thickness of the skin. Another peculiarity has been remarked of them, that they have no beards. The latter, however, is occasioned by their constant practice of pulling out by the roots all the hairs, as soon as they appear.

The ordinary stature of the Americans is not very different from that of Europeans. But, owing either to their inactive life, or to some constitutional tendency with which we are unacquainted, their bodies are peculiarly plump and full. It is deserving of notice, that there is not to be seen among them an individual who is lame or deformed: at least who is known to have been so from his infancy. These people are said either to expose or put to death such of their children as are weak or irregularly shaped. A child, whose organization is defective, they consider unable, when grown to manhood, to support itself by fishing or hunting: it is an incumbrance rather than an advantage to the community; and, to prevent this, they destroy it in its infancy.

Of the manners and habits of life of the several tribes of American Indians, I shall hereafter have occasion to speak. But before I dismiss these general observations, I must say a few words concerning the natural productions of the country. These are wholly different from the productions of the old continent. Most of them differ, both in shape and appearance, from those of every other part of the world. The quadrupeds in general are smaller and weaker: there are none equal in size to the elephant and the giraffe, and few so large as the camel or the horse. Some of the reptiles, however, are of enormous size. The woods have an infinitely more majestic appearance than the forests of Europe: they represent, in their various ages, the succession of centuries; and a new soil, of immense depth, is in some places formed by the remains of ancient végetation. But what is chiefly remarkable in America, is the existence, beneath the surface of the ground, of the fossil or mineralized remains of immense quadrupeds. Nearly entire skeletons of a species of

carnivorous quadruped of greater size than any known existing animal, except perhaps the whale or the shark, have been found in the vicinity of the river Ohio. Grinding teeth have been discovered, which weighed as much as eight pounds each, and a leg bone, that measured a foot in diameter at the knob of the joint. The species of animals, however, to which these bones have belonged are now wholly unknown; nor does any authentic tradition whatever exist among the natives of the country respecting them.

Second Day's Instruction.

AMAZONIA AND RIVER AMAZON.

SOUTH AMERICA, of which I shall first speak, is an immense peninsula, four thousand five hundred miles in length, and three thousand miles in breadth. Its general features are more grand and magnificent, its mountains more stupendous, and its rivers are in general of greater width and extent, than those of the northern division of this hemisphere. The loftiest summits of its mountains, the Andes, are near the equator, and, to the depth of two thousand four hundred feet, are covered with perpetual snow. Three remarkable ridges stretch from the Andes eastward, parallel to the equator, and enclose three immense vallies or plains of Oronoko, of the river Amazon, and the pampas or plains of Buenos Ayres. These are open to the east, but are closed by the Andes towards the west. The middle valley is clad with thick forests; but the other two are for the most part savannas, or grassy plains, with a few scattered trees.

The general division of South America is into nine provinces; of Amazonia, or the territory adjacent to the river Amazon, Guiana, Terra Firma, Peru, Chili, Magellanica, Terra del Fuego, Paraguay, and Brazil.

Many of these provinces are subject to European powers; are governed by viceroys; and, for the more convenient administration of justice, are divided into audiences, and subdivided into military districts.

We will commence our survey at the River Amazon, and, successively passing through the different countries north of that river, will proceed thence to the Isthmus of Darien. After this we will turn southward, and direct our course through all the countries of the western side of South America, till we arrive at Terra del Fuego. Thence we will return, along the eastern shore, northward, through Patagonia, Buenos Ayres, Paraguay, Brazil, and other countries, to the place whence we set And first with respect to

out.

AMAZONIA,

Or the Country adjacent to the River Amazon. THIS is an extensive district, about fourteen hundred miles in length, and nine hundred in breadth. It was first discovered by a Spanish adventurer, whose name was Orellana, and who, about the year 1540, had accompanied Gonzalo Pizarro, the governor of Quito, in an expedition to discover and subdue the countries east of the Andes. After having encountered almost incredible hardships, they arrived on the banks of the Coca or Napo, one of the rivers that falls into the Amazon. Here, with infinite labour, they constructed a bark, which they hoped might be useful in collecting provisions, and transporting them across the river. This vessel was manned by fifty soldiers, and the management of it was given to Orellana. He embarked in it with these men, but being soon carried by the rapidity of the current, to a great distance down the stream, he formed the bold and treacherous project of deserting his commander, and of making conquests and discoveries independent of him. With this view he proceeded onward, and, after a voyage of seven months,

attended by many dangers, he reached the ocean in safety. Thence he proceeded to Spain, and astonished all Europe with his extraordinary adventures. Among other things, he pretended that he had discovered nations among whom gold was so abundant that the roofs of their houses were covered with this metal; and that he had passed through a country inhabited by a republic of women who possessed all the warlike qualities of the ancient Amazons. It was from the latter circumstance that the country was called Amazonia, and the river, which the Indians had previously known by the appellation of the Maragnon, was named the Amazon.

This river, one of the most extensive in the world, rises from a small lake in Peru. It runs first southward, and then eastward. In its progress, it receives many tributary streams, and, after a course of more than three thousand miles, falls into the Atlantic. Some of the rivers that join it, are not inferior in size to the Danube or the Nile; and at its mouth the Amazon itself is nearly one hundred and fifty miles across. The country through which it flows abounds in various tropical productions; but the climate throughout its whole course is, for the most part, moist and unhealthy.

The Spaniards made several attempts to form settlements on the banks of this river, but they at last abandoned them, because they did not find there either gold or silver, the chief objects of their pursuit in America. The Portuguese have a few inconsiderable settlements near the mouth of the Amazon, but, with the exception of these, the native Indians are in possession of nearly the whole country. These Indians are numerous, and are governed by chiefs or caciques, whose regal ornaments consist of a crown of feathers, a wooden sword, and a chain of tigers' teeth or claws, suspended round, the waist. Their weapons are bows and arrows, and flat-headed clubs. Some of them have shields, formed of cane closely platted: others use hatchets made of

stone; and the teeth and tusks of animals serve many of the tribes for chissels, awls, and other implements.

The following narrative will illustrate the geography of this extraordinary river, and the character of many of the Indians which inhabit its banks. It is taken from an account published by M. de la Condamine, a native of France, who with other philosophers, was employed in geographical discoveries in South America, between the years 1735 and 1743. This gentleman returned from Peru to Europe along the course of the Amazon.

Narrative of the Voyage of M. DE LA CONDAMINE down the River Amazon, from Peru to Brazil.

HE caused a kind of float to be formed on the bank of the river, for the purpose of carrying, with greater safety his instruments and baggage; and in the beginning of July, 1743, he embarked on it, under the conduct of several Indians. The place from which he embarked was not far distant from Loxa, a large town within the jurisdiction of Peru. The current flowed with great rapidity, and, in some places, the water was so deep that, with a line, near sixty feet in length, he could not reach the bottom.

He proceeded for several days without much interruption. In one instance, however, his float was driven into an eddy, and was whirled round and round for more than an hour, before it could be rowed into the main stream; and in another, it was in considerable danger from an unaccountable and sudden falling of the water. Within thirty-six hours it sunk twenty-five feet the float was drawn, by the current, through a narrow passage, the rocky sides of which were nearly perpendicular; and against these it was several times in danger of being beaten to pieces. At length he arrived at a town called Borja. Here he found himself as it were in a new world, upon a sea of fresh water, and in a labyrinth of lakes, rivers, and canals,