to preserve the language, manners
and physical characteristics of these early colonists with less
variation than in any other Spanish-American state. They form an
intelligent, high-spirited class of people, with all the defects and
virtues of their ancestry. Their isolation has made them ignorant to
some extent of the world's progress, while a supersensitive patriotism
blinds them to the discredit and disorganization which political strife
and misrule have brought upon them. A very small proportion of the white
element consists of foreigners engaged in commercial and industrial
pursuits, but they very rarely become permanently identified with the
fortunes of the country. The native whites form the governing class, and
enjoy most of the powers and privileges of political office.

Of the original inhabitants there remain only a few scattered tribes in
the forests, who refuse to submit to civilized requirements, and a much
larger number who live in organized communities and have adopted the
language, customs and habits of the dominant race. Their total number is
estimated at 15% of the population, or nearly 600,000, including the
120,000 to 150,000 credited to the uncivilized tribes. Many of the
civilized Indian communities have not become wholly Hispanicized and
still retain their own dialects and customs, their attitude being that
of a conquered race submitting to the customs and demands of a social
organization of which they form no part. According to Uricoechea there
are at least twenty-seven native languages spoken in the western part of
Colombia, fourteen in Tolima, thirteen in the region of the Caqueta,
twelve in Panama, Bolivar and Magdalena, ten in Bogota and Cundinamarca,
and thirty-four in the region of the Meta, while twelve had died out
during the preceding century. The tribes of the Caribbean seaboard, from
Chiriqui to Goajira, are generally attached to the great Carib stock;
those of the eastern plains show affinities with the neighbouring
Brazilian races; those of the elevated Tuquerres district are of the
Peruvian type; and the tribes of Antioquia, Cauca, Popayan and Neiva
preserve characteristics more akin to those of the Aztecs than to any
other race. At the time of the Spanish Conquest the most important of
these tribes was the Muyscas or Chibchas, who inhabited the tablelands
of Bogota and Tunja, and had attained a considerable degree of
civilization. They lived in settled communities, cultivated the s