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BUY THIS AND TAKE IT WITH YOU. 
 
 Every Number Complete. J!e~ Price 15 cents 
 
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT: 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 ITS DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST — OPERATIONS OF CORTEZ 
 
 IN MEXICO, AND PIZARRO IN PERU MANNERS, 
 
 CUSTOMS, AND CEREMONIES 
 
 WITH A SKETCII OP THE 
 
 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS PRO- 
 DUCTS, SCENERY, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, AND LAKES. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 THE CITY OF MEXICO UNDER THE SPANIARDS, AND NEW 
 ORLEANS UNDER THE FRENCH. 
 
 Compile from tfje most 3£UI£a&It Jgourm.. - 
 
 BY ROBERT^D.'UNGER. / °' C~ 
 
 P IT I L A D E L P II I A:" °* ^ashinSt?*' 
 PUBLISHED BY J. J. FULLMER & CO. 
 1854. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, 
 Br J. J. Fullmer, 
 In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the Eastern District 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Slote A Moonbt, Stereotype™. 
 Merrirew «fc TRompsok, Printers 
 
 ©\ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In presenting the following pages to the public, 
 the compiler would remark that he expects no 
 credit or literary fame whatever for any industry 
 he has exercised in their production. His object 
 has been to employ his time usefully, and to give, 
 in a condensed and entertaining form, historical 
 facts worthy of being known by every man, woman 
 and child. Histories of America, as it was, hun- 
 dreds of years ago, are a rarity, and those few that 
 do exist are filled with much that is dull and not 
 easily understood. In preparing this number of 
 the Historical Cabinet, which, although the com- 
 mencement of a series, is complete in itself, an at- 
 tempt has been made, and, the compiler flatters him- 
 self, successfully, to embody, in a small compass, 
 much that is of special import, from the discovery 
 of America by Columbus down to the year 1800. 
 Believing that the perusal of these pages will en- 
 lighten and instruct hundreds and thousands, who 
 are now ignorant of the early history of our conti- 
 
 a. \ v } 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 nent, the compiler submits them without further 
 comment. If they succeed in doing so, the time 
 spent upon them will be considered as profitably 
 employed. 
 
 THE COMPILER. 
 
AMERICA. 
 
 DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST 
 
 America is a country of vast extent and territory, and 
 which, though not cultivated so much by the hand of art as 
 other portions of the globe, owes, in many respects, more 
 to that of nature than any other division of the universe. 
 The particular circumstances of this country require that we 
 should, without describing its present state, afford such in- 
 formation with regard to its discovery as is necessary for 
 satisfying our readers. 
 
 Venice and Genoa, towards the close of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, were the only powers in Europe who owed their sup- 
 port to commerce. An interference of interests inspired a 
 mutual rivalship ; but, in traffic, Venice was much superior. 
 She engrossed the whole commerce of India, then, and 
 indeed always, the most valuable in the world, but hitherto 
 carried on through the inland parts of Asia, or by the way 
 of Egypt and the Red Sea. In this state of affairs, Colum- 
 bus, a native of Genoa, whose knowledge of the true figure 
 of the earth, however attained, was much superior to the 
 general notions of the age in which he lived, conceived a 
 project of sailing to the Indies by a bold and unknown 
 route, and of opening to his country a new source of opu- 
 lence and power. But this purpose of sailing westward to 
 the Indies was rejected by the Genoese as chimerical, and 
 the principles on which it was founded as absurd. Stung 
 
 CO 
 
8 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 with disappointment and indignation, Columbus retired from 
 his country, and laid his scheme before the Court of France, 
 where his reception was still more mortifying, and where, 
 according to the general practice of that people, he was 
 laughed at and ridiculed. Henry VII., of England, was 
 his next resort; but the cautious politics of that prince 
 were the most opposite imaginable to a great but uncertain 
 design. 
 
 In Portugal, where the spirit of adventure and discovery, 
 about this time, began to operate, he had reason to expect 
 better success. But the Portuguese contented themselves 
 with creeping along the coast of Africa, and discovering one 
 cape after another. They had no notion of venturing 
 boldly into the open sea. Such repeated disappointments 
 would have broken the spirit of any man but Columbus. 
 The expedition required expense, and he had not the means 
 of defraying it. His mind, however, still remained firm. 
 He became more intent on his design, the more difficulty he 
 found in accomplishing it, and was inspired with that noble 
 enthusiasm which always animates an adventurous and origi- 
 nal genius. His only resource now, was Spain ; and there, 
 after eight years' attendance, he succeeded, and chiefly 
 through the interest of Queen Isabella. Columbus now set 
 sail in the year 1492, with a fleet of three ships, upon the 
 most adventurous attempt ever undertaken by man, and in 
 the fate of which the inhabitants of two worlds were inter- 
 ested. In this voyage he had many, many difficulties to 
 contend with ; the most striking was the variation of the 
 compass, then first observed, and which seemed to threaten 
 that the laws of nature were altered in an unknown ocean, 
 and that the only guide he had left was ready to forsake 
 him. His sailors, who had long been discontented, now 
 broke out into open mutiny, threatening to throw him over- 
 board, and insisted on their return. But the firmness of the 
 commander, and much more, the discovery of land, after 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 9 
 
 sailing thirty-three days, put an end to the commotion. 
 Columbus first landed on one of the Bahama Islands ; but 
 here, to his surprise and sorrow, he discovered, from the 
 poverty of the islanders, that these could not be the Indies 
 he was in search of. In steering southward, however, he 
 found the island called Hispaniola, (now St. Domingo,) 
 abounding in all the necessaries of life, inhabited by a hu- 
 mane and hospitable people, and, what was of still greater 
 consequence, as it insured his favorable reception at home, 
 promising, from some samples he received, considerable 
 quantities of gold. This island, therefore, he proposed to 
 make the centre of his discoveries, and having left upon it a 
 few of his companions, as the ground-work of a colony, 
 returned to Spain to procure the necessary reinforcements. 
 
 The Spanish Court was then at Barcelona. Columbus 
 travelled thither from Seville, amidst the acclamations of the 
 people, attended by some of the inhabitants, the gold, the 
 arms, the ornaments, and utensils of the country he had dis- 
 covered. This entry into Barcelona was a species of triumph 
 more glorious than that of conquerors, more uncommon and 
 more innocent. In this voyage he had acquired a general 
 knowledge of all the islands in the great sea which divides 
 North and South America, but he had no idea that there 
 was an immense ocean between him and China. The coun- 
 tries which he had discovered, were considered as a part of 
 India. Even after the error, which gave rise to this opinion, 
 was detected, and the true position of the New World was 
 ascertained, the name has remained, and the appellation of 
 the West Indies is given to the country, and that of Indi- 
 ans to its inhabitants. Thus the West Indies were discovered 
 by seeking a passage to the East; and, even after the dis- 
 covery, still conceived to be a part of the Eastern hemis- 
 phere. 
 
 The present success of Columbus, his former disappoint- 
 ments, and the glory attending so important and unsuspected 
 
10 THE HISTOEICAL CABINET. 
 
 a discovery, rendered the Court of Spain as eager to forward 
 his designs as it had been dilatory before. A fleet of seven- 
 teen ships was immediately prepared ; all the necessaries for 
 conquest or discovery were embarked ; fifteen hundred men, 
 among whom were some of high rank and fortune, prepared 
 to accompany Columbus, now appointed Governor, with the 
 most ample authority. It is impossible to discover whether 
 the genius of this great man, in first conceiving the idea 
 of these discoveries, or his sagacity in the execution of the 
 plan he had conceived, most deserved admiration. Instead 
 of hurrying from sea to sea, and from one island to another, 
 which, considering the ordinary motives to action among 
 mankind, was naturally to be expected, Columbus, with 
 such a field before him, unable to turn on either hand with- 
 out finding new objects of his curiosity and his pride, deter- 
 mined rather to turn to the advantage of the Court of 
 Spain the discoveries he had already made, than to acquire 
 for himself the unavailing applause of visiting a number of 
 unknown countries, from which he reaped no other benefit 
 but the pleasure of seeing them. With this view he made 
 for Hispaniola, where he established a colony, and erected 
 forts in the most advantageous grounds for securing the de- 
 pendence of the natives. Having spent a considerable time 
 in this employment, and labored with much assiduity and 
 zeal for establishing this colony, as if his views extended no 
 further, he next proceeded to ascertain and examine what 
 advantages were most likely to be derived from his other 
 discoveries. He had already touched at Cuba, which, from 
 some specimens, seemed a rich discovery; but whether it 
 was an island, or a part of some great continent, he was 
 altogether uncertain. To ascertain this point was the present 
 object of his intention. In coasting along the southern 
 shore of Cuba, Columbus was entangled in a multitude of 
 islands, of which he reckoned one hundred and sixty in one, 
 day. These islands, which were well inhabited, and abound- 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 11 
 
 ing in all the necessaries of life, gave him an opportunity 
 of reflecting on this fertility of nature, where the world 
 expected nothing but the barren ocean ; he called it the 
 Queen's Garden, in gratitude to his royal benefactress, who 
 was always uppermost in his memory. In the same voyage 
 Jamaica was discovered. But to so many difficulties was 
 Columbus exposed, on an unknown sea, among rocks, shelves 
 and sands, that he returned to Hispaniola without learning 
 anything more certain with regard to Cuba — the main object 
 of this enterprise. 
 
 By the first success of this great man, public diffidence 
 was turned into admiration ; but by a continuance of this 
 same success, admiration degenerated into envy. His ene- 
 mies in Spain set every spring in motion against him ; and 
 there is no difficulty in finding specious grounds of accusa- 
 tion against such as are employed in the execution of an 
 extensive and complicated plan. An officer was despatched 
 from Spain, fitted by his character to act the spy and in- 
 former, and whose presence plainly demonstrated to Columbus 
 the necessity of returning to Europe, in order to obviate the 
 objections or calumny of his enemies. 
 
 It was not without great difficulty that he was enabled to 
 set out on a third expedition, still more famous than any he 
 had hitherto undertaken. He designed to stand to the south- 
 ward of the Canary Islands, until he came under the equi- 
 noctial line, and then to proceed directly westward, that he 
 might discover what opening that might afford to India, or 
 what new islands, or what continent, might reward his labor. 
 In this navigation, after being long buried in a thick fog, 
 and suffering numberless inconveniences from the excessive 
 heats and rains between the tropics, they were at length 
 favored with a smart gale, and went before it seventeen days 
 to the westward. At the end of this time, a seaman saw 
 land, which was an island on the coast of Guiana, now 
 called Trinidad. Having passed this island, and two others 
 
12 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 which lie in the mouth of the great river Orinoco, the ad- 
 miral was surprised with an appearance he had never seen 
 before; this was the frightful tumult of the waves, occa- 
 sioned by a conflict between the tide of the sea and the 
 rapid current of the immense river Orinoco. But, sailing 
 forward, he plainly discovered that they were in fresh water; 
 and judging rightly that it was improbable any island 
 should supply so vast a river, he began to suspect he had 
 discovered the continent; but when he left the river, and 
 found that the land continued on the westward for a great 
 way, he was convinced of it. Satisfied with this discovery, 
 he yielded to the uneasiness and distresses of his crew, and 
 bore away for Hispaniola. In the course of this discovery, 
 Columbus landed at several places, where, in a friendly 
 manner, he traded with the inhabitants, and found gold and 
 pearls in tolerable plenty. 
 
 About this time the spirit of discovery spread itself widely, 
 and many adventurers all over Europe wished to acquire the 
 reputation of Columbus, without possessing his abilities. 
 The Portuguese discovered Brazil. Cabot, an Italian, and 
 a resident of Bristol, in England, discovered the north-east 
 coasts, which afterwards composed the British Empire in 
 North America ; and Amerigo Vespuccio, a merchant of 
 Florence, in Italy, sailed to the southern continent of Ame- 
 rica, and being a man of wealth and good address, had the 
 honor of giving his name to half the globe. But no one is 
 now imposed upon by the name ; all the world knows that 
 Columbus was the first discoverer. The being deprived of 
 the honoc^pf giving his name to the new world, was one 
 of the smallest mortifications to which this great man was 
 compelled to submit. For such were the clamors of his 
 enemies, and the ingratitude of the Court of Spain, that, 
 after discovering the continent, and making settlements in 
 the islands of America, b" was treated like a traitor and 
 carried over to Europe in irons He enjoyed, however, the 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 13 
 
 glory of rendering the one-half of the world known to the 
 other; a glory so much the more precious, as it was un- 
 tainted by plunder or cruelty, which disgraced all the ex- 
 ploits of those who came after him, and accomplished the 
 execution of his plan. He fully vindicated himself at 
 court, was restored to favor, and undertook another voyage, 
 in which he suifered great fatigues. He returned to Spain, 
 and died at Valladolid, in 1506, iu the 59rh year of his age. 
 Christopher Columbus was born in the year 1447. He 
 passed an early part of his youth in the employment of 
 wool-carding, but was permitted % spend some time, how 
 much is unknown, at the university of Pavia, where he 
 learnt Latin, and attended to the studies connected with 
 the art of navigation, especially drawing, astronomy, and 
 geography. The vicissitude and variety of a nautical life, 
 and the fame and wealth which successful captains acquired 
 under the flag of the then flourishing Italian republics, ap- 
 pear to have attracted him at a very early age to the occu- 
 pation of his ancestors, who were followers of the ocean. 
 At the age of fourteen he betook himself to the sea, and 
 ever after followed it, with very short intermissions. Du- 
 ring the long period previous to his settlement in Spain, his 
 voyages, although occasionally to different parts of the At- 
 lantic, were mostly in the Mediterranean; sometimes merely 
 commercial, but more frequently expeditions of war. The 
 destiny of Columbus soon led him to fix his residence re- 
 mote from Italy, and in a country where his thirst for geo- 
 graphical knowledge met immediately with the stimulus, 
 and the satisfaction which it required. He repaired to 
 Lisbon in Portugal, which, at that period, was the favorite 
 resort of Italian adventurers, expert in the arts of com- 
 merce and navigation. The Portuguese had already entered 
 upon the magnificent career of discovery and conquest, 
 which raised that little kingdom into wealth and weight, 
 greatly disproportioned to its intrinsic consequence. Mari- 
 
14 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 ners distinguished for their, skill and experience, learned 
 geographers, and men acquainted with the construction of 
 charts, readily found employment at Lisbon. Here he 
 would be likely to meet with far more auspicious opportuni- 
 ties for the improvement of his mind, than he could have 
 possessed, whilst a mere Geonese corsair; here he might 
 enter upon a field of usefulness, precisely fitted to his 
 genius. His brother Bartholomew already resided in Lisbon, 
 devoted to the business of making maps, charts, spheres 
 and nautical instruments. Christopher was either well 
 known, or speedily ingratiated himself with those to whom 
 he gained access; for not long after he settled in Portugal, 
 he married. His wife died in a few years, leaving him one 
 son, whom he named Diego. This marriage was, on many 
 accounts, exceedingly beneficial to Columbus. It connected 
 him with several Portuguese families of great respectability, 
 and thu,s gave him a certain standing in Lisbon. But it 
 was servi ;eable to him and to the world, in another respect. 
 His wifeV father had been an eminent navigator. Among 
 his papcis, after his decease, many charts and manuscript 
 accounts of voyages were found, which were then invaluable. 
 These were placed in the hands of Columbus, who had al- 
 ready conceived the idea of a western passage to the Indies; 
 and served to inform and guide the curiosity, which they 
 inflamed. 
 
