18 



INTRODUCTION. 



come better known, they will not be found so bad 

 as they are present supposed to be. They have ad- 

 vantages of climate and soil, which place them far 

 above the immense steppes in the north of Asia. But 

 that part of South America, which by some has been 

 called Amazonia, from the wonderful river by which 

 it is watered, with its numerous branches, indicating 

 the fertility of the soil they traverse, has nothing 

 equalling it in any other quarter of the world. The 

 imagination is lost in contemplating the future desti- 

 ny of this immense region, still inhabited by hundreds 

 of unknown tribes, and where the labour and enter- 

 prize of civilized man, will have full scope for many 

 centuries to come. 



The countries watered by the Amazon, the Parana, 

 the great rivers of Brazil, the Rio IS egro of Patago- 

 nia, and by the Orinoko, may be regarded as still in a 

 state of nature. In North America, the interior of 

 Guatimala is yet scarcely known. Honduras, and 

 Yukatan, may be considered as uninhabited forests. 

 The seats of civilization in South America, are but 

 specks on its vast surface; and even these, (with the 

 exception of a few districts,) scarcely contain a hun- 

 dredth part of the population they are able to support. 

 The whole south American population has been esti- 

 mated at nineteen millions; it probably does not ex- 

 ceed that of the island of Great Britain; while the 

 mildness of the American climate, and the fertility of 

 its soil, are such, as to enable ten times the number of 

 people to exist, on a given space of the same extent. 

 An estimate of the capacity of South America for the 

 subsistence of population, would be a subject of curious 

 speculation. It would not be hazardous to assert, 



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