GEOLOGIC ANALOGIES. C9 



of the globe, distances disappear; and places the most 

 ivmote insensibly draw near each other. The basin of the 

 Upper Orinoco, the Eio Negro, and the Amazon, is bounded 

 by the mountains of Parime on the north, and by those of 

 Minas Geraes, and Matogrosso on the south. The opposite 

 slopes of the same valley often display an analogy in their 

 geological relations. 



I have described in this and the preceding volume the 

 vast provinces of Venezuela and Spanish Guiana. While 

 examining their natural limits, their climate, and their pro- 

 ductions, I have discussed the influence produced by the 

 configuration of the soil on agriculture, commerce, and the 

 more or less rapid progress of society. I have successively 

 passed over the three regions that succeed each other from 

 north to south ; from the Mediterranean of the West Indies 

 to the forests of the Upper Orinoco and of the Amazon. 

 The fertile land of the shore, the centre of agricultural riches, 

 is succeeded by the Llanos, inhabited by pastoral tribes. 

 These Llanos are in their turn bordered by the region of 

 forests, the inhabitants of which enjoy, I will not say 

 liberty, which is always the result of civilization, but a sort 

 of savage independence. On the limit of these two latter 

 zones the struggle now exists which will decide the eman- 

 cipation and future prosperity of America. The changes 

 which are preparing cannot efface the individual character 

 of each region ; but the manners and condition of the inha- 

 bitants will assume a more uniform colour. This considera- 

 tion perhaps adds interest to a tour made in the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century. We like to see, traced in the 

 same picture, the civilized nations of the sea-shore, and the 

 feeble remains of the natives of the Orinoco, who know no 

 other worship than that of the powers of nature ; and who, 

 like the ancient Germans, deify the mysterious object which 

 excites their simple admiration.* 



" Deorum nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola reverentii 

 ridcut."Tacitu* t Germania, IX. 



