SOUTH AMERICAN. 



189 



The capital of Jamaica is Kingston: but the other towns of these 

 islands, are too small to find mention in this place. Slavery has 

 recently been abolished in the British West Indies ; but in Cuba, and 

 Porto Rico, it still continues to exist. Guadaloupe, and Martinico, 

 belong to the French ; St. Eustatia, Curagoa, and St. Martin's, to 

 the Dutch ; Santa Cruz, St. Thomas, and St. Jo/ins, to the Danes, 

 and St. Bartholomew, Mariegalante, and Deseada, to the Swedes. 



CHAPTER V. 



SOUTH AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY. 



SOUTH America, colonized by the Spaniards and Portuguese, was, 

 like the preceding grand division, made known to the civilized world 

 by the genius and labors of Columbus. He was its first European 

 discoverer, and first visited it, as before mentioned, in 1497. In the 

 year 1500, Alvarez Cabral, when on his way to the East Indies, 

 under the orders of the Portuguese government, discovered the coast 

 of Brazil. The river La Plata, is said to have been discovered in 

 1512 ; but the more southern part of South America, was first ex- 

 plored by Magellan, in 1520, under Spanish authority, and on his 

 voyage around the world, the first which was ever made. In 1524, 

 Peru became known to the Spaniards, which led to its conquest by 

 Pizarro, begun in the following year. Buenos Ayres, was visited 

 by l)e Soils, in 1517; and by Sebastian Cabot, in 1526. Chili, 

 was invaded by Mnagro, in the year 1535. We have only room to 

 add, that Orelland, or Ovellana, a Spaniard, is regarded as the dis- 

 coverer of the river Amazon, and the region of Amazonia, about the 

 year 1541. 



The following is offered as an approximate statement of the extent 

 and population of the countries of South America. 



Countries. Sq. Mies. Inhabitants. 



Chili 170,000.. 1,500,000 



La Plata 750,000. . 2,000,000 



Paraguay 100,000 . . 300,000 



Uruguay 110,000.. 1 50,000 



Patagonia 380,000 . . 40,000 



TOTAL 6,930,000 15,870,000 



We proceed to speak of these divisions, in the order above named. 



1. The Eastern Division of South America comprises Brazil 

 and Guiana, colonized by other nations than the Spaniards. The 

 climate of this region is hot, and in some parts unhealthy ; but it has 

 generally a fertile soil, and produces cotton, coffee, sugar, rice, 

 maize, Brazil wood, and various tropical trees and plants. Among 

 the animals of this region, are the jaguar, or American tiger, the 

 tapir, resembling the African hippopotamus; and the large aboma 

 snake, almost vieing with the East India anaconda. 



Krazil, is an extensive, though thinly peopled empire ; and nomi- 

 nally includes the central region of South America, called Amazonia, 



