I comprehending the Indians, slaves, artisans, and labourers, did not even learn to read or write; and the children even of the more opulent classes were only taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Some, however, pursued their studies in the colleges, in order to fit themselves for the only employments to which the creoles could aspire, those of clergymen and lawyers. There were universities or colleges at Caraccas, Bogotá, and Quito; but the whole system of education was extremely defective, and the scholars remained ignorant of the actual state of science and philosophy in Europe. Of late years, great progress has been made in all the departments of knowledge; free ingress of books from all quarters, the establishment of newspapers and journals, and the liberty of the press which now exists, have greatly tended to enlighten the community.

The religion is as yet exclusively the Roman Catholic, and its ceremonies are observed with the strictest punctuality. The parish priests rule in the villages with almost absolute sway; but their influence, uniting together the different classes and sexes, is considered on the whole advantageous. Many of the young men who have had more enlarged means of information, have begun to discard the Catholic creed; but a general scepticism, rather than any rational system of religion, seems to have taken the place of their ancient faith.

The races are as numerous and as variously crossed as in Mexico. The negro maintains his place in the scale of humanity; and the mulattoes Paez and Padilla have ranked among the foremost of the heroes who achieved the national independence.

Of the native Indian tribes within this territory, the Caribs are the ruling people. No nation in the world is stamped with a deeper brand of ferocity, the very name, converted into cannibals, being applied to signify devourers of human flesh. The charge appears to have been greatly exaggerated by the Spaniards, who certainly met with a most fierce resistance, and sought by this allegation to justify the system of enslaving and exterminating the savage tribes. They were supposed to have been exterminated, but it has been lately ascertained that there must be still about 40,000 of pure and unmixed blood. They are a fine tall race, whose figures, of a reddish copper colour, with their picturesque drapery, resemble antique statues of bronze. They shave great part of the forehead, which gives them somewhat the appearance of monks; they wear only a tuft on the crown. They have dark intelligent eyes, a gravity in their manners, and in their features an expression of severity, and even of sadness.

The amusements of Colombia are chiefly borrowed from the mother-country. Dancing is passionately followed in the several forms of the fandango, the bolero, and the Spanish country-dance. Bull and cock fighting are equally favourite sports, and tend to keep alive that ferocity which is the main blemish in the moral character of the Spaniards.

NEW GRENADA.

THE new states which have been formed by the division of the former republic of Colombia are, Venezuela, in the east; New Grenada, in the north and centre; and Equador or Equator, in the south-west.

New Grenada, comprising the ancient viceroyalty of that name, extends from 2° S. to 12° N. lat., and from 68° to 83° W. long., over an area of 380,000 square miles. It is the most populous and powerful of the Colombian republics; its population by a census of 1835 was 1,687,100. It is divided into five departments, which are subdivided into eighteen provinces.

Bogotá, the capital of New Grenada, is situated on a table plain, 50 miles by 25, and 8000 feet above the level of the sea. This plain, though under the line, has the climate of Britain, and even of Scotland, though without the change of seasons, the perpetual temperature being that of spring or autumn, and the thermometer seldom falling below 47° or rising above 70°. The only alternation is formed by the wet seasons, which are two: the first comprehending March, April, and May; the second, September, October, and November; and these, being colder than the others, make two winters and two summers. The surrounding plain is excessively fertile, fine, and fruitful, yielding two crops in the year of the best European grain. It is hemmed in by lofty mountains, rugged precipices, roaring torrents, and frightful abysses. The city of Bogotá itself is enclosed in a grand mountain circuit, cliffs of 1000 feet rising immediately above it. The city was founded in 1538, by Quesada, and rapidly increased: it is now supposed to contain 30,000 inhabitants. Its streets and squares are open and spacious, but the houses are generally heavy and old-fashioned; and even the late palace of the viceroy displays little magnificence. The beauty of the city rests wholly on its ecclesiastical edifices, which consist of twenty-six churches and twelve convents. Many of the former are not only splendid, but built with some taste; and their numerous spires, amid the grandeur of the surrounding scenery, give it a very fine appearance. It contains an university and archiepiscopal see, and carries on a considerable trade in cotton goods, hides, and grain.

