Chapter II (4)

[182] The trade-winds sometimes reach the thirtieth parallel. See
_Daniell's Meteorological Essays_, p. 469. Dr. Traill (_Physical
Geography_, Edin. 1838, p. 200), says, 'they extend to about 30°
on each side of the equator:' but I believe they are rarely found
so high; though Robertson is certainly wrong in supposing that
they are peculiar to the tropics; _History of America_, book iv.
in _Robertson's Works_, p. 781.

[183] 'In the northern hemisphere the trade-wind blows from the
north-east, and in the southern from the south-east.' _Meyen's
Geog. of Plants_, p. 42. Compare _Walsh's Brazil_, vol. i. p.
112, vol. ii. p. 494; and on the 'tropical east-wind' of the Gulf
of Mexico, see _Forry's Climate of the United States_, p. 206.
Dr. Forry says that it has given to the growth of the trees 'an
inclination from the sea.'

[184] Respecting the causes of the trade-winds, see _Somerville's
Connexion of the Physical Sciences_, pp. 136, 137; _Leslie's
Natural Philosophy_, p. 518; _Daniell's Meteorological Essays_,
pp. 44, 102, 476-481; _Kaemtz's Meteorology_, pp. 37-39; _Prout's
Bridgewater Treatise_, pp. 254-256. The discovery of the true
theory is often ascribed to Mr. Daniell; but Hadley was the real
discoverer. _Note in Prout_, p. 257. The monsoons, which popular
writers frequently confuse with the trade-winds, are said to be
caused by the predominance of land, and by the difference between
its temperature and that of the sea: see _Kaemtz_, pp. 42-45. On
what may be called the conversion of the trades into monsoons,
according to the laws very recently promulgated by M. Dove, see
_Report of British Association for_ 1847 (_Transac. of Sections_,
p. 30) and _Report for_ 1848, p. 94. The monsoons are noticed in
_Humboldt's Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 485; _Asiatic Researches_, vol.
xviii. part i. p. 261; _Thirlwall's History of Greece_, vol. vii.
pp. 13, 55; _Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. ii. p. 90, vol.
iv. pp. 8, 9, 148, 149, 169, vol. xi. p. 162, vol. xv. pp.
146-149, vol. xvi. p. 185, vol. xviii. pp. 67, 68, vol. xxiii. p.
112; _Low's Sarawak_, p. 30.

The trade-wind, blowing on the eastern coast of South America, and proceeding from the east, crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore reaches the land surcharged with the vapours accumulated in its passage. These vapours, on touching the shore, are, at periodical intervals, condensed into rain; and as their progress westward is checked by that gigantic chain of the Andes, which they are unable to pass,[185] they pour the whole of their moisture on Brazil, which, in consequence, is often deluged by the most destructive torrents.[186] This abundant supply, being aided by that vast river-system peculiar to the eastern part of America, and being also accompanied by heat, has stimulated the soil into an activity unequalled in any other part of the world.[187] Brazil, which is nearly as large as the whole of Europe, is covered with a vegetation of incredible profusion. Indeed, so rank and luxuriant is the growth, that Nature seems to riot in the very wantonness of power. A great part of this immense country is filled with dense and tangled forests, whose noble trees, blossoming in unrivalled beauty, and exquisite with a thousand hues, throw out their produce in endless prodigality. On their summit are perched birds of gorgeous plumage, which nestle in their dark and lofty recesses. Below, their base and trunks are crowded with brushwood, creeping plants, innumerable parasites, all swarming with life. There, too, are myriads of insects of every variety; reptiles of strange and singular form; serpents and lizards, spotted with deadly beauty: all of which find means of existence in this vast workshop and repository of Nature. And that nothing may be wanting to this land of marvels, the forests are skirted by enormous meadows, which, reeking with heat and moisture, supply nourishment to countless herds of wild cattle, that browse and fatten on their herbage; while the adjoining plains, rich in another form of life, are the chosen abode of the subtlest and most ferocious animals, which prey on each other, but which it might almost seem no human power can hope to extirpate.[188]

[185] _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, pp. 201, 714, 715; see also
_Somerville's Physical Geography_, vol. ii. p. 71. And on this
confining power of the Cordillera of the Andes, see _Azara_,
_Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale_, vol. i. p. 33. According
to Dr. Tschudi, the eastern chain is properly the Andes, and the
western the Cordillera; but this distinction is rarely made.
_Tschudi's Travels in Peru_, p. 290.

[186] On the rain of Brazil, see _Daniell's Meteorological Essays_,
p. 335; _Darwin's Journal_, pp. 11, 33; _Spix and Martius's
Travels in Brazil_, vol. ii. p. 113; _Gardner's Travels in
Brazil_, pp. 53, 99, 114, 175, 233, 394.

[187] Dr. Gardner, who looked at these things with the eye of a
botanist, says that near Rio de Janeiro the heat and moisture are
sufficient to compensate even the poorest soil; so that 'rocks,
on which scarcely a trace of earth is to be observed, are covered
with vellozias, tillandsias, melastomaceæ, cacti, orchideæ, and
ferns, and all in the vigour of life.' _Gardner's Travels in
Brazil_, p. 9. See also on this combination, _Walsh's Brazil_,
vol. ii. pp. 297, 298, a curious description of the rainy season:
'For eight or nine hours a day, during some weeks, I never had a
dry shirt on me; and the clothes I divested myself of at night, I
put on quite wet in the morning. When it did not rain, which was
very rare, there shone out in some places a burning sun; and we
went smoking along, the wet exhaling by the heat, as if we were
dissolving into vapour.'

