racteristics of Dutch Guayana are much the possessions, and will not need to be repeated. direction: the principal is the Surinam, which the colony, and falls into the Atlantic, after a navigable for ships only about ten or twelve miles ribo is situated near its mouth. The population e of Indians and Maroons, is probably 6,500, chiefly .ews; the remainder Negroes. The maroons are the way negroes, who established a species of indepener, and were very troublesome during the last century; wever, adopted more settled habits, and receive annual government of weapons, arms, &c., and form a kind of to the settled parts of the colony.

...ree of the country is chiefly appropriated by the mother counShips are employed in the trade, and annually transport to 25,000,000 lbs. of sugar and 4,000,000 lbs. of coffee, and to cotton, cocoa and other articles, among which are cabinet woods, ms and drugs, which are the produce of the interior. The chief e arms and manufactured goods from Holland and provisions from cd States, for which they receive syrups and rums. They have merce with the West Indies, and smuggling is carried on with the ian states and the adjoining colonies to some extent.

he government is vested in a governor-general and privy council: besides , there is a colonial council, whose functions are not well ascertained. The fort of Zeelandia, a little north of the capital, is the residence of the overnor, and seat of most of the government establishments.

PARAMARAIBO is the capital of the colony, and has a population of 2,000, mee-fourths of which are black and of the mixed races. It is neatly laid oat in the Dutch style, and is situated on the right bank of the Surinam, 15 miles from its mouth, where the river affords excellent anchorage; has a Roman Catholic, English and Lutheran churches, German and Portuguese Jews' synagogues, an exchange, &c., and is the centre of the trade of the colony. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in commerce: manufactures may be said not to exist. The colony has repeatedly been in the hands of the British, but was finally relinquished, in 1814, to the Dutch govern

ment.

FRENCH GUAYANA.

CAYENNE is the most easterly of the three colonies, and extends along the coast from the river Maroni to the Oyapok, which forms the boundary, according to the Brazilian convention of 1817. It lies between the 20 and 60 north latitude, and the meridians of 51° 30′ and 54° west longitude. Its

length, from north to south, is 250 mies, and the treat varies from 2M w 190 miles; comprising an area of about 21 545 square miss. Crvene, itself, is an island.

The coast is an alluvial flat, of great fertility and the sea si sualow that. except at the mouth of the rivers, she came Kurvata the store

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only one roadstead in which resses can ride a suit-a of Creme The highlands of the interior are very fertile, and few countries art beter supplied with water. The climate and satura productions are 11 e respect, similar to those of the Brust and Dizza barmes, vai tie andr of pepper, cloves, cinnamon and immers The wet & CLOTHS OF do not extend over more than one-elgica of the wide, the rest being jet w the Indians and wild beasts.

French Guayana is divided into two Estricts: that of Carene and that of Sinnamary; and 14 comes, composing sx eenra arutisements, and sending 16 deputies to the covela comună The grument i remet in a governor, assisted by a privy costs of seven members and the sooIESEL council, elected by the people, for Sve rears. The revenue a dermat from house taxes, export duties, customs, Lenses, JEDÍ SLES,

only colony in Guayana that has a home siperie is de empenses

The first French settlement was made in the Land of Carene in 1964. and with but few short interruptions from the Eagm at Dua La nation held the station ever since, and the rest of the colony, 21 199 vie it was taken by the British and Portuguese, and annexed to the dom Lods of the latter but at the peace of Paris, was to its present owners. Guayana is now, according to Frenca rews tocary proscopes, integral portion of the French Repatur, and as suca, e eunced to represen tation in the national councils. Savery is forever abounded

PATAGONIA.

PATAGONIA is the name of that extensive tract of land comprising the worth ern extremity of the South American continent, and ying with of the Argen tine Republic, from which it is separated by the Rio Negro, and the Reptile of Chile, which terminates at the Gulf of Grapoca The pain of the country, however, which lies west of the Andes has been claimed as an integral part of Chilé, and by some geographers is entitled New Chuk, The Argentine Republic has, in like manner, jaid a claim to the country east of the Andes. Little is known of these regions beyond the mere outine of the cart. The Andes in Patagonia appear to consist of bat oe Cordillera, the mean height of which may be estimated at 3,000 feet above the ocean; but opposite Chiloe there are some mountains of a superior elevation, which may, perhaps, reach to the height of 5,000 or 6,000 feet. The west coast is abrupt, very much broken, and skirted by a great number of irregularly-shaped islands. The east coast has been more explored. The surface of the country appears to rise from the Atlantic to the Andes, in a succession of steppes or terraces, all of which are alike arid and sterile, the upper soil, consisting chiefly of marine gravelly deposits, covered with course, wiry grass. No wood is seen larger than a small thorny shrub, fit only for the

