say), the putrid emanations 6f the
forests of the Oroonoko. Towitrds-9i^'in the
nioming a fine halo was formed around the
8uh, at the moment when the temperature in
the low regions fell suddenly three degrees and
a half. Was this lowering the effect of a des^
cending current? The zone that formed the
halo, and which had one degree of breadth, was^^

• Obs. Astr., Intr,, p. 42 ; and Vol. ii, p. 2.
t Per. Nar., Vol. Hi, p. 378.

3g2

not white, hut di»pluyed the most beautiful cv;*
loiji-s of the rainbow, while the interior of thQ>j
halo, and the whole vault of the eky was azDi
without any trace of visible vapors.

We began to lose sight of the island of Maq|
giierita, and I endeavoured to verify the heigh^
of the rocky groupe of Macanao. It appeared uim
deran angle ofO° 16' 35"; which, in a distance
timated at sixty miles, would give the groupe ^£^
mica-slate of Macanao the elevation of about 66l|||
toises, a result * which, in a zone where the tefig
i-estrial refractions are so constant, leads roe to
think that the island was less distant than we
supposed. The dome of the Silla of Caraccas,
remaining 62° S.W, long drew our attention.
We contemplate with pleasure the summit of a
lofty mountain which we have climbed with
danger, and which sinks gradually below tbe
horizon. When the coast is not loaded with
vapours, the Silla must be visible at sea, without
counting the effects of refraction, at thirty-
three leagues distance -f*. During that' day,
and the three following days, the sea was co-
vered with a bluish skin, which, exetmined by a
compound microscope, appeared formed of an
innumerable quantity of filaments. We fre-
quently find these filaments in the Gulf-stream,

• Vol. ii, p. 4S ; Vol. ti, p. 408.

t Vol. iii, p. aoe.

805

And the Channel of Bahama^ as well &% near the
coast of Buenos Ay res. Some naturalists think
they are the vestiges of the eggs of mollusca :
they appear to me to be rather the fragments
(tf fuci. The phosphorescence of sea^-water
seems to be augmented, however, by their pre*
sence, above all, between the 2SP and 30^ of
fiorth-latitade, which indicates an origin of an
animal nature.

Naf>ember 21th. — We approached slowly the
island of Orchila ; like all the small islands in
the vicinity of the fertile coast of the conti-
nent, it has remained uninhabited. I found
the latitude ni the north cape, IP sr A4f^ and
the longitude * of the eastern cape, 68^ 36^ &''
(supposing Nueva Barcelona 67** 4' A^'). Op-
posite the western eape is a small rock against
which the waves beat turbulently. Some angles
taken with the sextant, gave, for the length of
the island from east to west, %A miles (950
toises) ; for the breadth scarcely three miles^
The island of Orchila, which, <m account of its
name, I figured to myself as a bare rock co^
▼ered with lichens, displayed at that period a
beautiful verdure. The hills of gneiss were co-
vered with gramina. It appears that the geo-

♦ Aiir. Ohn., Vol. ii. p. S. Nearly the longitude of Pur-
dy*8 map (1823), and the latitude of the map of the Dcp, dc
Madrid 0QO9).

806

logical constitution of Orcbila resembles, uoft
small scale, that of Marguerita ; it is composed
of two i^mupett of rocks joiued by a neck 4f
land; it is an isthmus covered with sao^
which, seems to have issued from the floods by
the successive lotrering of the level of the 8«^
The rocks, like aU those which are pcrpendioK:
lar, and insulated in the middle of the sea, ap^
pear much more elevated than they i-eally art^.
for they scarcely attain from 80 to 90 totse^
llie Punta rasa stretches to the north-weMt
and is lost like a sandbank below the watei*.
It is dangerous for navigators, like the Mogote,
which, at the distance of two miles from the
western cape, is surrounded by breakers. In
examining these rocks very near, we saw the
strata of gneiss inclined towards the north-
west, and crossed by thick layers of quartz.
These layers have no doubt given place by
their destruction, to the sands of the surround-
ing beach. Some clumps of trees shade the
vallies; the summits of the hills are crowned
with palm trees with fan-leaves. It is probably
the Palmo de somhrero * of the Llanos (corypha
tectorum). The rains are not abundant in
these countries ; it is probable, however, that
some springs might be found on the island of
Orchila, if they were sought for with the same

• See our Nova Genera Plant. Equia., Tom. i, p. 399.

807

«Mre as id the rocks of ndicarslate of Punta
Araya. When we recollect how many bare and
rdeky iskuujs are lAhabited and cultitated With
care between the 17^ and aG"" of latitude in the
aMhipelago of the Little Antilles and the Ba-
hama islands^ we are surprised te find the
islands near the coast of Cumatti^ Barcelona^
aad CaAccas» deserts They would long have
teieased td be so had they belonged to any other
g^YBftiment than that which is in possession of
the continent. Nokhjag cim engi^ men to
^BircUmscribe tfheir industry within the narrow
Htnits of ab islabd^ when a neighbouring ecmti-
nuit offerpi them greater adnmtages^

We perceived at sunset^ the two points of the
JHoeti de ^^era, rising like towers in the midst
0f the Ocean. A survey taken with the com-
ti88s> placed the most easterly ^ the Rbqu^^ at
ifW weBt of the western cape of Orchila. The
clbuds remained long acdumulated aver that
island^ and bhewed its positton from a&rr The
influence of a small track of land in cdndens-
ijdg the vafioun sutipended At aii eleifation bf
800 toiseb, is a very extraordinary phenomenon,
although familiar * to all mariners. From this
accumulation of clouds^ the position of the

* Hmry Siuhh, in the PkU. Trans., 1667, No. 21, p.
407 and 718. Courejolles, in the Joiim. de Fhys, Vol. liv, p«
100.

