206 
AGRICULTURE AJfD CITILIZATIOK. 
abundant Rourishment within a narrow space, covered with 
plantains, cassava, yams, and maize. The isolated situation 
oi the huts dispersed through the forest indicates to the 
traveller the fecundity of nature, where a small spot of cul- 
vaced land suffices for the wants of several families 
These considerations on the agriculture of the torrid zone 
involuntarily remind us of the intimate connexion existing 
between the extent of land cleared, and the progress of 
society, The richness of the soil, and the vigour of organic 
Inc, by multiplying the means of subsistence, retard the pro- 
cess of nations in the paths of civilization. Under so mild 
ri ™° rm a clunate > tlie only urgent want of man is that of 
lood. Hus want only, excites him to labour ; and we may easily 
conceive why, in the midst of abundance, beneath the shade 
ot the plantain and bread-fruit tree, the intellectual faculties 
unfold themselves less rapidly than under a rigourous skv 
m the region of corn, where our race is engaged in a perpe- 
tual struggle with the elements. In Europe we estimate 
the number ot the inhabitants of a country by the extent 
of cultivation : within the tropics, on the contrary in the 
warmest and most humid parts of South America, very 
populous provinces appear almost deserted ; because man to 
hud nourishment, cultivates but a small number of acres, 
'these circumstances modify the physical appearance of the 
country and the character of its inhabitants, giving to both 
a peculiar physiognomy; the wild and uncultivated stamp 
which belongs to nature, ere its primitive type has been 
altered by art. Without neighbours, almost imeounected 
with the rest of mankind, each family of settlers forms a 
separate tribe. This insulated state arrests or retards 
the progress of civilization, which advances only in pro- 
portion as society becomes numerous, and its connexions 
more intimate and multiplied. But, on the other hand, it is 
solitude that developed? and strengthens in man the senti- 
ment ot liberty and independence; and gives birth to that 
noble pride of character which lias at all times distinguished 
the Castilian race. 
Prom these causes, the land in the most populous regions 
of equinoctial America still retains a wild aspect, which is 
destroyed m temperate climates by tlie cultivation of corn. 
\> ithm the tropics tlie agricultural nations occupy loss 
