CHAPTER VII.

On Climate and Disease.—Panama, Guayaquil, Peru, and Chile.

For those who propose to cross the Isthmus of Panama, or visit the shores of the Pacific, it may be interesting to be made in some degree acquainted with the influence of particular climates, and the sort of illness which they are most likely to experience at the principal commercial ports, particularly to the south of the line. On this account the author now offers some general hints on these subjects, having it in view to publish as a separate treatise a practical account of the diseases of Peru, described as they occur at different altitudes, in the diversified climate of that country.

The seasons at Panama are divided into wet and dry: the rainy season begins towards the latter end of May, and continues till November; and from November to June, or the latter end of May, is the dry season. At Panama, agues, fevers, bilious and gastric complaints are common in the wet season; but the yellow fever, or “_Vomito negro_,” very rarely has been known to pass the mountain barriers which separate the Atlantic from the Pacific. At Cruces the traveller may enjoy a better and safer climate, during the wet and unhealthy months, (when the thermometer never, perhaps, falls below 90°,) than either at Panama or Chagres.

To the north of the Isthmus, along the shores of Central America and Mexico, as far at least as the northern tropic, the climate is considered “malsano,” or exceedingly unhealthy; a fact well known to those who trade with Realejo, San Blas, and Mazatlan, where very dangerous remittent fevers prevail.

To the southward of the Isthmus on the shores of Colombia, in about 2° south latitude, we find the port and city of Guayaquil, of well-known commercial importance. Here, the climate is considered unhealthy during the wet season, when the air is sultry and oppressive; but in the dry season Guayaquil is not reckoned particularly sickly. The rain commences in light showers in December, is very heavy in February, and dwindles away in April. From May to December is the dry season.

The wet season, being the hottest, would naturally be considered as summer; but here, as in other places of seasonal or periodical rains, the wet season is called “invierno,” or winter, and the dry season “verano,” or summer; yet the latter is cooler than the former, and allows one to wear warmer clothing than would be agreeable in the rainy months.

In the rainy season the thermometer ascends to 90° or 96° Fahrenheit; but, during the dry season, it ranges from 65° to 85°, being 65° at night, and rarely exceeding 80°, though it sometimes reaches 85° during the day. The rain usually falls in the afternoon or night, seldom in the forenoon, when the sun is often so powerful as nearly to dry up the pools and streets before the evening rain comes on again; however, there are days when no rain falls. The houses being covered with tiles, and furnished with arcades, are sufficiently defended against sun and rain. The plain extending between mountain and sea is, for ten or twelve leagues inland, well wooded, and intersected here and there with smaller rivers which the natives call esteros or lakes, in allusion probably to their appearance during the wet season, when, teeming with alligators, they inundate the beautiful meadows round about; so that the term “river” is only applied, by way of distinction, to the great navigable river of the city, which is so influenced by the tide, at least in the dry season, as to be quite briny to the taste. Here the natives bathe all the year round,—a practice, we believe, which conduces not a little to the general health and fair and stately form of the Guayaquilenian ladies, who are said to be fonder of town, and the ease of their hammocks, than of country air and exercise. The streets of Guayaquil, being steeped in rain, become contaminated for want of police; insects swarm on every side, and vegetable and animal emanations pollute the atmosphere: malaria abounds; and fevers, dysenteries, and various gastric disorders attack the inhabitants, and especially the imprudent stranger, who, trusting in his youth and strength, and not considering that difference of climate demands corresponding difference of life, perseveres in the same habits under every parallel of latitude through which he passes from one temperate zone to the other.

In warm and humid situations, such as Guayaquil, surrounded by rivers, stagnant pools, lagoons, and exuberant vegetation, atmospherical heat may operate in causing disease, not merely by promoting the production of miasmata, but also by increasing the irritability of the organs of the body, so as to predispose to severe attacks of illness. The affection of the skin commonly known under the name of “prickly heat” is very likely to arise from profuse perspiration while in Guayaquil; and all excess in the cuticular secretion should be avoided by every proper means, such as suitable clothing, temperate living, and moderate bodily exertion, &c. The contrary practice, of encouraging sweat by heating drinks, has a bad tendency, both moral and physical:—physically, it produces, sooner or later, gastric and hepatic diseases;—morally, it furnishes a pretext and excuse for deep potations;—and the end of all is a broken down constitution, and a mind impaired in its noblest powers. In another point of view, without supposing that the fevers which on the shores of the Pacific are termed putrid arise from the want of a due quantity of saline ingredients in the blood, it is not improbable that, when perspiration is excessive and too long continued, it may indeed carry off from the circulation more of these saline portions than can be quite compatible with a state of perfect health. We have sometimes observed horses, when hard pressed on a hot day along the sandy plains of Peru, lie down exhausted and overcome by excessive sweat and muscular exertion; and, on being unsaddled and allowed to cool, the poor animals on such occasions would appear as if covered with hoar-frost, from the quantity of saline matter left behind from the fluids perspired and evaporated.

Moderate transpiration, however, is a cooling process, and a necessary one to the natural condition of the system, when the circulation of the blood is much increased, as is the case under high atmospherical temperature, though at the same time muscular vigour usually becomes much diminished under such circumstances. The functions of the stomach often grow languid as the relaxation of the skin has been great and long continued; but, while the appetite is thus diminished, the flow of bile is apt to be increased, and the bowels often become irregular,—sometimes too lax and irritable, at other times torpid and costive.

In one we may observe that, when the bowels are lax from an overflow of bile, the skin is dry, and that for months together; while in another, exposed to the same changes of climate, the skin is always soft, while the secretion from the kidneys is scanty, and the intestines appear to lack their wonted moisture, and become sluggish, as if deprived of their muscular power of healthy action. But it more usually occurs, on being transported from a cold to a warm and humid climate, that a very notable alteration and increase is observed in both secretions—the biliary and cutaneous, of the liver and of the skin. The state of the bowels therefore requires to be attended to very particularly in all great transitions of climate; because, from undue accumulations in the intestinal passages during warm and sultry weather, irritation and fever may ensue, and a bilious disorder of the bowels, if neglected, or ill-treated, will too readily decline into a fatal dysentery.

Having in the first chapter of the first volume of this work given a sufficiently minute account of the climate of the Peruvian coast, it will now be enough for us to remark that, at its northern extremity, though bordering on the verdant country of the Equatorial Republic, the air of the coast of Peru is less humid than it is at its southern limit, where it joins the desert of Atacama.

The peculiar dryness of the province of Piura is not explained by the fact that in this part of the coast the Andes retire farther inland than in many others; for, from Piura, we have only to pass the river Tumbez, when, as formerly mentioned, the face of nature is quite changed, and the plains of Guayaquil, though at their lower and more maritime parts far distant from the inland piles of mountains, are nevertheless deluged in rain during the wet season; whereas Payta, the sea-port of Piura, has (as we have been informed by a native of those parts, our enlightened and public-spirited friend, Don Santiago Tabara,) not unfrequently, for years in succession,—sometimes as many as ten or twelve years,—not a shower to give life to a single blade of grass.

At Truxillo, again, the capital of a Peruvian province, situated on the coast in lat. 8° 8´ south, the air is much drier than at Lima or Callao in 12° 2´ of south latitude: yet Truxillo is in the vicinity of lofty mountains which run parallel to the coast; and Huanchaco, its sea-port, is situated at the foot of the lofty Bell Mountains. But, to enumerate no more particulars, we think it will be found true as a general proposition that, from the desert of Atacama to the landing-place of Pizarro on the banks of the Tumbez,—from the southern tropic to close upon the line,—there is a progressive diminution of atmospherical humidity.

The difference thus marked in the state of the air appears to influence very materially the character of several diseases, as intermittent fevers or _tercianas_, which on the northern coast of Peru, or what is called _costa de abajo_, and more particularly in the eminently dry province of Piura, are of milder type than along the shores of the southern and maritime departments of Peru, known under the name of _los intermedios_.

The Indian population of Piura are a hardy and healthy race of people, naturally inclined to corpulency; and, indeed, the Indians of Peru in general are constitutionally disposed to a sleek rotundity of form, which it would only require ease and good generous diet to call into full developement, so as to render the bulk of this race _as fat as Caciques_. Most of the chronic diseases of the Piuranos are said to result from leaving all to nature in the earlier stages of their complaints; and, among these northern provincialists, phthisis, dysentery, tercianas or agues, and typhus mitior,[32] are endemic. The same sort of complaints, varying however in the intensity of attendant symptoms, are met with all along the maritime valleys of the coast; and in the list of prevalent diseases at Lima and elsewhere, visceral obstructions, intestinal hæmorrhage, disorders of the heart, and asthma, deserve particular notice. There are also a variety of cutaneous eruptions and nervous diseases of frequent occurrence, upon the nature and cure of which it is not at present our purpose to enlarge.

In consumption, which, in all its various forms, is a common disease on the coast of Peru, a portion of the lungs becoming by degrees ulcerated and destroyed, there is consequently an interruption to the proper discharge of the pulmonary functions, accompanied with nocturnal increase of fever and excessive perspiration. But, even in this advanced stage of the disease, changing the air of the coast for that of the mountains or temperate valleys of the Sierra, is found to produce great relief and prolongation of life.

Spitting of blood from the lungs seems in most instances to depend on the presence of tubercular phthisis, or on an inherent constitutional tendency to this disease; and any accidental excitement, as that from cold or undue exposure to atmospherical vicissitudes, may hurry on cases of pulmonary hæmorrhage to a fatal termination. Suckling, in particular, is known to be apt to occasion spitting of blood, which, if not cured in time, usually ends in those symptoms which characterise consumption of the lungs.

It is curious to observe that, in the warm climates of the coast, cold is the exciting cause of most of the diseases which present themselves, such as catarrh, phthisis, bowel complaints, rheumatism, and even the intermittent and remittent fevers; for we believe that the baneful influence of malaria would not be nearly so often experienced, were its operation in the developement of fever not aided by some check to the perspiration, or what the natives call _resfrio_.

It is a subject of remark on the sugar estates of Cañete, and other parts of the coast, that the slave population, though they work in the humid cane-fields, are yet by no means so liable to ague as either the white man or Indian. One reason for this difference appears to be that the sebaceous glands of the dark races, and especially the negro, keep their skin smooth and soft with a supply of unctuous or oily matter, of rather offensive odour, but admirably fitted to guard against the evil effects of atmospherical vicissitudes.

As black surfaces radiate heat better than those of lighter tints, it might be expected that the body of the negro would be excessively chilled when exposed to the night air: but the negroes of the coast of Peru often sleep in the open air, without interrupting the healthy action of the dermal system. This is a fact which we are disposed to refer to the preservative effect of the unctuous exudation, because all oily matters being bad conductors prevent the excessive radiation of internal, and the too rapid communication of external heat; and therefore, by this natural inunction of the negro and zambo skin, nature provides a remedy against the extremes of cold or heat under ordinary circumstances.

We thus learn that flannels or woollens, being bad conductors, are, when worn next the skin, very valuable as preservatives of an equal circulation, and therefore of general health, particularly for the European of finer and unanointed skin when subjected to the influence of tropical climates.

During the hot months of January and February, on the coast of Peru, the irritability of the whole system is increased, and particularly of the mucous membrane of the alimentary passages; and cholera morbus thus becomes an exceedingly common disease, for which the standard remedy is ice, or iced water.