[188] On the natural history of Brazil, I have compared a few notices in
_Swainson's Geography of Animals_, pp. 75-87, with _Cuvier_,
_Règne Animal_, vol. i. p. 460, vol. ii. pp. 28, 65, 66, 89, vol.
iv. pp. 51, 75, 258, 320, 394, 485, 561, vol. v. pp. 40, 195,
272, 334, 553; _Azara_, _Amérique Méridionale_, vol. i. pp.
244-388, and the greater part of vols. iii. and iv.; _Winckler_,
_Geschichte der Botanik_, pp. 378, 576-578; _Southey's History of
Brazil_, vol. i. p. 27, vol. iii. pp. 315, 823; _Gardner's
Brazil_, pp. 18, 32-34, 41-44, 131, 330; _Spix and Martius's
Brazil_, vol. i. pp. 207-209, 238-248, vol. ii. pp. 131, 160-163.
And as to the forests, which are among the wonders of the world,
_Somerville's Physical Geog._ vol. ii. pp. 204-206; _Prichard's
Physical History_, vol. v. p. 497; _Darwin's Journal_, pp. 11,
24; _Walsh's Brazil_, vol. i. p. 145, vol. ii. pp. 29, 30, 253.

Such is the flow and abundance of life by which Brazil is marked above all the other countries of the earth.[189] But, amid this pomp and splendour of Nature, no place is left for Man. He is reduced to insignificance by the majesty with which he is surrounded. The forces that oppose him are so formidable that he has never been able to make head against them, never able to rally against their accumulated pressure. The whole of Brazil, notwithstanding its immense apparent advantages, has always remained entirely uncivilized; its inhabitants wandering savages, incompetent to resist those obstacles which the very bounty of Nature had put in their way. For the natives, like every people in the infancy of society, are averse to enterprise; and being unacquainted with the arts by which physical impediments are removed, they have never attempted to grapple with the difficulties that stopped their social progress. Indeed, those difficulties are so serious, that during more than three hundred years the resources of European knowledge have been vainly employed in endeavouring to get rid of them. Along the coast of Brazil, there has been introduced from Europe a certain amount of that civilization, which the natives by their own efforts could never have reached. But such civilization, in itself very imperfect, has never penetrated the recesses of the country; and in the interior there is still found a state of things similar to that which has always existed. The people, ignorant, and therefore brutal, practising no restraint, and recognizing no law, continue to live on in their old and inveterate barbarism.[190] In their country, the physical causes are so active, and do their work on a scale of such unrivalled magnitude, that it has hitherto been found impossible to escape from the effects of their united action. The progress of agriculture is stopped by impassable forests, and the harvests are destroyed by innumerable insects.[191] The mountains are too high to scale, the rivers are too wide to bridge; every thing is contrived to keep back the human mind, and repress its rising ambition. It is thus that the energies of Nature have hampered the spirit of Man. Nowhere else is there so painful a contrast between the grandeur of the external world and the littleness of the internal. And the mind, cowed by this unequal struggle, has not only been unable to advance, but without foreign aid it would undoubtedly have receded. For even at present, with all the improvements constantly introduced from Europe, there are no signs of real progress; while, notwithstanding the frequency of colonial settlements, less than one-fiftieth of the land is cultivated.[192] The habits of the people are as barbarous as ever; and as to their numbers, it is well worthy of remark, that Brazil, the country where, of all others, physical resources are most powerful, where both vegetables and animals are most abundant, where the soil is watered by the noblest rivers, and the coast studded by the finest harbours--this immense territory, which is more than twelve times the size of France, contains a population not exceeding six millions of people.[193]

[189] This extraordinary richness has excited the astonishment of all
who have seen it. Mr. Walsh, who had travelled in some very
fertile countries, mentions 'the exceeding fecundity of nature
which characterizes Brazil.' _Walsh's Brazil_, vol. ii. p. 19.
And a very eminent naturalist, Mr. Darwin, says (_Journal_, p.
29), 'In England, any person fond of natural history enjoys in
his walks a great advantage, by always having something to
attract his attention; but in these fertile climates, teeming
with life, the attractions are so numerous that he is scarcely
able to walk at all.'

[190] Azara (_Amérique Méridionale_, vol. ii. pp. 1-168) gives a
curious, but occasionally a disgusting account of the savage
natives in that part of Brazil south of 16°, to which his
observations were limited. And as to the inhabitants of other
parts, see _Henderson's History of Brazil_, pp. 28, 29, 107, 173,
248, 315, 473; _M'Culloh's Researches concerning America_, p. 77;
and the more recent account of Dr. Martius, in _Journal of
Geograph. Society_, vol. ii. pp. 191-199. Even in 1817, it was
rare to see a native in Rio de Janeiro (_Spix and Martius's
Travels in Brazil_, vol. i. p. 142); and Dr. Gardner (_Travels in
Brazil_, pp. 61, 62) says, that 'more than one nation of Indians
in Brazil' have returned to that savage life from which they had
apparently been reclaimed.

[191] Sir C. Lyell (_Principles of Geology_, p. 682) notices 'the
incredible number of insects which lay waste the crops in
Brazil;' and Mr. Swainson, who had travelled in that country,
says 'The red ants of Brazil are so destructive, and at the same
time so prolific, that they frequently dispute possession of the
ground with the husbandman, defy all his skill to extirpate their
colonies, and fairly compel him to leave his fields
uncultivated.' _Swainson on the Geography and Classification of
Animals_, p. 87. See more about these insects in _Darwin's
Journal_, pp. 37-43; _Southey's History of Brazil_, vol. i. pp.
144, 256, 333-335, 343, vol. ii. pp. 365, 642, vol. iii. p. 876;
_Spix and Martius's Travels in Brazil_, vol. i. p. 259, vol. ii.
p. 117; _Cuvier_, _Règne Animal_, vol. iv. p. 320.

[192] The cultivated land is estimated at from 1-1/2 to 2 per cent. See
_M'Culloch's Geog. Dict._ 1849, vol. i. p. 430.

