[1] Wheat and flour are principally supplied from Jauja, and barley from Tarma; fruit from Huanuco, and sugar from Huanuco and Huaylas.

[2] Plata-piña, or simply piña, is the name given to silver not entirely purified from the mercury which adheres to it in the process of amalgamation. Amalgamation is effected by mixing the ore, after it has been ground, with salt and quicksilver; treading the whole together by men or cattle; then allowing it to repose in cerco, or in the enclosure in which it has been trodden, for a month or six weeks. At the expiration of this time the quicksilver is supposed to have combined with all the silver in the mass, and to have formed a perfect amalgam, called pella, which is separated by washing away the mud and refuse of the ore. The pella, thus procured, is white, and so liquid that, by putting it into a strong bag a considerable quantity of the mercury is made, by pressure, to escape, leaving the amalgam of a solid consistence. It is decomposed by a red heat; and the mercury being distilled, it may again be applied to the same purpose as before. In this process, however, there is usually a great waste of quicksilver on account of the bad apparatus employed; and the fixed metal or silver which remains is what is called piña. This piña is usually sold by the miner in round masses larger than cannon-balls; and these balls of silver are, by the trader who does not venture on smuggling, carried to the government smelter stationed at the mines, (an office for many years back honourably filled at Cerro Pasco by a learned and good man, Don Toribio de Oyorzabal,) by whom they are cast into the foundery, and, being there melted down and sufficiently purified, are now cast into bars, which are stamped as being of a proper ley or standard purity: after which they may be conveyed to the mint for coinage.

[3] At Huallianca, Hualliay, and several other parts of the rich department of Junin, smelting is used for the extraction of silver: but in Cerro Pasco smelting is little practised. In the district of Yauricocha, and especially in the great or King’s mine, the ores are found to contain a considerable portion of the sulphuret of lead; and, also, of the sulphurets of copper, of iron, and of silver.

Such is the quantity of sulphuric acid distributed among the mines of Cerro Pasco, which are placed among limestone hills, that the water which they contain is observed to corrode the iron machinery exposed to its continued action.

[4] “Cobos.”—This was a duty of one and a half per cent. on the metals extracted from the mines. Its origin, as we are informed, was a grant to this amount, made by the Spanish government in favour of an individual of the name of Cobo. This became a permanent tax which, like the tithes of the metals, afterwards fell into the hands of the government, until both were abolished a few years ago, as alluded to in the text.

[5] We have lately learned that during the years 1837 and early in 1838, quicksilver became so scarce in Peru, that it cost 200 or 220 dollars per quintal. The consequence has been that a private company, under the auspices of the Protector, Santa Cruz, was formed by the enterprising General Otero and others, to clear out the Socabon, or adit, and re-work the long neglected and abandoned mines of Huancavelica—which are distant from Cerro Pasco sixty-six leagues, by the route of Tarma, Jauja, and Iscuchaca. This company has made some progress in the works; but the quantity of quicksilver yet extracted by them cannot be said to have had any sensible influence on the price of this valuable metal, which, in consequence of the large shipments lately made of it, has fallen to about one-half the above enormous price. During the period referred to,—though the drainage and works at Cerro were considerably improved,—no mines of second or third rate could cover the expense of amalgamation; and, therefore, the metal extracted from them was allowed to accumulate in heaps, (constantly guarded by Indian watchmen, called “tapacos,”) to the estimated value of three millions of dollars.

[6] The product of a marc of silver of standard purity is eight dollars four reals, or 1l. 14s. sterling.

[7] “Guarapo” is the name for the fermented cane-juice used as drink.

[8] “Coto,” or goitre, is common among the inhabitants of Huanuco; but it is a disease very rarely seen on the western side of the Andes.

[9] From pexe, fish; buey, ox.

[10] Though Mr. Mathews omits to mention its botanical character, it is probable from the name huasca (which means rope) that this, like the former plant, is a pliable bejuco. The bejucos are commonly used in Peru as cordage, for the purpose of constructing bridges and fences.

