The viceroyalty of Peru is far from being the
largest, or the richest of the Spanish American
governments, as since the dismemberment of several
of its most important provinces it has become of
very little comparative importance; to its name is
however attached the most interesting recollections,
and as the empire of its Incas was formerly the
most renowned, the history of its conquest the most
extraordinary, and its ancient splendour the greatest,
we have judged it proper to place the general
outline of the most important historical relations
regarding ancient and modern South America, with
the particular description of those of Peru.
Peru is bounded on the north by the southern
provinces of Quito, Maynas, Jaen de Bracamaros,
and Guayaquil; on the west by the Pacific Ocean;
on the east, by the Portuguese possessions, and the
provinces of Buenos Ayres; and on the south, by
the government of Chili and the viceroyalty of La
Plata. It was formerly the most extensive kingdom
of South America, but in the year 1718 the provinces
of Quito in the north, as far as the river
Tumbez, were annexed to the government of New
Granada, and in 1778, Potosi, and several other
of its richest districts on the east were annexed to
the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres; its present extent
is therefore from the Rio Tumbez, in 3° 30'
south latitude, to the chain of Vilcanota, in 15°
south latitude, or 690 geographical miles, while
along its coast this length maybe prolonged to 375
more; its medial breadth, not including the Pampas
del Sacramento, is nearly eighty, so that its
area may be estimated at 33,630 square leagues, or
according to Humboldt, only at 30,000.
Its eastern settlements bound on Colonna, or the
land of the Missions, the Pampas del Sacramento,
and the savage nations of the Pajonal, a vast steppe
covered with long grass.
Peru is divided into seven intendancies, viz.
Truxillo, Tarma, Huancavelica, Lima, Guamanga,
Arequipa and Cuzco, each of which is governed by
an intendant, nominated by the viceroy, a nobleman
of the highest rank, who is sent from Spain,
and whose appointment is one of the first consequence
in Spanish America.
The population of Peru may be estimated at
1,300,000, of which 130,000 are whites, 240,000,
mestizoes, and the remainder Indians and negroes,
the latter of whom are in very small numbers.
The missionary lands to the east have not been
included in this statement; of them we shall have
occasion to speak hereafter.
In Peru the revenue is derived from the duties on
imports, exports, gold, silver, tobacco, liquors, the
capitation tax on the Indians, taxes on the clergy,
&c. It is said to amount to 1,083,000l. annually,
and it remits, in prosperous times, to Spain for the
royal coffers, 216,600l., to Panama, 70,000l., to
Valdivia in Chili, 3750l., and to the island of Chiloe
a similar sum to defray the expences of their several
administrations. The net revenue of the colony,
after defraying these sitaudos, or remittances, does
not amount to more than is sufficient to settle the
expenses of its own internal government.
The salary of the viceroy is 12,600l. a small
sum, but which is assisted by the monopoly of certain
manufactures, by grants, and by the colonial
situations and titles he can confer.
Peru is the seat of two royal audiences, that of
Lima and that of Cuzco. The audience of Lima
was established in 1543, and is composed of a regent,
eight oidores or judges, four alcaldes, and
two fiscals, the viceroy being president. It is divided
into three chambers, and is the superior court
of appeal for the whole government. The royal
treasury is the next great office of state, composed
of the viceroy, the regent of the council, the dean
of the tribunal of accounts, and other officers, and
the revenue appeals are determined by the tribunal
of accounts.
Commerce.—The commerce of Peru is important,
and on account of the number of fine ports along
its coast, it may be styled the maritime province of
the South American states.
The trade flows through three channels; by the
straits of Magellan from Europe, through the
North Pacific from India and Mexico, or Guatimala;
and through the interior with the southern
provinces of Chili and Buenos Ayres. Since the
trade was unshackled in 1778, its exports and imports
have doubled, and the principal branch
of its commerce is that carried on round Cape
Horn.
The exports of Peru are chiefly gold, silver,
brandies, sugar, pimento, cinchona, salt, vicuna
wool, coarse woollens, and other trifling manufactures.
Its imports are European goods, linens, cottons,
woollens, silks, iron, hardware, superfine cloths,
mercury, wax, paper, glass, medicines, wines,
liqueurs, books and furniture: from Buenos Ayres
it receives Paraguay tea, live stock and provisions,
and from the other internal provinces, coca leaf,
indigo, tallow, cacao, timber, cordage, pitch and
copper.
Chili also supplies Lima with grain and fruits
in immense quantities, and salted meat, soap, wine,
copper, saffron, &c.
The ports of Peru which are most frequented,
are those named Arica, Ilo, Iquique, and Quilca,
in the intendancy of Arequipa, and Pisco, on the
south of Lima; Chancay and Guacho in Lima; and
Guanchaco, Pacasmayo, and Payta, in Truxillo, on
the north.
With the southern ports, the trade is in wine,
brandy, iron, dried fruits, copper, tin, lead, &c.;
with the northern, in wool, cotton, leather, chocolate,
rice and salted fish.
To the Rio de la Plata, the exports are maize,
sugar, brandy, pimento, indigo and woollens;
these exports are said to amount to 2,000,000
dollars annually, and the imports from that government,
to 860,000, consisting in mules, sheep,
hams, tallow, wool, coca leaf, Paraguay tea and
tin; and 20,000 mules arrive annually from Tucuman,
for the service of the Peruvian mines.
A great trade is also carried on with Guayaquil and
Guatimala, but with Panama it is almost
nothing.
From the Philippine islands, muslins, tea, and
other East Indian goods, are imported, amounting
to 270,230 dollars annually, in return for
about 2,790,000, exported to Asia, in silver and
gold.
The produce of the mines of Peru, including
those of Chili, is about 1,730,000l. annually, whilst
the value of European goods imported, is nearly
2,492,000l. in the same period; and the value of
the agricultural produce exported, of Peru and
Chili, is 866,000l.
In this country the population is much scattered,
and composed of castes who have the greatest
distrust of each other, the Indians being the most
numerous, and leading a life of indolence and
apathy; the natural resources of this fine region
are unheeded; and its commerce, far from being
restricted by the government, suffers only from the
inactivity of its inhabitants.
Mines.—The mines, which in general are very
rich, are very ill worked, and often abandoned
from trivial causes; and the quicksilver necessary
to obtain the metal from the ore, is procured
in insufficient quantities, no exertions being
made to clear the mines of that valuable substance,
which exists in the greatest profusion in
the country.
The mines which produce the greatest quantity
of valuable metals, are those of Lauricocha, the province
of Tarma, commonly called the mines of Pasco
in the Cerro de Bombon, or high-table-land, in which
is the small lake De los Reyes, to the south of
the Cerro de Yauricocha; those of Gualgayoc,
or Chota, in Truxillo, and the mines of Huantajaya.
The mines of Pasco were discovered by Huari
Capac, an Indian, in 1630; they alone furnish
two millions of piastres annually, and are at an
elevation of more than 13,000 feet above the level
of the sea; the metalliferous bed appears near the
surface, the shafts being not more than from 90 to
400 feet in depth; water then makes its appearance,
and causes great expence in clearing it. The bed
is 15,747 feet long, and 7217 feet in breadth,
and would produce, if worked by steam, as much
as Guanaxuato in Mexico; its average annual produce
is however 131,260 lbs. troy.
Gualgayoc and Micuipampa, commonly called
Chota, were discovered in 1771, by Don Rodriguez
de Ocaño a European; but in the time of the
Incas, the Peruvians worked some silver vein, near
the present town of Micuipampa.
Immense wealth has been discovered at Fuentestiana,
at Comolache and Pampa de Navar; at
the last of which, wherever the turf is moved, for
more than half a square league, sulphuretted and
native silver, in filaments, are found adhering to
the roots of the grasses, and it is also occasionally
discovered in large masses.
All the mines in the partido of Chota, comprehended
under the name of Gualgayoc, have furnished
the provincial treasury of Truxillo, with
44,095lbs. troy of silver annually; these minerals
are richer than those of Potosi, and are discovered
mostly at the height of 13,385 feet.
The mines of Huantajaya are surrounded with
beds of rock salt, and are celebrated for the quantity
of native masses of silver they produce. They
are situated in the partido of Arica, near the
small port of Yquique, in a desart destitute of
water, and furnish an annual supply of from 42 to
52,000lbs. troy. Two masses, which were discovered
here lately, weighed, one, two, and the
other eight quintals.
Gold was formerly procured by the Incas in the
plains of Curimayo, north-east of the city of Caxamarca,
at more than 11,154 feet above the sea. It has
also been extracted from the right bank of the Rio
de Micuipampa, between Cerro de San Jose, and the
plain called Choropampa, or the Plain of Shells;
so named, on account of a vast quantity of petrified
sea shells, found there, at the absolute height
of more than 13,123 feet.
At present, the Peruvian gold comes partly
from Pataz and Huilies, in Tarma, and is extracted
from veins of quartz, traversing primitive rock,
and partly from washings established on the banks
of the Maranon Alto, in Chachapoyas.
Cobalt, antimony, coal and salt, exist in this
country; but as they are, with the exception of
the latter, chiefly found in the mountain regions,
the high price of carriage prevents their useful
qualities from being brought into general use.
The coinage of gold and silver in the royal
mint of Lima, between 1791 and 1801, amounted
to 5,466,000l. or 1,113,000l. per annum; of which
3450 marcs were gold, and 570,000 silver.
The number of gold mines and washings worked
in Peru is about 70, and the number of silver
mines 680, which includes all the different
works on the same spot. Of quicksilver, four
mines exist, with four of copper, and twelve of
lead.
Emeralds and other precious stones are found in
this country, with obsidian, and the stone of the
Incas, a marcasite capable of the highest polish.
Climate, Features, &c.—The climate of Peru is
singularly various. The mountains which extend
on the west side of America, cause a division of
this country into three distinct parts, the maritime
valleys, the barren summits, and the plains or uplands
between the ridges. The chain of the
Andes, arresting the clouds, which dissolve on
the mountain districts into rain and vapours, accompanied
with storms of thunder and lightning,
whilst between 5° and 15° south latitude, on the
coast, rain is unknown, and the dry winds from
the Antarctic constantly pervade this region, from
the desert of Atacama to the gulf of Guayaquil, a
distance of 400 leagues. In this tract, the houses
are covered only with mats, sprinkled with ashes,
to absorb the night dews, and the soil, being
moistened only by these dews, is rather sandy and
barren.
On the uplands vegetation nourishes, and to the
height of 10,000 feet, the Sierra or High Peru,
enjoys a climate composed of a mixture of perpetual
spring and autumn. Beyond 14,000 feet,
the Sierra is covered with eternal snows, and
consequently an everlasting winter reigns in its
neighbourhood.