The privilege of selling ice in the capital of Peru belongs to the government, who usually let it out for a term of years to the highest bidder. The empresario, or lessee, conveys the ice on mules from the nearest snow-clad mountains at the back of Lima; and is bound to have always on hand a sufficient quantity for the supply of the capital, and be ready to deliver it at all hours of the day and night. In form of frescos, or cooling drinks, every one uses ice in warm summer weather; and it is considered not merely a luxury or a remedy, but a necessary of life, indispensable for the due preservation of the public health.

The facility of procuring ice renders cholera morbus a disease of easy cure, according to the popular practice of the natives. In the first stage of this malady they administer diluents, such as warm water, linseed or mallow water, with or without a little seasoning of cream of tartar or tamarinds; and these simple drinks they continue to give until they consider that the patient has vomited and voided enough, that is, until all undigested matters be thrown off, and the bowels well unloaded; and then they administer iced water, which produces a powerfully sedative effect.

The death-like coldness of the patient deters neither the vulgar nor the regular practitioner (who sometimes conjoins opiates and iced drinks) from giving this remedy with confidence; and the general consequence of the seasonable use of ice and iced water in this fearful disorder is, that the stage of external coldness is shortened by the early removal of internal heat; and thus the exhausting career of the disease is quickly arrested.

Under this vulgar but satisfactory and long-established treatment of cholera morbus in Lima, where the disease is endemic, though more prevalent in the hot months, vomiting, hiccup, and cramps disappear; reaction is so mild and favourable as never to require the lancet: yet recovery is almost always certain, though cases appear from time to time so intense as to assume the aspect of what is called Asiatic cholera, during which, as a native physician expresses it, the patient is a horrid image of death.

At Ica and various other points to the southward, where vineyards abound, it is observed in vintage-time that to eat freely of the grape on an empty stomach, or without eating bread with the fruit, is one of the most frequent causes of dysentery, which disease is more appalling and fatal on the shores of the Pacific than the cholera morbus to which we have just alluded. It is, however, gratifying to know that, in the form of dysentery which commonly prevails, the calomel and opium plan of treatment, when discreetly conducted, is assuredly the safest and best yet adopted, whether in Lima or in the interior of the country.

Moquegua, which lies a considerable way inwards towards the mountains behind the sea-port of Ilo, is not less famous for its wine and its grapes, than for its dysenteries and violent agues; but Tacna, on the other hand, about seven leagues inward from the port of Arica, is so healthy as to be a place of resort to the people of the port during the _terciana_, or aguish season, which, over all the coast, is about the vernal and more particularly the autumnal equinox.

The salubrity of climate for which Tacna is distinguished is considered to be partly owing to its vicinity to the cold of the mountains, (for the snowy pass of the Cordillera, which leads to upper Peru, is within four hours’ ride of this town,) and still more to a fine dry plain between it and the sea, which only wants water to become rich in agricultural produce.[33] But in its present state it is free from that malaria which the humidity attendant on irrigation would not fail to engender here as well as in other parts of the coast. In its environs cotton grows spontaneously; and the native women collect it, and make thread from it by means of the _spindle_, just as we have often seen done in some of the warmer inland valleys, where the cotton is indigenous. It is a fact, not perhaps undeserving of notice, that a bud cut off a cotton-tree in the neighbourhood of Arica or Tacna was hung up in the cabin of an English merchant-ship, preserved its vitality in the navigation round Cape Horn, and opened when about half-way between Peru and England.

The whole coast of upper Peru—now called Bolivia—is arid and desert; so much so, that the celebrated president Santa Cruz—who, much to the prejudice of Arica,[34] made Cobija a free port for the introduction of merchandise,—found that he could not, by sinking pits in the deep sands of Cobija, come at a supply of good water.[35] For want of water and lucern, mules from the interior of Bolivia often die at the sea-port of Cobija; for there is no vegetation within a great distance from this place. The little water that is obtained at Cobija is brackish, like that in the pozo or well of the great castle at Callao,[36] which has invariably been observed to give disorder of the bowels to the soldiers, who, during the sieges which that fortress has sustained, were obliged to drink of it. The same has been observed at Cobija, and therefore there are boats kept there for the purpose of conveying water to it from Paquisa and other distant parts, which makes it an expensive necessary of life.

On several parts of the coast of Peru, water, even for domestic uses, is very scarce; and in the dry season wells are often dug in the beds of dried-up rivers, or in other places in the neighbourhood of irrigated lands. At Port Bermejo and Casma, between nine and ten degrees of south latitude, we are told by the Spanish coasting pilots that, dig where you will, at ten or twelve paces from the sea, you are sure of finding water at the depth of half a fathom that is not very brackish. Wells or pits, however, thus opened in different parts of the coast, are often found to dry up as they do in Lima (where they are common enough) during the dry season, which is the time when they are most required.

In northern Peru the practice of digging pits for water in the beds of rivers is very common; and such is the scarcity of fresh water at the sea-port of Payta, that it is carried to the city on mules, from the distance of several leagues. But on the contrary, at the sea-port of Arica, in southern Peru, good water is found wherever a pit is dug for it; and within two leagues of this port is the fine vale of Asapa, abounding in vines, olives, lucern, corn, &c. and affording a more convenient and copious supply of fresh provisions for shipping than either Payta or Cobija. These facts are of value not only in an economical but medical point of view; since on the quality of the water, as well as of the condition of the atmosphere, in any particular situation, must greatly depend the health of its inhabitants. Thus, in Arequipa, of which Quilca was the old, and Islay the present sea-port, the river-water is said to contain some salts in solution, which render it unwholesome until it is boiled; and this is known to be one of the causes of dysentery, which is a prevalent disease in that city.

The peasantry, who travel with asses between Bolivia and Chile across the deserts of Atacama, pitch their tents by day, to avoid the extreme heat of the sun reflected from the burning sand, and proceed on their journey by night; carrying with them all the water and provisions necessary for the journey. And it may be remarked that the soldiers, sent by order of General Salaverry to invade Cobija, had to march from the landing-place at Iquique over desert sands like these, when under their gallant leader Quirroga they took by surprise the port of Bolivia. These coast marches usually fall to the lot of the Indian infantry, and these hardy natives of the mountains generally prefer performing them between sun-down and sun-rise; for not being constituted, like the sable races, to live in very warm climates, they are more liable to fever when posting over sandy plains during the noon-tide heat; and, if they do but meet with musk or water-melons on their way, they devour them so greedily that they are sure to fall victims to sundry disorders—as intermittents, remittents, dysentery, &c.

In Chile, Nature puts on a different appearance from what she wears in Peru and Bolivia; there, however, as in these countries, the year is divided into wet and dry—the winter and summer. But in Chile it rains, as in Colombia and the Equatorial Republic, at the same season on the mountains and coast; in which respect it differs altogether from Peru and Bolivia. In the southern extremity of this republic, at about 40° of south latitude, the rains are heavier, and of longer continuance, than in the northernmost part, where it joins the great desert of Atacama. On the coast of Chile very severe gales are experienced, when the coast of Peru is only refreshed by light and gentle breezes.

During summer, the sun at noon is felt very powerfully at the capital of Chile, and it is requisite to guard against the risks of insolation; just as happens in Lima in the month of May, when the mornings and evenings are cool and cloudy, but the mid-day so excessively hot that it has become proverbial, and children and others are at this season warned by the older and more wary Limenians to keep out of the sun in these words, “Quitese de este sol que madura duraznos!”—Get out of this sun, hot enough to ripen peaches! an expression probably used in reference to the mode of ripening fruit of various sorts in Lima, by having it stoved. We understand that this is done chiefly to prevent the birds from eating the fruit, which they would not fail to do if it were left to ripen naturally on the tree. The cheremoya is the fruit most commonly stoved.

In July and August the snow sometimes falls around Santiago, when the native of Lima who visits this Chilean capital is peculiarly struck with the novel appearance of the orange-trees in the “_patios_” or court-yards of the houses, bending under the double weight of fruit and congealed snow; the green leaves forming a remarkable contrast with the sparkling crystals, like the jewel garden of the Incas.[37] It rarely snows in the valleys; but in the winter of 1834, as we were told, a postman and his horse perished in the snow on the road between Santiago and its sea-port Valparaiso,[38] where in the months of June, July, August, and September, it rains a great deal. But during the dry season, though sometimes foggy in the morning, the sky upon the whole is clear, and the climate healthy and agreeable.

In giving an account of the climate and progress of vegetation on the coast of the middle provinces of Chile, it is stated, on good authority, that “the rainy season, as already mentioned, begins in May, and continues to October; the heaviest rains are in June and July. After a few days of rain, there is an interval of fine weather for at least one or two weeks; and the quantity that falls during the season is small, varying from twelve to sixteen inches. In summer the atmosphere is excessively arid, and there is little or no dew. The temperature at noon, in the middle of the rainy season, is generally about 60°; at night, seldom under 40°, though there is occasionally a little frost. In summer the thermometer at noon stands between 70° and 75°; but, during the night, in clear weather, it frequently falls more than 20°.

“During the latter part of summer, vegetation is almost dormant, and scarcely a plant of any kind is to be seen in flower; but, in a very few weeks after the first rains, every part of the country is clothed with verdure.

“In the south of Chile the heavy rains render the road almost impassable; and, as vegetation does not advance so rapidly there as in the north, he” (_the naturalist_) “can botanise in October, November, December, and January.”[39]

The following observations on atmospherical vicissitudes and miasmatous matter, with the rationale of their effects in the production of disease among the inhabitants of Santiago of Chile, we have pleasure in being able to offer in the form of a translation from an essay in Spanish,[40] published in the year 1828, by Doctor William C. Blest; upon whom, though an Englishman, the Government of Chile conferred the highest professional honours, by nominating him to the protomedical chair, which he fills with credit in that republic.

Dr. Blest, in endeavouring to rouse the attention of those functionaries who preside over the destinies of the republic, to the neglected state of its municipal police, says of Santiago that “The streets, with a few exceptions, have either very bad pavement, or none at all. The canals or water-courses, (las acequias,) which, without doubt, were originally intended to refresh and purify the city, are at present receptacles of every sort of nuisance; and, not having free exit, they terminate in stagnant pools around the city, which are so many laboratories of putrefaction. The cross streets are left in so shameful a state of neglect, that it is impossible to pass along their narrow foot-paths without being shocked at every step.

“The suburbs, where the poorer and more numerous class of the community reside, are so full of dirt and mud, that even on horseback it is difficult to pass through them. In almost every street there are small and confined apartments, without air or light, except that which enters at the door, and these are occupied by whole families of artisans; so that it is not uncommon to see seven or eight persons crowded together in one wretched abode, where dogs and cats add to the nuisance, and still further crowd the family group.

“Such is a true picture of the police of Santiago; and, to convince the curious reader of its accuracy, we need only refer to the aqueducts which pass through the streets and houses,—to the heaps of putrid matter in the cross streets,—to the deep deposits of mire and marshes,—and to the crowded and unventilated dwellings of the poor and labouring classes....