winch, r^anfin^ tl

InngvcU detenni

_ _ ■mical poaitkn, i

' BI faiBcUB laliMrma

114

■Mkitheitmqilii
whoa the npran
I ttitaiai&Ri Ati

i liaiiiriKnn, tha

_, akle rin^ prodiMt

g lhiai3rto4'. nie

809

tintt the rolling of our small vessel was violent^
•and we perceived amidst the dashing of the
waves, two seas crossing each other, one from
the N. and the other from N.N.E. Water-
spouts were formed at the distance of a mile,
and were carried rapidly from N.N.E. to
N^.W. Whenever the water-spoiit drew near
us, we felt the wind grow sensibly cooler.
Towards the evening, by the carelessness of our
American cook, the deck took fire; it was
bappily soon extinguished ; for in bad weather,
accompanied by squalls, and with a cargo of
meat, which the tat renders extremely combus-
tible, the fire would have made a rapid pro-
gress. In the morning of the 1st of December,
the <ea sunk slo^y, as the breeze became fixed
from N JL I was at this time pretty certain of
the uniform movement of ray chronometer;
but of this the Captain wished to be assured by
the survejT of some points of the island of Saint
Domingo. On the 2d December we descried
Cape Beata, in a spot where wie had long
marked the clouds heaped together. Accord-
ing to the heights of Achernar, which I obtain-
ed in the night, we were sixty-four miles dis-
tanL The night displayed a very curious
optical phenomenon, which I shall not under-
take to explain. It was half an hour past mid-
night ; the wind blew feebly from the east ; the
thermometer rose to 23.2^, the whalebone hy-

610

groniuter was at 57°. I had remained apon the
deck to observe the cnlminatioa of some gmt
stars. The full-moon was Tery high ; saddmly,
on the side of the orh, 45' before its pasGajte
oTer the meridian, a great arc was finied
tinged with all the prismatic colours, bat of a
gloomy aspect. The arch appeared higher than
the moon ; this iris-band was near 2° broad, and
its snmmit seemed to rise nearly from 80" to 83°
above the horizon of the sea. The sky was
singularly pure ; there was no appearance of
rain ; and what struck me most was, that tkis
phenomenon, altogether resembling a Innar
rainbow, was Dot oppomte to the moon. The
arch remained staUonary, or at least appeaml

811

ImTe giwea a halo of so great a dimension. The
rapidity of the movement is not a small ob-
stacle to the explanation of a phenomenon well
worthy of attention .

DecStmber 3d. — We bad some uneasiness on
aoeonnt of the proximity of a small vessel
^hich was believed to be a pirate, 1)ut as it
drew near was recognized for the Baktndrd del
Frayle (the doop of the Monk). I could
«carcely conceive what so strange a denominan
tion meant. The bark belonged to a Francis-
CBXk missionary (Frayle Observanie), a ^ rich
priest of an Indian village in the savannahs
(Llanos) of Barceloiia, who had for several
yews carried on a very lucrative contraband
trade witili the Danish idands. M^Bonpland,
and several passengers, saw in the night at the
dCstance of a quarter of a mile^ with the windy
a small flame on the surfoce of the Ocean ; it
ran towards the S.W. and lighted up the at-
mosphere. No shock of earthquake was felt,
and there was no change in the direction of the
waves. Was it a phosphoric gleam produced
by a great heap of mollusca in putrefoction ; or
did this flame issue from the depth of the sea,
as is said to have been sometimes observed in
latitudes agitated by volcanoes? The latter
supposition appears to me destitute of all pro^
bability. The volcanic flame can only issue
from the deep when the rocky bottom of the

812

Oucau is already heaved up, so that the flames
and incundescent scoria escape from the
swelled and creviced part, without travereing
the waters.

December Ath. — At half past ten in the
roOFDing we were in the meridiui of Cape
Bacco (P'" Abacoii), which I found at 76*7'
50", or 9° 3' 2", west of Nueva Barcelona. In
time of peace the vessels that trade in dried meal
(tasttjo) between Cuinana and Barcelona, or
the Havannah, set out, according' to the antient
practice of the Spanish mariners, by the channel
of Portorico, to take the old channel, on the
berth of the island of Cuba; sometimes also
they pass between cape Tiburon and cape Mo-
rant, going along the northern coast of Jamai-
ca. But in time of war, these passives become
alike dangerous, the ship remaining too long in
sight of land. Having attained the parallel of
17V the fear of pirates made us prefer the di-
rect passage across the bank of Vibora, better
known by the name of Pedro Shoals. This bank
occupies more than 280 square marine leagues,
and its configuration strikes the eye of the geo-
logist, on account of its resemblance to that of
Jamaica, which is in its neighbourhood. It
seems like a heaving up of the bottom which
could not attain the surface of the sea, and
forms an island almost as large as Portorico.
From the 5th of December, the pilots believed

813

they took successively the measurement at a
distance of the island of Ranas (MorantKays)^
Cape Portland, and Pedro Kays. They were
probably deceived in several of these distances,
taken from the top of the mast. 1 have else-
where noted these measurements *, not to put
them in opposition to the great number which
have been made by able English navigators, in
these frequented latitudes, but merely to con-
nect, in the same system of observations, the
points I determined in the forests of the Oroo-
noko, and the archipelago of the West Indies.
The milky color of the waters warned na that
we were on the eastern part of the bank ; the
centigrade thermometer, which at a distance
from the bank had kept up, oa the surface of
the sea, for several days at 27^ and 27.3^ (the
air being at 21.2^), cooled suddenly to 25.7^-
The weather was bad from the 4th to the 6th
of December; it rained fast; the thunder rolled
at a distance, and the gusts from N.NJB. be-
came more and more violent. We were for
some time of the night in a critical posi-
tion; we heard before the prow the noise of
the breakers over which we had to pass, and
we ascertained their direction by the phosphoric
gleam reflected by the foam of the sea ; the
scene resembled the Randal of Garzita, and

* Aitr. Ohi.y Introd., Vol. i, p. xliii ; Vol. ii, p. 7-10.