The cultivation of these different tracts is little
attended to; along the coast, desarts of thirty or
forty leagues in extent are frequent; and the immense
forests which cover the maritime plains,
prove that the inhabitants are not numerous; these
forests contain acacias, mangle trees, arborescent
brooms and ferns, aloes, and other succulent
plants, cedars, cotton or ceiba trees of gigantic
growth, many kinds of ebony, and other useful
woods, ten or twelve species of palms, and the
maria, an enormous tree used in ship building.
These forests are thickest at the distance of seven
or eight leagues from the coast, and the trees then
become covered with parasitical plants, which reach
to their very top, mixing their beautiful and lively
flowers with the dark green foliage, so peculiar to
the tropics.
In the forests and in the plains of the coast, are
found the cabbage palm, the cocoa nut, the cacao
nut, the cotton shrub, the pine apple, canna, amomum,
turmeric, plantain, sugar cane, &c., on the
sides of the Andes, and in its great plains, are the
precious cinchona, coffee tree, the cardana alliodora,
a large tree, whose leaves and wood emit an
odour resembling garlic. Twenty-four species of
pepper, five or six of capsicum, and several of potato,
tobacco and jalap exist in Peru, and the
green and hot houses of Europe owe most of their
beautiful flowers and plants to this country.
The llama, the guanuco, the vicuna, and the alpaca,
or the different species of American camel,
find their native climate in the cold districts of
Peru; the jaguar, the cougar or puma, and several
other wild animals, inhabit the thick forests; while
the elk, the ant-bear, deer, monkeys, the great black
bear of the Andes, and armadillos, &c., are
very numerous. The woods abound in beautiful
birds, the rivers in fish and alligators, and numerous
tribes of reptiles infest the warm districts of the
coast, in which venomous insects are also common.
The mountains of Peru do not yield in height to
those of Quito, the great chain of the Andes dividing
itself into several parallel branches, forming
as in Quito, long and narrow valleys, near its summits;
it is very precipitous towards the east, and
seems to form a natural barrier between the kingdoms
of La Plata and Peru. It here gives birth
to the Maranon, the Guallaga, the Tunguragua,
and a variety of smaller rivers, which either lose
themselves in these or in the Pacific Ocean.
The history of Peru in the remote ages is not so
clearly ascertained as that of Mexico; traditions
were not handed down to posterity as in that country
by symbolical paintings, but were remembered
only by means of the quippus, a knotted string of
different colours, or by the priests who were brought
up from their youth in temples, where the history
of the nation was one of the objects of the care of
their elders in their instruction.
Although it is doubtful which nation had advanced
to the greatest state of civilization, it is certain
that the Mexicans had the most correct chronological
notions; and accordingly, the æras of their early history
are the most to be depended on. From what
country the ancient Peruvians migrated is not
known; they were however of a character widely
different from the Mexicans, and have been conjectured
by some authors to have come from the
south-east.
They remained for a length of time without any
decided form of government, until they were subdued
by a tribe who were said to have come from
an island in a great lake to the south of Peru. These
people were warlike and totally different in their
manners from the Peruvians, who were merely
tribes of wandering inoffensive savages. According
to some authors Manco Capac, and Mama
Oello his wife were the conquerors of Peru, appearing
on the banks of lake Chucuito, clothed in
flowing garments, and whiter than the natives whom
they came amongst; they gave themselves out as
children of the sun, sent by that divinity to reclaim
and instruct mankind. Awed by the presence of
these people, the rude savages followed them till
they settled at Cuzco, where they founded a town,
afterwards the capital of Peru. Persuading the
tribes who wandered over the country to collect
around them, Manco Capac, instructed the men
in agricultural and other useful arts, while Mama
Oello taught the females to weave and spin. After
securing the objects of primary importance, those
of providing food, raiment and habitations for his
followers, Manco Capac turned his attention towards
framing laws for their government, in order
to perpetuate the good work he had begun. He
constituted himself their sovereign and high priest,
enacted a law that no one but his descendants were
to fill this post, that they were to be held sacred, and
looked upon as inferior only to the planet from
whom they sprung.
At first his territories embraced only a few
leagues in extent round the capital, but these were
rapidly enlarged from the mild and beneficent effects
of his patriarchal government.
He was now styled by his subjects Capac, or
rich in virtue; he founded the temple of the sun at
Cuzco, which was to be served only by virgins of
royal descent. This monarch lived among his people
for a number of years and then suddenly disappeared.
His successors increased the boundaries
of their territories by the force of their arms, and by
the greater force of persuasion, backed by the
mildest exercise of their royal functions.
These monarchs were styled Incas, and were distinguished
by a peculiar dress and ornaments, which
none of their subjects dared to assume; they were
adored by the Peruvians, who looked upon them as
the sons and vicegerents of the divinity they worshipped.
This unbounded power of the Incas was
unaccompanied by any ill effects, as their attention
was uniformly exerted for the good of their subjects,
in extending the benefits of civilization, and
knowledge of the arts introduced by their founder.
It seems highly probable that such a person as
Manco Capac existed, and that he introduced the
measures we have related, but it is also most probable
that he was accompanied by followers who
carried his dictates into effect among the rude Peruvians,
and therefore the supposition that these
people were conquered by a superior and warlike
tribe from the south, is by no means improbable,
as at the present day, there exist several tribes in
the southern forests, who are more civilized than
the modern Peruvians, and who have successfully
resisted the invasion of the Spaniards. The successor
of Manco Capac, who died in the latter
end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth
century, was his son Sinchi Roca, or the brave,
who extended his dominions sixty miles south of
Cuzco. The third Inca was Lloque Yupanqui, who
further extended the territories of Cuzco and reduced
several tribes; the fourth was Maita Capac, who
also added to the empire, and erected several splendid
edifices; the fifth, Capac Yupanqui, was another
conqueror; the sixth, Inca Roca, subdued many
small districts; the seventh was named Yahuar
Huacac; the eighth, Inca Ripac, and who had an
army of 30,000 men; he conquered many provinces,
and obliged the chief of Tucuman to pay
him homage; the ninth was Inca Urca, who was
deposed after he had reigned eleven days; he was
succeeded by Pachacutec, who subdued Jauja,
Tarma, and other provinces; the eleventh was
Yupanqui, who carried his conquests to the river
Maule, in Chili, and over the Mojos far to the
east of the Andes; the twelfth, Tupac Yupanqui,
conquered several districts in Quito; and the
thirteenth, Huayna Capac, subdued the kingdom
of Lican or Quito, and established himself in the
capital. His history has been related in the historical
description of that province. On his death-bed
he divided Quito and Peru between his sons;
but Inti Cusi Hualpa, or Huascar, was declared
Inca; he fought a bloody battle with his brother
Atahualpa, and was taken prisoner, on which Atahualpa
or Atabalipa, invested himself with the
regal fillet, and was proclaimed fifteenth Inca of the
Peruvians. On his being killed by Pizarro, Manco
Capac was crowned by permission of that general,
but revolted from the allegiance he had vowed to
Spain, and retiring to the mountains, is supposed
to have died about 1553. The seventeenth and
last of the Incas, was Sayri Tupac, who resigned
his sovereignty to Philip the Eleventh of Spain,
and died a christian, leaving only one daughter,
who married Onez de Loyola, a Spanish knight,
from whom descend the Marquesses of Oropesa
and Alcanises. Manco Capac, the Second, left
several children, one of whom, Tupac Amaru, was
the oldest, and was beheaded by the Spaniards, on
pretence of his having assumed the imperial fillet.
The discovery of Peru by the Europeans takes
its date from the latter end of the reign of Huana
Capac in 1524, when three inhabitants of the city
of Panama entered into an association for the
purpose of exploring the continent south of the
isthmus of Darien. Don Francisco Pizarro of
Truxillo, Don Diego Almagro of Malagon, and
a priest named Hernando de Luque, were at that
time among the richest people of Panama, and
proposed to themselves the employment of their
fortunes in one common stock, to discover and
conquer new countries on the south, after the
model of Cortez in Mexico, with whom Pizarro
had served, and to whom he was related. Having
obtained permission from Pedro Arias de Avila, the
governor of Terra Firma, Pizarro fitted out a
vessel, in which he embarked in the port of Panama
with 114 men.
About fifty leagues from the harbour, he discovered
a small barren district, named Peru, and
from this now unknown spot, the celebrated
country we are describing received its name. Beyond
Peru, he explored another district, which he
called El Pueblo Quemado. The Indians of that
country were so resolute, that Pizarro was obliged
to return to the coast of Panama. In the mean
time Almagro fitted out another vessel and sailed
in search of Pizarro, as far as the Rio San Juan, a
hundred leagues south of Panama, but not meeting
with him, he returned and landed on the coast of
Pueblo Quemado, where finding certain indications
that he had been there, Almagro landed his men,
who were immediately attacked by the natives, and
forced to retire to their ship and put to sea; in this
action Almagro lost an eye. Following the shore
to the north, he found Pizarro at Chinchama, near
the Isla del Rey, in the gulf of Panama; they
had now by their junction an armed force of
200 men, and again resumed their expedition, and
sailed to the south, with their two vessels attended
by three large canoes. They suffered very much
in their attempts to land on the coast from the
barren nature of the country, and from contrary
winds and currents, as well as from the native
tribes.
Having lost several men from famine and the
constant attacks of the Indians, Almagro was
dispatched to Panama for recruits and provisions.
He soon rejoined Pizarro with twenty-four men
and good supplies; they therefore advanced to the
coast of Tacames, beyond the river San Juan,
which had hitherto been the extent of their voyages;
here they found a better peopled country and
plenty of provision; and the natives, who were
still hostile, were observed to wear ornaments of
gold. Almagro was therefore detached a second
time to Panama to procure more men, and Pizarro
remained at the Isla Gallo, near the shore of Barbacoas,
to await his return; in which island his
men suffered great hardships from the want of
food. On the arrival of Almagro at Panama, he
found the governor, Pedro de los Rios, adverse to
the plan, and he was not allowed to raise any recruits,
while an order was sent to Gallo, for those
to return who wished not to engage in such a
dangerous enterprise. In consequence of this
measure, the party of Pizarro was reduced to
twelve men, who were the whole that chose to
abide the issue of the voyage. They retired with
their leader to a small uninhabited isle, named
Gorgona, at a greater distance from the coast, and
seventy miles nearer Panama. This isle abounding
with rivulets, the little band lived more comfortably
than they had done at Gallo, and waited with great
anxiety for a supply of provisions from Panama,
which at last arrived in a small vessel.
With this assistance, Pizarro and his faithful
twelve, embarked on board the vessel, and putting
themselves under the guidance of the pilot, Bartolomeo
Bruye of Moguer, they reached with
great labour, (from the adverse currents,) the
coast of a district named Mostripe, on which they
landed and advanced a short way up the river
Amatape, which flows into the gulf of Payta,
where they procured some Peruvian camels or
sheep, and took some of the natives to answer as
interpreters in their future progress.