The scenery of the plain of Bogotá is marked by many striking and picturesque features. Among these are particularly conspicuous the Fall of Tequendama and the natural bridges of Icononzo. The first is formed by the river Bogotá. Its mass of waters, previously spread to a considerable breadth, are contracted to forty feet, and dashed down a precipice 650 feet high, into an almost fathomless abyss. The bridge of Icononzo is a natural arch across a chasm 360 feet deep, at the bottom of which flows a rapid torrent, which would have been otherwise impassable.

Honda, the port of Bogotá, is situated on the Magdalena river, about 55 miles N. W. from the capital: it has considerable trade, with a population of about 10,000 inhabitants. The town has some good buildings, the climate is hot but not unhealthy, and the banks of the river are infested with mosquitoes.

Popayan is a handsome city, built more regularly and elegantly than Santa Fé, and inhabited by many opulent merchants, who have suffered severely by the revolution. Its site, on the river Cauca, is picturesque; the climate delicious, notwithstanding the frequent rains and tempests. It enjoys a considerable trade in European merchandise, which it receives from Carthagena, and distributes to Quito and other neighbouring districts, together with the products of its fertile soil. Above it rises the volcano of Purace, continually emitting flames, unless when obstructed by the substances thrown out by itself, in which case Indians are employed to clear it, lest the subterraneous flame should produce earthquake. From its summit a river descends to Popayan, so impregnated with acid substances, that the Spaniards call it Vinagre. Cali is a clean and well-built town, in a delightful situation; and the inhabitants have attained considerable prosperity by exporting tobacco and other produce of the interior. Lower down the river is Cartago, in a situation which the cold blasts from the snowy mountains would render inclement, were it not sheltered by a ridge of lower hills. The surrounding country contains many valuable mines, and would be most rich in cacao, coffee, sugar, and all tropical productions, if cultivators and a market could be found. Pasto is a considerable town, and the inhabitants manufacture a peculiar species of cabinet-work of considerable elegance. It is surrounded by volcanoes, and is accessible only through rugged and narrow passes. Previous to 1834, when it was destroyed by an earthquake, its population amounted to 10,000. Carthagena, long considered by the Spaniards as the bulwark of their possessions in America, equally noted for the successful attacks of Drake and the buccaneers, and for the disastrous failure of Vernon in 1741, has lost much of its former importance. The fortifications are considerably decayed, yet it is the chief arsenal of the republic. The packet-boats, which maintain the intercourse

with Europe and the United States, sail to and from Carthagena; and it absorbs most of the commerce of the Magdalena and its tributaries. It stands on a low, sandy point in the delta of the former river, and notwithstanding there are some handsome churches and convents, it has on the whole a gloomy aspect. Its population is supposed to amount to about 18,000. Turbaco, a little Indian village in the vicinity, to which the wealthy Carthaginians retire in the hot season, is distinguished by the curious phenomenon of the volcancitos (little volcanoes), consisting of about 20 cones, from 20 to 25 feet high, whence issue constant erup tions of gas, sometimes accompanied with mud and water. Tolu, in a rich vegetable district of this province, is noted for the balsam bearing its name. Mompox, in the province of the same name, derives some importance from its population of 10,000 souls. Ocaña, a village higher up in the same province, was the seat of a congress in 1828. Rio Hacha is a small town with a harbour, and once the seat of a pearl fishery, which never proved very successful. Farther west is Santa Martha, situated in a country pervaded by a detached range of lofty mountains. It has a good harbour, is strongly fortified, and carries on considerable trade. Its population is about 6,000 souls.

The city of Tunja was the Indian capital of Cundinamarca, and continued, even under the Spaniards, to be a rich place, till it was superseded by Santa Fé. Sogamozo was a celebrated place of Indian pilgrimage, and contained a temple of the Sun. The town of Socorra is rudely built, but contains 12,000 inhabitants, busily employed in coarse cotton fabrics. Pamplona is a considerable and pleasant town in a lofty situation. Rosario de Cucuta, farther north, is remarkable for the session of the constituent congress in 1821. Casanare, 190 miles N. E. from Bogotá on the river of the same name, forms the medium by which the provinces on the Magdalena communicate with the Llanos and the coast of Caraccas; under the old régime the influence of the merchants of Carthagena caused it to be shut up, in order to secure their own monopoly of the Santa Fé trade; but as such absurd restrictions are now abolished, the Casanare may become an important channel of commerce.