814

other rnpids which we had seen in the bed of
the Oroonoko. The captain accused leas the
negligence of the pilot, than the imperfecticM rf
the charts. We sncceeded in turning onr
course, and in less than a quarter of an boar
we were out of danger, l^e Boundinga indi-
eated fii-st 9, then 12, then 15 fathoms ; we re-
mained near the cape during the rest of the
night ; the north-wind made the thermometer
descend to 19.7" (IS.y Reaum.) The next day
I ascertained by chronometric observatiMU,
combined with the resnlts of the coiredei
i-eckonings of the past night, that the breakos
nearly at 16»50' of latitude, and SOP 43' 49"
loiiir. Tlic breaker on which the Spanish TCgseJ

815

latitudes, when made at a time when the wind
does not blow from the north, and when the cur-
rents are less violent. The north-winds and the
cmrrents cool the water by degrees, even where
the sea is very deep. On the south of cape Co-
rientes, lat* 20o 43^, I found the sea at its sur-^
&oe 24.6% and the air IQ.H"* cent. Some Ame-
rican pilots affirm, that among the Bahama
Islands they can often guess, when seated in
the cabin, that they are passing over sand-
banks ; they pretend that the lights are sur-
noanded with small coloured halos, and that
the air breathed, is eondensed in a visible maur-
ner. I^ may be permitted to doubt at least
the latter foct ; below 30^ of latitude the cool-
ings produced by the waters of the banks is not
sufficiently considerable to cause this pheno-
meiKHi. During the. time we passed on the
bank of the Vlbora, the constitution of the air
WBB quite different from what we found on
quittmg it. ' The rain was circumscribed by
the limits of the bank, of which we could dis-
tinguish the fordL from afar, by the mass of va-
pors with which it was covered.

December 9th. — As we advanced towards the
islands of the Caymans *, the north-east wind

* Christopher Columbus^ in 1603^ named the islands of
the Caymans, Penascales de las Torlugas, on account of the
5ea-tortoisos which he saw swimming in (hose latitudes
(Her era, Decad., i, p. 140).

816

again blew with the same noknce. I obtuned
notwithstanding the stonny weather, somt
lieiffhts of the sno, al the moiDent whea webt
lieved ourselves, thongfa twelve milea distant, ii
the meridian of the center of the Great ^f
man, which is corered with cocoa-trees. I
have discussed in another place *, the poatko
of the Great Cayman and the two islands tm
the east. Those points hare loop wandered <■
our hydrographic charts, and I fear that I ban
not been more fortnnate than other observcn
who flattered themselTes they had made knowi
its real position. Hie fine m^ps of the A^*'
sito de Madrid, hare, at dtftrent
marked t-ie t-a-ttra cape of the Great CaTi

817

tremely rough. The thermometer kept up be-
tween I9.2°-20.3» (15.4M6.2<* R.). At this low
temperature the smell of the dried meat with
which the vessel was laden, became still more
insupportable. The sky displayed two beds of
clouds, the lower was thick and pushed with
extreme rapidity towards the S.E., the upper
motionless^ and divided at equal distance, in
the form of feathered stripes. The mnd at
length was calmed on nearing cape Saint
Antoine. I found the northern extremity of
the cape 87^ 17' iai\ or 2<» 34' 14'' eastward of
the Monro of the Havannah : this is the longi-
tude now marked on the best maps. We were
at the distance of three miles from land, but
the proximity of the island of Cuba was an-
nounced by a delicious aromatic odour. The
sailors pretend that this odour is not perceived
when they approach from cape Catoche, on the
barren coast of Mexico. As the weather grew
clearer, the thermometer rose gradually in the
riiade to 27'' : we advanced rapidly towards the
north, pushed on by a current * from south-
80uth-east> of which the temperature rose at
the surface of the water, to 26.7** ; while out of

* Diego Columbus had very precise ideas on the exist-
ence and the direction of the Gulf-stream \ see Jfttruz Mar-
tyr, Ocean, Dec. 3. Lib. x, p. 826, 327> and Herera, Dec. I,
Lib. ix, p. 261.

VOL. VI. 3 H

918

-fhc cui'i'ent, it was 24.ti*. Fearing to go to the
east of the Havannah, we at first wished to as-
■certain the islands of Tortoises fUry Tortvgas),
situated at the Eoiith>west extremity of tJie pf-
uinsula of Florida; but the confidence which
-the making of the land at cape Saint Antoine
, bad tnspii-ed for the chronometci- of Louis Her-
4faoud, rendered that precaution unnecessary.
"We anchored in the port of the HaTannab, tiie
19th December, after twenty-five days of oaTJ-
gation in constantly bad weather.

The whole surface of (he archipelago of tlie
West Indies contains near 8300 square leagues
{20 to a degree), of which the four great islaads
-Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Portorico oceup;
7200, or near nine-tentfas. The area of insula-
ry equinoxial Amenca is consequently nearly
equal to that of the Prussian monarchy, and
twice as large as the ar^a of the state of Pen-
sylvania. Its relative population diffei'S little
from that of the latter state, and is three times
less than that of Scotland *. I have been occu-
pied during several years in researches to as-
certain the number of inhabitants of dlfiereat
castes and colours which a fatal developenieiH
of colonial industry has assembled in the West
Indies. This problem is linked so nearly to (be
misfortunes of the African race, and the dao-

• See above. Vol. vi, p. 341.

gersf to bqiiiaii civilizs^tiw ia ^he sti^aog^ as-
semblage of so many variotts elements^ Chat I
would not confine myself to cojltecting wbat is
foond scattered in printed works. I consulted
by a9 active corr^pondence thie, respectable
and enlightened men, who too^ an interest in
my labprG^ and rectified the fijrst results I ob-
tained. I testify with pleasure my warm gra-
titude to Lord Holland^ Mr. Charles E^lis, Mr.
Wilmot^ un^er-pecretary of sta^ in the depart-
ment pf the colonies^ Mr. Allen, General Ma-
pa;^ley. Sir Charles Mac-Carthy, late governor
oi Sierra Leone, Sir Jfames Mackintosh, Mr.
Clarkson, Mn David Hodgson^ and Mr. James
Otopper of Liverpool.

