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South America

South America extends from Cape Gallinas in lat. 12° 30′ N., to Cape Horn in lat. 55° 59' S., a distance of 4550 m. Its shores are washed by two oceans, and three of the world's great rivers penetrate the interior. It has every variety of climate, from the intense sultry heat of the equatorial regions to the bitter frosts of the lofty mountain peaks, or of Tierra del Fuego.

In mineral and vegetable wealth it stands unrivalled, and while much of its area of 7,266,935 sq. m. is uninhabitable, owing to the mountains, the swamps, the deserts, and the inhospitable climate of the far south, yet it should and will, in time, become the home of a vast and wealth-producing population. Topographically, the continent consists of 7 grand divisions. The first of these, commencing in the N.-E, is the basin of the Orinoco, including all the country drained by that great river and its tributary streams; the second is the basin of the Amazon; the third, the mountain systems of Eastern and Southern Brazil which have no connection with the Andes; the fourth, the basin of the Plata; the fifth, the barren desert lying S. of the fortieth degree of latitude, and known as Patagonia; the sixth, a narrow strip of land varying in width from 50 to 100 m., which lies between the Andes and the Pacific; and the seventh, the lofty tablelands of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. The great chain of the Andes traverses the continent from the N. to S.from the Isthmus of Panama to the southermost point of Chili-and forms a serious barrier to communication between the E. and W. coasts. It has many lofty peaks, which rise far above the limit of perpetual snow, and among them volcanoes, which are in almost constant activity. Along the Pacific, earthquakes are of frequent occurrence, and whole cities have been destroyed with terrible loss of life. In 1859 the city of Quito in Ecuador was visited by such a disaster. The resources of the country are as diversified as its surface. In the Andes are silver mines of unsurpassed richness, which were worked long before the arrival of the Spaniards, who, after seizing the accumulated wealth of the Incas, enslaved the Indians and forced them to labor in the mines. There seems to be no limit to the productiveness of these deposits, of which those of Potosi are the most celebrated. Gold is found at many points, and the baser metals, such as lead, iron, copper, etc., abound from the isthmus of Panama to the far south, but are generally neglected; coal, salt, and other sources of wealth are not lacking. Among the indigenous vegetable products are cacao, cochineal vanilla, the potato, tobacco, cotton, Paraguay tea, corn and sugar-cane, while others which have been introduced there grow well. Thus coffee has become one of the great crops, being cultivated extensively in Brazil, Venezuela, and elsewhere. In the immense forests of the Andes and of the lowlands are found trees which give products used in medicine and manufacture. The cinchona tree, from which quinine is made, is a native. Copaiba, sarsaparilla, ipecacuanha, india-rubber, and copal are but a few of the valuable commodities which can be obtained here. Rosewood, mahogany, dyewoods, etc., grow in profusion, and constitute a large part of the exports. The treeless plains of the Argentine Republic furnish pasturage for endless herds of cattle, whose hides and carcasses are exported in great quantities. Upon the islands off the Chilian and Peruvian coasts are immense deposits of guano, while the nitrate of soda beds upon the mainland have given great commercial value to what was once regarded as worthless territory. There are but few railways, Chili having more than any other state, and the ordinary roads, where there are any, are in wretched condition. But as if to compensate for this backwardness on the part of man, nature has endowed the continent with three great river systems which bring nearly all parts of the interior within access. Of these rivers the Orinoco and Amazon which rise on the E. slope of the Andes are described more in detail elsewhere, under the heads of Venzuela and Brazil. The third, the Rio de la Plata, or river of silver, is formed by the union of the Parana and Uruguay; its headwaters being among the Brazilian mountains. The area of the territory which it drains is estimated to be 1,200,000 sq. m. By means of this stream the fertile plains of Paraguay can be reached. On the W. coast there are no rivers of any length. The continent abounds with animal life. The jungles of the river valleys, and the dense forests on the mountain slopes, are the homes of countless beasts, birds, and reptiles. The jaguar, tiger-cat, puma, hyena, wolf, ocelot, and bear are chief among the carnivora. The llama is almost the only animal which the natives had domesticated. The tapir, peccary, armadillo, sloth, and ant-eater are also deserving of mention, together with the countless species of monkeys, some of them of large size, and others so small that they can be held in the hand. The humming-birds and parrots are remarkable for the beauty of their plumage, the condor for its immense size, and the blood-sucking vampire for the damage it does to cattle. The boa-constrictor and smaller but equally dangerous serpents are found in the lowlands, and alligators and electric eels or torpedoes in the rivers, while earth and air are filled with insects whose bite or sting is perilous to man. The starting point of the primitive civilization of South America was the tableland of Bolivia, whence came the Inca rulers of Peru and Ecuador. Only there and in Columbia did the Spaniards find native races which had made any progress. All the tribes along the E. and N,-E. coast were sunk in the deepest barbarism. The country passed into the hands of the Spaniards and Portuguese with hardly a struggle, and the former retained their vast possessions until the early part of the present century, when colony after colony revolted, and all, after a series of sanguinary engagements, succeeded in winning their freedom. The territorial divisions are as follows, taking them in the order of their size :-The Republic of Brazil, the Argentine Confederation, the Republic of Peru, the Republic of Bolivia, the Republic of Colombia, Guiana, British, French and Dutch, the Republic of Venezuela, Patagonia, the Republic of Ecuador, the Republic of Chili, the Republic of Uruguay, and that of Paraguay. All the republics have been a prey to almost uninterrupted civil war, and when not disturbed by revolutions they have been engaged in conflicts with one another. The Guiana colonies have been vexed by the incursions of the wild Indians and fugitive slaves, and Brazil carried on a long and bloody war with Paraguay. The revolution found the natives of the South American States untrained in the art of self-government, and they have made but little progress in that direction since then. The population is estimated to exceed 30,000,০০০. A large proportion of the Inhabitants are Indians, numbers of them in Patagonia and the Interior of Brazil being still in a state of savagery. The whites of unmixed blood, though in the minority, are the ruling class, and next in influence come the various crosses between the whites and the natives. Negroes were brought to the country at an early date, and form a large element of the population of Brazil. The Roman Catholic religion is everywhere the predominant one, and the work of its missionaries among the Indians has resulted in their pretty general conversion. Education, especially among the women, receives but little attention, and less money is spent upon it than for military purposes. Nearly every state has a foreign debt, the interest on which is rarely paid. The money was chiefly borrowed for works of internal improvement which were not constructed. The revenues derived from the custom-house receipts, the tobacco monopoly, percentages on precious metals exported, etc., are small, and generally less than the expenditure. Manufacturing is limited to the production of the cheapest and commonest articles of domestic use, and the exports consist almost entirely of animal, mineral, and vegetable products.

PERU.