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are found to ascend to 12,000 ft. or 14,000 ft. on the declivities of the mountains; but their summits, which commonly form plains of some extent, are nearly bare of vegetation, nourishing only two or three kinds of low plants.

the tropic, it would be found at about 14,000 ft., or | Bogota a farinaceous root, called aracacha, is somewhat higher. But Mr. Pentland found it near cultivated, and lately some attempts have been 17° S. lat., at nearly 17,000 ft.; and later observ-made to introduce its culture in England. Trees ations fix it near 12° S. lat., at about 16,400 ft. above the level of the sea. It is farther remarkable, that though a great number of summits rise above the snow line, glaciers are of rare occurrence in the Andes. This is partly to be attributed to the relative position of their summits which generally form a continuous line, without having other summits on their sides; and partly to the considerable distance which every where is found to intervene between two summits. It is only in the narrow ravines by which some of the sides of the giant summits are furrowed, that glaciers of small extent are met with.

Among the vegetable productions of the Andes, none has obtained greater celebrity than the cinchona, or Jesuits' bark, which is now known to grow not only on different parts of the Andes, but also on the other high mountains of S. America. The best bark, however, is collected on the Andes between 5° N. lat. and 5° S. lat., where the trees grow at an elevation of from 10,000 to 14,000 ft. above the sea.

Zoology of the Andes.-This we are very imperfectly acquainted with. The most remarkable genus is that which comprehends the guanacos, llamas, and vicunas, of which the llamas are used as animals of burden; but they are slow, making only about 12 miles a day, and carrying about 70 lbs. of burthen. The vicunas give a very valuable kind of wool. Among birds, the condors have always attracted the attention of travellers, on account of their enormous size. They are a species of vulture.

Vegetation of the Andes. The different plants and trees peculiar to the different regions of the globe appear in regular succession, as we ascend from the level of the ocean to the heights of the Andes. In the lower grounds, between the tropics, from the level of the sea to the height of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet, cassava, cacao, maize, plantains, indigo, sugar, cotton, and coffee are cultivated. Indigo and cacao, the plantain or the banana tree, and the cassava root require great heat to be brought to maturity, generally a climate of which the mean temperature is 75°. But cotton and coffee will grow at a considerable Mineral Wealth. If the high table-land of elevation, and sugar is cultivated with success in Anahuac in Mexico be excepted, no mountain the temperate parts of Quito. Maize is culti-range can vie with the Andes in mineral riches, vated in the same climate as the banana; but its especially in the precious metals. Many of cultivation extends over a much wider sphere, the rivers descending from the Andes between as it arrives at maturity at an elevation of 6,000 ft. the tropics contain small particles of gold in above the sea. The low country within the tro- their sand. The particles of gold deposited in pics is also the region of oranges, pine-apples, the alluvial soil skirting the beds of some of and the most delicious fruits. Between the alti- these rivers have attracted the attention of Eutudes of 6,000 ft. and 9,000 ft. lies the climate best ropeans, and at some places the soil is carefully suited for the culture of all kinds of European washed. The alluvial soils richest in gold are grain. Wheat, under the equator, will seldom those lying to the W. of the Central Andes of form an ear below an elevation of 4,500 ft., or New Granada, on both sides of the Rio Cauca ; ripen if above that of 10,000 ft. At the same as also in the provinces of Barbacoas and Choco time it must be observed, that the European co-along the Pacific. In the latter districts platina lonists have not sufficiently varied their agricultural experiments to ascertain exactly the minimum of height at which European cerealia would come to maturity in the equinoctial regions of America. Humboldt mentions that in the Ca-in gold are also found along the rivers which raccas he saw fine harvests of wheat near Victoria, in the latitude of 10° 13′ N., at the height of 1,640 and 1,900 ft., and at Cuba wheat flourishes at a still smaller elevation. Rye and barley, especially the latter, resist cold better than wheat; they are accordingly cultivated at a greater elevation. Barley yields abundant harvests at heights where the thermometer rarely keeps up during the day above 57° Fah. Within the limits in which European grain flourishes is to be found the oak, which from an elevation of 9,200 ft. never descends, near the equator, below that of 5,500 ft., though it is met with in the parallel of Mexico at the height of only 2,620 ft. Beyond the limit of 9,000 ft. large trees of every kind begin to disappear, though some dwarfish pines are to be found at the height of 13,000 fl., nearly 2,000 ft. from the line of perpetual snow. The grasses clothe the ground at an elevation of from 13,500 ft. to 15,100 ft.; and from this to the regions of ice and snow, the only plants visible are the lichen, which covers the face of the rocks, and seems even to penetrate under the snow.

