182 



towards the interior ; such is its progress in 

 Brazil and in Venezuela. It is only where the 

 coast is unhealthy, as in Mexico and New Gre- 

 nada, or sandy and exempt from rain as in Peru, 

 that the population is concentrated on the 

 mountains, and the table-lands of the interior. 

 These local circumstances are too often over- 

 looked in discussing the future fate of the 

 Spanish colonies ; they communicate a peculiar 

 character to some of those countries of which 

 the physical and moral analogies are less strik- 

 ing than is commonly believed. Considered 

 with reference to the distribution of the popu- 

 lation, the two provinces of New Grenada and 

 Venezuela, which have been united in one poli- 

 tical body, present the most complete contrast. 

 Their capitals (and the position of capitals al- 

 ways denotes in what district the population is 

 most concentrated) are situated at such unequal 

 distances from the trading coasts of the Carib- 

 bean sea, that the town of Caraccas, to be placed 

 on the same parallel with Santa-Fe de Bogota, 

 must be transplanted towards the south, to the 

 junction of the Oroonoko with the Guaviare, 

 where the mission of San Fernando de Atabapo 

 is situated. 



The republic of Columbia, is, with Mexico 

 and Gautimala, the only state of Spanish Ame- 

 rica which occupies the coast opposite to Eu- 

 rope, as well as that which is opposite to Asia* 



