Page:The History of San Martin (1893).djvu/329

Rh white, Europeans and Creoles, 913,000 were of indigenous races, 615,000 of mixed races, and 138,000 were negro slaves. Santa Fé de Bogota was the capital of New Granada, Caracas was the capital of Venezuela. The City of Quito, situate high above the level of the sea, had been the centre of pre-Columbian civilization; during the colonial epoch it was at times attached to the Viceroyalty of New Granada, at times to that of Peru. The district of which this city was the capital has been styled the Thibet of the New World.

The two parallel ranges of the Andes, which form the valley of Chile, unite to the north of Argentine territory, but again separate in Peru, and running northward enclose Quito and the valley of Popayán, which forms the extreme south of New Granada. They then again diverge, this time into three branches, one of which forms the isthmus of Panama, while the others extend to the north-east as far as the Gulf of Mexico, wide valleys interposing between each range.

To the east of the most easterly of these ranges lies a vast plain, drained by the great river Orinoco and its tributaries. Situate under the tropic of Cancer summer and winter are there unknown, but the season from March to September is one of constant rain. During the intervening months, the rivers leave their beds and convert the vast plain into as vast a sea. When the waters retire, the plains are covered with luxuriant pasturage, giving sustenance to millions of cattle and horses, which are herded by a semi-civilized race of horsemen, known as the "llaneros" of Columbia, a race sirmlar to the "gauchos" of the Argentine pampa. The llaneros live in lonely huts, and pass their days in the saddle. Inured to fatigue and danger, they are sober and abstemious, dress in the most simple manner, are dexterous in the use of the lance, and are splendid swimmers. Endowed with such qualities, and led by men of their own race, their deeds eclipse those of the most renowned heroes of antiquity.