CHAPTER XIII.

THE CENTRAL PROVINCES.

CORDOVA, LA RIOJA, SANTIAGO, TUCUMAN, CATAMARCA, SALTA.

CORDOVA. Government. Pastoral Habits of the People. Productions. LA RIOJA. Population, &c. Famatina Mines. Evils arising from the present subdivision of the Provincial Governments. SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO. The Sandy Desert or Traversia. Quichua Language. Productions, &c. The Salado navigable to the Paranã. The Chaco. Mass of native Iron found there. Theory of its Meteoric Origin questionable. Account of the native Iron from Atacama. TUCUMAN. Delightful Climate. Mines--little worked. Richness of the Vegetation. Declaration of Independence of the Provinces made there in 1816. CATAMARCA. Population, &c. Original Inhabitants--their long Wars with the Spaniards. SALTA. Divisions, Population, Government, Climate, Rivers. The Vermejo, and its Affluents from Tarija and Jujuy. Valuable Productions of this Province. Labour of the Mataco Indians obtainable, and preferable to that of Europeans in such Latitudes. Importance of inland Steam Navigation urged.

In proceeding now to give such information as I have been able to collect respecting the state of the provinces on the road to Peru, and to the westward of it, I shall take them in their geographical order, although it may be as well to observe that they were not, as may be supposed, originally conquered and settled by the discoverers of the Rio de la Plata. Those adventurers, following the course of the river Paraguay, reduced to subjection the warlike tribes they found upon its shores, and, navigating its higher branches, after incredible hardships and many valiant deeds, succeeded in opening a communication with their countrymen in Peru; but they made no attempt to possess themselves of the vast extent of country lying to the westward of them.

The discovery of those regions was reserved for the followers of Almagro, who, after the conquest of Peru, marched southward to take possession of Chile, in fulfilment of his agreement with Pizarro; and his successors laid claim to them as part of the jurisdiction originally allotted to him in virtue of that agreement--a pretension which gave rise to many contentions amongst the chiefs who first established themselves in those parts; nor were they put an end to until, by the king's authority, these settlements, comprising Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, the towns in the valley of Catamarca, and many others since destroyed, were erected into a distinct and separate province called Tucuman, from the chief of the Calchaqui tribes which inhabited them. This was in 1563, some years before the existence of Buenos Ayres. Nor was it indeed till nearly half a century after De Garay had founded his settlement there that they became politically connected, and were united under one and the same government.

PROVINCE OF CORDOVA.

The province of Cordova, after that of Buenos Ayres, is the most important of the Union. According to a census taken in 1822-23, the population then amounted to something more than 85,000 souls, of which from 12,000 to 14,000 lived in the city.

It is ruled by a governor, who is elective by a provincial junta occasionally convoked, and whose power is almost arbitrary; he has the command of all the forces and militia of the province, and has the power of reversing, on appeal, all decisions of the tribunals.

It is bounded by the province of Santiago del Estero to the north, and Santa Fé to the east, and on the western side by the mountain-ranges generally known as the Sierra de Cordova. From these ranges descend many rivers and streams which irrigate and fertilise the plains below; amongst which may be enumerated the Rio San Miguel, the Tortoral, the Carnero, the Primero, Segundo, Tercero, Quarto, and Quinto: of these the Tercero is the only one which reaches the Paranã; all the rest are lost in the flat intervening plains. It has been ascertained that very little is requisite to render the Tercero navigable for boats from the Paranã to within about thirty leagues of the city, whereby a water communication might be opened, which would save much of the present expensive and tedious land carriage of the productions not only of Cordova, but of the provinces of Cuyo, to Buenos Ayres.

The perpetual irrigation of so many streams gives rise to a constant supply of excellent pasturage for cattle and sheep, the facility of rearing which may in some measure account for the preference evinced by the people for pastoral over agricultural pursuits. These habits occasion the country population to be much scattered: they congregate but little in the towns; and the principal places after the capital, Conception, Ranchos, and Carlotta, are at the best but wretched villages.

In travelling from Buenos Ayres after passing the post of Frayle Muerto on the river Tercero, the aspect of the country begins to change: it becomes undulated, and at last there is an end of the monotonous scenery of the Pampas, throughout which not a tree is to be seen save the solitary Umbú, standing like a giant land-mark in the boundless plain.

The traveler's eye is relieved by the appearance of woods and forests which become more dense as the Sierra is approached. The trees are for the most part varieties of the mimosa family, thickly set with thorns; and so marked is this peculiarity in those parts, that I recollect a gentleman from Cordova who came to Buenos Ayres whilst I was there, expressing something more than common surprise at finding that the greater part of the trees which grew in the gardens about the city, and which were probably chiefly of European origin, were not covered with thorns like those of his own province.

The palm-tree is scattered over the valleys in the northern part of the province, and on the road to Santiago del Estero; and it is the land of the aloe and cactus in every variety.

The city which gives its name to the province was founded by the conquerors of Tucuman in 1573; it is situated in lat. 31° 26´ 14",[59] long. from Ferro, 314° 36´ 45", in a pleasant valley upon the banks of the river Primero, sheltered from the north and south winds, which, in the more exposed parts of the province blowing alternately hot and cold, produce great and sudden variations in the atmosphere, very trying to the constitutions of the inhabitants.

By the post-road it is 172 leagues distant from Buenos Ayres.

It is related that for many years after its foundation, the inhabitants were subjected to much inconvenience from the occasional overflowings of a lake in the neighbouring hills, until an earthquake swallowed up its waters, and drained it apparently for ever. Much damage, however, is still done by the mountain-torrents which descend from the Sierra in the rainy season, and have made it necessary to build strong walls to save the city from being occasionally inundated.

Limestone and timber being to be had in the immediate neighbourhood, the houses are generally better built than in other towns in the interior.

Cordova contains many churches, and is the seat of a university, at which, in the time of the Old Spaniards, most of the better classes from all parts of the Vice-Royalty received their education: it was under the management of the Jesuits, to whom this city owes much of its importance. It was here they had their principal college (the Colegio Maximo); and they held large possessions in the neighbourhood, from whence they derived considerable revenues, the greater part of which were spent in the foundation and embellishment of the churches, and in other pious establishments. Here also they had a celebrated library, rich in manuscript records of their Missions and labours amongst the Indians, which upon their expulsion was sent to Buenos Ayres. The printed books formed the nucleus of the present public library in that city; but the greater part of the manuscripts, and amongst the rest an unpublished portion of Father Guevara's History, have never since been seen: they were probably, either sent to Spain or destroyed by Bucareli, who was charged with the expulsion of the Order; a duty which he fulfilled with a harshness and illiberality never to be forgotten in a country which owes all it possesses in the shape of civilization, to the indefatigable zeal and enlightened spirit of that community.

Out of their confiscated property the university of Buenos Ayres was subsequently founded; and being more conveniently situated for the rising generation, it has in proportion diminished the importance of that of Cordova, which, though still kept up, has dwindled to the scale of a provincial school.

From the year 1699 Cordova was also the residence of a bishop (removed from Tucuman), but the see has been vacant since the first years of the revolution.

The effects of the preponderating influence of the monastic establishments are still visible in the habits of the generality of the people; and though the ladies are not all nuns, their manners are a vast deal more reserved than those either of the capital or of the other principal provincial towns. As an instance of this, a fair lady of Buenos Ayres told me she had caused no little scandal whist on a visit to some of her Cordova relations, by insisting on dancing at a ball with a male partner, instead of with one of her own sex, an innovation which greatly horrified the mamas. Captain Andrews, too, has given a lively account of the alarm he unwittingly occasioned by a like breach of decorum in offering his arm to a young lady on going to dinner. These scruples, however, have I believe, since been much modified, and I am told that ladies and gentlemen now dance country-dances together at Cordova, much as they do in other parts of the world, in spite of the fears of the mamas and the frowns of the priests.