3h2

VOPDI-ATION OF THK WEST INDIES (AT THK CUQ«R 01

Tlie total popalsliaa of th

India iiluitla tbb FStimalc

b26^03, of which 454,tfil a

Bryan EAvarda, in 1791: d

whitM, 65^05 i fn* colour

2O,00U. ColquhouD.in 1611:

slaves, ei34,0<l6 ; tnn colcnn

33,0B1 ; whitfi, 64,991. Mc

icb 70.430 werewUm

I. I'orvoiia bdoDfinga i

congregation of BH^Asfidf, i

iil!,23,V2r blacVs, and b

8476 wliitea. (ncbala if

In 1734, siBFC

n 1746, I

, 113,42fl; ■

n 176S, slaves, 176,914; v

nl775,5laFcs, 190,9Mi wl

a 1787, slam, 2SD,000; ■

n 1791, whiles, 3D.01W; (n

our, 1(1,000; tlaret, 25«,«

lares, 3O0,93y i in IBIO.ila

u 181!, ilaves, 319,912; ii

313,)U4, in leiti, sUtm, •

4S,a00i Id lS17,iilaTes,34S

tsgivc for 16^9, slaTci,

4500 ; for 1670, aUvr;, I

7500 ; for 1673, slaves, 9»H

to I7er:, GIO,000 ncgnxoUn

cd to JamuCB, of vbom mn

0 other islaudii I

Ilierefare in the islaod 4H

Saardi. Vol. ii, p. U.)

)08, 188,7^5 more wen i

■Iher, in 108 ycara, 6763

!l [here eiisU at Jamaita

lat nuoiher, leai than 340,1)

'mm o/ Rrgittry Lamt, p.

Laittt to Mr. WiOtrfora, II

821

M «f tkc Istonda.

hbCalDopoU

iftBADOBS -

ltN),0OO

79,000

navA

40,000

irr CiiRirro.
R, OR Saint

31,000^

23,000

19,500

OlMcnmUum and Vaijatloiu.

40.) Otl^r estliiutei make the importatioii
of the Africini to Junaica since the con-
quest, amoant to 850,000. {Easi and Wut
Indlfi M^fWy 18Z3. p. 34. Jame» Cropper,
ROirffar Wmi /jMJJm Di^ren, 1823, p. 13.
WWterfmm, Affvd to Ae%»oi», Justice, and
HwnanUy^ 1823, p. 49.) The population of
the free men of colowr is generally estimated
too low. Mr. Stewart, who resided twenty
years In that bland (till 1820), supposes it
to be 35.000, and the .nomfaer of whiles,
25,000. According to ^ Cffidal Registers,
which I owe to the obliging communication
of Mr. Wilmot, in 1817 ; sUves, 343,145;
in 1820, sUves, 341,812. In the last 14
years, on a slave population of 342,000,
scarcely 600 marriages (257 a year) were Ic-
KaUy contTMted. (AcAtf. of the. Debate of
tke Umue^ Commons, ISS9, p. 164.),

Mr. Aiorse estimates the total popuUtion.
in 1786 at 79,220 ; in 1805, skres, 60,000;
free men, 17,130 ; In 1811, according to a
numeration beUered to be rery exact, slares,
79,132; free coloured populntion, 2613;
whites, 15,794. la 1823, probably 16,000
whites ; free men of colour, •of which the
number augments greatiy, 5000. Totel po-
puUtion, perhaps 100,000. According to
tiie Ofieial Registers, in 1817, slaves,
77,493 ; in 1820, sUures, 78,345.

In 1815, slaves, 36,000 ; free> 4000; in
1823, probably free-coloured population,
4000 : whites, 5000. AcconUug to the Ofi^
ciai Registers of 1817, slaves, 32,269 ; in
1820. sUves, 31,053.

In 1791, slaves, 20,435; whites, 1900;
in 1805, slaves, 26,000; whites, 1800;
free men of colour, perhaps 2500. Accord-

JHH

■

^^^H

fe22

^.,....w..

^'-cr'"

st»«.

o.™«.».MV-^

Ing b> Che Offiri^ R^ia^. .!»

in lg!0, Eliivea, 1»,SI7.

dNBV.a - ,

11,000

9,500

InlB09, tot«l9300, of i.W

blicka (CbalcQcn) ; in 1812, to

of whom 9326 wen sbim. (i
1817; aUna, 06O3t of 1830,1
frtc men of colonr, oearir l«
4SD.

f) GlENUlIk . .

ay ,000

85,000

Id 17SI. accofding la Biya
tlam, 23.926 ; wUtm, lOOO
ilarei, 39^81 ; free, 1S9I. C
IBIJ, Am, 38,034 ; oT H

35,677; free men of eoloor, ]
2800 I whites, 900.

g) Saint Vincent

28,000

24,000

In 17B1, slaves, 11,S53; wt

AWO THE OBEWA

in 1912, totol,27,455, of whom
«Iavei ; in |gl5, total 23,4$3, ai
3130 were free. Offi. Reg. of 1

35,255; of 1B20, slaves, 24,2S:

k) DOUIHICA - -

2l),00U

lfi,000

In 1791, slaves, 14,967, rt

in 1805, slaves, 23,0S3 ; free
1811, total, 25,0;ll, of whom
wbiiei; free euloured popnUl
tdavcs, 21,738. The relstirenai
lilncka or free mulaltoes, and [h
here, as eTerj where else, Eitnm
tain ; the former are now perit^
ble of the latter in Dumber. I)
1817, .laves. 17,959; of IR
ie.M4. Slaves an: often expo
Dominica and the Bahama isli
merara, where tho climate causa
mortality, even among the 6i

male.

i) MoNTSEMEAT ■

s.ooo

^.500

Ill 1805, alavei, 'ibW;(m,
1813, slave*, 653* ; free, 4«.

ass

Dfy AlUGA

nratnOoR-

9 TO&TOLA

ObMrtitloM lod VarUli«m«

8^00

flO^ • -

»IJILLA AW
UDA -

16,000

2y^00

41^00 1

6,000

14/K)0

i,aoo

23,&00

T LvoiB

17,000 13,000

according to the rowt correct opinions,
1500 free, of whom acmrcely one-fifth are
whites. Ofi, Beg, 1817, davet, 6610 ; of
1820, slaws, 6505. Mr. Morse estimates
the total popuUtion in 1822, at 10,750 ; but
it Is not so greath:

Very uncertain. In 1820^ probably,
shires, 6000; free men of colour, 1200-
1500; whites^ 400. In 1788, howercr,
the sbves were estimsted at 9000. (Melish
veckooed In 1822, the total popnlation at
Tortohk to be 10,500 ; and at Virgib <iKirda,
8000!)