Panamá and Porto Bello, on the opposite sides of the isthmus, bore a great name in America, when they were the exclusive channel by which the wealth of Peru was conveyed to the mother-country. Now, when both that wealth is diminished, and a great part of it is transported round Cape Horn, their consequence has much declined. Yet Panamá, on the coast of the Pacific, is still a fortified place, and carries on some trade. It contains a beautiful cathedral, four monasteries, now deserted, and other large buildings, and maintains a population of 10,800. Porto Bello, so called from its fine harbour, is in a state of decay, and its pestilential climate has given it the name of the grave of Europeans. It is now inhabited only by a few negroes and mulattoes, the whole population not exceeding 1200. Here was once held the richest fair in America, but its trade is now chiefly removed to Chagres, a miserable little town with 1000 inhabitants.

The usual routes across the isthmus are from Porto Bello and Chagres to Panamá; but the harbour of Chagres is not good, and does not admit vessels of Imore than twelve feet draft, and the climate of Porto Bello is so fatal that no white man can remain there more than a few weeks, and even negroes suffer from its effects.

There have been, from time to time, various projects for the construction of a canal, or a rail-road, so as to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, at this narrow neck of land. But the political state of the country is as yet somewhat unsettled; and hence capitalists are deterred from advancing the necessary funds. At some more propitious period, when affairs shall be permanently tranquillized, doubtless such a communication will be opened.

Near Cape San Blas is a fishery of pearls and turtle; the former carried on by an English company to little advantage, the latter affording profitable employment to about 120 individuals, who drive a trade in the flesh, oil, and shell of the turtles. Chorrera, ten miles from Panamá, has 4000 inhabitants. Santiago is a place of some consequence, with 5000 inhabitants. Nata in the same province has a population of 4000.

VENEZUELA.

THE republic of Venezuela, consisting of the former captaincy-general of Caraccas, to which was attached the extensive tract known under the name of Spanish Guiana, extends from the Orinoco to the Gulf of Venezuela. It stretches over an area of 425,000 square miles, lying between 60° to 72° W. long., and 2° S. and 12° N. lat. It is divided into four departments, which are subdivided into 12 provinces, with a population estimated at about 900,000.

Venezuela bears a completely opposite aspect to the two former divisions. While they consist of the declivities and valleys of the loftiest Andes, Venezuela forms a plain of immense extent, reaching westward to and beyond the Orinoco. This region is divided into three parts, distinguished by the most marked contrasts both natural and social. The first consists of the forest territory beyond the Orinoco. It exists in an entirely unsubdued and savage state, peopled by the Caribs and other tribes, who roam from place to place, and wage almost continual war with each other. A few only have been formed by the missionaries into reductions, and inured to the habits of civilized life. The second part consists of the Llanos; boundless plains, where the eye, in the compass of a wide horizon, often does not discover an eminence of six feet high. Like the Pampas of La Plata, they are covered with the most luxuriant pastures, on which it is estimated 1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 mules are fed. Some of the great proprietors possess 14,000 head of cattle. The export of the hides of these animals forms one of the principal branches of the commerce of Venezuela. The third division, consisting of a coast about 600 miles long, and the territory immediately adjoining to it, includes all that exhibits any degree of culture or civilization. Here the West India products, and particularly cacao of superior quality, are cultivated to a considerable extent; and a trade is carried on, which, though interrupted by the revolutionary war and other calamities, is likely, in periods of tranquillity, to be revived and extended.

