CONCEPTION. 



shade ; the whole prospect bringing to our recol 

 lection some of the most carefully managed park 

 scenery of England. The scale, it is true, is here 

 somewhat more extensive, although the resem- 

 blance is equally striking when the landscape is 

 examined in detail. 



These reflections led us to question our guide 

 as to the causes of the deserted appearance of so 

 magnificent a country. He was an intelligent man, 

 and gave a melancholy account of the destructive 

 wars, of which this country had been the theatre 

 for some years past : first, when the Chilians were 

 struggling against the Spaniards for their liberty, 

 and lately between the Chilians and the Arauca- 

 nian Indians, under the outlaw Benavides. Some- 

 times one party were masters of the country, some- 

 times the other ; but to the poor inhabitants it 

 mattered little which ; since both armies drove 

 away the cattle and the sheep, and not unfre- 

 quently the inhabitants themselves, burning their 

 dwellings, destroying their inclosures, and laying 

 the whole country waste* 



In the course of our ride we passed over many 

 leagues of covmtry, once evidently covered with 



VOL. I. y 