[193] During the present century, the population of Brazil has been
differently stated at different times; the highest computation
being 7,000,000, and the lowest 4,000,000. Comp. _Humboldt_,
_Nouv. Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 855; _Gardner's Brazil_, p. 12;
_M'Culloch's Geog. Dict._ 1849, vol. i. pp. 430, 434. Mr. Walsh
describes Brazil as 'abounding in lands of the most exuberant
fertility, but nearly destitute of inhabitants.' _Walsh's
Brazil_, vol. i. p. 248. This was in 1828 and 1829, since which
the European population has increased; but, on the whole,
6,000,000 seems to be a fair estimate of what can only be known
approximatively. In _Alison's History_, vol. x. p. 229, the
number given is 5,000,000; but the area also is rather
understated.

These considerations sufficiently explain why it is, that in the whole of Brazil there are no monuments even of the most imperfect civilization; no evidence that the people had, at any period, raised themselves above the state in which they were found when their country was first discovered. But immediately opposite to Brazil there is another country, which, though situated in the same continent, and lying under the same latitude, is subjected to different physical conditions, and therefore was the scene of different social results. This is the celebrated kingdom of Peru, which included the whole of the southern tropic, and which, from the circumstances just stated, was naturally the only part of South America where any thing approaching to civilization could be attained. In Brazil, the heat of the climate was accompanied by a twofold irrigation, arising first from the immense river-system incidental to the eastern coast; and secondly, from the abundant moisture deposited by the trade-winds. From this combination there resulted that unequalled fertility, which, so far as Man was concerned, defeated its own ends, stopping his progress by an exuberance, which, had it been less excessive, it would have aided. For, as we have clearly seen, when the productive powers of Nature are carried beyond a certain point, the imperfect knowledge of uncivilized men is unable to cope with them, or in any way turn them to their own advantage. If, however, those powers, being very active, are nevertheless confined within manageable limits, there arises a state of things similar to that noticed in Asia and Africa; where the profusion of Nature, instead of hindering social progress, favoured it, by encouraging that accumulation of wealth, without some share of which progress is impossible.

In estimating, therefore, the physical conditions by which civilization was originally determined, we have to look, not merely at the exuberance, but also at what may be called the manageability of Nature; that is, we have to consider the ease with which the resources may be used, as well as the number of the resources themselves. Applying this to Mexico and Peru, we find that they were the countries of America where this combination most happily occurred. For though their resources were much less numerous than those of Brazil, they were far more easy to control; while at the same time the heat of the climate brought into play those other laws by which, as I have attempted to show, all the early civilizations were greatly influenced. It is a very remarkable fact, which, I believe, has never been observed, that even in reference to latitude, the present limit of Peru to the south corresponds with the ancient limit of Mexico to the north; while, by a striking, but to me perfectly natural coincidence, both these boundaries are reached before the tropical line is passed; the boundary of Mexico being 21° N. lat., that of Peru 21-1/2° S. lat.[194]

[194] Vidaca being the most southerly point of the present Peruvian
coast; though the conquests of Peru, incorporated with the
empire, extended far into Chili, and within a few degrees of
Patagonia. In regard to Mexico, the northern limit of the empire
was 21°, on the Atlantic coast, and 19° on the Pacific.
_Prescott's History of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 2.

Such is the wonderful regularity which history, when comprehensively studied, presents to our view. And if we compare Mexico and Peru with those countries of the Old World which have been already noticed, we shall find, as in all the civilizations anterior to those of Europe, that their social phenomena were subordinate to their physical laws. In the first place, the characteristics of their national food were precisely those met with in the most flourishing parts of Asia and Africa. For although few of the nutritious vegetables belonging to the Old World were found in the New, their place was supplied by others exactly analogous to rice and dates; that is to say, marked by the same abundance, by the same facility of growth, and by the same exuberant returns; therefore, followed by the same social results. In Mexico and Peru, one of the most important articles of food has always been maize, which, we have every reason to believe, was peculiar to the American continent.[195] This, like rice and dates, is eminently the product of a hot climate; and although it is said to grow at an elevation of upwards of 7,000 feet,[196] it is rarely seen beyond the fortieth parallel,[197] and its exuberance rapidly diminishes with the diminution of temperature. Thus, for example, in New California, its average yield is seventy or eighty fold;[198] but in Mexico Proper the same grain yields three or four hundred fold, and, under very favourable circumstances, even eight hundred fold.[199]

[195] A question has been raised as to the Asiatic origin of maize:
_Reynier_, _Economie des Arabes_, pp. 94, 95. But later and more
careful researches seem to have ascertained beyond much doubt
that it was unknown before America was discovered. Compare
_Meyen's Geography of Plants_, pp. 44, 303, 304; _Walckenaer's
note in Azara, Amérique Méridionale_, vol. i. p. 149; _Cuvier_,
_Progrès des Sciences Naturelles_, vol. ii. p. 354; _Cuvier_,
_Eloges Historiques_, vol. ii. p. 178; _Loudon's Encyclopædia of
Agriculture_, p. 829; _M'Culloch's Dict. of Commerce_, 1849, p.
831. The casual notices of maize by Ixtlilxochitl, the native
Mexican historian, show its general use as an article of food
before the arrival of the Spaniards: see _Ixtlilxochitl_,
_Histoire des Chichimèques_, vol. i. pp. 53, 64, 240, vol. ii.
p. 19.

[196] 'Maize, indeed, grows to the height of 7,200 feet above the level
of the sea, but only predominates between 3,000 and 6,000 of
elevation.' _Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom_, 1847, p. 112. This
refers to the tropical parts of South America; but the Zea Mais
is said to have been raised on the slopes of the Pyrenees 'at an
elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet.' See _Austen on the Forty Days'
Maize_, in _Report of Brit. Assoc. for_ 1849, _Trans. of Sec._
p. 68.

[197] M. Meyen (_Geog. of Plants_, p. 302) and Mr. Balfour (_Botany_, p.
567) suppose that in America 40° is about its limit; and this is
the case in regard to its extensive cultivation; but it is grown
certainly as high as 52°, perhaps as high as 54°, north latitude:
see _Richardson's Arctic Expedition_, 1851, vol. ii. pp. 49, 234.

