46 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



The vast trackless territory, where news of the last importance took months to 

 spread, broke of itself into several sections. The union established at the outset 

 had been nothing more than a league against the common enemy, and when the 

 Spaniard disappeared, how many national quarrels still remained to be settled ! 

 — hereditary racial feuds between Antis and Aymaras, Araucanians and Quichuas, 

 Charruas and Guarari, with which were perhaps secretly associated the rivalries 

 of presidents, the thirst of territorial conquest. The old Indian names of cities 

 have been gradually substituted for the Spanish designations, and statues of van- 

 quished heroes of the land have been set up in the public places, sure indica- 

 tions of jealousies still smouldering between the foreign and aboriginal elements. 



After the political emancipation, the ancient traditions of a government 

 marked by a strongly centralised administration could not be at once reconciled 

 with the process of dismemberment taking place spontaneously. All the old 

 capitals — Bogota, Lima, Buenos Ayres — still wanted to retain their jurisdiction 

 over remote provinces, and in the ensuing struggles the alternating fortunes of 

 the battlefield gave the ascendency now to one, now to another of the rival 

 factions. The long and ruthless War of Independence, which covered the richest 

 lands of South America with ruins, had also accustomed the eye to scenes of blood- 

 shed and hardened the heart to the most savage atrocities. 



The military enthusiasm stimulated by victory had also surrounded all the 

 successful leaders with devoted adherents. Every ambitious captain was thus 

 enabled to raise bands of armed followers to plunder a province, or, if the chances 

 were favourable, to conquer a presidency. The love of strife entered into the 

 marrow of the bone, and whole communities were found living in a chronic state 

 of warfare. Social disorganisation was even promoted by the very abundance of 

 material resources. Nothing was easier than to support an army of partisans on 

 a conquered territory without any pay beyond the hope of pillage. Yet, although 

 the South Americans have, so to say, passed their lives under fire, they have none 

 the less made great strides in advance. The land has been gradually re-settled, 

 the soil brought under cultivation, the local resources developed, while the sub- 

 stratum of the population has everywhere tended instinctively and incessantly 

 towards national unity. 



Communications. 

 Nevertheless the South American continent can scarcely be said to have yet 

 acquired that elementary unity by which it might hope to become a common 

 fatherland for its diverse inhabitants. The means of transport between north 

 and south, between east and west, are still so difficult that they are little used, 

 except by daring travellers. The seaboard continues to be by far the most 

 important region in respect of population, agriculture, and trade. Here are 

 grouped nearly all the large cities, here is centred all commercial life. 

 Meanwhile the inland regions remain comparatively stagnant, the growth of 

 population being necessarily extremely slow in the sterile southern district of 

 Patagonia, and in the tropical Amazons basin too exuberant to attract settlers. 



