425 



the third zone, the shore, and especially the 

 hot and temperate valleys in the mountains near 

 the sea. 



It may be objected, that in other parts of 

 Spanish and Portugueze America, wherever we 

 can trace the progressive developement of civi- 

 lization, we find the three ages of society* 

 united. But it ought to be remembered, and 

 this observation is extremely important to 

 those who desire to become thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with the political state of these colo- 

 nies, that the disposition of the three zones, 

 that of the forests, the pastures, and the culti- 

 vated land, is not every where the same, and 

 that it is no where so regular as in the country 

 of Venezuela. It is far from being always 

 from the coast to the interior, that population, 

 commercial industry, and intellectual improve- 

 ment diminishes. In Mexico, Peru, and Quito, 

 the table-lands and central mountains display 

 the most numerous assemblage of cultivators, 

 towns nearest to each other, and the more 

 ancient institutions. We even find, that, in the 

 kingdom of Buenos Ayres, the region of pastur- 

 age, known by the name of the Pampas, lies 

 between the isolated part of Buenos Ayres, and 

 the great mass of Indian cultivators, who inha- 

 bit the Cordilleras of Charcas, La Paz, and 



* Nouv. Esp., Tom. i, p. 144, 