“It is too well and generally known that at all seasons, and for days together in every week, the aqueducts which pass through the houses are so completely blocked up with the quantity of vegetable matter and dead animals collected in them, that they cannot transmit even the smallest stream of water. The subordinate or cross streets, and many of the principal ones, are not less filthy; and any stranger who visits Santiago will be inclined to believe that, of all the towns of South America, it is the dirtiest.[41]

“Sad experience, and especially in recent times, has taught, that during the decomposition of organized matter, whether animal or vegetable, under the action of heat and moisture, certain exhalations take place, which possess properties in the highest degree injurious to the health of man. This is a truth which is attested by a multitude of medical authors. It is the good fortune of the inhabitants of Santiago, that the atmosphere in which they breathe does not so readily absorb, or act upon substances undergoing the process of putrefaction, as to engender those dreadful epidemics, which have carried off millions of lives, and are still reaping their harvest of mortality in various parts of Spain, North America, India, Mexico, Panama, Vera Cruz,[42] and many other regions of the Old and New World.

“Were they not thus favoured by the natural salubrity of their atmosphere, the church-bells of the Chilean capital would be daily heard to toll the mournful knell of death, and every home would present the tearful scene of grief and lamentation.

“But although in Santiago the action of the atmospheric air on substances in a state of putrefaction is not so active as to produce such epidemics as those alluded to, yet it cannot be denied that it is capable of acquiring such properties as make it exercise a most baneful influence on the public health: inducing attacks of dysentery, typhus and other fevers, which, from time to time, appear epidemically. In truth, to some general cause of this nature we must attribute those violent and fatal dysenteries which were so very prevalent in the year 1826, and which recurred in the months of March and April of the present year (1828). To a similar cause must be referred that vexatious sort of puerperal fever which in the year 1827 attacked such a number of women; and also those cases of typhus or _chabalongo_ which abound, with few exceptions, every year.

“Reasoning on the generally received principle that air at a high temperature occasions a greater degree of exhalation from bodies than cool air does, and from what we know the influence of summer heat to be in other countries, we should suppose that diseases caused by miasmatous matter should be here more common in summer than in winter; but our acquaintance with this climate induces us to think differently on this subject.

“Here, in summer, the air of the atmosphere is uniformly clear and cloudless; and the emanations from the earth’s surface, meeting neither clouds nor mists to impede their ascent, mingle with the other atmospherical ingredients, and diffuse themselves freely through the regions of space. The opposite of this takes place in winter. The heat of the sun is always very considerable, or at least sufficient to disengage from heaps of nastiness and rubbish the noxious vapours which putrefaction has generated in them. At sunset these vapours come in contact with the clouds that gather around us, and soon meet the cold air of the approaching night; the consequence of which is, that they are precipitated into the lower strata of the atmosphere, and wafted on the nocturnal breeze into the interior of our habitations. Thus a satisfactory and rational explanation is given, why there should be more sickness in winter than in summer; and by associating this view of the matter with the bad ventilation in the houses of the poor, who from their inability to provide themselves with fuel[43] and warm clothing, are compelled to exclude the free admission of air, we may perceive the reason why at this season the poor are more obnoxious to disease than those whose pecuniary circumstances enable them to protect their homes from the severities of winter by better means than the utter exclusion of the air.

“The generality of persons, overlooking the course of atmospherical changes, imagine that the diminution in the number of cases of sporadic fever observable in summer is owing to the abundant consumption of the fruits of this season. We will not deny that the use of fruit may improve to a considerable extent the health of those persons who in winter and spring have been nourished with strong and stimulating aliment, such as is calculated to disorder the digestive functions; but we are far from thinking that to the use of fruits alone are to be assigned all the good effects which the vulgar fancy they derive from them. We know that in other countries not less bounteously supplied with fruit than Chile, though not favoured with so benign a climate, epidemic diseases prevail more in summer than in winter. For these, and many other reasons which it would be superfluous to detail, we consider ourselves authorized to dissent from public opinion on this subject, and to assign the diminution in the diseases of the character alluded to, during the summer months, to causes more in conformity with medical philosophy: namely, the benign state of the atmosphere in summer; the bodily exercise which the different classes of the community indulge in every summer evening; and the wholesome ventilation which they enjoy at this season, their doors being constantly open, and many of them choosing to sleep even in the open air.”

APPENDIX

ON THE ZOOLOGY OF WESTERN PERU.

Under the head of the zoology of western Peru we beg leave to present to the reader a translation of a chapter on the influence of climate on animals, especially on domestic animals, taken from the work of the late Dr. Don Hipolito Unanue, entitled “Observaciones sobre el Clima de Lima.”

Dr. Unanue was an ornament to society, and honoured by his country, as well under the Spanish as the Patriot government: by the former, as the reader already knows, he was appointed chief of the medical tribunal of Peru; by the latter, president of that republic.

TRANSLATION.

The horrid picture of America which has been drawn by some ultramarine philosophers does not apply to Peru, and can only be viewed as the production of their own excited imaginations. Where else, indeed, could they have found those dark and unfriendly dies which enabled them to depict these happy regions under a repulsive aspect?—as so many dark spots in the creation denied the blessing of Providence,—as the dismal abode of serpents, crocodiles, and venomous monsters.[44]

Quale portentum neque militaris Daunia in latis alit esculetis; Nec Jubæ tellus generat, leonum Arida nutrix.

HOR.

The learned Count Buffon laid down and wished to establish the four following propositions: 1st, that of the animals common to the old and new continents, the breed is larger in the former than in the latter; 2d, that the animals indigenous to the new are less than those of the old hemisphere; 3d, that the species of domestic animals which have been transplanted from Europe, have degenerated in America; 4th, that this part of the earth furnishes but few races of animals peculiar to itself. But the inaccuracy of these propositions has been demonstrated by the illustrious President Jefferson[45] in comparative tables of the existing animals on both continents. This, however, seems to be certain, that, as animals depend for their support on the productions of the vegetable kingdom, their number and growth will be in proportion to the luxuriance of vegetation; and therefore, there being in the one hemisphere as well as in the other very extensive plains covered with abundant pastures, and likewise poor and sterile regions that yield little or no nutriment, either hemisphere will exceed the other in the size, number, and beauty of its animals, wherever it happens to exceed the other in the fertility and extent of its woods and meadows.

Peru is by no means well fitted to maintain the numerous species of indigenous animals which inhabit the forests of North America, nor calculated for the multiplication of those which may be transplanted from Europe, to that prodigious extent which is observed on the broad plains and exuberant pastures of Chile and Parana. Still, however, this country, in its coast, its mountain ranges, and Montaña, comprises upon the whole a vast and beautiful variety, with which the pages of natural history will be one day enriched; but it is only our object at present to offer observations on some of the most remarkable of these, as they appear to be influenced by our climate.

INDIGENOUS QUADRUPEDS.

Of the families of quadrupeds found in Peru at the period of its discovery and conquest, the following are the chief.

_Paco._[46]—_Camelus Peruvianus_, Linn. Syst. Nat.;—Molina, Histor. de Chile, Part I.

_Alco._—_Canis Americanus_, Linn.; _Kiltho_,—_Thegua_, Mol.

_Puma._—_Felis puma_, Linn.; _Pagi_, Mol.

_Uturuncu._—_Felis onsa_, Linn.; _Felis gigna_, Molin.—is found in the west of Peru; and by the same name is designated the yaguar of Azara, plate IX. which inhabits the woods and thickets on the eastern side of the country.

_Ucumari._—_Ursus Americanus_, Linn.

_Tarúca._—_Elaphus_, Linn. ast corpore minor.

Providence, which has everywhere supplied its rational creatures with means of maintenance, and of executing the labours to which they are by nature destined, conferred on the native of the Andes an inestimable boon in the _paco_; by whose wool he is clothed, by whose flesh he is nourished. The fleet huanaco and the timid vicuña afford him amusement and pastime in the chase; and the llama and alpaca convey his goods with safety through the rough and narrow pathways of his native mountains. The long and upraised neck of these animals, their full and expressive eyes, the _urcu_, or tuft which adorns their foreheads, and the dignified air with which they look around them, as with composed and solemn step they march along in a right line like disciplined troops, form altogether a picture of such peculiar and striking beauty as must always be admired, and never can be forgotten.

The _alco_ is the most faithful companion of the Indian: it is of middle size; and its body is commonly covered with black wool, all except at the breast and tail, where it is grey. These dogs are endowed with singularly acute powers of perception, their bark never fails to give notice of anything new that happens about the hut or dwelling, and they also attack strangers with great ferocity. Of this race there is a small breed like our lapdogs, which the Indian women carry on their _quipes_,[47] and cherish in their bosoms; and, as these pet-dogs are taciturn, this peculiarity has made some persons suppose that the alcos do not bark, and therefore belong not to the dog species.

The pacos and alcos inhabit the Sierra or highlands. Such of them as are domesticated descend with their masters to the coast, where they stay but a short time, and then return; for in the heat of the coast they soon fall victims to the _caracha_ or itch,—the consequence of increased excitement and circulation on the surface of the body, and a want of perspiration occasioned by the thickness of the skin. Not more remarkable for their beauty are the eyes of the llamas and tarúcas in the Sierra, than are the aborigines of the same mountains for the smallness of their eyes and their inclination outwards towards the external angle: an useful structure, for it adjusts their sight to their situation, and, by giving them a side-long view of objects, often prevents them from falling over precipices when crossing the wild passes of the mountains. The same peculiarity of structure also defends them from the bad effects of the sun’s reflection from the snow, which in white people and the natives of the coast, whose eyes are full and large, induces _zurumpe_, which is a troublesome ophthalmia.

The _tarúca_ or deer, and the _puma_ or lion, being fitted to endure the temperature of the Sierra and of the coast, pass backwards and forwards from one climate to the other: the deer go about in flocks; but the little lions wander in solitude, apart from others of their kind. The deer are of a middle size, and have pretty horns.[48] They are fleet, and afford amusement to those who are fond of coursing. The _otorunco_ or tiger, and the _ucumari_ or bear, do not frequent this side of the Andes, but they inhabit the regions eastward of these mountains, where there are many other animals of prey.

FOREIGN QUADRUPEDS.

The sheep transported from Europe have increased to an amazing degree on the great commons or pastures of _ichu_[49] which abound in the heights of the Andes; and in the wide-spreading provinces of Collao the quality of the wool is particularly superior.

In the high and Cordillera ranges, horses, asses, and black cattle are, like man, of small size, because their growth is stinted by cold: they are covered with hair which has the softness, length, and consistence of wool; by means of which Nature protects them against the inclemency of those bleak and frozen wastes, even as she does the flowers of such shrubs[50] as grow on the same frigid heights.

On the other hand, in the valleys and on the coast, where the heat is sufficient to enable the various members of the body to develope themselves freely, those very quadrupeds are of good size, spirited, and showy. The donkey[51] is strong, and in Lima the most serviceable of the domestic animals; as he is also at the sugar-works, where he carries on his back a great weight of cane from the field to the mill: the horse is graceful and spirited: the bulls are powerful; and in the valleys of Chincha and Cañete, where a certain wild breed are carefully reared for the bull-ring, these animals are most ferocious.

