426 



Potosi. This circumstance gives birth to a di- 

 versity of interests, in the same country, be- 

 tween the people of the interior, and those who 

 inhabit the coasts. 



Where we seek to form a precise idea of 

 those vast provinces, which have been governed 

 for ages, almost like separate states, by viceroys 

 and captains-general, we must fix our atten- 

 tion at once on several points. We must dis- 

 tinguish the parts of Spanish America that are 

 opposite to Asia, from those that are bathed by 

 the Atlantic Ocean ; we must discuss, as we 

 have already done, where the greatest portion 

 of the population is placed ; whether near the 

 coast, or concentrated in the interior, on the 

 cold and temperate table-lands of the Cordil- 

 leras. We must verify the numerical propor- 

 tions between the natives and other casts ; 

 search into the origin of the European families ; 

 and examine to what race, in each part of the 

 colonies, the greater number of whites belong. 

 The Andalusian-Canarians of Venezuela, the 

 mountaineers* and the Biscayans of Mexico, 

 the Catalonians of Buenos Ayres, differ essen- 

 tially in their aptitude for agriculture, the me- 

 chanic arts, commerce, and the objects con- 

 nected with the unfolding of the intellect. Each 



* Montaneses. The inhabitants of the mountains of San- 

 tanderare called by this name in Spain. 



