The department of the Equador forms the finest table plain in all America. It has an average breadth of about thirty miles, enclosed between two parallel ranges of the loftiest Andes. In soil and climate, it possesses a felicity almost approaching to that which fable has ascribed to the golden age. The climate is that of a perpetual spring, at once benign and equal, and even during the four months of rain, the mornings and evenings are clear and beautiful. Vegetation never ceases; the country is called the evergreen Quito; the trees and meadows are crowned with perpetual verdure. The European sees with astonishment the plough and the sickle at once in equal activity; herbs of the same species here fading through age, there beginning to bud; one flower drooping, and its sister unfolding its beauties to the sun. Standing on an eminence, the spectator views the tints of spring, summer, and autumn, all blended. But the feature which renders the view from Quito the most enchanting, perhaps, that the eye ever beheld, is that above this beautiful valley, and resting, as it were, on its verdant hills, there rise all the loftiest volcanic cones of the Andes. From one point of view, eleven may be discovered, clad in perpetual snow.

The productions of Quito are equally various as at Santa Fé, all gradations of climate occurring in a similar proximity; but the most valuable are those of the temperate climates; grain, fruits, and rich pasturage.

Quito, leaning, as it were, on the side of Pichincha, more than 9000 feet above the sea, is one of the finest and largest cities in the New World. It has four streets, broad, handsome, and well paved, and three spacious squares, in which the principal convents and dwelling-houses are situated; but the rest, extending up the sides of Pichincha, are crooked and irregular. The churches and convents are built with great magnificence and even some taste. The most elegant is the college formerly belonging to the Jesuits, finely adorned with Corinthian pillars, and wreaths of flowers executed in stone. The convent of San Francisco is of vast extent, and has a massive yet neat façade of the Tuscan order. Quito has two universities, which are numerously attended and carefully conducted; and it is considered comparatively as a sort of South American Athens. The inhabitants are gay, volatile, hospitable, and courteous. Quito is noted for its viands, particularly ices, confectionary, maize, and potato cakes. Vast quantities of cheese are consumed, mixed with pumpkins, gourds, pulse, and other vegetables. The population is about 70,000, of which only one-sixth are whites, the mestizos a third, Indians a third, and the rest negroes.

Latacunga, 50 miles south from Quito, is a place of some importance, with 16,000 inhabitants. Riobambo, 90 miles south of Quito, is a large and handsome town. The streets are wide and straight, the buildings of stone and mortar, but low on account of earthquakes. It has several manufactories of cloth, baizes, &c. The town has been twice (in the years 1698 and 1746) almost ruined by eruptions from Mount Chimborazo. Population 20,000.

Cuenca, 150 miles south of Quito, is a town of 20,000 inhabitants. The streets are straight and broad, and the houses mostly built of adobes, or unburnt bricks. The environs are fertile and pleasant.

Loxa is a small town, with a population of 8 or 9000 inhabitants: in its vicinity is produced in large quantities the celebrated quinine bark, or cascarilla de Loja. It is south of Cuenca about 80 miles.

Otavalo has from 15 to 20,000 inhabitants, with some manufactures of cotton goods: the country in its vicinity is well adapted for pasturage, and abounds in cattle; large quantities of cheese are also made in the neighbourhood. It is northeast of Quito.

Ibarra, or St. Miguel d'Ibarra, is a neat town, with a large and handsome church, also a college, several convents, &c. Population 10 or 12,000. Ibarra is situated north-east of Quito about 50 miles.

Guayaquil, on the bay of the same name, founded by Pizarro in 1533, contains

20,000 inhabitants, and is one of the most flourishing commercial cities in South America. Its dockyard is particularly extensive. It produced one ship of 700 tons: very commonly vessels of 300 or 400 tons are built there: but it is chiefly noted for schooners of 150 to 200 tons. The houses stand in fine picturesque confusion, along the sides and the top of a hill: they are handsome and commodious; but none of the public edifices are very splendid. The animal food is not of very good quality, but nowhere does there exist a finer fruit market; the plantain is supposed to be more esteemed and eaten than in any other place. Guayaquil, like Egypt, has its plagues. The air swarms with mosquitoes and other flies still more tormenting; the ground teems with snakes, centipedes, and other reptiles, whose bite causes fever and inflammation. There is a cameleon whose scratch is believed to be mortal, a belief which seems quite chimerical, but which greatly harasses the citizens. The ants cannot be prevented from filling even the dishes: and sometimes, when a tart is cut up, they are seen running off in all directions, leaving the interior a void. Lastly, the shores are crowded with alligators, whose number cannot, by the utmost exertion, be kept within any tolerable limits. The beauty of the ladies of Guayaquil is celebrated throughout all America: they have complexions as fair as any European, with blue eyes and light hair. They have also an agreeable gaiety, joined to a propriety of conduct, which renders the society of this place particularly engaging.