In 1805, slaves, 14,883; frve, KOO; in.
1811, slaves, 16,897; free, 935 ; in 1815, ,
total, 18,000. Qfi' Beg. of 1817, slaves,.
15,470 ; of 1820, slaves, 14^1 (]pcobabIy
now 2000 free, of whom 1200 are coloured
popolaUod.] Mr. Morse {Modem Geogr,,
p. 236,) reckons for 1822, total 16,483, of
whom 15,583 were slaves and free men of
colour, and 900 whiter-

Uncertain.

In 18051, sUves, 19,709 ; free, 5536 (M<
Cullum). Numemtidn of 181 1 , believed to
be very esact ; total 82,989, of which 2617
were whites; fi-ee men of colour, 7493;
free Indians, 1736 ; dares, 21,143. O^.
Reg. of 1817, slaves, 25,941; in 1820,
daves, 23,537. It is usual to estimate much
too low the constantly increasing population
of this island. Mr. Morse, in 1822, total
28,477 ; yet there is no doubt of there be-
ing now at least 14,000 free men of colour ;
whites, 4000 ; skves, nearly 24,000.

In 1788, Uie total was estimated at
120,968, of whom 17,221 were shives; in

^^^H

824

Nunn or (he liludi.

roujpopuit

.,™.

o<.™.i™„.v^

1810, toul 17,485, of wboiD

sUtci; free men of ooloor, 11

1210. 0^ toy. of I8ir. >U<

oflSID, b1btc8, 11,050.

p}BAH*ll*lBI.lNt)S

15,500

11,000

tone. Id 1810, total I«,7l
11,146 were «i.re«. (Nowpra
slaTCT ; free coloared popoL
3000; whim, 1500.)

q) Bebhddan !■■

H,aoo

5.000

Small BTcUpelnga, >itaat«d L

rate ume, and tu dInBnt Cm

ingulsry Amerira. In 1791, I

of «Ijoiu4319 were sUtcs ; m
11900, of whom 47114 were .l.re

I. Haiti, Fbench

820,000

Mr, Necker, in 1799, idio

mo SfAHIBB - '

/VmcA pari, toul 38H,803 ; in
520,000, of shorn 40.000 vrrem
men, 28,000 ; Blares, 452,000 , i
Page patimaled [he toUl popoh
375,000, of whom 290,000 wer
[n IBIR, according to tlie ob
Genersl Pmnphile-LMToir, the
coutnined bOI.DOO, of wboco 4
bUl:k^ 20,000 muUltoei, uid 1
Spontih pari, 135,000, of whi
wcrf bintks. HQd 25.000 white
MnemlHy, whose resEkrchea tlr,
character of philanthropy lad
truth, thinks that the total pc
Haiti eiceeda 750.000, amon;
the froic-A j«irr, 600.000 vt

Spanl'h pari, 120.000 ni-<mK)
tnc^. nnd 26,000 while nrol?
Frrmh jmrl, the number of m
74,nOfi. The lul »#™/ H««T
935,:iJ5, Btuodg whom, in lb
Jacmal oaly, 99,4061 of Port

825

OtotnatloiM and VwisHnM.

. 8r Amn IfLAHM

1} 0Q1A • - •

943,000
700,000

981,400
S&tf,000

89,164; of C«jet, 0,536; of Agnni,

58,587; of Leogftne, 55,662; of BlinU-

lab, 53,649 ; of Nepper, 44,478 ; of the

Cape Haltiao, 38,566 ; of TEboroo, 3^,99r•

of Jeremy, 37,652 ; of Saint Mark, 37,628;

of Uie Great RIfer, 35,372; ofGooaiTea,

33,542 ; of Lenib6, 33,475 ; of Marmdade.

32,852 ; of Santo Donlngo, 20,076. INm

Mimikfy Mag^ 1825, fU., p. 69.) The

pfeeantioaa taken hy tfie Haitian govern^

aent to obtidn n pfeebe reeolt, are no(

known* Hafing alwnya In my labon 01

poBtieal economy, pmerlbed to myaelf tki

nle of pnhHehlng tke loweit nnmben, ]

haTe dlmlnHJied one^rinth the reralt of thi

oOdal nomentloo* The limlt-nnmben

are now 800,000 and 940,000. Very eng

gerated ■werttoni, connected with polltka

viewi, haire canted Oie popohrtloQ of Bfit

to more than a mllUon 1 It b certain tha

thb popolatlon angmentiiHth extreme n

ffUttiy, and b fitfond hy wbe InititBtkmi,

According to an oOoial docoment pee

•ented to the Cortee at Madrid, la 1821

total 630^80, of whom 290,021 weiewfaltai

free cokmrad popolntton, 115,691 ; ibvei

225,268. JUdammim iboAa pm» Im rq^

tentmtUt tb Im labu it CMe, tmiirm k§ mnm

eekt, p* 7. The number of abTcslmportec

from 1817-1819, waa from 15,000 to 26,00(

Letien from th» Hawmumh fo Jokn WUm

CnktTi Etf^ 1821, p. 18-36. Theae In

portatlona are frightfol ; e?en Rio Janeb

doea not rocdre a greater nnmber In tliei

btter timea ; namely, 1821, abvea, 20,851

in 1822, aUfea, 17,008 ; In 1823. dave

20,610; OJk. Cmrruptmi, with tkt Br

Ommk.^ 1823, a, p. 109, 121. Aksm

ier CaUekugk's Trmftb in SmUk Awterk

1825, Vol. ii, p. 266. (Mr. Melbh, In 1

Ameikan Geography, gitrea the bland

^i^UuMnsHK '• iBjMo

^ suiMuiuK a

(SaixtHaub-
or 6«.M«BnH}

827

ofthe'l'Andt.

