Colombia between the Years \S2.{i and 1S30. 11 



Climate is one of the first agents which operates upon the pro- 

 pagation of the human race over the face of the globe, presenting 

 itselfsometimesasa benignant conductor, at other times raising a 

 hostile barrier which science and industry slowly overcome. The 

 Spaniards who people that part of South America now under con- 

 sideration, as soon as they had formed on the coast the estabUsh- 

 ments necessary to preserve their connection with the mother 

 country, seem to have traversed hastily the fertile but insalubri- 

 ous lowlands to meet on the Cordillera a temperature adapted to 

 their habits and constitutions. The dominion of the Incas had, 

 upon similar principles, extended itself along the immense ridge; 

 and the descendants of the conquerors and conquered are, to this 

 day, found united on the same elevations, from whence the popu- 

 lation has descended gradually into the plains ; and would have 

 done so much more slowly, but for the importation of the African 

 race, who find on the sandy coast and sultry savanna a climate 

 congenial to their constitution. It may be a matter of curiosity 

 to inquire, why that portion of the bronzed race which constitu- 

 ted the empire of the Incas and of the Lipas has constantly exhi- 

 bited a constitutional type so different from the tribes of the same 

 race now thinly scattered through the plains and valleys. The 

 dominion of the Incas could scarcely be said to have established 

 itself in the lowlands. With the exception of the dry narrow- 

 track of the Peruvian coast, their empire was exclusively of the 

 mountains; and Indians who speak the Qvkhua, or general lan- 

 guage of the Incas, still manifest the same preference for cold and 

 elevated situations ; sleeping in the open air rather than under a 

 roof, and exhibiting an insurmountable repugnance to descend 

 into the hot country, where they fall victims more rapidly than 

 even the Europeans. The latter, although commercial interests 

 have led them to form establishments on the coasts, and more par- 

 tially on the great rivers, may be said to live in a state of perpet- 

 ual hostility with the climate. Their complexions become sal- 

 low, their frames feeble ; and although, where heat is uncombined 

 with great moisture, as in Cumana, Coro and Maracaybo, they 

 are subject to few diseases of a violent character, the strength is 

 gradually undermined, and the species may be rather said to veg- 

 etate than to increase. The individuals of African race, who 

 complain of cold when the yearly mean is 75°, alone develope all 

 the physical strength and energy of their character in the hot 



