EUROPEAN NATIONS IN AMERICA. 255 



sides of the neighbouring cliffs were covered with 

 capillary crystals of sulphate of alumina, and real 

 beds two inches thick of native alum, extended in 

 the clay-slate as far as the eye could reach. The 

 formation appeared to be primitive, as it contained 

 cyanite, rutile, and garnets. 



Returning to Cumana, they made preparations for 

 their departure, and availing themselves of an Ameri- 

 can vessel, laden at New-Barcelona for Cuba, they 

 set out on the 16th November, and crossed for the 

 third time the Gulf of Cariaco. The night was cool 

 and delicious, and it was not without emotion that 

 they saw for the last time the disk of the moon illu- 

 minating the summits of the cocoa-trees along the 

 banks of the Manzanares. The breeze was strong, 

 and in less than six hours they anchored near the 

 Morro of New-Barcelona. 



The continental part of the New World is divided 

 between three nations of European origin, of which 

 one, the most powerful, is of Germanic race, and 

 the two others belong to Latin Europe. The latter 

 are more numerous than the former ; the inhabitants 

 of Spanish and Portuguese America constituting a 

 population double that of the regions possessed by 

 the English. The French, Dutch, and Danish pos- 

 sessions of the New Continent are of small extent, 

 and the Russian colonies are as yet of little impor- 

 tance. The free Africans of Hayti are the only 

 other people possessed of territory, excepting the 

 native Indians. The British and Portuguese colo- 

 nists have peopled only the coasts opposite to Eu- 

 rope ; but the Spaniards have passed over the Andes, 

 and made settlements in the most western provinces, 

 where alone they discovered traces of ancient civili- 

 zation. In the eastern districts the inhabitants who 

 fell into the hands of the two former nations were 

 wandering tribes of hunters, while in the remoter 

 parts the Spaniards found agricultural states and 

 flourishing empires ; and these circumstances have 