Living is very cheap and provisions abundant, the wants of the people few, and their hospitality unbounded; their kindness, indeed, to strangers, is spoken of by all who have been amongst them.

Cordova at present forms a sort of centre of communication between the Upper Provinces and Buenos Ayres. Its own produce, consisting chiefly of hides and wool, is all sent to the capital, whence it receives European manufactured goods in exchange.

If steam navigation were established on the Paranã between Buenos Ayres and Santa Fé, Cordova, as well as the provinces further north, would share in its advantages, and would be more easily supplied through Santa Fé, by the road which runs nearly in a direct line between the two cities; whilst the shorter line of communication thus opened between the provinces of Cuyo and those on the Paranã, passing necessarily through Cordova, would fully compensate to the people of that place for any loss they might sustain in consequence of the transit trade from Buenos Ayres to the Upper Provinces being turned in another direction.

The people of Cordova and Santa Fé would also once more have a joint interest in checking the inroads of the Indians from the Chaco, and by a better combination of their joint means might be enabled to protect their frontiers more effectually and perhaps at less expense than either province is now at for the maintenance of the militia which is requisite for its separate defence.

Cordova, owing to the miserable weakness of the adjoining governments of both Santa Fé and San Luis, is obliged at present to support a large armed force to protect her frontiers, not only from the savages of the Chaco, but from those of the Pampas.

PROVINCE OF LA RIOJA.

To the west of the province of Cordova, across the Sierra, lies La Rioja, formerly a dependency of that government, but now dignified with the title of an independent province, divided into four departments, viz., Arauco, Guandacol, the Llaños, and Famatina. It is nominally under the rule of a governor and a municipal junta of five members. The city from which it takes its name was founded in 1591, at the foot of the Sierra de Velasco, a granitic range, and is situated, according to a MS. in my possession, in latitude 29° 12´, though I know not upon whose authority. In 1824 the population did not amount to more than 3500 souls, though the whole province may contain from 18,000 to 20,000. Arauco, which is the most northern department, contains about 3000, chiefly occupied in the cultivation of vineyards, from which they make 8000 or 10,000 small barrels annually, of a strong sweet wine, which is sent to Cordova and the neighbouring provinces.

Guandacol, which lies to the westward, beyond the range of Famatina, and along the base of the Cordillera of Chile, contains about 1500 inhabitants,--chiefly congregated in the towns of Guandacol and Vinchina. They are employed in agriculture, and, at a particular season, in hunting the vicuñas in the Cordillera, the wool of which forms a valuable article of trade:--the flesh is an article of food.

The Llaños, which lie to the south of La Rioja, constitute a rich grazing district, in which about 20,000 head of cattle are annually bred. The inhabitants are calculated to be about 6000.

The department of Famatina, of which Chilecito is the principal place, lies to the west of La Rioja; it contains 5000 or 6000 inhabitants, who, like those of Arauco, are much engaged in the cultivation of their vineyards, from which they make 6000 or 8000 barrels of wine yearly. It takes its name from the famous mineral range of Famatina, distant from La Rioja about thirty leagues:--this range is described to extend for fifty leagues; in the centre is the Nevado, a lofty peak covered with perpetual snow,--its geological formation is chiefly gneiss and clay-slate; but it is specially celebrated for the richness of its silver ores, which are said to surpass in intrinsic value those of Potosi,--the extreme remoteness and inclemency of their situation, however, accessible only by rugged and difficult mountain paths, has been a constant bar to their being worked to any extent, and as yet they may be said to be only superficially known: nevertheless a mint was established at La Rioja, at which some gold and silver coins have been struck; and, in 1824 and 1825, during the rage for mining speculations in South America, companies were formed for the working of those of Famatina:--those schemes, however, only ended in disappointment to all concerned in them, not from any scarcity, I believe, of the precious metals, but from miscalculations and mismanagement, and an entire ignorance of the political state of the country. In such remote parts it has been but too sadly proved how little foreigners can calculate upon any effectual protection either for their property or their persons. It is idle to talk of contracts or title-deeds where the only real law is the will of some petty despot, whose necessities or interests, direct or indirect, will always overrule all other considerations. That such should be the state of La Rioja is not surprising, when its geographical position is considered, which cuts it off from almost all intercourse with the more civilised parts of the republic. The roads which lead to it, if roads they can be called, which are hardly passable by mules, are as bad as they can be, whilst the distances by these circuitous paths to the nearest of the other provincial towns are enormous. From La Rioja to Cordova it is 114 leagues, to Mendoza 159, and to Buenos Ayres by the nearest beaten route 287. To Guasco or Copiapo, the nearest towns in Chile, the length of the route by the Cordillera of Guandacol is 130 leagues:--this pass is said to be easy of transit, and has been often used to convey goods across the Cordillera from Chile, when the communication with Buenos Ayres has been closed.

The people, as might be expected, are in a lamentable state of ignorance. The governor himself, in sending me an account of his province, confessed that the only school in it was one established in the town of La Rioja, where the instruction was entirely limited to reading and writing, and that, for want of support, was often closed.

If the establishment of the present federal system be found of any real advantage, or gratifying to the ambition of some other provinces, the local situation and means of which may induce them to look forward with any confidence to improving their social condition; on the other hand I fear it must be fatal to those which, like La Rioja, are necessarily thrown by it upon resources which are palpably inadequate either to ensure them any tolerably efficient government for the present, or any likelihood of an improvement in their condition hereafter. It seems to me that the only means of saving them from lapsing into a state of semi-barbarism is to make them, as before, dependencies of their more powerful neighbours:--nor would they alone benefit by such an arrangement; a concentration of the Republic into half-a-dozen instead of twice the number of provincial governments (as was originally contemplated when it was divided into provinces in 1813 and 1814), would render each in itself infinitely more respectable, and better able to maintain its own independence, whilst it would vastly facilitate the management of all their national interests and affairs by the government of Buenos Ayres.

The provinces to the north of Cordova and La Rioja originally formed only two governments, according to the division established by the National Congress in 1814:--that of Tucuman, which included Santiago del Estero and Catamarca; and that of Salta with Jujuy, Oran, and Tarija; but these have since subdivided themselves, and instead of two now form five distinct governments,--viz., Santiago, Tucuman, Catamarca, Salta, and Tarija,--the latter of which has become united to Bolivia: of the others, the first, after leaving Cordova, is Santiago del Estero.

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO.

The distance from the city of Cordova to that of Santiago del Estero is 110 leagues by the post-road. Portezuela is the first station beyond the jurisdiction of Cordova, shortly after which commences what is called the Travesia, a vast sandy zone thirty to forty leagues in breadth, for the most part covered with a saline efflorescence, and producing a salsola, from the ashes of which the inhabitants extract soda. It borders the Sierra de Cordova to the north, and extends west as far as La Rioja, running southward nearly to San Luis. In this arid district the sultry heat of the north wind, which is very prevalent in the summer season, is almost insufferable.

My intelligent correspondent Dr. Redhead, who has lived for more than a quarter of a century in the upper provinces, and to whom I am indebted for some of the most valuable of my information respecting them, speaking of its geological appearance, observes in one of his letters how forcibly he had been led to conjecture that the southern part of the province of Santiago must once have been a sea-coast. "Its sandy hillocks, he says, always reminded him of those on the shores of Flanders:"--certain it is, that throughout the whole extent of this sandy zone, from Ambargasta to Noria, the level of the country becomes very much depressed, and falls very nearly to that of Buenos Ayres; thus in the very heart of the continent, at a distance of 700 miles direct from the sea, we have a considerable tract of land hardly elevated above its immediate shores.