[11] The Chamber of Deputies is composed of representatives elected by the electoral colleges of provinces and parishes. The parochial electoral colleges are composed of all the citizens resident in the parish, congregated according to law. For every two hundred individuals in a parish an elector is nominated; and in every village whose numbers entitle them to name an elector, or have a parochial college, a municipal body is established with a right to superintend its own local interests, consistently with the laws and public good,—and subject to the approbation of the departmental juntas. The electoral colleges of provinces are composed of parochial electors constituted according to law, and they elect deputies to Congress in the proportion of one for every twenty thousand inhabitants, or for a fractional number which exceeds ten thousand. But the province in which the whole population does not come up to ten thousand inhabitants, will nevertheless name a deputy.

[12] See “La Constitucion Politica de la Republica Peruana,” published in 1828.

[13] Cajamarca lies to the eastward of the city of Truxillo, in northern Peru, and, by the post-road, about forty-five leagues inland from the shores of the Pacific. It is the principal town in the province of Cajamarca, and is remarkable in the history of Peru as a seat of the Incas; their baths and palace are yet to be seen, though in ruins. Here the magnanimous Prince Atahualpa, who had purchased his freedom by an immense ransom of gold and silver, fell a victim to the insatiable cupidity and treachery of Pizarro.

[14] In dry weather sweeping the streets can hardly be considered as a serious punishment; but in the rainy season, when it is customary for the inhabitants to walk with wooden clogs, called zuecos, the scavenger’s task could not fail to be of very difficult performance in the Cerro.

[15] The practice, common among Catholics, of visiting the tombs of their family, and honouring the spot where the remains of their relatives or friends rest, is not an ostentatious ceremony, but an humble act of devotion, in which we must believe that the heart of the supplicant is deeply engaged. In the niches of the Pantheon at Lima, the renewal of flowers week after week, and even year after year, bears witness that filial or conjugal affection is still cherished in the heart long after the object of endearment has been removed from those who only survive to deplore their own loss, and with tender sorrow pray for the spirit of the departed. Whoever has visited the cemetery of Père la Chaise, in Paris, must have been struck by the attention of the living to the dead,—the daily decorations of the grave, and the prayer offered up by pious friends; nor can we suppose any person capable of viewing with cold indifference the flowery neatness which surrounds those monumental tombs, which in Père la Chaise seem to triumph over the silence of the grave.

[16] See Memoria, por Jose Villa, Ministro de Hacienda; Lima, 1834.

[17] Guia Politica, Ecles. y Militar, 1793.

[18] One of the greatest Jesuit missionaries was Father Samuel Fritz, a German, who, in 1686, preached the Gospel, and converted many tribes in Maynas. He drew a map of the Marañon and its tributary rivers, which was published in Quito in the year 1707.

[19] “Amigo” or friend, is the first word of Spanish which the mission Indian is taught to speak.

[20] The road which formerly existed between Pozuzo and Mayro is now so overgrown with brushwood as to render it impassable without the aid of the chopping-knife, with the use of which the Indians of Huanuco are well acquainted. By this road the journey from Mayro to Pozuzo was usually performed in two days, and the journey from Pozuzo to the city of Huanuco in three: in all, five days from Mayro to Huanuco.

[21] It might be imagined that this custom of carrying away and eating the dead was a good reason for the ancient practice, still in use among the Indians of the Ucayali, of burying their dead in their houses, as affording some protection against this rage of cannibalism; but among the Inca race of Indians the practice also appears to have existed of old, though without reference to so shocking a cause.

[22] As a comment on this part of Friar Plaza’s letter, we cannot do better than introduce a passage illustrative of the allusion here made, translated from a paper of his own in the Merc. Per. and cited by Lieutenant Smyth and Mr. Lowe in the Introduction to their Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Para.

“The three entrances to this district (Ucayali) are by Huanuco and the port of Mayro, by Tarma and the river Chanchamayo, and by the Jauja and Andamarca, taking the direction of Pangoa, which is passable, and has been so since the year 1815, when I crossed from the plains of Sacramento to Pangoa, where I formed a friendship with various nations on the way; and by this route for seven years the mission has received all its supplies. In this expedition I explored all that was remarkable from Sarayacu, which is fifteen days’ distance up the river from the Marañon, and ascended from thence as far as the river Pachitea, in twenty days more.” It may be remarked, that the communication with Sarayacu by the rivers Huallaga and Chipurana is so circuitous, that Fr. Plaza does not even mention it as one of the routes to the mission; though this was the route pursued by the late expedition in 1834-5, after the attempt to enter by the Mayro had failed. The Sub-prefect’s letter, too, took near three months to reach the mission through the country of Maynas.