The black cattle of the Sierra do not endure the climate of the coast: immediately that they descend from their native mountains, to use the vulgar expression, they become _touched_; that is, they become stupified, and die with amazing rapidity. On examining the entrails of cattle thus cut off, the liver, which has a broiled appearance, is observed to be indurated. I conceive that these animals are affected by transition of climate in the same manner as the human species; for, as soon as bullocks from the high and cold regions of the Andes arrive on the warm coast, the circulation of their blood is unusually accelerated and directed to the surface; but, as the skin which covers them is too thick and unyielding to allow of proper transpiration, the consequence is that there arises an ardent fever which destroys them. In beeves this fever is more violent and burning than it is in the paco or alco, because the skin of the latter, being of thinner texture than that of oxen, offers less resistance to the outlet of the humours; so that in the animals of finer skin there comes out a salutary eruption, which saves them; while in black cattle nothing of this sort occurs, and therefore they perish with incredible celerity.[52]

The butchers have not yet found out a remedy for this disorder. They only know from experience that the mortality among the cattle is greater in summer than in winter: a fact confirmatory of our conjectures as to the nature of the distemper: and therefore it is during the winter, or misty season on the coast, that cattle are driven down from the mountains to supply the Lima market.

Should we compare the dogs reared in this city with those allowed equal freedom in the cities of Upper Peru, it will be found that the former are most indolent and indifferent to everything, so that any one, though an entire stranger, may step over them without the least molestation; but the latter surly curs it is necessary to approach with caution, because they attack all persons with whom they are not well acquainted and on friendly terms.

These animals are subject, especially in spring, to catarrhal epidemics which are peculiar to themselves; and they are also liable to influenzas by which mankind are affected, it being among them that the fatal epidemic commenced in the Trojan army.

Neither in Peru, nor in the neighbouring sections of South America, were dogs ever known to be attacked by hydrophobia prior to 1803; but about this time the malady broke out, during the heat of summer, in the valleys of the northern coast, from whence it extended southward along the maritime plains; having arrived at the city of Arequipa in the spring of 1807, while in Lima it was observed between the summer and autumn of the same year.

Having collected all the necessary data for disclosing the origin of this disorder, and consulted in writing the physicians and well-informed persons who had witnessed its symptoms, I have clearly learned,—1st. That this disease arose spontaneously from the increased atmospherical temperature of the years 1803 and 1804. It commenced on the northern coast, commonly called _Costa Abajo_, where the air was so heated that Reaumur’s thermometer indicated the temperature of 30° in some of the valleys: the calms were extreme, without the lightest breeze that could ripple the surface of the ocean; animals rushed into lakes and pools of still water to relieve themselves from the sensation of excessive heat; so that the season described by Horace was fully realized:

Jam Procyon furit, Et stella vesani Leonis: ... caretque Ripa taciturna ventis.

2. This disorder affected every sort of quadruped without distinction: and such was the degree of phrensy excited by it, that some animals in their fury bit and tore themselves to pieces; and, in situations where the heat was extreme, several men fell ill with all the symptoms of hydrophobia without having been bit.

3. The malady attached itself more especially to dogs, and some of them suffered so mild an attack that their bite was not mortal; but the greater number were severely affected, and propagated the infection to their kind, to other quadrupeds, and to man.

The mean and niggardly overseer of a sugar-estate had distributed among his negroes, though advised not to do so, some head of cattle that died rabid; which he did under the impression that they were only _tocado_, or touched with that disease which in hot weather usually affects cattle from the mountains: and the result was, that of the poor negroes who had partaken of this meat, many died with symptoms of hydrophobia.

4. In the towns of Ica and Arequipa the number of individuals who died, after having been bit by mad dogs, was greater, and their cases less equivocal than the preceding.

In Ica a single rabid bitch bit fourteen persons in one night, of whom eight were in one house; some sleeping _al fresco_, or in the open air; others were variously occupied; and the remaining six were among those who, on hearing the alarm, ran to assist in killing the bitch. The surgeon of the place, Don Mariano Estrada, wished to persuade them to submit to be cured; but they rejected his proposal, saying the will of God should be done; and all died with the exception of two men, the one twenty-eight and the other fifty years of age, who agreed to be placed under medical treatment. The physician cured them, happily, on the safest plan; which consists in applying a blister on the part bitten, with a view to promote suppuration from it, and in exciting salivation by means of mercurial inunction.

In the city of Arequipa it was much disputed whether or not the malady was a legitimate hydrophobia, and very learned papers _pro_ and _con_ were written by the Doctors Rosas and Salvani. In this paper-war much time was lost that should have been taken advantage of for resisting the progress of the malady. True it is, that in many cases those disorders, which by frightened imaginations were represented to be real examples of hydrophobia, were, in point of fact, no such thing; and the alarming misconceptions thus induced were soothed down and removed by persuasive means. Hence, this circumstance, which was the natural consequence of the general panic existing at the time, led Professor Salvani to think that it was precisely the same in all instances, until at length a succession of melancholy results declared the real nature of the disease. Immediately upon being made acquainted that the epidemic hydrophobia approached the capital, the Viceroy of Peru, Abascal, ordered all the dogs in the place to be killed,[53] by means of which he liberated Lima from the impending scourge; for though a very few hydrophobic patients entered, during this period, into the hospitals, they were not inhabitants of the city, but some individuals who had come in from the neighbouring farms and valleys.

5. When this calamitous epidemic commenced in the valleys of _Costa Abajo_, Don Jose Figueroa, Bachelor of Arts, wrote me to say, that “the dogs went about with their tails between their feet; they slavered much; hid themselves from human sight; howled lustily; and presently they fell down and moved no more:—as remedies in these cases, cutting off the ears and giving oil were tried in vain. The cats, with their hair on end, ran about the house-tops. Horses and asses got enraged the one against the other; they threw themselves on the ground, rolled about, and instantly on being dead they swelled and putrefied. Black cattle—roaring and lowing—bounded about, fought with each other, in the contest even broke their horns, and they died quickly.”

6. Professor Estrada confidently stated, that of forty-two individuals who died in the city of Ica, after having been bit by mad dogs, the greater number were cut off from twelve to ninety days after the accident. The symptoms which followed the ingraftment of the poison disclosed themselves in the form of convulsions, oppression at the breast, sighs, sadness, laborious breathing, horror at liquids and shining objects, fury, vomiting of dark bilious matter, and an incessant urgent call on the part of the patients that the assistants should depart from them, because they felt themselves impelled to attack, bite, and tear them to pieces: none in this state survived beyond the term of five days.

Since the year 1808 this terrible epidemic has been disappearing. From time to time, however, a dog may be seen running violently hither and thither, and biting all whom he may happen to meet, in the same way as is done by the really mad dog.—But, in the examples wherein no bad results arise from the bite, they may be considered of the same character with the disorder observed by Mr. Colombier, which attacks dogs, renders them furious, and excites them to bite, but has, nevertheless, nothing at all of hydrophobia in it;—still, however, the safest way is to kill the dogs thus affected, and to implore the Father of mercies that these regions may never again experience so severe a visitation.

Canis ore timendo, Ore vomit flammam.

GERMAN ARAT.

BIRDS.

The shores of the South Sea are covered with myriads of birds, among which are distinguished, for their incalculable number, the Huanaes; from whose ordure, as some believe, is produced that red-coloured earth or manure (huano[54]), of a penetrating and alkaline smell, which enriches the land so much as to make it yield triple or quadruple the produce it could do without this dressing: a discovery made by the ancient Indians, who were most skilful agriculturists.

Gulls, herons, ducks, and some other families of the feathered class, descend during autumn from the mountain lakes to the coast, where they remain until the commencement of summer, when they again return to the Sierra.

In undertaking this journey, they take their flight in the morning in large flocks; and, as they soon come in contact with lofty barriers of mountains which oblige them to change their course, they ascend the higher regions in a winding and spiral manner, till, after numberless evolutions and gyrations, they have risen above the loftiest peaks of the Cordillera, and find themselves again at liberty to pursue their journey in a direct line.

The condor[55] often stations himself in the middle of the spires,[56] either as acting the part of a guide, or to boast in proud display the strength of wing by which the most vigorous and powerful of birds can soar above all the rest of the feathered race.

In his outward aspect the male bird bears upon him many marks of dignity which distinguish him from the female: such is the crest which serves him as the emblem of monarchy,—a crown; the blackish and loose skin which in folds covers the head, and gathering up behind, after the manner of curls or frizzled hair, resembles a wig; and the white of the wings, when the bird stands erect, gives his shoulders the appearance of being covered with a mantle or cloak.—See the excellent Memoir of Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland on the Natural History of the Condor, printed in Paris in the year 1807.

Santiago Cardenas, better known by the name of Santiago _el Volador_, or Flier, for many years watched the flight of the condor, with the intention of imitating him; and he left a quarto volume written on this subject, which I have deposited in the library of the College of San Fernando. In this work he describes three different kinds of condor.

1. Moromoro with ruff (golilla) and mantle of the colour of ashes.—It has of “_embregadura_,” or length, from the point of one wing to that of the other, from thirteen to fifteen feet.

This, of all the condors, is the strongest; and he takes ostentatious delight in combating against the wind, and balancing himself on extended but flutterless wing in the most imposing and majestic manner. It has been said of the moromoro, that, seizing the newly-born lamb, he throws it over his shoulder, where he keeps it steadily fixed; and, having thus secured his prey, rises on the wing, and betakes himself to flight.[57]

2. Condor of ruff and mantle of the colour of clear coffee.—He has of _embregadura_ from eleven to thirteen feet, and he is swift and daring.

3. Condor with white mantle and ruff.—He has expanse of wing, or _embregadura_, from nine to eleven feet; and this is the most abundant and beautiful species. The condor inhabits the steep rocks of the Andes; and, according to the observations of Santiago, he makes every day two journeys to the coast in search of food, which shows his prodigious velocity.

In our dissection of this bird, we met with no air-vessel which could maintain a communication between the lungs and the spongy substance of the clavicles, nor any communication between the crop and windpipe. The internal cavity of the chest is lined by a fine and transparent membrane or pleura, which forms various little cells; the lungs descend as low as the abdomen, and adhere, at their posterior extremity, to the spine and ribs, which have perforations at the points of adhesion, communicating with the interior of their spongy body. The texture of the lungs is porous, so that, as soon as they are blown into and inflated through the windpipe, they freely supply with air all the recesses or concealed crevices, great and small, that are about them; and they also fill with air the cavities of the ribs and sternum.

Condor-grease is considered excellent for resolving and dissipating hard glandular tumours of the breast and other parts of the body; and the Peruvians attribute to it as many other virtues as the Europeans do to the kid, of which it is said by one of their physicians that _totus est medicamentosus_—all is medicinal.

INSECTS.

It is well known that warm and humid countries are infested with swarms of small insects, as flies, mosquitos, zancudos, fleas, &c.; and a certain traveller has asserted that, on this account, Lima was insupportable as a place of residence: but the statement is erroneous, for such insects do not flourish in the midst of population and cleanliness.

Notwithstanding the mildness of winter in Lima, it is sufficient to annihilate the flies and zancudos: mosquitos are not within doors at any season of the year. The flies and zancudos multiply in summer; and the latter are very annoying, especially at night, for they prevent sleep by the buzzing of their wings. But by taking care that no water be left in the house till it become nearly putrid, this little insect will not be allowed to grow troublesome; for the zancudos are the offspring of the animalcules which are produced in water tending to a state of decomposition: neither do the flies prove troublesome by their numbers in the houses where cleanliness is not neglected.