[198] 'Sous la zone tempérée, entre les 33 et 38 degrés de latitude, par
exemple dans la Nouvelle Californie, le maïs ne produit, en
général, année commune, que 70 à 80 grains pour un.' _Humboldt_,
_la Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 375.

[199] 'La fécondité du Tlaolli, ou maïs mexicain, est au-delà de tout ce
que l'on peut imaginer en Europe. La plante, favorisée par de
fortes chaleurs et par beaucoup d'humidité, acquiert une hauteur
de deux à trois mètres. Dans les belles plaines qui s'étendent
depuis San Juan del Rio à Queretaro, par exemple dans les terres
de la grande métairie de l'Esperanza, une fanègue de maïs en
produit quelquefois huit cents. Des terrains fertiles en donnent,
année commune, trois à quatre cents.' _Humboldt_, _Nouv.
Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 374. Nearly the same estimate is given by
Mr. Ward: see _Ward's Mexico_, vol. i. p. 32, vol. ii. p. 230. In
Central America (Guatemala), maize returns three hundred for one.
_Mexique et Guatemala, par Larenaudière_, p. 257.

A people who derived their sustenance from a plant of such extraordinary fecundity, had little need to exercise their industrious energies; while at the same time they had every opportunity of increasing their numbers, and thus producing a train of social and political consequences similar to those which I have noticed in India and in Egypt. Besides this, there were, in addition to maize, other kinds of food to which the same remarks are applicable. The potato, which, in Ireland, has brought about such injurious effects by stimulating the growth of population, is said to be indigenous to Peru; and although this is denied by a very high authority,[200] there is, at all events, no doubt that it was found there in great abundance when the country was first discovered by the Europeans.[201] In Mexico, potatoes were unknown till the arrival of the Spaniards; but both Mexicans and Peruvians lived to a great extent on the produce of the banana; a vegetable whose reproductive powers are so extraordinary, that nothing but the precise and unimpeachable testimony of which we are possessed could make them at all credible. This remarkable plant is, in America, intimately connected with the physical laws of climate; since it is an article of primary importance for the subsistence of man whenever the temperature passes a certain point.[202] Of its nutritive powers, it is enough to say, that an acre sown with it will support more than fifty persons; whereas the same amount of land sown with wheat in Europe will only support two persons.[203] As to the exuberance of its growth, it is calculated that, other circumstances remaining the same, its produce is forty-four times greater than that of potatoes, and a hundred and thirty-three times greater than that of wheat.[204]

[200] 'La pomme de terre n'est pas indigène au Pérou.' _Humboldt_,
_Nouv. Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 400. On the other hand, Cuvier
(_Histoire des Sciences Naturelles_, part ii. p. 185)
peremptorily says, 'il est impossible de douter qu'elle ne soit
originaire du Pérou:' see also his _Eloges Historiques_, vol. ii.
p. 171. Compare _Winckler_, _Gesch. der Botanik_, p. 92: 'Von
einem gewissen Carate unter den Gewächsen Peru's mit dem Namen
papas aufgeführt.'

[201] And has been used ever since for food. On the Peruvian potato
compare _Tschudi's Travels in Peru_, pp. 178, 368, 386; _Ulloa's
Voyage to South America_, vol. i. pp. 287, 288. In Southern Peru,
at the height of 13,000 or 14,000 feet, a curious process takes
place, the starch of the potato being frozen into saccharine. See
a valuable paper by Mr. Bollaert in _Journal of Geograph.
Society_, vol. xxi. p. 119.

[202] Humboldt (_Nouv. Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 359) says, 'partout où la
chaleur moyenne de l'année excède vingt-quatre degrés
centigrades, le fruit du bananier est un objet de culture du plus
grand intérêt pour la subsistance de l'homme.' Compare _Bullock's
Mexico_, p. 281.

[203] _M'Culloch's Geograph. Dict._, 1849, vol. ii. p. 315.

[204] 'Je doute qu'il existe une autre plante sur le globe, qui, sur un
petit espace de terrain, puisse produire une masse de substance
nourrissante aussi considérable.' ... 'Le produit des bananes
est par conséquent à celui du froment comme 133: 1--à celui des
pommes de terre comme 44: l'_Humboldt_, _Nouvelle Espagne_, vol.
ii. pp. 362, 363. See also _Prout's Bridgewater Treatise_, p.
333, edit. 1845; _Prescott's Peru_, vol. i. pp. 131, 132;
_Prescott's Mexico_, vol. i. p. 114. Earlier notices, but very
imperfect ones, of this remarkable vegetable may be found in
_Ulloa's South America_, vol. i. p. 74; and in _Boyle's Works_,
vol. iii. p. 590.

It will now be easily understood why it was that, in all important respects, the civilizations of Mexico and Peru were strictly analogous to those of India and Egypt. In these four countries, as well as in a few others in Southern Asia and Central America, there existed an amount of knowledge, despicable indeed if tried by an European standard, but most remarkable if contrasted with the gross ignorance which prevailed among the adjoining and cotemporary nations. But in all of them there was the same inability to diffuse even that scanty civilization which they really possessed; there was the same utter absence of any thing approaching to the democratic spirit; there was the same despotic power on the part of the upper classes, and the same contemptible subservience on the part of the lower. For, as we have clearly seen, all these civilizations were affected by certain physical causes, which, though favourable to the accumulation of wealth, were unfavourable to a just subdivision of it. And as the knowledge of men was still in its infancy,[205] it was found impossible to struggle against these physical agents, or prevent them from producing those effects on the social organization which I have attempted to trace. Both in Mexico and in Peru, the arts, and particularly those branches of them which minister to the luxury of the wealthy classes, were cultivated with great success. The houses of the higher ranks were filled with ornaments and utensils of admirable workmanship; their chambers were hung with splendid tapestries; their dresses and their personal decorations betrayed an almost incredible expense; their jewels of exquisite and varied form; their rich and flowing robes embroidered with the rarest feathers, collected from the most distant parts of the empire: all supplying evidence of the possession of unlimited wealth, and of the ostentatious prodigality with which that wealth was wasted.[206] Immediately below this class came the people; and what their condition was, may be easily imagined. In Peru the whole of the taxes were paid by them; the nobles and the clergy being altogether exempt.[207] But as, in such a state of society, it was impossible for the people to accumulate property, they were obliged to defray the expenses of government by their personal labour, which was placed under the entire command of the state.[208] At the same time, the rulers of the country were well aware that, with a system like this, feelings of personal independence were incompatible; they therefore contrived laws by which, even in the most minute matters, freedom of action was controlled. The people were so shackled, that they could neither change their residence, nor alter their clothes, without permission from the governing powers To each man the law prescribed the trade he was to follow, the dress he was to wear, the wife he was to marry, and the amusements he was to enjoy.[209] Among the Mexicans the course of affairs was similar; the same physical conditions being followed by the same social results. In the most essential particular for which history can be studied, namely, the state of the people, Mexico and Peru are the counterpart of each other. For though there were many minor points of difference,[210] both were agreed in this, that there were only two classes--the upper class being tyrants, and the lower class being slaves. This was the state in which Mexico was found when it was discovered by the Europeans,[211] and towards which it must have been tending from the earliest period. And so insupportable had all this become, that we know, from the most decisive evidence, that the general disaffection it produced among the people was one of the causes which, by facilitating the progress of the Spanish invaders, hastened the downfall of the Mexican empire.[212]

