INTRODUCTION. 



33 



will necessarily be, to convert as much as possible 

 of those countries now occupied by solitary shepherds^ 

 into the seats of agriculture. The first step towards 

 improving the condition of these men will be, to bring 

 them back to the sober and settled life, from which 

 they have strayed. I can scarcely imagine any other 

 mode of improvement; for they must remain in their 

 present state, as long as they continue the same ha- 

 bits and pursuits, without being much susceptible of 

 being rendered better or worse. 



Thecharacter of the other classes of Spanish Amer- 

 icans, is represented by most travellers, in a very fa- 

 vorable point of view; their vices, and defects, are al- 

 most entirely attributed to the effects of a bad govern- 

 ment, and bad education. The inequality in the dif- 

 ferent grades of society, is more nominal than real. 

 The lower classes of Spanish America, attached to 

 the soil by the pursuits of agriculture, are uniformly 

 represented as a most kind, hospitable people, and sus- 

 ceptible of every improvement in their condition; the 

 descendants of Europeans in this class, I will venture 

 to assert, are estimable throughout all America; they 

 are a class of people unknown in Europe. Humboldt 

 has remarked that in no country of the world, is pro- 

 perty so unequally distributed as in New Spain; and 

 yet there cannot be said to be any gorgeous display of 

 wealth. The owners of mines who possess the great- 

 est fortunes, are continually expending immense sums 

 in the pursuit of new discoveries; and even where 

 this is not the case, there seems to be something 

 in the very air of America, which forbids that extra- 

 vagant display and pomp, so natural in the other 

 hemisphere. After the owners of mines, are thosa 



VOL. I. 0 