purposes of fuel, except on the banks of a few of the rivers, subject to inundation, when herbage and some trees are occasionally found. This sterility prevails over the whole extent of the plain country of Patagonia, the complete similarity of which, almost in every part, is one of its most striking characteristics. It is stated, however, by the Indians on the Rio Negro, which forms the northern boundary of Patagonia, that near the Andes, wheat, maize, beans, lentils, pease, &c., are raised. This latter region, however, is not placed under the same circumstances as the country more to the eastward, nor is it subject to the causes which mainly occasion its sterility.

The geological formation of Patagonia is almost unknown. Porphyry; basalt; sandstone, containing numerous organic remains; and a friable rock, greatly resembling, but not identical with chalk, are among the mineral products of the eastern portion of the country. The zoology of Patagonia is as limited as its flora. Guanacos are met with sometimes in herds of several hundreds; their enemy, the puma, and a small species of fox, are almost the only other wild quadrupeds at all abundant, except mice. The latter are of many species, and so numerous that, according to Mr. Darwin, Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can, perhaps, boast of a greater stock of small rodentia than any other country of the world.-(Voy. of the Beagle and Adventure.) The condor and the cassawary are included among the few species of birds; the reptile and insect tribes present nothing remarkable.

The principal rivers of Patagonia fall into the Atlantic, having their sources at the eastern foot of the Andes, and generally running in a southeastern direction. Among these are the Rio Negro, 700 miles long; the Camerones and the Port Desire rivers; on the western coast the rivers are numerous, but have short courses from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean. In the interior there are several lakes of considerable size. Lake Nauclapi, in the north-west part of the eastern division; Tehuel, near the Rio Negro; and Colugnape, the source of Port Desire River, are the principal. Several of the lakes are salt. The Strait of Magellan is a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, between Patagonia and Terra del Fuego; this Strait is 300 miles in length, and, in some parts, not more than two miles wide; but at the eastern entrance the breadth is 24, and at the western 30 miles. This passage was discovered and navigated by Magellan, in 1520, and several navigators have since sailed through it; but, at the present day, it is seldom used, being considered dangerous; and vessels navigating the South Seas usually go round Cape Horn, which was discovered in 1616, by Jacob Le Maire, and was so called by him after the town of Hoern, in Holland. This Cape is on Hermit Ísland, south of Terra del Fuego, and must not be confounded with that of False Cape Horn, a promontory forming the most southern extremity of Terra del Fuego.

The climate of this country is much colder than in the north, under the same parallels of latitude, which is imputed to the tops of the Andes, which traverse it, being covered with snow. A great deal of rain falls in these mountains. The west wind is the most prevalent, and having been robbed of its moisture in passing the Andes, comes over the eastern slope as a blight; the east wind, which is the only wind that brings any moisture over the sterile steppes, seldom blows.

The exaggerated notions of man, in Patagonia, which were fostered by the marvellous narrations of early navigators, have been fully counteracted