[205] The only science with which they had much acquaintance was
astronomy, which the Mexicans appear to have cultivated with
considerable success. Compare the remark of La Place, in
_Humboldt_, _Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. i. p. 92, with _Prichard's
Physical History_, vol. v. pp. 323, 329; _M'Culloch's
Researches_, pp. 201-225; _Larenaudière's Mexique_, pp. 51, 52;
_Humboldt's Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 456; _Journal of Geog. Society_,
vol. vii. p. 3. However, their astronomy, as might be expected,
was accompanied by astrology: see _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Histoire des
Chichimèques_, vol. i. p. 168, vol. ii. pp. 94, 111.

[206] The works of art produced by the Mexicans and Peruvians are
under-rated by Robertson: who, however, admits that he had never
seen them. _History of America_, book vii., in _Robertson's
Works_, pp. 909, 920. But during the present century considerable
attention has been paid to this subject: and in addition to the
evidence of skill and costly extravagance collected by Mr.
Prescott, _History of Peru_, vol. i. pp. 28, 142; _History of
Mexico_, vol. i. pp. 27, 28, 122, 256, 270, 307, vol. ii. pp.
115, 116, I may refer to the testimony of M. Humboldt, the only
traveller in the New World who has possessed a competent amount
of physical as well as historical knowledge. _Humboldt, Nouvelle
Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 483, and elsewhere. Compare Mr. Pentland's
observations on the tombs in the neighbourhood of Titicaca
(_Jour. of Geog. Soc._ vol. x. p. 554) with _M'Culloh's
Researches_, pp. 364-366; _Mexique par Larenaudière_, pp. 41, 42,
66; _Ulloa's South America_, vol. i. pp. 465, 466.

[207] 'The members of the royal house, the great nobles, even the public
functionaries, and the numerous body of the priesthood, were all
exempt from taxation. The whole duty of defraying the expenses of
the government belonged to the people.' _Prescott's History of
Peru_, vol. i. p. 56.

[208] Ondegardo emphatically says, 'Solo el trabajo de las personas era
el tributo que se dava, porque ellos no poseian otra cosa.'
_Prescott's Peru_, vol. i. p. 57. Compare _M'Culloh's
Researches_, p. 359. In Mexico the state of things was just the
same: 'Le petit peuple, qui ne possédait point de biens-fonds, et
qui ne faisait point de commerce, payait sa part des taxes en
travaux de différents genres; c'était par lui que les terres de
la couronne étaient cultivées, les ouvrages publics exécutés, et
les diverses maisons appartenantes à l'empereur construites ou
entretenues.' _Larenaudière's Mexique_, p. 39.

[209] Mr. Prescott notices this with surprise, though, under the
circumstances, it was in truth perfectly natural. He says (_Hist.
of Peru_, vol. i. p. 159), 'Under this extraordinary polity, a
people, advanced in many of the social refinements, well skilled
in manufactures and agriculture, were unacquainted, as we have
seen, with money. They had nothing that deserved to be called
property. They could follow no craft, could engage in no labour,
no amusement, but such as was specially provided by law. They
could not change their residence or their dress without a licence
from the government. They could not even exercise the freedom
which is conceded to the most abject in other countries--that of
selecting their own wives.'

[210] The Mexicans being, as Prichard says (_Physical History_, vol. v.
p. 467), of a more cruel disposition than the Peruvians; but our
information is too limited to enable us to determine whether this
was mainly owing to physical causes or to social ones. Herder
preferred the Peruvian civilization: 'der gebildetste Staat
dieses Welttheils, Peru.' _Ideen zur Geschichte der Menschheit_,
vol. i. p. 33.

[211] See in _Humboldt's Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. i. p. 101, a striking
summary of the state of the Mexican people at the time of the
Spanish Conquest: see also _History of America_, book vii., in
_Robertson's Works_, p. 907.

[212] _Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 34.
Compare a similar remark on the invasion of Egypt in _Bunsen's
Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 414.

