171 Colombia between the Years 1820 and 1830. 97 



the Spaniards, who thus encounter, both in the high and low- 

 lands, two races in whom the seeds of hostility have been 

 sown by injustice, and fostered by mistaken feelings of interest 

 and vanity *. It is on the mountain slopes of from 3000 to 

 7000 feet that we encounter climates most analogous to our 

 ideas both of health and pleasure. Raised above the noxious 

 miasmata of the coast, we dwell in perpetual summer amid the 

 richest vegetable productions of nature, amid a continued 

 succession of fruits and flowers. This picture however must 

 not be considered as universally exact. In those unbroken 

 forests where population has made little progress the sky is 

 often clouded, and the soil deluged with continual rains. 

 The western declivities of the Andes, which front the Pacific, 

 are particularly exposed to this inconvenience. 



It might be expected that with regard to human life and 

 vigour, the elevated plains of the Andes would correspond 

 to the northern countries of Europe. This however, as far 

 as regards the inhabitants of European race, does not seem 

 exactly to take place. It is true they escape the bilious and 

 intermittent fevers so prevalent in the lowlands; but they are 

 generally subject to typhus, dropsy, goitre, and such com- 

 plaints as indicate constitutional debility. Nor do we find 

 among them either the muscular strength or longevity of the 

 Indians or Africans ; and still less of the nations of northern 

 Europe. Are the diurnal changes of temperature to which 

 they are exposed less favourable to health than the alternation 

 of European seasons which expose the frame to changes 

 equally great but less rapid? Or must we rather look for 

 the cause in their domestic habits, which exhibit a strange 

 mixture of effeminacy and discomfort? 



When we examine the social or political effects of climate 

 and localities, we are struck with their powerful effects on the 

 past struggles and present state of the country. The cities 

 of the coast must be considered as the inlets both of European 

 j)roducts and European ideas. Liberal opinions have ex- 

 tended themselves towards the interior in proportion to local 

 obstacles, i. e. to the greater or less facility of communication. 

 It is this circumstance which marks the difference betwixt 

 Venezuela and the south and centre of Colombia, indicating 

 a distinct and more rapid career of civilization and pros- 

 perity. The branch of the Andes which traverses Venezuela 

 is much inferior in elevation to the ridges of Quito and New 



• It is the pco|)Ie of colour, or mixture of Africans witli Whites and 

 Iiulians, wlio on the phiiiis form the most iiardy and warlike part of tlic 

 population of Colombia. 



Phil. Ma<r. S. 3. Vol. li. No. 66. Feb. 1839. H 