About 170 leagues west of the coast is the fine group of the Galapagos (Tortoise) Islands, deriving their name from the abundance of a gigantic species of land tortoise, called the elephant tortoise. The islands, which enjoy a delightful climate and a fertile soil, have recently been occupied by a colony from Guayaquil.

GUIANA.

GUIANA was once more extensive than at present; it included the whole of that portion of South America lying between the Orinoco and the Amazon Rivers, of which the northern part, called Spanish Guiana, now belongs to Venezuela, and the southern, known as Portuguese Guiana, is attached to the Brazilian province of Para.

The region at present styled Guiana, extends along the coast from Cape Barrima, at the mouth of the Orinoco, to the Oyapock River, a distance of about 750 miles, and extending in the interior, to the mountains at the source of the Essequibo, Surinam, and Marowyne, or Maroni Rivers, about 350 miles; comprising an area of about 115,000 square miles. Along the sea-shore the country presents the appearance of an extensive and uniform plain. It is covered generally with thick forests, even to the water's edge; and the coast is so low and flat that nothing is seen at first but the trees, which appear to be growing out of the sea. The soil is surprisingly fertile, and a moist luxuriant vegetation almost everywhere overspreads the country.

This region is at present divided between the British, Dutch, and French. British Guiana extends from the Orinoco to the Corantine River, and embraces the three colonies of Essequibo, Demarara, and Berbice. Dutch Guiana, or Surinam, extends from the Corantine to the Marowyne; and Cayenne, or French Guiana, is included between the Rivers Marowyne and Oyapock. British Guiana contains a population of 97,251 persons, of whom 3529 are whites, 7521 free persons of colour, and 86,201 slaves, who are at present, in common with the enslaved negroes in the British West Indies, under a species of apprenticeship, from which they will be liberated after a certain period. Surinam has a population of about 60,000, of whom it is supposed 55,000 are slaves. The inhabitants of Cayenne consist of 3786 whites, 2206 free negroes, and 23,046 slaves; total, 25,250; making a total, for the population of Guiana, of 182,501 inhabitants, exclusive of the revolted negroes and Indians in the interior.

Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo, are of recent acquisition, having belonged to the Dutch till the last war, when they yielded to the naval supremacy of Bri

tain, and were confirmed to that power by the treaty of 1814. They extend about 400 miles along the coast, and each colony is situated at the mouth of a broad river, bearing its own name. The territory is low, flat, alluvial, and in many parts swampy; and the greater portion, when it came into the possession of Britain, was covered with dense and almost impenetrable forests. Since that time a prodigious improvement has taken place; British industry has cut down the woods, and, availing itself of the natural fertility of the soil, has rendered this one of the most productive regions in the New World. Demerara ranks, as to produce, second only to Jamaica: its rum is inferior only to hers; and the coffee of Berbice ranks above that of any of the islands. Stabroek, now Georgetown, is built on the low bank of the river Demerara. The houses are of wood, seldom above two stories high, and, with a view to coolness, are shaded by colonnaded porticoes and balconies, and by projecting roofs; and Venetian blinds are used instead of glass windows. Canals are conducted on each side of the town, which presents a busy scene, every road being, like a wharf, strewed with casks and bales. The town contains from 8000 to 10,000 inhabitants, mostly negroes, with a considerable proportion of people of colour, some of whom have attained to considerable wealth. New Amsterdam, the small capital of Berbice, is agreeably situated, intersected by canals, and with a considerable spot of ground attached to each house.

Agriculture is carried on in British Guiana on a great scale; many of the plantations have from 500 to 1500 labourers; and £50,000 have been often laid out in the embankments and buildings of a new estate, before any returns whatever were received; the profits, however, are always remunerating, and frequently great.