The further this examination is carried, the more striking becomes the similarity between those civilizations which flourished anterior to what may be called the European epoch of the human mind. The division of a nation into castes would be impossible in the great European countries; but it existed from a remote antiquity in Egypt, in India, and apparently in Persia.[213] The very same institution was rigidly enforced in Peru;[214] and what proves how consonant it was to that stage of society, is, that in Mexico, where castes were not established by law, it was nevertheless a recognised custom that the son should follow the occupation of his father.[215] This was the political symptom of that stationary and conservative spirit, which, as we shall hereafter see, has marked every country in which the upper classes have monopolized power. The religious symptom of the same spirit was displayed in that inordinate reverence for antiquity, and in that hatred of change, which the greatest of all the writers on America has well pointed out as an analogy between the natives of Mexico and those of Hindostan.[216] To this may be added, that those who have studied the history of the ancient Egyptians, have observed among that people a similar tendency. Wilkinson, who is well known to have paid great attention to their monuments, says that they were more unwilling than any other nation to alter their religious worship;[217] and Herodotus, who travelled in their country two thousand three hundred years ago, assures us that, while they preserved old customs, they never acquired new ones.[218] In another point of view, the similarity between these distant countries is equally interesting, since it evidently arises from the causes already noticed as common to both. In Mexico and Peru, the lower classes being at the disposal of the upper, there followed that frivolous waste of labour which we have observed in Egypt, and evidence of which may also be seen in the remains of those temples and palaces which are still found in several parts of Asia. Both Mexicans and Peruvians erected immense buildings, which were as useless as those of Egypt, and which no country could produce, unless the labour of the people were ill-paid and ill directed.[219] The cost of these monuments of vanity is unknown; but it must have been enormous; since the Americans, being ignorant of the use of iron,[220] were unable to employ a resource by which, in the construction of large works, labour is greatly abridged. Some particulars, however, have been preserved, from which an idea may be formed on this subject. To take, for instance, the palaces of their kings: we find that in Peru, the erection of the royal residence occupied, during fifty years, 20,000 men;[221] while that of Mexico cost the labour of no less than 200,000: striking facts, which, if all other testimonies had perished, would enable us to appreciate the condition of countries in which, for such insignificant purposes, such vast power was expended.[222]

[213] That there were castes in Persia is stated by Firdousi; and his
assertion, putting aside its general probability, ought to
outweigh the silence of the Greek historians, who, for the most
part, knew little of any country except their own. According to
Malcolm, the existence of caste in the time of Jemsheed, is
confirmed by some 'Mahomedan authors;' but he does not say who
they were. _Malcolm's History of Persia_, vol. i. pp. 505, 506.
Several attempts have been made, but very unsuccessfully, to
ascertain the period in which castes were first instituted.
Compare _Asiatic Researches_, vol. vi. p. 251; Heeren's _African
Nations_, vol. ii. p. 121; _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 410;
_Rammohun Roy on the Veds_, p. 269.

[214] _Prescott's History of Peru_, vol. i. pp. 143, 156.

[215] _Prescott's History of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 124.

[216] 'Les Américains, comme les habitans de l'Indoustan, et comme tous
les peuples qui ont gémi long-temps sous le despotisme civil et
religieux, tiennent avec une opiniâtreté extraordinaire à leurs
habitudes, à leurs m[oe]urs, à leurs opinions.... Au Mexique,
comme dans l'Indoustan, il n'étoit pas permis aux fidèles de
changer la moindre chose aux figures des idoles. Tout ce qui
appartenoit au rite des Aztèques et des Hindous étoit assujéti à
des lois immuables.' _Humboldt_, _Nouv. Espagne_, vol. i. pp. 95,
97. Turgot (_[OE]uvres_, vol. ii. pp. 226, 313, 314) has some
admirable remarks on this fixity of opinion natural to certain
states of society. See also _Herder's Ideen zur Geschichte_, vol.
iii. pp. 34, 35; and for other illustrations of this unpliancy of
thought, and adherence to old customs, which many writers suppose
to be an eastern peculiarity but which is far more widely spread,
and is, as Humboldt clearly saw, the result of an unequal
distribution of power, compare _Turner's Embassy to Tibet_, p.
41; _Forbes's Oriental Memoirs_, vol. i. pp. 15, 164, vol. ii. p.
236; _Mill's History of India_, vol. ii. p. 214; _Elphinstone's
History of India_, p. 48; _Otter's Life of Clarke_, vol. ii. p.
109; _Transac. of Asiatic Society_, vol. ii. p. 64; _Journal of
Asiat. Society_, vol. viii. p. 116.

[217] 'How scrupulous the Egyptians were, above all people, in
permitting the introduction of new customs in matters relating to
the gods.' _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. iii. p. 262.
Compare p. 275. Thus, too, M. Bunsen notices the 'tenacity with
which the Egyptians adhered to old manners and customs.'
_Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 64. See also some remarks on the
difference between this spirit and the love of novelty among the
Greeks, in _Ritter's History of Ancient Philosophy_, vol. iv. pp.
625, 626.

[218] _Herodot._ book ii. chap. 79: [Greek: patriosi de chreômenoi
nomoisi allon oudena epikteôntai]: and see the note in _Baehr_,
vol. i. p. 660: '[Greek: nomous] priores interpretes explicarunt
_cantilenas_, _hymnos_; Schweighæuserus rectius intellexit
_instituta ac mores_.' In the same way, in Timæus, Plato
represents an Egyptian priest saying to Solon, [Greek: Hellênes
aei paides este, gerôn de Hellên ouk estin]. And when Solon asked
what he meant, [Greek: Neoi este], was the reply, [Greek: tas
psychas pantes; oudemian gar en autais echete di archaian akoên
palaian doxan oude mathêma chronps polion ouden]. Chap. v. in
_Platonis Opera_, vol. vii. p. 242, edit. Bekker, Lond. 1826.

[219] The Mexicans appear to have been even more wantonly prodigal than
the Peruvians. See, respecting their immense pyramids, one of
which, Cholula had a base 'twice as broad as the largest Egyptian
pyramid,' _M'Culloh's Researches_, pp. 252-256; _Bullock's
Mexico_, pp. 111-115, 414; _Humboldt's Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. i.
pp. 240, 241.

[220] _Prescott's History of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 117, vol. iii.
p. 341; and _Prescott's History of Peru_, vol. i. p. 145. See
also _Haüy_, _Traité de Minéralogie_, Paris, 1801, vol. iv. p.
372.

[221] _Prescott's History of Peru_, vol. i. p. 18.

