dients, constitutes chocolate, the manufacture and use of which the Spaniards first learned from the Mexicans; and being a palatable and wholesome beverage, it was soon introduced into use in Europe, and became an important article of commerce.

From the contiguity of the settlements of the Dutch to the coast of Caraccas, on the island of Curracoa, and their superior enterprise in traffic, they engrossed most of the cocoa trade from Caraccas, and Spain itself was obliged to receive the article from foreigners, at an exorbitant price, although the product of their own colonies. To remedy an evil, not more detrimental to the interests than disgraceful to the enterprise of Spain, in the year 1728 Philip the Vth granted to a company of merchants an entire and exclusive monopoly of the commerce with Caraccas and Cumana. This association, sometimes called the Company of Caraccas, restored to Spain this branch of the commerce of America, greatly extended it, as the consumption of the article increased, and being subjected to proper regulations, to counteract the effects of the monopoly, advanced the growth and progress

of the settlement.

Mexico, or New Spain, and Peru, were at first regarded by the Spaniards as the most important and valuable portions of America; not so much on account of their fertility, or any geographical superiority, as from the consideration of their being inhabited by people in a higher state of improvement, and consequently affording more gratifying objects for the rapacity of the first adventurers. The numbers of adventurers which these objects, and the civil contentions which they occasioned, originally drew to these countries, tended to commence their settlement under more favourable auspices than any other colonies enjoyed. The rich mines, afterward discovered, had a powerful operation to attract enterprise and allure adventurers; and the complete subjugation of the natives, both in Mexico and Peru, and reducing them to a condition of domestic servitude, and apportioning them, together with the lands, among the first adventurers, (whilst in other districts the natives, more wild and ferocious, without fixed habitations, subsisting by hunting, could no otherwise be overcome than by being exterminated or expelled,) were among the causes which continued, for a long period, to promote the growth of Mexico and Peru, and to render them the principal of the Spa nish colonies; and the same causes occasioned the other settlements to be regarded only as appendages of one or the other of these, or of little importance. Hence, after the Spanish conquests in America had been so far completed as to justify the establishment, on the part of Spain, of regular colonial governments, their whole American dominions were divided into two immense governments, one called the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the other

the Viceroyalty of Peru; the seats of government were Mexico and Lima. The former comprehended all the possessions of Spain in the northern division of the American continent, and the latter comprised all her settlements and territories in South America.

New Spain embraced, under the Spaniards, a much more extensive region than the empire of Mexico, or the dominions of Montezuma and his predecessors: the vast territory called New Navarre, extending to the north and west, and the provinces of Cinaloa and Sonora, stretching along the east side of the gulf of California, and also the peninsula of California, on the opposite side of the gulf, and the provinces of Yucatan and Honduras, extending from the bay of Campeachy to beyond Cape Gracias a Dios, were comprised within the territories of New Spain, which did not belong to the Mexican empire. These countries were mostly visited and subjugated by Spanish adventurers, in the early part of the sixteenth century. The peninsula of California was discovered by Cortes, in 1536, and was so entirely neglected, that for a long period it was not known whether it was an island or a peninsula. Toward the close of the 17th century the Jesuits explored it, established it as an important mission, made great progress in civilizing the rude and ferocious natives, and established the same dominion over them that they did over the natives in Paraguay. At length the government, growing jealous of the Jesuits, they were expelled from the Spanish dominions, and Joseph Galvez was sent out to examine the province, who gave a favourable account of the country, and of the pearl-fishery on the coast. He also discovered several mines, apparently

valuable.

Honduras, and the peninsula of Yucatan, attracted attention principally from the valuable dye-woods which they afforded, the logwood tree being produced in greater abundance there than in any other part of America. After having long exclusively enjoyed the profitable logwood trade, the Spaniards were disturbed in it by some adventurers from Jamaica, who commenced cutting logwood at the cape forming the southeast promontory of Yucatan; then in the Bay of Campeachy, and afterward in the Bay of Honduras. These encroachments alarmed the Spaniards, and they endeavoured to stop them, by remonstrance, negotiation, and by force; but after a contention for half a century, the fortune of war, and naval superiority of Britain enabled her to extort from Spain a reluctant consent to the existence of a settlement of foreigners in the heart of her own possessions. Mortified, however, at this concession, she attempted to counteract its consequences by encouraging the cutting of logwood on the west coas of Yucatan, where the wood was of superior quality. To pro VOL. I.

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note this object, she permitted the importation of logwood into Spain, without the payment of any duty, by which means this commerce became very flourishing, and that of the English, in the bay of Honduras, declined. East of Honduras were the provinces of Costa Rica, and Veragua, which were much neglected by the Spaniards, as of little value.

The Viceroyalty of Peru, in addition to the Peruvian territories, comprehended Chili, the conquest of which, as we have seen, was first attempted by Almagro, and afterward by Valdivia, both of whom met with a most fierce opposition from the natives, and the latter was defeated and slain; but Villagra, his successor in command, restored victory to the Spanish standard; and finally the district on the seacoast was subdued, the natives continuing inasters of the mountainous regions; and for more than two centuries they kept up hostilities with their Spanish neighbours, almost without interruption, and their hostile incursions greatly retarded the settlement of the most fertile country in America, possessing the most delicious climate in the new or old world; for, though bordering on the torrid zone, it is exempt both from the extremes of heat and cold, lying, as it were, under the shade of the Andes, which protects it on the east, and being constantly refreshed by the cooling seabreezes from the west. It also possesses many valuable mines; yet with all these advantages, at the end of more than two centuries from its conquest, its whole white population did not exceed eighty thousand; but since the establishment of a direct intercourse with the mother country round Cape Horn, it has realized its natural advantages, and advanced in importance accordingly.