The following table of barometrical observations, taken by Dr. Redhead, will not only show the variations in the height of the country intervening between Buenos Ayres and Santiago, but also of that to the northward, along the high road, as far as Tupiza in Peru:--

Barometrical Observations, made on the road from Buenos Ayres to Potosi, by Dr. Redhead:--

+---------+---------------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+ |Distance | | | | | | |from one | | | | | | |place to | | | | | | |another |Point of Observation |Barometer|Thermo-| Date | Hour | | | | | meter | | | |Post | | | | | | |leagues | | | | | | +---------+---------------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+ | 134 |Rio Tercero from } | | | | | | | Buenos Ayres } | 28·945 | 86 |Feb. 11 |11 a.m.| | 3 |Cordova | 28·400 | 86 | 20 | 4 p.m.| | 14 |Sin-Sacate | 27·990 | 75 |Mar. 12 |11 a.m.| | 22 |San Pedro | 26·990 | 60 | 17 | 6 a.m.| | 4 |Durasno | 27·300 | 73 | -- | 9 a.m.| | 4 |Piedritas | 27·500 | 72 | -- | Noon. | | 4 |Pozo del Tigre | 27·550 | 71 | -- | 5 p.m.| | 6 |Portezuela | 27·860 | 69 | 18 | Noon | | 6 |Ambargasta } | 28·875 | 67 | 19 | 9 a.m.| | 6 |Punta del Monte} The | 29·260 | 82 | -- | 4 p.m.| | 6 |Salinas } Travesia| 29·600 | 68 | 20 | 6 a.m.| | 14 |Noria } | 29·400 | 76 | -- | 2 p.m.| | 24 |Santiago del Estero | | | | | | 40 |Tucuman | 27·563 | 75 |Feb. 10 | | | 100 |Jujuy | | | | | | 30 |Humaguaca | 21·415 | 57 | June 2 | 4 p.m.| | 8 |Cueba | 21·200 | 54 | 1 | | | 3 |Abra de Cortaderas | | | | | | 3 |Colorados | 19·350 | 50 | May 31 | 8 a.m.| | 6 |Cangrejos | 19·625 | 32 | 30 | 6 p.m.| | 9 |Quiaca | 19·300 | 50 | 29 | 4 p.m.| | 5 |Cumbre del Cerro} | 19·100 | 60 | 28 |11 a.m.| | | de Berque } | | | | | | 4 |Berque | 19·975 | 54 | 27 | 4 p.m.| | 5 |Talina | 20·800 | 56 | 26 | 9 a.m.| | 8 |Tupiza | 26·260 | 60 | 25 | 9 a.m.| +---------+---------------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+

_Note._--At Buenos Ayres the mean of the barometer for the month of March, 1822, was 29·61.

In the upper parts of the Sierra de Cordova granite everywhere breaks through the surface, and innumerable fragments of it may be traced in the descent to the Travesia, whilst beyond that sandy zone there is not a vestige of it throughout the rest of the road to Potosi, the formation the whole way being of blue argillaceous schist and slate, with occasional strata of limestone and red sandstone. In the neighbourhood of Potosi, however, and on the tops of some of the highest mountains in its vicinity, Helms tells us that he fell in with a pretty thick stratum of granite pebbles rounded by the action of water. How, he says, could these masses of granite have been deposited here? Have they been rolled hither by a general deluge, or by some later partial revolution of nature? His astonishment would have been infinitely greater had he known that marine shells are to be found on the lofty mountain of Chorolque (about twelve leagues north-west from Tupiza, between Salta and Potosi), the summit of which has been determined by Dr. Redhead to be 16,530 feet above the level of the sea.

The word Chorolque is corrupted from Churucolque, signifying in the Quichua tongue that the mountain contains silver and shells. The Spaniards, however, little suspected that the latter were to be found there, till, in 1826, an enterprising Frenchman ascended the mountain and brought down specimens which established beyond doubt the fact.

A further study of that language might lead the scientific inquirer to many an important discovery. The disposition of the Peruvians for observation is well known, and their nomenclature of places is generally expressive more or less either of the nature of the soil, or some peculiarity attached to it: thus a person well versed in Quichua is beforehand aware of what he is to see. Peutocsi, for instance, difficult to be properly pronounced by an European, and corrupted into Potosi, signifies, "_It is said to have burst forth_:" such must have been their tradition, which the very appearance of this singular cone, standing alone and distinct from the system of mountains which surrounds it, and the hot springs in its vicinity, would seem to corroborate.

It is in the province of Santiago that the Quichua is first met with. The Jesuits reduced it to a written language, and published a grammar and dictionary of it in Peru.

The city of Santiago is a miserable ill-built place, containing not more than 4000 souls. It is situated in lat. 27° 47´, according to Azara, upon the banks of a considerable river which rises in the territory of Tucuman, and running south through this province is finally lost, under the name of the Rio Dulce, in the great lakes called the Porongos, to the west of Santa Fé. The whole population of the province it estimated to be about 50,000; the greater part of which is much scattered in small villages built along the courses of this river and of the Salado, which runs parallel to it, and separates the province on that side from the gran-chaco, or desert, the low lands along their banks being better suited for the pasturage of cattle and for cultivation than the other parts of the province. The soil there is well adapted to the growth of wheat, which is said to yield eighty for one.

In most parts of the province the cactus may be seen growing to an unusual size, and the cochineal gathered from it used to form one of the most valuable productions of this part of the country: from 8000 to 10,000 lbs. of it were annually sent to Chile and Peru. Large quantities of wild beeswax and honey were also collected in the woods and sent to the other provinces, in which they were always in demand; but the civil dissensions which have of late years been so frequent in these provinces have checked the industry of the people, who have almost entirely abandoned their old pursuits, and given up their yearly gatherings of these once valued productions. This is the more to be regretted as they are said to be naturally an enterprising and intelligent race, less given to habitual indolence than some of the other inhabitants of these latitudes. The women manufacture ponchos and coarse saddle-cloths, or blankets, which are sold in great numbers to the people of Tucuman and Salta.

To the eastward of the river Salado lies the vast region commonly called the Gran-chaco, or desert, which extends to the Paranã, and reaches north as far as the province of Chiquitos, solely inhabited by Indians of various tribes, who, safe in their own forests and jungles, have there found a refuge from Spanish domination and persecution. It is through this territory that the rivers Pilcomayo and Vermejo wind their tortuous courses to the Paranã from the most remote parts of the interior of the Upper Provinces.

Some way beyond the Salado, about seventy leagues east from Santiago (in lat 27° 28´), was found that very remarkable specimen of native iron which I sent to this country some years ago, and which is now deposited in the British Museum. Its existence was first made known by some of the people of Santiago, who had passed through that part of the country in their journeys to the forests beyond to collect honey; and their reports, which were transmitted to Buenos Ayres, induced the Viceroy, in 1788, to send Don Reuben de Celis, an officer in the King's service, to examine it. His report upon it was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for 1788, and excited much speculation at the time.

As in those times the working of iron was forbidden in South America, after sundry specimens of it were forwarded to Lima, to Buenos Ayres, and to Spain, the remainder lay neglected for many years in its original site.

In the beginning of the struggle for independence, however, when the Spanish ships of war blockaded Buenos Ayres, iron, amongst other necessaries, becoming extremely scarce, the people recollected De Celis's account, with the reports of the Indians, that in the same parts there were extensive veins of the same mineral; and at a great expense the mass in question was sent for and brought to Buenos Ayres. By the time it got there the blockade was over; and as it was evidently much easier to procure iron from Europe than by a cart-carriage of 1000 miles from the uninhabited wilds of the Chaco, no further trouble was taken to determine whether or not the Indian reports of its being procurable in larger quantities were true or not. By way of experiment a pair of pistols were manufactured from it, which were sent as a present to the President of the United States, and what remained was placed at my disposal by the Minister of Buenos Ayres on the occasion of my signing the treaty with him in 1825, which recognised on the part of Great Britain the political independence of his country. I sent it to Sir Humphrey Davy to be placed in the British Museum, hoping that he would himself have analysed it, and given his opinion respecting its supposed meteoric origin. The analysis I believe was never made, owing to his death, which occurred very shortly after the arrival of the iron in this country.