The pediculus may be said to be sterile on the coast, but most highly prolific in the Sierra: insects of this and the cimex kind persecute man wherever he sojourns, and Lima does not appear to be more infested or overstocked with such vermin than certain European cities. In Paris alone there are seventy-seven species of the cimex.[58]

The most intrusive, the most vexatious insect of the torrid zone, is the _pique_ or _chigre_, which in other parts is known by the name of _nigua_. Uncleanly in the extreme, it searches the _corrales_, or pens, where pigs are enclosed, and multiplies infinitely in dirty situations. The heaps of rubbish, or sweepings and refuse from streets and houses, &c. are, as it were, in a state of effervescence with _piques_, which also follow the footsteps of man, pursuing relentlessly those with overgrown nails, and others who neglect cleanliness. Less than the flea, but of the same colour, it contrives to introduce itself inside shoes and stockings, and to lodge in the tenderest part of the foot,—in the sole, or under the nails: there it fixes itself, causing as much pain as would be occasioned by the point of a needle, and it secures its position so well as to render it very difficult of being detached. In attempting to remove it, the soft parts are often ill-treated by the instrument, which is either a needle or pin, commonly used for its extraction; and when, during the operation, the part acted upon becomes tinged with blood, the end of the matter is, that the _pique_, instead of being removed entire, is lacerated, and, the one-half only being taken away, the other is still left inserted under the skin, and there occasions more pain than at first. For this reason, those persons who are accustomed to _piques_ keep very quiet when they observe that one of them has fixed itself under the epidermis or outer skin, and leave it undisturbed for a day or two: here it forms its nest; and is gradually metamorphosed into a white globe, of the appearance of a moderately-sized pearl. It holds on fast to the skin, by its mouth, at the point where it first adhered. Having attained maturity, it is in fact nothing else than a group of innumerable little eggs united by a white glutinous matter, and covered by a common envelope which encloses the whole. While growing, the _pique_ scarcely causes inconvenience; but instantly it has acquired its due size, if not extracted, it gives rise to very stinging pain. Two or three days after its introduction it will have attained a sufficient growth for being removed. In the performance of this operation the negroes are most expert, on account of the constant practice they have in operating on themselves. With the point of a pin they carefully separate the epidermis under which the _nigua_ is fixed, leaving it still attached by its reddish mouth; and then they thread or transfix it, and extract it in its globular form. Great care should be taken not to burst the bag or envelope of the insect at the time of extracting it, for otherwise several ova, equivalent to so many parasitic insects, are left to infest the foot; and besides, should part of the bag be left behind, pain and inflammation will supervene, followed by suppuration to cast off the foreign body. The hollow left after the _pique_ is abstracted, is to be filled with snuff or the ashes of a cigar; as it stops any oozing of blood from the little wound, and assists in promoting the separation, or absorption, of any fragments of the envelope of the insect that may have remained behind; and by this means the pain is avoided which otherwise might arise if these parts were left to themselves, and allowed to slough off.

Without having recourse to the process of extraction, the _piques_ may be destroyed by rubbing the spot where they nestle with mercurial ointment, or with a mixture of soap and oil: in either way they are killed, and consequently fall off in form of crust. Tepid oil applied to the parts injured during the extraction of the _pique_ or _nigua_ affords relief; and it is requisite that the person who has been operated upon take great care not to put his feet in cold water until the incision made in the skin be entirely healed; for otherwise there would be risk of inducing that fearful disease—locked jaw.

EXTINCT ANIMALS.

Notwithstanding the vast distance from one another at which different nations of the earth have been planted, it may yet be traced in their traditions that one great and glorious object had been seen in common by their forefathers, the image of which had been so impressed on their minds, that, when placed in analogous circumstances, it often recurred to their thoughts, and was always referred to, though under different appellations. Thus, in midst of the solemn and sublime apparatus of thunder and lightning, Jehovah descends to the summit of Sinai to give law to the Hebrews. This august and majestic image of the greatness of Divine power is soon after applied to Jupiter darting thunderbolts from the peak of Ida against the armies of Greece; and the _Great Man_[59] appears in like manner on the mountains of Ohio to exterminate with his darts a fierce animal, which desolated the fertile plains. So also, in former times, the _Heavenly Angel_ came down to the summit of Santa Helena in Southern America, to crush and overwhelm a fierce and polluted race of giants, who, having entered these harbours from some unknown clime, devastated the land.[60]

The Indians of the one and the other hemisphere corroborate the truth of their traditions by being able to present the great molar teeth, or grinders, which are found under the surface of the earth in the places alluded to. In Peru, these teeth, with other bones of enormous magnitude, are found in the province of Chichas, near the tropic of Capricorn; and in Chile there are not wanting vestiges of the same sort of organic remains.

I have had in my possession four of these molar teeth, of which I yet preserve one in the library of the Medical College of San Fernando. When compared among themselves, I have judged, from their configuration, that they did not belong to the same fossil elephant; but, rather, that three pertained to the mammoth, and that one had belonged to the mastodonton of Cuvier: from which it is to be inferred that those very bulky animals, which in remote ages lived in Siberia and North America, had penetrated into Southern America, where they have left the natives, in the relics of their destruction, or fossil remains, a memorial of the existence and punishment of antediluvian giants.

The bony fragments which are considered to be parts of this gigantic race, may they not rather consist of earthy petrifactions in water impregnated with lime? Between the villages of Chorrillos and Miraflores, in the locality named _Calera_, water impregnated with lime is observed to percolate at the foot of the _barranco_, or broken bluff-land; and it deposits on the stones, over which it drips or passes, certain crusts or laminæ, which have the same appearance with the bony laminæ of the human skull.[61]

GEOGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY IN THE ENVIRONS OF AREQUIPA, WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE MINERAL WATERS IN THE VICINITY OF THE SAME CITY.

According to the “Guia Politica, Eclesiastica, y Militar del Peru,” edited by Dr. Unanue of Lima, the city of Arequipa is situated at 16° 13´ 20´´ south latitude; and it stands at the distance of about thirty leagues from its present sea-port, Islay. In making from seaward to the port of Chule, the burning mountain of Arequipa, (which now emits no smoke,) described as resembling a sugar-loaf with the top broken off, used to be taken as a landmark by the Spanish pilots on the South-Sea coasts. The population is estimated at about twenty thousand, among whom there are exceedingly few negroes or pardos. Towards the end of the twelfth century, Maita Capac, fourth sovereign of Peru, colonized the valley of Arequipa with three thousand families chosen from the neighbouring provinces; and some refer the origin of the name Arequipa to this early period, as in the Indian language the word Arequipa means, “Remain as you are, if you like it,”—in allusion to the permission given by the Inca to such of his captains as were inclined to settle in this garden in the midst of the desert.

By order of Don Francisco Pizarro, the city was founded in the year 1540. It suffered severely from the great earthquakes of the years 1582, 1600, 1604, 1687, 1715, and 1784.[62] All about Arequipa is a volcanic country, of which the natural history is very interesting, as may be learned from the following account, taken from an essay originally written and published in Spanish by Don Mariano Rivero, director-general of the mining department in Peru. This essay is deficient in minute chemical analysis; but it has the recommendation of being the only one, so far as we know, that has been written by a native Peruvian on the subjects which it embraces.

TRANSLATION.

GEOGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION.

All the environs of the city of Arequipa are composed of volcanic products; so much is this the case that its edifices are constructed of a white and very light rock, rough to the touch, which contains pieces of pumice-stone and lava. It is called in the country _piedra sillar_, and, in fact, is a real trachyte (traquito). It is met with in different places, at the distance of several leagues from the city,—as, for example, in the glen through which passes the road of Islay. In the route which leads to the glen of Yura, over and above the loose pieces and sand, we meet the trachyte porphyry, not only in large detached masses, but also forming portions of the soil. The principal mass is compact, of a greyish black colour, with crystals of white vitreous felspar, and spangles of bronzed mica; it passes by decomposition into an ash-coloured trachyte, less hard than the first, and very rough to the touch: the crystals of felspar and mica suffer no decomposition.

The adjacent hills are formed of rocks such as these, without presenting a decided stratification. At various points there appears a rock which, from its grain, its little hardness, the pieces of trachyte it contains, and its reddish colour, would seem to be a conglomerate of aqueous formation.

The waters which run through rocky passes give rise to deep excavations, and with much good reason these parts (along which there is a road) are denominated _narrows_,—for they are only a yard and a half broad. The way is intersected at various points by ravines, (quebradas,) through which several small streams descend from the snowy mountain called Chachani. About a league before we reach Yura, and on the opposite side of the glen, there is an horizontal stratification which extends towards the west, presenting an interesting contrast with the Cordillera on the east, and the hills on the side of the valley along which we pass to Yura.

It is not less worthy the admiration of a geologist to behold, amid so much arid nakedness, the bottom of the deep glen of Yura clothed with pure green and cheering verdure, which comforts the pilgrim, and serves as a soothing restorative to the sick who, sacrificing their domestic comforts and the pleasures of society, go in search of health to the baths situated in this solitary spot.

The glen of Yura, which stretches in the direction of from east to west, is in many parts extremely narrow, as at the site of the baths: but towards the Calera it opens up; and its inhabitants take advantage of this space to cultivate lucern, and collect the sub-carbonate of soda, improperly called saltpetre, which they use in manufacturing the soap consumed in Arequipa.[63]

Having passed the distance of one thousand yards, the glen again becomes narrow, until it joins with the ravine of the river of Yura, which flows from the north-east to south-west. From this place it becomes deeper and narrower, and immediately follows a westerly direction. A rivulet formed by the junction of the smaller streamlets which arise in the hill called Horqueta irrigates some land in the strath beneath; and, pursuing its course to the baths, passes them at a yard’s distance, (now ceasing to be pure water,) to unite itself with the many jets that spring up a little above the baths, as I have seen in a ditch recently opened. This rivulet follows the course of the glen; and its waters, being impregnated with saline ingredients, irrigate the lucern fields, and contribute to increase the supply of the carbonate of soda. It at length joins the river of Yura, which during the periodical rains is in the highest degree dangerous to ford, on account of its strong current, and the many stones it carries along its impetuous stream. In the glen of Yura, as well as in the ravine alluded to, the different sorts of earth are of volcanic and transition formation: the first extend to a hundred paces beyond the ferruginous baths; the prevailing rock is trachyte, of a light ash-colour, with pieces of white felspar half decomposed, pumice-stone, and scales of black mica.

In some detached masses are seen in globules the substance called _perlita_, (little pearl,) and black pieces, which, from their general appearance and concavities, look like lava. Ascending a little higher than the sulphurous baths, porphyry is met with; the principal mass of which is compact and black, its fracture conchoidal, and it contains crystals of white felspar. By decomposition it has partly become an ash-coloured rock, less hard and more asperate, in which is found the conduit which emits sulphurous vapours; and in my opinion it is an ancient crater. On the walls of this crater, sulphur is deposited in well-defined, acute, octahedral crystals; and, in some pieces in my possession, the pure sulphur exists in its massive state. These rocks cover a sandy ground, which from its coarse grain, composition, reddish colour, and the fragments of volcanic rocks which it contains, appears to be a sandy conglomerate; it is sufficiently consistent to admit of being cut, and to serve for architectural purposes: there are certain places, as in the Calera, and near the baths, where it is many yards thick: this earth reposes on the transition series.