Surinam constitutes the most important part of the Dutch western possessions. Dutch Guiana formerly included Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo; but Britain having in the last war captured these three districts, her capital was employed with such advantage in improving them, that she determined, at the peace, on retaining them, and left to Holland the less valuable territory of Surinam Proper. This coast, like that of the rest of Guiana, is flat and alluvial, and is traversed by several broad rivers, coming from a considerable distance in the interior. That of Surinam has a channel about four miles wide, but shallow and rocky, navigable only for boats. The Dutch, since they regained possession of it, have made very considerable efforts for its improvement, and it is decidedly rising in importance. Paramaribo, at the mouth of the river, where it affords excellent anchorage for vessels, is a considerable town, well built of wood, and arranged in regular streets, adorned with fine trees. Its commerce, though now surpassed by that carried on in English Guiana, is considerable, and supports a population of 18,000 or 20,000 persons.

Cayenne extends along the coast of Guiana, from the Marowyne to the Oyapock River, a distance of about 200 miles. It is bounded west by Surinam, on the south and east by Brazil, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. It is an alluvial, swampy region, covered with majestic forests. The trees astonish Europeans, not only by their prodigious size, but by their great variety. Fine aromatics, unknown to the other regions of the west, have been cultivated there with success. The Cayenne-pepper is the most pungent and delicate kind of that spice; and the clove, long exclusively attached to the Moluccas, has succeeded so well, that a part of the consumption of Europe is supplied from Cayenne. The cutting down of these noble woods would afford the material of a valuable timber trade, and the ground thus cleared would be fit for sugar and every kind of West India produce. Yet the tract is cultivated in only a few scattered patches, not exceeding in all 10,000 acres. Serious obstacles are indeed presented by the pestilential vapours exhaled from these dark woods and marshes. In a settlement, on a great scale, attempted at Kourou, in 1763, no less than 13,000 persons perished, so that the deportation to Cayenne of deputies obnoxious to the ruling party, during the revolution, was inflicted, as conveying almost a sentence of death. Yet if due precautions were used and the woods cleared, it would probably be as healthy as any other settlement in this quarter. The population of Cayenne, in 1830, amounted to 25,250; of whom 19,260 were slaves, and 3786 whites. The annual value of the exports to France is 2,500,000 francs, of imports 1,800,000.

Cayenne Proper consists of an alluvial island, about eighteen miles long and ten broad, formed by the branches of the river of that name, on which is Cayenne, the capital of the colony, a small town neatly built of wood, with a spacious and commodious road, and a population of 3000. Kourou, Sinnamaree, and Oyapock, are small settlements scattered along the coast.

EMPIRE OF BRAZIL.

BRAZIL is a very extensive region, which occupies nearly the whole of the eastern tracts of South America, and, after being long held as a Portuguese colony, has of late, by peculiar circumstances, been formed into a separate empire. It extends over more than half the continent of South America, and is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, whose shores describe round it an irregular arch, broken by very few bays or inlets of any consequence. In the interior, this empire borders on every side upon the former provinces of Spain; but the two nations, in the course of 300 years, could not determine on the boundary lines to be drawn through the interior of these vast deserts.

The dimensions of this immense range of territory may be taken from about 4° N. to 32° S. lat., and from about 35° to 73° W. lon. This will give about 2500 miles of extreme length, and about the same in extreme breadth. The area of the whole has been estimated at upwards of 3,000,000 square miles. It is thus twenty-five times the extent of the British Islands, nearly twice that of Mexico, and greater by a fourth than the entire domain of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is rather more than half of all South America. Of this immense space, indeed, not above a fourth can be considered as at present in an effective and productive state; and that part is scarcely cultivated and peopled up to a fourth of its actual capacity. But nearly the whole, from soil, climate, and communications, is capable of being brought, at some future and distant period, into full improvement.

The Brazilian ranges of mountains are of great extent, but reach, by no means, to that stupendous height which distinguishes the Andes of Colombia and Peru. The principal mass of these mountains lies N. W. of Rio de Janeiro, towards the sources of the rivers San Francisco, Paraná, and Tocantines, and are not generally higher than from 2000 to 3000 feet; only a few detached peaks rising to about 6000.

Rivers, the greatest in America and in the world, flow around the borders or through the territories of Brazil. Its northern part is watered by the course of the Amazon, its western by the Madeira and the Paraguay. Within its territory flow, tributary to the Amazon, the Topayos, the Xingu, and the Negro, which, though here secondary, may rival the greatest waters of the other continents. The Tocantines and the Parnaiba flow into the sea on the northern coast. But at present the most useful rivers are those between the coast chain and the sea, none of which can attain any long course. Much the greatest is the Rio Francisco, which, flowing northward along the back of these mountains to their termination, there finds its way to the Atlantic. There are two Rios Grandes, one falling into the sea north of Pernambuco, the other (Rio Grande do Sul) in the extreme south, watering the province that bears its name.