It seems, however, to have been assumed here that this iron, as a matter of course, is meteoric, because it contains those admixtures of nickel and cobalt which accompany other known meteoric productions. It appears to me that the hypothesis is not very satisfactorily or conclusively made out.

The mass I sent home weighs about 1400 pounds, and, making allowance for what may have been taken from it at Buenos Ayres, may probably when it arrived there have been not much less than a ton weight. Now De Celis estimates the mass he examined to have been about fifteen tons weight, and of much larger dimensions: either this therefore is only a fragment of what he particularly described, or it is another which has been found in the same part of the country, and if so, is corroborative of the Indian accounts of there being more in the vicinity. This was the opinion of Dr. Redhead, who, in writing to me on the subject, says, "The native iron found in Santiago is not a single mass, as has been said; there are several, and the most recent accounts describe them as huge trunks with deep roots (I use the expression of the natives), supposed to communicate with each other."[60]

Dr. Redhead's observation was caused by a discussion which arose here upon some other specimens of native iron, which he had forwarded to me, from the desert of Atacama, in Peru, and which were described by the late Mr. Allan in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for 1828. They were analysed by Dr. Turner, who found them to contain--

Iron . 93.4 Nickel ... 6.618 Cobalt . 0.535 ------- 100.553

a result which he considered decisive concerning their origin, because, he says, it differs from any compound hitherto described in the earth, and corresponds exactly both in appearance and composition with other meteoric iron.

But these opinions differ entirely from the belief of those who procured the specimens.

That iron is found scattered in large quantities over a plain at the foot of a mountain a little to the south-west of a small Indian village called Toconao, ten leagues from San Pedro, the capital of Atacama, and about eighty from Cobija, on the coast. The tradition there is, that the fragments have been thrown out by some volcanic explosion from the side of the neighbouring mountain, in which the people of Toconao say there is a large _veta_ of pure iron. The Indian who collected the specimens which I sent to this country was employed to _catear_, or search for mines; and the nature of his occupation rendered it requisite for him to be particular in his observations: his account was, that "they were taken from a heap of the same nature, estimated at about three hundred-weight, and that they existed at the month of a _veta_, or vein of solid iron, situated at the foot of a mountain; he called them '_reventazones_,' or explosions from the mine, or _veta_. He had been charged to bring a piece of the _veta_ itself, and some of the rock in which it is embedded, but this he said he could not effect for want of tools; he therefore contented himself with picking up some of the pieces that were at the foot of the hill, where the mouth of the vein opens."

Dr. Redhead says, that in giving him this account the man endeavoured to give him also some idea of the direction of the vein in the mountain.

Further inquiries were subsequently made, the result of which corroborated his testimony. The alcalde of Toconao, who had been at the place, stated that the fragments had issued from a cavity of about fifteen feet diameter, which, from the nature of the soil, was filling up. This is sandy, and for three leagues round there is neither wood nor water nor pasture of any kind. Several persons in San Pedro, and amongst others one named Gonzales, who had likewise seen the cavity, gave a similar account.

The Atacama iron is certainly remarkably similar to the specimen of that met with by Pallas in Siberia, which is to be seen in the British Museum, but what proof is there of that being meteoric?

The Santiago iron differs from them both in appearance. The Atacama and Siberian specimens are full of cavities, looking like large sponges or scoriæ. That from Santiago, on the contrary, is more like a solid lump of well-kneaded dough.

So long as such specimens were supposed to be of very rare occurrence, and differing as they do from the character of all other known minerals, it was not extraordinary that they should have been ascribed to an extraneous origin; but now that further discoveries have proved their existence in all parts of the world, and that enormous masses of similar iron have been met with in the northern parts of America, in Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brazil,[61] and the provinces of La Plata, to speak of that continent alone, I think we may begin to doubt whether they may not be _bonâ fide_ productions of our own planet, instead of bringing them from the moon, or elsewhere. On this I shall only quote another passage from the letters of my excellent correspondent, who took the trouble to institute the inquiries for me as to the origin of the specimens from Atacama. "Time," he says, "may perhaps justify the tradition or opinion of the Indians relative to the origin of this iron; nor do I know why we should refuse to Nature the power of reducing in her laboratory a metal so easily separated from its combinations by the efforts of man."

PROVINCE OF TUCUMAN.

Forty leagues (post distance) beyond Santiago del Estero is situated the city of San Miguel de Tucuman. It stands (in lat. 27° 10´) on an elevated plain in a position from which the prospect on every side is delightful; indeed all accounts agree in describing it as the best situated town in the republic. The climate, though hot, is dry and salubrious; and Nature has been so prodigal of her choicest gifts, that the province of Tucuman well merits its appellation of the garden of the United Provinces. The population amounts to about 40,000 souls, of which 7000 or 8000 reside in the city.

After leaving the travesia of Santiago, the road ascends a slightly inclined plane the whole way to Tucuman, the jurisdiction of which commences after crossing the river Santiago, there called the _Rio Hondo_, or deep river, which separates the two provinces, and is formed by the confluence of many streams which rise in the mountains to the west. To the eastward the Salado continues to be the general boundary-line separating it from the Chaco: to the north the river Tala divides it from the territory of Salta; and to the west and south-west the lofty mountains of Aconquija separate it from Catamarca. The highest peak of this range is covered with perpetual snow, and is said to be above 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. It abounds in mineral treasures, and contains ores of gold, silver, copper, and lead; but the toil and difficulty attendant upon mining operations in those parts of the sierra where they are to be found have caused them to be much neglected, and the mining, if mining it can be called, is now confined to a few wretched people scattered amongst the hills, who occasionally collect small quantities of silver, which they bring down to the city for sale. I have had some of the specimens of silver so collected, which are singularly rich and beautiful.

The _mita_, and other oppressive enactments have will nigh destroyed the unfortunate race whose forced labour brought to light the mineral wealth of these regions. The _mamelucho_, as the gaucho of Tucuman is called, the horseman of the plains, with the help of his wife, who makes the greater part of his clothing, has almost everything he wants about him. He knows not, and therefore needs not, those comforts which become wants in less genial climes, and where civilization is more advanced. Free as the air he breathes, he gallops over boundless plains unfettered by the slightest restraint upon his own inclinations. He has no temptation to quit such a life for the fatigues and dangers of an occupation which he considers as degrading,[62] to bury himself under ground, and to seek by the sweat of his brow treasures of which he does not stand in need. His cattle are the finest in the republic; and the least possible cultivation and labour is sure to yield in return not only the necessaries, but what in his opinion are the luxuries of life.

Nothing can be more luxuriant than the vegetation in this province; whilst the plains yield corn and maize, and rice and tobacco, in the greatest abundance, the base and slopes of the mountain ranges in the west are covered with noble trees in every variety, interspersed with innumerable shrubs, and hung with the most beautiful parasitical plants. Extensive groves also of aroma and orange-trees produce a fragrance which adds to the delights of this favoured region. The sugar-cane grows naturally in the low lands, and might be turned to valuable account; the demand for it, however, at present, is not sufficient to induce the country people to attend to it. Not so with the tobacco-plant, which they cultivate and find a ready sale for in all the adjoining provinces. The people are a well-disposed hardy race, proud of their beautiful country, and always ready to take up arms in defence of _La Patria_.