 We shall not attempt to follow him through the hard 
 struggle with the superstitious ignorance of the princes to 
 whom he so frequently, and long so fruitlessly, sued for 
 the privilege of making them monarchs of a richer realm 
 than all Europe combined, and whose reiterated repulses 
 would have discouraged any man, less endowed with heroic 
 perseverance and fortitude than himself. While Columbus 
 resided in Lisbon, he afforded considerable aid to his father, 
 who was in very reduced circumstances. He went to Spain 
 in 1484, carrying with him his motherless son Diego, then 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 15 
 
 a child, whom he placed with the monks of a convent, whilst 
 he went to Cordova to treat with the Spanish court. At 
 Cordova he became acquainted with a lady of good family, 
 who made him the father of his son Ferdinand. The inef- 
 fectual efforts made by Columbus to engage the king and 
 queen of Spain in his project are known, but it is not so 
 generally understood how desperate his situation became, in 
 the course of these negotiations. He had completely ex- 
 hausted his limited means, in the prosecution of his long 
 and harrassing suit. Its rejection left him in a state of ex- 
 treme need. Disheartened by the total disappointment of 
 the darling hope of years, suffering also by the unfaithful- 
 ness of his dependants, in want of the very necessaries of 
 life, he betook himself to a monastery, an humble suppliant 
 for alms to support his existence. Then it was that the prior, 
 moved by the condition of Columbus, whose really enlight- 
 ened views, and whose integrity, simplicity, and manliness 
 of character, he had ample opportunity to appreciate, hast- 
 ened to the queen, and so represented the affair to her, that 
 she again recalled Columbus to court, and sent him a small 
 sum of money to defray his expenses. His voyages and suc- 
 cess are known to the reader. The last incidents of his life, 
 and subsequent fate of his family, deserve notice. He re- 
 turned from his fourth voyage at the end of the year 1504. 
 During this voyage the -elements seemed to conspire with 
 the injustice of man to persecute and depress him. Almost 
 denied admittance into the Spanish settlements in the Indies, 
 and thwarted and insulted by the petty officials, who ruled 
 over regions which ought, by the most solemn compacts, to 
 have been his, he at last arrived at St. Lucar, his constitution 
 greatly impaired by the unexampled hardships he had under- 
 gone. What his own personal condition was then, and had 
 been, may he judged by the very affecting letter, which 
 he wrote to the king and queen, during his absence. " By 
 my mishap" says he, " so little have I gained from twenty 
 
16 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 years service, such as I have served with so much fatigue and 
 peril, that I do not now possess even a, cottage in Castile ; 
 and if I wish to dine, or sup, or sleep, I have no plo.ce of 
 refuge except the inn, and oftentimes I have wanted where- 
 to ithal to pay my reckoning. Another thing has given me 
 great grief, which was Don, Diego, my son, whom I left in 
 Spain so friendless and destitute of all distinction and means 
 of support." The first intelligence he received on his arri- 
 val, was the death of his friend and protectress, Isabella, 
 whose influence over the narrow-minded and selfish Ferdi- 
 nand, had served to soften the asperities of his temper, and 
 to qualify the harshness of his feelings towards Columbus. 
 Struck to the soul with the news, he staid at Seville several 
 months, to recover from the shock of grief, and to revive his 
 exhausted frame, ere he repaired to court. Ferdinand re- 
 ceived him at Segovia with a hollow show of welcome, but 
 by no means with that cordiality and respect, which his sig- 
 nal merits entitled him to anticipate. Columbus could see, 
 that he stood before a hard and ungenerous master. Never- 
 theless, he represented m strong terms, but in language as 
 true and respectful as it was strong, the wrongs sustained by 
 him ; the partial requital of his services, his injuries una- 
 toned for, and slightingly regarded by the ministers of the 
 crown ; and he solicited the punishment of his enemies and 
 the restoration of his authority, in fulfilment of the grants 
 so deliberately made, and so solemnly confirmed to him and 
 his posterity forever. Ferdinand could not deny the justice 
 of the suit ; but,, unwilling to grant, yet ashamed to refuse 
 it, he told Columbus he would commission the Archbishop 
 of Seville, to consider what should be done. But Columbus, 
 well knowing this proposition was only made for the purpose 
 of delay, urged the king, by memorial after memorial, to at 
 once determine a thing which was too clear to admit of de- 
 liberation. He was very zealously aided by many persons 
 of the highest rank in the kingdom, who were indignant at 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 17 
 
 the gross injustice, with which he had been treated. But 
 all this availed nothing ; for those in the confidence of the 
 king were aware, that his only object was to temporize with 
 Columbus, in the expectation that his noble spirit would sink 
 under his accumulated misfortunes, and thus terminate his 
 ungrateful suit. This event but too speedily ensued. For 
 a time Columbus put a more charitable construction upon 
 the king's delays. He thought Ferdinand might, perhaps, 
 be unwilling to decide so important a matter as this. Per- 
 ceiving, however, that all hope of redress at the hands of the 
 king was desperate, he rapidly declined, and was plainly ap- 
 proaching his dissolution. Worn out by disease and hard- 
 ships, and broken-hearted by the wrongs continually heaped 
 upon him, he ceased to be numbered with the living. He 
 was buried at Seville, with the expressive and appropriate 
 inscription on his monument : 
 
 " To Castile and Leon, 
 Columbus gave a new World." 
 
 His bones were afterwards taken to the Island of Hispan- 
 iola, and deposited in the cathedral of the City of St. Do- 
 mingo. They remained there until 1796, and were then 
 transferred to Havana, in the Island of Cuba, where they 
 now lie. Thus did the days of Columbus terminate. His 
 glory must always continue unparalleled. He was tall in 
 stature, of a large, muscular frame, with strongly marked 
 features, a florid complexion, and a lively aspect. He was 
 remarkable abstemious, uniform and regular in his habits, 
 singularly devout, and distinguished for his scrupulous ob- 
 servance of all the rites of the Catholic church. His char- 
 acter is visible in his achievements. The dignity and inde- 
 pendence of bis feelings, his ardent enthusiasm, his invin- 
 cible resolution, the enterprising cast of his temper, his 
 perseverance amid the frowns- of fortune, his fortitude .aider 
 2* 
 
18 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 suffering, and his modest yet manly carriage in prosperity, 
 his courage in withstanding, and spirit of conciliation in for- 
 giving his enemies, and his faithful devotion to the interests 
 of his sovereign ; these are leading traits of his character, 
 not loosely inferred from partial observation, but gathered 
 from the crowded incidents of a life passed in the eye of the 
 world. For he was not one, concerning whom posterity can 
 err.' 
 
 Columbus left two sons, Diego and Ferdinand. The lat- 
 ter entered the church and became distinguished for his 
 great learning. He died at Seville in 1541. Diego, the 
 eldest, inherited the titles and claims of his father. In 
 1523 he died at Montalvan, leaving three sons and two 
 daughters. One of his daughters, the elder, took the veil, 
 and Isabella, the younger, married the Count of Gelves; the 
 eldest son, Luis, succeeded to the family distinctions and 
 rights. Luis died without any legitimate children, and was 
 succeeded by Diego, the son of his younger brother Christo- 
 pher. In 1578 Diego died without issue, and in him was 
 extinguished the male line of the discoverer of America; 
 and the splendid name of Columbus, in less than a century 
 after its brilliant elevation, disappeared from the records of 
 the Spanish nobility. The princely heritage of the family 
 then passed into the female branch of the house of Gelves, 
 and is at the present day in the hands of their descendants. 
 
 The succeeding governors of Cuba and Hispaniola en- 
 deavoured to purchase the same advantages, by the blood 
 of the natives, which Columbus had obtained by his good 
 sense and humanity. These islands contained mines of 
 gold. The Indians only knew where they were situated; 
 and the extreme avarice of the Spaniards, too furious to 
 work by the gentle means of persuasion, hurried them to 
 acts of the most shocking violence and cruelty, against 
 those unhappy men, who, they believed, concealed from 
 them part of their treasure. The slaughter once begun, 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 19 
 
 they set no bounds to their fury; in a few years they de- 
 populated Hispaniola, which contained three millions of 
 inhabitants ; and Cuba, that had about six hundred thou- 
 sand. Bartholomew de las Casas, a witness of those bar- 
 barous depopulations, says, that the Spaniards went out 
 with their dogs to hunt after men. The unhappy savages, 
 almost naked and unarmed, were pursued like deer into the 
 forests, devoured by dogs, killed with gunshot, and sur- 
 prised and burnt in their habitations. The Spaniards had 
 hitherto only visited the continent. From what they saw 
 with their eyes, or learned by report, that this part of tho 
 new world would afford a still more valuable conquest, 
 Don Fernando Cortez was despatched from Cuba with six 
 hundred men, eighteen horses, and a small number of field- 
 pieces. With this inconsiderable force, he proposed to sub- 
 due the most powerful state on the continent of America; 
 this was the empire of Mexico, rich, powerful and inhabited 
 by millions of Indians, passionately fond of war, and then 
 headed by Montezuma, whose fame in arms struck terror 
 into the neighboring nations. Never history, to be true, was 
 more improbable and romantic than that of this war. The 
 empire of Mexico had subsisted for ages. Its inhabitants 
 were neither rude nor barbarous ; everything announced a 
 polished and intelligent people. They knew, like the 
 Egyptians of old, whose wisdom is still admired in this 
 particular, that the year consisted of nearly three hundred 
 and sixty-five days. Their superiority in military affairs, 
 was the object of admiration and terror over all the conti- 
 nent; and their government, founded on the basis of laws 
 combined with religion, seemed to bid defiance to time itself. 
 Mexico, the capital city of the empire, situated in the 
 middle of a spacious lake, was the noblest monument of 
 American industry. It communicated with the continent 
 by immense causeways, which were carried through the 
 lake. The city was admired for its buildings, all of stone, 
 
20 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 its squares and market-places, the shops which glittered 
 with gold and silver, and the sumptuous palaces of Mon- 
 tezuma, some erected on columns of jaspar, and containing 
 whatever was most rare, curious, or useful. 
 
 But all the grandeur of this empire would not defend it 
 against the Spaniards. Cortez, in his march, met with a 
 feeble opposition from the nations along the coast of Mexico, 
 who were terrified at their first appearance. The warlike 
 animals on which the Spanish officers were mounted, the 
 artificial thunder which issued from their hands, the wooden 
 castles which had wafted them over the ocean, struck a 
 panic into the natives, from which they did not recover 
 until it was too late. Wherever the Spaniards marched, 
 they spared neither age nor sex, nothing sacred or profane. 
 At last, the inhabitants of Tlascala, and some other states 
 upon the coast, despairing of being able to oppose them, 
 entered into their alliance, and joined arms with those ter- 
 rible, and, as they believed, invincible conquerors. Cortez, 
 thus reinforced, marched onward to Mexico, and, in his 
 progress, discovered a volcano of saltpetre and sulphur, 
 whence he could supply himself with powder. Montezuma 
 heard of his progress without daring to oppose it. This 
 sovereign is reported, by the boasting Spaniards, to have 
 commanded thirty vassals, each of whom could have ap- 
 peared at the head of a hundred thousand combattants, 
 armed with bows and arrows ; and yet he dared not resist 
 a handful of Spaniards, aided by a few Americans, whose 
 allegiance would be shaken by the first reverse of fortune. 
 Such was the difference between the inhabitants of the two 
 worlds, and the fame of the Spanish victories, which always 
 marched before them. 
 
 By sending a rich present of gold, which only excited the 
 Spanish avarice, Montezuma hastened the approach of the 
 enemy. No opposition was made to their entry into his 
 capital. A palace was set apart for Cortez and his eompan- 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 21 
 
 ions, who were already treated as the masters of the new 
 world. He had good reason, however, to distrust the 
 affected politeness of this emperor, under which he suspected 
 some plot for his destruction was concealed ; but he had no 
 pretence for violence; Montezuma loaded him with kindness, 
 and with gold in greater quantities than he demanded, and 
 his palace was surrounded with artillery the most terrible of 
 all engines to the Americans. At last a circumstance took 
 place which afforded Cortez a pretext for beginning hos- 
 tilities. In order to secure a communication by sea to 
 receive the necessary reinforcements, he erected a fort and 
 left a small garrison behind him, at Vera Cruz, which has 
 since become an emporium of commerce. He understood 
 that the Americans in the neighborhood had attacked this 
 garrison in his absence, and that a Spaniard was killed in 
 the action ; that Montezuma himself was privy to this vio- 
 lence, and had issued orders that the head of the slain Span- 
 iard should be carried through his provinces, to destroy a 
 belief, which then prevailed among them, that the Europeans 
 were immortal. 
 
 Upon receiving this intelligence, Cortez went in person to 
 the emperor, attended by a few of his most experienced 
 officers. Montezuma pleaded innocence, in which Cortez 
 seemed extremely ready to believe him, though, at the same 
 time, he alleged that the Spaniards, in general, would never 
 be persuaded of it, unless he returned along with them to 
 their residence, which would remove ail jealousy between 
 the two nations. The success of this interview showed the 
 superiority of European address. A powerful monarch, in 
 the middle of his own palace, and surrounded by his own 
 guards, gave himself up a prisoner, to be disposed of accord- 
 ing to the inclination of a few strangers who came to demand 
 him. Cortez had now got into his hands an engine by 
 which everything might be accomplished. The Americans 
 had the highest respect, or rather superstitious veneration, 
 
22 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 for their emperor. Cortez, therefore, by keeping him in his 
 power, allowing him to enjoy every mark of royalty but his 
 freedom, and, at the same time, from a thorough knowledge 
 of his character, being able to flatter all his tastes and pas- 
 sions, maintained the easy sovereignty of Mexico by govern- 
 ing its prince. Did the Mexicans, grown familiar with the 
 Spaniards, begin to abate of their respect, Montezuma was 
 the first to teach them more politeness. Was there a tu- 
 mult excited through the avarice or cruelty of the Spaniards, 
 Montezuma ascended the battlements of his prison, and har- 
 rangued his Mexicans into order and submission. This farce 
 continued a long time ; but on one of these occasions, when 
 Montezuma was shamefully disgracing his character, by jus- 
 tifying the enemies of his country, a stone, from an unknown 
 hand, struck him on the temple, which, in a few days, oc- 
 casioned his death. The Mexicans, now delivered from this 
 emperor, who co-operated so strongly with the Spaniards, 
 elected a new prince, the famous Gautimozin, who, from the 
 beginning, discovered an implacable animosity against the 
 Spanish name. Under his conduct, the unhappy Mexicans 
 rushed against those very men whom a little before they had 
 offered to worship. The Spaniards, however, by the dex- 
 terous management of Cortez, were too firmly established to 
 be expelled from Mexico. 
 
