tyrant. Above 200 of their associates having joined them, they conducted young Almagro in solemn procession through the city, and assembling the magistrates and principal citizens, compelled them to acknowledge him as lawful successor to his father in his government. The palace of Pizarro, together with the houses of several of his adherents, were pillaged by the soldiers, who had the satisfaction at once of being avenged on their enemies, and of enriching themselves by the spoil of those through whose hands all the wealth of Peru had passed.

The partizans of old Almagro now declared his son of the same name viceroy; but the greater part of the nation, though not averse to the conspiracy which took off Pizarro, refused to concur in this determination. They waited the orders of the emperor Charles V. then king of Spain, who sent over Vaca di Castro, a man of the strictest probity to be their governor. By him the young Almagro was defeated; and being tried and condemned, lost his life, together with the chief supporters of his cause. De Castro, by his wisdom and integrity, was admirably qualified to heal the wounds of the colony; and to place every thing on the most advantageous footing, both for it and for the mother country. By his prudent conduct, the mines of La Plata and Potosi, which had hitherto supplied the private plunderer, were converted into objects of public utility, to the court of Spain. The parties, which had agitated the province from the very beginning, were either crushed or silenced; and tranquillity was again restored to Peru.

It appears, however, that de Castro, trusting, perhaps, too much to a conscious integrity, had neglected the usual precautions of guilt, in securing the favour of the ministry by bribes or promises. By their advice, a council was sent out to controul Castro; and the colony was again unsettled. The parties just composed, began to rage anew; and Gonzalo, the brother of the famous Pizarro, set himself at the head of his brother's partizans, with whom many new malecontents had joined interests. It was no longer a private dispute between governors, about the bounds of their jurisdiction. Gonzalo Pizarro paid no more than a nominal submission to the king. He daily accumulated strength and resources; and even went

so far, as to decapitate a governor who had been sent to curb him. He attached to his interest the admiral of the Spanish fleet in the South Seas; by whose means he proposed to prevent the landing of troops from Spain; and in the plenitude of his presumption, meditated to unite the inhabitants of Mexico in his revolt.

In this wretched situation stood affairs, when the Spanish court, sensible of its mistake in sending men into America from the influence of minions and the solicitation of cabals, without any regard to character and virtue, dispatched with unlimited authority Peter de la Gasga, a man of equal integrity with Castro, but superior in the arts of address. These, however, were not used to cloak vice or mask hypocrisy: a natural love of justice, a greatness of soul, and a disinterested spirit, were inherent qualities in both; but Gasga set off these amiable qualities to advantage by the soft polish of conciliating

manners.

All those who had not joined in Pizarro's revolt, began to flock under his standard; and many of Pizarro's partizans, charmed with the behaviour of Gasga, forsook their old connections. The admiral was gained over by insinuation to return to his duty and allegiance; and Pizarro himself was offered a full indemnity on the same terms. But so intoxicating are the ideas of royalty, that Pizarro chose rather to hazard irretrievable ruin than submit to any officer of Spain, With those of his partizans, who still remained faithful to his cause, he determined to risk a battle. He was vanquished and taken prisoner; and his execution speedily followed. Thus the brother of him who had added Peru to the dominions of Spain, fell a necessary sacrifice for the security of the acquisition.

A

VIEW OF AMERICA

WHEN

FIRST DISCOVERED.

THE successful discoveries, and valuable acquisitions of the Spaniards on the rich continent of South America, soon excited the attention of other European nations to pursue similar measures by similar means; but the detail of their different expeditions, and of the revolutions that have taken place, neither falls within our plan, nor would it be generally interesting. It is sufficiently known, that flourishing colonies and independent states now exist, which were planted along that very extensive coast, reaching from the mouth of the river St. Lawrence in North America, to Rio de la Plata in the South, some of which spread far within land; besides the islands in the gulph of Mexico and elsewhere. A description of these falls within the province of the geographer alone; but before we proceed in our intended course, it may not be amiss to throw together the general observations of various writers on the original inhabitants of this vast continent; to preserve the traces of character which time may obliterate, or an intercourse with Europeans efface. Such a disquisition will be no less gratifying to him who reads for pleasure, than to him who reads for profit. It will assist the speculations of the philosopher, and amuse the leisure of the busy.

