130 
Till! STATE or COLUMBIA. 
mountains, and tlic table-lands of the interior. _ These local 
circumstances are too often overlooked in considerations on 
the future fate of the Spanish colonies ; they communicate 
a peculiar character to some of those countries, the physical 
and moral analogies of which are less striking than is coui- 
monly supposed. Considered with reference to the distri- 
bution of the population, the two provinces of Xew Grenada 
and Venezuela, which have been united in one political 
body, exhibit the most complete contrast. Their capitals 
(an& the position of capitals always denotes where popu- 
lation is most concentrated) are at such unequal distances 
from the trading coasts of the Caribbean Sea, that the town 
of Caracas, to be placed on the same parallel with Santa-rd 
de Bogota, must bo transplanted southward to the junction 
of the Orinoco with the Guaviare, where the mission ot 
San Fernando de Atabapo is situated. 
The republic of Columbia is, with Mexico and Guate- 
mala, the only state of Spanish America which occupies at 
once the coasts opposite to Buropc, and to Asia. From 
Cape Paria to the western extremity of Veragua is a dis- 
tance of 400 sea leagues : and from Cape Burica to the 
mouth of Bio Tumbez the distance is 260. The shore 
liossessed l>y the republic of Columbia consequently equals 
in length the line of coasts extending from Cadiz to Daiit- 
zic, or from Ceuta to Jall'a. This immeuse resource for 
national industry is combined with a degree of cultivation 
of whicli the im’portancc has not hitherto been sufficiently 
acknowledged. The isthmus of Panama forms part of the 
territory of Columbia, and that neck of land, it traversed 
by good roads, and stocked with camels, may one day sen'C 
as a portage for the commerce of the world, even though 
tho plains of Cupica, the bay of Mandinga, or the Bio 
Chagre, should not afford tho possibility of a canal for the 
passage of vessels proceeding from Europe to China,* or 
from the TJnited States to the north-west coast of America. 
When considering the influence which the configuration 
of countries (that is, the elevation and the form of coasts), 
exercises in every district on the progress of civilization 
and the destiny of nations, I have pointed out the disad* 
* The old vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres extended also along a small 
portion of the South Sea coast. 