 The immense tribute which the grandees of this country 
 had agreed to pay to the crown of Spain, amounted to six 
 hundred thousand marks of pure gold, besides an amazing 
 quantity of precious stones, a fifth part of which, distributed 
 among his soldiers, stimulated their avarice and their cour- 
 age, and made them willing to perish rather than part with 
 so precious a booty. The Mexicans, however, made no 
 small efforts for independence; but all their valor, and 
 despair itself, gave way before what they called the Spanish 
 thunder. Guatimozin and the empress were taken prisoners. 
 This was the prince who, when he lay stretched on a bed 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 23 
 
 of burning coals, by order of one of the receivers of the 
 king of Spain's exchequer, who inflicted the torture to dis- 
 cover into what part of the lake he had thrown his riches, 
 said to his high-priest, condemned to the same punishment, 
 and who loudly expressed his sense of the pains that he en- 
 dured, " Do you imagine that I lie on a bed of roses ?" 
 The high-priest remained silent, and died in an act of obedi 
 ence to his sovereign. Cortez, by getting a second emperor 
 into his hands, made a complete conquest of Mexico; with 
 which the golden Castile, Darien, and other provinces, fell 
 into the hands of the Spaniards. 
 
 While Cortez and his soldiers were employed in reducing 
 Mexico, they obtained intelligence of another great empire, 
 situated towards the equinoctial line, and the tropic of Cap- 
 ricorn, which was said to abound in gold and silver, and pre- 
 cious stones, and to be governed by a prince more magnifi- 
 cent than Montezuma. This was the empire of Peru, which 
 extended in length near 30 degrees, and was the only other 
 country in America that deserved the name of a civilized 
 kingdom. Whether it happened that the Spanish govern- 
 ment had not received certain intelligence concerning Peru, 
 or that, # being engaged in a multiplicity of other concerns, 
 it did not choose to adventure on new enterprises; certain it 
 is, that this extensive country, more important than Mexico 
 itself, was reduced by the endeavors, and at the expense of 
 three private persons. The names of these were Francisco 
 Pizarro, Almagro, and Lucques, a priest, but a man of con- 
 siderable fortune. The two former were natives of Panama, 
 men of doubtful birth and low education. Pizarro, the soul 
 of the enterprise, could neither read nor write. They sailed 
 over into Spain, and without difficulty, obtained a grant of 
 what they should conquer. Pizarro then set out for the con- 
 quest of Peru, with two hundred and fifty foot, sixty horses, 
 and twelve small pieces of cannon, drawn by slaves from the 
 •conquered countries. If we reflect that the Peruvians nat- 
 
24 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 urally entertained the same prejudices with the Mexicans in 
 favor of the Spanish nation, and were, besides, of a charac- 
 ter still more soft and unwarlike, it need not surprise us, 
 after what has been said of the conquest of Mexico, that, 
 with this inconsiderable force, Pizarro should make a deep 
 impression on the Peruvian empire. There were particular 
 circumstances, likewise, which conspired to assist him, and 
 which, as they discover somewhat of the history, religion, 
 and state of the human mind in this immense continent, it 
 may not be improper to relate. 
 
 Mango Capac was the founder of the Peruvian empire. 
 He was one of those uncommon men, who, calm and dis- 
 passionate themselves, can observe the passions of their fellow- 
 creatures, and turn them to their own profit and glory. He 
 observed that the people of Peru were naturally super- 
 stitious, and bad a particular veneration for the sun. He 
 pretended, therefore, to be descended from that luminary, 
 whose worship he was sent to establish, and whose authority 
 he was entitled to bear. By this story, romantic as it ap- 
 pears, he easily deceived a credulous people, and brought a 
 large extent of territory under his jurisdiction ; a larger 
 still, he subdued by his arms ) but both the force and the 
 deceit he employed for the most laudable purposes. He 
 united and civilized these dispersed barbarous people ; he 
 subjected them to laws, and trained them to arms; he soft- 
 ened them by the institution of a benevolent religion ; in 
 short, there was no part of America where agriculture and 
 the arts were so assiduously cultivated, and where the people 
 were of such mild and ingenuous manners. A race of 
 princes succeeded Mango, distinguished by the title of Incas, 
 and revered by the people as descendants of their great god, 
 the Sun. The twelfth of these was now on the throne, and 
 named Atabalipa. His father, Guiana Capac, had conquered 
 the province of Quito, which now makes a part of Peru. 
 To secure himself in the possession, he married the daughter 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 25 
 
 of the natural prince of that country, and of this marriage 
 had sprung Atabalipa. His elder brother, named Huescar, 
 of a different mother, had claimed the succession to the 
 whole of his father's dominions, not excepting Quito, which 
 devolved on the younger by a double connexion. A civil 
 war had been kindled on this account, which, after various 
 turns of fortune, and greatly weakening the kingdom, ended 
 in favor of Atabalipa, who detained Huescar as a prisoner 
 in the town of Cusco, the capital city of the Peruvian em- 
 pire. I»- this feeble and disjointed state was the kingdom 
 of Peru when Pizarro advanced to attack it. The ominous 
 predictions of religion, too, as in most other cases, joined 
 their force to human calamities. Prophecies were recorded, 
 dreams were recollected, which foretold the subjection of the 
 empire by unknown persons, whose description exactly cor- 
 responded to the appearance of the Spaniards. In these 
 circumstances, Atabalipa, instead of opposing Pizarro, set 
 himself to procure^their favor. The latter, however, whose 
 temper partook of the meanness of his education, had no 
 conception of dealing gently with those he called barbarians, 
 but who, however, though less acquainted with the cruel art 
 of destroying their fellow-creatures, were more civilized than 
 himself. While he was engaged in conference, therefore, 
 with Atabalipa, his men, as they had been previously in- 
 structed, furiously attacked the guards of that prince, and, 
 having butchered five thousand of them, as they were press- 
 ing forward, without regard for their particular safety, to 
 defend the sacred person of their monarch, seized Atabalipa 
 himself whom they carried off to the Spanish quarters 
 Pizarro, with the sovereign in his hands, might already be 
 deemed the master of Peru, for the inhabitants of this 
 country were as strongly attached to their emperor as were 
 the Mexicans. Atabalipa was not long in their hands be- 
 fore he began to treat for his ransom. On this occasion, the 
 ancient ornaments, amassed by a long line of magnificent 
 
26 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 kings, the hallowed treasures of the most sumptuous tem- 
 ples, were brought out to save him, who was the support of 
 the kingdom, and the religion. While Pizarro was engaged 
 in this negotiation, by which he proposed, without releasing 
 the emperor, to get into his possession an immense amount 
 of his beloved gold, the arrival of x\lmagro caused some 
 embarrassment in his affairs. The friendship, or rather the 
 external show of friendship, between these men, was solely 
 founded on the principle of avarice, and a bold enterprising 
 spirit, to which nothing appeared too dangerous that might 
 gratify their ruling passion. When their interests, there- 
 fore, happened to interfere, it was not to be thought that 
 any measures could be kept between them. Pizarro ex- 
 pected to enjoy the most considerable share of the treasure 
 arising from the emperor's ransom, because he had the chief 
 hand in acquiring it. Almagrp insisted upon being upon 
 an equal footing ; and at length, lest the common cause 
 should suffer by any rupture between them, this disposition 
 was agreed to. The ransom was paid without delay, a sum 
 exceeding their conception, but not capable to gratify their 
 avarice. It amounted to seven million five hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, and considering the value of money at that 
 time, was prodigious ; on the dividend, after deducting a 
 fifth for the king of Spain, and the shares of the chief com- 
 manders and other officers, each private soldier had over ten 
 thousand dollars. With such, fortunes, it was not to be ex- 
 pected that a mercenary army would incline to be subjected 
 to the rigors of military discipline. They insisted on being 
 disbanded, that they might enjoy the fruits of their labor in 
 quiet. Pizarro complied with this demand, sensible that 
 avarice would still detain a number in his army, and that 
 those who returned with such magnificent fortunes would 
 induce new adventurers to pursue the same plan for acquir- 
 ing gold. These wise reflections were abundantly verified ; 
 it was impossible to send out better recruiting r-fficers than 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 27 
 
 those who had themselves profited by the field ; new soldiers 
 constantly arrived, and the Spanish armies never wanted 
 reinforcements. 
 
 This immense ransom was only a further reason for de- 
 taining Atabalipa in confinement, until they discovered 
 whether he had another treasure to gratify their avarice. 
 But whether they believed he had no more to give, and were 
 unwilling to employ their troops in guarding a prince from 
 whom they expected no further advantage, or that Pizarro 
 had conceived an aversion against the Peruvian emperor, on 
 account of some instances of craft and duplicity which he 
 observed in his character, and which he conceived might 
 prove dangerous to his affairs, it is certain, that, at his com- 
 mand, Atabalipa was put to death. To justify this cruel 
 proceeding, a pretended charge was exhibited against the un- 
 happy prince, in which he was accused of idolatry, of having 
 many concubines, and other circumstances of equal imperti- 
 nence. The only just ground of accusation against him was, 
 that his brother, Huescar, had been put to death by his 
 command; and even this was considerably palliated, because 
 Huescar had been plotting his destruction, that he might 
 establish himself on the throne. Upon the. death of the 
 Inca, a number of candidates appeared for the throne. The 
 principal nobility set up the full brother of Huescar ; Pizarro 
 set up a son of Atabalipa ; and two generals of the Peruvi- 
 ans endeavored to establish themselves by the assistance of 
 the army. These distractions, which, in another empire 
 would have been extremely hurtful, and even here at another 
 time, were at present rather advantageous to Peruvian af- 
 fairs. The candidates fought against one another; their 
 battles accustomed these harmless people to blood; and such 
 is the preference of a spirit of any kind raisedjn a nation to 
 a total lethargy, that in the course of those quarrels among 
 themselves, the inhabitants of Peru assumed some courage 
 against the Spaniards, whom they regarded as the ultimate 
 
28 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 cause of all their calamities. The losses which the Span- 
 iards met with in these quarrels, though inconsiderable in 
 themselves, were rendered dangerous by lessening the opin- 
 ion of their invincibility, which they were careful to pre- 
 serve among the inhabitants of the new world. This con- 
 sideration engaged Pizarro to conclude a truce ; and the in- 
 terval he employed in laying the foundation of the famous 
 city of Lima, and in settling the Spaniards in the country. 
 But, as soon as a favorable opportunity offered, he renewed 
 the war against the Indians, and, after many difficulties, 
 made himself master of Cusco, the capital of the empire. 
 While he was engaged in these conquests, new grants and 
 supplies arrived from Spain. Pizarro obtained two hundred 
 leagues along the sea-coast, to the southward of what had 
 been before granted, and Almagro two hundred leagues to 
 the southward of Pizarro's government. This division occa- 
 sioned a warm dispute between them, each reckoning Cusco 
 within his own district ; but the dexterity of Pizarro brought 
 about a reconciliation. He persuaded his rival, that the 
 country which really belonged to him lay to the southward 
 of Cusco, and that it was no way inferior in riches, and 
 might be as easily conquered as Peru. He offered him his 
 assistance in the expedition, the success of which he did not 
 even call in question. 
 
 * Almagro, that he might have the honor of subduing a 
 kingdom for himself, listened to his advice ; and, joining as 
 many of Pizarro's troops as he thought necessary, he pene- 
 trated, with great danger and difficulty, into Chili ; losing 
 many of his men as he passed over mountains of an immense 
 height, and always covered with snow. He reduced, how- 
 ever, a very considerable part of this country. But the Pe- 
 ruvians were now become too much acquainted with war, not 
 to take advantage of the division of the Spanish troops. 
 They made an effort for regaining their capital, in which, 
 Pizarro being indisposed, and Almagro removed at a dis- 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 29 
 
 tance, they were very nearly successful. The latter, how- 
 ever, no sooner got notice of the siege of Cusco, than, re- 
 linquishing all views of distant conquests, he returned to se- 
 cure the grand objects of their former labors. He raised 
 the siege, with infinite slaughter of the assailants ; but, hav- 
 ing obtained possession of the city, he was unwilling to give 
 it up to Pizarro, who now approached with an army, and 
 knew of no other enemy than the Peruvians. This dispute 
 occasioned a long and bloody struggle between them, in 
 which the turns of fortune were various, and the resentment 
 fierce on both sides, because the fate of the vanquished was 
 certain death. This was the lot of Almagro, who in an ad- 
 vanced age, fell a victim to the security of a rival, in whose 
 dangers and triumphs he had long shared, and with whom, 
 from the beginning of the enterprise, he had been intimately 
 connected. During the course of this civil war, many Peru- 
 vians served in the Spanish armies, and learned, from the 
 practice of Christians, to butcher one another. That blinded 
 nation, however, at length opened their eyes, and took a 
 very remarkable resolution. They saw the ferocity of the 
 Europeans, their unextinguisbablc resentment and avarice, 
 and they conjectured that these passions would never permit 
 their contests to subside. " Let us retire," they said, 
 "from among them; let us fiy to the mountains; they will 
 speedily destroy one another, and then we may return in 
 peace to our former habitations." This resolution was in- 
 stantly put in practice; the Peruvians dispersed, and left 
 the Spaniards in their capital. Had the force on each side 
 been exactly equal, this singular policy of the natives of 
 Peru might have been attended with success. But the vic- 
 tory of Pizarro put an end to Almagro's life, and to the 
 hopes of the Peruvians, who never afterwards succeeded in 
 making head against the Spaniards. 
 
 Pizarro, now sole master of the field, and of the richest 
 empire in the world, was still urged on by his boundless 
 
30 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 ambition to undertake new enterprises. The southern coun- 
 tries of America, into which he had sometime before des- 
 patched Almagro, offered the richest conquest. Towards 
 this quarter the mountains of Potosi, deeply enriched with 
 silver ore, had been discovered. He therefore followed the 
 track of Almagro into Chili, and reduced another part of that 
 country. Orellana, one of his comrades, passed the Andes 
 range of mountains and sailed down the river Amazon to its 
 mouth — an immense navigation, which discovered a rich and 
 delightful country; but as it is mostly flat, and therefore not 
 abounding in minerals, then, and ever since, neglected it. 
 Pizarro meeting with repeated success, and having no supe- 
 rior to control, no rival to keep him within bounds, now gave 
 loose reins to the natural ferocity of his temper, and beha- 
 ved with the basest tyranny and cruelty against all who had 
 not concurred in his designs. This conduct raised a conspi- 
 racy against him, to which he fell a sacrifice in his own pal- 
 ace, and in the city of Lima, which he himself had founded. 
 The partisans of Almagro now declared his son as their 
 viceroy. Though the greater part of the nation were ex- 
 tremely well satisfied with the fate of Pizarro, they did 
 not concur with this declaration. They waited the orders 
 of Charles V., king of Spain, who sent out Vaca di Castro 
 to be their governor. By his integrity and wisdom, this 
 man was admirably fitted to heal the wounds of the colony, 
 and to place everything on the most advantageous footing, 
 both for it and for the mother country. The mines of La 
 Plata and Potosi, by his prudent management, became an 
 object of public utility to the court of Spain. They had 
 formerly been private plunder. The parties were silenced 
 or crushed ; young Almagro, who would hearken to no 
 terms of accommodation, was put to death, and tranquillity 
 was restored to Peru, which, since the arrival of the Span- 
 iards, was unknown. Castro, it seems, however, had not 
 been sufficiently well skilled in gaining, by proper bribes and 
 
AMERICA — DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 31 
 
 promises, the favor of the Spanish ministry, which was 
 always to be expected from the governor of so rich a coun- 
 try. A council, by their advice, was sent over to control 
 Castro, and the colony was again unsettled. The party spirit 
 but just extinguished, began to blaze anew, and the brother 
 of the famous Pizarro, Gonzalo, set himself at the head 
 of his brother's partisans, with whom many new malcontents 
 had united. It was now no longer a dispute between gov- 
 ernors about the bounds of their jurisdiction. Gonzalo only 
 paid a nominal submission to the king. He strengthened 
 daily, and even went so far as to behead a governor who 
 was sent over to curb him. He gained the confidence of the 
 admiral of the Spanish fleet in the South seas, by whose 
 means he proposed to hinder the landing of any troops from 
 Spain, and he had a view of uniting the inhabitants of Mex- 
 ico in his revolt. 
 