[23] As trees of sufficient size for the purposes required are not always at hand, we have seen near a hundred men exhaust their strength in dragging a tree by the means of lazos from deep ravines and hollows. This waste of power might be easily avoided by the help of the pulley, with which they are unacquainted; but they show great skill in the application and management of the lazo, and, when arranged for the tug, their efforts are roused by a song of which the chorus is “Huasca runa!”—Men, to the lazo!

[24] It was a punishment which in certain cases the law of Spain inflicted upon female delinquents, to cut off their hair, and sometimes shave their eyebrows. This, we understand, was done by the common executioner,—hence the sense of disgrace.

[25] The coca leaf is to the Indian of the interior a necessary of life, which he uses from time to time, to renovate his energy for renewed muscular exertion; and in the intervals of labour he often sits down to chaccha or to refresh himself by masticating coca seasoned with quick-lime, which he always carries about his person in a little gourd. The lime is used in very small quantity at a time, but in a pulverulent and escharotic state. According to the Indian it counteracts the natural tendency of the coca to give rise to visceral obstructions. Used in moderate quantity, the coca, when fresh and good, increases nervous energy, removes drowsiness, enlivens the spirits, and enables the Indian to bear cold, wet, great bodily exertion, and even want of food, to a surprising degree, with apparent ease and impunity. Taken to excess, it is said to occasion tremor in the limbs, and what is worse, a gloomy sort of mania. But such dire effects must be of rare occurrence; since, living for years on the borders of the Montaña, and in constant intercourse with persons accustomed to frequent the coca plantations, and with Indian yanacones or labourers, all of whom, whether old or young, masticated this favourite leaf, we never had an opportunity of witnessing a single instance in which the coca-chewer was affected with mania or tremor.

[26] The whites have already had a foretaste of this retribution in La-paz, where, as we have been informed, every white man was massacred. The Indians are said to indulge in the hope of yet seeing a prince of their own race on the throne; and such has been their well-founded and now habitual mistrust of the whites, that they have never revealed where all their own treasures and those of the Incas, which were buried after the death of Atahualpa, are to be found. This is a secret to every one but a chosen few of the caciques. A few years before the commencement of the war of independence in Peru, a rising took place among the Indians of some of the inland provinces, under a cacique named Pomacagua: but this insurrection was soon suppressed. The fact of Pomacagua’s being acquainted with the hiding place of the regal treasure alluded to, and his offer to reveal it to save his life, was not believed by the unrelenting Ramires, and he was shot.

[27] Gamarra resigned the government into the hands of the National Convention, which, it appears, was not duly authorized to nominate a president. Under all the circumstances, had Gamarra acted boldly and openly—had he said from the first that he would remain in the government until a congress should assemble, before which he would account for his proceedings, he would have acted not only legitimately, but, as good judges and patriots believed, even wisely: since, by so seasonable an exercise of moral courage, he might have saved his country from anarchy. But, having voluntarily left the government, and publicly as well as solemnly acknowledged the authority of the Convention and the Presidentship of Orbegoso, his conduct afterwards, in taking up arms with the insurgent followers of Bermudes, was unfortunate for himself, discreditable to his party, and ruinous to his country.

[28] This lady united with a vigorous constitution a bold and energetic mind. She was feared by her enemies, but sincerely beloved by her friends. In consequence of the rebellion of her husband, and jealousy of the government that succeeded that of Gamarra, who, but for her talents and influence, could not have governed so long as he did, this ex-presidentess, usually called Panchita, was banished to Chile, where she died of a disease of the heart, which on her death-bed she ordered to be sent to Gamarra after her death.

[29] The mercachifle is a licensed pedlar, and the pregonero a news-crier.

[30] Ever since Europeans became acquainted with the Indian race, self-possession has been noticed as one of their most striking characteristics. Atahualpa was unmoved in the midst of every danger: and Santa-Cruz (of Cacique blood) has, in our own day, signally illustrated the same high feature of character in the Inca family. Finding himself for a moment isolated on the field of battle, and on the point of being pierced through by a trooper, he called out in a commanding voice—“Alza esa lanza y sigue me!”—raise that lance and follow me! Thus, his presence of mind saved his life; for the mysterious power of a superior mind triumphed over the hostile arm of the infuriated soldier—who, now, as we are told, occupies a place in the body-guard of Santa-Cruz.

