THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



It was discovered and annexed to Portugal in 1500 by Alvarez 

 de Gabral, and, with the exception of sixty years, from 1580 to 

 1 640, when Portugal belonged to Spain, it remained a Portuguese 

 dependency until 1822, when its independence as a separate 

 empire was declared under Pedro, or Peter I., the son of John 

 VI. of Portugal. 



The country now called Guiana was settled by the French 

 and Dutch in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The part 

 which now belongs to Great Britain, and bears the name of 

 British Guiana, consists of the three settlements of Demerara, 

 Berbice, and Essequibo. It was taken from the Dutch in 1803, 

 and finally assigned to Great Britain at the peace of 1814. The 

 country is flat and swampy, and unhealthy for Europeans ; the 

 soil is fertile, and yields large crops of sugar, rice, coffee, and 

 cotton. Cayenne, from which the pepper so called takes its 

 name, situated on the island of Cayenne, is used by the French 

 imperial Government as a penal settlement for political 

 offenders. 



Venezuela, the Granadian Confederation, and Ecuador formed 

 the Federal Republic of Columbia, after their emancipation from 

 the Spanish yoke in 1821. Venezuela was the first to withdraw 

 from the union, resolving itself into an independent state, com- 

 posed of thirteen small provinces, or departments, in 1829. 

 Ecuador, which is divided into three departments, soon after 

 followed the example set by the people of Venezuela, and the 

 three states existed as separate republics until 1858, whena further 

 disintegration of New Granada took place, its nine departments, 

 one of which is the Isthmus of Panama, becoming separate 

 states, each independent of the rest for internal purposes, but 

 maintaining an alliance for the purpose of mutual defence, and 

 forming a federal union under the name of the United States of 

 Columbia. The highlands of the Granadian Confederation and 

 Ecuador are rich in minerals of all kinds and precious stones. 

 The lowlands of these states and Venezuela are well wooded and 

 well watered, yielding tropical products of all kinds, among 

 which the fruit of the cacao tree deserves especial mention, 

 while the llanos, or treeless plains on the banks of the Orinoco, 

 afford fine and luxuriant herbage for cattle. Venezuela owns 

 two of the West India Islands, namely, Margarita and Tortuga, 

 which lie close to her sea-board on the Caribbean Sea. 



Peru, the country of the Incas, noted for its inexhaustible 

 mines of gold, silver, and mercury, and for tha frequent occur- 

 rence of earthquakes, was a dependency of Spain from the time 

 of its conquest by Pizarro, in 1531, to the battle of Ayachuco, 

 in 1824, by which victory its independence was achieved. It is 

 now divided into thirteen departments. Wool of an excellent 

 quality is yielded by the llama, alpaca, and vicuna, three animals 

 which are natives of this part of South America. The llama is 

 used as a beast of burden for carrying small weights up and down 

 the rocky paths that traverse the slopes of the Andes. It is 

 something like a sheep, but has a long neck, and a head resem- 

 bling that of the deer, though it has no horns. Peru is remark- 

 able for containing the highest city in the world, namely, Pasco, 

 which stands at an elevation of 13,720 feet above the level of the 

 sea. The Chincha Islands, and the Lobos Islands, two groups 

 near the coast of Peru, yield abundance of the valuable manure 

 called guano. 



Bolivia, formerly called Upper Peru, received its present name 

 from General Simon Bolivar, to whose efforts the achievement 

 of South American independence was mainly due. It is divided 

 into nine departments. Like the other countries of South 

 America that have been noticed already, it produces minerals 

 and tropical fruits and vegetables in great quantities, though 

 but few of the mines at Potosi, and elsewhere, are now worked. 

 It possesses but a very small length of sea-board, not more than 

 300 miles according to the most favourable estimate, and to- 

 wards the north of this is the small seaport of Cobija. The 

 country between the coast and the Andes is little better than a 

 barren desert, and owing to the difficulty of transit across this 

 waste, and the inefficiency of the harbour, the chief part of the 

 cinchona bark, and other exports of Bolivia, are shipped for 

 Europe at Peruvian ports, after being carried thi/ough Peruvian 

 territory. 