In districts as elevated as the valley of Titicaca, agriculture is confined to potatoes, onions, and capsicum, and to the grain called quinoa (Chenopedium quinoa, Lin.); barley and rye are only cultivated as fodder. On the plain of

also occurs; and, till within these few years, when it has been found in the Ural mountains, these were considered as the only places in which it was to be met with. Alluvial soils rich

descend from the range of the Bolivian Andes, between 14° and 17° S. lat. ; and here too considerable quanties of gold are extracted. The annual produce of the lavaderos and gold mines of the Andes is stated by Humboldt to have amounted, in the beginning of the 19th century, to 283,429 oz.; equal, at 4l. per oz., to 1,133,7167.

Silver occurs in many places of the range between 33° and the equator; but it is commonly found at an elevation where vegetation nearly ceases, which renders the working of the mines very expensive, and frequently disappoints the otherwise well-founded expectations of the undertakers. The number of mines which have been worked and abandoned is very great; many of them, however, are still worked. The most celebrated silver mines are those of Potosi and Pasco. The former are in the Cerro de Potosi (19° 36′ S. lat. ), which rises to 16,037 ft. above the sea. This mountain is perforated in all directions; and it is said, though the statement be probably exaggerated, that there are no fewer than 5,000 excavations in it. The Cerro de Pasco is a hill, rising on the high plain of Bombon (about 11° S. lat.). It has been worked for more than two centuries, and may now be considered as the richest silver mine of America; unless, which is doubtful, it be sur

who walks quicker than himself; or when, frightened by the view of the water seen through the interstices of the bamboos, he has the imprudence to stop in the middle of the bridge, and lay hold of the ropes that serve as a rail. Some of the rivers of the higher Andes are passed by means an invention or bridge denominated a tarabita. | It conveys not only the passengers, but also their cattle and burdens; and is used to pass those torrents whose rapidity and the large stones continually rolling down, render it impossible for mules to swim across. It consists of a strong rope of bejuco, extended across the river, on each bank of which it is fastened to stout posts. On one side is a kind of wheel or winch to straiten or slack the rope to the degree required. From this rope hangs a kind of movable leathern hammock, capable of holding a man, to which a rope is fastened for drawing it to the side intended. For carrying over mules two ropes are necessary, and these much thicker and slacker. The creature being suspended from them, and secured by girths round the belly, neck, and legs, is shoved off, and dragged to the opposite bank. Some of these bejuco bridges are of great length, and elevated to a great height above the torrent.

A bridge of this sort was constructed by the 5th Inca over the Desaguadero, or river that issues from lake Titicaca, where it is more than 200 feet in width; and, on account of its utility, is still kept up. Sometimes, instead of being made of bejucos or osiers, these suspension bridges are made of twisted strands or thongs of bullock's hide. Mr. Miers passed along one of this sort in Chili, 225 feet in length, by 6 feet wide! It conveyed over loaded mules, and was perfectly secure. (Ulloa, Voyage en Amerique, i. 358. Miers, Chili, i. 335.; Humboldt's Researches, ii. 72.)

