M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1860-04-19
Nature Opposing the PrORress'o OF
llnn ( "a

NHauac VppOsiuE tue NEOBfeSo Oh
Man. "a
The following passage from Mr..
Buckle,s History Of Civilization ia
.dicates, in glowing colors Says the
Providence JOurnaD the obstacles
which the prodi gality Of nature may
oppose to the progress of man: -''N
Brazil, which is nearly as large az
the whole Of Europe, is covered with
a vegetation ofincredible profusion.-
Indeed, so rank and luxuriant is the
growth, that nature seems to riot in
the very wantonness Of power. A
great part Of this country is filed with
dense and tangled forests, whose noble
trees, bossoming in unrivaled beauty,
and exquisite with Thousand hues;
throw out their produce in endless
prodigality. On their summit are
perched birds Of gorgeous plumage,
which nestle in their dark and lofty
pcesses. Below, their base and
trunks are crowded with brushwood,
creeping plants, innulnerable para
sites, all swarming with life. There,
too, are myriads of insects of every
variety, reptiles OF strange and singu-
lar form; serpents and lizards, spotted
with deadly beauty; all of which find
means Of existence in this vast work.
shop and repository Of nature. And,
that nothing may be wanting in this
land of marvels, The forests are skirted
| by enormous meadows, which, reek-
ing with heat and moisture, supply
nourisbment to countless herds OF
wild cattle, that browse and fatten on
the herbage; while tho adjoining
plains, rich in another form Of life,
are the chosen abode OF the subtlest
and most feroci0us animals, which
prey en- each other, but which it might
almost seem no human power can
hope to extirpate.
"But amid this pomp and splendor
of Nature no place is left for man.
he is reduced to insigniiicance by the
majesty with which he is surrounded.
The forces that oppose him are so
formidable that he has never been
able to make head against them, never
been able to rally against their accu-
mulated pressure. The whole of Bra
I'll, Notwithstanding its immense ap.
parent advantages has always remain.
ed entirely pncivilizcd; its inhabi.
tanss wandering savages, incompetent
to resist those obstacles which the
very bounty of Nature had put in
their way. In their country the ply.
siCal causes are so active, and 10
their work on Il scale Of such unr'va,.j
magnitude, that it has hitherto Ja51
found impossible to escape from tha
effects Of their united action The
progress Of agriculture Is stopped b.
impossible forests, and the harvests
are destroyed by innumerable insects.
: The mountains are too hish to scale,
the rivers too wide to bridge; every
S thing is contrived to repress the lid.
man mind, and keep back Its rising
ambition. 1t is thus that the energies
] Of Nature have hampered the spiritof
/ man. And the mind, cowed by the
A unequal struggle, has not only been
> unable to advance, but without foreign
! aid it would undoubtedly have rece-
ded. Brazil, the country where, of
, all others, physical resources are most
powerful, where both vegetables aud
animals are most abundant, where
the soil is watered by the noblest riv-
ers, and the coast studded by the finest
harbors- this immense territory,
which is more than twelve times the
size OF France, contains a population
no. exceeding six millions of people.
Professor Anstead adds to this his tes.
timony to the effect that the native
Indians seem irredeemable and sunk
in the most wretched barbarism; and
that there appears 10 prospect what
ever Of any improvement in the dis
trict, since man can find no spot on
which 10 commence his operations"