Lima, the capital of Peru, on the banks of the Rimac eight miles from the port, Callao, is a city of picturesque charm. Its population, with its suburbs 200,000, is no indication of its commercial importance or of its elegance as a social centre. One of the three cities of the world where the best Spanish is spoken, some impartial critics say that in this respect it is unrivalled in the New World. Social amenities, everywhere important, are here peculiarly requisite for agreeable and successful business relations. Parisian elegance is seen on the narrow streets, and in one story dwellings as well as in larger mansions. The great cathedral is called the finest in South America.
The city takes pride in its numerous churches, its plazas, the excellent shops on the narrow streets, its University, founded in 1551, its museum, its new theatres, perhaps even in its bull-ring, the second largest in the world. As in the other West Coast cities, the hotels are inadequate (a new one is contracted for), but the old Maury long had the reputation of being the best on the Coast, and the excellence of its meals once rejoiced the heart even of a New York club man and his East Indian valet. Of course the city has modern conveniences, sky-scrapers happily excepted.
The Coastal Divisions follow beginning at the north.
Tumbes, the Province farthest north, is distinguished from the rest of the coast by the fact that, bordering on Ecuador and the edge of the Gulf of Guayaquil, it partakes of the nature of that region, its north shore being covered with vegetation. (The adjoining Department of Piura, because of its proximity to the Ecuador forests and moisture, receives a rare torrential shower.) Rivers crossing Tumbes permit of irrigation where needed. The agricultural products are sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cacao. The oil wells are of great importance. Coal and other minerals are found.
Tumbes, the capital, on the Tumbes River, is connected by a narrow gauge railway with its port, Pizarro, seven miles distant, where steamers on their way to Guayaquil call every week or two.
Piura, the first Department south of Tumbes, is mainly desert, with some fertile irrigated valleys. The culture of a native cotton resembling wool is a leading industry. Other exports are Panamá hats and hides. Near the coast are important oil wells. Paita, with one of the best harbors on the coast, is the first port of call for some of the express steamers from Panamá.
Piura, capital of the Department, mean temperature 78°, is in an irrigated valley 60 miles from the desert port Paita, with which it is connected by rail. A line of narrower gauge goes on to Catacaos, population 20,000, six miles distant but nearer the sea, where 300,000 Panamá hats are made yearly. They may be bought at Paita for one fourth, perhaps for one eighth of the price commonly asked for the finer ones in New York. The main railway is to be prolonged from Piura to the town of Moropón. Farther south, from Bayovar, a small port on the Bay of Sechura, a railroad leads 30 miles to the sulphur mines of Reventazón; but the sulphur, an important export, must be cleared from the custom house at Paita.
Lambayeque, south of Piura, contains large estates of sugar and rice, the chief exports. It has one of the primary coast ports, Etén (population 3000), but a poor one, merely an open roadstead where there is always a swell, at times so severe that debarking passengers must be lowered in a sort of hogshead by windlass, chain, and pulley to the launch or small boat alongside. Freight lowered to lighters is likely here to get a particularly hard bump. An iron pier 2000 feet long is for the use of the lighters.
Chiclayo, the capital, is 41 miles by rail from Etén. By this railway and its branches, Ferreñafe, Lambayeque, and Patapó may also be reached. From Pimentel, a minor port, a shorter railway runs to Chiclayo. From the Lobos Islands off the coast much guano was formerly taken.
La Libertad, the larger Department following, has two primary ports, the first, Pacasmayo, a short sail from Etén. From Pacasmayo 85 miles of railway lead up country to the towns Guadalupe and Chilete. From Chilete the road should be carried over the Cordillera to the important city of Cajamarca, 50 miles beyond, whither Pizarro marched nearly 400 years ago; but the grades would be difficult and the road awaits the supply of more pressing needs. Another long pier serves the port of Pacasmayo, from which are shipped sugar, rice, fruit, etc. Sixty-six miles farther is the primary port of Salaverry, population 5000.
Trujillo, the capital of the Department, is eight miles distant; beyond is the Chicama Valley, noted for its splendid sugar estates. A railway 75 miles long going up the valley to Ascope, does a large business. An extension planned to the plateau above, 12,900 feet, will pass extensive coal fields at Huanday, and reach copper and silver mines at Queruvilca. A maximum grade of 6¹⁄₂ per cent would make the construction expensive. Another road from the sugar lands is being constructed to the better port, Malabrigo. A little north of Salaverry is the minor port of Huanchaco, which also exports much sugar, though the chief shipment is from Salaverry.