It was at Tucuman, in 1816, that a Congress of Deputies from the several provinces solemnly declared their independency and separation from Spain. From 1810 to that period the ruling authorities set up had been avowedly merely provisional, and all their acts had been in the King's name, the people vainly looking forward to the King's restoration for a redress of their grievances. It is useless now to say that if the Spanish government had treated them with kindness and conciliatory measures, they would have found the colonies abounding in the same loyal and affectionate feelings for the mother country of which in other times they had repeatedly given such striking proofs.

The King was otherwise advised; and the natural consequence ensued, that the South Americans, who had acquired a knowledge of their own strength and importance, simultaneously with the conviction that they had nothing to hope, and all to fear, from a return to the rule of the mother country, declared themselves the arbiters of their own destinies.

PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA.

Catamarca, divided from Tucuman by the sierras of Aconquija, is one of those subordinate provinces which, like Rioja, owes its independence rather to its insignificance and secluded situation than to any pretensions which the people can have to govern themselves; properly it should be a dependency of the government of Tucuman, to which the Congress annexed it in 1814.

When I applied to the Governor for some general statistical information as to the extent and resources of his province, he fairly confessed his own ignorance and utter inability to answer my queries; much less was it possible to obtain any satisfactory topographical data.

The inhabitants of the province are estimated at 30,000 to 35,000, of which about 4000 reside in Catamarca. The valley so called, and in which the greater part of this population is settled, runs from north-west to south-east, extending from the confines of Atacama to those of Rioja. On the eastern side it is separated from Tucuman first by the sierras of Ancasti and Ambato, and more to the north by the lofty chain of Aconquija: it is watered by a river which holds its course through it (said to have been once a much more considerable stream than at the present day), the waters of which are finally lost in the low sandy plains of the province of Santiago.

The climate is sultry, and the people, at certain seasons, are very subject to intermittent fevers. They produce corn and cattle enough for their own subsistence, and supply the adjoining provinces largely with their cotton, the quality of that of Catamarca being in higher repute than their own, for their domestic manufactures: considerable quantities of red pepper are also sent from thence to Buenos Ayres.

Catamarca, by the usual track, is about sixty leagues distant, south-west, from Tucuman. In a MS. by Dean Funes, in my possession, he places it in south latitude 28° 12´. The first Spanish settlement in this part of the country was formed by Juan Perez de Zurita, in the year 1558. He named it New England, and the principal town London, in celebration of the nuptials of his sovereign King Philip with our Mary. From thence, however, the Spaniards were shortly after expelled by the native Indians, and, removing to the valley of Conando, founded the town of Villagran. That district was subsequently abandoned from the same cause,--the continual hostility of the natives; and the population was finally settled in the valley of Catamarca.

The Calchaquis, who originally occupied those parts, were a warlike race, whose dominion extended from the confines of Peru over all the country lying between the ranges of the Cordillera on the west and those of Aconquija on the east. They derived their name from the valley of _Calchaqui_, which, in the Quichua language is strongly significant of the fertility of the soil; and for a long period they defended themselves against the Spaniards with an obstinate bravery, unequalled perhaps in any other part of South America, excepting Araucania. The history of those parts for the first century and a half, indeed, is little more than an enumeration of their bloody wars with the Spaniards, in which the latter were often defeated with serious loss, their towns besieged and destroyed, and they themselves obliged to fly before the brave defenders of the soil, whom they drove to desperation by their wanton cruelties and oppressive treatment. Amongst other instances of the outrageous and overbearing conduct of the conquerors which are recorded, one may serve as a sample, which Funes relates of Don Philip Albornos, who, being named Governor of Tucuman, some of the Caciques of the Calchaquis, at the time on good terms with the Spaniards, repaired to Tucuman to tender to him their customary tribute upon his appointment. Upon their arrival, instead of the welcome they expected, he wantonly ordered them to be publicly flogged, to have their heads shaved, and so to be sent back whence they came. The Calchaquis swore to be avenged: they secretly sent forth emissaries to rouse all the people of their tribes, especially those of Andalgala, of Famatina, of Copoyan, and Guandacol, who were known to be smarting under the yoke of their new task-masters, for that part of the country was nominally reduced to subjection by the Spaniards; and then, with an overwhelming force, at one and the same time, fell upon Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, London, and La Rioja, carrying everywhere desolation, and sparing not man, woman, nor child. Never were the Spaniards in those parts reduced to such shifts; in vain they endeavoured to make peace, the Indians would listen to no terms, and this war raged for ten years, with great loss to the Spaniards, and the utter annihilation of many of their settlements. Nor was it till a large force could be spared from Peru that this formidable insurrection was put down.

The Spaniards, once masters again, retaliated as usual. Many tribes were exterminated; others capitulated with their conquerors to abandon altogether their native valleys, and were removed to a distance; amongst others a people called the Quilmes, inhabiting a part of the valley of Calchaqui, being reduced to about 200 families, after a long resistance, were sent to Buenos Ayres, where the Governor settled them a short distance from the city, at the place which still bears their name.

The labours of the Jesuits, however, were eventually more successful than all the military forces which were sent against the Calchaquis. The indefatigable missionaries reduced one tribe after another to a state of comparative civilization, and eventually removed the greater part of them from their native soil to form the nucleus of the Christian settlements which they were anxious to establish upon their own plan on the shores of the Vermejo, amongst the Indians of the Chaco. There they soon lost all importance, and the hostilities of other Indian nations, and a dreadful epidemic which broke out amongst them, in the year 1718, finally put an end to the existence of a gallant people, who had not only signalized their name by their successful wars against the Spaniards, but who, in times long before, had maintained their independence in spite of all the efforts of the dynasty of the Incas of Peru to reduce them to subjection.

SALTA

is the frontier province of the republic to the north; and follows in geographical succession those of Tucuman and Catamarca, which bound it to the south and west. The river Vermejo and its tributary, the river of Tarija, constitute its limits to the east. It is divided into the four departments of Salta, Jujuy, Oran, and Tarija; the latter of which has been occupied by the Bolivians, apparently with a determination to maintain possession of it. Deducting the population of that department, the rest of the territory of Salta is estimated to contain nearly 60,000 souls. The city of Salta has between 8000 and 9000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1582, by Don Philip de Lerma, Governor of Tucuman, with a view to secure the communication between that province and Peru from being cut off by the hostile Indians. Its latitude is said to be 24° 30´. Upon the whole it has a neat appearance, and boasts of its cathedral and many churches. It is, however, badly situated in the bottom of a valley, through which flow the rivers Arias and Silleta, the latter of which has of late years abandoned its ancient bed, and seems to threaten at no distant period to burst over the low marshy grounds upon which the city stands. Shut in by the mountain ranges in the neighbourhood, the atmosphere is at certain seasons charged with miasma, giving rise to intermittent fevers and agues, which are very general at those periods amongst the inhabitants.

The form of government in this province, as in all the rest, is based upon the example of that of Buenos Ayres; consisting of a popular assembly, which has the power of electing the Governor. But though democratic in theory, it is far otherwise in practice: the lower orders have not the smallest notion of the real meaning of a representative form of government, and bow with submission to the dictates of a patriarchal coterie of influential families, which, alternately electing and elected, arrange the government amongst themselves very much as suits their own convenience and interests. If any appeal to the people is ever made, it is generally from the necessity of supporting by a demonstration of brute force the pretensions of some particular candidate for power.

Such are these governments in the infancy of society. One may serve as a sample of the rest, although local circumstances may have given rise to slight shades of difference in their appearance. Salta, as a frontier province, during the struggle for independence, was much exposed to the vicissitudes of the war; but this very circumstance roused the energies of the people, and excited in them a spirit of improvement which has placed them in advance of most of the Upper Provinces. The establishment of a printing-press, from which occasionally a newspaper is produced, and of schools, in which reading, writing, and the first rules of arithmetic are taught, are great steps compared with the state of things under the old regime. The clergy, too, either from conviction, or the force of circumstances, are daily becoming more tolerant, and opinions which in old times it would have been heresy to think of, are now as freely discussed as at Buenos Ayres, where religious toleration has become the law of the land.