[31] Only three weeks before he made his revolution, he had suppressed another in the castles of Callao, and shot every fifth man engaged in it. His own treason, while successful, he called patriotism: but he was doomed to suffer the punishment of a rebel.

[32] It has been remarked, by those who have happened to be in Payta during rain, that the soil on these occasions emits a suffocating and oppressive smell. This is probably owing to the quantity of animal and vegetable matter which, during a long continuance of dry weather, accumulates and is left to dry in the sun; and is partially dissolved by the rain, and absorbed by the circumambient air. It would be worth ascertaining by accurate observation whether the typhus of Piura ever becomes aggravated in type in rainy seasons. We never heard of its being contagious.

[33] The valley of Nasca, though situate in the midst of an extensive desert, is rendered very productive in vines, &c. by means of subterraneous aqueducts constructed by the aborigines. Thus, the ancient Peruvians had fertilized the most arid plains, and left monuments of agricultural industry on the coast not less remarkable than their terraced gardens in the Sierra.

[34] This was once the port where the silver from the mines of Potosi used to be embarked in Spanish treasure-ships.

[35] At what is considered the watering-place of Cobija, so sparingly does the fresh water percolate from the rock, that we are informed by an intelligent navigator, well acquainted with these coasts, that it takes a whole night to fill a small cask placed under the precious drop, by the favour of which grow two palm-trees, the only vegetable productions to be seen on the coast of Bolivia.

[36] This fortress was lately dismantled by order of General Orbegoso’s government.

[37] The Incas had a garden in the neighbourhood of Cuzco, where all the trees were of gold and silver, and the fruits and leaves of precious stones.

[38] Valparaiso is sometimes called the Vale of Paradise; yet there is anything but a look of Paradise in Valparaiso and its immediate environs. It has been said that the Elysian vale of Quillota, a few leagues distant, is the Paradise alluded to in this appellation, which is a corruption of Va-al-Paraiso, i.e. This is the road to Paradise—namely, Quillota.

[39] See Letter from Alexander Cruckshanks, Esq. to Professor Hooker, inserted in Part iv.-v. of the Botanical Miscellany for March 1831.

[40] Ensayo sobre las causas de las Enfermedades que se padecen en Santiago de Chile. Por el Doctor Guillermo C. Blest.

[41] This being written in 1828, it is but fair to suppose that, as the general police of Chile has been vastly improved since that time, the evils here alluded to by Dr. Blest may have been removed.

[42] According to Humboldt, the farm of Enciero, near Vera Cruz, 3,043 feet above the level of the sea, is the superior limit of the vomito or yellow fever; and strangers who come by sea, and therefore pass through a gradual change of atmospherical temperature, are observed to be less liable to contract the yellow fever than the whites and mestizoes who inhabit the table-land of Mexico, (of which the mean temperature is about 60° or 62° of Fahrenheit,) when they descend during the wet season to the port of Vera Cruz. The rains begin in May and end in October, when the “nortes” or north winds set in; and during the prevalence of these winds the yellow fever or vomito disappears.—Translator’s Note.

[43] The translator understands that chimneys and stoves have of late years become common in the houses of the higher classes in Chile; such, however, as still want these conveniencies make use of the old-fashioned brasiers, or pans of live charcoal. Over these though people may toast their legs if they please, still their backs and shoulders are suffering from cold, as the heat of the brasero or brasier is not sufficient to support a proper degree of general temperature in the air of the apartment in which it is placed. These pans are very properly denounced by Dr. Blest as most unfit, and even dangerous, in the close and ill-ventilated dwellings of the poor.

[44] Western Peru, from the peaks of the eastern Cordillera to the shores of the Pacific, has hardly any venomous animal except the scorpion, which exists in the warm intermediate valleys (in some of which a small black and white snake is also found, which is said to be highly venomous): but alligators, as we have seen, abound about Guayaquil; and the coast of central America is famous for its venomous snakes, as well as for the antidote to their poison, or the bejuco guaco, which in infusion makes an agreeable bitter, something like quassia. The same antidote Providence has planted in the neighbourhood of Tarapoto, on the eastern frontiers of Peru, where venomous snakes also abound. The popular story in Peru respecting the discovery of the properties of the guaco is, that an Indian happening to be present when a condor, or some strong hawk of the numerous species which inhabit the Cordillera, was engaged in mortal combat with a tremendous snake, observed that as often as the bird was wounded he retired to a thicket of guaco, broke off the bark with his beak, dressed his wounds and pruned his feathers with the sap, and returned to the fight with confidence and spirit, till at length he killed the snake, and carried it away in triumph. From this the Indian inferred, that in the juice of the guaco resided the property that counteracted the poison of the snake; and it is vulgarly believed that if you rub your hand and arm with the juice of this bejuco, you may grasp the deadliest serpent with impunity. But, however that may be, the fact is never disputed, that the guaco is a quick, powerful, and certain antidote against the poison of the serpent.—Translator’s Note.