 Such was the situation of affairs, when the court of 
 Spain, sensible of their mistake in not sending into America, 
 men whose character and virtue only, and not opportunity 
 and cabal, pleaded in their behalf, dispatched, with unlim- 
 ited powers, Petro de la Gascar, a man differing from Castro 
 only in being of a more mild and insinuating behaviour, 
 but with the same love of justice, the same greatness of 
 soul, and the same disinterested spirit. All those who had 
 not joined in Pizarro's revolt, flocked to his standard; many 
 of his friends, charmed with the behaviour of Gascar, for- 
 sook their old connections ; the admiral was gained over by 
 insinuation to return to his duty; and Gonzalo himself 
 offered a full indemnity, provided he would return to the 
 allegiance of the Spanish crown. But, so intoxicating are 
 the ideas of royalty, that Pizarro's brother was inclined to 
 run every hazard, rather than to submit to any officer of 
 Spain. With those of his partisans, therefore, who con- 
 tinued to adhere to his interest, he determined to venture a 
 battle, in which he was conquered and taken prisoner. His 
 
32 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 execution followed soon after ; and thus the brother of him 
 who conquered Peru for the crown of Spain, fell a sacrifice 
 for the security of the Spanish dominion over that country. 
 
 GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 
 
 The great Western continent, frequently denominated the 
 New World, extends from the 80th degree north, to the 
 50th degree south latitude, and where its breadth is cor- 
 rectly ascertained, from the 35th to the I36th degree of 
 west longitude from London ; stretching between eight and 
 nine thousand miles in length, and its greatest breadth three 
 thousand six hundred and ninety. It lies in two hemis- 
 pheres, has two summers and a double winter, and enjoys 
 all the variety of climates which the earth affords. It is 
 washed by the two great oceans. To the eastward it has 
 the Atlantic, which divides it from Africa and Europe: 
 and to the west the Pacific, or Great South Sea, by whic! j 
 it is separated from Asia. By these seas it carries on a 
 direct commerce with the other three parts of the world. 
 It is composed of two great continents, one on the north, 
 the other on the south, which are joined by the Isthmus of 
 Darien, at one place only sixty miles wide. In the great 
 gulf which is formed between the isthmus and the northern 
 and southern continents, lie a multitude of islands, many 
 of them large, most of them fertile, and denominated the 
 West Indies, in contradistinction to the countries and islands 
 of Asia, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, which are called 
 the East Indies. 
 
 Before proceeding to treat of the separate countries into 
 which America was formerly divided, it is proper to take 
 notice of those immense mountains and rivers which are con- 
 fined within the limits of particular provinces, and extend 
 ovw a great part of the continent. For though America in 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. S3 
 
 general is not a mountainous country, it has the greatest 
 mountains in the world. In South America, the Andes, or 
 Cordilleras, run from north to south, along the coast of the 
 Pacific ocean. They exceed in length any other chain of 
 mountains in the other parts of the globe, extending from 
 the Isthmus of Darien to Magellan's Straits ; they run a 
 length of four thousand three hundred miles, and divide the 
 whole southern parts of America. Their height is as re- 
 markable as their length ; for, though in part within the 
 torrid zone, they are constantly covered with snow. Chim- 
 borazo, the highest of the Andes, is twenty thousand six 
 hundred and eight feet high ; of this about two thousand 
 eight hundred feet from the summit are always covered with 
 snow. Carazon was ascended by some French astronomers, 
 and is said to be fifteen thousand eight hundred feet in 
 height. In North America, which is chiefly composed of 
 gentle ascents, or level plains, we know of no considerable 
 mountains, except those towards the pole, and that long 
 ridge which lies on the Pacific coast, denominated the Rocky 
 Mountains. 
 
 Without question, America is that part of the globe best 
 watered; and that not only for the support of life, and all 
 the purposes of fertility, but for the convenience of trade, 
 and the intercourse of each part with the others. In North 
 America, those vast tracts of country lying inland a great 
 distance from the two oceans are watered by immense lakes 
 of fresh water, which not only communicate with each other, 
 but give rise to several great rivers, particularly the Missis- 
 sippi, running from north to south till it falls into the gulf 
 of Mexico, after a course, including its turnings, of over four 
 thousand five hundred miles, receiving in its progress the 
 vast tribute of the Missouri, the Ohio, the Illinois and other 
 great rivers ; and on the north, the St. Lawrence, running 
 a contrary course from the Mississippi, till it empties itself 
 into the ocean near Newfoundland ; all of them nearly be- 
 
34 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 ing navigable almost, to their heads, lay open the inmost 
 recesses of this great continent, and afford such an inlet for 
 commerce, as produces the greatest advantage, wherever the 
 country adjacent is inhabited by an industrious people. The 
 eastern side of North America, besides the noble rivers Hud- 
 son, Delaware, Susquehanna and Potomac, supplies several 
 others of great depth, length and commodious navigation; 
 hence, many parts of the settlements are so advantageously 
 intersected with navigable rivers and creeks, that the plant- 
 ers, without exaggeration, may be said to have each a harbor 
 at his door. 
 
 South America is, if possible, in this respect, even more 
 fortunate. It supplies the two largest rivers in the world : 
 the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata, or Plate river. The 
 first, rising in Peru, not far from the Pacific, passes from 
 west to east, and falls into the ocean between Brazil and 
 Guiana, after a course of more than three thousand miles, in 
 which it receives a prodigious number of great and naviga- 
 ble rivers. The Rio de la Plata rises in the heart of the 
 country, and, having its strength gradually augmented by 
 an accession of many powerful streams, discharges itself with 
 such vehemence into the sea, as to make its taste fresh many 
 leagues from land. Besides these, there are many other 
 rivers in South America, of which the Orinoco is the most 
 considerable. 
 
 A country of such vast extent on each side of the equa- 
 tor, must necessarily have a variety of soils as well as cli- 
 mates. America may be deemed the treasury of nature, 
 producing most of the metals, minerals, plants, fruits, trees, 
 and wood, to be met with in the other parts of the world, 
 and many of them in greater quantities and higher perfec- 
 tion. The gold and silver of America, supplied Europe 
 with such immense quantities of those valuable metals, that 
 they have become much more common ; so that the gold 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 35 
 
 and silver in the old world now bear little proportion to the 
 high price set upon them before the discovery of America. 
 
 This country also produces diamonds, pearls, emeralds, 
 amethysts, and other valuable stones, which, by being taken 
 into Europe, have contributed likewise to lower their value. 
 To these, which arc chiefly the production of the southern 
 portion of the continent, may be added a great number of 
 other commodities, which, though of less price, are of much 
 greater use. Of these are the plentiful supplies of cochi- 
 neal, indigo, anatto, log-wood, brazil, fustic, pimento, lig- 
 numvitae, rice, ginger, cocoa, or the chocolate nut; sugar, 
 cotton, tobacco, banillas, red-wood, the balsams of Tolu, 
 Peru and Chili; that valuable article in medicine, the 
 Jesuits' bark, mechoacan, sassafras, sarsaparilla, cassia, ta- 
 marinds, hides, furs, ambergris, and a great number of 
 woods, roots and plants, which, before the discovery of 
 America, were entirely unknown. 
 
 This continent has also a great variety of excellent fruits, 
 which here grow wild to great perfection, as pine-apples, 
 pomegranates, citrons, lemons, oranges, malicatons, cherries, 
 pears, apples, figs, grapes, great numbers of culinary, medi- 
 cinal, and other herbs, roots and plants; and so fertile is 
 the soil, that many exotic productions are nourished in as 
 great perfection as in their native ground. 
 
 Though the Indians still live rn the quiet possession of 
 some large tracts, America is chiefly claimed and divided into 
 republics, states and colonies, partly owned and governed by 
 three European nations and their offsprings. The Span- 
 iards, as they first discovered it, formerly had the largest 
 and most valuable portions of it, extending from New 
 jMexico and Louisiana, in North America, to the straits of 
 Magellan, only excepting the country of Brazil, which be- 
 longed to the Portuguese; for though the French and Dutch 
 had some forts upon Surinam and Guiana, they scarcely 
 
6K> THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 deserve to be considered as former proprietors of any part 
 of the southern continent. 
 
 Next to Spain, the most considerable proprietor of Amer- 
 ica was Great Britain, who derived her claim to North 
 America, from the first discovery of that continent, by Sebas- 
 tian Cabot, in the name of Henry VII., in the year 1497, 
 about five years after the discovery of South America by 
 Columbus, in the name of the king of Spain. This country 
 was in general called Newfoundland, a name which is now 
 appropriated solely to an island on its coast. It was a long 
 time before any attempt was made by the English govern- 
 ment to settle the country. Sir Walter Raleigh, an uncom- 
 mon genius, and a brave commander, first showed the way, 
 by planting a colony in the southern part, which he called 
 Virginia, in honor of his mistress, Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 We shall divide the western hemisphere into three grand 
 divisions in the. following order : North America, South 
 America and the West Indies. 
 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 This division of America is separated by the Isthmus of 
 Darien, from the Southern part, and extends from the Isth- 
 mus to within a couple of degrees of the north pole. It is 
 very remarkable, that the climates of North America are 
 colder by several degrees, than any of the countries in the 
 same latitude in Europe. Thus, British America, which is 
 nearly in the same latitude with Great Britain, is almost 
 insufferably cold. The greatest part of the frozen country 
 of Newfoundland, the Bay of St. Lawrence and Cape Breton, 
 lie opposite the coast of France. Nova Scotia and the New 
 England states are in the same latitude as the Bay of Bis- 
 cay. New York and Pennsylvania lie opposite to Spain and 
 Portugal. Hence the coldest winds of North America blow 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 37 
 
 from the North and West, while in Europe they are from 
 the North and East. 
 
 The discoveries of Cook, Perouse and Vancouver, and 
 others, seem to have completed the geography of North 
 America, and the travels of Hearne and Mackenzie have im- 
 parted much information respecting its confines on the Arc- 
 tic ocean. We shall first speak of that portion of the 
 northern continent belonging at the present day to Great 
 Britain. That nation had extended its colonies so far as to 
 render it difficult to ascertain the precise bounds of its em- 
 pire in North America, to the northern and western sides'; 
 but these flattering prospects were utterly annihilated by a 
 contest between the mother country and the colonists, which 
 terminated in the establishment of the new and now powerful 
 republic of the United States of America. 
 
 The country now belonging to Great Britain, is bounded 
 by unknown seas and lands, about the pole, on the north; 
 by the Atlantic ocean on the east, by the United States on 
 the south, and by the Pacific ocean on the west. 
 
 The tremendous high mountains towards the north, their 
 being covered with eternal snow, and the winds blowing from 
 thence three-quarters of the year, occasion a degree of cold 
 over the British dominions, in America, all the year. The 
 air, in the more northern part, is seldom, if ever, clear. In 
 the spring and fall there are heavy, wet fogs, and in the 
 winter the air is full of icy sjpiculae, that are visible to the 
 naked eye ; for, as there arises, at this time of the year, a 
 very thick vapor called frost-smoke, this vapor freezing, is 
 driven by the wind in the form of spiculae. Mock suns, 
 and haloes, or red circles about the moon and sun, very 
 luminous and beautifully tinged with all the various colors 
 of the rainbow, are common. Six of these mock suns have 
 been seen at one time, forming a scene of grandeur indes- 
 cribable. The true sun rises and sets with a large cone of 
 yellow light perpendicular to it ; and no sooner does it ap- 
 4 
 
38 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 pear than the Aurora Borealis spreads a thousand different 
 lights and colours over the whole concave of the sky, with 
 so resplendent a beauty, that even the full moon does not 
 efface their lustre ; but if the moon does not shine, these 
 lights are much more apparent, and one may read distinctly 
 by them. The stars seem in this country to burn with'^, 
 fiery redness, especially those near the horizon, which 
 strongly resemble a fire or the red light of a ship at a dis- 
 tance. Thunder and lightning are not frequent during the 
 summer, though thut season for about six weeks or two 
 months, is comparatively warm ; but when it does happen, 
 it is terrible. 
 
 There are numerous rivers, bays, straits and lakes in this 
 country, the names of which have been principally taken 
 from English navigators and commanders by whom they 
 were first discovered The principal bays are those of Hud- 
 son and Baffin ; the chief straits, those of Hudson, Davis 
 and Belleisle ; and the chief rivers arc the St. Lawrence, 
 Moose, Severn, llupert, Nelson and Black Biver. There are 
 many lakes, but they produce nothing deserving of notice. 
 The soil is extremely barren, except in Canada (the most 
 southern part,) aod a few hundred miles north of its boun- 
 daries. To the northward of Hudson's Bay, even the pine, 
 ono of the most hardy trees, is seen no longer, and the earth 
 produces nothing but some miserablo shrubs. 
 
 There are many quadrupeds in this country, such as the 
 moose-deer, stags, reindeer, bears, tigers, buffaloes, wolves, 
 foxes, beavers, otters, lynxes, martins, squirrels, ermines, 
 wild-cats, and hares; also, a singular animal called the 
 musk ox. 
 
 Birds abound in large quantities, geese, ducks, buzzards, 
 partridges, and all kinds of wild fowl. 
 
 The seas abound with whales, seals, cod and a white fish 
 nearly resembling the herring: and the rivers and lakes 
 with pike, jvrch, carp, trench, &c. 
 
AMERICA GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 39 
 
 It is worthy of observation, as exhibiting the wisdom and 
 goodness of the Creator, that all the animals of this north- 
 ern country are clothed with a close, soft, warm fur. In 
 summer there is a variety in the colors of several of the 
 animals. When that season is over, they all assume the 
 livery of winter, and every sort of beast, and most of their 
 fowls, are of the color of the snow; everything animate and 
 inanimate is white. This is a surprising phenomenon, but 
 it is yet more surprising that dogs and cats which have been 
 carried to Hudson's Bay, on the approach of winter havo 
 entirely changed their appearance, and acquired a much 
 longer, softer and thicker coat of hair than they had origi- 
 wily. 
 