Ancash, the next Department, which is still larger, has five minor ports, one of which, Chimbote, should soon become a primary. For this expectation there are several reasons: first, the harbor, land locked by a long peninsula and several islands, is called the finest on the entire West Coast below Panamá. It has an area of 36 square miles without a rock below its placid surface. Though now with but an ordinary iron pier for lighters, docks approachable by the largest ships could be arranged on an island, which a bridge over a 200 yard channel would easily connect with the main land. There are two other entrances, one half a mile across.
The American capitalist, Henry Meiggs, the prime mover in the construction of the South and Central Peruvian Railways, had the foresight in the early seventies to perceive the great commercial possibilities of this harbor. He planned a city on the shore and began a railway to extend up the Santa River Valley to Huarás, 167 miles. The road bed had been constructed 80 miles, the rails laid 60, when the Chilian war broke out. The invaders, after capturing Chimbote, carried off the rolling stock and supplies and destroyed what else they could. Subsequently the project remained long in abeyance, the road being operated for 35 miles only; but after several recent concessions and delays with little work accomplished, the Government has taken over the line and is pushing forward the extension from the point already attained, La Limeña, 65 miles from Chimbote. Work was begun July, 1919, on a branch line to coal fields near Ancos, 15¹⁄₂ miles, which later will pass near two copper deposits and through Huamachuco and Cajabamba. After the first few miles the main road follows the Santa River, which enters the ocean a few miles north of the harbor.
The Santa has the distinction of being the largest river in Peru flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Rising among the heavily snow covered peaks of the White Cordillera, though nowhere navigable it has a large water supply for irrigation, made use of by the Incas. It could easily be made available for a large district back of Chimbote. At present the railway serves only a few sugar plantations on the lower part of the river’s course, but its further construction will open up immense coal fields, and farther on in the Huailas Valley great mineral deposits of gold, silver, etc., and a fine though limited agricultural district which already has a large population.
The Huailas Valley has on the east the Cordillera Blanca, whose splendid snow capped summits rise to an altitude of 20,000 to 22,000 feet; on the west the Cordillera Negra reaches a height of 17,000 to 18,000 feet; the passes into the valley are above 14,000. The floor of the valley rises from 3000 feet at the north to 10,000 at Huarás and 11,000 at Recuay. Along the way are the considerable towns of Caráz, Yungay, Carhuaz, and Huaráz, capital of the Department, each with populations of from 5000 to 10,000, besides the people at haciendas and at mining centers on either hand. This has been called the richest and most thickly settled portion of Peru. All sub-tropical and temperate productions flourish here at various elevations; the mineral riches may rival the Klondike as the scenic splendor surpasses that of Chamonix. East of Yungay rises the magnificent twin-peaked Huascarán, the first and only ascent of which was made by the author with two Swiss guides, September 2, 1908; the north peak, altitude 21,812 feet, is still, 1921, the highest point in all America yet attained by any North or South American.
The only difficulty in the construction of the railway is where the Santa River breaks through the Black Cordillera to turn towards the coast, the narrow gorge being impracticable even for pedestrians. In this region and beyond are immense coal fields. These, chiefly anthracite and semi-anthracite, therefore non-coking, some people believed worthless, being ignorant that for many purposes hard coal is more valuable than soft. However there are also beds of bituminous. The coal deposits continue in the lateral valleys, where the owners use them merely for their own households. Samples run over 82 per cent carbon. A quarter of a mile from Caráz (population 8000) coal may be mined and put on trucks at $1.50 a ton. The Chuquisaca River from the north joins the Santa just before that breaks through the Cordillera. This Department is very mountainous. Besides the Santa, four rivers descend to the sea, i.e., they do sometimes; for, rising on the west of the Black Range, obviously so called because it has little snow on it, these rivers are often dry, yet they serve to irrigate many sugar plantations. At the mouth of the Santa River north of Chimbote is the village Santa, an occasional port of call for the caletero (not express) boats, which regularly visit several ports below: Samanco, 27 miles of desert from Chimbote, Casma, after 50 miles more, and Huarmey, 55 beyond. Back of Samanco is the Nepeña River Valley with two large sugar plantations; and high in the Black Range, Colquipocro, one of the richest silver mines worked in Peru. Some of the selected ore ran as high as $2000 a ton, and large quantities averaged $200 when silver was 50 cents an ounce. Samanco and Casma are the usual ports for entering the Huailas Valley; Chimbote also serves.
Lima. The Departments of Lima and Ica follow, in which the mountains come closer to the shore than in the greater part of the country, and the rivers except at the extreme south are nearer together. Thus the Departments exhibit much verdure, a larger proportion of the country being devoted to agriculture. A minor port of Lima is Supe, followed by Huacho, of more importance and connected with the capital by rail, 150 miles, passing Ancón, a frequented summer seashore resort.