Leaving this place, Pizarro sailed for the port of
Tumbez on the south side of the bay of Guayaquil,
where he had learnt that a rich monarch who
existed in the interior had a fine palace. At
Tumbez, three of his followers left him, and
were afterwards slain by the Indians. Procuring
the information he wanted, Pizarro returned to
Panama, having spent three years in these discoveries,
and from being the richest was now reduced
to be the poorest of the colonists of Tierra Firma.
In concert with Almagro, in the latter end of 1527,
Pizarro raised some money, and was sent to Spain to
beseech the king to forward the further discovery of
the country, and to name a governor, which office he
solicited for himself. His demands were complied
with, and he returned to Panama, accompanied by
his brothers Ferdinand, Juan and Gonzalo.
Besides these, he brought with him Francisco
Martin de Alcantara, his uncle, and as many men
as he could procure; he was assisted in raising
these men, by a supply of money from Cortez.
On his arrival in Panama, in 1530, a violent
dispute broke out between Almagro and himself,
the former complaining that he had unjustly procured
the title of governor of Peru. Pizarro was
obliged to soothe him, by assuring him that he
would renounce all pretensions to that office, if
Almagro could procure the consent of the Spanish
monarch. Almagro being appeased by this concession,
exerted himself at first, to the utmost, in forwarding
the expedition, but owing to the jealousy
he still entertained of the Pizarros, he at last endeavoured
to thwart their efforts, and Pizarro sailed
without him, with three small vessels, carrying
180 soldiers, thirty-six of whom were horsemen
in February 1531; contrary winds obliged the
general, after a voyage of thirteen days, to land
100 leagues more to the north than he intended,
and the place of disembarkation was named the
Bay of St. Mateo, from whence the troops had to
undergo a long and painful march, crossing rivers
and other obstacles; they at last reached Coaque, a
place in Tacames on the sea-side, where they procured
fresh provision. After subduing the natives
of this town, Pizarro sent one of the ships which
had sailed along the coast, to Panama, and the
other to Nicaragua, with about 24,000 or 25,000
ducats worth of gold, which he had seized. This
was destined for Almagro and others, in order to
procure a farther reinforcement, with which he
was gradually supplied, the first who joined him
being Benalcazar, from Nicaragua. He then continued
his march along the coast, and met with
scarcely any resistance, until he attacked the Isle
of Puna, in the bay of Guayaquil. Six months
expired before he could reduce this island to subjection,
and from hence he went to Tumbez, where,
on account of the disease which raged among his
men, he remained three months longer.
From Tumbez, he advanced in May 1532, to the
river Piura, and close to its mouth founded the first
Spanish colony in Peru, to which he gave the name
of San Miguel, having subdued all the curacas
or chiefs in the vicinity. While engaged in founding
this city, the general received a message from
Huascar, the reigning Inca, informing him of the
revolt of Atahualpa, and requesting his assistance
in establishing the empire in the hands of its lawful
sovereign. Placing a garrison in San Miguel,
Pizarro determined to penetrate into the interior,
under the guidance of the Inca's messengers; his
disposable force consisting at this time, of sixty-two
horsemen and 102 foot soldiers, twenty of whom
were armed with cross-bows, and three only carrying
matchlocks, with two small field-pieces. The
Peruvian ambassador directed his march towards
the province of Caxamarca, in which Atahualpa
then was. On his route he received messengers
from the usurper with costly presents, requesting
also his assistance.
Pizarro informed these people, that his views
were entirely pacific, and that he meant merely to
assist in reconciling the difference between the
brothers. On his arrival, after a distressing march
at Caxamarca, he was shown a house, in which
himself and troops were to repose. This building,
which was very extensive, was formed into a square,
in which stood a temple and a palace, and the
whole was surrounded with a strong rampart.
Atahualpa, immediately after the Spaniards had
taken possession of their quarters, paid their
general a visit, accompanied with an immense train
of courtiers and warriors.
Father Vicente Valverde, the chaplain to the
army, and bishop of Peru, advanced to meet the
usurping Inca, holding in one hand his breviary,
and a crucifix in the other, and commenced a
long harangue, in which he set forth the necessity
of his immediately embracing the Christian religion,
related its forms, and told him that the
king of Spain, had received a grant from the pope
of all the regions in the New World, ending with
desiring him to be baptized, to acknowledge the
supremacy of the pope, and the authority of the
king of Castile, promising in their names, that the
general would favour his claims to the empire of
Peru, if he submitted, but denouncing war and vengeance
if he refused.
The reply of Atahualpa, to such parts of this
speech as he could be made to comprehend, was
temperate; he said, "he was lord of the territories
he had succeeded to by the laws of his country,
that he could not conceive how a foreign priest
could pretend to dispose of his dominions; he declared
he had no intention to renounce the religion
of his fathers, and he wished to know where the
Spaniards had learnt all the wonderful things
which Valverde had been relating;" the bishop
answered, "in the book he held," on which Atahualpa
requested it from him, and turning over a
few leaves, and placing it to his ear, threw it on
the ground, saying, "it is silent, it tells me
nothing." Valverde turning to the Spanish troops,
immediately exclaimed, "To arms! to arms!
Christians! the Word of God is insulted, avenge
this profanation on these impious dogs." Pizarro
being of opinion that the numbers of the Peruvians
would overpower him if he waited their attack,
gave the signal of assault, advancing at the head
of his band to the charge, he pushed directly for
the litter in which Atahualpa was borne, the people
who carried it were repeatedly slain, and as repeatedly
replaced by others, anxious for the honour
of rescuing their sovereign. Pizarro at last cut
his way through the crowd to the unfortunate
prince, and seizing him by the long hair of his
head, he dragged him from his seat. In doing
this, several soldiers cutting down the people who
supported the golden litter, and a sword glancing
off, wounded Pizarro in the hand, but regardless
of the pain, he held fast his rich prize in spite of
the multitude of Peruvians who surrounded him.
As soon as the monarch was secured beyond redemption,
universal panic seized his army, and
they fled in every direction, night alone putting a
period to their pursuit, by the cavalry; 4000 Indians
fell in this memorable battle, which decided
the fate of a mighty empire; not a single Spaniard
was killed, and the plunder of the Indian camp
was immense. This action took place on the 10th
of November 1532.
The captive Inca finding he had no chance of
escape, offered a ransom, which was to be so great a
quantity of gold, that it would fill the apartment in
which he was confined, as high as he could reach.
This chamber was twenty-two feet in length, and
sixteen in breadth, and a line was drawn around the
walls, to indicate the height to which the treasure
was to rise; and Pizarro, acceding to this proposal,
the Inca immediately dispatched emissaries
to Cuzco, to procure the ransom; with these
messengers two Spanish officers were sent, to see
that the gold in the treasury of Cuzco was sufficient
to answer the demand, as some doubts had
been shown by the Europeans on that subject. On
their route, they met the captive Inca Huascar, escorted
by a party of Atahualpa's troops; conferring
with Huascar, they discovered that he possessed
treasures to a much greater amount; but as they
were concealed, he alone knew where they were;
he informed the officers, that if Pizarro would reinstate
him in his dignity, he would give three
times as much gold as his brother, and promised to
swear allegiance to the Spanish king.
Soto and Barco, the two officers, told him it was
out of their power to return to Caxamarca, as they
were ordered to go to Cuzco, but that they would
faithfully relate all that had passed to the general,
when they had executed their mission; this they
did, but in the interval, the whole conference had
been detailed to Atahualpa, who foreseeing, that
if Pizarro once got possession of the enormous
treasures of Huascar, he should become of no importance,
ordered his emissaries to kill his unfortunate
brother; and as his will was a law, the order
was speedily carried into execution.
Whilst these events were passing, Almagro arrived
from Panama, with a large reinforcement, to
the great joy of the Spaniards; the treasure from
Cuzco also arrived, and consisted of golden utensils
and ornaments, used in the temples of the
Sun; these, excepting a few which were reserved
as curiosities, were melted down; a fifth was set
aside for the king; 100,000 dollars were distributed
to the followers of Almagro; and the remainder,
amounting to 1,528,500 dollars, an enormous sum
in those times, was divided among Pizarro and his
troops, each horseman receiving 8000 dollars, and
each foot-soldier 4000.
After this ransom was paid, instead of releasing
his prisoner, Pizarro, who was alarmed on one
hand by the exaction of an equal share of the ransom
by the troops under Almagro, and on the
other by the accounts of large armies forming in
the interior determined to kill Atahualpa, which
fate that monarch hastened, by professing his contempt
of the general, on account of his want of
learning. The Inca seeing and admiring the method
which the Europeans had of communicating
their ideas by writing, was for a long time unable
to conceal his astonishment and doubts, whether
it was not managed by evil spirits; accordingly he
directed a soldier to write the name of God on
his thumb nail, and showed it to every Spaniard
he saw, in order to observe whether they all gave
a similar account of its meaning.
At length he showed it to Pizarro, who blushing,
acknowledged that he was ignorant of the
art of writing, which was an acquirement that
most of his nation possessed. From that time the
Inca, who now clearly saw the whole mystery,
looked upon the general, as a person of low birth,
less instructed than the meanest of his soldiers,
and not having the address to conceal his sentiments,
forfeited any good opinion which Pizarro
might have had for him. A mock trial was instituted,
and the Inca formally arraigned, before the
self-constituted tribunal, which consisted of Pizarro,
Almagro, and two assistants; he was charged
by Philipillo, an Indian, who had been to Spain
with Pizarro, with attempting to seize the empire
of Peru from his natural sovereign; with putting
him to death; with idolatry; permission and encouragement
of human sacrifices; with having
many wives; with waste and embezzlement of
the royal treasure, and with inciting his subjects to
take up arms against the Spaniards.
Witnesses were examined, to whom Philipillo
served as an interpreter, and gave their evidence
as he pleased. On these charges the Inca was
condemned to suffer death, by being burnt alive.
Valverde signed the warrant, and attended the
monarch to the stake, which was immediately prepared.
Actuated by the fear of a cruel death, and
tormented by the infamous bishop, Atahualpa consented
to be baptized, in hopes of obtaining a release
from so dreadful a punishment. Valverde
crossed and confessed his royal victim, baptized
him, and then led him to be strangled!
On the death of Atahualpa, his son was invested
with the royal insignia by Pizarro, who hoped to
retain the Indians in subjection, by the command
he held over their sovereign.
Quizquiz, a Peruvian general, had made head
in a province named Xauxa, so that it was necessary
for Pizarro to march against him; this was
accordingly done; and Hernando de Soto, moving
forward with a strong advanced guard, Quizquiz
retreated, being unable to withstand Soto; but
that leader followed him, and obliged the Peruvians
to retreat on Quito.
So great was the fame of Pizarro's conquests at
this time, that numerous bodies of troop joined him
from Tierra Firma, Guatimala, &c., and he was now
enabled to take the field with 500 men, besides
leaving sufficient garrisons in the conquered towns.