 There are an abundance of minerals of different sorts — 
 iron, lead and copper; there are likewise a great variety of 
 marble, talcs, spars, and rock-crystals of different colors. 
 In the extreme north there is a substance that burns and 
 somewhat resembles coal. The asbestas, or stone-flax, is 
 common here, and a stone, of a black, smooth and shining 
 surface, that separates easily in thin transparent leaves, 
 resembling the Muscovy talc, which the natives use as look- 
 ing-glasses. 
 
 The inhabitants of the eastern section of the British pos- 
 sessions, north of the Canadas, are Indians. They are of a 
 middle size, copper-coloured, with black eyes, and long, lank, 
 black hair. In their shapes and faces they bear little or no 
 resemblance to the Indians who live to the south and west- 
 ward. The women in general are not attractive, though 
 there are some, when from thirteen to sixteen years of age, 
 who are not without personal charms. Hard fare, however, 
 and hard labor, added to a rigorous climate, soon render 
 them wrinkled ; and they have all the marks of decrepitude 
 before they are thirty. These Indians are of a cheerful dis- 
 position, good-natured and friendly, and are honest in their 
 dealings. The men wear in summer a loose coat or blanket, 
 
40 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 which they buy either of the French or English here set- 
 tled; a pair of leathern stockings, which come so high as to 
 serve them for breeches, and shoes of the same material. 
 The women's dress is the same, except that in winter they 
 wear a petticoat that reaches below the knee. Their ordi- 
 nary apparel is made of skins, with the hair outward J the 
 sleeves of their upper habit are separate from the body of 
 it, and taken off at pleasure, being only tied with strings at 
 the shoulders ; so that the arm-pits, even in the depth of 
 winter, are exposed to the cold, which they conceive contri- 
 butes to health. Their diseases are few, chiefly arising 
 from colds taken after drinking spirituous liquors, which 
 they buy from the English and French. 
 
 They dwell in circular tents, covered with skins sewed 
 together. They are formed of poles, which are extended at 
 the bottom and at the top lean to the centre, where an open- 
 ing is left to admit the light and let out the smoke from the 
 fire, which is built in the middle and around which they sit 
 and lie. 
 
 These people do not depend for subsistence on the fruits 
 of the earth, but live entirely on the animals they take in 
 hunting, or catch in traps. They also live upon birds and 
 fish. They do not live together in great numbers, but 
 change their habitations according to the plenty or scarcity 
 of the game. They have no body of laws to regulate their 
 conduct, and may truly be called a free people. They have 
 generally a plurality of wives. The chief pride of these 
 Indians is to have a wife of strength rather than beauty. 
 That a plurality of wives should exist among these tribes is 
 not to be wondered at, as it is to be considered they are the 
 greatest travellers on earth; and, as they have neither beast 
 or burden, except some few dogs which draw their sledges, 
 every good hunter is obliged to have some person to carry 
 his furs to market; and none are so well adapted for this 
 work as the women, who are inured to carry and heave 
 
AMERICA— GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 41 
 
 heavy loads from their very childhood ; so that ho who is capa- 
 ble of providing for three or four wives is considered a great 
 man. Jealousies, hoy/ever, sometimes appear among them, 
 but the disputes soon end, as the husband's commands must 
 be obeyed. 
 
 Though the northern Indian women are the mildest and 
 most virtuous of the North American natives, it is no unu- 
 sual thing for their husbands to change beds with each other 
 for a night. This, strange to say, brings no disgrace j but 
 on the contrary is considered as the strongest cement of 
 friendship between families ; and in case of the death of 
 either of the men, the other feels himself bound to support 
 the children of the deceased, and is never known to .swerve 
 from the duty of a parent. Though the northern Indians 
 make no scruple of having three or four sisters for wives at 
 the same time, yet they are very particular in observing a 
 proper distance in the consanguinity of those whom they ad- 
 mit to their beds. The wives are kept at a great distance. 
 They perform the most laborious offices, and yet the meanest 
 male in the family must be satisfied before the wife is per- 
 mitted to taste a bit; and, in times of scarcity, they fre- 
 quently go without a single morsel. Should they attempt 
 to serve themselves in secret, it must be done with great cau- 
 tion, as a detection would subject them to a severe beating 
 at least. An embezzelment of provisions would be a blot in 
 their character, which it would be difficult to efface. Time 
 immemorial, it has been the custom among these people to 
 wrestle for the woman to whom they are attached.; and, of 
 course, the strongest carries off the prize. Indeed, without 
 a considerable share of bodily strength, or some natural or 
 acquired consequence, it is seldom permitted to keep a wife, 
 whom a stronger man thinks worth his notice, or whom he 
 wants to assist in carrying his goods. This savage and un- 
 natural custom prevails throughout all their tribes, and ex- 
 cites a spirit of emulation among youth to distinguish them- 
 4* 
 
42 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 selves in gymnastic exercises, to enable them to protect their 
 wives arid property. 
 
 The manner in which they tear the women and other 
 property from each other, is not so much by fighting, as by 
 hauling each other by the hair of the head. Seldom any 
 hurt is done in these rencountres. Before the contest be- 
 gins, it is not unusual for one or both the combattants to cut 
 off his hair and grease his ears in private. If one only is 
 shorn, though he be the weakest man, he generally obtains 
 the victory j so that it is evident, address will ever exceed 
 mere strength among all nations. 
 
 The by-standers never interfere on these occasions ; not 
 even the nearest relations, except by advice to pursue or 
 abandon the contest. Scarcely a day passes without some 
 overtures being made for contests of this kind, and the wife 
 often sits in pensive silence, awaiting the termination of the 
 combat which is to decide her fate. Sometimes a woman 
 happens to be won by a man whom she mortally hates ; but 
 even in this case she must be passive, should she at the same 
 time be torn from a man she really loves. It is generally, 
 however, very young, girlish wives, without children, who 
 thus frequently change masters, for few husbands are fond 
 of maintaining the children of others. Some of the aged, 
 particularly if they have the reputation of being conjurors, 
 possess great influence over the rabble, and sometimes pre- 
 vent such irregularities. As far, indeed, as their own family 
 and connexions are concerned, they will exert their utmost 
 influence; but when their own relations are guilty of 
 unfaithfulness to their husbands or wives, they seldom in- 
 terfere. This partial conduct creates them secret as well as 
 open enemies; but fear or superstition prevents the ebulli- 
 tions of revenge. 
 
 Unprincipled and savage as the northern Indians may ap- 
 pear, in robbing each other of their wives, they are naturally 
 mild, and seldom carry their enmity farther than wrestling. 
 
AMERICA— GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 43 
 
 A murder is seldom heard of among them ; and the perpe- 
 trator of such a horrid crime is sure to experience the fate 
 of Cain ; he is a wanderer, and becomes forlorn and forsaken, 
 even by his own relations and former friends. 
 
 They have a maxim of policy which is very singular; 
 that of suffering, or rather obliging, their women to procure 
 frequent abortions, by the use of a certain herb, that they 
 may in some measure, be eased of that heavy burden they 
 feel in providing for a helpless family. Yet there affection 
 for their children is singularly great. The natives of the 
 extreme northern parts have, a horrid custom of waging per- 
 petual war on their southern neighbors, the Esquimaux. 
 These latter live farther south and are free from many of 
 the vices of their northern neighbors, who, in addition to 
 what has already been noted, have another custom that must 
 appear shocking to every humane mind. These wretches 
 strangle their parents when laboring under the infirmities 
 of old age. This is done in the following manner : The old 
 person's grave being dug, he goes into it, and, after having 
 conversed and smoked his pipe, or, perhaps, drank a dram 
 or two with his children, he informs them that he is ready ; 
 upon which two of them put a thong around his neck, one 
 standing on one side, and the other opposite to him, which 
 they pull violently till he expires; they then cover him 
 with earth and erect over him a kind of rough monument of 
 stones. Such old people as have no children, require this 
 office of their friends ; but in this case it is not often com- 
 plied with. 
 
 Little knowledge has been obtained concerning the relig- 
 ion of these people ; but it appears that their notions of it 
 are of a very limited and imperfect character. Areskoui, or 
 the god of battle, is revered as the great god of the Indians. 
 Like all rude nations they are strongly addicted to supersti- 
 tion. 
 
 The fur and peltry trade is carried on with these Indians 
 
41 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 to a great extent by the Hudson's Bay Company, who have 
 six or eight forts throughout the country, at which places 
 the bartering is carried on. The canoe and sledge are the 
 only means of conveyance in the country, the former used 
 in summer to ford creeks and lakes, and the latter during 
 the winter months. They are drawn by dogs who are trained 
 for the purpose. 
 
 The language these people speak is somewhat guttural in 
 the pronunciation, but not harsh or unpleasant. 
 
 There are many other tribes of Indians scattered through- 
 out the British Possessions, among which may be mentioned 
 the Copper Indians, who reside near the Copper river; the 
 Esquimaux, dwelling to the east and south of Hudson's 
 Bay, and many others, more savage in their nature than 
 those already described, are living on the rugged shores of 
 the North Pacific ocean. No particular description of these 
 various tribes would repay its perusal, as the character of 
 the Indian is altogether founded upon his circumstances and 
 way of life. They arc either constantly employed in pro- 
 curing the means of a precarious subsistence, or engaged in 
 perpetual wars with each other. They do not enjoy much 
 gaiety of temper or high flow of spirits. The Indians, there- 
 fore, are, in general, grave even to sadness; they have noth- 
 ing of that giddy vivacity peculiar to most civilized nations. 
 Cities and towns, which are the effects of agriculture and the 
 arts, they have none. The tribes live at great distances 
 from each other; they are seperated by a desert frontier and 
 hid in the bosom of almost impenetrable and boundless 
 forests. 
 
 We shall now advert to that portion of the North "West 
 territory of North America, known as Prince William's 
 sound, situated in latitude 59 degrees and 33 seconds north, 
 together with a description of its inhabitants, their manners, 
 customs, &c. 
 
 The natives in general are not above the common height, 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 45 
 
 though many of them are under it. They are square, 
 strong-chested, and the most disproportioned part of their 
 body is their heads, which are very large, with thick, short 
 necks, and large, broad or spreading faces, which, upon the 
 whole, are flat. Their eyes, though not small, scarcely bear 
 a proportion to the size of their faces, and their noses have 
 full, round points, hooked or turned up at the tip. Their 
 teeth are broad, white, equal in size, and evenly set. Their 
 hair is black, thick, straight and strong, and their beards, 
 in general thin, or wanting; but the hairs about the lips 
 of those who have them, are stiff and bristly, and frequently 
 of a brown color; and several of the elderly men have large 
 and thick, but straight beards. Though in general they 
 agree in the make of their persons and largeness of their 
 heads, there is a considerable variety in their features ; but 
 very few can be said to be of the handsome sort, though 
 their countenances commonly indicate a considerable share 
 of vivacity, good nature and frankness ; and yet some of 
 them have an air of sullenncss and reserve. Some of the 
 women have agreeable faces, and many are easily distin- 
 guishable from the men by their features, which are more 
 delicate; but this should be understood chiefly of the 
 youngest sort, or middle-aged. The complexion of some of 
 the women, and of the children, is white, but without any mix- 
 ture of red ; and some of the men have rather a brownish or 
 swarthy cast, which can scarcely be the effect of any stain, 
 for they do not paint their bodies. These people are in 
 general, friendly, and remarkably tender and affectionate to 
 their women and children. It must be admitted that they 
 are addicted to thieving, which seems common to Indians in 
 general. 
 
 Their common dress (for men, women and children, are 
 clothed alike,) is a kind of close frock, or rather robe, reach- 
 ing generally to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles. 
 At the upper part is a hole just sufficient to admit the head, 
 
46 Tlffl HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 with sleeves that reach to the wrist. These frocks areniade 
 of the skins of different animals, the most common of which 
 are those of the sea-otter, grey fox, raccoon and pine martin, 
 with many of seal skins ; and generally they are worn with 
 the hair side outward. Some also have these frocks made 
 of the skins of fowls, with only the down remaining on 
 them, which they glue on other substances. At the seams, 
 where the different skins are sewed together, they are com- 
 ni©n!y ornamented with tassels or fringes of narrow thongs, 
 cut out of the same skins. A few have a kind of cape or 
 collar, and some a hood, but the other is the most common 
 form, and seems to be their whole dress in good weather. 
 When it rains they put over this another frock, ingeniously 
 made from the intestines of whales, or some other large ani- 
 mal, prepared so skilfully, as almost to resemble gold- 
 beater's leaf. It is made to draw quite tight around the 
 neck; its sleeves reach as low as the wrist, round which 
 they are tied with a string. This frock must be kept con- 
 tinually moist or wet, otherwise it is apt to crack or break. 
 This, as well a's the common frock made of skins, bears a 
 great resemblance to the dress of the inhabitants of Green- 
 land. In general they do not cover their legs or feet, but 
 a few have a kind of skin stockings, which reach half way 
 up the thigh; and scarcely any of them are without mittens 
 for the hands, made of the skins of bears' paws. Those 
 who wear anything on their heads have high truncated conic 
 caps, made of straw, and sometimes of wood, resembling a 
 seal's head, well painted. The men commonly wear the 
 hair cropped round the neck and forehead, but the women 
 allow it to grow long, and most of them tie a small lock of 
 it on the crown, or a few of them club it behind in the 
 civilized manner. Both sexes have the ears perforated with 
 several holes, about the outer and lower part of the edge, 
 in which they hang little bunches of beads, of a tubulous, 
 shelly substance. The scjilum of the nose is also perforated, 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 47 
 
 through which they frequently thrust the quill feathers of 
 little birds, or small bending ornaments, made of the above 
 shelly substance, strung on a stiff string or cord, three or 
 four inches long, which give them a truly grotesque appear- 
 ance. But the most uncommon and unsightly ornamental 
 fashion, adopted by some of both sexes, is their having their 
 tinder lip slit, or cut, quite through, in the direction of the 
 mouth, a little below the swelling part. This incision, 
 which is made even in the sucking children, is often above 
 two inches long, and either by its natural retraction when 
 the wound is fresh, or by the repetition of some artificial 
 management, assumes the true shape of lips, and becomes 
 so large as to admit the tongue through. In this artificial 
 mouth they stick a flat, narrow ornament, made chiefly out 
 of a solid shell or bone, cut into little, narrow pieces, like 
 small teeth, almost down to the base or thickest part, which 
 has a small rejecting bit at each end, that supports it when 
 put into the divided lip, the cut part then appearing out- 
 ward. Others have the lower lip only perforated into sepa- 
 rate holes, and then the ornament consists of as many dis- 
 tinct shelly studs, whose points are pushed through these 
 holes, and their beads appear within the lip, as another row 
 of teeth immediately below their own. 
 
