Retrospect of French Literature—Voyages and Travels. 671 
dent and profound writer, more enthu- 
siastic than impartial, more veliement 
than exact, presents his readers with an 
account of the present state of the In- 
dians, which is not in the least applicable 
to any of the Spanish Colonies, and still 
less to the Caraccas. Robertson, more 
of an historian, although aiso a philoso- 
pher, has approximated nearer to the 
truth, without having entirely developed 
it: for the Spanish laws are still more 
faveurable to this race, than he has al- 
lowed. : 
In respect to the general system by 
which the ‘Council of the Indies” re- 
gulates the afiairs of the New World, 
the author is lavish in his praises. ‘This 
“respectable ©tribunal, to whicb the 
throne is indebted for neariy all its 
lustre,” dates its origin from the year 
1511. It is chiefly composed of persons 
who have occupied the principal employ- 
ments in America. ~ 
The merits of the first missionaries are 
deseribed and praised, and we are told 
that they braved danger, and submitted 
to a thousand acts of injustice and 
cruelty, with thé most heroic constancy. 
The Jesuits also, to whom the education 
of youth was chiefly confided there as in 
Europe, are commended with an uncom- 
mou degree of ardour ; and we are infor- 
med, ‘* that the expulsion of these learned 
men bereaved the youth of Maracaybo, 
of all the means of instruction.” 
When the Spamards were unable to’ 
discover any mines of gold or of silver, 
on the Terra Firma, they bethought 
themselves that the pearl-fshery would 
fully reward all their labours; but as it 
roved expensive, it was soon aban-. 
b] 
doned. They then betook themselves 
to the cultivation of cacao, of coffee, of 
‘ cotton, and of the sugar-cane. 
This inquiry naturally leads to a detail 
of the commercial relations of the coun- 
try, to a history of the company of the 
Caraccas, to aa account of the admini- 
stration of the finances, and an enumera- 
tion of the towns, such as La Goayra, 
Porto-Cabello, Valentia, Maracaybo, 
Tulmero, Coro, Tocuyo, Guanara, Arau- 
ra, &c. 
The Oronooko separates the Terra 
Firma from Guyana. It is represented 
as one of the largest rivers of the world, 
and in many respects, particularly its 
annual increase, resembles the Nile, 
Father Gumilla was the first who pre- 
sented the world with a circumstantial 
account of this mighty stream; but he 
was deceived when he pronounced that 
Montuiy Mac. 159. 
it wag,coanected, and had a direct com 
munication. with the river of the Ama- 
zons. The testimony of the Baron de 
Humboldt has since proved fully de- 
cisive relative to that subject. He says, 
*‘ that he entered the Oronovko by the 
stream of the Apora, and arrived, after . 
incredible difficulties, at Fort St. Charles, 
which constitutes the limits of the Por- 
tuguese' settlements. From Fort St. 
Charles,” adds this celebrated traveller, 
in a letter to the Captain General of the 
Caraccas, dated August 23, 1800, “ we 
returned to Guyana, by the Cosiquiari, 
an arm of the Oronooko, which commu- 
nicates with the Rio-Negro. The force 
of the current, the immense quantity of 
flies and insects of all soms, together 
with the scantiness of the population, all 
contribute to render this navigation ag 
once dangerous and fatiguing.”’ 
The mouths of the Oronooko appear 
to have a great affinity to those of the 
Nile, in respect to the earth thrown up, 
and formed into a delta, by the force of 
the stream, &c. Here a number of 
islands are formed, which occupy an ex- 
tent of sixty miles of territory; they are 
at least fifty in number. The extreme 
breadth of the Oronooko is estimated 
at three thousand and fifty toises; while 
its depth .at low water, opposite to St. 
Thomas’s, is considerable. That town, 
or rather city, is considered as the capital 
of Spanish Guyana. _ 
The Author, after narrating a variety 
of new and important particulars, ter- 
minates his work with some remarks re- 
lative to the lake Parima, so famous 
under the name of Eldorado, the search 
for which formerly occasioned the deat 
of numerous. adventurers, who were led 
thither by cupidity alone. M.de Pons 
conjectures, that the rays of the sun, by 
being reflected from the tale with which 
the borders of the water are covered, and 
exhibiting na fine day all the brilliagcy 
of the precious metals, has furnished the 
basis of most of the fine stories which 
have been related on this subject. 
In 1797, a ‘“‘conspiracy” was formed, 
or in other words a revolution was in- 
tended by the inhabitants, for the ex- 
press purpose of enabling them to free 
themselves from the yoke of the court of 
Madnd. Asitis not at present the in- 
terest of France, that the territories of 
her ally should be dismembered, M. de 
Pons, in a very pathetic exhortation to 
the colonists, addresses himself parti¢u- 
larly to the Europeans, and the descen- 
Gants of Europeans in the New World, | 
4Q | gid 
