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it are covered with convents, churches and other houses. The streets are strait, and the town supplied with water by an aqueduct. The inhabitants are gay, indolent, given to pleasure, and to religious ceremonies. The Portuguese men generally wear clokes and swords; and the females, who have dark eyes and animated countenances, adorn their heads with tresses, tied with ribands and flowers. The whites in Brasil are about 200,000, and the blacks three times as numerous.

959. French and Dutch Possessions. The French possess in South America, a territory of about 350 miles by 240 in extent, which, from the chief town on the small isle, Cayano, is called Cayenne. This town contains about 1200 inhabitants, but most of the country remains in a state of nature. The country produces and gives name to that species of pungent pepper, cayenne, which is common at our tables. North west of Cayenne is Guiana, which belongs to the Dutch. Its extent is about 310 miles by 160; the chief towns are Paramari bo, on the west bank of the river Surinam, containing about 400 houses-New-Middlebury, Demarara and Berbice. The white inhabitants are not more than 2000, and the principal exports are cotton, coffee, sugar, rum and melasses.

960. Amazonia and Patagonia. Between Terra Firma on the north, and Paraguay on the south, and between Peru and Brasil, is a large tract of 1400 miles by 900 in extent, called Amazonia, from a name improperly imposed upon the Maranon, because some warlike females, like Amazons, were found along that river. This territory remains in possession of the aboriginals. The south point of South America also remains in possession of the natives, under the general name of Patagonia. This territory extends about 1100 miles from the southern extremity. Beyond the point of the continent are several islands, called Terra del Fuego, or land of fire, separated from the continent by a channel called the Strait of Magellan, as that navigator first discovered and passed through it. The southern point of this land, called Cape Horn, is near the 56th degree of south latitude.

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961. Aboriginals. The conquered and unconquered countries of South America, contain numerous tribes of the aboriginal inhabitants, who, in color, persons and features, have a near resemblance, but whose languages, manners and modes of life are diversified. The Patagons in the south have been represented by navigators as a race of giants, but this is not true. They are strong, muscular men, but no taller than the English. In the warmer regions of the continent, the natives are less muscular, but well made persons, and they resemble the Indians of North America, in all the essential characters of savages.

962. Animals. The most useful domestic animals, horses and cattle, have multiplied in South America beyond all computation. Mules, being very useful for transportation over the cliffs and precipices of the mountains, are raised in great numbers, as are sheep and goats. The indigene animals worth notice are the llama, lama or runa, a species of small camel, used to bear loads under a hundred weight; the guanaca, larger than the lama, used also for burden; the jaguar and cogar, the tiger and lion of America; the condor, the largest bird on earth; and serpents of 30 feet in length, which will swallow a calf or a deer. The earth is peopled with quadrupeds, serpents and insects; the air and trees with birds and monkeys, and the seas and rivers with fish, many of which are peculiar to this continent, and which it would require volumes to describe.

963. Islands of South America. The principal islands near the coast of South America, are the Falkland Isles, in the Atlantic, in the 52d and 53d degrees of south latitude, inhabited by a few Spaniards-the island of Terra del Fuego, already mentioned; Juan Fernandez, in the 34th degree of south latitude, in the Pacific, 390 miles west of the continent, which affords good harbors, but is not settled by Europeans-Chiloe, an island 140 miles in length, near the western coast, which is peopled by the Spaniards-Georgia, a cluster of barren islands, east of Terra del Fuego-and many smaller isles, which are visited only by seamen for the sake of catching seals.

CONCLUSION.

964. General Views of the Structure of the Globe. In casting our eyes over a map of the earth, we are struck with the admirable variety of land and water, and the singular distribution of each over the surface of the globe. One of the most remarkable facts is, that the two great continents are extended in length from north to south, instead of a direction from east to west. By this happy arrangement of the great divisions of the earth, the land and the ocean run through different latitudes and cli mates, and render navigation practicable almost from pole to pole. This structure seems intended by the allwise author of the globe, to facilitate a commercial intercourse between the inhabitants of different latitudes; to enable the navigator to convey with ease and little expense, the productions of one climate to the inhabitants of another. Had the continents been extended from east to west, the commerce of the world must have been more restricted to the same climates, and to an interchange of similar productions. To crown this admirable arrangement, the two principal continents, while they run into cold, icy, innavigable regions in the north, terminate on the south in navigable regions, so that ships pass round them, and interchange the commodities of both, with reciprocal benefit to distant nations.

965. Seas and Rivers. To the advantageous direc tion of the continents, which seems evidently intended to favor an intercourse between all the inhabitants of the earth, we may add the position of the seas, rivers and lakes, which offer the means of navigation into the heart of the continents, by which the inhabitants of the sea coast and of the interior interchange commodities at a trifling expense. The spices of Asia, the ivory of Africa, and the gold and diamonds of South America, are easily conveyed to the heart of Russia or of Canada; while the furs, the iron, and the timber of the north, are borne on the waves to the center of Africa and China. By this facility of communication, men not only enjoy many conveniences which their own country does not af ford, but they have obtained a security against famin,

which formerly visited almost every country; nor must we overlook the benefits of civilization and christianity, which are propagated by navigation and the commercial intercourse of nations.

966. Structure of the Earth. In examining the land, we are equally struck with admiration at the variety of substances which compose it, and their distribution. On the surface, we observe a mold or soil exactly adapted to the production of vegetables. While it is so soft as to yield to the plow, the hoe and the spade, it is so compact as to hold a long time the water it absorbs for vegetable nutriment; and while it permits the roots of plants to penetrate its substance, it is firm enough to sustain them in an erect position. In the interior of the earth we find minerals in inexhaustible abundance-gold, silver, iron, lead, tin, coal, and numerous others, dispersed in subterranean treasuries, in all parts of the globe, for the use of man. Nor can we fail to notice the mountains or beds of salt which are deposited in the central parts of every continent, remote from the sea, as if nature had made special provision of that necessary, but heavy commodity, to accommodate man at a distance from the

ocean.

967. Application of these Remarks. Such views of the structure of the globe, cannot fail to impress the mind with a reverential sense of the wisdom, power and glory of the great Creator. At the same time, they convict the infidel of his errors, and the visionary philosopher of his folly, in attempting to account for creation without the mighty hand of a Deity. The globe could not be the result of a fortuitous collection of atoms, nor could it be formed and molded into its present shape, by an ac cidental collision of heavenly orbs. It must be the work of almighty power, directed by infinit wisdom; intended to sustain and multiply subjects of happiness, and display the glory of the divine character.

END.

NOTE.

IT is thought not expedient to swell the price of this book, by inserting maps of the countries described, for maps in such a work are soon torn and destroyed. The best mode of furnishing the student with maps, is in a collection bound together, called an Atlas. In this form, maps will last for many years, and even for life. The best collection, at a moderate price, is, perhaps, that originally published in Philadelphia, by John Conrad & Co. to accompany Pinkerton's Geography, now published by Thomas & Andrews, of Boston. Gentlemen of property may purchase an atlas for private use: and for the children of others, a single copy in a school, to be occasionally consulted by the classes, may be sufficient to answer all the general purposes of maps.

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