they must both unavoidably perish. The address of these creatures is here truly wonderful; for in this so rapid motion, when they seem to have lost all command of themselves, they follow exactly the different windings of the path, as if they had previously reconnoitred and settled in their minds the route they were to follow, and taken every precaution for their safety. There would otherwise, indeed, be no possibility of travelling over places where the safety of the rider depends on the experience and address of his beast. The valleys of the Cordilleras, which are deeper and narrower than those of the Alps and Pyrences, and present scenes of the wildest aspect, give rise also to several other peculiarities in the mode of travelling. In many parts, owing to the humidity of the climate, and the declivity of the ground, the streamlets which flow down the mountains have hollowed out gullies from about 20 to 25 feet in depth. The pathway which runs along those crevices is frequently not above a foot or a foot and a half in breadth, and has the appearance of a gallery dug and left open to the sky. In some places the opening above is covered by the thick vegetation which grows out from both sides of the crevice, so that the traveller is forced to grope his way in darkness. The oxen, which are the beasts of burden commonly made use of in this country, can scarcely force their way through these galleries, some of which are more than a mile in length; and if the traveller should happen to meet them in one of the passages, he has no means of avoiding them but by climbing the earthen wall which borders the crevice, and keeping himself suspended by laying hold of the roots which penetrate to this depth from the surface of the ground. "In many of the passes of the Andes," says Humboldt, "such is the state of the roads that the usual mode of travelling The ruggedness of the roads in the less fre- for persons in easy circumstances is in a chair quented parts of the Andes, can hardly be de-strapped to the back of one of the native porters scribed. In many places the ground is so nar- (cargueros), or men of burden, who live by row, that the mules employed in travelling have letting out their backs and loins to travellers. scarcely room to set their feet, and in others it They talk in this country of going on a man's is a continued series of precipices. These paths back (andar en cargueros), as we mention going are full of holes, from two to three feet deep, on horseback. No humiliating idea is annexed in which the mules set their feet, and draw their to the trade of cargueros; and the men who bellies and their riders' legs along the ground. follow this occupation are not Indians, but muThe holes serve as steps, without which the pre- lattoes, and sometimes even whites. It is often cipices would be in a great measure imprac- curious to hear these men, with scarcely any ticable; but, should the creature happen to set covering, and following an employment which its foot between two of these holes, or not place we should consider so disgraceful, quarrelling it right, the rider falls; and if on the side of in the midst of a forest, because one has refused the precipice, inevitably perishes. This danger the other, who pretends to have a whiter skin, is even greater where the holes are wanting. the pompous title of Don or Su Merced. The tracks are extremely steep and slippery, The usual load of a carguero is six or seven and in general chalky and wet; and where arrobas; those who are very strong carry as much their are no holes to serve as steps, Indians as nine arrobas. When we reflect on the enorare obliged to go before with small spades to mous fatigue to which these miserable men are exdig little trenches across the path. In de- posed, journeying eight or nine hours a day over scending those places where there are no holes a mountainous country; when we know that or trenches, and which are sometimes many their backs are sometimes as raw as those of hundred yards deep, the instinct of the mules beasts of burden; that travellers have often the accustomed to pass them is admirable. They cruelty to leave them in a forest when they fall are sensible of the caution requisite in the de- sick; that they earn, by a journey from Ibague scent. On coming to the top of an eminence, to Cartago, only 12 or 14 piasters in from 15 to they stop; and having placed their fore feet close 25 days; we are at a loss to conceive how this together, as if in a posture of stopping them-employment of a carguero should be eagerly selves, they also put their hind feet together, but a little forwards, as if going to lie down. In this attitude, having, as it were, taken a survey of the road, they slide down with the swiftness of a meteor. The rider has only to keep himself fast in the saddle, without checking his beast; for the least motion is sufficient to disorder the equilibrium of the mule, in which case

embraced by all the robust young men who live at the foot of the mountains. The taste for a wandering life, the idea of a certain independence amid forests, leads them to prefer it to the sedentary and monotonous labour of cities. The passage of the mountain of Quindiu is not the only part of South America which is traversed on the backs of men. The whole of the

province of Antioquia is surrounded by mountains so difficult to pass, that they who dislike entrusting themselves to the skill of a bearer, and are not strong enough to travel on foot from Santa Fe de Antioquia to Bocca de Nares or Rio Samana, must relinquish all thoughts of leaving the country. The number of young men who undertake the employments of beasts of burden at Choco, Ibague, and Medellin, is so considerable, that we sometimes meet a file of fifty or sixty. A few years ago, when a project was formed to make the passage from Nares to Antioquia passable for mules, the cargueros pre-sheltered by vast forests of fir. The inhab. depend sented formal remonstrances against mending the road, and the government was weak enough to yield to their clamours. The person carried in a chair by a carguero, must remain several hours motionless, and leaning backwards. The least motion is sufficient to throw down the carrier; and his fall would be so much the more dangerous, as the carguero, too confident in his own skill, chooses the most rapid declivities, or crosses a torrent on a narrow and slippery trunk of a These accidents are, however, rare; and those which happen must be attributed to the imprudence of travellers, who, frightened at a false step of the carguero, leap down from their chairs." (Researches, i. 69.)

tree.

In order to protect travellers, when they are sojourning in this desert country, from the inclemency of the weather, the cargueros provide themselves with several hundred leaves of a plant of the banana species, which they pluck in the mountains before they begin their journey. These leaves, which are membranous and silky, are of an oval form, 2 feet long, and 16 in. in breadth. When the travellers reach a spot in the midst of the forests where the ground is dry, and where they propose to pass the night, the cargueros lop a few branches from the trees, with which they make a tent. In a few minutes this slight timber-work is divided into squares by the stalks of some climbing plant, or by the threads of the agave. The banana leaves having in the mean time been unrolled, are now spread over the above work, so as to cover it like the tiles of a house. These huts, thus hastily built, are cool and commodious; and Humboldt mentions that he passed several days in the valley of Boquia under one of those leafy tents, which was perfectly dry, though exposed to violent

and incessant rains.

