HISTORICAL SKETCH. 221 



Some of these missions have been, by 

 degrees, absorbed into the settled terri- 

 tories of the Spaniards, and have thus be- 

 come Spanish towns or villages ; others 

 still, more or less, preserved their original 

 independence. Their internal economy has 

 been, of course, much deranged by the 

 effects of the v^ar ; and the motives which 

 originally led to their establishment hav- 

 ing now, in a considerable degree, ceased 

 to operate, they may possibly form part of 

 some new combination under the system 

 of government now established in Colom- 

 bia; as will also probably be ultimately 

 the case with regard to the Indians in the 

 other sections of Spanish America. 



A long period must, however, elapse 

 before the Indian population, in Spanish 

 America, can be entirely identified with 

 the civilization of the respective states 

 established there. It should not be for- 