He accordingly hastened his march on Cuzco, the
capital, in the route to which he met Paulu Inca, a
brother of Atahualpa, who had been solemnly invested
with the regal fillet by the Peruvians. He told
the Spanish general that he had a large army at
Cuzco, who were ready to submit to his orders. On
the arrival of the Spaniards they were however
attacked very vigorously by the Peruvians, and a
battle ensued which lasted till night.
The next day the general entered the metropolis
without opposition, where he found an immense
booty; his thoughts were now turned on colonizing
the country, and placing such a force in Cuzco as
should insure a permanent settlement there; this he
effected with much difficulty, as many of his followers
were determined to return to Spain in order to
enjoy in their native country the fruits of their hard-earned
wealth.
San Miguel the first town built by the Spaniards
being poorly garrisoned, Pizarro now sent Benalcazar
with ten horsemen to reinforce the place. This
officer receiving complaints from the neighbouring
Indians of the exactions and vindictive proceedings
of the Peruvians at Quito, took with him a number
of soldiers who had then arrived from Panama and
Nicaragua to subdue that country; his success was
complete. Quito and Cuzco the two capitals being
now reduced Fernando Pizarro was dispatched by
his brother to Spain, to lay an account of the proceedings
of the Spanish Army before the king, carrying
with him an immensely valuable present in
gold and silver. He was favourably received,
Pizarro was confirmed in his government and a further
addition of seventy leagues to the south made
to his territories; on Almagro was conferred the
government of the countries 200 leagues south of
the limits prescribed to Pizarro, who was created
Marquess of Atavillos.
While the negotiations were going on, Alvarado
the governor of Guatimala had landed on the Peruvian
coast with a large force, and gone into the interior
with the intention of dispossessing Almagro
of his command, and Pizarro of the possession of
Cuzco, but marching against the army of the former
who was employed in reducing the provinces
between Quito and Peru, his men refused to fight
their brethren, and the leaders after much parleying
became reconciled; Alvarado promising to deliver
over his troops to the two generals for a stipulated
sum, which was honourably paid him by
Pizarro. These troubles being at an end, Pizarro
founded the city of Lima, on the 18th of January,
1533, and transferred the colonists he had placed
in Xauxa thither.
While he was thus employed Almagro having
heard of the king's grant, determined to take possession
of Cuzco, which he considered within his
limit; in this attempt he was defeated by the municipal
body of that place, and Pizarro arriving in
good time, put a stop to his further proceedings.
It was then agreed that Almagro should have 500
men, and proceed southward, conquering such
countries as he deemed expedient, in which he was
to be assisted by every means in Pizarro's power;
this was the commencement of the conquest of
Chili.
After the departure of Almagro on this scheme,
Pizarro resumed his task of giving a regular form
to his government, by making the necessary distributions
of land to the colonists who were continually
arriving, by instituting courts of justice, and
by founding towns, &c. Manco Capac the reigning
Inca revolted at this period, and entered, with Philipillo
and others, into a conspiracy to exterminate
the armies of Pizarro and Almagro; he obtained
possession of Cuzco, which was not taken from him
until after eight days hard fighting, and with the
loss of Juan Pizarro, who was killed by a stone.
The brothers of Pizarro, who was at Lima, had
much difficulty to maintain possession of the capital;
all communication between them and the governor
being cut off, and the place was vigorously besieged
by Manco Capac and his brothers Paullu and Villaoma,
for eight months, during which time the
Spaniards lost many men. Almagro hearing of
these disasters, thought this a convenient time to
assert his old pretensions to the government of
Cuzco, and accordingly marched from the frontiers
of Chili to that place in 1537. He was met by the
Inca, who under pretence of making overtures to
him, drew him into a snare, from which he narrowly
escaped, with the loss of several of his men.
The brothers of Pizarro finding they had now a
new enemy to withstand, prepared Cuzco to undergo
a formidable siege; but having lost six hundred
men during the attacks of the Peruvians, they were
surprised by the troops of Almagro who forced them
to submit, and declared himself governor of the
place, imprisoning Fernando and Gonzalo Pizarro,
and quartering Philipillo, who was taken prisoner
in the ambush of the Inca.
Manco Capac finding that Almagro was too
strong to be easily ejected, retired to the mountains,
but his brother Paullu remaining at Cuzco, was
raised to the throne of Peru by Almagro. It was
some time before all these untoward tidings reached
the ears of the new Marquess Pizarro; he first
heard of the attack of the city by the Inca, and
imagining it to be a trivial affair, detached small
parties at different periods to the assistance of his
brothers; none of these reached their destination,
being always cut off by the Peruvians in the narrow
and difficult passes of the mountains. Some few of
these people escaping from the massacre, which
always took place on their being surprised, returned
to Lima, and related the fate of their companions
to the Marquess, who recalling all his outposts,
nominated Alvarado to the command of the army,
and sent him towards Cuzco, with 500 men; but being
closely invested at Lima by the Peruvians, under
Titu Yupanqui, a brother of Manco Capac, he sent
off all his vessels to Panama, fearful that the troops
might otherwise desert, and by these ships he implored
assistance from the governors of New Spain
and the West Indies.
Alvarado, after a harassing march, and fighting
severe battles with the Peruvians, halted near the
bridge of Abancay on the Apurimac; at which place
he was met by a messenger from Almagro, insisting
on his acknowledging the title he bore to the
government of Cuzco. An unsatisfactory reply being
sent, Almagro advanced to attack the army under
Alvarado, and by dint of bribery, corrupting the
greater part of it, obtained a bloodless victory on the
12th of July, 1537.
Pizarro hearing nothing of his general, and receiving
a strong reinforcement from Hispaniola,
marched from Lima with 700 men to relieve his
brothers at Cuzco from the Peruvians, not having
yet heard of the usurpation of Almagro. Having
marched twenty-five leagues, he received the intelligence
of the death of one of his brothers, the imprisonment
of the other two, and of the determined
opposition of Almagro; this news so much alarmed
him that he immediately returned to Lima, and dispatched
a messenger to Cuzco to treat with Almagro;
but that officer instead of returning an answer
marched to within twenty leagues of Lima, where
he was met by Pizarro who seemed earnest to heal
the breach amicably; but after various endeavours
to obtain this end, he found it necessary to have
recourse to force; and Almagro, finding himself unable
to cope with him, retreated to Cuzco, whither
Ferdinand Pizarro pursued him: a dreadful battle
then took place near that city, on a plain called
Salinas or Cachipampa, in which Almagro was defeated
and taken prisoner, and was soon afterwards
brought to trial and beheaded.
This important affair being settled, the marquess
dispatched troops in all directions to conquer and
subdue those provinces which remained under the
domination of the Indians. In these expeditions, and
in settling the affairs of his government, Pizarro was
fully occupied for two years, during which time
he was much distressed by the mutinous conduct
of the Almagrian party, who at last assassinated
him on the 26th of June, 1541.
Soon after the untimely death of Pizarro, Vaca
de Castro was appointed governor, while the
court of Madrid were employed in taking measures
to put a stop to the contentions of the colonies.
He was removed to make room for Blasco
Vela, who was nominated the first viceroy of Peru,
and who landed at Tumbez in the month of February,
1543. The conduct of this viceroy increased
the disaffection and contention of the colonists,
many of whom siding with Gonzalo Pizarro, chose
him as their leader. After various actions with
the royal troops, Gonzalo at last utterly defeated
them in a pitched battle, in which the viceroy
was slain.
Upon this occasion Gonzalo Pizarro was advised
to assume the sceptre of Peru, but he chose to
treat with Spain. During the interval which
elapsed before the return of his ambassadors,
Pedro de la Gasca, a priest, was sent over as president:
finding he could not persuade Pizarro to
any terms, he gave him battle, in which the latter
was taken, and being brought to trial by the president,
was beheaded on the 10th of April, 1548.
After this action, Gasca set himself about to
reform abuses, and render the government more
stable; he was occupied in this work till 1550,
when wishing to return to a private station, he
quitted Peru, and entrusted the command of the
presidency to the royal court of audience, till the
pleasure of the king should be manifested.
After the departure of Gasca, till the arrival of
the second viceroy, Mendoza, Peru continued to
be in a state of continual ferment, which lasted
more or less until his death. The next viceroy
was the Marquess de Canete, who arrived in Lima
in July 1557. He was succeeded in July 1560, by
the Conde de Neiva, who, dying suddenly, was replaced
by Lope Garcia de Castro with the title of
president, until Francisco de Toledo arrived from
Spain, to assume the viceregal government, who
had been only two years in Peru, when he attacked
Tupac Amaru, the son of Manco Capac, who had
taken refuge in the mountains. A force of two
hundred and fifty men was detached to Vilcapampa
under Martin Garcia Loyola, to whom the Inca
surrendered himself, with his wife, two sons, and a
daughter, who were all carried prisoners to Cuzco.
This unfortunate prince was brought to trial for
supposed crimes, and at the same time, all the sons
of Indian women by the Spaniards, were committed
to confinement, under the charge of endeavouring
to assist Tupac Amaru, in overturning
the Spanish government. Many of these poor
people were put to the torture, others were banished,
and all the males who were nearly related to the
Inca, or who were capable of succeeding to the
throne, were ordered to live in Lima, where the
whole of them died.
Tupac Amaru was sentenced to lose his head;
previous to the execution, the priests baptized
him in the prison, from whence he was led on a
mule to the scaffold, with his hands tied, and a
halter about his neck, amid the tears of his people.
Thus ended the line of the emperors of Peru; than
whom, a more beneficent race of monarchs, in a
barbarous state, has never been known.
The viceroy, Toledo, after continuing sixteen
years in Peru, amassed a large fortune and returned
to Spain, when falling under royal displeasure,
he was confined to his house and his property
sequestered, which preyed so much on his
mind, that he died of a broken heart. Martin
Garcia Loyola, who had made Tupac Amaru prisoner,
married a Coya, or Peruvian princess,
daughter of the former Inca Sayri Tupac, by whom
he acquired a large estate; but being made governor
of Chili, he was slain in that country by
the natives.
After the death of Tupac Amaru, the royal
authority was gradually established as firmly in
Peru as in the other Spanish colonies, and that
country has continued to be governed by viceroys
appointed by the Spanish king, up to the present
time. The only event of any particular importance,
which has occurred till very lately, was the insurrection
of the natives in 1781, under Jose Gabriel
Condorcanqui, a descendant of, and styling himself
Tupac Amaru. He was born in Tongusuca, a
village of Tinta, and had been carefully educated
by his family at home; on the death of his father,
he petitioned the Spanish court to restore him the
title of Marquess of Oropesa, which had been
granted to Sayri Tupac, his ancestor; but finding
his request unattended to, retired to the mountains,
and giving himself out as the only and true
sovereign of Peru, the Indians flocked to his
standard, especially those in the neighbourhood of
Cuzco, who had suffered severely from the tyranny
of the corregidor Arriaga.
