SOUTH AMERICA. 



The greater part of the aborigines lead a wander- 

 ing life in the unsettled parts of the colony. The 

 government is vested in a governor and court of 

 policy, the latter consisting of ten members 

 namely, governor, chief-justice, attorney-general, 

 collector of customs, government secretary, and 

 five persons elected from among the colonists. 

 The local government has made great efforts to 

 promote education, and many schools and churches 

 liave been erected at considerable expense. This 

 colony is in a highly prosperous condition. 

 Steam-machinery has been introduced into every 

 plantation, and the most improved methods of 

 cultivation have been adopted. 



The capital of British Guiana is Georgetown, 

 on the right bank of the river Demerara, with a 

 population of 25,000. New Amsterdam, the chief 

 town in the county of Berbice, extends about a 

 mile and a half along the bank of the river 

 Berbice. 



Dutch Guiana formerly comprehended Surinam, 

 Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo, but the last 

 three were, in 1814, ceded to Great Britain, which 

 had been in possession of them since 1803. The 

 remaining province of Surinam lies between the 

 rivers Corentyn and Marony, is traversed by the 

 Surinam, and has an area of 59,052 square miles, 

 and 50,210 inhabitants. The population consists 

 chiefly of negroes. Slavery was abolished in the 

 colony in 1863. The soil is low, rich, and fertile, 

 and produces sugar, rum, cotton, and coffee, for 

 exportation. The capital is Paramaribo, on the 

 river Surinam. 



French Guiana lies between the rivers Marony 

 and Oyapok, the former separating it from Dutch 

 Guiana, and the latter from Brazil. It was ac- 

 quired by France in 1604. 



The settlement of Cayenne was first formed 

 about 1624, by a colony from Caen, in Normandy, 

 after which it is called. It did not succeed, and 

 passed alternately into the hands of the Dutch, 

 British, Portuguese, and French, but was finally 

 restored to France at the peace of 1814. There 

 are two settlements, one on the mainland, another 

 on the island of the same name, separated from 

 the former by the river Cayenne, making in all 

 an area of about 35,000 square miles. This 

 colony is notorious for its unhealthy climate. It 

 was used as a place of banishment during the first 

 French Revolution ; and the island is still used as 

 a penal settlement for political offenders. At- 

 tempts are making to cultivate the clove, pepper, 

 and nutmeg of Asia, and with success. Extremely 

 little of the surface is under culture, and the 

 population is only 24,432. The produce consists 

 chiefly of sugar, coffee, pepper, dye-woods, cotton, 

 and hides. 



PXTAGONIA AND TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



Area, 380,000 square miles ; population, 24,000. 



Patagonia, the southern portion of the continent 

 of South America, extends from the river Cusu 

 Leubu or Rio Negro in 40 S. lat. to the Strait of 

 Magellan. Except on the west side occupied by 

 the Andes, it consists of a succession of undulat- 

 ing plains called pampas, covered occasionally 

 with coarse grass, and more frequently with a 

 sparse growth of stunted bushes and thistles, but 

 often absolutely barren, shewing nothing but a 

 surface of bare clay or gravel, in many places 



strewed with boulders, or rugged with rocVs. 

 These pampas rise in terraces one above the 

 other, culminating in hills, which occupy the crest 

 of the country, and are intersected by valleys or 

 ravines, formed by the frequent streams, which, 

 rising in the Andes, either go to swell the rivers 

 which flow into the Atlantic, or are lost in the 

 lagoons with which the pampas abound. These 

 valleys are generally fertile and well wooded ; and 

 the pampas themselves, with their tufts of coarse 

 grass and clumps of thistles, furnish subsistence to 

 vast numbers of guanacos, ostriches, and other 

 animals. The pampas are covered with snow 

 in winter; and the climate at all seasons is 

 severe. 



The Tehuelches, or Patagonians proper, are 

 originally of the same stock with the inhabitants 

 of Tierra del Fuego, but have a great advantage 

 over the latter in the possession of horses. They 

 are tall as compared with other Indian races, 

 although by no means of the fabulous stature once 

 ascribed to them, few of them exceeding six feet 

 in height. 



Besides the Tehuelches, two other Indian tribes, 

 the Pampas and the Chenna or Manzanares, 

 range over the country. They all subsist chiefly 

 by the chase, although some possess cattle and 

 sheep. Between the Rio Negro and the Strait, 

 there are now about 500 fighting-men, represent- 

 ing a population of 3000, and their numbers are 

 on the decrease. During the last thirty years, 

 both Chili and the Argentine Confederation have 

 founded settlements in Patagonia, and both coun- 

 tries lay claim to the whole territory. The Chilian 

 penal settlement of Punto Arenas, or Sandy Point, 

 on the Strait of Magellan, founded in 1853, has a 

 population of 850, and is a place of call for the 

 steam-ships from Liverpool to Callao. Coal has 

 been found here ; but the settlers, principally 

 Chilotes, of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, 

 described as 'a hardy and sturdy race, accus- 

 tomed to the use of the axe/ are engaged chiefly 

 in carrying on a trade in timber. Santa Cruz, on 

 the Rio Chico, in 50 S. lat is a trading station 

 belonging to the Argentine Confederation ; but 

 it consists only of three houses. Patagones, on 

 the Rio Negro (pop. 2000), is an Argentine 

 colony, and can scarcely be included in Pata- 

 gonia proper. 



Tierra del Fuego is a large archipelago of rocky 

 islands, separated from Patagonia by the Strait of 

 Magellan. The mountains rise to the height of 

 from 6000 to 8000 feet. The climate is cold and 

 gloomy, with incessant rain or snow and boister- 

 ous winds. The natives in the north resemble 

 the Patagonians ; while those in the south-east 

 are described as ' low in stature, ill-looking, badly 

 proportioned, and with the worst description of 

 savage features.' They live chiefly on shell-fish, 

 the islands furnishing hardly any edible plants. 

 The population is guessed at about 2000. Horn 

 Island, a naked mass of rock, the southernmost of 

 the group, forms the extremity of South America. 



FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



This insular group, situated in the Southern 

 Ocean, about 300 miles north-east of Cape Horn, 

 consists of two large islands, East and West Falk- 

 land, 'and 200 of smaller dimensions. They were 

 discovered by Davis in 1 592 ; and settlements made 



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