INTRODUCTION. 



nience of this arrangementj was long felt before the 

 remedy could be applied. Some of the provinces lay 

 two thousand miles from Lima, the residence of the 

 viceroy; and being separated by trackless deserts, 

 the greatest inconvenience was experienced, from the 

 want of communication with the capital. It was not 

 until I7I8, that New Grenada was erected into a vice- 

 royalty, nor until 1731 that the provinces of Vene- 

 zuela, were placed under a separate government. 

 Chili was erected into a captain-generalship about the 

 same time. In the year 1778? La Plata was erected 

 into a viceroyalty, together with the upper provinces 

 of Peru, which have already been spoken of as the 

 theatre of war; and which, in point of wealth, and 

 numerical population, constitute by far the most im- 

 portant portion of the viceroyalty.* 



In the physical configuration of America, there are 

 many interesting peculiarities. The great traveller, 

 Humboldt, has exhibited the principal of these, in the 

 works already published by him; in those which he is 

 still preparing for the press, the magnificent outline 

 will be filled up. The most striking features of the 

 new world, constituting the principal difference be- 

 tween it and the other quarters of the globe, are its 

 mountains and rivers. The chain of the Andes, is 

 undoubtedly the longest in the world, traversing both 

 North and South America, and in some points, (unless 

 we except the mountains of Thibet,) the most elevated. 

 Beyond the isthmus these mountains separate, and 

 traverse the continent in three distinct chains or 

 ridges. The first is the Cordilleras, which runs along 



*See the report of Mr. Rod nej for a clear and succinct notice 

 of the establishment of the different colonial governments. 



