haps the largest of all the serpent tribes. The immeasurable swamps and entangled forests of Guiana, Amazonia, and the northern parts of Brazil, where the combination of heat and moisture characterize the climate, are the great nursery and unmolested rendezvous of the serpent and insect race. The chief town of Dutch Guiana is Paramaribo, situated on the western bank of the river of Surinam, at the distance of about twelve miles from its mouth, latitude 6o north, longitude 55° west from London. It contains about 1800 or 2000 white inhabitants, of whom about one half are Jews. The houses are chiefly of wood, and only a few of them have glass windows. The streets are straight and spacious, and planted on each side with orange and tamarind trees. New Middleburgh is a small town near the north-western extremity of the colony. The population of Dutch Guiana has been so variously stated, that nothing can be said with any degree of precision on the subject. It has already been observed, that one-half of the white population of Paramaribo consists of Jews; and the same remark may be extended to the whole colony, a circumstance arising from the expulsion of that people from Brazil. The disproportion of colours is greater in this than in any other European colony. On comparing the accounts of different writers, it appears that the slave population exceeds that of the whites in the proportion of at least twelve to one and this is the colony in which slaves have always been the worst treated. Nothing, indeed, can be more horrible than the accounts which various authors have given of the inhumanity of the colonists in Surinam towards this unhappy class of men. If the Dutch, however, have, in this respect, surpassed all the other Europeans, they have been the first that have felt the effects of this impolitic, as well as unprincipled conduct. Bands of negroes, impelled by despair to revolt, have retired into the interior parts of the province, and under leaders of their own, have formed themselves into a distinct community. These Maroons, as they are called, rapidly increasing in numbers by successive desertions from the settlement, soon became formidable to their former mas Voyage a la Guiane et a Cayenne, ap Brougham Col. Pol. vol. 1. p. 364. ters. The defence of the colony against the negro power, has, for near a century past, been a principal object of the Dutch government in Surinam. At last, in the year 1773, the whole settlement was surrounded with a cordon and forts, at small intervals, as a bulwark against the negroes. This measure rendered a strong military force indispensably necessary; and the critical situation of the colony, therefore, obliged all the white inhabitants, who are able to bear arms, to form themselves into a militia, and also to use every means of conciliating the native tribes, and procuring their assistance. These circumstances exhibit a striking feature in the history of negro slavery, and form an interesting contrast with what is seen in Spanish and Portuguese America, where the negroes being liberally treated, and enjoying many opportunities of emancipation, have never shewn any disposition to revolt.* ABORIGINAL TRIBES, AND UNCONQUERED COUNTRIES. A very considerable part of South America, although included within the uncertain claims of the Spaniards and Portuguese, still enjoys its native liberty. The immense interior region from Guiana to the Spanish province of La Plata, may be comprised in this description; and beyond that province and river, farther towards the south, Patagonia is still possessed by its wandering and savage tribes. These countries are yet unexplored, except by voyages on the Maranon, and some of the principal rivers, which discharge themselves into that vast channel of the South American waters. Here nothing is seen but wide regions, extending along the banks, covered with immense and impenetrable forests, or flooded by the annual inundations.† These vast countries, called Amazonia, or, with greater propriety, the Land of the Missions, are, for the most part, comprised within the ostensible limits of the Portuguese empire; and further to the south a considerable por tion of the interior is claimed by the Spaniards. The Portu * See Brougham's investigations of these subjects, Col. Pol. vol. 1. book 1, 2, and 4. See description of Brazil. guese are sole masters of the Maranon, or river of Amazons, as the Spaniards are of that of La Plata; and both these nations have extended their scattered settlements along their banks to a vast distance into the country. Their empire, however, is here only nominal; and the central parts of the South American continent are in general possessed solely by the aboriginal nations. These countries, so little known, are supposed to be an immense level of the most luxuriant fertility, abounding in wild beasts and venomous reptiles, and inhabited by numerous tribes of savages, who, like their country, are in a state of uncultivated nature. Some writers, however, affirm, that these aboriginal Americans display considerable ingenuity in the construction of their canoes, as well as in making their weapons, &c. But concerning those central savages, little can be said with certainty. The defect of knowledge, however, has in this, as in many other cases, been supplied by fiction. In the fabulous ages of remote antiquity, the Greeks had imagined the existence of a nation of Amazons. With this fiction they embellished many of their histories, as well as their poems. Other nations adopted the fable. The Spaniards, charmed with this dream of antiquity, transferred it to America. There they fixed the Amazons, and feigned a number of