117 



without our having to complain of the voracity 

 of the termites. The moschettoes are no longer 

 feared at two hundred toises of height ; and the 

 termites, still very frequent at three hundred 

 toises of elevation*, become very rare at Mexico, 

 Santa Fe de Bogota, and Quito. In these 

 great capitals, situate on the back of the Cor- 

 dilleras, we find libraries and archives, that 

 the enlightened zeal of the inhabitants aug- 

 ments from day to day. These circumstances, 

 which I here only indicate, are combined with 

 others, that insure a moral preponderance to 

 the Alpine region over the lower regions of the 

 torrid zone. If we admit, agreeably to the 

 ancient traditions collected in both the old and 

 new worlds, that at the time of the catas- 

 trophe, which preceded the renewal of our spe- 

 cies, man descended from the mountains into 

 the plains, we may admit with still greater 

 confidence, that these mountains, the cradle 

 of so many various nations, will for ever re- 

 main the centre of human civilization in the 

 torrid zone. From their fertile and temperate 

 table-lands, from these islets scattered in the 

 aerial ocean, knowledge, and the blessings of 

 social institutions w T ill be spread over the 



* There are some at Popayan, (height 910 t. 5 mean tem- 

 perature 18*7° cent,) but they are species that gnaw wood 

 only. 