[45] Notes on State of Virginia, p. 62.

[46] Paco: so called (in the Indian language) because its wool is long and of a bright reddish colour. Alppa-co, sheep of the country, has the wool long and very smooth; and, though coming under the denomination of Peruvian camel, is not very well fitted to carry a burden. Llama llamscanni, or the working sheep (of the Indian) has the wool short and rough; and is the tallest, strongest, and best adapted for the cargo.

EXTERIOR PROPORTIONS OF THE LLAMA.

[47] Quipe: bundle of clothes which they carry on their shoulders.

[48] The antelope, by the account of the Indians, sometimes looks over the tops of the eastern chain of the Cordillera, in the Vale of Huanuco. In this vale the tiger-cat has been seen; the mucamuca, probably a species of skunk, as it emits a most offensive stench, is common; and here too armadilloes may be found among the thickets of the pasture-grounds, and they are considered by the Indians to be good eating.

Rats are as common as guinea-pigs in all the agricultural valleys of the interior: the fox ranges all over the high hills and table-lands of the Sierra; and among the crevices of the rocks, in high situations, the traveller meets the long-tailed bizcacha, which burrows like a rabbit, and is valued chiefly for its fur.—Translator.

[49] Jarava foliis involutis, spica panicul.—Flor. Per. et Chil. t. i. p. 5, icon vi. fig. b. As these pasture-grounds are found at twelve or fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, they do not admit of the cultivation and population of the lofty plains of Anahuac or Mexico, which are only six or eight thousand feet above the ocean.

[50] The shrubs, as Dr. Unanue remarks in another part of his work, which grow at the altitude of from twelve to fifteen thousand feet above the Pacific, are of a woody fibre, resinous, and covered with firm bark, to enable them to resist the effects of the piercing cold to which they are naturally exposed.—Translator.

[51] Not only is the ass of Lima the useful quadruped here described, but one of the most ungratefully dealt with by the natives, who seem to have forgotten how honoured this animal had been in ancient times. The saddle-ass is goaded on at a nimble pace by the sharp point of a rib torn from some of the numerous skeletons of mules and horses, &c. which are scattered on the mounds of rubbish, or in the lanes around orchards, within and without the city-walls; and the donkey-driver grins his smile of savage complacency as he swings about his heavy lash, and nicely hits some raw and bleeding spot, the effect of former and frequent inflictions of the same sort at the hands of cruel men.

Ayanque, in his picture of Lima, correctly says,

[52] In travelling from the inland country to Lima we have had occasion to observe, that when the horse reared on the cold table-lands, and not accustomed to any warmer climate, was taken from the Sierra to the coast in the hot months, he pined away almost as fast as a common fowl on the high seas when confined in a coop, and exposed to the spray in rough weather. But the pony, thus affected by the climate of the coast, will with surprising readiness recover his spirits and health as he returns, and ascends the tortuous and shelving paths that lead to his native element near the glacial peaks of the Cordillera.—Translator.

[53] The slaughter thus commenced has passed into a custom of annually destroying these confiding companions of man, when the howl or piteous death-cry of the poor animals rings upon the ear, on fine summer mornings, as the watermen are employed in knocking them down with their iron-pointed sticks in all the streets, and even at the very doors or gates where the persecuted creatures seek protection in vain.

To see them dragged along the streets, bound together by the waterman’s lazo, leaving a bloody track behind them, and then heaped up in the public squares, where they are often allowed to lie for days, is truly one of the most painful and disgusting sights which Lima presents, and to which the bloody scenes of the bull-ring are comparatively nothing.—Translator.