With every mark of the most profound submission,
they bound the imperial fillet on his brow,
and he was proclaimed Inca by the title of Tupac
Amaru the Second: collecting an immense army
he appeared before the walls of Cuzco, and in the
beginning of his campaign, he protected all ecclesiastics
and people born in America, vowing vengeance
solely against the European Spaniards; but
his followers, elevated by the success which every
where attended them, began a war of extermination
against all but Indians, the consequences of
which were dreadful, and will ever be remembered
in Peru.
His brother Diego, and his nephew Andres Condorcanqui,
favoured this disposition of the Indians,
and committed enormities which it was out of the
power of Tupac Amaru to repress. This insurrection
lasted two years, and he made himself master
of the provinces or districts of Quispicanchi,
Tinta, Lampa, Asangara, Caravaja and Chumbivilca;
but was at last surprised and taken prisoner
with all his family, and a short time after
this event, they were all quartered in the city of
Cuzco, excepting Diego, who had escaped.
So great was the veneration of the Peruvians for
Tupac Amaru, that when he was led to execution,
they prostrated themselves in the streets, though
surrounded by soldiers, and uttered piercing cries
and execrations as they beheld the last of the children
of the sun torn to pieces.
Diego surrendered voluntarily, and a convention
was signed between him and the Spanish general,
at the village of Siguani, in Tinta, on the 21st
of January, 1782; from which time he lived peaceably
with his family, but was taken up twenty
years afterwards on suspicion of being concerned
in a revolt that happened at Riobamba, in Quito,
in which great cruelty was exercised against the
whites. His judges condemned him to lose his head,
and since that period, Peru has been in a state of
profound tranquillity, though now surrounded by
states torn with the most dreadful convulsions.
Having now related the principal occurrences
concerning the history of Peru, we shall give a
concise description of the people of that kingdom;
and in so doing, shall be led to the general relation
of the manner in which the vast continent of
Spanish America has been governed, and to a summary
of the history of the present struggle.
The Peruvians, at the time they were discovered
by Pizarro, had advanced to a considerable
degree of civilization; they knew the arts of architecture,
sculpture, mining, working the precious
metals and jewels, cultivated their land, were
clothed, and had a regular system of government,
and a code of civil and religious laws. The
lands were divided into regular allotments, one
share being consecrated to the sun, and its products
appropriated to the support of religious rites;
the second belonged to the Incas, and was devoted
to the support of the government, and the last
and largest share was set aside for the people.
These were cultivated in common, no person
having a longer title than one year to the portion
given him.
In their agricultural pursuits they displayed
great diligence and ingenuity, irrigating their fields,
and manuring them with the dung of sea fowls procured
from the islands on the coast; they also turned
up the earth with a sort of mattock formed of
hard wood. In the arts of architecture they had
advanced far beyond the other nations of America.
The great temple of the sun at Pachacamac,
with the palace of the Inca, and the fortress, were
so connected together as to form one great building
half a league in circuit, and many ruins of palaces
and temples still existing, prove the extent of
the knowledge and perseverance of these people.
The immense obelisks of Tiahuacan, and the town
of Chulunacas, with the mausolea of Chachapoyas,
which are conical stone buildings supporting large
rude busts, are among the most singular, though
unfortunately the least known of the Peruvian remains;
and are equally curious as the great military
roads with their accompanying palaces or posts;
together with the buildings still existing in the province
of Quito, which have already been described.
Their skill in polishing stones to form mirrors,
in sharpening them to serve as hatchets and instruments
of war, was as admirable as the ingenuity
they displayed in all their ornamental works of gold,
silver and precious stones.
In the religion of the Peruvians few of those sanguinary
traits which so forcibly marked the character
of the worship of the Mexicans were found;
they adored the Sun as the supreme Deity, under
whose influence they also acknowledged various
dependent gods; and instead of offering human victims
on the altars, they presented to that glorious
luminary a part of the productions of the earth,
which had come to life and maturity through his
genial warmth, and they sacrificed as an oblation
of gratitude some animals before his shrine, placing
around it the most skilful works of their hands.
Next to the sun they beheld their Incas with the
greatest reverence, looking upon them as his immediate
descendants and vicegerents upon earth.
The system universally adopted by these patriarchal
kings, bound the affections of their people
more firmly to them, than even this their supposed
divine legation; and as they never intermarried with
their subjects, they were kept at so great a distance
that their power was unbounded. The only sanguinary
feature displayed in the Peruvian rites,
was in their burials; as, on the death of the Incas,
or of any great curaca or chief, a number of his
servants and domestic animals were slain and interred
around the guacas or tumuli, that they
might be ready to attend them in a future state, in
which these people fully believed. When Huana
Capac, the greatest of the Incas, was buried, 1000
victims were doomed to accompany his body to the
tomb.
In ancient Peru the only very large city was
Cuzco or Couzco; every where else the people
lived in villages or in scattered habitations: and as
the palaces of the Incas and their fortresses, which
were built in all parts of the country, were rarely
surrounded with the houses of the natives, very
few distinct towns remain.
The ancient Peruvians had traditions concerning
a deluge, in which their ancestors were all drowned,
excepting a few who got into caves in the high
mountains; they also adored two beings named
Con and Pachacamac, who created the race of
Peruvians in an extraordinary manner; and they
asserted that Pachacamac dwelt amongst them till
the Spaniards came, when he suddenly disappeared.
But the Peruvians of the present day are a very
different people from their progenitors, as they are
timid and dispirited, melancholy in their temperament,
severe and inexorable in the exercise of
authority, wonderfully indifferent to the general
concerns of life, and seeming to have little notion,
or dread of death. They stand in awe of their European
masters, but secretly dislike and shun their
society, and they are said to be of a distrustful disposition,
and though robust and capable of enduring
great fatigue, yet they are very lazy. Their
habitations are miserable hovels, destitute of every
convenience or accommodation, and disgustingly
filthy; their dress is poor and mean, and their food
coarse and scanty; their strongest propensity is to
spirituous liquors, and to that they sacrifice all other
considerations, but which is unmixed with any love
for gaming: they follow all the external rites of
the catholic religion, and spend large sums in masses
and processions.
Soon after the conquest of America, the country
and the Indians were parcelled out into encomiendas,
a sort of feudal benefices which were divided
among the conquerors, and the priests and lawyers
who arrived from Spain; the holder of this property
was obliged to reside on his estate, to see the Indians
properly instructed in religions duties, and
to protect their persons. In return the natives
were bound to pay the encomendero a certain tribute,
but they were not reduced to absolute slavery.
This system was variously modified and changed by
the successors of Charles V. who introduced it, till
the reign of Philip V. when it was entirely abolished
on account of the continual complaints which
were made to that sovereign of the exactions of the
Spaniards, and their total neglect of the Indians.
This plan was followed by one still more fatal,
that of the repartimientos; according to which
the governor or judge of the district was directed
to supply the Indians in his department
with cattle, seed corn, implements of agriculture,
clothes and food at a fixed price. The abuses attendant
on such a system were enormous, and so
grievously were the natives afflicted that it at last
was abolished in 1779. Spanish America was incorporated
to the crown of Castile by Charles V.
on September 14th, 1559, at a solemn council held
in Barcelona; but notwithstanding this decree declared
that the white inhabitants of America were
to have no personal controul over the Indians, the
greatest enormities were still committed.
In Caraccas the natives were enslaved, and carried
to the plantations in the West Indies, from
which they were not freed till after the repeated
remonstrances of Las Casas, Montesino, Cordova
and others; these remonstrances gave rise to the
establishment of the royal audiences and the council
of the Indies; the jurisdiction of the latter extending
to every department; all laws and ordinances
relative to the government and police of the
colonies originate in it, and must be approved by
two-thirds of the members; all the offices, of which
the nomination is reserved as a royal prerogative,
are conferred on this council, and to it every person
employed in Spanish America is responsible.
It receives all dispatches, &c., and is in fact the
government of the Indies.
Since the establishment of this council, the royal
audiences or superior tribunals, and the regular
succession of viceroys and captain-generals, the
Americas have been governed, if not with less rigour,
at least with more beneficial results to the
Indians. They are left to manage their own concerns
as they please, and no one can interfere in
the disposal of their property. In Peru alone they
are subjected to the mita, a law obliging them to
furnish certain quotas for the mining operations,
but for which they are well paid, and generally
become resident miners; they are not under the
controul of the inquisition, and pay no other tax than
a capitation tribute, which is very moderate, and
rather a mark of vassalage or distinction from the
other classes, than a burden.
In their towns the Indians are always the magistrates,
and they are allowed to enter into holy orders:
but no Spaniard or white is permitted by the
law to intermarry with them or to settle in their
towns, the Indians always residing in a distinct
quarter from the Europeans, and other castes.
The Indians and their descendants are the only
people in this part of the world who can endure
the unwholesomeness and fatigues attendant on the
mining operations, as the Spaniards and Negroes
sink under the toil in a short time; but the number
of Indians has decreased since the conquest to
an alarming extent from the ravages of the small-pox,
and from the fatal effects of intoxicating
liquors, though according to the statements of late
travellers this branch of the population is again on
the increase, probably owing to the general introduction
of vaccination, and to the gradual abolition
of the mita in most of the governments.
The total population of Spanish America is reckoned
at about 15,000,000, of which three millions
are Creoles, or the descendants of European whites,
200,000 are Spaniards, and the rest are Indians,
negroes, and the mixed descendants of these and the
whites, the Indians bearing the greatest proportion,
as Peru alone contains 600,000; but the negroes
are not very numerous, and exist principally in the
provinces of Caraccas and New Granada.
Till the end of the last century the ports of Spanish
America were shut against the whole world,
the commerce of the country being carried on exclusively
by two or three large ships called galleons from
Manilla, and by an annual fleet to Spain; but these
vessels falling continually into the hands of enemies,
and generally containing all the treasure on
which the Spanish court relied, they were at last
abolished, and special licences were granted by some
of the governors to carry on a trade with the Antilles,
and in 1797 the court of Madrid was obliged
to open some of the ports. Urged by extreme necessity
Cisneros the Viceroy of La Plata in 1809,
declared the port of Buenos Ayres free to all
nations in alliance with Spain.
The power of Spain was maintained for a long
while in her trans-Atlantic colonies, by a very small
number of Spanish troops, who acted with the national
militia on any unforeseen disturbances; the
most profound tranquillity reigned in these happy
regions till the year 1797, with the exception of
the revolt of Tupac Amaru in 1780, and some other
trifling occurrences. Three prisoners of state, who
had been banished from Spain for revolutionary
crimes, arrived at La Guayra, the port of Caraccas,
in the first mentioned year; by dint of argument
these men gained over the soldiers by whom they
were guarded, and they were permitted to hold
forth the doctrines at that time so dangerously afloat
in Europe, to the people who came from all parts
to hear them, and finding many admirers among
the creoles and mestizoes, formed at last the daring
plan of revolutionizing the country.