From Buenos Ayres, Salta is distant 414 leagues, by the post road, and so far the journey may be gone the whole way in a four-wheel carriage; but beyond Salta this is no longer possible, and the traveller must mount his mule to traverse the regions of the Cordillera, which there may be said to begin in earnest, and the rugged and precipitous passes through which are quite impracticable by any other mode of conveyance.

The Salteños boast that within their own territory they possess every climate, from extreme heat to the most intense cold; and, consequently, that they can rear almost every production of nature; for although directly under the tropic, the mountain ranges rise in some places to the height of perpetual snow, counteracting the sun's influence more or less according to the elevation. Thus whilst in all the department of Oran, in the east of the province, the tropical sun has its full influence, under the same latitude in the west, in the mountain districts of Rosario and Rinconada, the cold is intense. In the intermediate valleys the climate is temperate and agreeable. It is in these valleys that the population is chiefly located: they are for the most part highly fertile, being watered by many small rivers and streams, which, running eastward from the mountainous districts, fall into the Salado and Vermejo, which have already been described as the principal aqueducts of these Upper Provinces. Indeed it is in this province that both these noble rivers may be said to have their origin, of which I shall venture to give the following account, chiefly from data published by Colonel Arenales, son of the late Governor of Salta, and now at the head of the topographical department of Buenos Ayres.

As a general observation it may be stated that the tributaries of the Salado all run south, whilst those of the Vermejo will be found to the north of the city of Salta, as may be seen on reference to the map.

The sources of the Salado may be traced to the snowy ranges of Acay, where the river Cachi rises, about fifty leagues' journey westward of Salta, running nearly due south, for more than thirty leagues, through the valleys, successively named Cachi, Calchaqui, Siclantas, and San Carlos; during this course it is joined by three smaller rivers from the west. Six or seven leagues from San Carlos, the river Santa Maria falls into it from the south. This river rises in the province of Catamarca, forty leagues off, running from south to north with little variation. The road from Salta to Catamarca and La Rioja follows its course. At the junction of the Santa Maria the Cachi changes its direction from south-east to north-east, and takes the name of Guachipas, from the town so called, by which it afterwards passes. A little beyond that place the Silleta falls into it, about sixteen leagues to the south of Salta. This river rises near the lake del Toro, to the north-west of Salta, and is augmented by the Arias, from that city, and by two or three other minor streams. Thence the Guachipas turns again south, and, ten leagues below its junction with the Silleta, crosses the high road from Buenos Ayres, where it is called "El Pasage." In the summer season, when the waters are low, its breadth may be here about 100 yards, and not being then more than three or four feet deep, it may be safely forded; but at other seasons when the waters rise, it becomes a very wide and formidable river, the passage of which is rendered extremely dangerous, even to those best acquainted with it, not only from its increased depth and rapidity, but from the many large boulders and trunks of trees which are hurried down by the stream with irresistible violence, and which carry everything before them.

At those times couriers occasionally pass it swimming, or holding by the tails of their horses, which they drive before them. All carriage intercourse is for the time impossible, and the ordinary traffic between Salta and the lower provinces is therefore as matter of course suspended during the rainy season. To obviate so serious an inconvenience, in the time of the Old Spaniards, a survey was made of this part of the river, and a plan was proposed to the government for throwing a bridge over a rocky pass, which, if executed, would have enabled carts as well as passengers to cross it high and dry at any season. The materials were at hand, and the estimate of the whole expense so small that it was difficult to find an objection to it; on the contrary, it was unanimously approved; but, as nothing is done in a hurry in these countries, it was, like many other most notable projects, postponed, "_hasta mejor oportunidad_," till better times, which, unfortunately for the people of Salta, have never yet arrived.

Ten or twelve leagues below the pass, the river De las Piedras, the last affluent of any consequence, falls in; thence the course of the river is easterly inclining south, as far as Pitos, the frontier fort of Salta in that direction. In the flat saline country through which it afterwards runs, its waters imbibe a brackish taste, from which it takes the name of the Salado, or the salt river, which it preserves the whole way to its junction with the Paranã, near Santa Fé. I have before stated that this river is believed to be navigable as high as Matara, in the latitude of Santiago del Estero.

The Vermejo, the most important of all the affluents of the Paraguay, is formed by two considerable streams, which may be generally called the rivers of Jujuy and Tarija, from those two departments which they respectively drain. At their sources they are at no great distance from each other, but descending from opposite sides of a snow-capped range, the buttresses of which branch out far and wide to the south and east, they are soon hurried away in totally different directions; each, however, finally sweeping round the base of the stupendous platform above, describes, after a long course, the segment of a circle, which is rendered all but complete by the junction of their waters at a point about sixteen leagues below Oran, whence they flow together south in one mighty and navigable stream the whole way to the Paranã. The name of Vermejo, or the red river, is derived from the occasional discoloration of the waters by the red alluvial soil which is washed into them during the periodical floods.

With respect to the many minor streams which fall into the rivers of Jujuy and Tarija, they are for the most part mere mountain torrents of little importance, except as adding to their waters, which finally become navigable below Oran.

The Jujuy river rises near the Abra de Cortaderas, about three leagues from Colorados, one of the most elevated points passed by the traveller on the road to Potosi: from thence the lofty peak of Chorolque beyond Tupiza, in the north, and the snowy ranges of Atacama, in the north-west, are distinctly visible. The channel of the river in its descent from this elevated region, the whole way to Jujuy, is little more than a succession of precipitous ravines, occasionally swelling into basins, highly interesting to the geologist, as exhibiting on all sides evidences of the tremendous convulsions which at some remote period must have torn and shaken this part of the continent to its very foundations. The road to Potosi winds along it, but it would seem to be a region only suited to the wild llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas, which range in countless herds over the snowy ranges above, looking down with apparent surprise on the casual traveller, who wends his toilsome way through these rugged defiles. The favourite food of these animals is the ichú, a very coarse grass, which is only found at an elevation little short of that of perpetual snow. At Jujuy the river turns eastward through a more open and habitable region, which skirts the southern base of these mountain ranges, and about twenty leagues beyond receives the Siancas, or Lavayen, its most important tributary, which rises in the heights of San Lorenzo, to the north-west of the town of Salta:--it is afterwards joined by the Ledesma and three or four other minor streams, before it falls into the Tarija river, as before stated, below Oran.

The course of the Tarija, in the first instance, is nearly as precipitous as that of the Jujuy, running through broken mountainous passes; but when it trends to the south, and receives the Pescado (which separates the departments of Oran and Tarija), and shortly after the Senta, it opens into wide and extensive valleys, traversed by many streams, which, running down into the main river, irrigate the rich lands along its shores, and unite with the warmth of a tropical climate to form one of the most fertile districts in the world.

These are the principal rivers of this province. Its productions are as various as its physical features. In the west the mines of the Cerro de Acay and San Antonio de los Cobres, have been at times worked with considerable success; and in the still more elevated districts bordering upon Atacama, the natives of Cochinoca, the Rinconada, Cerillos, Santa Catalina, and Rosario, employ themselves in collecting considerable quantities of gold from the alluvial deposits after heavy rains.

It is in those cold regions that the alpacas and vicuñas are found:--the guanaco also abounds there, and the beautiful little chinchilla, thousands of dozens of the skins of which are yearly collected and sent down to Buenos Ayres for exportation to Europe.

