Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/382

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332
TOPOGRAPHY.

beneficent and heroical, Tucuman, Tarija, &c. will owe the inestimable advantages of this new discovery. Cornejo, in a less extensive field, rivals Columbus in valour and success. We have not to dread that he will encounter the same disappointments: the age is more just, at the same time that men are more accustomed to view heroes near to them, and to hear, without incredulity, and without surprize, the relation of their exploits.

If we could lay before our readers the MSS. which have served as the basis of this chorographical description, we should be enabled to satisfy them that the geographer can rarely avail himself of documents of equal authenticity. The greater part of them have been drawn up by enlightened individuals, who have surveyed, step by step, every part of the ground, and who know, both intuitively and analytically, the situation and resources of the country. With these premises, we flatter ourselves that the estimable author of the Geographical Dictionary of America, will not be displeased at the many amplifications and corre6lions this article of his work has been subjected to. It would have been much more exact, if to his great theoretical notions, he could have added a still greater share of that practical information which the ancients required of their historians.

Having examined the province of Chichas y Tarija in whatever relates to its history, local situation, and commercial relations, we shall now proceed to touch on a few particulars which refer to its natural history. One of the principal of these is the disease, or furious madness, as it is termed by Dr. Cosme Bueno, which attacks both men and

beasts,