SOUTH AMERICA. 



437 



breadth of their channels, and the volume of their waters, resemble inland seas No part of the 

 world is more completely intersected by navigable streams, or more bountifully watered. 



5. Deserts. The deserts of South America are less extensive than those of the eastern con- 

 tment. The Desert of Jllacama, between the Andes and tiie ocean, extends, w ith some inter- 

 ruptions, from Tarapaca, in Peru, to the vicinity of Co))iapo, in Chili, embracing the narrow, 

 maritime strip of Bolivia. Jt is about 450 miles in length, and is sandy and sterile ; in this re- 

 gion it never rains. There is a similar desert strip in the north of Peru, called the Desert of 

 Sechura, about 75 miles in length. The Desert of Pernambuco^ in the northeastern part of 

 Brazil, is of greater extent, and consists of hillocks of moving sand, interspersed with some ver- 

 dant oases. 



6. Climate. The three zones of temperature which originate in America iVom the enormous 

 diflerence of level between the various regions, cannot by any means be compared with the 

 zones which result from a dillerence of latitude. The agreeable and salutary vicissitudes of the 

 seasons are wanting in those regions that are here distinguished by the denominations o( frigid, 

 temperate, hot, or torrid. In the fiigid zone, it is not the intensity, but the continuance of the 

 cold, the absence of all vivid heat, the constant humidity of a foggy atmosphere, that arrest the 

 growth of the great vegetable productions, and, in man, perpetuate those diseases that arise 

 from checked perspiration. The hot zone of these places does not expeiience excessive heat ; 

 but it is a continuance of the heat, together with exhalations from a-marshy soil, and the mias- 

 mata of an immense mass of vegetable putrefaction, added to the efiects of an extreme humidi- 

 ty, that produces fevers of a more or less destructive nature, and spreads through the whole 

 animal and vegetable world the agitation of an exuberant but deranged vital principle. The 

 temperate zone, by possessing only a moderate and constant warmth, hke that of a hothouse, 

 excludes from its limits both the animals and vegetables that delight in the extremes of heat and 

 cold, and produces its own peculiar plants, which can neither grow above its limits, nor descend 

 below them. Its temperature, which does not brace the constitution of its constant inhabitants, 

 acts like spring on the diseases of the hot region, and like summer on those of the frozen re- 

 gions. Accordingly, a mere journey from the summit of the Andes to the level of the sea, or 

 the reverse, proves an important medical agent, which is sufficient to produce the most aston- 

 ishing changes in the human body. But living constantly in either one or the other of these zones, 

 must enervate both the mind and the body, by its monotonous tranquillity. The summer, the 

 spring, and die winter, are here seated on three distinct thrones, which they never quit, and are 

 constantly surrounded by the attributes of their power. 



7. Minerals. The mineral kingdom is rich in precious productions. In Brazil, diamonds 

 are found of the largest size and greatest abundance, but they are inferior in quality to those of 

 the East Indies. Gold is found in mines, and in the sands of many rivers ; the silver mines of 

 Bolivia are among the most productive in the world, and platina has been found in various 

 places. Tin, quicksilver, copper, and other useful metals are abundant, and salt is found in 

 great plenty. 



8. Vegetable Productions. The vegetable kingdom in South America offers the richest 

 abundance and variety. The most remarkable trees are the palm, cocoa, banana, and cinchona. 

 On the shores of the ocean the mangrove abounds. Upwards of 80 species of palms, equally 

 distinguished for their beauty and size, and for their various uses, furnishing wine, oil, wax, 

 flour, sugar, and salt, are found here. In the Brazilian forests, there are no less than 259 spe- 

 cies of wood useful for carpentry or dyeing. Fourteen species of the cinchona, or Peruvian 

 bark, are collected in different districts. The guaiacum, or lignum vita;, exudes a valuable guns, 

 which, as well as its wood, possesses important medicinal powers. 1'he caoutchouc, or gum 

 elastic, also called India rubber, is the milky juice of seveial plants found in Guiana, Brazil, 

 and Buenos Ayres. It is obtained by making incisions through the bark, and is then spread, 

 while in its viscous state, over a mould, and dried in a thick smoke. It is now so extensively 

 used for making shoes and cloth, as to form an important article of commerce. Cacao, vanilla, 

 maize, aracatscha, and potato, are also natives of South America, as are also the cassava, from 

 which tapioca is prepared, and the capsicum, whose pods yield the Cayenne pepper. The 

 cow-tree s found in Venezuela, and derives its name from the singular fact of ils juice resem- 

 bling milk When an incision is made in the trunk, the juice issues out in great abundance, 

 and is drunk by the inhabitants. This vegetable milk does not coagulate nor curdle like animal 

 milk, but in other respects has an astonishing re^^eniblance to it. 



In the region of the palms, the natives cult 'ate the banana, jatropha, maize, and cocoa. 