Attached to the Viceroyalty of Peru, were all the vast regions claimed by Spain east of the Andes, watered by the Rio de la Plata, its branches, the Coloardo, and other streams emptying into the Atlantic. The River de la Plata and the country bordering on it, was first discovered by Magellan, in the year 1520. The Spanish territories east of the La Plata, comprehending the province of Paraguay, and some other districts, were, for centuries, in a great degree undefined, and a subject of dispute with Portugal. Paraguay has been rendered celebrated for the extraordinary missions of the Jesuits, and the authority of Spain over it was never more than nominal. The territory west of the La Plata was divided into the provinces of Buenos Ayres and Tucuman.

The first attempts to subjugate and settle the country border ing on the La Plata, were attended with unusual difficulties and disasters after the lapse of more than two centuries, there was no settlement of any importance, except that of Buenos Ayres. The province of Tucuman, and most of the country to the south

of the La Plata, is a prairie, or plain of vast extent, and rich beyond conception: being constantly covered with verdure, it supports an immense number of horses and cattle, which are suffered to go at large, and breed, subsisting without the care or oversight of man. This wonderful facility of raising horses and cattle has afforded a profitable trade with Peru, by supplying them with domestic animals, and likewise a lucrative foreign commerce in hides.

The province of Rio de la Plata was established distinct from that of Paraguay, in 1620, and was afterward called Buenos Ayres. The town of Buenos Ayres was founded by Pedro de Mendoza, in 1535, but was abandoned in 1538, and its inhabitants removed to Assumption, where a fort had been built two years before, by Ayolas, and named from the day on which he fought and defeated the natives on the spot where it was erected. Mendoza returned to Spain, and was succeeded as governor by Ayolas, and on his death Irala was chosen to succeed him; but was soon deprived of his authority by Don Alvarez, who arrived with a commission from Spain. Of the three thousand Europeans who had entered the La Plata, six hundred only remained at Assumption: the rest had fallen victims to the climate, the ferocity of the savages, and the hardships to which they had been exposed. Alvarez was seized by Irala, and sent to Spain in 1544. The city of Assumption was erected into a bishopric in 1547; Dut the bishop did not arrive until 1554, when Irala received a commission as governor. In 1557, Cuidad Real was founded in the province of Guayra, as an encomienda, within which forty thousand Indians were brought into habits of industry; and a few years after the encomienda of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the province of Chiquitos, which comprised sixty thousand native inhabitants, was established. Irala died in 1557, and named Gondales de Mendoza lieutenant-general and commander of the province. His death, which was in one year after, was followed by civil dissensions.

In the year 1586 the Jesuits first appeared in Paraguay, and in 1609, father Torrez, their provincial, obtained authority from the governor of the province to form the converted Indians into townships, to be independent of the Spanish settlements. They only acknowledged the sovereignty of the king of Spain: this power was confirmed by Philip III. of Spain. During twenty years a great number of the natives were reduced to habits of industry, by the labours of the Jesuits; but in 1630 they were attacked by the Paulists, or Mamelukes, and in two years sixty thousand were destroyed or carried off. To defend their settlements, in 1639, the Jesuits obtained authority from Spain to imbody and arm their Indian converts in the manner of Euro

peans. The Jesuits employed their converts in other pursuits : in 1668 they rebuilt the city of Santa Fe, and the following year five hundred of them worked on the fortifications and the cathedral of Buenos Ayres.

In 1580 Buenos Ayres was rebuilt by the governor of Paraguay, from which time it gradually emerged from obscurity into an important town, and became the seat of the viceroyalty. The Portuguese attempted a settlement on the north bank of the La Plata in 1679, when Garro, governor of the province of Rio de la Plata, by order of the viceroy of Peru, expelled the Portuguese, and levelled their fort to the ground. This settlement was for a long time a subject of dispute between the two nations, but in 1778 it was ceded to Spain. Civil dissensions arose at Assumption; Don Diego, the governor, was obliged to flee; but was reinstated in 1722, yet soon after seized by Antequera, and confined as a prisoner. Antequera had been sent from Lima as a commissioner, to inquire into the condition of Paraguay, and finding the administration corrupt, he undertook to reform it, and to introduce a representative government. He met with resistance not only from the governor, but his patriotic exertions and liberal principles roused the jealousy, and brought upon him the hostility, of the viceroy, who sent a body of troops from Peru to oppose him, and check his innovations. These troops were defeated by Antequera, who entered the city in triumph.

But the governor of Buenos Ayres, having marched against him, and being deserted by his adherents, he fled to a convent, and was afterward seized and sent a prisoner to Lima. In 1725 tranquillity was re-established, but was of short continuance; a new governor being appointed, a faction refused to admit him into the city; Mompo, the leader of the malecontents, was seized and sent to Buenos Ayres.

Antequera having been condemned for treason, was executed in 1731, at Lima, which occasioned great excitement at Assumption, as his popularity was so great that he was canonized as a martyr to liberty. The dissensions continued until 1735, when Zabala, governor of Buenos Ayres, succeeded in re-establishing tranquillity, and correcting the abuses which had crept into the government.

The increasing prosperity of the Jesuits began to excite prejudices and jealousies; various accusations were made against them; but on examination most of them were found groundless, and they were confirmed in their rights, in 1745, by a royal decree. Their prosperity and power, however, soon after began to decline, and the expulsion of their order from Spain, in 1767, was followed by the subversion of their dominion in America. Their possessions were annexed to the government of Paraguay, at