Callao, the port of Lima and the chief port of Peru, is with its suburbs a little Province all by itself, surrounded by the Department of Lima except on the ocean side.
Cerro Azul is a more southern port in the Department of Lima, serving a very mountainous section, with fertile valleys producing sugar, cotton, vegetables, etc., and in the mountains many minerals.
Ica is an extremely fertile Department, raising very fine grapes and other fruits, sugar cane and cotton; also corn, alfalfa, divi-divi, and ají, a kind of pepper much used in Peru and other countries. Wine making is a very important industry. Minerals exist, but are not much worked except a silver mine.
Ica, the capital, centre of the finest grape country in the Republic, is 46 miles by rail from Pisco, the chief port, and the most important one between Callao and Mollendo. Lomas is a smaller port in the Department. Ica has some good land uncultivated, but needing irrigation.
Arequipa, the last littoral Department, has five minor ports besides the primary port, Mollendo, second in importance in Peru; but the port is a very poor one, no real harbor at all. Chala is a port of call for some steamers, but the rest are very minor: Camaná, at the mouth of the Majes River which comes down from Mt. Coropuna, Quilca, Matarani, and Islay, the last two not far north of Mollendo, and with better harbors. Along here the mountains are farther back and some have much snow, so that several rivers present good possibilities for additional irrigation. Cotton, sugar, and grapes grow in the valleys; corn, potatoes, and cereals higher up. There is a variety of mineral products: the most important, silver from Cailloma; but gold, copper, lead, coal, borax, sulphur, manganese, alum, gypsum, are found, and some of them are exported.
The Southern Railway of Peru, leading up from Mollendo, is an important line which will be referred to later. Back of the coastal bluffs, which rise on irregular slopes 3000 feet or more, is a desert plateau of especial interest, on account of the sand dunes 10-12 feet high which move slowly over it.
Moquegua, a Province south, the last district held by Peru, has a primary port, Ilo, from which a railway 62 miles long extends to its capital, Moquegua. The soil of the Province is especially adapted to grapes and olives, which with wine and oil are the chief exports. Many varieties of minerals are known to exist here in quantity.
This, perhaps the best populated of the three sections, comprises seven Departments, some of which run over or down into the montaña, as most of the Coast Departments run up into the sierra.
Cajamarca, bordering on Ecuador, is the first Department at the north, a rather long one, running south back of Piura, Lambayeque, and part of Libertad, which last is also on the south, as in its southern part it extends over the West Cordillera and beyond the Marañon. Cajamarca has that river on the east separating it from Amazonas. Communication with the outside world is poor, the best by way of Pacasmayo. An extension of the railway from this port is hoped for. The highlands favor cattle and sheep breeding; the valleys produce cereals, coffee, and sugar. Of course there are minerals.
Cajamarca, the capital, famed for the seizure and murder of Atahuallpa by Pizarro and the slaughter or dispersion of his army, is an important town and distributing centre, with many industries; leather goods, mining, cotton and woolen cloth, etc.
Huánuco, the next Sierra Department, does not touch Cajamarca. East of Ancash, it has Junín on the south, and Loreto east and north. Traversed by the Central and the East Cordilleras, by the Marañon, Huallaga, and Pachítea Rivers, it has the Ucayali as its eastern boundary. At the northeast corner the Pachítea flows into the Ucayali, both rivers being navigable. The central route from Lima to Iquitos goes down the Pachítea. All kinds of riches are here, but communication is too difficult to make them very valuable at the moment. Quicksilver, coal, iron, and copper are found, gold and silver as a matter of course, agricultural products of great variety.
Huánuco, the capital, with a good climate, is 68 miles from Cerro de Pasco, on the Huallaga River. It is an important place with varied industries including sugar mills.
Junín, south of Huánuco, a very large and rich Department, is east of Ancash and Lima, has Huancavelica south, and Cuzco and Loreto east. It has three important districts, better known than those in the Departments farther north: the mountain knot and range at the west, the plateau, and the montaña section running down to the Ucayali River, which separates it from Loreto. Lake Junín, 36 miles long and 7 wide, altitude 13,322 feet, is the second largest Andean Lake. Near by, occurred the battle of August 6, 1824.
