SECT. III.] EFFECTS OF CLIMATE. 333 



of the beauties of nature, which distinguishes the European. 

 It is a rare exception that the inhabitants of Ualan (Carolina) 

 cultivate flower gardens/ and that some Polynesian tribes use 

 flowers as ornaments. 



It has often been observed that Southrons differ in many 

 characteristic features from the Northern inhabitants though 

 belonging to the same people, a difference not so much, per- 

 haps, the result of the climate itself as of the different mode 

 of life. Lyell, 2 speaking of the hospitality to strangers in the 

 slave states, observes, " There is a warm and noble candour in 

 the character of the Southerners, which mere wealth cannot im- 

 part, and there is in their bearing a dignity, without stiffness, 

 which is very pleasing/' The descent of these Southrons is 

 essentially the same as of the inhabitants of the Northern 

 states, but they are not, like the former, engaged in a constant 

 rivalry with each other : they live as planters, in the conscious- 

 ness of possessing unlimited power over their slaves upon their 

 own property. All this produces a certain feeling of security, 

 which induces them neither modestly to conceal their virtues 

 nor to be ashamed of their vices. In like manner we find in 

 Europe, among the Southern nations, a richer imagination, a 

 greater vividness, combined with less perseverance, whilst the 

 Northerners are more serious and reserved, less noisy in their 

 pleasures, and more phlegmatic. Here, also, we find that edu- 

 cation and social habits, which impose a greater degree of self- 

 restraint, are more potent than the climate. Still there must 

 be a definite influence of climate in this respect when we hear, 

 that in all parts of Spanish America there exists as great a 

 contrast between the inhabitants of the hot plains and those in 

 the Cordilleras, as between the Northern and Southern nations 

 of Europe; the former appear to the latter cold and lifeless, 

 whilst the Southrons are accused of levity and inconstancy. 3 



Wherever climate, the nature of the country, and social re- 

 lations are decidedly unfavourable, man's progress to civiliza- 

 tion is seriously obstructed. An unhealthy climate enfeebles 



1 Lesson, " Voyage med. autour du monde," p. 128, 1829. 



2 " Second Voyage." 



3 Humboldt, " Neu-Spanien," iv, p. 319. 



