INTRODUCTION. 



south, the vallies are in general lower, and although 

 extremely fertile, are more hot. 



The land communication from one valley to ano- 

 ther, is exceedingly difficult; which is not the case 

 with the water communication, although circuitous. 

 The difficulties of passing the mountains which sepa- 

 rate these vallies, as related to us by travellers, seem 

 almost to border upon the marvellous. If Johnson 

 had been acquainted with this country, it would have 

 been unnecessary for him to have resorted to invention, 

 in his beautiful story of Rasselas. In tracing the 

 minute descriptions of Sobreviela, and the difficul- 

 ties of passing from one valley into another, I often 

 thought of the prison of the prince of Abyssinia. Al- 

 though the mountains of Brazil are not so elevated as 

 the Andes, they are much more so than the Allegha- 

 nies; and their ridges abound in mineral wealth. 



The coast of the Atlantic differs in several very im- 

 portant particulars, from that of the Pacific. Being in 

 general bold and rocky, and having the estuaries of 

 the great rivers, it affords a number of the finest har- 

 bors in the world. The coast of Brazil especially, 

 a length of three thousand miles, is highly favored in 

 this respect. La Plata forms an exception, and it is 

 probable, that there are no very good harbors south 

 of it. The whole extent of this coast, is highly fer- 

 tile, and capable of sustaining the most crowded popu- 

 lation. The coast of the Pacific is, with some inter- 

 ruptions, steril and dreary; and as it never rains over 

 a great extent of it, there are considerable tracts as 

 barren as the deserts of Arabia. These almost en- 

 tirely interrupt the land communication between Lima 

 and Chili, and even form considerable obstacles to the 

 VOL. I. 4 