[222] Mr. Prescott (_History of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 153) says, 'We are
not informed of the time occupied in building this palace; but
200,000 workmen, it is said, were employed on it. However this
may be, it is certain that the Tezcucan monarchs, like those of
Asia and ancient Egypt, had the control of immense masses of men,
and would sometimes turn the whole population of a conquered
city, including the women, into the public works. The most
gigantic monuments of architecture which the world has witnessed
would never have been reared by the hands of freemen.' The
Mexican historian, Ixtlilxochitl, gives a curious account of one
of the royal palaces. See his _Histoire de Chichiméques_,
translated by Ternaux-Compans, Paris, 1840, vol. i. pp. 257-262,
chap. xxxvii.

The preceding evidence, collected from sources of unquestioned credibility, proves the force of those great physical laws, which, in the most flourishing countries out of Europe, encouraged the accumulation of wealth, but prevented its dispersion; and thus secured to the upper classes a monopoly of one of the most important elements of social and political power. The result was, that in all those civilizations the great body of the people derived no benefit from the national improvements; hence, the basis of the progress being very narrow, the progress itself was very insecure.[223] When, therefore, unfavourable circumstances arose from without, it was but natural that the whole system should fall to the ground. In such countries, society, being divided against itself, was unable to stand. And there can be no doubt that long before the crisis of their actual destruction, these one-sided and irregular civilizations had begun to decay; so that their own degeneracy aided the progress of foreign invaders, and secured the overthrow of those ancient kingdoms, which, under a sounder system, might have been easily saved.

[223] This may be illustrated by a good remark of M. Matter, to the
effect that when the Egyptians had once lost their race of kings,
it was found impossible for the nation to reconstruct itself.
_Matter_, _Histoire de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, vol. i. p. 68; a
striking passage. In Persia, again, when the feeling of loyalty
decayed, so also did the feeling of national power. _Malcolm's
History of Persia_, vol. ii. p. 130. The history of the most
civilized parts of Europe presents a picture exactly the reverse
of this.

Thus far as to the way in which the great civilizations exterior to Europe have been affected by the peculiarities of their food, climate, and soil. It now remains for me to examine the effect of those other physical agents to which I have given the collective name of Aspects of Nature, and which will be found suggestive of some very wide and comprehensive inquiries into the influence exercised by the external world in predisposing men to certain habits of thought, and thus giving a particular tone to religion, arts, literature, and, in a word, to all the principal manifestations of the human mind. To ascertain how this is brought about, forms a necessary supplement to the investigations just concluded. For, as we have seen that climate, food, and soil mainly concern the accumulation and distribution of wealth, so also shall we see that the Aspects of Nature concern the accumulation and distribution of thought. In the first case, we have to do with the material interests of Man; in the other case with his intellectual interests. The former I have analyzed as far as I am able, and perhaps as far as the existing state of knowledge will allow.[224] But the other, namely, the relation between the Aspects of Nature and the mind of Man, involves speculations of such magnitude, and requires such a mass of materials drawn from every quarter, that I feel very apprehensive as to the result; and I need hardly say, that I make no pretensions to anything approaching an exhaustive analysis, nor can I hope to do more than generalize a few of the laws of that complicated, but as yet unexplored, process by which the external world has affected the human mind, has warped its natural movements, and too often checked its natural progress.

[224] I mean in regard to the physical and economical generalizations.
As to the literature of the subject, I am conscious of many
deficiencies, particularly in respect to the Mexican and Peruvian
histories.

The Aspects of Nature, when considered from this point of view, are divisible into two classes: the first class being those which are most likely to excite the imagination; and the other class being those which address themselves to the understanding commonly so called, that is, to the mere logical operations of the intellect. For although it is true that, in a complete and well-balanced mind, the imagination and the understanding each play their respective parts, and are auxiliary to each other, it is also true that, in a majority of instances, the understanding is too weak to curb the imagination and restrain its dangerous licence. The tendency of advancing civilization is to remedy this disproportion, and invest the reasoning powers with that authority, which, in an early stage of Society, the imagination exclusively possesses. Whether or not there is ground for fearing that the reaction will eventually proceed too far, and that the reasoning faculties will in their turn tyrannize over the imaginative ones, is a question of the deepest interest; but, in the present condition of our knowledge, it is probably an insoluble one. At all events, it is certain that nothing like such a state has yet been seen; since, even in this age, when the imagination is more under control than in any preceding one, it has far too much power; as might be easily proved, not only from the superstitions which in every country still prevail among the vulgar, but also from that poetic reverence for antiquity, which, though it has been long diminishing, still hampers the independence, blinds the judgment, and circumscribes the originality of the educated classes.

Now, so far as natural phenomena are concerned, it is evident, that whatever inspires feelings of terror, or of great wonder, and whatever excites in the mind an idea of the vague and uncontrollable, has a special tendency to inflame the imagination, and bring under its dominion the slower and more deliberate operations of the understanding. In such cases, Man, contrasting himself with the force and majesty of Nature, becomes painfully conscious of his own insignificance. A sense of inferiority steals over him. From every quarter innumerable obstacles hem him in, and limit his individual will. His mind, appalled by the indefined and indefinable, hardly cares to scrutinize the details of which such imposing grandeur consists.[225] On the other hand, where the works of Nature are small and feeble, Man regains confidence; he seems more able to rely on his own power; he can, as it were, pass through and exercise authority in every direction. And as the phenomena are more accessible, it becomes easier for him to experiment on them, or to observe them with minuteness; an inquisitive and analytic spirit is encouraged, and he is tempted to generalize the appearances of Nature, and refer them to the laws by which they are governed.

[225] The sensation of fear, even when there is no danger, becomes
strong enough to destroy the pleasure that would otherwise be
felt. See, for instance, a description of the great mountain
boundary of Hindostan, in _Asiatic Researches_, vol. xi. p. 469:
'It is necessary for a person to place himself in our situation
before he can form a just conception of the scene. The depth of
the valley below, the progressive elevation of the intermediate
hills, and the majestic splendour of the cloud-capped Himalaya,
formed so grand a picture, that the mind was impressed with a
sensation of dread rather than of pleasure.' Compare vol. xiv. p.
116, Calcutta, 1822. In the Tyrol, it has been observed, that the
grandeur of the mountain scenery imbues the minds of the natives
with fear, and has caused the invention of many superstitious
legends. _Alison's Europe_, vol. ix. pp. 79, 80.