' ■ I i ■ i • -■*

IVMh popttni<
tion.

AXD SWSOISB Urn

Saint Eufv'4an[| 16,000
AND Saba -

^^-•^-—' ' 'i>

Saint itC/ltTiir '

COBAfOA

Saint (2BOIX

Saint TtaoMAi

Saint John

Saint Baetho-

5^000

11,000

33,000

7,000

2^00

8,000

olftWSa

e\fio6

OtMenrationa toA Vartatlont.

18,000

No lakuid preienU greater uncertaiat
M. IVfalte Bmn (Oeogr* Vol. t, p. 748] est
niAtetthe total pe)MiUitkm te IBIS, at onl
6400, of whom 5000 were whites, 600 fin
ODloured neo^ and 800 'slaTes. Bat th
number of wUtte h Mttle frobable. M. <
Van den Bosch {Nleder Umdtekt Ooerattta
AMtiHtgitt^ I8l8, Vdl. «,!». 332) iizes c
2400ii while Ihe \ifiw Oeography of M
Morse, in general carefhlly executed (Nt
'^yinMM ^ifedkni -dtogri^, i822, p. 241
haa flxed oa 30,000^

4^000 ' HArap, I. r., p. 248. -Oae part b j^renc
4hk other Dutch.

0,500

27,000

5,500

2,300

4,000

iMdish, 8500 '; ^lUsel, 14,000. Van d<
BomOi (VoL ii, p. 227) for 1805, total pop
lation, 12,840. Datch islands in gencn
36,000, ofvfaom 22,500 aim slavea.

In 1805, whites, ^1223 ; freedmen, 166
feUres, 2&,4&2. total, 30,339.

In 1815, whites, 726; freedmen, 33!
tlli»es,47«9. TotU,8734.

Til 1815, total, 2ft20, Of Drhom, white
103 ; aUTea, 1292. Mr. Hassel estimaf
the total population of the Damsh islands,
1805, at 38,695 ; Mr. Colquhoun estimat
it In 1813,at 42,787^bfwhom 37,030 we
slares.

A/brw,.p. 349.

The observations placed against the resolts
>■ which ai-e now the most probable, coataio some
historical facts on the increasing progression of
the population. These facts, of very unequal
precision, are, however, only variantes lectiones,
the expression of the opinion formed at particu-
lar periods, on the number of the inhabitants.
Most frequently, they are not those differences,
but the official registers of the last years, whicli
have served for the basis of my calculations.
When renters are wanting, we can only be
guided by general considerations on the \'alue
of statistic results. In opinions which are con-
tested with violence, and which affect the great-
est interests of humanity, we must distrust the
exaggeraticn of extreme parties, and take the
mean between the estimates furnished by the
planters, and those of associations formed with
the view of diminishing the miseries of slavery.
The comparison of the registers of different
periods does not always-furnish precise ideas of
the mortality of the slaves in the colonies of
different nations. There are countries in which
the names of deceased slaves are given to those
who are clandestinely introduced. When cer-
tain results cannot be obtained, much is gained
by finding the limit-numbers; and being able
to assert, that in the island of Jamaica, there
are at least 342,000 slaves ; at Barbadoes,
79,000, and at Guadaloupe, 100,000. The re-

829

suits fhrnished by the enumerating or i^ster-
ing of the slaves {Slave Registry Returns)^ af^
ford "only limitmumhere^ the minima of pvticu-
lar periods. The proprietors have ta interest
in coneealing a part of the slaves they possess ;
the' effects of emancipation *ftre confounded on
the registers with those of decease ; and on the
other hand a pwt of tfie births is hidden. The
registers in general tend to prove, that hitherto
(from 1817 to 1824) the black population de-
creases in the English colonies of the West
Indies, and niuch more in the sihidl islands than
at Jamaica, and wherever the planters work
with considerable capitals a soil producing ali-
mentary subsistence in abundance^ The official
registers give for twelve English West India
islands, in 1817, 617,799 slaves; for 1823,
604,444 slaves ; from whence results a loss of
l-46th in three years. At Jamaica alone it was
only I -257th ; and in the small islands it fluc-
tuates from l-12th to l*60th. I do not give
these stateoients as true, but as resulting from
the registers. The distinction of whites, and
free coloured population, presents such great
difficulties^ that at the end of the year 1823,

•

* Adam Hodgwn, Letter to M, Say, 1823^ p. 37. De^
haie of the \^h May, 1828, p. 184. Bridges on Manumu-
lion and Negro Slavery of the United Staiei and
1823, pp. 61 and 86.

free negroes at the
38 per cent ; but th.
only be estimated ai
**e men is not less

than that of slaves. '
who enjoy foil libertj

In the re^tere tbi

of the islands, the w<

generally taken for sy

however, among- the ,

molattoes, and othera

'•eve their number am<

and I calculated accon

the number of the negi

the black population ol

ration of the island of

considerable result ; th)

m tbe tnum ^r TV.