No doubt the access to the Andes will, in the course of time, be facilitated by the establishment of steam packets on the Amazon and its tributaries. That this has not been attempted ere now is, we apprehend, a consequence rather of the revolutionary anarchical state in which the country has been plunged since the overthrow of the Spanish government, than of any natural difficulties in the way of such navigation. Anarchy, however, must in the end exhaust itself; and either a free government or a despotism be established in its stead. And it is hardly possible to suppose that any regular government, whatever may be its character, should be established for any considerable period without turning its attention to the means of developing the extraordinary resources of these fine countries: and of these none can be either so effectual, or so obviously indispensable, as the opening of improved communications with the coast, and with the great navigable rivers of the interior.

ANDLAU, a town of France, dep. Bas Rhin, arrond. Schelestat, on the Andlau, 10 m. N. N. W. Schelestat. Pop. 2,257.

ANDORRE (REPUBLIC OF), a small independent state on the S. declivity of the Pyrenees, between the dep. of Ariége in France, and the district of Urgel in Spain. It stretches from N. toS. about 36 m., and from E. to W. about 30, comprising three mountain valleys, and the basin formed by their union. These valleys are among the wildest and most picturesque in the Pyrenees, and the mountains, with their immense peaks, by which they are enclosed, among the highest and least accessible. It is watered by several small rivers; the largest of which, the Embalin, having received the others, falls into the Segre, an affluent of the Ebro. Pop. from 7,000 to 8,000, divided among six communes. Andorre, the principal town, has about 2,000 inhab. It has but little arable land, but a considerable extent of excellent pasture grounds, of the latter finding a ready market in Spain. This principally on their flocks and iron mines, the produce little state, though connected in some degree with both its powerful neighbours, has preserved its independence for about 1000 years. The government is composed of a council of 24 members, chosen for life, each commune who enjoy considerable authority, convoking the aselecting four. The council elect two Syndics (Hugo), semblies, and carrying on the government when they are not sitting. It is to Charlemagne that Andorre owes its independence. In 1790, that prince having marched against the Moors of Spain, and defeated them in the neighbouring valley of Carol, the Andorrians are said to have rendered themselves so useful to the French army, supplying them with provisions, and taking care of their wounded, that the Emperor, by way of recompence, made them independent of the neighbouring princes, and permitted them to be governed by their own laws. After him Louis le Debonnaire ceded to the Bishop of Urgel a part of the rights over Andorre which Charlemagne had reserved to himself and his successors. In virtue of this grant, the Bishop acquired right to a part of the tithes of the six communes, and a spiritual jurisdiction over the country, which he still exercises.

In 1793, the rights exercised by the sovereigns of France and the republic was for a time completely separated from in Andorre being considered as feudal, were abandoned, that country; but notwithstanding this temporary independence, the Andorrians continued to preserve their attachment to France. They resisted the violation of French armies, during the late war, guides and assistance their territory by the Spaniards, and furnished to the of every kind. At the same time they anxiously solicited the establishment of the ancient order of things; and Napoleon yielded to their wish. By a decree of the 20th of March, 1806, Andorre was declared to be a republic connected with France; its viguier, or criminal judge, was to be a Frenchman, of the dep. of Ariége; and it was allowed to import certain quantities of certain specified articles, free of duty, on payment of the trifling sum of 960 risdiction of the Bishop of Urgel, which cannot be said fr. a year. Except, therefore, as regards the spiritual juto interfere with its independence any more than the Pope's ecclesiastical authority over Catholic countries can with theirs, Andorre is altogether independent of Spain; and, as regards France, the annual payment it makes to her is not a tribute, but an inadequate compensation for a valuable privilege; and there being little crime in Andorre, the appointment of a Frenchman for criminal judge was more with a view to deter French criminals from taking refuge in this neutral territory, than to assert any superiority. Andorre may, therefore, be justly considered as the oldest free republic in existence. people all belong to the church of Rome, and are very religious. Their clergy, and the more wealthy of the Each curé, in addition to his pastoral duties, has charge inhabitants, are educated at Toulouse of a school, where the poor are instructed gratuitously; but this does not give him much extra trouble, few of the peasants thinking it necessary to send their children to school to acquire what, in their land of shepherds and labourers, they imagine can be of little consequence in their future lives. Hence the great majority of the people can neither read nor write.

The

or Barcelona.

The Andorrians are simple and severe in their manners, the vices and corruptions of cities not having hitherto found their way into their valleys. They live as their forefathers lived a thousand years before them: the little they know concerning the luxuries, arts, and civilisation of other countries inspiring them rather with fear than envy. Their wealth consists in their sheep or cattle, or in the share they may have in iron forges, only a very few of their number being the proprietors of any land beyond the garden which surrounds their cottage. Each family acknowledges a chief, who succeeds by right of primogeniture. These chiefs, or eldest sons, choose their wives from families of equal consideration with their own, reprobating mesalliances, and looking little to fortune, which besides is always very small upon both sides. They never leave the paternal roof until they marry; and