These men, instead of remaining to head the revolt,
retired to the islands in the Caribbean sea, on
which active measures being taken by the government
the plot was discovered; several who were
concerned in it were executed, and others banished.
Previous to this, in 1781, some reforms and additional
taxes which were introduced in New Granada
created such dissatisfaction that 17,000 men
collecting themselves together marched against the
city of Santa Fé de Bogota exclaiming "Long live
the King, but death to our bad governors," but this
insurrection was soon quelled by politic measures.
After the disturbances in 1797, the country was
again tranquil, until the period when Napoleon
Buonaparte, assuming upon the numerous victories
which the French troops had gained, grasped at
the sceptre of Europe. After subduing, in part,
the mother country, and depriving the king of his
liberty, he dispatched his emissaries in every direction
to America; these men were, in general,
of acknowledged talents, and endeavoured by every
means in their power, under assumed characters,
to widen the breach which had gradually been
opening between Spain and her colonies.
The Americans, instigated by such advisers, and
finding themselves cut off from all communication
with Spain, now intent solely on her own preservation,
were dubious how to act; but the mass of
the people resisted all idea of throwing off their
allegiance, and would not consent to their country
being under French controul. Accordingly, they
established juntas in Caraccas, New Granada and
Buenos Ayres, in imitation of similar acts on the
part of their Spanish brethren.
In Caraccas and other places, Ferdinand the
Seventh was proclaimed with all due solemnity,
and when it was announced in July 1808, that
Joseph Buonaparte had usurped the throne of
Spain, 10,000 of the inhabitants of Caraccas flew
to arms, surrounded the palace of the captain-general,
and demanded the proclamation of their
sovereign; this he promised to do next day, but such
was their ardour, that they proclaimed him immediately
themselves. In Buenos Ayres, the viceroy,
Liniers, receiving intelligence of the events in the
peninsula, in July 1808, exhorted the people in
the name of Buonaparte to remain quiet; but
Xavier Elio, the governor of Monte Video, accused
him of disloyalty, and separated his government
from that of Buenos Ayres; and this officer afterwards
ineffectually endeavoured to persuade that
city to acknowledge the title of viceroy, which
he had received from the mother country.
In Mexico, the news of the Spanish affairs
was not known, till the 29th July 1808, when
a junta was immediately established; and the
city of La Paz in Charcas, in the beginning of
1809, formed a similar junta for its government;
but the viceroys of Buenos Ayres and Peru opposed
this motion, and both sent armies to quell
the insurrection, in which they were successful.
In Quito a junta was established on the 10th of
August, 1809, but the viceroys of Peru and New
Granada, with the greatest promptitude, detached
a force against this city, which compelled the insurgents
to abandon their project. At this time
affairs wore a serious aspect in America; numerous
adventurers appeared on her shores, eager to enrich
themselves on the spoils of Spanish power. The partizans
of revolution in Caraccas, the coast of which
was more accessible to emissaries from Europe, formed
themselves into a junta suprema, assumed the
reins of government, but still published their acts
in the name of the Spanish monarch. At Buenos
Ayres a similar measure was taken; in Chili, the
junta was organized in September, and an insurrection
breaking out in the town of Dolores, near Guanaxuato
in Mexico, the whole continent was now
in a state of alarm and tumult.
In the mean time these proceedings were related
to the council of the regency in Spain, which
determined that body to take such active steps as
their circumstances enabled them to do, and the
coasts of the captain-generalship of Caraccas were
declared in a state of vigorous blockade. From
this period, the revolt in that province and the
northern parts of New Granada, became daily more
alarming; General Miranda was the commander
of the Venezuelan army, in which capacity he
achieved one victory, the result of which can
never be forgotten in the Caraccas. The inhabitants
of Valencia were for the royal cause, and
though of very inferior force, resisted the insurgent
party in two actions, in the first of which they
were victorious, but in the second were subdued.
The 4th of July 1811, was the day on which the
congress of Venezuela proclaimed themselves the representatives
of the free provinces of Caraccas; and
the little village of Mariara, close to the beautiful
lake of Valencia, saw the first blood that was spilt in
the civil war of these unfortunate countries. On the
return of the king to his throne, on which he was
placed by the glorious and ever-memorable conduct
of the British and Spanish troops commanded by the
Duke of Wellington; he issued a decree on the 4th of
June 1814, announcing to the Spanish Americans,
his arrival in his kingdom, ordering them to lay down
their arms, and promising oblivion of the past;
to enforce this mandate, he also sent General Morillo
from Cadiz with a well equipped army of
10,000 men. This army landed on the coast of
Caraccas in April 1815; but the insurgents not
paying attention to His Majesty's commands,
the general immediately commenced active measures.
From Campano, where he landed, he proceeded
to Margarita, from thence to Caraccas,
and in the following August he besieged Carthagena.
Previous to his arrival, Boves, a Spaniard by birth,
but a person of low rank, collected a handful of
men, attached to the royal cause, and although
destitute of assistance from the Spaniards, who
were besieged in Puerto Cabello, he found means
to raise a large body of troops in the interior, and
seeking the insurgent army commanded by Bolivar,
he fought several battles with them, in all of which
his band was victorious, so that he was enabled to
overthrow the new government established at Caraccas.
This valiant individual, following the career he
had so fortunately begun, dispersed the army of the
independents in every direction, but was killed in
storming their last strong-hold, at the moment of
victory.
On the arrival of General Morillo he found the
province free from the independent troops, and
therefore commenced his march for Carthagena,
joined by the natives of the country who had formed
the army of Boves, and who assisted him materially
in taking Carthagena, and re-conquering the
revolted provinces of New Granada.
Castello and Bolivar were at this time the leaders
of the independent forces in this country, but dissensions
occurring between them, Carthagena was
supplied with only 2000 troops; the siege lasted
from August to the 5th of December, 1815, when
the governor and garrison evacuated the place, and
the royal army took possession of it, but 3000 persons
perished through famine during this siege.
General Morillo now advanced through the provinces
of New Granada to the city of Santa Fé de
Bogota, which place he entered in June, 1816,
remaining in it till the following November: during
his stay the leaders of the insurgents, and all who
had been criminally engaged, were imprisoned, shot
or exiled. From this period Bolivar, who had gone
to Jamaica, turned his attention again towards Venezuela,
planned an expedition to assist the people
of Margarita, and joining Borion, an affluent native
of Curaçoa, assembled the emigrants from
Venezuela, and part of the garrison which had evacuated
Carthagena.
Borion was appointed commander of the naval
forces, and sailing from Aux-Cayes they landed in
the beginning of May 1816, at La Margarita.
From this island Bolivar proceeded to Campano,
five leagues west of the city of Cumana, of which
he dispossessed the royal forces, and having armed
many light troops who joined him, again embarked
and proceeded to Ocumare; landing at this port
he issued a proclamation, enfranchising all slaves,
but was soon afterwards defeated by the royalists
in a severe and hard fought action, after which he
retired to Aux-Cayes, from whence he again brought
new reinforcements in December 1816, to Margarita.
On this island he published another proclamation,
convoking the representatives of Venezuela
to a general congress, and went afterwards
to Barcelona, where he organised a provisional government.
At this place he repulsed the royalists under
Generals Real and Morales, with great loss, but
in the month following, on the 7th of April, 1817,
the city of Barcelona was taken by the Spanish
troops, and Morillo received an addition of 1600
men from Spain, in the month of May; since this
period the actions between the Spanish troops and
the insurgents have been frequent; the congress of
Venezuela has been established by Bolivar, and
again overthrown by Morillo; the islanders of
Margarita have repulsed the Spanish forces, and at
this moment the army of the Independents is concentrated
near the shores of the Orinoco, and the
Spanish troops are in possession of the capital and
all the principal towns.
While these events were going on in Caraccas,
the congress of Buenos Ayres declared its independence.
The town of Monte Video was taken
possession of by the Portuguese, and the march of
insurrection spread itself into the remote government
of Chili. Mina, who had been concerned in
the Caraccas revolution, undertook an expedition
against New Spain, in which, after sometimes repulsing,
and at others being repulsed, by the Spanish
generals, he was at last taken prisoner and beheaded
at Mexico.
The United States have ejected the adventurers
who had established themselves on Amelia Island
in the government of East Florida, and it appears,
that the revolutionary cause is only successful in
Buenos Ayres and Venezuela, in both which provinces,
it cannot however be said to be established, as
a large Spanish army occupies part of one, and the
Portuguese troops have partial possession of the other.
In New Granada, Florida, Quito, Peru and Mexico,
the insurgents have very little sway, and in the
islands of Puerto Rico and Cuba they are unknown;
consequently the colonies of Spain, so far from being
wrested from her, are still under her dominion;
and it appears extremely probable, that they will
remain so.
Recurring to the subject of the kingdom, which
it is the primary object of this section to describe,
we must now treat of its capital, a city which, from
its former as well as from its present importance,
may well justify its pretensions to be the metropolis
of Spanish South America.
Capital.—Lima is situated in 12° 2' 25" south
latitude, and 77° 7' 15" west longitude, in the
spacious and fertile valley of Rimac, whence by
corruption, the name Lima is derived. This city
was formerly called Ciudad de los Reyes, and was
founded by Pizarro, on the 18th of January, 1535.
The name of the valley was derived from that of
an idol of the Peruvians, who was called by way
of distinction Rimac, "he who speaks." This city
is an archbishopric, the rental of which is valued
at 30,000 dollars.
The scite of Lima is very advantageous, as it
commands a view of the whole valley in which it
lies. A river of the same name washes the walls
of the town, over which there is an elegant and
spacious bridge of stone. On the north are the
vast mountains of the Cordillera of the Andes,
from which some branches extend towards the
city; those of St. Christoval and Amancaes being
the nearest. At the end of the bridge is a gate of
noble architecture which leads into a spacious
square, the largest in the place, and beautifully
ornamented. In the centre of this square is a fine
fountain with bronze figures; the form of the city
is triangular, its base lying along the banks of the
river. This base is two-thirds of a league in
length, whilst the perpendicular may be estimated
at two-fifths of a league, the whole being surrounded
with a brick wall, flanked with thirty-four
bastions; it is entered by seven gates and three
posterns. Opposite to the river is the suburb of
St. Lazarus; and its streets, like those of the city,
are broad, regular, parallel, and crossed at right
angles; they are also well paved, and the drains
are supplied from the river, thus rendering the
place exceedingly clean. The number of streets
has been stated at 355.
Towards the east and west within the walls are
many fruit and kitchen gardens, and most of
the principal houses have gardens watered by
canals. The city abounds with churches, chapels,
convents, nunneries, colleges, and hospitals, and
it has a noble university founded in 1576. All the
churches are magnificently decorated, and are in
general large, and adorned with paintings of value.
