12G 



THUEE DISTINCT ZONES. 



CHAP. XII coast. Missionaries and a few soldiers occupy advanced 

 Missinnavy posts on the southern frontiers. In this section are felt 

 buiiuns. the preponderance of force and the abuse of power. The 

 native tribes are engaged in perpetual hostilities ; the 

 monks endeavour to augment the little villages of their 

 missions by availing themselves of the dissensions of the 

 Indians ; and the soldiers live in a state of war with 

 the clergy. In the second division, that of the plains 

 and prairies, where food is extremely abundant, little 

 advance has been made in civilisation, and the inhabi- 

 tants live in huts partly covered with skins. It is in 

 the third district alone, where agriculture and commerce 

 are pursued, that society has made any progress. 

 Constitution In following our travellers through tliese interesting 

 01 tiie states countries, it is necessary tliat we lose sight in some 

 measure of the present constitution of the South Ame- 

 rican states, and view them simply as Spanish provinces. 

 When we seek, says Humboldt, to form a precise idea 

 of those vast regions, which for ages have been governed 

 by viceroys and captains-general, we must fix our atten- 

 tion on several points. We must distinguish the parts 

 of Spanish America that are opposite to Asia, and those 

 that are washed by the Atlantic, — we must observe 

 where the greatest part of the population is placed, 

 whether near the coast or in the interior, or on the 

 table-lands of the Cordilleras, — we must determine the 

 numerical proportions between the natives and other 

 inhabitants, and examine to what race, in each part of 

 the colonies, the greater number of whites belong. The 

 inhabitants of the different districts of the mother- 

 country preserve in some measure their moral pecu- 

 liarities in the New World, altliough they have undergone 

 various modifications depending upon the physical con- 

 stitution of their new abode. 

 Venezuela. ^^^ Venezuela, whatever is connected with an advanced 



state of civilisation is found along the coiist, which has 

 an extent of more than seven hundred miles. It is 

 washed by tiie Caribbean Sea, a kind of Mediterranean, 

 on tile shores of which almost all the European nations 