In Junín are the head waters of important rivers: in the northwest corner the lakes which are the source of the Marañon, Santa Ana and others; the Jauja or Mantaro flows south from Lake Junín, uniting with the Apurimac later to form the Ené; the Perené, rising on the montaña side of the mountain far down unites with the Ené to form the Tambo, which soon joins the Urubamba then becoming the Ucayali. The smaller Pichis and Palcazu unite to form the Pachítea of the Department of Huánuco. Junín contains immense mineral wealth; among other mines the famous ones of Cerro de Pasco; large stocks of cattle and more sheep. Cereals, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables and fruits grow in the valleys of the plateau, which has an altitude of 13,000 to 14,000 feet, with a temperature of 22°-65°. In the tropical east are plantations of coca, coffee, cacao, sugar, and fruit.
Cerro de Pasco, the capital, will be referred to later.
Huancavelica, a smaller Department directly south, touches Lima on the west, has Ica west and south, and Ayacucho east. This is a Sierra Department exclusively, all high mountains, plateau, a few alpine lakes, but with several deep cañons in which flow the rivers, at the north the Mantaro. Minerals are the chief wealth. Famous since they were opened in 1566 are the quicksilver mines; but since they were buried years ago by a cave-in not much quicksilver has been extracted till a very recent resumption of activity.
Huancavelica, the capital, is an important mining centre though reached with some difficulty from Huancayo or Ica. Here above 12,000 feet the production of wool might be expected; there are cotton mills also.
Ayacucho, a peculiarly shaped Department twice the size of the preceding, runs to a point on the north between the Mantaro and Apurimac Rivers. It has Huancavelica and Ica on the west, Arequipa on the south and southeast, and Apurimac and Cuzco east. This also is mostly highland, with temperate zone agriculture, cattle and sheep, and with varied mineral riches.
Ayacucho, the capital, is a considerable and important city, but a long way to go from anywhere. Mining and other industries are engaged in.
Apurimac, much smaller, has Ayacucho northwest and southwest, a bit of Arequipa south, and Cuzco southeast and northeast. The Department is highland, but lower than at the north, with great grazing ground and forests, with fertile soil raising temperate and sub-tropical products, and with the inevitable minerals.
Abancay, the capital, is most accessible from Cuzco or from the port of Chala. It is a small city, of some interest.
Cuzco, the largest Sierra Department, with a little of Junín has Ayacucho and Apurimac west, Arequipa south, Puno southeast and east, with Madre de Dios, Loreto, and Brazil on the north. The Apurimac River to which the Urubamba is nearly parallel, forms most of its western boundary, both rivers flowing a little west of north. The upper waters of the Purús, and Madre de Dios flow north, south, and east. Stock raising is carried on and there are minerals, but agriculture is the chief industry. Cuzco is famed for the excellence of its cacao, also for its cocoa and coffee; it has large sugar plantations as well. Though with mountainous highlands, it has much territory lower.
Cuzco, the capital, world famed since its conquest by Pizarro, is beautifully situated at the head of the side-valley of the Huatanay River. Interesting from its historic associations, its massive ruins, and its picturesque charm, it is also of commercial importance.
Puno, the last Department of the sierra, has Madre de Dios on the north, Cuzco, Arequipa, and Moquegua west, Chile and Bolivia south, and Bolivia east. The Department, mostly highland, includes the western part of Lake Titicaca. It contains many minerals, and has a large output of gold. The production of wool, including the alpaca and vicuña, is highly important. Potatoes, barley, etc., are grown.
Puno, the capital, a centre of mineral and woolen activities, is the head of Peruvian navigation on Lake Titicaca and a meeting place of the two tribes or races, the Quichuas and the Aymarás, the latter, residents of northern Bolivia. The town is an important centre of traffic.
This region comprising nearly two thirds of Peru embraces the eastern forest country, the eastern slopes of the East Cordillera and at the north the lower slopes of the other ranges. The region has much rain, many large navigable rivers, and dense tropical forests rich in useful plants, fine hard woods, and rubber trees. It has some settlements on the river banks and on higher lands, and in the forests, Indians, some of whom are peaceable and friendly, others who might have been so had they not been badly treated by whites of various nationalities, others still who have never seen the white man and do not wish to. Three of these Departments border on Ecuador, the most western, Amazonas, with Cajamarca on the west, La Libertad south, and San Martín east. The last Department, more than twice the size of Amazonas, has Loreto on the east and south. It is traversed by the Central Cordillera and by the Huallaga River, navigable to the important port of Yurimaguas, but for steamers not much farther. The immense Department Loreto, touching Huánuco and Cuzco on the south, with Brazil on the east, is with Madre de Dios naturally the least known and least populated portion of Peru. It is traversed by the Ucayali, and by the Amazon both above and for some distance below Iquitos, to which port ocean steamers regularly ascend. Madre de Dios, east of Cuzco and north of Puno, has been little explored. A few rubber and mining concessions have been slightly worked. Its future will come with transportation.