In the same part of the province, not far south of La Rinconada, are extensive plains of salt, called the Salinas of Casabindo, to which the natives of the adjoining districts resort when the salt is hard and dry, and cut out large blocks of it with hatchets, which they load upon their llamas and asses, and carry to Salta and Jujuy, and other parts of the province:--there, also, they collect, in the same manner, the snow which is used in those towns for making ices in the summer season. The eyes of travellers obliged to traverse these inhospitable wilds are said to be as much affected by the glare of the sun reflected from these fields of salt, as from the snow-capped mountains which bound them. Casabindo is about forty-five leagues east from Atacama, the intermediate distance being all Cordillera, and is situated upon the desolate road from Salta, which is appropriately called _El Despoblado_.[63]

In the valleys, further south, of Colalao, San Carlos, Calchaqui, and Cachi, watered by the streams which afterwards fall into the Salado, as already described, large quantities of corn and maize are grown, with which the rest of the province is chiefly supplied: the vine is also extensively cultivated there, from which a good deal of an ordinary wine is yearly made and drunk in those parts for want of better.

It was from their rich pastures, however, watered by the mountain streams, that the Salteños in former times derived their principal profits. Before the revolution, and when the upper provinces, which now form the separate state of Bolivia, were part of the Vice-Royalty of Buenos Ayres, a great trade was carried on by the people of Salta in mules, 50,000 or 60,000 of which were annually sold there for the service of the carriers of Peru:--these mules were chiefly bred in the provinces of Santa Fé and Cordova, and sent to Salta when two or three years old, where, after being kept for a season or two in the rich grazing grounds of that province, they were considered strong enough for the work expected of them in the severer climate of the Andes. A periodical fair was held in the neighbourhood of Salta, to which the purchasers from Peru repaired, and bought the animals in droves at the rate of fourteen or sixteen dollars each (five or six more if broken in), about a third of which was clear profit to the Salteños, who bought them of the Cordova and Santa Fecino breeders at a price seldom above ten dollars. These that reached Lima were worth double the price paid for them at Salta. A tax, called _sisa_, of three quarters of a dollar on each mule, was levied by the government, the annual amount of which was destined to the maintenance of the forts upon the frontier, kept up as defences against the encroachments of the Indians of the Chaco.

The struggle for independence stopped this traffic, for the upper provinces and the greater part of Peru being in possession of the Royalists to the last, all intercourse with Salta was cut off for many years, nor has there been any sufficient encouragement to renew it since the restoration of peace. Peru, however, must have mules, and it does not appear that she is likely to be supplied with them from any other quarter in sufficient numbers.

Proceeding eastward, through the valleys of Campo Santo, and those watered by the Lavayen and its affluents, to Oran, and throughout all that department, a tropical vegetation is found in all its natural luxuriance.[64] Forests of noble trees stud the banks of the rivers, and extend far down the shores of the Vermejo, valuable not only as timber, but as producing fruits which may be said to supply the place of bread and wine to the natives:--such, amongst others, is the algaroba tree, a sort of acacia, from the fruit of which, a large bean growing in clusters of pods, mixed with maize, the Indians make cakes; and, by fermentation, produce their chicha, a strong intoxicating spirit in very general use. The quinaquina, the palm-tree, and the plant from which the famous maté, or Paraguay tea, is made, are equally indigenous there, and many others, as yet only known to us by their Indian names, which it would be useless to recapitulate.

The cactus, bearing the cochineal insect, and the aloe are found in every direction:--from the macerated fibres of the latter, the Indians of the Chaco make yarn and ropes, which are found less liable to rot in water than hemp:--their fishing-nets are made of this material, and a variety of bags and pouches, for which there is always a demand amongst their more civilised neighbours: these articles are variously dyed in indelible colours, prepared also by the Indians. There is no doubt that this plant, which grows as commonly in most parts of South America as the thistle with us, might be turned, here as elsewhere, to very considerable account for many useful purposes. I have seen not only beautiful rope, but very good coarse cloth manufactured from it; indeed I have now in my possession some paintings done in Peru upon a canvass made from it, which could not be distinguished from any coarse linen of European make.[65]

At Buenos Ayres, where the hedgerows are generally formed of the common aloe, I had an opportunity of trying various experiments with it, and had some cordage made from it of beautiful texture and whiteness by some sailors from one of his Majesty's ships. I also tried my hand at making pulqué, after seeing Mr. Ward's account of the manner in which it is made in Mexico; but, though we obtained an abundance of the liquor, following the process described by him of taking out the stem as soon as it began to shoot, and collecting the sap as it accumulated in the socket or basin beneath, it was never sufficiently palatable to our tastes to be drinkable; but this probably was from our want of experience in the mode of preparing it: however, I have no doubt that consumers enough might be found of this or any other such beverage amongst a people who can drink so filthy a preparation as the chicha, the liquor in common use amongst the natives of the united provinces,--one of the ingredients of which is said to be maize chewed by old Indian women.[66]

In some of those saline and arid districts, where no other fresh water is to be found, there grows a species of the aloe, well known to the natives, from which, on being tapped by an incision made in one of the thickest leaves, a clear stream will spurt out sufficient to allay the traveller's thirst.

In many parts of Oran is found the celebrated cuca, or coca, plant (_Erythroxylon Peruviana_), sometimes called _El Arbol del hambre y de la sed_,--"The tree of hunger and thirst;" to the natives more necessary than bread. Hungry or weary, with some leaves of coca to chew, mixed with a little lime or alkali of his own preparation, the Peruvian Indian seems to care for no other sustenance:--he never swallows it, but is perpetually chewing it, as the Asiatics do the beetle-nut: give him but his bag full of this, and at most a little dried maize besides, and he will undertake the hardest labour in the mines, and, as a courier, perform the most astonishing journeys on foot, frequently travelling a hundred leagues across the snowy and desolate regions of the Cordillera.

In surveying countries like these, still in their natural state, it is impossible not to be struck at every step with the infinite and wonderful variety of the works of the Almighty, and with the manifest evidences they uniformly display of an unceasing and beneficent provision for all the wants of His creatures, in every clime and under all circumstances.

In the valleys watered by the Jujuy and its tributaries, as in many other parts of the republic, the indigo grows wild, and the sugar-cane and tobacco are extensively cultivated, the two latter being produced in sufficient quantity not only for the consumption of the whole of the province of Salta, but for exportation to the rest of the upper provinces, and occasionally to Chile. Cotton, also, is grown there in considerable quantities, and of a quality which would be prized in the markets of Europe,--as indeed would be nearly all the valuable productions of this highly-favoured region.

Although in this, as in every other part of the republic, the want of population may be considered as the great drawback to the full development of its natural resources, the Salteños, and especially those in the eastern districts of the province, obtain assistance to a considerable extent in the cultivation of their lands from the Indians of the Mataco nation, who live upon the shores of the Vermejo, below the junction of the Jujuy. These Indians, now an independent people, acknowledging no other authority than that of their own Caciques, were in former times reduced, in a certain degree, to civilised habits by the Jesuits, the fruits of whose influence are still perceptible in their occasional intercourse with their Christian neighbours, amongst whom they repair at the seasons of sowing and harvest to barter their service in labour in exchange for articles of clothing, and beads and baubles for their women. They are very industrious, and in the allotment of work will undertake double the daily task of the Creoles:--the payment they receive for a month's work is from ten to fifteen yards of very coarse cloth or baize, the cost of which at Salta may be about a quarter of a Spanish dollar, or about a shilling a yard:--with this and their food they are perfectly content, and, at a similar rate, any number of them might be induced to leave their own haunts periodically to work in the sugar and tobacco plantations of the Spaniards. I was told by an Englishman, long resident at Oran, that many hundreds of them are yearly engaged at the rate above stated to get in the crops in the vicinity of that place.