[54] This earth or “huano,” as the translator has been informed, is an article of commerce at the port of Ilo; whence it is conveyed to the neighbourhood of Arica, the Vale of Tambo, and Arequipa, and sold at so much per quintal. When rubbed between the fingers, it emits an insufferable stench. Tithes are paid upon this valuable manure, which are always put to one side in a heap, and, like the rest, carried away on asses. At Huacho, to the north of Lima, birds’ ordure abounds, and is, we believe, used as manure. But, in general, the soil in Peru receives no top-dressing; though about Arequipa, in particular, the agricultural industry of the ancient Indians has always been followed by their successors, who, by means of the huano, compel the same piece of ground to yield several crops annually.

[55] Cuntur de Ccuncuni—to smell ill—so called because the condor emits an offensive smell. This name and that of “puma” were celebrated among the ancient Peruvians: they were used as appellatives or surnames in many illustrious families, whose descendants yet live, occupying the rank of Indian nobility or caciques. According to the meaning of these words, it appears that there were two orders of superior dignity in the empire of the Incas,—that of the Condor and Lion; and hence the origin of the surnames, Apucuntur, or Great Condor, as if we were to say, Great Eagle; Cunturpusac, or chief of eight Condors; Cuntur-canqui, Condor, by way of excellence, or Great Master of the Order; Colquipuma, or Lord of the Silver Lion. Cuntur-apachecta is the distinguishing epithet applied to the loftiest peaks of the Andes; denoting that these are sites among which only the Condor, of all the tenants of the air, can take up his abode.

[56] Here the translator would beg leave to remark, that the common carrion vulture, or gallinaza, is a tame and useful scavenger, very fond of taking up his station on spires, high walls, and house-tops: but, as for the bold and soaring condor, he never saw him frequent crowded cities, or sit on spires, as if this king of vultures had come in the spirit of pride imagined by Dr. Unanue.

[57] That this belief in the moromoro’s strength and courage is founded on fact, is not very improbable; and that the condor was believed in ancient times, before sheep or lambs were known on the Andes, to carry off young infants, appears from the small drinking-cups which are sometimes dug from guacas, in which the stone is so cut out as to represent the condor carrying off an infant in its talons. The pieces of silver usually found in guacas are representations of natural objects.—Translator.

[58] See Letter of Iturre to Mr. Muños: zancudos, flies, and mosquitos are most troublesome in Andalusia.

N. B. The translator would not venture to decide the question, whether the cimex be more abundant in the metropolis of France or of Peru; but he considers it not unimportant to state, from his knowledge of the fact, that the only effectual means of destroying these insects in Lima, where they are certainly a great nuisance, is to brush over the bed with an infusion of the bruised seeds of the anona (of Lambayeque) in lime or lemon juice. For another set of tormentors, fleas, the natives on some occasions use traps, consisting merely of a piece of bayeta or baize, which is placed on the part where the enemy is felt to bite; and, as soon as the fleas get into it, they become so entangled in its meshes, that they are caught and executed at once,—for even the fairest hand can show them no mercy. It is curious to observe that, when one is affected with a paroxysm of ague, no fleas come near him: either the aguish blood or perspiration offends them.

The locust is one of the insects sometimes seen in multitudes on the aroma trees of the warm valleys, which they strip of every leaf in a very short time; just as the cauliflowers are devoured by caterpillars and swarms of butterflies of great beauty. The glow-worm often shines among the groves and avenues in a warm and dark night; and at Tarma, celebrated for the fine texture and beautiful tints of its ponchos, the cochineal insect is reared on beds of cacti, planted for the purpose, all round the town.—Translator.

[59] The Indians of North America called God the Great Man. See Jefferson’s note on Virginia, page 56.

[60] See Garcilaso, t. i. page 313.

[61] It is evident, from the concluding query and remark of Dr. Unanue, that he suspected some speculators in the science of geology of no small share of credulity; and it also appears that he had not himself examined the bony fragments to which he alludes. Had these come to his hands, it is probable that he might have been able to ascertain such specific and distinct characters as should have served to satisfy him that the teeth in his possession were not only by report, but in fact, parts of those skeletons from among which they appear to have been picked up. We may believe that they were conveyed to Lima chiefly on account of their more portable size; while the other more unwieldy bones would have been considered too heavy for being removed so far, by persons who may not have known their scientific value to the geologist.—Translator.

[62] The periods of the great earthquakes of Peru are thus recorded by Dr. Hipolito Unanue.

