96 



NATIVE RACES. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Indians of New- Andalusia. 



Physical Constitution and Manners of the Chaymas— Their Lan- 

 guages—American Races. 



It is the custom of Humboldt, in his " Journey to 

 the Equinoctial Region," 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 at- 

 tention. For example, on concluding the narrative 

 of his visit to the Chayma missions, he gives a gen- 

 eral account of the aborigines of New- Andalusia, 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 

 of the Lena. The barbarism which prevails in these 

 various regions is perhaps less owing to an original 

 absence of civilization 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 na- 

 tives were collected into large bodies only on the 

 ridge of the Cordilleras and the coast opposite to 

 Asia, while the vast savannas, and the great plains 

 covered by forests and intersected by rivers, pre- 

 sented wandering tribes, separated by differences of 

 language and manners. 



In New- Andalusia, Cumana, and New-Barcelona, 



