NEW GRENADA. 



449 



cal characteristics, the Indians of South America are composed of a great number of tribes, 

 speaking different languages, and different dialects of the same language. We shall mention 

 some of the most remarkable tribes and families. 



The Pecherais inhabit the Terra del Fuego, or Magellanic Archipelago ; they subsist chief 

 ly on shell fish, and seem to be sunk to the lowest degree of barbarism. The Tehuelhets, 

 commonly called Patagonians, lead a wandering hfe in the vast regions of Patagonia, and are 

 remarkable for their gigantic size. They have herds of guanacos, and have learned to man- 

 age the horse. The Moluches, or Araucanians, are a warlike and powerful nation, distinguish- 

 ed for their progress in civilization. They have a regularly constituted government, practise 

 agriculture, and have some acquaintance with astronomy, medicine, and other arts and s'"ien- 

 ces. They have become acquainted with the use of firearms, and are in all respects the most 

 civilized of the native tribes, who have preserved their independence. Their territory hes be- 

 tween the Biobio and the Valdivia, comprising the southern part of Chili and the northern part 

 of Patagonia. 



The Puelches rove through the vast plains or pampas on the southern border of Buenos 

 Ayres, and are often at war with the neighboring whites. They are fierce and warlike, and are 

 mounted on horses. The Abiponians live further north, and subsist chiefly by hunting and 

 fishing. They are remarkable for their great size, and warlike disposition, but their number 

 has been much diminished by their continual wars with the Spaniards and the neighboring tribes. 



The Quichuas or Peruvians form the mass of the population in Bolivia, Peru, and part of 

 the republic of the Equator. Their ancestors were the most civilized nation of South Amer- 

 ica, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. According to their traditions, art, law, and 

 religion had been introduced among them by Manco Capac, the child of the sun, whose de- 

 scendants still reigned over the country, under the title of Incas. There are still many re- 

 markable monuments remaining of this interesting people, such as roads, canals, temples, pala- 

 ces, fortresses, &c. They were acquainted with the arts of mining, of working in gold and 

 silver, of polishing precious stones, manufacturing cloth, &c. Although ignorant of alphabetic 

 writing, they preserved the memory of events, laws, treaties, &c., by means of symbolical 

 paintings, and of quipos, or knotted cords of various colors, which expressed different ideas. 



The Caribs inhabit the plains of the Orinoco, and were once found on the Antilles. The 

 islanders, now extinct, are represented to have been cannibals, and the tribes of the continent 

 have been distinguished for their fierceness and warlike propensities. They were formerly ac- 

 tively engaged in trade, and made use of the quipos above described. The Ottomacs, another 

 tribe living upon the Orinoco, present the singular spectacle of mud-eaters, the mud of that 

 river forming, during the inundations, their principal food. 



11. Political Divisions. South America comprises the following states and colonies. Here, 

 even more than in North America, vast tracts are nominally included within the territories of 

 the different powers, which exercise no actual jurisdiction over them. 



New Grenada 



Venezuela 



Ecuador 



Peru - 



Bolivia 



Brazil 



Argentine Republic 



Uruguay 



Paraguay 



British Guiana ^ 

 French Guiana > - 

 Dutch Guiana S 



Area. 



380,000 

 450,000 

 325,000 

 500,000 

 410,000 

 3,000,000 

 900,000 

 80,000 

 100,000 

 172,000 



135,000 



Population. 



1,700,000 

 900,000 

 650,000 

 1,800,000 

 1,300,000 

 5,000,000 

 800,000 

 70,000 

 250,000 

 1,400,000 



240,000 



Government. 



Republic 



do. 



do 



do 



do. 

 Empire 

 Republic 



do. 



Dictatorship 

 Republic 



Colonial 



CHAPTER LVIII. NEW GRENADA. 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



1. Situation and Extent. The republic of New Grenada is bounded on the N. by the 

 Caribbean Sea ; on the W. by the Pacific Ocean ; on the E. by the republic of Venezuela, 

 and on the S. bv the republic of the Equator. On the northwest it borders on the Central 



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