 These are the native ornaments, but many beads of Euro- 
 pean manufacture are found among them, chiefly of a pale 
 blue color, which they hang in their ears, about their caps, 
 or join to their lip-ornaments, which have a small hole 
 drilled in each point to which they arc fastened, and others 
 to them, till they hang sometimes as low as the chin. But 
 in this last case, they cannot remove them so easily; for, as 
 to their own lip-ornaments, they can take tbom out with 
 their tongue, or suck them within at pleasure. They also 
 wear bracelets of the shelly beads, or others of a cylindrical 
 shape, made of a substance like amber, with such also as 
 are used in their cars and nose. The men frequently paint 
 
48 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 their faces of a bright red and of a black color, and some- 
 times of a blue or leaden color, but not to any regular figure, 
 and the women in some measure, endeavor to imitate them, 
 by puncturing or staining the skin with black, that comes 
 to a point in each cheek, a practice very similar to that 
 which is in vogue among the Greenlanders. Their bodies 
 are not painted, which is owing probably to the scarcity of 
 materials. Upon the whole no savages take more pains 
 than fchese people do to ornament, or rather to disfigure, their 
 persons. 
 
 Their habitations are ill-made and inconvenient; they are 
 in general, from four to six feet high, about ten feet long, 
 and about eight feet broad, built with thick planks and the 
 crevices filled up with dry moss. The method they use in 
 making the plank is to split the trees with wooden or stone 
 wedges. 
 
 Their articles of food are fish and animals of all kinds. 
 They also eat the vegetables which their country affords, 
 and the inner bark of the pine tree, which is an excellent 
 antidote for the scurvy, which prevails in this section of the 
 country very much. Their drink is water. In their boats 
 have been seen snow in wooden vessels, which they swallowed 
 by mouthfulls. Perhaps it could be carried in these open 
 vessels with less trouble than water. Their method of eat- 
 ing is decent and cleanly ; for they always take care to sep- 
 arate any dirt that may adhere to their victuals ; and though 
 they sometimes do eat the raw fat of some sea animals, they 
 cut it carefully into mouthfulls, with their small knives. 
 The same may be said of their persons, which are always 
 clean and decent, without grease or dirt ; and the wooden 
 vessels, in which their victuals are placed are kept in excellent 
 order; their boats, also, are neat and free from lumber. 
 These latter are of two sorts, the one being large and open 
 and the other small and covered. 
 
 The weapons and instruments for fishing and hunting are 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 49 
 
 the same as made use of by the Indians on the eastern coast 
 of North America. For defensive armor they have a kind 
 of jacket or coat of mail made of thin laths, hound together 
 with sinews, which makes it quite flexible, though so close 
 as not to admit an arrow or dart. It only covers the trunk 
 of the body, and may not be improperly compared to a 
 woman's stays. 
 
 Of domestic utensils they have oval shallow dishes of 
 wood, and others of a cylindrical shape, much deeper; the 
 sides are made of one piece, bent round, like chip boxes, 
 though thick, neatly fastened with thongs, and the bottoms 
 fixed in with small wooden pegs; others are smaller and of 
 a more elegant shape, somewhat resembling a large oval 
 butter-plate. These are sometimes handsomely carved, and 
 are made from wood, or a horny substance. They have 
 many little square bags, made of the same material as their 
 outer frocks, neatly ornamented with many minute red 
 feathers interwoven with it, in which are contained some 
 very fine sinews and bundles of small cord, made from them, 
 and most ingeniously plaited ; they also have checkered 
 baskets, so closely wrought as to hold water; wooden models 
 of their canoes; little images, four or five inches long, 
 either of wood, or stuffed, which are covered with a bit of 
 fur, and ornamented with pieces of small quill feathers, in 
 imitation of their shelly beads, with hair fixed on their heads. 
 Whether these might be mere toys for children, or held in 
 veneration as representing their deceased friends, and applied 
 to some superstitious purpose, has never been ascertained. 
 They have instruments made of two or three hoops, or con- 
 centric pieces of wood, with a cross-bar fixed in the middle, 
 to hold them by ; to these are fixed a great number of 
 barnacle shells, with threads, which serve as a rattle and 
 make a loud noise when they shake them. 
 
 With what tools they make their wooden utensils, frames 
 of boats, and other things is uncertain j as the only one seen 
 5 
 
50 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 amongst them by those who have visited them was a kind 
 of stone adze. They have iron knives, some of which are 
 straight, others a little curved, and seme very small ones 
 fixed in long handles, with the blades bent upward, like 
 some of the instruments used by shoemakers; they have 
 knives of another sort, which are sometimes near two feet 
 long, shaped almost like a dagger, with a ridge in the mid- 
 dle. These thej wear in sheaths of skin, hung by a thong 
 around their neck, under their robe; and they are, proba- 
 bly, only used as weapons, the other knives being appa- 
 rently applied to other purposes. Everything they have, 
 however, is as well and as ingeniously made as if they were 
 furnished with the most complete tool-chest ; and their sew- 
 ing, plaiting of sinews, and small work on their little bags, 
 may be put in competition with the most delicate manufac- 
 tures found in any part of the known world : in short, con- 
 sidering the otherwise uncivilized or rude state in which 
 these people are, their northern situation, amidst a country 
 perpetually covered with snow, and the wretched materials 
 they have to work with, it appears that their invention and 
 dexterity, in all manual works, is at least equal to that of any 
 other nation. 
 
 Their language -seems difficult to be understood at first; 
 not from any indistinctness or confusion in their words or 
 sounds, but from the various significations they have; for 
 they appear to use the very same word frequently on differ- 
 ent occasions. 
 
 In their songs these natives keep the most exact concert; 
 they are often sung by great numbers together. They are, 
 generally, slow and solemn ; but the music is not of that 
 confined sort found amongst many rude nations, for the va- 
 riations are very numerous and expressive, and the cadence, 
 or melody, powerfully soothing. Besides their full concerts, 
 sonnets of the same grave cast are frequently sung by single 
 performers, who keep time by striking the hand against the 
 
AMERICA— -GEXERAL DESCRIPTION. 51 
 
 tliigh. But the music is sometimes varied from its pre- 
 dominant solemnity of air, and there are instances of stan- 
 zas being suDg in. a more gay and lively strain, with a de- 
 gree of humor. The only instruments of music, (if such 
 they may be called) are a rattle and a small whistle, about 
 an inch long, incapable of any variation, having but one 
 hole. They use the rattle when they sing, but upon what 
 occasions they use the whistle could not be determined, un- 
 less it be when they dress themselves like particular animals, 
 and endeavor to imitate their howl or cry. One of them 
 was seen dressed in a wolfs skin, with the head over his 
 own, and imitating that animal, by making a squeaking noise 
 with one of these whistles, which he had in his mouth. Their 
 rattles are, for the most part, made in the shape of a bird, 
 with a few pebbles in the belly, and the tail is the handle. 
 They have others that bear a resemblance to a child's rattle. 
 
 Their furniture consists chiefly of a great number of 
 boxes and chests of all sizes, which are generally piled upon 
 each other, close to the sides or ends of the house, and con- 
 tain their spare garments, skins and other things which they 
 set value upon. Some of these chests are double, or one 
 covers the other as a lid ; others have a lid fastened with 
 thongs; and some of the very large ones have a square hole, 
 or scuttle, cut in the upper part, by which the things are 
 put in and taken out. They are often painted black, stud- 
 ded with the teeth of different animals, or carved with a kind 
 of freeze-work, and figures of birds and animals as decora- 
 tions. Their fishing implements, and other things, lie or 
 hang up in different parts of the house, but without the least 
 order, so that the whole is a complete scene of confusion ; 
 and the only places that do not partake of this confusion are 
 the sleeping benches, that have nothing on them but the 
 mats, which are also cleaner, and of a finer sort than those 
 they commonly have to sit on in their boats. 
 
 The chief employment of the men seems to be that of 
 
52 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 fishing, and killing land and sea animals, for the sustenance 
 of their families. The women are occupied in manufactur- 
 ing their garments, and are also sent occasionally in the ca- 
 noes to fish ; these boats they manage with as much dexterity 
 as the men, who, when in the canoes with them, seem to pay 
 little attention to their sex, by offering to relieve them from 
 the labor of the paddle. The young men seem to be the 
 most indolent and idle set in this community ; for they are 
 observed either sitting about in scattered companies, basking 
 themselves in the sun, or laying wallowing in the sand upon 
 the beach, like a number of hogs for. the same purpose with- 
 out any covering. But this disregard of decency is alone 
 confined to the men. The women are always properly clothed, 
 and behave with the utmost propriety, justly deserving all 
 commendation for a bashfulness and modesty becoming their 
 sex, but more meritorious in them, as the men seem to have 
 no shame. 
 
 These people bury their dead on the summits of hills, and 
 raise a little hillock over the grave. One of these graves 
 was seen by the side of a road leading from a village to the 
 harbor, over which was raised a heap of stones. It was ob- 
 served that every native who passed it added one to it. 
 Some of those graves are of great antiquity. What their 
 notions are of a Deity and future state is not known. 
 
 The natives are subject to cancer, or a complaint like it, 
 which those whom it attacks are very careful to conceal. 
 They do not seem to be long-lived. No man or woman was 
 seen who could be taken for over fifty years of age. Prob- 
 ably their hard way of living may be the means of shorten- 
 ing their lives. 
 
 The only fish are torsk and halibut, and a purple star-fish. 
 The rocks are almost destitute of shell-fish, and the only 
 animal seen of this kind is a sort of red crab, covered with 
 spines of a very large size. 
 
 The metals are copper and iron ; both of which, particu- 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 53 
 
 larly the latter, are in such plenty, as to constitute the points 
 of most of the arrows and lances. The ores with which the 
 natives paint themselves, are a red brittle, unctuous ochre, 
 or iron ore, not much unlike cinnabar in colour ; a bright 
 blue pigment, and black lead. Each of these are very 
 scarce. 
 
 Canada, which is the south-eastern portion of the British 
 possessions in America, is bounded on the north and east by 
 Nova Scotia, on the south by the New England States and 
 New York, and on the west by lands of which but little is 
 known. Though the climate is cold, and the winters long 
 and tedious, the soil in general is good, and in many parts 
 very fertile. There are many rivers branching through this 
 country, among which may be mentioned the Outtauais, the 
 St. John, Saguinay, Despraires and Trois Rivieres ; but they 
 are all swallowed up by the great St. Lawrence. This river 
 takes its rise in Lake Ontario, and, taking its course north- 
 east, washes Montreal, where it receives the Outtauais, and 
 forms many fertile islands. It continues the same course 
 and meets the tide upwards of four hundred miles from the 
 sea, where it is navigable for large vessels; and below Que- 
 bec, three hundred and twenty miles from the sea, it becomes 
 broad and so deep that the largest class of ships-of-the-line 
 are able to navigate it. It was on the banks of this river 
 that the French commenced settlements many years ago. 
 Their descendants are now subjects of Great Britain — the 
 province of Canada having been ceded to the English by the 
 French in the treaty ratified the 10th of February, 1763, in 
 which said treaty the English obtained the islands of New- 
 foundland, Cape Breton, and St. John, besides much terri- 
 tory in the southern portion of the continent which now 
 belongs to the United States. There are five la^es border- 
 ing on the Canadas, as follows : Lake Superior, which con- 
 tains many islands, is the largest, being five hundred leagues 
 in circuit; Lakes Eric, Ontario, Huron, and Michigan, 
 5* 
 
54 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 All these are navigable, and they all communicate with one 
 another. The river St. Lawrence is the outlet of these lakes, 
 by which they discharge themselves into the ocean. 
 
 The uncultivated parts of North America contain the 
 greatest forests in the world. They are a continued wood, 
 not planted by the hand of man, and in all appearance as 
 old as the world itself. Nothing is more magnificent to the 
 sight; the trees lose themselves in the clouds; and there is 
 such a prodigious variety of species, that even among those 
 persons who have taken the most pains to describe them, 
 there is not one, perhaps, who knows half the variety. 
 Canada produces a large number. It also abounds in stags, 
 elks, deer, bears, foxes, wild-cats, ferretts, weasels, squirrels, 
 rabbits, hares, &c. In the south-western portions are wild 
 bulls, roe-bucks, goats, &c. The marshes, lakes and pools 
 swarm with beavers. Besides a great variety of other fish 
 in the lakes and rivers, there are various kinds of seals, by 
 some called sea-cows, sea-dogs and sea-wolves. Their skins 
 make excellent covers for trunks. Rattlesnakes abound in 
 large numbers and grow to an enormous size. Near Quebec 
 is a rich lead mine, and there are also numerous coal mines. 
 
 Canada is divided into two parts — Upper and Lower 
 Canada; the former being the western division on the north 
 of the great lakes ; while the lower division is on the river 
 St. Lawrence, towards the east. The principal cities are 
 Quebec, Montreal, Kingston and Toronto. There are many 
 other villages and towns throughout the provinces, but they 
 are not of sufficient importance to allude to in this work. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Canadas are generally French and 
 English, interspersed with Yankees from the United States. 
 There are many half-breeds throughout the country — the 
 offspring of those French who married among the Indians. 
 The Canadas are governed by a legislative council and as- 
 sembly. The governor-general is appointed by the head of 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 55 
 
 the British government. This governor-general is com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the British forces in North America. 
 
 The nature of the climate, Uting very cold, prevents the 
 commerce and manufactures of Canada from increasing in 
 as rapid a ratio as that of the United States, but still her 
 imports and exports are very heavy. The religion most 
 prevailing in Canada is that of the Roman Catholic; but 
 there are many who worship differently. 
 
 Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the other North Ameri- 
 can provinces belonging to Great Britain, partake so much 
 of the same character as the Canadas, that it is needless to 
 give any description of them. There are many bays, seas, 
 capes and rivers within their boundaries ; and various cities, 
 towns and villages ; but if we except the city of Halifax, 
 none of the latter deserve any particular notice at our 
 hands. From such an unfavorable climate, but little in the 
 way of agricultural products is expected. The country is 
 not deficient in animals. At the close of March the fish 
 begin to spawn, when they enter the rivers in such shoals as 
 are almost incredible. Herrings come up in April, and sal- 
 mon and sturgeon in May. But the most valuable is the 
 cod-fishing banks of Newfoundland. There are probably 
 five thousand sail of vessels employed in the business of 
 taking the fish ; and the number of persons employed in 
 curing and packing, is computed at thirty-five thousand. 
 
 Without designing to give any account of the political 
 history of that portion of North America which lies to the 
 south of the United States' boundaries, including the re- 
 public of Mexico and the countries southward of it to the 
 Isthmus of Darien, some general remarks will be given 
 relative to the soil, climate, manners, customs, and ceremo- 
 nies of the inhabitants, &c. 
 
