The trade in the copper-coloured Indians was accompanied by the same acts of inhumanity as that in the African negroes; and had also the same result, in rendering both the conquerors and the conquered more ferocious. Thence wars became more frequent among the natives; prisoners were dragged from the inland countries to the coast, in order to be sold to the whites, who loaded them with chains in their ships. Yet the Spaniards were at this epocha, and long after, one of the most polished nations of Europe. The resplendent light, which arts and literature then shed over Italy, has been reflected on every country, of which the language emanated from the same source as that of Dante and Petrarch. It might have been thought, that a general melioration of manners would be the natural consequence of this noble awakening of the mind, this sublime soaring of the imagination. But in distant climates, wherever the thirst of wealth has introduced the abuse of power, the nations of Europe, at every period of their history, have displayed the same character. The illustrious era of Leo X was signalized in the new world by acts of cruelty, that seemed to belong to the most barbarous ages. We are less surprised, however, at the horrible picture with which the conquest of America presents us, when we recollect what still takes place on the western

coasts of Africa, notwithstanding the benefits of a more humane legislation.

The principles adopted by Charles V had long abolished the slave-trade on the continent. But the Conquistadores, by the continuation of their incursions, prolonged this system of ravaging, which has diminished the American population, perpetuated national animosities, and during a long period crushed the seeds of rising civilization. At length the missionaries, under the protection of the secular arm, spake words of peace. It was the privilege of religion, to console humanity for a part of the evils committed in it's name; to plead the cause of the natives before kings, to resist the violence of the commendataries, and to assemble wandering tribes into small communities, which are called Missions; and the existence of which favours the improvement of agriculture. Thus were insensibly founded, though by a uniform and premeditated progress, those vast monastic establishments, that singular system, which continually tends to insulate itself, and places countries four or five times more extensive than France under the control of religious orders.

Institutions, thus useful in stopping the effusion of blood, and in laying the first basis of society, have become in their result hostile to it's progress. The effects of this insulated system have been such, that the Indians have re

mained in a state little different from that in which they existed, when their scattered dwellings were not yet collected round the habitation of a missionary. Their number has consider ably augmented, but the sphere of their ideas is not enlarged. They have progressively lost that vigour of character, and that natural vivacity, which in every state of society are the noble fruits of independence. By subjecting to invariable rules even the slightest actions of their domestic life, they have been rendered stupid, by the effort to render them obedient. Their subsistence is in general more certain, and their habits more pacific; but subject to the constraint and the dull monotony of the government of the missions, they discover by their gloomy and reserved looks, that they have not sacrificed their liberty to their repose without regret. The monastic system confined to the cloister, while it deprives the state of useful citizens, may however sometimes contribute to calm the passions, to sooth incurable sorrows, and fit the mind for meditation; but transplanted into the forests of the new world, applied to the numerous relations of civil society, it has consequences so much the more fatal, as it's duration is prolonged; it enchains from generation to generation the intellectual faculties, interrupts the intercourse of nations, and is hostile to whatever elevates the mind, or enlarges it's con

t

ceptions. From these united causes, the natives who inhabit the Missions are kept in a state remote from all improvement; and which we should call stationary, if societies did not follow the course of the human mind, and must therefore be said to retrograde, whenever they cease to go forward.

On the 4th of September, at five in the morning, we began our journey to the Missions of the Chayma Indians, and the group of lofty mountains which traverse New Andalusia. We had been advised, on account of the extreme difficulties of the road, to reduce our baggage to a small bulk. Two beasts of burden were indeed sufficient to carry our provision, our instruments, and the paper necessary to dry our plants. One chest contained a sextant, a dipping-needle, an apparatus to determine the magnetic variation, thermometers, and Saussure's hygrometer. We always selected these instruments in excursions of short duration. The barometer requires more attention even than the time-keeper; and it may be well to add, that this instrument embarrasses travellers more than any other. We confided it during five years to a guide, who followed us on foot; and this precaution, which was expensive, did not always secure it from accidents. Having determined with precision the period of the atmospheric tides, that is, the hours at which the mercury rises and falls

regularly every day under the tropics, we ascertained the possibility of taking the level of the country by means of the barometer, without employing correspondent observations at Cumana. The greatest changes in the pressure of the air in these climates, on the coasts, arise only to 1-1.3 of a line; and if at any given hour, or place, the height of the mercury be once marked, we may with some probability determine the variations, which this height experiences throughout the whole year, at every hour of the day or night*. Hence it results, that, under the torrid zone, the want of correspondent observations can scarcely produce an error exceeding 12 or 15 toises, which is of small importance relative to geological levelling, or the influence of height on the climate, and the distribution of plants.

The morning was deliciously cool. The road, or rather path, that leads to Cumanacoa, follows the right bank of the Manzanares, passing by the hospital of the Capuchins, situate in a small wood of lignum vitæ and arborescent capparis. On leaving Cumana we enjoyed during the short duration of the twilight,

See my Astronomical Observations, vol. 1, page 289. + These caper-trees are called in the country, pachaca, olivo, ajito: they are the capparis tenuisiliqua, Jacq., c. ferruginea, c. emarginata, c. elliptica, c. reticulata, c. racemosa.