The viceroys of Peru usually reside at Lima and
keep their court there, giving public audience every
day, for which purpose there are three fine rooms
in the palace. The tribunals of account, of justice,
of the treasury, &c., are also held there, which,
with the royal mint, the court of the municipal
body, and the police, afford employment to
numbers of persons, and render Lima the most
lively and magnificent place in South America.
The viceroy's palace, formerly a fine structure,
but which was damaged by the great earthquake in
1687, the city prison, the archiepiscopal palace,
the council house, and the cathedral, stand in the
great square, and occupy three sides of it.
In the suburbs, as well as in most parts of the
city, the houses are of wood-work, interlaced with
wild canes and osiers, both within and without,
plastered over with clay and white washed; the
fronts being painted to imitate stone. Most of the
houses are only one story high with a flat roof,
covered on the top with slight materials to keep
out the wind and sun, as it never rains violently in
this part of Peru, and the rafters which support
the roofs are carved and decorated within side, and
covered with clay on the outside. This mode of
building has been adopted, in consequence of the
destructive effects of the earthquakes which have
so often devastated Lima.
On solemn festivals, or on the entrance of a
new viceroy, the riches and pomp displayed in
this city are astonishing, the churches being loaded
with massive plate, consisting of tables, candlesticks,
statues of saints of solid silver, the holy
vestments and chalices covered with gold, diamonds,
pearls and precious stones, and even on
the common days of office, the decorations of the
churches is richer than can be seen at the most
splendid catholic festival in Europe.
Luxury in dress and splendid retinues are the
prevailing passion of the gentry and people of Lima,
so that the public walks and malls are crowded with
carriages. The dress of the ladies is extremely rich;
and even those of low rank never appear without
bracelets, rosaries, and gold images about their necks
and arms. The white females are in general of a
middling stature, handsome, of a very fair complexion,
with beautiful dark hair and bright eyes;
they are naturally gay, sprightly and without levity
in their outward behaviour, though taxed with
vicious propensities; and all the women of Lima
have a great fondness for music: the dress of the
men is also very superb, but they are said to be
in general fonder of gallantry than of following
any useful avocations, though they occasionally
show great ardour for the acquisition of knowledge.
The theatre of Lima is a neat building, but the
performers are said to be very wretched; coffee-houses
were only established here in 1771, cock-fighting
and bull-baiting are the favourite amusements
of the populace, who are also greatly addicted
to gaming.
In Lima the number of inhabitants has been
estimated at 54,000, the monks and clergy being
1390, the nuns 1580, the Spaniards at 17,200,
with 3200 Indians, and 9000 negroes, the rest being
mestizoes and other castes.
The rich priests, proprietors of estates, military
and civil officers, physicians, lawyers and artizans,
compose a body of 19,000, and the remaining
35,000 are slaves, domestics and labourers; but
the population has declined since the erection of
the viceroyalty of La Plata.
The climate of this city is agreeable, and though
the variation of the four seasons is perceptible, yet
they are all moderate; spring begins in November,
winter in June or July, when the south winds cease,
and this season continues, with the intervention of
a second spring or autumn until November; rain is
seldom or ever known at Lima, tempests rarely
happen, and the inhabitants are strangers to thunder
and lightning; but they are infested with vermin
and insects during the summer months, and are always
subject to the recurrence of earthquakes,
several of which have nearly ruined the city at
different times in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries;
the one which happened in 1746, being the
most tremendous and destructive, and which took
place on the 28th of October at half after ten at
night, continuing for many weeks. The city was
nearly destroyed, numbers of the inhabitants perished,
and the port of Callao was submerged by the sea;
twenty-four vessels were lying in the harbour, nineteen
of which were sunk, and a frigate, and three
others carried up by the rise of the waves into the
country a considerable distance from the beach;
out of 4000 people, the number which escaped at
Callao was only 200, while at Lima 1300 were
buried under the ruins, and numbers wounded and
maimed.
In Lima, the most common disorders are malignant,
intermittent, and catarrhous fevers, pleurisies
and constipations. The small-pox was
formerly very fatal; but in 1802, a merchant
vessel, the Santo Domingo de la Calzada, put into
Callao, in a voyage from Spain to Manilla; a philanthropic
individual in Spain had sent some vaccine
matter on board of this ship for the Philippines;
but as the small-pox was raging at that time in
Lima, Don M. Unanue, the professor of anatomy,
hearing of this precious cargo, and instantly availing
himself of it, vaccinated his patients, which he
performed with the greatest success, and since
that period, the Jennerian system having been
followed, the virulence of the small-pox gives
way.
The great wealth of the citizens of Lima is
mostly derived from the mines in the internal provinces,
but agricultural pursuits are much followed,
and the pastures in the vicinity feed multitudes of
horses, mules and cattle. The ancient Peruvians
had rendered the valley of Rimac very fertile by
intersecting it with small canals, and this plan has
been adopted by the Spaniards who irrigate their
spacious fields of wheat and barley, their meadows,
plantations of sugar-cane, olives, vines, as well
as their gardens, which are thus rendered very
productive, but the frequent earthquakes having
tended to alter the good quality of the soil, it consequently
requires much care to manage.
Bread, butter, milk, beef, mutton, pork, poultry,
&c., are all excellent in Lima, and the place is
plentifully supplied with fish from the bay of Callao,
and the adjacent villages, as well as from
the river Lima. The wines used in this city are
generally the produce of Chili and the southern
provinces, from which the brandies are also brought;
most of the European and dried fruits are also supplied
by Chili, but no manufactures are carried on
in the place itself, as it depends entirely on being
the emporium of the commerce of Peru with Chili,
New Granada, Guatimala and New Spain.
The port of Lima is Ballavista or Callao, the
former name being that of the new town which was
founded at the distance of a quarter of a league
from the remains of Callao, which had been totally
destroyed by the earthquake in 1746. At
the present port there is a fort named San Fernando,
with a garrison to protect the bay, which,
on the south-west is fenced by a barren island
called San Lorenzo. Here all the vessels anchor
about two leagues from Lima; and the harbour
of Callao is one of the finest in the South-Sea,
the anchorage being deep, but the ocean always
tranquil, and the largest vessels lying in perfect
safety.
The river Rimac or Lima, discharging itself into
the sea here, furnishes an abundant supply of fresh
water for the vessels, and every thing can be procured
of which a ship may be in need; as in Callao
it may be said that the productions of the four
quarters of the world are exchanged for each other;
the ships from Europe meeting those from the
East Indies, from Africa, and from the northern
shores of America.
Callao is situated in 12° 3' 42" south latitude,
and 77° 14' west longitude, at about five English
miles distance from the city of Lima.
This province is the most northerly of those in
Peru, it is bounded by the river Tumbez and Guayaquil,
on the north-west; Jaen de Bracamoros on
the north-east; the Lauricocha or Tunguragua on
the north; the Rio Guallaga and Pampas del Sacramento
on the east; the Pacific on the west; and
the province of Tarma on the south; containing
within its limits seven jurisdictions; viz. Sana, Piura,
Truxillo, Caxamarca, Chachapoyas, Llulia,
and Chiloas and Pataz.
The province of Truxillo along the coast, has a
climate in which excessive heat predominates;
whilst in the interior it varies according to the high
or low situation of the districts, from temperate
to frigid. The first district of Truxillo, towards
the north, is Piura, through which passes the road
from Guayaquil to Lima; the whole country from
the northern borders of Piura to Lima being named
the Valles. The climate of Piura is hot, though
not unhealthy; but the greater part of the country
is uninhabited. The chief towns are Piura, Tumbez,
the frontier of New Granada, Sechura and
Payta; and it contains 11,000 inhabitants, in 26
settlements.
Piura, the capital, is situated in south latitude,
5° 11' and in 80° 36' west longitude. It was
the first Spanish settlement in Peru, and was
founded in the year 1531, by Pizarro, who built
the first church in it. The city then stood in the
valley of Targasala, near the sea, and was called
San Miguel de Piura, but was removed, on account
of the unhealthiness of its situation, to its present
scite, on a sandy plain. The houses are constructed
of bricks, or cane and wood-work, and
have generally only one story. The corregidor,
and an officer employed in collecting the royal revenue,
reside here and at Payta alternately, and
the town contains about 7000 inhabitants. It has
an hospital and church; the climate is hot and
dry, but not unwholesome, and water is sometimes
scarce in the heats of summer. It is 25 miles
south-south-east of Payta, its port; 208 north-north-west
of Truxillo; 480 north-north-west of Lima,
and seven from the ocean; and its territory is fertile,
and produces some cotton, sugar, maize and
has extensive woods of Sarsaparilla.
Tumbez is situated in 3° 6' south latitude, and
80° 6' west longitude, 280 miles north of Truxillo,
and 62 leagues N. of Piura, on the Rio Tumbez,
which discharges itself into the bay of Guayaquil,
opposite the isle of Santa Clara. It is seated a
short distance from the mountains, in a sandy plain,
and consists of about 70 houses, scattered without
any order, in which there are about 150 families,
mostly mestizoes and Indians, and along the banks
of the river there are many farms, where they
continually employ themselves in rural occupations.
Tumbez was the place where the Spaniards first
landed in 1526, and where they were astonished
at the immense temples and palaces they every
where observed, no vestiges of which now remain.
The road from this town to Piura is extremely unpleasant,
owing to its running along the sea-coast,
and being only passable at low water in some
points. The village of Amotape, the only inhabited
place on the road, is 48 leagues from Tumbez,
after which the way lies over a sandy desert, where
even the most experienced guides occasionally
lose their way; and as no water is to be procured
here, it is necessary to carry that article in skins
on the backs of mules; near the last stage is a
deposit of mineral tar, which is exported to Callao,
for the purposes of ship-building.
Sechura is the last town of Piura on the south;
it is situated on the banks of the river Piura, a
league from the ocean, and 180 miles north-north-west
of Truxillo, in 5° 32' 33" south latitude. It
contains about 200 houses, with a handsome brick
church, and the inhabitants, who are all Indians,
compose about 400 families, being chiefly employed
in fishing, driving mules, or guiding passengers to
Morrope, across the desert of Sechura, which is
a waste of sand extending 30 leagues, of difficult
and dangerous passage.
Payta, or San Miguel de Payta, in 5° 5' south
latitude, and 80° 50' west longitude, was founded
by Pizarro. It is a small place, consisting of mud
houses, having a church and chapel, with the corregidor's
house built of stone. The number of
inhabitants is inconsiderable, and the town is noted
only for its port, which is the chief place at which
the ships from New Spain touch, on their voyage
to Lima. Southward of this town is a high mountain,
called the Silla de Payta; the soil of the surrounding
country is barren and sandy, and there
being no river, the inhabitants have to fetch their
fresh water from Colan, a village in the bay, four
leagues to the north, the Indians of Colan being
obliged to send one or two balsa loads every day.