by the observations of more modern travellers. The giant portrayed by the imaginative pens of the former, have been reduced within their proper proportions, and the inhabitants of these desert regions are again brought within the pale of humanity. The native Indians are, indeed, a tall and bulky race, and though not absolutely gigantic, they may be said, after rejecting all hyperbolical exaggerations, to be the tallest people of whom we have any accounts, the average height of the men being not less than six feet. Their heads and features are large, but their hands and feet small, and their limbs neither so muscular nor so large-boned as their height and apparent stoutness would induce one to suppose. In color, they are of dark brown copper shade their hair is black, lank and coarse, and tied above the temples by a fillet of plaited or twisted sinews. A large mantle of guanaco skins loosely gathered about them, and hanging from the shoulders to the ancles, is, with a kind of drawers and buskins, their chief article of dress, and adds much to the bulkiness of their appearance. They neither pierce the nose or ears, nor paint their faces. In their habits, they are essentially nomadic, and live in tents, made of skins hung on poles, and exist on the fruits of the chase and fishing. Both men and women ride on horseback, and are often furnished with accoutrements of great splendor. which they procure from Chilé and Buenos Ayres. Their arms consist of a long tapering lance, a knife, or if it can be procured, a scimitar, and the balas, a missile weapon of singular kind, carried in the girdle, and consisting of two round stones, covered with leather, each weighing about a pound. These are fastened to the two ends of a string, about 18 feet in length, and used as a sling, one stone being kept in the hand, and the other whirled round the head till it is supposed to have acquired sufficient force, when they are together discharged at the object. The Patagonians are so expert in the management of this double-headed shot, that they will hit a mark not bigger than a shilling, with both the stones, at the distance of fifty yards. It is not customary with them, however, to strike either the guanaco or ostrich with them; but to discharge them so, that the cord comes against the legs of the ostrich, or the fore-legs of the guanaco, and is twisted round them by the force and swing of the balls, so that the animal being unable to run, falls a sure prey to the hunter. These people, as is usual with all nomadic tribes, live under a number of petty chiefs, who seem to possess but little authority over them. The only change of life they have undergone, from their contact with Europeans, seems to be in the use of horses, with which they were unacquainted previous to the arrival of the Spaniards.

Patagonia was discovered by Magellan, in 1519. The badness of its harbors, which are mostly difficult and dangerous of access, and afford little or no security for vessels above the size of a brig, has hindered the formation of any settlements, except at Port Julian, about lat. 40° 16' S. and long. 67° 40′ W., where the Spaniards settled in 1774, but speedily abandoned the establishment. Several other attempts have been made, but without success, and it is now thought that this extensive territory must remain forever in the desert state in which it has been found. The officers of the "Adventure" undertook to explore the eastern part of the country, but principally confined their observations to the vicinity of the great rivers. The coasts are rarely visited by any but whale vessels, which call at Port Desire, Santa Cruz, &c., and the nature of the country is not such as to hold out any hope of its ever emerging from its present state of savage barbarism. The Republic of Chilé, however, has of late designed to colonize this country; but the Argentine

government, jealous of its more enterprising neighbor, has claimed for itself all the lands situated north of the Straits of Magellan and east of the Andes. At presem, the enterprise is suspended, and may ultimately fall through, on account of this interference, if not from the natural incapacity of the country for colonization.

The rocky coast of Patagonia has, of late years, become celebrated for its depositaries of "guano," and hence has been much resorted to by vessels of all nations, in order to procure this valuable article. Immense quantities are annually carrried off. "Guano" is the excrement of birds, which, through an indefinite series of ages, has accumulated on these sterile shores. It is useful as a manure, and is also highly prized as an agent in several manufacturing processes. As a manure, it is considered more active than any other in use, and truly its effect on vegetation is wonderful. Ammoniacal salts seem to be the pervading and powerful agent in this compost. A short time ago, the government of the Argentine Republic, the nominal claimants of the country, sent to the British government an account, to the amount of $2,000,000, for this substance, surreptitiously taken off by British subjects, and appeared actually to expect its unquestioned payment! If there is any justice in this claim, it will be paid, and if paid, it will be a full recognition, by Great Britain, of Argentine sovereignty over these, as yet, unappropriated regions.

The origin of the appellative Patagonia has been disputed. Magellan called the natives Pata-gones, because their shoes resembled the hoofs of the guanaco. Others insisted that their ordinary stature exceeded seven feet, and for that they were termed vтaуkves, or men of five cubits. The latter is the more probable derivation of the name of the country.

SOUTH AMERICAN ISLANDS.

HAVING reached the extremity of the American continent, we may take an excursion to the neighboring isles; although many of them are not subject to America, still they are less removed from it than from every other country.

THE MAGELLANIC ARCHIPELAGO.

To the south of Patagonia, there are a number of cold, barren, and mountainous islands; volcanoes, which cannot melt, brighten or illumine the perpetual snow in these dismal regions. "Here it was that the sailors observed fires on the southern shores of the Strait of Magellan, for which reason the land on that side was called Terra del Fuego." Narrow channels, strong currents, and boisterous winds, render it dangerous to enter into this desolate labyrinth. The coast, which is composed of granite, lava, and basaltic rocks, is inaccessible in many places. Cataracts interrupt the stillness that reigns there; seals sport in the bays, or repose their unwieldly bodies on the sand. A great many penguins, and other birds of the Antarctic Ocean,