Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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In
Europe We Estimate The Number Of The Inhabitants Of A Country By
The Extent Of Cultivation:
Within the tropics, on the contrary, in
the warmest and most humid parts of South America, very populous
provinces appear almost deserted; because man, to find nourishment,
cultivates but a small number of acres.
These circumstances modify
the physical appearance of the country and the character of its
inhabitants, giving to both a peculiar physiognomy; the wild and
uncultivated stamp which belongs to nature, ere its primitive type
has been altered by art. Without neighbours, almost unconnected
with the rest of mankind, each family of settlers forms a separate
tribe. This insulated state arrests or retards the progress of
civilization, which advances only in proportion as society becomes
numerous, and its connexions more intimate and multiplied. But, on
the other hand, it is solitude that develops and strengthens in man
the sentiment of liberty and independence; and gives birth to that
noble pride of character which has at all times distinguished the
Castilian race.
From these causes, the land in the most populous regions of
equinoctial America still retains a wild aspect, which is destroyed
in temperate climates by the cultivation of corn. Within the
tropics the agricultural nations occupy less ground: man has there
less extended his empire; he may be said to appear, not as an
absolute master, who changes at will the surface of the soil, but
as a transient guest, who quietly enjoys the gifts of nature.
There, in the neighbourhood of the most populous cities, the land
remains studded with forests, or covered with a thick mould,
unfurrowed by the plough. Spontaneous vegetation still predominates
over cultivated plants, and determines the aspect of the landscape.
It is probable that this state of things will change very slowly.
If in our temperate regions the cultivation of corn contributes to
throw a dull uniformity upon the land we have cleared, we cannot
doubt, that, even with increasing population, the torrid zone will
preserve that majesty of vegetable forms, those marks of an
unsubdued, virgin nature, which render it so attractive and so
picturesque. Thus it is that, by a remarkable concatenation of
physical and moral causes, the choice and production of alimentary
plants have an influence on three important objects at once; the
association or the isolated state of families, the more or less
rapid progress of civilization, and the individual character of the
landscape.
In proportion as we penetrated into the forest, the barometer
indicated the progressive elevation of the land. The trunks of the
trees presented here an extraordinary phenomenon; a gramineous
plant, with verticillate branches,* climbs, like a liana, eight or
ten feet high, and forms festoons, which cross the path, and swing
about with the wind. (* Carice, analogous to the chusque of Santa
Fe, of the group of the Nastusas. This gramineous plant is
excellent pasture for mules.) We halted, about three o'clock in the
afternoon, on a small flat, known by the name of Quetepe, and
situated about one hundred and ninety toises above the level of the
sea.
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