f?.209 



conquest, the natives were collected into large 

 societies only on the ridge of the Cordilleras, 

 and the coasts opposite to Asia. The plains, 

 covered with forests, and intersected by rivers ; 

 the immense savannahs, that extend toward the 

 east, and bound the horizon ; presented to the 

 eye of the spectator wandering hordes, separat- 

 ed by the difference of language and manners, 

 and scattered like the remains of a vast ship- 

 wreck. In the absence of all other documents, 

 we will try whether the analogy of languages, 

 and the study of the physical constitution of 

 man, will enable us to group the different tribes, 

 to follow the traces of their distant emigrations, 

 and to discover some of those family features, 

 by which the ancient unity of our species is ma- 

 nifested. 



In the country, the mountains of which we 

 have just traversed, and in the two provinces of 

 Cumana and New Barcelona, the natives, or 

 primitive inhabitants, still constitute half of the 

 scanty population, Their number may be rec- 

 koned at sixty thousand ; of which twenty-four 

 thousand inhabit New Andalusia. This num- 

 ber is very considerable, if it be compared to 

 that of the hunting nations of North America ; 

 but appears small, when we consider those 

 parts of New Spain, in which agriculture has 

 existed more than eight centuries : for instance, 

 the intendance of Oaxaca, which includes the 



VOL. III. p 



