Under the equator, the average elevation is reckoned at 14,000 feet, while that of the loftiest chains of European mountains scarcely exceeds 8,000. The breadth of this stupendous range is various-60 miles at Quito, and in Mexico and some districts of Peru, nearly 200. Clifts or ravines of an astonishing depth intersect those portions of the Andes which rise in Peru and the extensive region of New-Grenada, but to the north of the isthmus of Panama, the altitude of this wonderful ridge gradually declines till it terminates in the vast and lofty plain of Mexico. The metallic riches of the Andes, more particularly the central portions, appear inexhaustible, and a more enlightened system than that in vogue under the Spanish government, promises an increased and increasing supply of the precious metals. The vast advantages which the possession of these treasures place in the hands of the inhabitants, are, however, counterbalanced in some measure, by circumstances peculiar to this division of the globe, and indicative of the exuberant energy with which the whole system of nature is replete in climates situated under the tropics. Earthquakes of the most tremendous description occur through the entire chain of the Andes, and the power of fire is here displayed in all its awful and destructive magnificence. The whole country from Cotopaxi to the southern ocean, may with perfect propriety be termed a region of volcanos-more than forty being in a state of perpetual ignition-throwing forth streams of lava-or involving the neighbouring districts in a tempest of fire, water, and scorified basalt. Cotopaxi itself, is situated to the south-east of Quito, at the distance of twelve leagues from the Peruvian capital. Of those volcanos whose eruptions are recent, Cotopaxi is the loftiest, and its ragings have a grandeur and solemn fierceness far surpassing those either of the old or new world. Its explosions are more frequent and dreadful, and the immense heaps of ashes, and masses of rock, which it has already ejected from its entrails, and spread over the vicinity, would form, according to a witness entitled to implicit credit,* a mountain of gigantic magnitude and stature. In 1738, the fires of Cotopaxi ascended nine hundred metres above the rim of the crater. In a subsequent eruption, the thunders of the volcano were audible at the distance of two hun * Humboldt's American Researches. Section the Tenth. dred leagues, on the banks of the Magdalena. In 1768, the vomited ashes were in such quantities, and so unremittingly ejected, that at Hambato and Tacanga, day broke only at three in the afternoon, and the inhabitants were obliged to use lanterns in walking the streets. The explosion of January, 1803, was distinguish- * ed from preceding eruptions, by a singular and alarming phenomenon, the sudden melting of the snows that covered the sides of the mountain. Twenty years had elapsed previously to this devastating éruption, and during that period, neither smoke nor vapour had been observed to issue from the crater. In a single night, the heat of the volcano became so intense, that at sunrise the exterior surface of the cone appeared naked, and of the dark colour peculiar to vitrified scorice. At Gauyaquil, fifty-two leagues distant, day and night, the roarings of the mountain, resembling the discharges of artillery, were heard; and on the Pacific Ocean, south-west of the island of Puna, were these tremendous sounds distinctly audible. Cotopaxi is remarkable for the beauty and regularity of its form. In these respects, it surpasses all the other giants of the Andes. A complete cone, enveloped in a mantle of snow, at sunrise, at sunset, its aspect is wonderfully grand. The snow filling up every cavity, no rocky prominence disturbs the placid emotions arising from the contemplation of its splendid uniformity. The elevation of its cone exceeds six times that of Teneriffe. From the physical construction and peculiarities of the country, the valleys of the Andes exhibit to the traveller an aspect singularly contrasted with those of Europe. The plains of Peru have an elevation above the level of the sea greatly surpassing that of the old world, and the gigantic forms of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Autisana, when beheld from the lofty lands of Riobamba and Quito, (nearly three thousand metres above the ocean,) lose something of that sublimity with which the mind invests them, wher we read of mountains twenty thousand feet and upwards in height. The spaces between the ridges are rather crevices than valleys. The vegetation at the bottom and sides is vigorous, and the depth occasionally so great, that the nocturnal birds, peculiar to the new world, make their residence in them, and are frequently observed flying in flocks of thousands over the streams and torrents that at once fertilize and refrigerate these cimmerian recesses. Yet though of such great actual depth, the lowest surface of these valleys is usually so comparatively lofty, as to equal three-fourths of the elevation of St. Gothard and Mount Cenis. The rocks forming the sides, or rather walls, of the valley of Icononzo, are remarkable for the regularity of their appearance. Rising from a surface nearly level with some of the loftiest mountains of Europe, the ridges joined together by the natural bridges of Icononzo reach to the height of nearly nine hundred metres. The name of Icononzo appears to be indigenous, since it is the appellation of an ancient hamlet of