Lakes are not leading features in Brazil: but in the southern province of Rio Grande, there are the Patos and the Mirim, extensive and shallow, communicating with the sea, yet chiefly fresh, and forming the receptacle of all the streams which come down from the interior. Farther inland, the Paraguay and Parana, by their superfluous waters, form the Lakes Xarayez and Ibera, which spread, in the rainy season, over a prodigious extent of ground.

The form of government in Brazil is an hereditary constitutional monarchy. The sovereign, who has the title of emperor, has the power of making peace and war, concluding treaties with foreign powers, nominating the principal officers of

the empire and of the provinces, &c. The legislative body is composed of two houses chosen by indirect election, that is, by electors chosen for this purpose. The senators are elected for life; the deputies or representatives, for the term of four years. Each province has also its local assembly and governor, for administering provincial affairs. There is, however, a great difficulty in enforcing the measures of any general and central administration over so wide an extent of country, and over provinces so deeply imbued with a local spirit. The northern districts, in particular, have made vigorous attempts, and still cherish the wish, to form a separate and republican government, on the model of those now established over the rest of America.

The revenue of Brazil is stated at about 15,000,000 dollars. This is burdened with a debt of 50,000,000 dollars. The military force consists of 30,000 troops of the line, with 50,000 militia; and there is a marine, composed of 3 ships of the line, 8 frigates, and 25 smaller vessels.

The natural capacities of Brazil are fully equal to those of any region in the New World. The soil is capable of yielding profusely, sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco, all the richest tropical productions; the forests are immense, and abound in the most valuable timber; the fields are covered with numberless herds of cattle; and the most precious of metals are found near the surface of the earth. Its chief defect is, that, destitute of those fine elevated table-lands, which cover so much of Spanish America, it affords no eligible situation for European colonists; and the labouring classes consist almost wholly of negro slaves; a circumstance adverse to its prosperity, and necessarily engendering many evils.

Dense and impenetrable forests cover a great part of the interior of Brazil, and exhibit a luxuriance of vegetation almost peculiar to the central regions of South America. "The infinite variety of tints which these woods display, give them an aspect wholly different from those of Europe. Each of the lofty sons of the forest has an effect distinct from that of the rest. The brilliant white of the silver tree, the brown head of the Mangoa, the purple flowers of the Brazil wood, the yellow laburnums, the deep red fungus, and the carmine-coloured lichens, which invest the trunks and the bark, all mingle in brilliant confusion, forming groups finely contrasted and diversified. The gigantic height of the palms, with their varying crowns, give to these forests an incomparable majesty. All these are interwoven with a network of creeping and climbing plants, so close as to form round the large trees a verdant wall, which the eye is unable to penetrate; and many of the flowering species, that climb up the trunks, spread forth and present the appearance of parterres hanging in the air. These woods are not a silent scene, unless during the deepest heat of noon, but are crowded and rendered vocal by the greatest variety of the animal tribes. Birds of the most singular forms and most superb plumage flutter through the bushes. The toucan rattles his large hollow bill; the busy orioles creep out of their long pendent nests; the amorous thrush, the chattering manikin, the full tones of the nightingale, amuse the hunter; while the humming-birds, rivalling, in lustre, diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires, hover round the brightest flowers. Myriads of the most brilliant beetles buzz in the air; and the gayest butterflies, rivalling in splendour the colours of the rainbow, flutter from flower to flower. Meantime, the beautiful, but sometimes dangerous, race of lizards and serpents, exceeding in splendour the enamel of the flowers, glide out of the leaves and hollows of the trees. Troops of squirrels and monkeys leap from bough to bough, and large bodies of ants, issuing from their nests, creep along the ground." It concerns us here to remark, that these immense forests are rich in timber of every description for use and ornament, suited either for carpentry, shipbuilding, dyeing, or furniture. That kind especially called Brazil wood is particularly celebrated for the beautiful red dye which it produces.

Agriculture is exercised in Brazil upon valuable products, and in fertile soils, but in a very slovenly manner. The farmers, till of late, were a most ignorant race, not believing that there were any countries in the world except Portugal and Brazil, nor any, except the last, in which the sugar-cane grew. They have begun, however, to hold intercourse with the world in general, and to introduce