Paraguay is the only state of South America that has no sea- 

 board, the great rivers Parana and Paraguay forming the 

 water-ways by which commercial transactions are carried on 

 with other countries. It was the first to throw off the Spanish 

 yoke, having revolted as early as 1811 ; but although it was at 



one time more thickly peopled than any other part of South 

 America, and is rich in cattle and timber with which to carry on 

 a brisk trade with Europe, the policy of its presidents was 

 until lately to exclude foreigners, and to refuse commercial in- 

 tercourse with other states. From 1865 to 1870 Paraguay was 

 at war with Brazil, Uruguay, and the Argentine Confederation ; 

 but the persistent efforts of the three allied states at last came 

 to a successful issue, peace was signed, and the republic of 

 Paraguay was formed, modelled on the constitution of the 

 Argentine Republic. Mafe, or Paraguay tea, the leaves of a kind 

 of holly, which are used throughout South America as we use 

 tea, is grown in great quantities on the slopes of the hills. An 

 infusion of this leaf, with the addition of a little sugar and a 

 few drops of lemon-juice, forms the ordinary beverage of nil 

 classes of Paraguayans. 



On the north side of the great estuary of the Rio de la Plata 

 is the little republic of Uruguay, or the Banda Oriental, some- 

 times called the republic of Montevideo, after the name of its 

 capital. Adjoining Brazil on one side, and an object of desire 

 to Buenos Ayres, whose presidents or dictators sought by its 

 acquisition to command on both sides the approaches to the 

 great rivers by which the very heart of the continent of South 

 America may be reached, this country was long an object of 

 contention between the two powers just named, until it solved 

 the difficulty in 1828 by declaring itself an independent republic. 

 It carries on a trade with Europe in dried beef, horns, hides, 

 and tallow, the produce of the great herds that find pasture in 

 the interior, and on the banks of the Rio de la Plata : and it was 

 for some years the home of the Italian patriot, Garibaldi, during 

 his enforced exile from his native land, and temporary sojourn 

 in South America. 



The Argentine Confederation, or La Plata, is a federal union, 

 formed of fourteen states, the most powerful of which, and the 

 only one which is contiguous to the ocean, is Buenos Ayres. 

 The interior of the country is for the most part a succession of 

 undulating plains, called pampas, intersected by salt lakes. The 

 chief wealth of the Confederation lies in its herds of cattle and 

 horses. The states once formed part of the great Spanish 

 viceroyalty of Peru, but they achieved their independence, and 

 combined to form a separate confederacy in 1816. Since that 

 time Buenos Ayres has more than once withdrawn from the 

 confederation, but it has again rejoined it, and at the present 

 time is the most powerful among the federal states of this 

 republic. 



Chili, which gained its independence in 1817, after an arduous 

 struggle of seven years, by the battle of Maypu, is a long, 

 narrow strip of territory, bearing due north and south, and 

 formed by the western slope of the Andes towards the Pacific 

 Ocean. The country is divided into thirteen provinces, and bids 

 fair to become the most prosperous of the South American 

 republics through the abundance of its mineral treasures, the 

 fertility of its soil, and, above all, the commercial enterprise of 

 its inhabitants, who, contrary to the general rule with South 

 Americans, are active in promoting the development of the 

 resources of their country. Its chief seaport is Valparaiso, its 

 principal island Juan Fernandez, famous for being the residence 

 of Alexander Selkirk, whose story, doubtless, gave Defoe the 

 idea of " Robinson Crusoe." 



Patagonia, and the chain of islands, terminating to the south 

 in Tierra del Fuego, and some smaller islets, that stretches 

 along its western and southern coasts, is claimed by Chili, whs 

 has asserted her right by taking possession of two pieces of 

 territory, one on the mainland, opposite the island of Chiloe, 

 and the other on the Strait of Magellan, and forming thereon 

 two settlements namely, Puerto Montt on the former, and 

 Punta Arenas on the latter. The claim of Chili is disputed, but 

 without much chance of success, by the Argentine Confederation. 

 Some years ago an attempt was made to settle a Welsh colony 

 in Patagonia, but the scheme failed, and the colonists were 

 invited by the Brazilian Government to seek a home in the 

 empire of Brazil. 



About 350 miles eastward from the east entrance to the 

 Strait of Magellan lies a group of small islands, about 200 in 

 number, belonging to Great Britain. This cluster, called the 

 Falkland Islands, is tenanted by a small number of British 

 colonists, who supply ships sailing round Cape Horn, and 

 whalers bound to the southern seas, with fresh water and 

 provisions. 