the Muysco Indians at the southern extremity of the valley. The approach to this singular and secluded spot is not unattended with danger. Humboldt is the only traveller who appears to have visited it, and he makes emphatical mention of "the dangerous descent of the desert of San Fortunato, and the mountains of Fusagasuga, leading towards the natural bridges of Icononzo." The torrent rushing along the bottom of the valley, is denominated the Summa Paz. Part of its course is directed through a cavernous aperture, or crevice immediately under the second bridge, (sixty feet below the first,) and then discharges itself through a chasm about eight metres square. Entering this crevice on the west of Doa, the stream forms two beautiful cascades. It rises in the eastern chain of the Andes, in the province of New-Grenada. The valley and the torrent are, in all probability, the result of volcanic agency. What Rome was to the ancient, MEXICO is to the new world. Its present population is stated at more than 300,000 inhabitants. The site of the modern capital is that of Montezuma. The streets are ranged in the same lines, but the canals have been gradually filled up. The appearance of the city since 1769, when it was visited by the Abbé Chappe, has assumed considerable splendour, the patriotism of the inhabitants having embellished it with several magnificent structures. Among these the building appropriated to the school of Mines, deserves particular mention. It was raised by the tribunal of Miners, at an expense of more than half a million of dollars, and is said to be worthy of the finest capitals of Europe. The great square occupies the site of the ancient temple of Mexitli. To the right stands the vice-regal palace, built by Cortez. The palace in which Montezuma lodged the Spaniards, stood behind the cathedral, and that of the emperor on its right, opposite the viceroy's mansion. The Plaza Major, or great square, is adorned by a fine bronze equestrian statue of the royal fowler, Charles the Fourth, father of the present ruler of Spain, by Don Manuel Folsa, a Mexican artist. Great praise appears to be due to the perseverance, as well as the skill of the artist who had to "create every thing," and to contend with innumerable difficulties. Pity so noble an example of talent and fortitude should be so disgraced by its subject. A statue of Las Casas would, indeed, have been an ornament to the first city of a world, between whose natives and their tyrants, his benevolence undauntedly interposed. The form of the square is irregular, and includes a second. To correct this in some measure, the statue has been elevated on an enclosed platform fteen decimeters above the level of the surrounding streets. The oval, whose longest diameter is a hundred metres, is decorated by four fountains, connected together, and closed by an equal number of gates, to the great discontent of the natives. The bars of the gates are ornamented in bronze. The city of Mexico, in respect to population, is superior to any of the capitals, either of South or North-America-the number of its inhabitants amounting to more than three hundred thousand. Its former site was, at the period when it fell under the dominion of the Spaniards, surrounded by a lake, and the city was connected with the opposite shore by three extensive causeways: but since that period, the waters of the lake have been considerably diminished by the supplies received by a canal cut through the mountains, and Mexico, though occupying the same ground as the capital of Montezuma, now stands on the shores of the lake, in a sort of morass, intersected by canals. The softness of the soil, has rendered it necessary to build all the houses upon piles, and such of the public buildings as have been raised without this precaution, (among which the cathedral, a superb edifice, deserves particular mention,) have sunk more than six feet in the ground. Externally, the city presents an irregular appearance, but the interior, as appears by the map of Auteroche, rivals the cities of the United States in the regularity of its dispositions. The streets are of considerable width, straight, and cross each other at right angles. Besides the Plaza Major, Mexico is embellished with two other squares-that of San Sellador, where the bull-fights are exhibited, and that of San Domingo-both of which are regularly and handsomely laid out, 1818. Outline of the Revolution in Spanish America. and ornamented with fountains. To these may be added the Alameda, or public promenade, a square completely surrounded by a stream of water, and rendered still more pleasant by the large and beautiful jet d'eau, which throws forth its sparkling and refreshing columns from the centre of the square. The Alameda is intersected by eight broad walks, shaded on each side by two thickly-planted rows of trees. The private buildings of Mexico are, generally speaking, good, some of the public edifices might be compared, without disadvantage, to those of the same class in Europe. The city is, however, disgraced by that most abominable of all jurisdictions—the Inquisitionwhich has here established one of its detestable tribunals. The Quemadero is described as an enclosure environed by four walls, filled with ovens, into which are precipitated the miserable victims of inquisitorial cruelty. The abolition of this infernal institution, is one of the desirable results to be rationally expected from the success of the patriotic arms.It would be folly to suppose