vi 



PREFACE. 



spect to the geography, statistics, and history of 

 New Spain, Venezuela, Peru, Chili, and La Pla- 

 ta. Without naming any others, it would re- 

 quire at least six months, to become master of 

 all the information laboriously collected by these 

 authors. 



It is not then altogether the deficiency in the 

 stock of information possessed by the public, 

 which furnishes a just cause of complaint; the 

 fault must, in some measure, be attributed to 

 those who complain, for not avaiUng themselves 

 of what is within their reach. The study of 

 South American affairs, has not yet become 

 fiishionable; persons who possess the most mi- 

 nute acquaintance with the different countries 

 of Europe, have scarcely given themselves the 

 trouble to become famihar with the mere geo- 

 graphical outUnes of our great southern conti- 

 nent. To what cause are we to attribute this, 

 want of curiosity, with respect to the most im- 

 portant portion of the globe? The works on 

 South America, it is true, are many of them 

 voluminous, but there is no want of abridge- 

 ments and compilations. Thompson's Alcedo, 

 Walton on the Colonies, Wilcox's Buenos Ayres, 

 and Bonnycastle's South America, can, without 

 difficulty, be procured by those who are desi- 

 rous of obtaining a general acquaintance with 

 the subject. I was more surprised at the num- 

 her of excellent works on South America, than 