appropriate circumstances, in order to give the romance an air of credibility. Since the propagation of this story, great pains have been taken to ascertain the fact; but fiction flies before the face of discovery, and this modern phænomenon has hitherto eluded all research. Of the savages of Paraguay, the more southern part of this central region, we have somewhat more knowledge. The natives of this part of South America are in general of a good size, and of a fairer complexion, than most of the other aborigines of that continent. They also display considerable ingenuity, vivacity, and wit. The Abipons appear to be a warlike tribe, but their number is not above 5000 or 6000. They inhabit the country near the banks of the Rio Grande, which falls into the Paraguay not far from its junction with the Parana. Their features resemble the European; and the nose is commonly of the aqueline form. From their childhood they are accustomed to the use of the bow. Their arrows are sometimes point ed with iron, and they are also armed with spears of above eight yards in length. These people have, by their ferocious and warlike spirit, rendered themselves formidable to the interior settlers. But what appears singular in a view of savage manners, they undertake all their expeditions on horseback. In order to supply themselves with horses, they catch and tame those, which, as already related, run wild in the woods. They appear to have no idea of a Supreme Deity; but acknowledge an evil principle, whose malevolence they endeavour to avert. Their magicians, as is common among all savage tribes, have great power and influence. The interior part of Paraguay, of which the northern limits appear even yet to be in a great measure undefined, constituted the theatre on which the Jesuits, in the seventeenth century, erected a spiritual and temporal dominion, which astonished the world. That religious order, which, for the policy of institution, as well as for the talents and erudition of many of its members, has been the most celebrated of all those that have flourished in the church of Rome, was then in the meridian of its power and credit. In this favourable moment the Jesuits represented to the court of Madrid, that the immorality and imperious conduct of the Spaniards excited the aversion of the Indians against their government; and that through the ministry of their order, extensive regions and myriads of uncivilized savages might, without force or expense, be converted to the Catholic religion, and brought under the dominion of the crown of Spain. They proposed their plan, the project was approv ed, the sphere of their operations was marked out, and they entered with great spirit and activity on their arduous under. taking. It is difficult to conceive the motive that induced these men to abandon the seats of ease and tranquillity, to traverse immense deserts, to plunge into unexplored swamps, and subject themselves to every kind of misery and danger in the midst of ferocious and unknown savages. Whether it was avidity of wealth, a thirst for glory, or zeal for religion, that impelled them to sacrifice all the comforts of civilized society, and encounter so many difficulties and dangers, remains a problem in the history of the human mind. Their enterprising spirit and vigorous perseverance, however, were crowned 、 with success. They found the inhabitants but little removed from a state of nature, strangers to the arts and comforts of civilized life, subsisting precariously by hunting and fishing, and scarcely acquainted with the first principles of subordination and government. The Jesuits were so successful as to civilize and christianize these savage tribes. They taught them to cultivate the ground, to rear tame animals, to build houses and live in villages. They instructed them in arts and manufactures, accustomed them to the blessings of security and order, and taught them to relish the pleasures of society. Respected and beloved almost to adoration, a few Jesuits presided over many thousands of Indians, whom they governed with a paternal attention. They maintained a perfect equality among all the members of the community. The produce of their fields, and all the fruits of their industry, were deposited in common store-houses, from which every individual received all that was necessary for the supply of his wants. By this singular institution, almost all the passions that disturb the peace of society were extinguished. Punishments were therefore extremely rare, and no rigorous laws were necessary. The Jesuits had so projected their plan, that their government formed an imperium in imperio. On condition of allegiance to the crown of Spain, and of paying the capitation tax for their subjects, they were left absolute masters of the administration of their extensive provinces, and their whole plan was artfully calculated for the establishment of an independent empire, which should acknowledge no other sovereign than the society. They cut off all communication between their subjects and the neighbouring settlements. They endeavoured to inspire the Indians with a hatred and contempt of the Spaniards and Portuguese, and prohibited the private traders of either nation from entering the territory of the mission. Such persons even as were admitted in a public capaeity from the neighbouring governments, were not allowed to have any conversation with the inhabitants. In order to render all communication as difficult as possible, they carefully avoided giving their subjects any knowledge of the Spanish, or any other European tongue, but laboured to make a certain native dialect the universal language throughout their do |