831

With respect to the population of the island
of S^tat Domingo (H^iti) I bQlieve I hav^ fixed
on an estimate sufficiently low. We possess
partial statements of the official numeration^
circle hy circle ; and considerations founded on
po^tive calcu)ation9 lead us to conclude that
the population of Haiti may now attain 820y00().
Mr. Pag6, after the calamities of the colony in
1802^ estimated both parts, French and Spanish,
at 500,000. Now, supposing r or the rate of an-
nual increase to be only 0.016 (which doubles
in forty-four years), I find for 1822^ a popula-
tion of 686^800. If we admit a more rapid in-
^crease^ similar to that of the slave population
in the southern part of the United States
{r=0,026, consequently a doiibling in 27 years)
we obtain for 1822 a population of 835^500 ;
but how can it be believed that Mr. Page has
not estimated the population of 1802 too low ?
Necker admitted in 1788, 520,000 in theFrench
part, and 620,000 in the whole island of Saint
Domingo* Many years of peace and tranquil-
lity have succeeded that period, interrupted by
some of disorder and carnage. Even the ma-
roon-negroes of Jamaica have augmented, de-
ducting from the number the fugitive slaves
who join them occasionally. It is mpre natural
to admit that^ in an interval of fourteen years
(from 1788 to 1802,) the population has been
preserved at 600,000, notwithstanding the civil

ward and etnigration ; and, admitting this
statement, we find, acccnrding to the two hy-
potheses (r = 0,015, or r = 0,026), 824,300, or
1 ,002,500. The last official numeration, pab-
lislied by the government of Haiti, gives
935,300: in order to avoid exaggeiatiooi I
fixed on 820,000.

BLACK POPULATION OP COfmNBMTAL AND INSULAXT
AMBRICA.

1. NfgTQ Slata.

West India inmlarj America 1,090,000

UoiledSutea 1,650,000

Brazil 1,800,000

Spanish Colonies of the Continent .. 307,000

833

The habit of linag in oomntriet where the whites erejso
amneroiie as io tfM United States, has had a siif;iilar Influ-
tnoe on the ideas which have been formed of the prepon*
dersnoe off diftrent races in varioos parts of the New Con*
tinent. The nnmber of negroes and of mixed race, wliich
•monnt together, b my tables, to more than 12,861,000,
or to 87 per eent, has been arbitrarily diminished ; while
the white pqmlation does not exceed 18i millions, or 88 per
cent Mr. Morse admitted for the wfiitde of America, in 1822,
M-lOOth whites, 88-lOOth Indians, 11-lOOth negroes, and
f^iOOths of mixed race. MM. Carry and Lee suppose a
pqHilatbm of 2,050,000 in the archipelago of the West
Indies, of whli^ 450,000 whites, and 1,000,000 blades and
mnlattoes ; this indicates tSt per cent, of wliites. We have
just seen that the statement b still n little more nnfovoor-
able, and that on the total population of the West Indies,
^^848^000, there are 17 per cent, of whites, and 89 per cent,
of men of colour, slaves and free ] that i«, that the whites
are to the men of cdour s 1 :(}.

VOL. VI. 3 I

DISTRf BUnOH OF' nn 1t\Cfi9 m SrANMR ilBOSitlCA

1. iVoiMf, (fiMlpMi^, redmeai copper-K^qlMf^

or pi4m4!<^. race^ without mii|||ic^.,i?f .. wlM^> ^^

.. . 3,700;M0^

Guatfinala 880,000

Cdhaubia 720,000-^

Peru and ChUi 1.030^000^

Bueuos Aypfii^,,^!^ ,llif ¥i^.,

vinoes of Sierra 1^200,000,,,*^

II ■ ■■<> 11. fa ■..(

7^530,000

S. Whilt*. (EiiropeaiM>* and descendaals . .of: Buropeans,
withoQt miiitare of Negra- and Indian^: An pretended
race of Caucasus.) ■ •

Mexico 1,230,000

Guatimala 280,000

Cuba and Pbrtorico 338,000

Cbluiiibia. .. .! 64MM*h*

Peru and Ohiii^^.' 466,000

BuenosAyres 320,000

%m0vQOOr '.

3. Negroti. (African race, without miiture of whi^ or
Indian, blacks, free and slaves.)

Cuba and Portorico 389,000

Continent 387,000

770,000

3 I 2

^^^^^^^^H

836

4, BUck, while, and Mian fflwed ram

11206, Zambai, and mixture of mU

Mexico

Columbia

Peru and ChiU

tures.)
1,600,000

420.000 <
1,266,000^

858,000.^

74S,00O-^

197,000

fi,328,000

RECAPITULATION

ACCOBDIMG TO THE PREPONDRBitNCI

or TBK RACES.

Indians 7,530,000 i

Mixed races &,3S8,000

Whites 3,278,000

Blacks, Afiican race 776,000

16,010,000

DISTRIBUTION OF THE RACES IN CONTINBNTAl. AND
INSULARY AMERICA.

1. fVhUa.

Spanish America 3,276,000

West bidks, without Cuba, Portorico, and

Marguerita 140,000

Brazil 920,000

United States 8,575,000

ChjuIs 550,000

Englifh, Dutch, and French Guyanas 10,000

13,471,000

837

2. indmms*

Spanish America 7^630^000

Brazil (indosed Indians of Rio Ne^roi^ Rio

BrancOj and the Amazon) 200^000

Indqiendent Indians^ on the east and west of
the Rocky Monntainsj on the frontiers of
New Meuco^ the Mosqoitos^ &c 400^000

Independent Ipdisins of South' America 420,000

Mio.ooo

9. N€groei%

West Indies, with Gab& and Portorico 1^900^000

Continent of Spanish America 387,000

Brazil 1,900,000

English, Dutch, and French Guyanas 806,000

United SUtes 1,9«0,000

6^438,000

4. 3f imT racer.

Spanish America 5,328,000

West Indies, without Cuba, Portorico, and

Marguerita 190,000

Brazil and the United States 890,000

English, Dutch, and IVench Guyanas 20,000

M28,000^

RECAPITULATION.

Whites 13^471,000 or 38 per cent.