The earths, or mineral substances last mentioned, occupy all the parts to the north and west: they are composed of _gres_, (a stone abounding in sand,) semi-compact in some layers, and in others it has a fine grain; its colour is a dirty white, inclining to green, and it passes to a lightish black when it is near to the layers of the black “_esquito hojoso_,” (foliated schist,) with which it alternates: it contains small spangles of mica. The natives extract laminæ of this _gres_ of more than a yard in length, and of a quarter in breadth, which serve to line the upper part of the boilers wherein soap is made. The black “_esquito_” also divides itself into laminæ of good size; but, for the most part, it breaks very easily, forming small pieces which fall down to the bottom of the glen. A heavy substance of dark colour, which separates in large pieces, and effervesces when brought into contact with the acids, is found in the “_esquito_,” and near to the layers of _gres_: it appears to be a carbonate of iron, (_carbonato de hierro litoideo_,) like that which is met with in the coal-mines of England and France. In the “_esquito_” I have observed impressions of plants, vestiges of coal, crystals, and small plates of gypsum.

The transition formation extends to the north and to the west, at great distances. I am also assured that coal is met with near to the village of Yura. Over the horizontal bed of _gres_, the direction of which is from east to west, with an inclination northward, may be observed the white, compact, fibrous gypsum of Synchita, distant six leagues from the glen, which, as I conceive, belongs to the gypsum of the vale of Vitor.[64]

On the south side of the river Yura, in the locality called Calera, is found in layers or coats of considerable thickness, but of little extent, a limestone of a cellular and porous structure, composed in a great degree of very small and delicate tubes: their colour is a dirty white, and by all their signs and characters they appear to owe their origin to infiltration. From this stone is made the lime which is consumed in Arequipa and its neighbourhood.

ANALYSIS OF THE MINERAL WATERS OF YURA.

Mineral waters are distinguishable from common water by their taste, particular smell, colour, temperature more or less raised, and by their not being applicable to domestic purposes. They are found in different parts of the world in springs and wells: sometimes they are of the same temperature with the soil through which they pass, and at other times their temperature rises to the boiling point of water,—and then they are called thermal waters. In the countries where these waters appear, they had attracted the attention of the inhabitants since very remote times, and were medicinally employed internally as well as externally; but, since their component parts were but imperfectly known, they were often applied injudiciously, and they did not always obtain the reputation they merited, for their effects were sometimes contrary to those which the physicians desired to produce.

At the close of the seventeenth century chemists began to discover the substances to which mineral waters owed their peculiar properties; and, since this happy era, they have made such rapid progress in science, that in the present day we are acquainted with many of these substances. This knowledge we owe to simple and more exact methods of analysis. Nature appears to have favoured in an especial manner the environs of Arequipa with thermal springs to cure those maladies to which its inhabitants are subject. This is, however, no more than might be expected, considering the variety of medicinal ingredients with which the waters become impregnated as they slowly percolate through beds of lava, or issue from the deep recesses of burning mountains.

The baths of Yura are situated in a small and narrow glen, several leagues to the N.N.W. of the city, and only one league from the village of the same name,—which, according to my measurement, is one hundred and seventy Spanish yards (varas) above the square of Arequipa.[65]

The road to the baths is very bad, and, above all, the declivities are so; for the number of stones and narrow windings render it in the highest degree disagreeable, to which the dull uniformity of the landscape also contributes. To the right, all that presents itself to the traveller’s view is the lofty volcano, the contiguous hills being denuded of every blade of vegetation except the cactus Peruvianus, of melancholy aspect, seen here and there along the surrounding slopes; and, if he turn his eye to the left, he looks upon sterile plains cut up by mountain torrents, or a group of hills perfectly arid, of greater or less elevation, and in parts covered with white sand.

The analysis of the waters of Yura was attempted by the celebrated naturalist Haenk in the year ’96; but, this philosopher not having ascertained their constituent parts, I have now the honour of presenting to the public the result of my investigations regarding these waters, and several others which are used by the inhabitants of the city. In the narrow glen of Yura there are two situations in which springs of thermal water present themselves, and the one is distant from the other about one hundred and fifty yards. The first, called _agua de hierro_, or ferruginous water, is on the left-hand side of the road as we come from the Calera; and those springs which are higher up are denominated _agua de azufre_, or sulphurous water. I will begin by giving an account of the _agua de hierro_.

THE FERRUGINOUS WATER.

From a little plane covered with grass, distant from the rivulet three yards, and four from the ash-coloured trachytic rock, water bubbles up at various points, forming large globules, as if boiling. Its temperature is 94° of Fahrenheit, that of the air being 68°. In the corner where these jets are found, there are at short distances small wells of equal temperature, except one at 67°, which is found at the distance of a yard from the principal jet; and it is the more worthy of notice, as it happens to be very near to the water which indicates higher temperature. All these little wells render tribute to the principal one, and to the rivulet; their banks, and the bottom of one of the baths, contain a very fine yellow substance, which is the true oxide of iron. These waters are very transparent, without smell, and with taste half acidulated and astringent; they disengage a gas which, passed through lime-water, or a solution of the acetate of lead, throws down precipitates soluble with effervescence in acetic acid. They redden the tincture of violets and blue paper, which loses its colour on drying, and this proves the existence of a free acid; being agitated, an air is disengaged with noise: all the acids, weak and strong, produce effervescence with these waters. The prussiate of potash, when a little of any acid is added to it, causes in the ferruginous water a blue precipitate, which is the prussiate of iron. Iron-water being boiled, it loses the property of effervescing with the acids, of forming a precipitate with the prussiate of potash, and also its astringency. A bottle of water being evaporated affords, during the operation, a light, white precipitate, and its surface becomes covered with a most delicate film. The operation, if continued to dryness, yields sixteen grains of salts, which I have analyzed. It appeared from the analysis that the iron-water is composed of the following ingredients and proportions.

One bottle, or a pound and a half, of water afforded

Carbonic acid 10½ grains. Muriatic acid 2 Sulphuric acid ¼

A hundred grains of the salts were composed of

Carbonate of magnesia 26 grains. Carbonate of lime 6 Muriate of soda 15 Bicarbonate of soda 40 Sulphate of iron 3 Insoluble matter, consisting of silex and sulphate of lime 8 --- 98 ---

This water greatly resembles, in its contents, that of Selz, Spa, and Carlsbad. The exact quantity of carbonic acid which it disengages could not be ascertained, for want of proper instruments for the purpose. The carbonic acid of the saline parts is sufficient to saturate the lime, magnesia, and soda.

MEDICINAL VIRTUES OF THE FERRUGINOUS WATER OF YURA.

The ferruginous waters are stated by Mr. Rivero, on the authority of Haenk, and of Dr. Vargas of Arequipa, to be tonic, deobstruent, laxative, diuretic, &c.; and, therefore, well calculated to remove general debility, certain forms of hypochondriasis, dyspepsia, and weakness consequent on debauchery.

THE SULPHUROUS WATER.

The jets (los ojos) of this water, as we formerly noticed, are placed above the ferruginous baths, situated in a narrow part formed by the trachyte rock on one hand, and on the opposite side by the _gres_, or sandy soil, which furnishes the carbonate of soda. An oblique fissure, extending to the base of the trachyte rock, serves as a conduit to this thermal water, which unites itself with that which flows from the bottom of the bath named Tigre. A short way from this jet there are others which flow from other clefts, at almost the same degree of temperature.

It is observed that the source of these waters is at some distance in the interior of the rock, and, according to my notions, they hold communication with the _crater_, which emits sulphurous vapours, situated a few paces from the water underneath the very house where the sick repose. With respect to the water, having filled a small well situated at the base of the rock where people drink from, the chief object is to have it conducted to the bathing-pits, or basins. The superfluous water not needed for the baths flows out from them by a small channel; and it goes to join the rivulet, which passes within three yards of the bathing apartment.

The sulphurous water flows out in good quantity, making a peculiar noise, and emitting a smell of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, like that of rotten eggs; which is perceptible at the distance of many paces from the place, when the winds are from the east and west. The disengagement of carbonic acid gas occasions the noise alluded to, through the innumerable bubbles which rise on the surface; and at the same time it occasions a shower of aqueous particles, mixed with sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid gas; its colour is whitish, transparent; and on the walls and canals of the baths, it leaves a whitish substance, somewhat dirty, very fine, which when examined proves to be impure sulphur; its taste is at the same time sweetish and acidulated, but it leaves on the palate the taste of rotten eggs.

In the bathing apartment there are four large reservoirs, or basins, constructed with stone and lime; they are equal in size, communicate the one with the other, and are named Tigre, Sepultura, Desague, and Vejeto: in these reservoirs, however, the temperature of the water is not equal: the first indicates on the thermometer of Fahrenheit 90°, the second 89°, the third 88°, and the fourth 87°; the air of the habitation being 70°. In the place where this water was first discovered, it at present indicates as many as 90°: Haenk, in the year in which he instituted his analysis, observed that it was only 86°, which proves that the temperature has since then increased.

The gas which arises from this water, when collected, extinguishes flame; produces in lime-water a precipitate which dissolves in acetic acid with effervescence; and it precipitates the acetate of lead, of a dirty yellow colour. The water reddens blue paper; but, on drying, it recovers its original colour, a circumstance which proves that there is a free acid: turmeric paper it does not change the colour of, unless its volume has been decreased by evaporation. A few drops of any acid produce effervescence. The nitrate of silver gives a violet-colour precipitate, the acetate of lead a dirty yellow, the muriate of barytes a white, but it is necessary to add to it a few drops of acid; the prussiate of potash produces a blue precipitate, using the precaution to reduce the water, and of adding to it some drops of nitric or muriatic acid. Liquid ammonia renders it turbid, which shows that it contains magnesia; corrosive sublimate produces a half obscure precipitate, which afterwards effervesces with an acid; it instantly coagulates milk, renders wine and the water of peaches or pears turbid, giving rise to effervescence with the three last. A piece of clean silver, if placed in it for some minutes, becomes somewhat black; when agitated, it disengages carbonic acid with precipitation, and all the water is filled with bubbles; when boiled, it loses its smell, it disengages all the free acid, and it no longer reddens blue paper.

Four bottles of this water, when evaporated, have given forty-three grains of salts: during the evaporation the surface became coated with a white film, and a light white substance was precipitated, which consisted of the carbonate of magnesia and lime, abandoned by the carbonic acid which had held them in a state of solution.

One hundred grains, obtained by evaporation, yielded

Insoluble matter composed of silica and sulphate of lime 10 grains.

Carbonate of magnesia 28

Muriate of soda 14

Carbonate of lime 7

Sulphate of iron,—indications of Bicarbonate of soda 39-98

The sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and the carbonic acid disengaged, could not be ascertained, for want of proper apparatus.

The water of the four baths fitted up for the sick is of the same quality with the one here analyzed; with the difference that in the three last its temperature is less, and that it does not disengage in such quantity the sulphuretted hydrogen nor the carbonic acid.

The _new water_ of Haenk, and that from another jet or source which has been more recently discovered, possess the same qualities with those of the baths; differing, however, in this respect, that they do not disengage sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The water recently discovered, of which the temperature is 91°, contains more iron, but not in such quantity as the waters of the ferruginous bath. It is of a somewhat sweetish acidulated taste, and it leaves a certain asperity on the palate. Reagents act upon these in the same way as they do on the sulphurous water.

