GEOLOGIC AKAL0GIE8. 
69 
tile globe, distances disappear ; and places tbe most 
remote insensibly draw near eacb other. The basin of the 
tapper Orinoco, the Eio Negro, and the Amazon, is bounded^ 
“y the mountains of Parime on the north, and by those ot 
Minas Geraes, and Matogrosso on the south. The opposite 
® opes of the same valley often display an analogy in their 
geological relations. 
f have described in this and the preceding volume the 
vast provinces of Venezuela and Spanish Guiana. While 
examining their natural limits, their climate, and their pro- 
nctions, I have discussed the influence produced by the 
configuration of the soil on agriculture, commerce, and the 
^oore or less rapid progress of society. I have successively 
passed over the three regions that succeed each other from 
^orth to south; from the Mediterranean of the West Indies 
^ the forests of the Upper Orinoco and of the Amazon. 
:^he fertile land of the shore, the centre of agricultural riches, 
« succeeded by the Llanos, inhabited, by pastoral tribes, 
these Llanos are in their turn bordered by the region ot 
Wests, the inhabitants of which enjoy, I will not say 
herty, which is always the result of civilization, but a sort 
w savage independence. On the limit of these two latter 
*pnes the struggle now exists which will decide the eman- 
cipation Tind future prosperity of America. The changes 
^ich are preparing cannot efface the individual character 
® each region; but the manners and condition of the inha- 
itants will assume a more uniform colour. This considera- 
perhaps adds interest to a tour made in the beginning 
the nineteenth century. We like to see, traced in the 
same picture, the civilized nations of the sea-shore, and the 
i^ble remains of the natives of the Orinoco, who know no 
other worship than that of the: powers of nature ; and who, 
^ e the ancient Germans, deify the mysterious object 'wbicli 
excites their simple admiration.* 
Deorum noniinibus aupellant fiecretum illutl, quod sola reverentia 
Gennauia. iX. 
