NATIVE RACES. 11] 
CHAPTER IX. 
Indians of New Andalusia. 
Physical Constitution and Manners of the Chaymas—Their Lan- 
guages—American Races. 
Ir is the custom of Humboldt, in his “ Journey to 
the Equinoctial Regions,” to stand still after an ex- 
cursion, reflect, and present to his readers the result 
of his inquiries on any subject that has fixed his 
attention. For example, on concluding the narra- 
tive of his visit to the Chayma missions, he gives a 
general account of the aborigines of New Andalu- 
sia, of which an abridgment is here offered. 
The north-eastern part of Equinoctial America, 
Terra Firma, and the shores of the Orinoco, resem- 
ble, in the multiplicity of the tribes by which they 
are inhabited, the defiles of Caucasus, the mountains 
of Hindookho, and the northern extremity of Asia, 
beyond the Tungooses and the Tartars of the mouth 
ofthe Lena. The barbarism which prevails in these 
various regions is perhaps less owing to an original 
absence of civilisation than to the effects of a long 
debasement ; and if every thing connected with the 
first population of a continent were known, we 
should probably find that savages are merely tribes 
banished from society and driven into the forests. 
At the commencement of the conquest of America, 
the natives were collected into large bodies only on 