When to this low rate at which productive labour may be obtained, we add the existence, now indisputably established, of an uninterrupted navigation the whole way from Oran to the Paranã, and thence to Buenos Ayres, it is impossible not to be struck with the very great natural advantages possessed by this province, and with the very small degree of energy apparently requisite on the part of the natives to turn them to the fullest account. It is their own fault alone if the sugars and tobacco, the cotton, the indigo, and cochineal of Oran, do not vie with those of Brazil and Columbia in the markets of Europe. Let the people of these countries open their eyes to the importance of their own resources, and let them not imagine that they themselves are incapable of calling them into action:--unfortunately, such a feeling is one of those curses to the country engendered by the old colonial system of Spain, and which has the effect, to a lamentable extent, of counteracting that spirit of self-confidence and exertion which, on every account, is called for on the part of the inhabitants of these countries under their new political condition. It is this feeling which has led them to turn their eyes to the formation of companies in Europe as the best mode of bringing their fertile lands into notice and cultivation,--an erroneous notion which cannot too soon be set right. I do not say that in the temperate climate of Buenos Ayres European labourers may not be employed to advantage; but when it becomes a question of sending them into the tropical regions in the heart of the continent, whether as agricultural labourers or miners, I am satisfied that the experiment would only end in utter disappointment to all parties. In the first place, it should be borne in mind that, to ensure in Europe any sale for the productions of so remote a country, the cost of their cultivation must be extremely low, as it appears to be at present; but what labourer from Europe would be satisfied with anything like even double the ordinary remuneration for daily labour in that part of the world? Supposing him, however, to be conveyed thither, and to be contented, for a time, with the abundance of the necessaries of life around him, what does he know of the culture of tropical productions, the chances being that he never saw a sugar-cane or a cotton plant in the whole course of his life? But, what is of more consequence, how long will his physical powers last in a climate, the heat of which will be almost insufferable to him, and in which the very indulgence of his own ordinary habits will soon undermine his constitution and destroy all his energies? Of the hundreds of Beresford's and Whitelock's men, who remained in the country after the evacuation of Buenos Ayres by the British forces, how very few were afterwards to be met with who were not sunk to the lowest scale of misery and moral degradation!

In tropical climates I am satisfied that Europeans will never be able to compete in amount of daily labour with the natives: on the contrary, wherever the trial has been made, the Indian labourer has been found capable of enduring an infinitely greater degree of bodily exertion than the most robust European. It is hardly credible, indeed, what these people will go through. In the mines especially, where the amount of their daily work, and the loads they are capable of sustaining, have excited the astonishment of every one who has paid the slightest attention to the subject. The stoutest of the Cornish miners who accompanied Captain Head in his visit to the mine of San Pedro Nolasco, was scarcely able to walk with a load of ore which one of the natives had with apparent ease brought out of the mine upon his shoulders, whilst two others of the party who attempted to lift it were altogether unable to do so, and exclaimed that it would break their backs.

In these observations I allude of course to the labouring class,--I speak of hands not heads, for I fully agree in the necessity of introducing improvements in the cultivation of the native products,--which improvements will assuredly be best introduced by foreigners qualified by experience in other countries to superintend and direct those processes, both of cultivation and after preparation, which may be requisite to ensure their immediate sale in the foreign markets for which they are destined. Such persons, perhaps, would be best sought for in the East or West Indies or Brazil; and, no doubt, they would not only benefit themselves but their employers by introducing into these new countries the results of their practical experience elsewhere. It is to foreigners, also, that the natives must look to instruct them in the use of steam-vessels, upon which, after all, the future advancement of these remote countries in wealth and civilisation will so mainly depend.

I will only add to the observations which I have already made upon this subject, my conviction that if the governments of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fé, and Corrientes would but unite in a sincere determination to give a fair trial to the experiment, men would be found at Buenos Ayres who would desire no better than to be employed on such a service:--as to any opposition Dr. Francia might offer to it, it is not worth a moment's consideration.[67] Give an English midshipman, of sufficient experience, an armed steamer and a picked crew, either of his own countrymen or North Americans, to whom he might add some of the excellent sailors of Paraguay, and I am quite sure he would carry a cargo from Buenos Ayres up the Vermejo in perfect safety to Oran, despite of Dr. Francia or any such bugbear. This, however, is an object which must have the cordial support and co-operation of the ruling powers. If they shut their eyes to the importance of its success, it would be labour thrown away for any individual to volunteer the attempt.

The government of Buenos Ayres, as the authorities charged with the general interests of the Republic, from their habitual intercourse with the people of other countries, ought to be fully able to appreciate the immense benefits which steam-navigation has produced elsewhere, and how greatly it has tended to promote the prosperity and civilisation of other nations. It is in their power to extend those blessings to their own countrymen in the heart of the South American continent, and to produce a really United Confederation of the Provinces, instead of that which is now little more than nominal, from the vast distances which intervene, and operate as a bar to almost any intercourse between them.

With the establishment of steam-navigation, distance will cease to be distance, and the upper provinces will find a cheap and ready vent for an abundance of productions which are now not worth the heavy expenses of sending down by land-carriage to Buenos Ayres.

It is a grave question, deserving the most serious attention of those to whom the government of these countries is at present intrusted, and in the early solution of which, perhaps, their future political destinies are involved to an extent far beyond the comprehension of any casual observer.

FOOTNOTES:

[59] This latitude is the mean of four observations taken by M. de Souillac (in 1784) one of the astronomers attached to the commission for determining the boundary.

[60] Since this was written I have met with a gentleman who had seen the original drawings of _three_ masses, with their respective measurements; which drawings, he understood, were made by the persons sent in quest of this iron by the government of Buenos Ayres when my specimen was brought down.

[61] Luccock, in his Travels in Brazil, speaks of a very singular metallic formation which he met with in the province of Minas Geraes, not far from Villarica. He says (page 490), "A hill on our left now presented a wonderful object; it was one entire mass of iron, so perfectly free from any mixture of common soil as to produce no vegetation whatever, but was covered with a complete coating of rust or oxide of iron. The hill is so lofty and steep that its top was not accessible; but from its more elevated parts nodules of corroded metal had rolled down, and greatly embarrassed the road: at the foot of the mountain the soil is red clay mixed with ponderous brown dust. As we advanced the metal seemed to become less pure, until, after an extant of two leagues and a-half, it altogether vanished, and was succeeded by the common clayey land, &c. I had often heard of this immense mass of metal, but none of the reports had presented any adequate picture of it to the imagination. The very core of the hill, as far as we could judge, appeared to consist of vast blocks of iron, in tables; and it is so free from alloy as to produce when smelted ninety-five per cent. of pure metal."

[62] As mining labour was imposed as an obligation upon the Indians by the conquerors, so it came to be looked upon as the occupation of a caste, and of a caste looked down upon by all who boasted of the slightest admixture of European blood in their veins.

[63] The "Uninhabited Region."

[64] When Soria descended the Vermejo in 1826, it was deemed a good opportunity to send a collection of specimens of the various woods of these region to Buenos Ayres that they might be examined and more properly described, and he told me he had no less than seventy-three different species with him, the whole of which were taken from him by Dr. Francia, in Paraguay, with everything else on board his vessel.

[65] In 1834 a series of trials was made at Toulon in order to ascertain the comparative strength of cables made of hemp and of the aloe (brought from Algiers), which resulted greatly in favour of the latter. Of cables of equal size, that made from the aloe raised a weight of 2000 kilogrammes, that of hemp a weight of only 400.

[66] Pulqué is described by Mr. Ward as the favourite beverage of the lower classes in some parts of Mexico. The aloe plant, from which it is prepared, is cultivated for the purpose in extensive plantations; and so great is the consumption of it, that before the revolution the revenue derived from a very small municipal duty levied upon it at the gates of the towns averaged 600,000 hard dollars a-year, and in 1793 amounted to 817,739, or about 170,000_l._ sterling.--See Ward's 'Mexico,' vol. i. p. 55.

[67] A small iron steamer, which might be had for 25,000_l._ or 30,000_l._, would be quite sufficient to begin with.