When we contemplate the New World, the first circumstance that strikes us is its immense extent. It was not a small portion of the earth, so inconsiderable, that it might

have escaped the observation or research of former ages, which Columbus discovered. He made known a new hemisphere, larger than either Europe, or Asia, or Africa, the three noted divisions of the ancient continent, and not much inferior in dimensions to a third part of the habitable globe.

America is remarkable not only for its magnitude, but for its position. It stretches from the northern polar circle to a high southern latitude, above 1,500 miles beyond the farthest extremity of the old continent on that side of the line. A country of such extent passes through all the climates capable of becoming the habitation of man, and fit for yielding the various productions peculiar either to the temperate or to the torrid regions of the earth.

Next to the extent of the New World, the grandeur of the objects which it presents to view is most apt to strike the eye of an observer. Nature seems here to have carried on her operations upon a larger scale, and with a bolder hand, and to have distinguished the features of this country by a peculiar magnificence. The mountains of America are much superior in height to those in the other divisions of the globe. Even the plain of Quito, which may be considered as the base of the Andes, is elevated farther above the sea than the top of the Pyrenees. This stupenduous ridge of the Andes, no less remarkable for extent then elevation, rises in different places inore than one third above the Pike of Teneriffe, the highest land in the ancient hemisphere. The Andes may literally be said to hide their heads in the clouds; the storms often roll, and the thunder bursts below their summits, which, though exposed to the rays of the sun in the centre of the torrid zone, are covered with everlasting snows.

From these lofty mountains descend rivers, proportionably large, with which the streams in the ancient continent are not to be compared, either for length of course, or the vast body of water which they roll towards the ocean. The Maragnon, the Orinoco, the Plata in South America, the Mississippi and St. Lawrence in North America, flow in such spacious channels, that, long before they feel the influence of the tide, they resemble arms of the sea rather than rivers of fresh water.

The lakes of the New World are no less conspicuous for grandeur than its mountains and rivers. There is nothing in other parts of the globe which resembles the prodigious chain of lakes in North America. They may properly be termed inland seas of fresh water; and even those of the second or third class in magnitude, are of larger circuit (the Caspian sea excepted) than the greatest lake of the ancient continent.

The New World is of a form extremely favourable to commercial intercourse. When a continent is formed, like Africa, of one vast solid mass, unbroken by arms of the sea penetrating into its interior parts, with few large rivers, and those at a considerable distance from each other, the greater part of it seems destined to remain for ever uncivilized, and to be debarred from any active or enlarged communication with the rest of mankind. When, like Europe, a continent is opened by inlets of the ocean of great extent, such as the Mediterranean and Baltic; or when, like Asia, its coast is broken by deep bays advancing far into the country, such as the Black sea, the gulphs of Arabia, of Persia, of Bengal, of Siam, and of Leotang; when the surrounding seas are filled with large and fertile islands, and the continent itself watered with a variety of navigable rivers, those regions may be said to possess whatever can facilitate the progress of their inhabitants in commerce and improvement. In all these respects America may bear a comparison with the other quarters of the globe. The gulf of Mexico, which flows in between North and South America, may be considered as a Mediterranean sea, which opens a maritime commerce with all the fertile countries by which it is encircled. The islands scattered in it are inferior only to those in the Indian Archipelago, in number, in magnitude, and in value. As we stretch along the northern division of the American hemisphere, the bay of Chesapeak presents a spacious inlet, which conducts the navigator far into the interior parts of provinces no less fertile than extensive; and if ever the progress of culture and population shall mitigate the extreme rigour of the climate in the more northern districts of America, Hudson's bay may become as subservient to commercial intercourse in that quarter of the globe, as the