the warlike exploits of the Zippas, and by the influence of BOOK the lamas from the plains of the Ariari and Rio Meta to the LXXXVII. north of Sogamozo. Muysca, from which mozca seems to be a corruption, signifies a man, but the natives applied it exclusively to themselves. 414 BOOK LXXXVIII. BOOK Extent of DESCRIPTION OF AMERICA CONTINUED. Description of Peru, according to its ancient limits. The ancient empire of the Incas has been more than once LXXXVIII. dismembered, and Potosi has been detached from Peru; But Nature, which establishes her divisions independently of royal edicts, forces us to include in this book not only Lima, but that portion of the empire of the Incas and Upper Peru, lately added to Buenos Ayres, which extends from the plains of Chaco to the defiles of Taria. Sierra Vilcanota is the arbitrary limit of the two provinces, but such boundaries are of little importance at a time when the armies of Lima and Buenos Ayres are contending for the wrecks of these unfortunate countries. Two chains of the Andes, nearly parallel to each other, traverse Peru from south to north; the first over the Great Cordilleras may be considered as the central chain; the other lies nearer the sea, and is called the Cordillera of the coast. Lower Peru is situated between it and the ocean, and forms an inclined plane from ten to twenty leagues in breadth, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Valles. It is partly composed of sandy deserts, destitute alike of vegetation and inhabitants. Its sterility proceeds from the excessive dryness of the soil; Natural divisions. LXXXVIII. neither rain nor thunder has ever been observed in this BOOK part of Peru. The only fertile lands are those that are situated in the vicinity of rivers, and by this means capable of being artificially watered, or such as are moistened by subterraneous springs.* These favourite places possess the united beauties of spring and autunin. The climate is remarkable for its mildness; in Lima the thermometer has never been seen below 60° at noon, and seldom above 86°. in the course of one summer, it is said to have risen to 96°, but this is the greatest height that has ever been remembered. The coolness that pervades the coast of this tropical region cannot be attributed to its snow-covered mountains, but is rather the effect of a thick mist, called by the natives garua, which covers the disk of the sun, and partly owing to a cold current of sea-water, that flows in a northerly direction from the straits of Magellan to the Cape of Parinna. Humboldt remarks, that the difference between the ordinary temperature of the ocean in these latitudes, and that of the currents amounts at least to nine degrees.† Peru. Sierra, or the country between the two chains of the Upper Cordilleras, consists of mountains and naked rocks, intersected by some fertile and well-cultivated vallies. This region contains the finest silver mines in the world, and the best veins are commonly found in the most sterile rocks. Were we to form an opinion of climates from what has been said concerning the longevity of their inhabitants, that of Sierra must be considered unexceptionable. Some writers have described, under different names, Sierra and the highest chain of the Andes, or the region of perpetual congelation; but it appears to us better to include both these countries under the general appellation of Upper Peru. Beyond the principal chain, an immense plain extends Interior in an easterly direction towards the banks of the Ucayal Peru. Viajero Universal, XIV. 106. A. de Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature, I, 125, LXXXVIII. BOOK and Maranon; it is divided by several mountains, to which the Peruvians have given the name of Montanna Reale. In this rainy country the traveller is charmed with the beautiful verdure of its forests; but his journey is frequently interrupted by inundations, marshes, noxious reptiles, and innumerable insects. This tract may be properly called Interior Peru, it is more difficult of access than the other districts. Agricul ture. Roads. * It must be evident, from the preceding observations, that many parts of Peru are but ill adapted for the purposes of agriculture, and that it could hardly become powerful or rich from its vegetable productions. It is but thinly peopled, and its inhabitants are dispersed over a vast extent of territory. The conveyance of heavy goods is rendered very difficult, from the great deficiency of roads and canals. There is scarcely a way in the country by which a waggon or any sort of carriage can move with safety; and every kind of merchandize is carried by mules. So long as Peru continued a Spanish colony, this circumstance contributed greatly to retard its industry; it was impossible to convey those goods which the soil might produce, if their commerce were encouraged. The passage along the isthmus, by Porto Bello and Panama, has been abandoned on account of the expenses of transport being greater than the profits derived from the trade itself. That of Cape Horn is not exempt from danger, and tempests render it frequently uncertain. The Rio de la Plata and Buenos Ayres afford the only convenient passage; but the want of roads and navigable rivers prevents the products of Upper Peru from reaching the basin of the Parana. Nature seems to have supplied this defect; the Amazons might receive the produce of Quito by the Pastara; that of Caxamarca by the Maranon; the exports from Lima by the Huallaga or Ucayal; the sugar of Cuzco, and the gold of Carabaya, by the Apu Viajero Universal, XX. p. 193, 194. LXXXVIII. rimac; and the linen of Moxas, by the Beni. San Joachin BOOK of Omaguas might at no distant period become the Tyre or Alexandria of Peru. A vessel may arrive from that place to Cadiz in two months and a half; but the policy of European governments prevented the Spaniards from using such advantages, and Portugal never suffered their flag to be seen on the waters of the Amazons. This circumstance might not have been a great obstacle to a prince like Charles the Fifth, or it might have yielded to the sword of another Pizarro; but at all events, the two countries never discovered the great benefit that each of them could derive from sharing the navigation of the Amazons and the Parana. Until this commercial revolution take Vegetable and aniplace, the fragrant gums, the medicinal plants, and pre- mal procious wood of the Peruvian forests, the musk nut and cin- ductions. namon of Montanna-Real, the oil of Lower Peru, the cocoa from the plains in the interior, the cotton of Chillaos, and the silk of Mojobamba will never repay the trader who cultivates them for the European market, for the expense of a land carriage to the coast, and that of transporting them are greater than the value of these articles in Europe. The court of Madrid offered every encou- Wool. ragement for the exportation of Peruvian wool; but it is dearer at Cadiz than the finest from Segovia. The wool of the alpaco might be exported with profit, and the vicuna could be advantageously disposed of on account of its variety and superior quality, but the hunters have nearly exterminated the animal that produces it.* The bark trade has been successfully carried on, but husbandry continued in such a languishing state at Peru, that Lima and several other cities on the coast imported their provisions from Chili. The earthquake in 1693 rendered the plains of Lower Peru so barren, that the people gave up cultivating them in several places. Although the country has since that time recovered its fertility, agriculture has been neglected.† |