that prejudices which have been the growth of ages, are capable of being eradicated instantaneously, or that the elevation of the people of South-America to the dignity of an enlightened race of beings, should take place immediately on the establishment of their liberties. The prize they are now contending for is sufficiently glorious, and the efforts they are making for its attainment, sufficiently ardent and persevering, to entitle them to the good wishes of every humane and liberal mind, without our requiring from them those extensive changes and improvements in their moral and religious system, which can arise only from a thorough conviction of their reasonableness and utility-a conviction, we may observe, that will, in all probability, be much slower in its birth, than the political revolution which is now sounding its joyful alarums, and marching in the fulness of its triumphs, from the southern to the northern-from the western to the eastern-extremities of a continent for the first time vocal with the strains of freedom. Their independence once secured, and their rank as free and sovereign states vindicated, their statesmen and influential characters, will then have leisure to direct their attention to the ameliorating of the moral and intellectual condition of the people, and in the universal diffusion of schools and seminaries, to lay a certain and solid foundation for those important changes in the minds of their countrymen which instruction alone VOL. III.-No. IV. 33 257 is competent to effect. That many of Viscardo, the author of an interesting minished, and that the population of the We must now turn our attention to the 162 230 206 227 San Miguel Santa Catalina 60 403 262 354 54 97 58 43 Total 949 6155 3581 It is impossible not to be strongly impressed with the immense difference between the births and the deaths, and we cannot avoid concluding, that a place in which the former nearly double the latter, must be one of the most salubrious on the globe. Dr. Price supposes that in healthy districts the proportion of births to the whole population varies from 1-35th to 1-60th. Now, the medium, 1-48th, will give about 300,000 inhabitants to these fourteen parishes; and it is upon this foundation that Alcedo, a native of New-Spain, and author of an admirable geographical work (Diccionario Geographico Historico de las Indias Occidentales o America, ad verb, Mexico), states the population, comprehending the suburbs, at 350,000. “El vecindario se compone de mas 350,000 almas de todas clases y castas." In addition to what we have already said on this subject we would observe, that in a statistical report drawn up by one of the commissioners from South-America, who met with General Miranda at Paris in 1797, the number of inhabitants in the whole of Spanish America, is stated at 20,000,000. Upwards of twenty years have elapsed since that period, and though the progress of population may have been somewhat retarded by the war which has raged with such unparalleled fury for the last nine or ten years, yet we can scarcely suppose that its ravages have been so considerable as to lessen the population. On the contrary, we are inclined to think, notwithstanding the wide spreading desolation which has been produced by a struggle we have every reason to suppose will be brought to a speedy and fortunate conclusion, the inhabitants of South-America must have increased rather than di The authority of Spain over her colonies continued to be absolute and undisputed till about the middle of the last century, when the, first example of resistance to the power of the mother-country was given, by a Canarian of the name of Leon, who having formed a considerable party, attempted the subversion of the company of Guibuscoa, to which the royal privilege had been granted of the exclusive, trade with Venezuela. His enterprise, however, was discovered before it could be put into execution, and was of course crushed. Then followed the bold but unfortunate attempt of Tupae-Amaru. In 1781 some additional imposts on the kingdom of New-Grenada by the then governor, Pineres, created considerable agitation, and the province of Socoreo, erecting itself in open opposition to government, raised a force of nearly seventeen thousand men to enforce their repeal. The interference of the Archbishop of Santa Fè quieted the tumult, a capitulation was entered into, and the multitude separated to their houses, but every article of the treaty, according to the custom of the Spanish government and its officers, was subsequently violated. The French Revolution seems to have acted with no inconsiderable energy on the minds of the South-Americans. A spirit hostile to the mother-country had long been growing up in the colonies, and this was further exasperated and encouraged by the increasing haughtiness of their governors, and the reduced and enfeebled state of Spain herself, who, at this time, had been compelled to sign a treaty of peace and alliance with the French Republic. The late William Pitt was then Premier of England, and to weaken the resources of Spain (now at the command of France) formed his wellknown plan of liberating her transatlantic settlements. The knowledge of this exalted the hopes of the Creoles, and a conspiracy was formed, the object of which was a co-operation with a British force then in the neighbourhood of the Main. On the point of bursting forth, it was discovered, and "The ostensible leaders, Ben M. Gual and Don J. M. Espana, made