 The country is excessively hot, and on the eastern coast, 
 where the land is low, marshy, and constantly flooded in the 
 rainy seasons, it is likewise extremely unwholesome. The 
 
56 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 inland territory, however, assumes a better aspect, and the 
 air is of a milder temperature ; on the western side the land 
 is not so low as on the eastern, much better in quality and 
 well covered with plantations. The soil of Mexico in general 
 is of a good variety, and would not refuse any sort of grain, 
 were the industry of the inhabitants to correspond with their 
 natural advantages. No country under heaven abounds more 
 with grain, delicious fruits, roots and vegetables, many of 
 which are peculiar to it, or at least to this southern section of 
 North America. Of these the most remarkable are bam- 
 boos, mangroves and logwood, which grow on the coasts ; 
 red and white cotton trees, cedars, blood-wood, and maho, 
 of which the natives make ropes and cables ; light-wood, of 
 which they make floats, being as light as cork; white-wood, 
 the cabbage-tree, the banilla, plantains, bananas, pine- 
 apples, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, sapodillo, avogato 
 pear, niammee, mammee-sapota, grape, pickle, bibby, and 
 other curious fruit-trees ; besides which the Spaniards intro- 
 duced most kinds of other fruits. This country also pro- 
 duces the poisonous machined apple, gourds of a prodigious 
 size, melons, silk-grass, tamarinds and locust-trees; the 
 little black, white, and borachio-sapota trees, the last of 
 which takes its name from the inebriating quality of its 
 fruit. To these may be added the Greuadillo de China, 
 creeping-plant, and the inayhey, which furnished the early 
 natives with thread for linen and cordage; and also a bal- 
 sam and liquor, which, when fermented, is as pleasant and 
 strong as wine. This is called Pulque. The cocoa, of 
 which chocolate is made, grows on a tree of midling size, 
 which bears a pod about the size and shape of a cucumber, 
 containing the cocoa. The commerce in this single article 
 alone is immense ; and such is the general consumption, as 
 well as the external call for it, that a small garden of cocoa 
 trees has yielded its owner one hundred thousand dollars 
 per year. It formerly made a principal portion of the 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 57 
 
 Datives' diet, being considered wholesome, nutricious and 
 suited to the climate. In Yucatan, a large peninsula in the 
 gulf of Mexico, the Spaniards first discovered that well 
 known plant tobacco, growing wild. This was in the year 
 1520. 
 
 The plant called opuntia is of inestimable value, as the 
 species of insects called the gall insects, adhere to it, and 
 suck the juice of the fruit, which is of a crimson color. It 
 is from this juice that the cochineal derives its value, which 
 consists in dyeing all sorts of the finest scarlet, purple and 
 crimson. It is also used in medicine as a sudorific, and as 
 a cordial; and it is estimated that over a million pounds' 
 weight are annually exported for the purposes of medicine 
 and dyeing. There are other valuable productions, such as 
 copal, liquid amber, oil of amber, &c. 
 
 There are great ' numbers of animals of different species; 
 and numerous kinds of birds and fish. What is considered 
 the chief glory of this country, and what first induced the 
 Spaniards to form settlements in it, was its numerous mines 
 of gold and silver, which are found in several parts. The 
 mines of both kinds are invariably found in the most barren 
 regions. 
 
 The present inhabitants of this portion of North America 
 are a mixed people, composed of native Indians, Negroes, 
 Spaniards, Americans, French, English, etc. The descend- 
 ants of the Negroes and Indians ; and Indians, French, 
 Spaniards and English, are divided and distinguished by 
 various names, such as Mestizzoes, Creoles, Terceroons, Quar- 
 teroons, &c. 
 
 The Mexicans, and those people inhabiting this part of 
 the continent, are, in common, of good stature, and well pro- 
 portioned form. Their complexion is a deep olive. They 
 have narrow foreheads, black eyes ; firm, regular teeth ; 
 coarse, glossy hair ; thin beards, and generally no hair on 
 their legs and arms, Some tribes look upon flat noses as a 
 
58 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 great beauty. In general these people have their ears, necks 
 and arms adorned with pearls and other jewels, or trinkets 
 made of gold, silver or other metals. 
 
 There are not many deformed persons in this section of 
 America. It would be difficult to find as many hump- 
 backed and squint-eyed people among a thousand of them, 
 as could be found in five hundred of any other nation. 
 When their personal defects and excellencies are poised im- 
 partially, they can neither be called very beautiful, or the 
 contrary ; but seem to hold a middle place between the ex- 
 tremes. Their appearance neither engages or disgusts. 
 Among the young girls there are many highly attractive, 
 from the union of accomplishments, personal and mental. 
 Their senses in general are acute, but particularly so that of 
 sight, which they enjoy to a great age unimpaired. Their 
 constitutions are robust, and they are free from many of the 
 disorders common to other nations; but to the epidemical 
 diseases to which their country is occasionally subjected, 
 they fall the principal victims : with them these diseases 
 begin and with them they end. They are rarely affected 
 with that nauseousness of breath which is occasioned in 
 other people by the corruption of the humors or indigestion. 
 They become grey-headed and bald earlier than their con- 
 querors, the Spaniards, and although most of them die of 
 acute diseases, yet they sometimes attain the age of one 
 hundred years. The Creoles of Mexico have nearly all the 
 bad qualities of the Spaniards, from whom they are des- 
 cended, without that firmness, courage and patience which 
 constitute the praise-worthy part of the Spanish character. 
 Naturally weak and effeminate, they dedicate the greatest 
 part of their lives to loitering and inactive pleasures. Luxu- 
 rious without variety or elegance, and expensive with great 
 parade and little convenience, their general character is no 
 more than a grave insignificance. From idleness and their 
 constitution, their whole business is amour and intrigue ; 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 59 
 
 and their ladies, of consequence, are not at all distinguished 
 for their chastity and domestic virtues. The Indians, who, 
 notwithstanding the devastations of the first invaders, re- 
 main in great numbers, are become, by continual oppression 
 and indignity, a dejected, timorous and miserable race of 
 mortals. The blacks here, like those in other parts of the 
 world, are hardy, stubborn, and as well adapted for the gross 
 slavery they endure as any other creatures can be. Their 
 passion for strong liquors is carried to the greatest extent, 
 which exposes them to all the baneful impressions of disease, 
 and is, undoubtedly, one of the principal causes of the 
 havoc made among them by epidemical disorders. They 
 are moderate in eating, however. The respect paid by pa- 
 rents to their children, and by the young to the old, seems 
 to arise from congenial principles. Parents are very fond 
 of their offspring, but the affection which husbands bear to 
 their wives is certainly less than that borne by wives to their 
 husbands. 
 
 The sacrifices of the Mexicans, previous to their conquest 
 by the Spaniards, were various and horrid beyond expres- 
 sion. In general the victims suffered death by having their 
 breasts opened; sometimes they were drowned in a lake; 
 sometimes they died with hunger shut up in caverns of the 
 mountains ; and sometimes they fell in what was called 
 the Gladiatorian sacrifice. The place for the performance of 
 the common sacrifice was the temple, in the upper area of 
 which stood the altar. The ministers were the priests, the 
 chief of whom, on such occasions, was clothed in a red habit 
 fringed with cotton. On his head he wore a crown of 
 green and yellow- feathers. The other ministers, which 
 were five in number, were dressed in habits of the same 
 make, but embroidered with black, and their bodies were 
 dyed all over with the same color. These barbarous minis- 
 ters carried the victim naked to the upper area of the 
 temple, and having pointed out to the by-standers the idol 
 
60 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 for whom the sacrifice was made, extended him upon the 
 altar. Four priests held his arms and legs, and another 
 kept his head firm with a wooden instrument made in the 
 form of a coiled serpent, and put about his neck. The body 
 of the victim lay arched, the breast and belly being raised 
 up and totally prevented from moving. The inhuman chief 
 priest then approached, and with a cutting-knife made of 
 flint, dexterously opened the breast and tore out the heart, 
 which, while yet palpitating, he offered to the sun," and af- 
 terwards threw it at the feet of the idol : he then took it up 
 and burnt it, and the ashes were preserved as a precious 
 relic. If the idol was of large size and hollow form, it was 
 customary to introduce the heart of the victim into its mouth 
 with a golden spoon. It was usual also to anoint the lips 
 of the idol, and the door cornices of the temple with the 
 blood of the victim. If the victim was a prisoner of war 
 they severed the head from the body, to preserve the skull. 
 The body was carried by the officer, or soldier, to whom the 
 prisoner had belonged, to his house, to be boiled and dressed 
 for the entertainment of his friends. If he was not a pris- 
 oner of war, but a slave purchased for sacrifice, the proprie- 
 tor carried off the body for the same purpose. They eat 
 only the legs, thighs and arms, burning the rest or preserv- 
 ing it for food for wild beasts or birds of prey. Some 
 sects among them, having slain the victim, tore the body in 
 pieces, which they sold at market. Others sacrificed men 
 to their gods, women to their goddesses, and children to the 
 inferior deities. This was the most common mode of sacri- 
 fice : there were others less frequent; such as putting the 
 victims to death by fire, drowning children of both sexes in 
 the lake, shutting them up in a cavern and letting them per- 
 ish with fear and hunger. 
 
 The principal sacrifice among the ancient Mexicans was 
 that called by the Spaniards the Gladiatorian. This was an 
 honorable death, and only prisoners distinguished by their 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 61 
 
 valor were permitted to die by it. The prisoner was placed 
 on a stone in a conspicuous part of the city, armed with a 
 shield and a short sword, and tied by one foot. A Mexican 
 officer, or soldier better armed, mounted the stone to combat 
 with him. If the prisoner was vanquished, he was carried 
 by a priest, dead or alive, to the altar of the common sacri- 
 fices, where his breast was opened, and his heart taken out, 
 while the victor was applauded and rewarded with some 
 military honor. If the prisoner conquered six different 
 combatants, who successively engaged him, be was granted 
 his life, his liberty, and dismissed with honor to his native 
 country. 
 
 At the present day no religion is tolerated in these coun- 
 tries save the Roman Catholic. The clergy is extremely 
 numerous, and it has been computed that priests, monks and 
 nuns, of all orders, make up full one-fifth of the white popu- 
 lation. The people are superstitious, ignorant, rich, lazy 
 and licentious; with such material to work upon, it is not 
 remarkable that the church enjoys one-fourth of the reve- 
 nues of the republic. 
 
 There are many causes which affect the population of this 
 country. The small-pox is here remarkably fatal ; and a 
 disease called the blaqk vomito, acts, at intervals, with the 
 ravages of the pestilence. The number of priests, monks, 
 and nuns, is also injurious to population, though it appears, 
 on the whole, to have greatly increased. In 1612, the popu- 
 lation of all this territory was computed at 150,000 only; 
 now it is estimated at 15,000,000. 
 
 The principal city at present is Mexico. It is built upon 
 a fen, near the banks of a lake, and crossed by numerous 
 canals, the houses being founded on piles. The streets are 
 wide and straight, but very dirty ; the houses are tolerably 
 built. The principal buildings are the palace, churches and 
 convents, which are richly ornamented. The grand cathe- 
 dral is magnificent ; the railing round the altar is of solid 
 6 
 
62 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 silver, and there is a silver lamp so capacious that three men 
 can get into it. It is also enriched with lions' heads and 
 other ornaments of pure gold. The images of the Virgin 
 JVtary, and other Saints, are either of solid gold or silver, or 
 covered with precious stones. The city has several splendid 
 squares, in one of which there is a beautiful fountain. 
 There is also a charming walk called the Alameda. A 
 rivulet runs all round it, and forms a pretty large square, 
 with a basin and a jet of water. Eight walks, with each 
 two rows of trees, terminate at this basin like a star. The 
 country about the city is swampy ground and full of canals. 
 
 The Spanish inhabitants are commonly clothed in silk, 
 their hats being adorned with belts of gold and roses of 
 diamonds; for even some of the slaves have bracelets and 
 necklaces of gold, silver, pearls, and gems. The ladies are 
 distinguished for beauty and gallantry. The shops display 
 a profusion of gold, silver, and jewels. There are other 
 cities of importance throughout the country. Guadalaxara 
 is one of the largest and neatest. Vera Cruz is the prin- 
 cipal sea-port on the east coast, and Acapulco on the west. 
 The former is very strongly fortified, having for its defence 
 the celebrated castle of San Juau de Ulloa, which was cap- 
 tured by the United States' forces during the war in the year 
 1848. 
 
 We shall now give some interesting particulars relative to 
 the early history of New Mexico and California, the greater 
 part of which territory has, within a few years past, been 
 added to the dominions of the United States. 
 
 New Mexico and California were, and are, inhabited by a 
 great variety of nations, entirely unconnected with each 
 other, until the acquisition of the land by the United States 
 government. The principal of the Indian tribes is the 
 Apaches. They arc a resolute and warlike people, fond of 
 I liberty, entirely averse to what they deem the tyranny and 
 oppression of the law, and formidable on account of their 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 63 
 
 great dexterity in the use of firearms, and bows and arrows. 
 When the Spaniards first entered the country, they found 
 the natives pretty well clothed, their lands cultivated, their 
 villages neat, and their towns built of stone, in which they 
 discovered some knowledge of architecture, not drawn from 
 the rules of art, but the convenience dictated by nature. 
 They were great lovers of mule's flesh, and upon that account 
 frequently seized the mules of Spanish travellers, leaving 
 their chests of silver upon the road, because they set no 
 value upon that metal. Their chiefs or princes were little 
 more than the leaders of their armies, elected at the plea- 
 sure of the people for their wisdom or valor. The Span- 
 iards who early settled in this country, have been rather 
 sparing in their accounts of it, which must be imputed to 
 either their- ignorance or caution. 
 
 California, a part of the most northern of all the domin- 
 ions formerly claimed by Spain on the continent of America, 
 was, for a long time, supposed to be an island, but at last 
 was found to be only a peninsula, issuing from the north 
 coast of America and extending into the Pacific ocean eight 
 hundred miles. The more southern part was known to the 
 Spaniards soon after the discovery of Mexico, for Gortez dis- 
 covered it in 1535; but they did not enter far into it, con- 
 tenting themselves with the pearl fishery on its coast. In 
 process of time the Jesuits explored this extensive penin- 
 sula, and acquired a complete dominion there. On their 
 expulsion in 1766, it was found to be a fertile region, with 
 many mines of gold, and an extensive pearl fishery. Before 
 the end of the year 1771 about two thousand Spaniards 
 were settled in the upper part, and Santa Fe was founded. 
 It was regularly built, and soon became an opulent city, and 
 was for some time the seat of government of northern 
 Mexico. The harbor of Monterey, on the Pacific, was dis- 
 covered in 1602, but the town was not founded until 1770. 
 
 The land of California possesses an inexpressible fertility; 
 
64 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 farinaceous roots and seeds of all kinds abundantly prosper 
 here. Fruit trees are rare though the climate is favorable 
 to them. 
 
 The Indian inhabitants of this country are very skilful in 
 drawing the bow, with which they kill- the smallest birds at 
 a great distance. They display an incredible patience in 
 approaching them ; they conceal themselves from the game, 
 and, as it were, glide along to within shooting distance. 
 Their adroitness in hunting larger animals is still more ex- 
 traordinary. 
 