Indians 8,610,000 25

Negroes 6,483,000 19

Mixed race 6,428,000 18

34,942,000

"^ >-■.

in Ij

■:■■"*■• ^ • . ^

---icizr. and2o,ie0ni

»enim. Ks5«|nibo, an

'•^Wt more than 00,

**^ (Vol. ii, p. 114

^»^32 slaves ; at E

22.2». tojQi 65,442

^ii« population of Dcnu

77,400 slaves, 3000 ft

He admitted for Berbic

1^00 free men of colouj
gisUrs communicated bj
I>emerara in 1817, 77

colony of Ecrbice in 1
23,180 slaves. Itappea
and Frencli Guyanas nov
French Guyana reckoned
Indians ; namely, 12,000

men of colour. Accordii
tained Hst Jn»„ ,,^«

839

sUtes, dateiy will b)e CTtingitfiheit by degrees : the vepnblic
of Cotanbb h^ g^?to the eauunpleof progreBsite liberation*
That measure, at once humane and prudent,, is due to the
disinterestedness of General Bolivar, whose name is not less
illustrious by the virtues of the citizen, andl>y his modera-
tion in subce^, than lyy the splendour of his military glory.

DISTBIBUTION OF THE TOTAL POPULATION OF AMSBICA, AC<

coaniNO TO thb DnrsBSiTy op bblioious wobship.

4 «

I. ItomahCathoUci 92,486,«00

a Cddtinental Spanish America . /. 16,M6,000

Vhites 2fimfi0^

Indiana 7,(30,000

Mixed & negro race A,518>M)0

l6jliB6fiOO

* Portuguese Attttrica 4^000,000

c United Sta.te8, Lower Canada,

and French Guyana 597,000

'<{ Haiti, Cuba,' Portorico, and

IVenchWesi Indies ........'. 1,904,000

— r

Jr ■ •

22,486,000

U. ProtettdnU 11,696,000

a United States. .....'... 10,SWfe00{

5 EngUsh Canada, New-Scotland,

Labrador « 2ao,<M)0

€ English and Dutch Guyana 220,000

^English West India Islands ... 777,000
e Dutch and Danidi Islands, &c. ' 84,000

11,096,000
XII« Independent fndiani, not ChriBUam 820,000

94,042,000

— X, xxg

wtimates, for u

*;« 'n Louisiai

^ are perhaps

""certainty affe«

fi*ble influence ,

'^^^ that the n

r^'*'^ of conti.

from the gouther
i^d, is, to the
f^^re exist, on

;°"o^ the G«ek
the number of Je^
|be United States,

'"*a islands, bnt
^^^^- Theindepen,
- Cf-tian eo^m

nm •«•. V

841

things, the Protestant population augments
much more rapidly in the New World than the
catholic ; and it is probable that, notwithstand-
ing the state of prosperity to which independ-
ence, the progress of reason, and free institu-
tions will raise Spanish America, Brazil, and
the island of Haiti, the relation of 1 to 2 will, in
less than half a century, be considerably modi-
fied in favour of protestant communities. Ad-
mitting a total population in Europe of 198
millions, we may compute nearly 103 millions
of Roman Catholics, 38 millions who follow
the Greek worship, 52 millions of Protestants,
and 5 millions of Mahometans. The numeri-
cal relation of the Protestants to the membei-s
of the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, is
consequently, by approximation, as 1 : 2 ^. This
relation between the Protestants and Roman
Catholics is the same in Europe and in Ameri-
ca. The tables we collect at the end of this
chapter, have a close connexion with each other;
for in every zone, the difierence of race and ori-
gin, the individuality of language, and the state
of domestic liberty, have a powerful influence
on the dispositions of men for particular forms
of worship.

>"-- <. Jli:-

•• «■

- - - 1^'^.^^ _

Iixifa::5 ...
Mixed aiiti

5pa^i<i srd Pen
heotJ^n^- the in

5 fre-l •

«43

€. DMA, t^dnlsh, SibcSXih ^nd'JtiMah languagei,

Weatlbdies WiOM

Qttyaoa ..• :. tVlfiOO

BiUB^ OB theN. W.4»Mt 15^000

216,000
BSCAPITULATION.

HDgjliBklafl%iiage Ili64nf,e00

:.Spa*iah 16,504,000 .

incUan 7>6^3,000

Portuguese ! 3,740,000

French l,94i,000

' fbtcb,k)iftflhfatadth^edirii "t^ttjfiW

84,948,000

iionguages of Latin Europe 16,488,000

Languages of Germanic root 11,863,000

-eiMpatalaiigtta^S..; . 8T;849>000

fiidkii languagee ....^ « 7,6p8,000

I'hilVe not tcit!nti6Diid'tepattitelyeb8 ^rftian,
the Ostelic ][;Iri8h) "and tbe SafiqCie^ becftuso the
trnm^itms itidirid«a!s ^fi^ho prasein^e tht kti(m-
tedge of those tnotiher-tongues^ undensCund also
English or die CastiUian. The number of indi-
viduals who usually speak the Indmn lan-
.gnages^ is at present as 1 : 3| to the ^number
wfaa employ the languages of Europe. By the
mo^ rapid increase ftf the population of the
United Statefs/the langtK^fee of the -Germao

Partofthep^pui,

8"« exist more th
of natives in Amei

«8e of their own la

tirely ignorant of t

^ also the opinion o

«°d of several eccl

^*»o long inhabited

^as enabled to con

smallnumber of Indii

have entirelyforgott

inhabit large towns, o
their vicinity. Amc
speak French in the
«ore than 700,000 ne

circumstance which, n;
^We efforts of the l
popular insf ...,„*.•._

84$

guese, and more than 14-lOOths and 12-lOOths
who speak French and Spanish.

These statements of population^ considered
in their relations with the difierences of race^
languages, and worship, are composed of very
variable elements, and repi*esent approxima-
tively the state of American society. In a work
of this kind, we can take into consideration
only great masses ; the partial estimates may in
time acquire more rigorous precision. The
language of cyphers, the sole hieroglyphics
which have been preserved among the signs of
thought, stands in no need of interpretation.
There is something serious and prophetic in
these inventories of the human race : in them
the whole future destiny of the New World
seems to be inscribed.

W. Pople. Printer,
97$ Cluncery Lane.

"PAWNER

3 bios OlS HHO S75

Stanford Univeraity Libraries
Stanford, California

BHoni thia book oa or boforo date duo.

.AUG 6 1995

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