PECULIARITIES OBSERVABLE IN THE SULPHUROUS WATER BATHS.

Shortly after having entered the bath, the whole body becomes covered with numberless air-globules of a pearly appearance. Some degree of heat and pungency is felt all over the skin; and, soon after immersion in the water, the smell from it ceases to be perceived. It occasions a slight degree of uneasiness in respiration, arising from the large quantity of carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen which arises from its surface.

MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF THE SULPHUROUS WATER.

According to Dr. Don Jose Maria Adriasola y Arve of Arequipa, it has been found by experience, that, since times of remote antiquity, the baths of the sulphurous waters of Yura have produced the most salutary and specific effects in a great variety of cutaneous diseases. In various instances of chronic disorder of the bowels, and dysentery attended with intestinal ulceration and wasting of the general system, or what has been improperly termed intestinal consumption, Dr. Vargas found that these waters restored the healthy action of the digestive organs, kept up a proper cuticular discharge, and radically cured such apparently hopeless cases.

This same water is also allowed to be excellent for the cure of chronic rheumatism, certain deep-seated pains, and contracted joints, &c.

Mr. Rivero gives the following method as that by which invalids are to profit by the use of the sulphurous baths of Yura.

The first four or six baths must be taken in the bathing-places named Desague or Sepultura, which emit less gas and are of lower temperature; for by entering the bath called Tigre, which is the most active, the body experiences a very disagreeable sensation, and at the same time the breast is peculiarly affected.

To be in a fit condition for enjoying the advantages of the bath, the individual must have the stomach empty, be free from fatigue, perspiration, as well as mental emotion of every sort. The bath should not be continued above three quarters of an hour, and in the Tigre one should not remain above twenty or thirty minutes. Should the nature of the disease so require, the invalids may bathe twice a day. A purgative of cream of tartar or Epsom salts should be taken as a preparative for bathing in these baths. Strict attention to diet, daily exercise to favour perspiration, and great care to avoid exposure to damp or chills during the time of taking exercise, or coming from the bath, are requisite precautions.

The effects of these waters are slow of manifesting themselves, and, for this reason, their continued use in many cases is necessary; to their perseverance and constancy in this respect many individuals, now in the enjoyment of perfect health, owe their recovery.

STEAM NAVIGATION.

We have in Vol. I. p. 173, alluded to the prospects of a Steam Navigation along the shores of the Pacific Ocean; and we are now happily able to subjoin a few statements on this subject, for the perusal of such of our readers as may not have seen the report of the British merchants and residents at Lima and Callao, upon the subject of opening through Panama a direct communication between Great Britain and the western coast of South America.[66]

The first meeting on this interesting subject was held in Lima on the 12th of August 1836; and on the 7th of September, at a public meeting, the report of the British Merchant Committee was unanimously approved, and ordered to be printed and circulated in English and Spanish. From a pamphlet, accompanied with documents which detail the general plan of the intended operations of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, printed by J. M. Masias, in Lima, we extract the following authentic information regarding the “Statistics of Trade, and the favourable influence of Steam Navigation.”

“It is only since the dynasty of Spain ceased to exist in South America, that the shores of the Pacific have been thrown open to foreign commerce; and, when it is considered how much these countries have suffered from continued revolutionary convulsions, the rapid advance of commerce and trade is somewhat extraordinary. The following statement of imports is from the best data which could be obtained.

British 12,000,000 dollars. North American 2,500,000 French 1,500,000 Peninsular 1,000,000 Germany, and other places on the continent 1,250,000 China, Bengal, and Manilla 750,000 Brazil and Buenos Ayres 300,000 ---------- Total 19,300,000 dollars. ----------

“Of which there is consumed

In Chile 4,500,000 dollars. Peru and Bolivia 7,500,000 Equador and New Granada 1,500,000 Central America 2,000,000 Mexico and California 3,800,000 ---------- Total 19,300,000 dollars. ----------

“The whale fishery of the Pacific may be estimated as follows:

North American 12,500,000 dollars. British 5,000,000 French 3,000,000 ---------- Total 20,500,000 dollars. ----------

“The whole interest involved, including the Pacific whale fishery, amounts to nearly forty millions of dollars.

“The beneficial influence of steam navigation along the shores of the Pacific, and the opening a communication with Europe and North America, _viâ_ Panama, are subjects of deep interest, not only to those engaged in commerce with the Pacific, but also to the whole commercial world.

“The present state of communication is long and tedious between Peru and Great Britain; it may be averaged at about four months; while, by the proposed route, it will be reduced to little more than one-third that period, viz.

Lima to Panama 6 days. Pacific to Atlantic 1 Isthmus to Jamaica, by steam, 3 Jamaica to England 36 -- Total number of days 46 --

“By substituting steam navigation between Jamaica and England, the voyage from Great Britain to Peru could be performed in little more than a month.

“The security which will be given to commerce by this prompt communication, the facilities afforded to merchants in realizing the proceeds of their shipments, the consequent increase of trade, the regularity of advices along the shores of the Pacific, so desirable for British commerce,—are points of universal interest. To the squadrons stationed in those seas an immense advantage will also be gained by the facility of communication and the increased efficiency of their operations. The moral influence to be effected will tend to strengthen and sustain the governments of the respective states against the usurpation of revolutionary demagogues.”

We further beg leave to add, on the same very good authority, the following valuable remarks for the information of those who are unacquainted with the localities of Panama, and the difficulties and facilities to be met with in crossing the Isthmus.

“The seasons are distinguished by rainy season and dry season. From June to November constitutes the former; from November to June the latter. During the rainy season, the journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic can be performed in two days; while, in the dry season, twenty-four hours only are necessary: from the Atlantic to the Pacific, during the rainy season, three days are required; and in the dry season it can be accomplished in two days. This difference is owing to the swelling of the river produced by rains. The journey from Panama to Cruces is performed on mules, being a distance of twenty-one miles, over a bad but not a dangerous road. In Cruces, there are canoes of all sizes always in readiness, in which passengers embark, and descend the river to Chagres, the sea-port of the Isthmus, where they re-embark on board the first vessel which suits their convenience.

“The transit of the Isthmus during the dry season is neither inconvenient nor unpleasant: the canoes are covered; provisions, fruits, &c. are abundant along the banks of the river; the temperature, though warm, is perfectly healthy, and there is always personal security. During the rains you are subject to great exposure and consequent illness; but were a good road once opened, and a steamer on the river, there would be no danger at any season, and the journey from sea to sea could be accomplished in _eight or nine hours_, without the slightest inconvenience.”

ECCLESIASTICAL JUBILEE.

The following authentic document we have carefully translated from the Spanish; and, having already referred to it, (vol. i. p. 132,) we now offer no comment on its contents.

We, Dr. Don Jorje de Benavente, Archbishop Elect of Lima, &c. to our clergy, religious communities, and all the faithful residing in and inhabiting this our diocese.

Forasmuch as our most holy father Gregory XVI, Roman Pontiff, and visible head of the Universal Church, moved by the pastoral vigilance and paternal love becoming a successor of St. Peter, has condescended to grant a general jubilee to the whole Catholic world, with a view that the common penitence and prayer of the faithful may obtain from the Father of Mercies and God of all consolation the cessation of the weighty ills that affect the spouse of J. C.; the supreme government of this republic, always zealous for the exact observance of the holy religion which we profess, has given the corresponding pass to the Brief, which with this object his Holiness has despatched, of which the tenor is as follows:

The Pontiff Gregory XVI. to all the faithful Christians who shall see the present letters, health and apostolical benediction.

After having taken solemn possession of the pontificate in the Basilic of the Lateran, we have written many times to our venerable brothers the patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, concerning the calamities of the Church; encouraging them to oppose with all their might, like walls of Israel, those snares with which, to our great sorrow, she is beset. For the same purpose, also, we have admonished them that they should raise their eyes and hands to the mountain from whence we expect assistance; certain that, with the favour of Him who governs the winds and the sea, tranquillity will be procured, and that the divine mercy descends when the humble prayer ascends to God.

But seeing that the conspiracy of the wicked everywhere gains ground, and that the tempest even increases, we have resolved that in all the Church prayers be publicly offered; by this means opening up the treasure of celestial gifts, to the end that the consciences being regulated and purified in a holy manner from the uncleanness of transgressions, prayers themselves may be rendered more agreeable and acceptable to God, ascending to his presence as a delicate perfume.

It has been an ancient custom of the Romish Church, observed by our predecessors, not only in the commencement of their supreme pontificate, but always when the Lord chastened his people, to resort to the prayers of the community, and to rouse all to penitence by freely opening for them the sacred treasury of the indulgences; with a view that, detesting their iniquities, and humbly making confession of them, they should with confidence draw near to the Throne of Grace, that is to God, who is magnanimous to pardon, and refuses not his mercies even when he is provoked. With this example before us, we, after calling on the Father of Mercies with constant and fervent prayer, promulgate throughout the whole Catholic world an indulgence in the form of a general jubilee; cheerfully hoping that the Author of all comfort shall shorten the days of tribulation, so that, the storm having entirely ceased, the peace of the Church may be firmly established, and public happiness everywhere restored.

Hence, confiding in the mercy of Almighty God, and in the authority of the blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul,—and exercising the power to bind and unbind, which, though of ourselves unworthy, the Lord conceded to us,—we have resolved to concede, and we do grant by the tenor of these presents, full indulgence (such as it has been customary to concede on the year of jubilee) of all their sins to all and to each of the Christians of both sexes residing in and entering into this our capital (Rome), who in the term of three weeks current from the fourth Sunday of Advent,—that is, from the 23rd day of this month, December, till the 13th inclusive of the following January, on which falls the first Sunday after the Epiphany,—and on the eighth day of the same, shall have twice visited the Basilics of St. John of Lateran, of the chief of the Apostles, and of St. Mary la Mayor, or one of these at least, and there will have devoutly prayed for some time, and fasted Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of one of the said weeks; and within the same period, having confessed their sins, will have received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and may have given the poor some charity, as to each individual his devotion may dictate: moreover to all the faithful Christians existing in all parts without our capital we concede plenary indulgence, provided they shall have twice visited all or some one of the churches, which may be assigned to them by the local ordinaries, or their vicars or officers, or others under their orders; and, in their default, by the curates of souls, after these our letters may have reached their notice;—it being further required that they should have practised with devotion the other foresaid works in the space of three weeks, to be fixed upon by the churches.

In like manner we concede that voyagers and travellers may enjoy the same indulgence immediately that, on returning to their homes, they put in practice the above-named works, and visit twice the cathedral church, either the greater or parochial, of the place of their residence. We also grant to the regulars of both sexes who live in perpetual seclusion, and all laical persons who, from being in gaols or prisons, or on account of corporeal infirmity, or any other impediment, shall not be able to practise all or any of the works mentioned, that a confessor of those actually approved by the local ordinaries may commute these works into others of a pious kind, or prorogue them to some other early period, and impose on them those which the penitents themselves can exercise; and that he may also dispense the communion to children who shall have never communicated.