Looking in this way at the human mind as affected by the Aspects of Nature, it is surely a remarkable fact, that all the great early civilizations were situated within and immediately adjoining the tropics, where those aspects are most sublime, most terrible, and where Nature is, in every respect, most dangerous to Man. Indeed, generally, in Asia, Africa, and America, the external world is more formidable than in Europe. This holds good not only of the fixed and permanent phenomena, such as mountains, and other great natural barriers, but also of occasional phenomena, such as earthquakes, tempests, hurricanes, pestilences; all of which are in those regions very frequent and very disastrous. These constant and serious dangers produce effects analogous to those caused by the sublimity of Nature, in so far, that in both cases there is a tendency to increase the activity of the imagination. For the peculiar province of the imagination being to deal with the unknown, every event which is unexplained, as well as important, is a direct stimulus to our imaginative faculties. In the tropics, events of this kind are more numerous than elsewhere; it therefore follows that in the tropics the imagination is most likely to triumph. A few illustrations of the working of this principle will place it in a clearer light, and will prepare the reader for the arguments based upon it.

Of those physical events which increase the insecurity of Man, earthquakes are certainly among the most striking, in regard to the loss of life which they cause, as also in regard to their sudden and unexpected occurrence. There is reason to believe that they are always preceded by atmospheric changes which strike immediately at the nervous system, and thus have a direct physical tendency to impair the intellectual powers.[226] However this may be, there can be no doubt as to the effect they produce in encouraging particular associations and habits of thought. The terror which they inspire excites the imagination even to a painful extent, and, overbalancing the judgment, predisposes men to superstitious fancies. And what is highly curious, is, that repetition, so far from blunting such feelings, strengthens them. In Peru, where earthquakes appear to be more common than in any other country,[227] every succeeding visitation increases the general dismay; so that, in some cases, the fear becomes almost insupportable.[228] The mind is thus constantly thrown into a timid and anxious state: and men witnessing the most serious dangers, which they can neither avoid nor understand, become impressed with a conviction of their own inability, and of the poverty of their own resources.[229] In exactly the same proportion, the imagination is aroused, and a belief in supernatural interference actively encouraged. Human power failing, superhuman power is called in; the mysterious and the invisible are believed to be present; and there grow up among the people those feelings of awe and of helplessness, on which all superstition is based, and without which no superstition can exist.[230]

[226] 'Une augmentation d'électricité s'y manifeste aussi presque
toujours, et ils sont généralement annoncés par le mugissement
des bestiaux, par l'inquiétude des animaux domestiques, et dans
les hommes par cette sorte de malaise qui, en Europe, précède les
orages dans les personnes nerveuses.' _Cuvier_, _Prog. des
Sciences_, vol. i. p. 265. See also, on this 'Vorgefühl,' the
observation of Von Hoff, in Mr. Mallet's valuable essay on
earthquakes (_Brit. Assoc. for_ 1850, p. 68); and the
'foreboding' in _Tschudi's Peru_, p. 165; and a letter in
_Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. iv. p.
504. The probable connexion between earthquakes and electricity
is noticed in _Bakewell's Geology_, p. 434.

[227] 'Peru is more subject perhaps than any other country to the
tremendous visitation of earthquakes.' _M'Culloch's Geog. Dict._
1849. vol. ii. p. 499. Dr. Tschudi (_Travels in Peru_, p. 162)
says of Lima, 'at an average forty-five shocks may be counted on
in the year.' See also on the Peruvian earthquakes, pp. 43, 75,
87, 90.

[228] A curious instance of association of ideas conquering the
deadening effect of habit. Dr. Tschudi (_Peru_, p. 170),
describing the panic, says, 'no familiarity with the phenomenon
can blunt this feeling.' Beale (_South-Sea Whaling Voyage_, Lond.
1839, p. 205) writes, 'it is said at Peru, that the oftener the
natives of the place feel those vibrations of the earth, instead
of becoming habituated to them, as persons do who are constantly
exposed to other dangers, they become more filled with dismay
every time the shock is repeated, so that aged people often find
the terror a slight shock will produce almost insupportable.'
Compare _Darwin's Journal_, pp. 422, 423. So, too, in regard to
Mexican earthquakes, Mr. Ward observes, that 'the natives are
both more sensible than strangers of the smaller shocks, and more
alarmed by them.' _Ward's Mexico_, vol. ii. p. 55. On the
physiological effects of the fear caused by earthquakes, see the
remarkable statement by Osiander in _Burdach's Physiologie comme
Science d'Observation_, vol. ii. pp. 223, 224. That the fear
should be not deadened by familiarity, but increased by it, would
hardly be expected by speculative reasoners unacquainted with the
evidence; and we find, in fact, that the Pyrrhonists asserted
that [Greek: hoi goun seisma par' hois synechôs apotelountai, ou
thaumazontai; oud' ho hêlios, hoti kath' hêmeran horatai.] _Diog.
Laert. de Vitis Philos._ lib. ix. segm. 87, vol. i. p. 591.

[229] Mr. Stephens, who gives a striking description of ancearthquake
in Central America, emphatically says, 'I never felt myself so
feeble a thing before.' _Stephens's Central America_, vol. i. p.
383. See also the account of the effects produced on the mind by
an earthquake, in _Transac. of Soc. of Bombay_, vol. iii. p. 98,
and the note at p. 105.

[230] The effect of earthquakes in encouraging superstition, is noticed
in Lyell's admirable work, _Principles of Geology_, p. 492.
Compare a myth on the origin of earthquakes in _Beausobre_,
_Histoire Critique de Manichée_, vol. i. p. 243.