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pastoral life, in the savannahs, or llanos ; and 

 the agricultural, in the high vallies, and at the 

 foot of the mountains on the coast. Mission- 

 ary monks and a few soldiers occupy here, as 

 in all America, advanced posts on the frontiers 

 of Brazil. In this first zone are felt the pre- 

 ponderance of force, and the abuse of power, 

 which is a necessary consequence. The natives 

 carry on a civil war, and sometimes devour 

 one another. The monks endeavour to augment 

 the little villages of their Missions, by availing 

 themselves of the dissensions of the natives. 

 The military live in a state of hostility with the 

 monks, whom they were intended to protect. 

 Every thing offers alike the melancholy picture 

 of misery and privations. We shall soon have 

 occasion to examine more closely that state of 

 man, which is vaunted as a state of nature 

 by those who inhabit towns. In the second 

 region, in the plains and the pasture grounds, 

 food is extremely abundant, but has little va- 

 riety. Although more advanced in civilization, 

 men without the circle of some scattered towns 

 do not remain less isolated from one another. 

 At the view of their dwellings, partly covered 

 with skins and leather, it would seem, that, far 

 from being fixed, they are scarcely encamped in 

 those vast meadows, which extend to the ho- 

 rizon. Agriculture, which alone lays the basis, 

 and draws closer the ties of society, occupies 