 This section of country produces an abundance of pro- 
 visions of all kinds, such as roots, greens, milk, fowls, oxen, 
 sheep and grain. The Indians are in general small and 
 weak. Their color nearly approaches that of the negroes, 
 whose hair is not woolly ; the hair of these people is coarse 
 and strong, and of great length. They have dark, deep- 
 seated eyes, high cheek bones, a large mouth, thick lips and 
 Very fine teeth. They are utterly destitute of industry and 
 curiosity, being extremely indolent and very stupid; they 
 turn their toes inward in walking, and their timid carriage, 
 at first sight, announces their pusillanimous character. The 
 dress of the most respectable of them was, until within a 
 few years past, an otter skin cloak, which covered their loins 
 and descended below the groin; the lazy and indolent part 
 of them had only a simple piece of linen cloth, for the pur- 
 pose of hiding their nakedness, and a small rabbits' skin 
 cloak thrown over their shoulders, which was fastened with 
 a string under their chins. The head and rest of the body 
 was absolutely naked, but some few of them had hats of 
 straw neatly matted. The dress of the women was a cloak 
 of deer skin, badly tanned. The young girls, under nine 
 years, wore a simple girdle, and the children ran naked. 
 
 Their habitations are the most miserable that are to be 
 met with among any people; they are round, about six feet 
 in diameter and four in height. Some stakes, fixed in the 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 65 
 
 earth, and which approach each other in an arch at the top, 
 compose the timber-work of one of their cabins; eight or 
 ten bundles of straw, badly arranged, over these stakes are 
 all that defend the inhabitants from the rain and wind, and 
 more than half the cabin is open when the weather is fine j 
 their only precaution is to have two or three extra bundles 
 of straw, which they hold in reserve. They lie down to 
 sleep indiscriminately, without distinction of age or sex, on 
 skins they spread around the fire, and are little solicitous 
 about building their huts, because the restlessness of their 
 disposition often induces them to change their abode, alleg- 
 ing that they are devoured by vermin, and that when they 
 quit one habitation they can build another in two hours. 
 The situations they most prefer are on the banks of the 
 rivers, or the south side of the mountains. 
 
 We shall now endeavor to give some account of that terri- 
 tory (now belonging to the United States) formerly known 
 as Florida and Louisiana. And it may not be out of place 
 to give a brief notice relative to the far-famed Fernando de 
 Soto, a native of Badajos, originally possessing only cour- 
 age and his sword. He had been one of the most distin- 
 guished companions of Pizarro, and a main instrument in 
 annexing to Spain the golden region of Pern j but in the 
 conquest of Peru his part had only been secondary — the 
 first prize had been carried off by another ; and he now 
 sought Florida — a country, the glory of conquering and the 
 pride of ruling which should be wholly his; and his wishes 
 were fulfilled. He was created governor-general of the 
 Floridas by the Spanish crown in 1539, and on the 18th 
 of May, in that year, he sailed from Havana, with nine 
 vessels, nine hundred men, besides two hundred and thir- 
 teen horses, and a herd of swine. Arriving on the 80th of 
 May, at the bay of Espiritu Santo, on the western coast of 
 Florida, he landed three hundred men and pitched 'his 
 camp; but about the break of day the next morning, they 
 6* 
 
66 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 were attacked by a numerous body of savages and obliged 
 to retire. Having marched several hundred miles, he passed 
 through the Indian towns of Alabama, Taliscepand Tesca- 
 lusa, to Mavila, a village enclosed with wooden walls, stand- 
 ing near the mouth of the Mobile. The inhabitants, dis- 
 gusted with the strangers, and provoked by an outrage 
 committed on one of their chiefs, brought on a severe con- 
 flict, in which two thousand of the natives and forty-eight 
 Spaniards were slain. A considerable number of the Span- 
 iards died afterwards of their wounds, making their entire 
 loss 83 ; they also lost 45 horses. The village was burnt 
 in the action. After this engagement, Soto retreated to the 
 territory of Chicaca, where he remained until the next 
 April. His army, now resuming its march through the 
 Indian country, was reduced to about three hundred men 
 and forty horses. Soto, having appointed Louis de Mocoso 
 his successor in command, died at the confluence of the 
 rivers Guacoya and Mississippi. To prevent the Indians 
 from obtaining a knowledge of his death, his body was put 
 into an oak, hollowed for that purpose, and sunk in the 
 river. De Soto was only 42 years of age, and had expended 
 100,000 ducats in this expedition. The small remains of 
 his army arrived at Panuco on the 10th of September, 
 1543 ; and this great expedition to settle the Floridas and 
 the country adjacent, terminated only in the poverty and 
 ruin of all who were concerned in it. 
 
 In the year 1763, Florida was ceded by Spain to the 
 English. The latter claimed it by virtue of its dis* 
 covery by Sebastian Cabot, who sailed in the interest of 
 the British crown. It was bounded on the north by Geor- 
 gia, the most southern of the United States; on the east by 
 the Atlantic ocean ; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 on the west by the Mississippi river. The territory of Lou- 
 isiana was bounded on the north by the Indian territories, 
 the property of the United States; on the south by the 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 67 
 
 Gulf of Mexico ; on the east by Florida, and on the west by 
 Mexico. Louisiana was ceded to England by Spain in 1763, 
 as part of Florida, and by them, together with Florida, 
 ceded to the Spaniards, according to a treaty in 1783. In 
 1800 these lands were ceded to the French Republic by the 
 king of Spain ; and during the administration of Thomas 
 Jefferson as President of the Republic of the United States, 
 they were bought from the French. The soir of all this 
 country, except in the middle, is very low, and the shores 
 are sandy or marshy to a great distance within land. The 
 country abounds with all kinds of timber and fruit trees, 
 especially pines, cypress, &o. Excellent limes and prunes, 
 oranges, lemons and other tropical fruits, grow here in great 
 abundance. The principal town in east Florida was San 
 Augustine, but Pensacola in the west, having an excellent 
 harbor, was a place of considerable commerce. There are 
 many French and Creole inhabitants still remaining in 
 Florida and Louisiana, who are chiefly employed in cultiva- 
 ting rice, cotton and indigo, the latter of which is said to be 
 as good as that from St. Domingo. 
 
 As there are many particulars respecting the dress, manners 
 and customs of the early inhabitants of this territory, it 
 may not be out of place to give a few of them. The ori- 
 ginal Indians were robust and well proportioned. Both 
 sexes went naked except a deer-skin tied round the waist. 
 Their bodies were stained with the juice of plants, and their 
 hair was long and black. The women, who possessed good 
 features and were well made, were so active that they could 
 climb with the greatest swiftness to the tops of the highest 
 trees and swim across the broadest rivers with their children 
 upon their backs. The common men were, in general, sat- 
 islied with one wife, but the chiefs were indulged with more, 
 though the children of only one wife ■ succeeded to the 
 father's dignity. 
 
 The government of the original Floridas was in the hands 
 
08 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 of many chiefs, who were called Caciques. They were fre- 
 quently at war with each other. The funeral of a deceased 
 Cacique was celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. 
 They placed upon his tomb the bowl out of which he wag 
 accustomed to drink, and stuck great numbers of arrows in 
 the earth around his grave, bewailing his death for three 
 days with loud lamentations. The generality of them cut 
 oil their hair as a singular testimony of their sorrow. Their 
 chieftains also set fire to and consumed all the household 
 furniture, together with the hut that belonged to the de- 
 ceased, after which some old women were deputed, who, 
 every day during the space of half a year, at morning, noon 
 and evening, bewailed him with dreadful bowlings, accord- 
 ing to the practice of some more civilized nations. With 
 respect to religion they were idolaters. 
 
 These particulars in reference to the Florida Indians will 
 also serve for those who occupied Louisiana, there being but 
 little variation in their mode of life or funeral ceremonies. 
 Many attempts were made by the Spaniards and French to 
 settle these territories, but in consequence of the hostility of 
 the Indians but little progress was made. The Duke of Or- 
 leans, towards the end of the reign of Louis the XIY. es- 
 tablished a colony of French. After the war of 1756 it fell 
 into the hands of Spain. The taking possession of this new 
 colony in the name of its new master, was in every respect a 
 disastrous era for the country. The bands which had here- 
 tofore united it to France were violently torn asunder. As- 
 sassinations of persons, confiscation of property, tyrannical 
 expulsions, cruel imprisonment, and the horrors of the in- 
 quisition, were exercised by the Spanish government with 
 unrelenting cruelty. After these dreadful scenes, on the 
 first day of October, 1800, a treaty was entered into by 
 France and Spain, "in which Louisiana and the Floridas 
 again came into tha hands of the French. New Orleans, 
 the chief city of the territory, began to grow in importance 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 69 
 
 after this change of government, though its trade was of 
 small value for several years after the Floridas and Louisi- 
 ana became part of the United States, which they did on 
 the 30th of April, 1802. In 1802 a traveller thus describes 
 New Orleans and its inhabitants as they were under the 
 French : 
 
 "New Orleans is situated in the thirtieth degree of 
 north latitude, and the nineteenth of west longitude, on 
 the east side of the Mississippi, eight leagues from its en- 
 trance into the Gulf of Mexico. In following the course 
 of the river, it is built on its left bank. The river forms 
 before the city, a kind of semi-circular basin, here and there 
 widening. It is an equivalent for a port on the east, where 
 vessels anchor close to one another ; and so near the water- 
 side, that by means of a couple of forts, in the form of a 
 bridge, there is an easy communication from land to each 
 vessel, and their cargoes are discharged with the greatest 
 ease. The depth of the river, taken at the middle of its 
 bed, in front of the city, is about forty fathoms. The city 
 is about 3600 feet in length. To which may be super-added 
 the suburbs, extending, like the city, along the river, and 
 about half as long. But, strictly speaking, both the city 
 and suburbs are mere outlines, the greatest part of the 
 houses being constructed of wood, having but one story, 
 erected often on blocks, and roofed with shingles. There 
 are a few houses, more solid and less exposed, on the banks 
 of the river, and in the front streets. Those houses are of 
 burnt brick ; some one, others two stories high, having the 
 upper part furnished with an open gallery, which surrounds 
 the building. In the heart of the town and suburbs, 
 nothing is to be seen but barracks. The streets are well 
 laid out and tolerably spacious ; but that is all. Bordered 
 by a footway of four or five feet, and throughout unpaved, 
 walking is inconvenient; but what more particularly in- 
 commodes the foot-passengers is the projecting flight of steps 
 
70 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 "before every door. The streets being very Hat, the filth. 
 from the houses remains where it was thrown ; and during 
 a great part of the year they are a common sewer; a sink 
 of nastiness, dirt, and corruption. With regard to the pub- 
 lic buildings, there are only the Hotel de Ville, and the 
 Parochial Church, both built of brick ; the former, how- 
 ever, has but one story. They stand near each other on a 
 spot contiguous to the river. Nearly in the centre of the 
 town is a small theatre, where dramas are performed with 
 considerable ability. The company consists of half a 
 dozen French actors and actresses from the island of St. 
 Domingo. 
 
 "In winter, during the carnival, there is a public ball open 
 twice a week, one day for grown people and another for 
 children. It is nothing but a kind of hall made out of a 
 rude barrack, and stands in such an unfortunate part of the 
 city, that it is only accessible through mud and mire. Each 
 side is accommodated with boxes, where the mammas form 
 a tapestry, and where ladies of younger date, who come 
 merely as spectators, are accommodated with seats. The 
 musicians are half a dozen gypsies, or people of color, 
 scraping their fiddles with all their might. The room 
 is miserably lighted, no chandeliers, but simple candles. 
 It is hither, in the months of January and February, but 
 seldom sooner or later, that the inhabitants repair, men, 
 women and children, to forget their cares in dancing; nor 
 will they tire at their country dances, from seven at night 
 till cock-crowing in the morning. The price of admittance 
 into this temple of Terpsichore is one-half dollar for each 
 individual. Every white person in decent garb is admitted 
 for this sum. The convent of nuns contains forty sisters. 
 The city cannot boast of an exchange, a college or a library. 
 Such is New Orleans in 1802.. It deserves the name 
 rather of a great straggling town, than a city ; though even 
 to merit that title, it would be required to be longer. In 
 
AMERICA — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 71 
 
 fact, the mind can, I think, scarcely imagine to itself a more 
 disagreeable place on the face of the whole globe; it is 
 disgusting in whatever point of view it be contemplated, 
 both as a whole, separately, and the wild, brutish aspect of 
 its suburbs. Yet it is the only town in the whole colony, 
 and in the ardour of admiration it is called by the inhabi- 
 tants the capitol, the city ! 
 
 " The Creoles of Louisiana and the Floridas, male and 
 female, are generally of a middle stature, well formed, and 
 rather robust than slender. They are seldom fresh colored ; 
 few faces are seen purpled over with the ruddy hue of 
 health. They are rather fair than brown, and their hair is 
 commonly light from their infancy, or if changed by years, 
 attains to a chestnut. The women of this country are pe- 
 culiarly the favorites of nature. Their skin, without being 
 of a ravishing white, is fair; their features, though irregu- 
 lar, are agreeable; their lips are of a blushing red, their 
 bosoms are heaving snows, their eyes blue and voluptuous, 
 and their lovely hair is often long enough to fall almost to 
 their feet. Considered morally, they are superior to the 
 men. They have more penetration, and to them belongs 
 the practice of hospitality. When a stranger of any gen- 
 tility goes into a house and requests shelter, it is the mis- 
 tress who receives him and does the honors of the place. 
 The master, if he sits down with his guest, is upon thorns; 
 he leaves him without ceremony, to be entertained by his 
 wife, and goes about his business. The Louisiana and 
 Florida ladies have a number of good qualities. They are 
 respectable daughters, affectionate wives and tender mothers, 
 skilled in domestic economy, frugal and reserved. Ought 
 not a husband, blessed with one of these fair spirits for a 
 wife, to make a sacrifice of his authority to preserve peace 
 in his family ? What man in his senses would disdain the 
 government of a seraph form, or not obey sweet mandates 
 from cherub lips ? But the husbands here are fools on this 
 
72 THE HISTORICAL CABINET. 
 
 subject; they begin with dissensions and end witb divorce. 
 The country abounds in fine girls, who languish in celibacy, 
 and of whom many will never have husbands except in 
 their dreams. These girls are passionately fond of dancing, 
 and will pass whole nights in succession at this enterprise. 
 
 " The ladies of New Orleans dress themselves with taste. 
 The women in the country are less pompous in their apparel, 
 but they love it equally well. Their little hearts beat with 
 tumult at the sight of a new dress, that has the character 
 of being fashionable. " 
 
 New Orleans, and the country adjacent, have undergone 
 great changes since this account was written. The city is 
 now one of the best built, and populous in the United 
 States. In point of commerce, it is the third in the Union, 
 and the hospitality and intelligence of its inhabitants are 
 well known to all who have visited it. 
 
 THE END. 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. 
 
 The publishers would inform the reading community that the pre- 
 sent number of the " Historical Cabinet" is but the commence- 
 ment of a series of highly interesting historical pamphlets, which they 
 intend to issue monthly. The succeeding numbers will be issued 
 in the same form, and on fine, white paper, so that any number of 
 them can be bound together. The value of these pamphlets to the 
 young, as well as the aged, must be apparent to all who peruse 
 " The American Continent." Each succeeding number, like the 
 present, will be complete in itself, and possess equally as much 
 useful and instructive information. 
 
 J. J. FULLMER & Co., Publishers, 
 
 48 Filbert Street, Philadelphia. 
 
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