The same author also mentions the following epochs of volcanic explosions.

[63] Each “topo,” that is, an extent of 5,000 square yards of this soil, is valued at 1,000 dollars; and every six weeks a harvest of “salitre,” or the sub-carbonate of soda, is reaped by the owners.

[64] Vitor, here alluded to by Mr. Rivero, is one of the chief valleys in the vicinity of Arequipa. It extends from inland, in a north-west direction, to the large and well-watered valley of Quilca on the coast, and to the north of Islay: on the other hand, to the south-west, is the extensive, rich, and populous valley of Tambo.

Between the vales of Vitor and Tambo there is a sandy, hot desert, (intensely cold at midnight,) with a gradual ascent, through which passes the road from Islay to Arequipa; and on the scorched plain, great numbers of wearied and exhausted cattle are let loose to perish for want of water and pasture; so that along the way-side are to be seen the skeletons and hides of animals sun-dried, and in different grotesque attitudes. Travellers have remarked that along this arid plain, which extends about twenty leagues inland, there are numerous moveable sandhills of regular figure like a half-moon, with the convex side always looking to the sea.—Translator.

[65] Arequipa is above the level of the sea, according to Mr. Rivero’s observations, 2704 yards; but he considers that Mr. Pentland has been more exact in estimating its altitude, with the barometer of Fortin, at 2697 yards.

[66] Some months ago, the attention of the public had been called to this subject by the Hon. P. Campbell Scarlett, in a work entitled South America and The Pacific; and, only a few weeks since, a prospectus of a new steam-packet company, under the denomination of Pacific Steam Navigation Company, has been circulated in London. Mr. William Wheelwright has, we believe, the merit of being the zealous projector of this very important undertaking, which now promises to be crowned with success.

[67] “Huascar’s chain of gold.”—See Garcilaso de la Vega. Huascar, in Quichua, signifies ‘chain;’ and that Inca was so called from an immense chain of gold which was made in his honour. If I remember well, Garcilaso tells us that it required eight hundred men to support the weight of it. It remains buried to this day in a lake not far from Cuzco.

[68] “Let Indian pipe.”—The Indians of Alto Peru mourn the Incas in “tristes,” which they play upon a kind of pipe. In the time of the Spaniards, at one time they were forbidden to tune these mournful airs, from political motives.

[69] “And Indian maid.”—Many of the Indian women wear a dark drapery suspended from the left shoulder, and falling down to the mid-leg, as mourning for their Incas.

[70] Who is insensible to the sad wild note of the cuculi, the nightingale of this country?

[71] Let any one see the snow-capt mountains at the back of Lima, and that city of spires lying among the dark orange groves at their feet, at daybreak from Callao, and he will say the sight is worth a stave at least; and yet I wish I had never seen it.

[72] Buena Vista, the seat of John Thomas, Esq.

[73] The famous Temple of Pachacamac, whose mighty ruins form a beautiful object from Buena Vista. Pachacamac, like the Temple of Cholula on the plains of Mexico, is a sort of made mountain or vast terraced pyramid of earth. It would be difficult to produce any evidence more conclusive to the benignity of the climate than that which is exhibited on the interior walls of this temple, whereof the mud plaster, though exposed for centuries to the action of the atmosphere, remains to this day with its rude paintings of red and yellow ochre as inviolate and fresh as if it were the work of yesterday. By the bye, it may not be impertinent to mention, that, among these paintings, we find what is called the Grecian Scroll, which, if I am not mistaken, the Grecians borrowed from the Egyptians. This may serve to throw some light upon the origin of Pachacamac. Like that of Mexico,—nay, with still more emphatic gesture,—the gigantic architecture of Peru points to the Cyclopian family, the founders of the Temple of Babel and of the Egyptian Pyramids. I believe (see Garcilaso) that the Temple of Pachacamac was standing when that part of the coast was conquered by the Incas, so that there is no knowing its age.

[74] Old Green’s Nonpareil, where the Hearts of Oak meet.

[75] “Like stars,” &c.—The milky way, which, by the bye, is far grander in the southern than in the northern hemisphere, seems to have been formed by the mutual gravitation of myriads of stars. The dark spots which follow the course of that magnificent nebula, on each side of it, are probably the spaces which the stars have left vacant and lustreless.—See Herschel on Nebulæ.