14 



ble lands touch each other, wherever the inha- 

 bitants live upon corn. It is not the same 

 under the torrid zone, where man has been able 

 to appropriate to himself plants, that yield more 

 abundant and earlier harvests. In these happy 

 climates, the fertility of the soil is proportioned 

 to the heat and humidity of the atmosphere. 

 An immense population finds abundant nou- 

 rishment on a narrow space, covered with plan- 

 tains, cassava, yams, and maize. The isolated 

 situation of the huts dispersed through the fo- 

 rest indicates to the traveller the fecundity of 

 nature, where a small spot of cultivated land 

 suffices for the wants of several families. 



These considerations on the agriculture of 

 the torrid zone involuntarily remind us of the 

 intimate connexion, that exists between the 

 extent of land cleared, and the progress of socie- 

 ty. That richness of the soil, that vigour of or- 

 ganic life, which multiply the means of subsist- 

 ence, retard the progress of nations towards 

 civilization. Under so mild and uniform a climate, 

 the only urgent want of man is that of food. 

 It is the feeling of this want only, which excites 

 him to labour \ and we may easily conceive, 

 why in the midst of abundance, beneath the 

 shade of the plantain and breadfruit tree, the 

 intellectual faculties unfold themselves less ra- 

 pidly than under a rigorous sky, in the region 

 of corn, where our race is in a perpetual struggle 