Caraccas, situated a few miles from the coast, has always been the capital of Venezuela, and previous to 1812 was a very large city, containing above 40,000 inhabitants. On the 26th of March, it was overthrown by one of the most dreadful earthquakes recorded in either hemisphere. After four in the evening, two successive shocks were felt, during which the ground was in continual undulation, and heaved like a fluid in a state of ebullition. The danger was then thought to be over, when a subterranean noise was heard, like the rolling of loud thunder; it was followed by two shocks, one perpendicular and one undulatory, so tremendous, that in a few seconds the whole city was in ruins. Several of the loftiest churches fell, burying 3000 or 4000 of the inhabitants, and they were sol completely destroyed, that none of the fragments were more than five or six feet above the ground. Nearly 10,000 persons perished on the spot, besides many more who died afterwards, in consequence of wounds and privations. The agitation of the revolutionary contest obstructed the revival of Caraccas, and in 1830 it did not contain above 23,000 inhabitants. The city is finely situated, in a valley between the sea and the lofty mountain of the Silla, whose two peaks rise to the height of nearly 9000 feet. The cathedral is spacious, but massive and heavy. Alta Gracia, its most elegant church, was overthrown by the earthquake. There is an university, on a very large scale, though the objects of instruction are somewhat obsolete.

La Guayra, about twelve miles from Caraccas, of which it is the port, notwithstanding its unhealthy climate and bad harbour, is the seat of a very considerable

trade. Similar disasters have reduced it from a population of 13,000 to scarcely 5000; but it is now reviving.

Several large cities occur on the long line of coast which extends westward from Caraccas. Valencia flourishes in consequence of the fine interior territory, the trade of which is conducted through it, whence it is supposed to maintain a population of about 15,000. Its port, about ten leagues distant, called Puerto Cabello, has an admirable harbour, but is extremely unhealthy.

Coro, once the capital of Venezuela, having lost that distinction and a great part of its trade, is now much decayed. Maracaybo, happily situated at the junction between a bay and a large lake reaching far into the interior, early became a great city. It contains many descendants of the early conquerors, who live in proud indolence: the rest of the inhabitants gain wealth by traffic; and the whole are supposed to be nearly 20,000. Truxillo, in a fine country near the head of the lake, early became one of the most flourishing cities in America; but being, in 1678, plundered and reduced to ashes by Gramont the buccaneer, it has recovered only in so far as to be a tolerable country town, though presenting monuments of its former importance. It is almost rivalled by Merida, a neat town to the west of it.

Some considerable cities occur on the coast to the east of Caraccas.

Cumana is situated on an extensive and fertile plain on the Gulf of Cariaco, bounded by a curtain of rude mountains covered by luxuriant forests. Numerous herds run wild on its savannahs, and in the plain on the coast very fine tobacco is cultivated. It has a very spacious and noble harbour, and the gulf on which it is situated affords good anchorage. Mules, cattle, and provisions are exported to the West Indies; but there is no longer room for the very large contraband which prevailed when the Spanish Main was generally closed against Britain. The inhabitants, formerly reckoned at 18,000, do not probably now much exceed 10,000. Cumana has suffered dreadfully by earthquakes: that of 1766 laid it completely in ruins; hence it contains no lofty or important edifice. New Barcelona, to the westward, on an extensive plain overrun by wild cattle, carries on a similar trade, which supports a population of about 5000.

In the island of Margarita is the little town of Pampatar, which has been declared a free port.

The great plains in the interior of Venezuela and on the Orinoco, possessing neither manufactures nor commerce, cannot contain cities of any magnitude. Yet Varinas was reckoned a neat and handsome place, and, notwithstanding severe losses during the revolutionary war, has still 3000 inhabitants. San Fernando derives some importance from the commerce of the Apure, on which it is situated. Angostura, the only city yet founded on the Orinoco, notwithstanding recent losses, is still about equal to Varinas, and is the seat of a bishop and a college. It was in this region that report placed the fabulous El Dorado, the golden kingdom of Manoa, which was the object of so many expeditions in the 16th century. Here, it was asserted, there were more splendid cities and greater abundance of gold, than even the wealthy Peru could boast; and as late as 1780, a large party of Spaniards perished in search of this imaginary region.

REPUBLIC OF THE EQUADOR, OR EQUATOR.

THE republic of the Equador, comprising the old Spanish presidency of Quito, which was annexed to the viceroyalty of New Grenada in 1718, extends from 67° W. lon. on the Amazon, to the Pacific, and from 7° S. to 2° N. lat. On the Pacific it occupies the coast from the Mira to the Tumbez; its superficial area is about 130,000 square miles. The republic is divided into three departments, which are subdivided into eight provinces, and has a population of about 600,000.