We further concede licence and authority to all and to each of the faithful Christians, seculars or regulars, of whatever order or institute, though the particular denomination should be specified, that they may choose, for the expressed object, any confessor, secular or regular, of those actually approved by the ordinaries, (as also to the nuns, who may choose any confessor of those approved for them, whether the nun be a novitiate or a profesa,) who can absolve them, and liberate them at the tribunal of conscience, and for this time only, from the censures of excommunication, suspension, and other ecclesiastical penalties, for whatever reason enjoined or imposed, either _jure vel ab homine_; and also from all their sins, excesses, crimes, and delinquencies, however grave and enormous they may be, even when they shall have been especially reserved to the local ordinaries, or to us and the apostolical chair, and whose absolution on the other hand should not be considered as granted in the most ample concession; moreover, they may commute into other pious and salutary works all manner of vows, though these may have been made with an oath, and the power of dispensation regarding them reserved to the apostolic chair,—always excepting the vow of religion and chastity, and the bonds (obligatorios) accepted by a third person, or from the commutation of which an injury would follow to another, as also those penal acts which are called preservatives from sin,—unless the future commutation be presumed to be not less sufficient to separate from sin than the first matter of the vow, imposing salutary penance in the above-said cases, and such other particulars as the confessor may be pleased to enjoin.

But not on this account is it our pleasure to give dispensation by these presents in any other public or private irregularity, nor in any defect, stigma, incapacity, or ineptitude, in whatever way contracted; or to confer authority of dispensation therein, or to qualify and restore such delinquents to their former state, even in the tribunal of conscience; nor to derogate the constitution, _sacramentum penitentiæ_, published with its corresponding explanation by our predecessor of happy memory, Benedict XIV; nor that these letters can or ought to avail in any way those who by us and the apostolic chair, or by any prelate or ecclesiastical judge, may have been expressly excommunicated, suspended, interdicted, or publicly denounced as liable to spiritual animadversion,—unless within the term of the three specified weeks they give satisfaction to, or come to an understanding with, the parties concerned.

Thus then, by the tenor of these presents, and the ineluctable obligation of holy obedience, we strictly enjoin all our venerable brethren, the patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and all other prelates in the churches, and all ordinaries wheresoever, their vicars and officers, and failing of these, the curates of souls, to the end that when they receive transcripts of these letters, or printed copies thereof, and moved by circumstances of time and place, find it convenient in the Lord to publish the same, they may so publish and cause them to be published in their churches, dioceses, provinces, cities, towns, territories, and places; and having, as far as in them lies, prepared the minds of the people by the preaching of the divine word, may designate the churches and the time whereat and wherein this jubilee may be obtained; all constitutions and apostolical briefs to the contrary notwithstanding,—especially those in which the power of absolution in the cases therein expressed is reserved to the R. P. for the time being,—so that the concessions of such like indulgences and powers, or of any other kind, may be of use to no one, unless express mention or special derogation be made thereof: notwithstanding, moreover, the rule of not conceding indulgences after the manner of this letter, and the statutes and customs of any order, congregation, or institute whatsoever, although the same should be corroborated by oath and apostolic confirmation, or any other form of stability whatsoever; notwithstanding, moreover, the privileges and pardons in whatever way conceded, approved, and renewed by apostolic letters in favour of the said orders, congregations, institutes, and individuals thereunto belonging. For as much as touching all and each of the above, (and notwithstanding that express and special mention should be made thereof and the tenor thereof, and not by general expressions to the same effect, or that some other particular form ought to be used with regard to them,) holding their tenor to be sufficiently expressed in these letters, and the prescriptions thereof duly observed, we do for this particular time nominally and expressly annul and derogate them, as well as everything that may appear to the contrary, to the end that the foregoing concession may have its due effect.

And with a view that these letters, which cannot be forwarded to every situation, may yet easily reach the notice of all, we desire that to their transcripts, or printed copies, provided they be signed by some notary public, and sealed with the seal of some person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, may be given in all parts, and by all, the same credit as to the originals, if these shall be shown to them.

Given at St. Peter’s in Rome, sealed with the ring of the Sovereign Pontiff, on the 2nd December 1832, the second year of our pontificate.

For Cardinal ALBANO,

A. PICHONI, Substitute.

Lima, September 5th, 1834.—Examined with the exposition of the council of state on the 3rd instant. If the Metropolitan doubts not the authenticity of this brief, he shall cause it to be published in this diocese and the other bishoprics, with this express qualification, namely—without prejudice of the jurisdiction and innate powers of the episcopate.—To this effect let it be returned, retaining a certified copy.—A rubric of his excellency P. O. and of the secretary of state—Leon.

For the reasons expressed,—satisfied of the authenticity of the said brief, and in fulfilment of what is therein ordained, we order it to be published, and in effect we do publish it with due solemnity, as well in this capital as in all the curacies or parishes of our diocese; and we ordain and command that from the 2nd of October first, till the 7th of December, spiritual exercises shall be successively performed in the churches of Santo Domingo, San Pedro, San Agustin, La Merced, San Francisco, San Lazaro, and Santuario de Cocharcas, the distribution of which will be separately assigned, so that the faithful may be prepared to gain the holy jubilee according to and in the manner expressed in the proclaimed brief.

The jubilee will be opened and commence on the second Sunday of Advent; on which occasion will be said in this holy cathedral church a solemn mass, with a sermon, at which all the clergy and religious community will assist; after the conclusion of which the hymn, Veni Creator, will be sung: and from this day to the 27th of December inclusive, will expire the three weeks designated by his Holiness for gaining the jubilee, which shall be concluded with a solemn mass as an act of thanks, which will be said in the same manner as the first; and the same will be practised in the other churches as best may be.

To gain the jubilee in this capital, we fix upon the churches of the Cathedral, Santo Domingo, San Francisco, San Pedro, San Agustin, La Merced, and La Parroquia de San Lazaro, which the faithful shall visit twice, or at least one of the said churches, during the three weeks indicated; at the same time putting in practice whatever else the brief requires.

In the suburbs the jubilee will be published, and it will be gained on the same days as in this capital.

In the other parishes of this archbishopric, the three weeks of the jubilee will run from Passion Sunday to Saturday _in Albis_ inclusive, of 1835; in consideration that this is the most proper time, for, during it, all the faithful congregate in the parochial capitals to comply with the annual precept of the Church.

To gain the jubilee in the suburbs and other parishes of the archbishopric, we assign the parochial churches, which the faithful shall visit twice, taking care to do whatever else his Holiness prescribes.

With respect to the religious communities of either sex, the sick, imprisoned, voyagers and travellers, it will be according to the literal tenor of the brief cited. And that it may come to the notice of all the faithful of this archbishopric, this our edict shall be fixed on all the doors of the churches; and the necessary copies shall be remitted to all the prelates and parish priests of the archbishopric.

Given in Lima, sealed with the seal of our office, and countersigned by our secretary, on the 26th September 1834.

Signed,

JORJE (George), Archbishop elect, of Lima. DR. MANUEL GARATE, Secretary.

LANCE’S ADIEU TO LIMA.

The following lines, with the notes annexed, were written under circumstances of great bodily and mental suffering in the year 1833, when the learned and very accomplished gentleman who penned them proposed to return to his native country. They were inscribed by him to his friends, among whom it has long been the author’s happiness to have occupied a favoured place. The notes are not only illustrative of the “Adieu to Lima,” but also of several incidental remarks contained in the preceding pages—especially of the interesting ruins of Pachacamac alluded to in vol. i. page 144.

I.

Welcome, thou heaving dark blue Sea! Thy luckless child am I; Thine island-child was nurs’d by thee Beneath the northern sky;

II.

In that proud land—baptiz’d of old To freedom in thy waves— Confirm’d in glory—steel-ribb’d hold Of men who’ll ne’er be slaves.

III.

On southern shores I’ve linger’d long, My life is waning fast; And Sorrow, with her forked tongue, Has struck me down at last.

IV.

I’ll fling me on my mother’s breast, The sweeping dark blue Sea: O bear me to my island-nest, To die among the free!

V.

Land of the Incas, fare thee well! Thy valé soon is told: I would no longer in thee dwell For Huascar’s chain of gold![67]

VI.

Thy sceptre erst was sway’d by kings,— They could not hold it firm;— But now thy children crouch to things More worthless than the worm.

VII.

Away! I will not stop to mourn Thy sorrows or thy shame; Nor tell what anguish I have borne Since to thy shores I came.

VIII.

Let Indian pipe, so meek and low,[68] Bemoan thine Incas’ fall; And Indian maid, with garb of woe,[69] Her country’s wrongs recall:

IX.

And, sadder still, the cuculi[70] Complain in ev’ry vale, When ev’ning with her dewy eye Brings round the hour of wail.

X.

I’ll fling me on my mother’s breast, The sweeping dark blue Sea: O bear me to my island-nest, To die among the free!

XI.

Like silver bells, yon snowy peaks[71] Are hung upon the clouds! ’Tis sweet to see when morning breaks, And strips them of their shrouds.

XII.

’Tis sweet to see ’midst orange rows The spires of Lima wind; But sweeter far than these or those, To leave them all behind!

XIII.

Then wherefore does my bosom heave? Why starts th’ unbidden tear? Some scenes there are ’tis hard to leave, Some friends my soul holds dear!

XIV.

Thou good-man’s eyrie, on the rock![72] From thee I’m loth to part! With names belov’d in mem’ry’s book Sure thou recorded art!

XV.

There, with my friend, full many an hour Of cank’ring care I’d cheat; Or range the ample corridor, The balmy breeze to greet!

XVI.

Or gaze on Pachacamac’s height,[73] As peal’d the evening gun; And see its mystic form dilate Against the setting sun!

XVII.

And thou, dear Garden, ’neath thy bowers[74] How swift the moments flew! They pass’d the sweetness of thy flowers, Though steep’d in evening dew!

XVIII.

Like stars that seek each other’s light,[75] To form, as poets sing, A path for gods, and o’er the night Their mingled radiance fling:

XIX.

E’en so we cluster’d there, with souls That friendship made but one:— But hark! my knell of parting tolls,— Sweet friends, I must be gone.

XX.

I’ll fling me on my mother’s breast, The sweeping dark blue sea: O bear me to my island-nest, To die among the free!

FOOTNOTES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[9] From _pexe_, fish; _buey_, ox.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXTERIOR PROPORTIONS OF THE LLAMA.

Feet. In. Lines.

From the crown of the head to the extremity of the sacral bone 6 5 0

The coccyx or tail has of length 1 0 0

From the upper lip to the crown of the head measures 1 1 0

Length of the ear 0 6 6

Length of the neck from its first to its last vertebra 2 5 0

Anterior height, measured from the base of the fore-foot to the edge of the shoulder-blade parallel with the spine 5 5 0

Posterior height, measured from the base of the hind-foot to the spine of the sacral bone 3 6 0

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ayanque, in his picture of Lima, correctly says,

Veras borricos de alfalfa Y borricos capacheros, Borricos cargando harina, Piedra, cal, ladrillo y yeso. Veras borricos volar Al son del latigo huyendo.—Translator.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arequipa. Lima. Quito. In the year 1582 1586 1587 1604 1630 1645 1687 1687 1698 1715 1746 1757 1784 1806 1797

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

In Quito. Cotopaxi, 1534, 1742, 1744. Pichincha, 1539, 1566, 1577, 1660. In Arequipa. Quinistacas, 1600.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE END.

LONDON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, Dorset Street, Fleet Street.