their escape to the neighbouring island. Don Espana returned two years after to La Guayra, but being discovered, he was hanged. The fol lowing is sir Thomas Picton's proclamation, which was circulated through the contiguous islands at that time: By virtue of an official paper, which I, the governor of this island of Trinidad, have received from the right honourable Henry Dundas, minister of his Britannic Majesty for foreign affairs, dated, 7th April, 1797, which I here publish in obedience to orders, and for the use which your excellencies may draw from its publication, in order that you may communicate its tenor, which is literally as foldows: The object which at present I desire most particularly to recommend to your attention, is the means which might be best adapted to liberate the people of the continent near to the island of Trinidad, from the oppressive and tyrannic system which supports, with so much rigour, the monoply of commerce, under the title of exclusive registers, which their government licenses demand; also to draw the greatest advantages possible, and which the local situation of the island presents, by opening a direct and free communication with the other parts of the world, without prejudice to the commerce of the British nation. In order to full this intention with greater facility, it will be prudent for your excellency to animate the inhabitants of Trinidad in keeping up the communication which they had with those of Terra Firma, previous to the reduction of that island; under the assurance, that they will find there an entrepot, or general magazine of every sort of goods whatever. To this end, his Britannic Majesty has determined in council to grant freedom to the ports of Trinidad, with a direct trade to Great Britain.' "With regard to the hopes you entertain of raising the spirits of those persons, with whom you are in correspondence, towards encouraging the inhabitants to resist the oppressive authority of their government, I have little more to say, than that they may be certain that, whenever they are in that disposition, they may receive at your hands ell the succours to be expected from his Britannic Majesty, be it with forces, or with arms and ammunition to any extent; with the assurance, that the views of his Britannic Majesty go no further than to secure to them their independence, without pretending to any sovereignty over their country, nor even to interfere in the privileges of the people, nor in their political, civil, or religious rights. THOMAS PICTON, &c. &c. "Puerto de Espana, 26th June, 1797.” In prosecution of Mr. Pitt's plan, the expedition of Miranda to Venezuela, and that of Whitelocke to Buenos Ayres, were sent out under the auspices of the British government. The complete failure of both renders it unnecessary to dwell upon events that had so trivial an influence on the destinies of the countries to which they were sent. The author's remarks upon the causes of the insurrection, and those which prevented it bursting forth sooner, appear to us so perfectly just, that we are induced to lay them before our readers. "The different attacks made by the English and French on the coasts of Spanish America obliged the Spaniards to form a plan for raising an additional military force to assist the army already stationed in the ports, in case of any renewed attack. The civil commotions above alluded to gave rise likewise to a desirable military system, for placing the capitals in a situation which might enable the chiefs both to give and receive support in case of any insurrection. But although the troops were chiefly concentrated in the capitals, some were still kept in the provinces to enforce allegiance in case of necessity. "When we observe the attachment of the Spaniards to their country, the respect the Creoles entertained for Spain, the feeble minds of the Indians, and the state of political insignificance in which the other races were kept, it is not wonderful that for three centuries they should have submitted to be governed by laws established in a country more than two thousand leagues distant, without making any effort for independence. And when some enterprising characters endeavoured to excite revok, the difficulties which attended their undertaking, and the facility with which the Spanish government stifled their plans for independence, may easily be accounted for, by the vigilance of the chiefs, as well as of the inquisition, and the apathy of the Creoles, the natural consequence of their education. "I do not pretend, however, to assert that the inhabitants of Spanish America were satisfied with the court of Madrid; on the contrary, I afirm that they were highly discontented. The following were grievances of which they complained; 1st. The arbitrary power exercised by the viceroys and captains-general, who very often eluded the laws, and even the orders they received from the king; see ley 173. tit. 15. lib. 2. de la Recopilacion, in which it complains that the officers sent by the king to Spanish America, were frequently impeached and deposed, which was never the case with those nominated by the viceroys. 24. That the audiencias were composed of Europeans, who in trials were sole judges, and who had the power of interpreting the laws in their very appli cation. 3d. That it was under the authority of the audiencias that clandestine decisions were often made, nocturnal arrests, banishment without previous trial, and numerous other hardships. 4th. That they were treat |