The occupations of the inhabitants of Payta, who
are whites and mulattoes, is chiefly in landing the
cargoes of goods sent from Panama and Lima.
The bay of Payta is famous for its fishery, in
which the Indians of the surrounding villages are
constantly employed; a miserable battery mounting
eight guns, defends this harbour and town,
which has been repeatedly taken and plundered by
the English; and Lord Anson's squadron pillaged
and burnt it, in the year 1741.
The principal rivers of Piura are the Tumbez,
the Catamayu, and the Piura; in this district a
branch of the Andes turns towards the coast, and
under the name of Sierra de Pachira, forms Cape
Blanco, and the Punto de Purma.
Sana is the next district of Truxillo, and extends
about 75 miles along the sea-coast. Its soil
is level, and, excepting in the desert of Sechura,
fertile; the heat is however at times insupportable.
The town of Sana is in a state of decay, in
consequence of an inundation which almost destroyed
it, and it was sacked by Davis, the English
adventurer, in 1685. The river Sana runs through
the town, which has obtained the name of Miraflores,
on account of the beautiful flowers in its
neighbourhood, as well as for being situated in a
fertile and pleasant valley. Sana is 80 miles N.
of Truxillo. Morrope, Lambayeque and St. Pedro
are the other most noted towns of this district,
which contains 22 settlements.
Morrope consists of about 60 or 70 houses, and
contains 160 families of Indians. It is seated on
the banks of the river Pozuelos, 105 miles north-west
of Truxillo.
Lambayeque, in 6° 40' south latitude, 79° 56'
west longitude, is at present the capital of Sana,
in a pleasant and fertile spot, containing about
1500 houses. The inhabitants, who amount to
8000, consist of Spaniards, mestizoes and Indians.
The parish church of stone is elegant and much
ornamented, and the river Lambayeque runs
through the town, and fertilizes its environs. Some
wine is made here, and the poorer classes manufacture
coarse cottons. The road to Lima passes
through this place, which is 95 miles west-north-west
of Truxillo.
St. Pedro contains 120 Indian families, thirty
families of whites, and twelve of mulattoes. It
stands on the river Pacasmayo, and its environs produce
grain and fruits in abundance. St. Pedro is
twenty leagues from Lambayeque on the high road,
and stands in 7° 25' 49" south latitude. The Andes
elevate their crests on the west of the districts
of Piura and Sana.
The jurisdiction of Truxillo, extends twenty
leagues along the coast, and as far in the interior,
being composed throughout of beautiful valleys. In
its climate there is a sensible difference between
winter and summer, the former being attended with
cold, and the latter with excessive heat.
The country is extremely fruitful, abounding
with sugar canes, maize, fruits and vegetables;
also with olives and vineyards: the parts nearest
the Andes produce wheat, barley, &c., so that the
inhabitants export corn to Panama.
On the coast the sugar cane is cultivated with
success. The chief town of the district is Truxillo,
which is also the capital of the whole province, and
stands in 8° 8' south latitude, and 78° 53' west longitude,
480 miles south of Quito, 268 north-north-west
of Lima, in a pleasant situation surrounded with gardens,
groves and delightful walks. It was founded
in 1535, by Pizarro, at the distance of half a league
from the sea, on the banks of a small river; the
houses which are chiefly of brick, have a very neat
appearance, but are low on account of the frequency
of earthquakes; an intendant and the bishop of
Truxillo reside here. The inhabitants amount to
5800, and consist principally of rich Spaniards,
some Indians, mestizoes and mulattoes; the greatest
luxury in this city is that of equipages, few of
the Europeans being without a carriage.
A revenue office for the province of Truxillo is
established in this town, and it also contains a
cathedral, several convents, a college, hospital
and two nunneries.
Truxillo is surrounded with a low brick wall,
flanked by fifteen bastions; and carries on its commerce
by means of its port of Guanchaco, which is
about two leagues to the northward, and is the only
good harbour on the coast from Callao to Tumbez.
Chocope and Biru are the most noted places of this
district.
Chocope contains sixty or seventy white families,
and twenty or thirty of Indians. It has a fine brick
church, eleven leagues north of Truxillo.
Biru in 8° 24' 59" south latitude, contains about
seventy families of whites, creoles and Indians, and
its situation is pleasant on the high road to Lima,
in a fertile vale, well watered with small canals.
The district of Caxamarca lies to the eastward of
that of Truxillo, and extends an immense distance
between two parallel branches or crests of the
Andes. It is extremely fertile, producing corn,
fruits and all kinds of esculent vegetables, as well
as cattle, sheep and hogs; with the latter of which
a thriving trade is carried on with the lowland
districts. There are also the celebrated silver
mines of Gualgayoc or Chota, near Micuipampa,
the galleries of which are above 13,287 feet higher
than the sea. The Indians of this extensive district
manufacture cotton for sails, bed-curtains,
quilts, hammocks, &c., and the chief town is Caxamarca,
celebrated as having been the point from
which Pizarro carried on his operations, and for
being the place where Atahualpa was strangled.
The palace of Atahualpa is now inhabited by the family
of the Astorpilcos, the poor but lineal descendants
of the Incas. It is seated in 8° south latitude,
and 76° 10' west longitude, seventy miles from the
ocean, on the western slope of the Andes, at the
height of 9021 feet.
Micuipampa is celebrated for its silver mines, its
height above the sea being 2296 feet more than
that of the city of Quito.
Chachapoyas is the next district towards the east
and north of Caxamarca situated on the eastern
slope of the Andes, and embracing an immense extent
of country, in a warm climate.
It is very thinly inhabited; but the Indians are
ingenious in manufacturing cottons, to which they
give beautiful and lasting colours.
Chachapoyas and Llulia bound the government
of Juan de Bracamoros in Quito. The chief town
is Juan de la Frontera, or Chachapoyas, in 6° 12'
south latitude, and 72° 28' west longitude.
East of Chachapoyas is the district of Llulia
and Chiloas, a low, warm, moist country, covered
with forests, so that the greater part is uninhabited.
The principal commodity of this country is tobacco
and fruits; and the river Moyobamba flows
through the district in its course to join the Guallaga.
The chief town of this district is Moyobamba,
300 miles north of Lima, in 7° south latitude,
and 76° 56' west longitude; and some gold washings
exist on the banks of the Moyobamba.
The last jurisdiction of the Intendancy of Truxillo
is that of Pataz, including Huamachucho; its
situation on the slope and summit of the mountains
causes it to enjoy different climates, favourable for
many kinds of grain and fruits; but the chief occupation
of the inhabitants is in working the mines
of gold with which it abounds, and its great commerce
consists in exchanging gold for silver coin.
The chief towns are Caxamarquilla and Huamachucho,
both of little note excepting for the gold washings
in their neighbourhood.
Comprehends several minor districts, of which
Caxatambo, Huamalies, Conchucos, and Huailas,
are the principal. It is bounded by Truxillo on the
north, the Pacific on the east, the Apurimac on the
west, and Lima and Guanca-Velica on the south.
On the sea-coast its climate is hot, but in the
interior it varies, according to the height of the land.
We shall not follow the minute divisions of this
province, as we have done those of Truxillo, on
account of its being the boundary between New
Granada and Quito, merely describing the chief
towns and the country in their neighbourhood.
Tarma contains the sources of the Xauxa and
Guallaga rivers, the former of which falls into the
Apurimac. The Juaja or Xauxa rises in the little
lake of Chinchay Cocha, in about eleven degrees
south latitude, and after a long and precipitous
course, it throws itself into the small river Mantura,
by which it joins the Apurimac. The Guallaga
rises a short distance north of the Xauxa, in a
little lake, called Chiguiacoba, on the opposite
side of the mountains, which form the Cerro de
Bombon, whence it flows north, receiving several
rivers, till it passes the town of Guanuco, when it
becomes very rapid, and receives the Monzon from
the west, in 9° 22' south latitude, after which, it
follows its original course, and becomes more
tranquil. At 7° 10' it receives the Moyobamba,
and after this, four dangerous rapids present themselves
before it reaches Ponquillo at the foot of
the mountains. Its breadth is now 1200 feet,
and running through the province of Maynas; at
5° 4' south latitude, it falls into the False Maranon,
being 450 yards wide, and 34 deep.
At the confluence, the Guallaga is divided into
two branches, and a lake is formed half a league in
breadth and 70 fathoms deep. During the course
of a league, the two rivers seem of equal force,
but at length, the Tunguragua overcomes the
Guallaga. The banks of this fine river are clothed
with beautiful trees, enlivened with a great variety
of birds, and one tree produces a sort of tallow
or grease, which is used by the natives for the same
purposes as candles.
Besides these, the beautiful river Pachitea rises
in Tarma, in 10° 46', on the east-side of the Andes,
first running east, then north, and called the Pozuzo
at its confluence with the Mayro, where it forms
a fine haven, from which there is a direct and
open navigation to the Maranon, which it joins in
8° 46' south latitude.
The Lauricocha or False Maranon, also rises
near Caxatambo in this province; but as this river
has been already spoken of, it is merely necessary to
observe, that the lake in which it rises, is near the
city of Guanuco, in 11 degrees south latitude, from
which it directs its course southwards towards
Xauxa, forming a circle, when, after precipitating
itself over the east-side of the Andes, it flows
northwards, through Chachapoyas to Jaen de Bracamoros,
and thence to the Ucayale or True
Maranon. The course of the Lauricocha is about
200 leagues from Lauricocha lake to Jaen, and about
150 from thence to its junction with the Ucayale.
The intendancy of Tarma contains many gold and
silver workings, particularly the celebrated mines of
Yauricocha, in the Cerro de Bombon.
The chief towns of Tarma are Tarma, Huamalies,
Huialas, Caxatambo, Conchucos, Guanuco and
Pasco.
Tarma is 103 miles east-north-east of Lima, in
11° 35' south latitude, and 75° 17' west longitude,
in a temperate climate, and surrounded by a large
district, in which the soil is every where fertile,
excepting on the higher mountains, where it is
very cold. The land is chiefly applied to feeding
cattle, but many veins of silver of great importance
being found and worked in the district,
agriculture is neglected. Of these mines, the
Yauricocha, two leagues north of Pasco, the Chaupimarca,
Arenillapata, St. Catalina, Caya Grande,
Yanacanche, Santa Rosa, and Cerro de Colquisirca,
are the most productive; there are however many
others, which are either unworked, or produce but
feebly. The city of Tarma contains 5600 inhabitants.
Huamalies is 150 miles east of Truxillo, and is
the chief town of a jurisdiction of the same name,
situated in the centre of the Cordilleras, commencing
at the distance of 240 miles north-east
of Lima, and mostly situated in a cold climate extending
120 miles.
The towns are chiefly inhabited by Indians, who
apply themselves to weaving, and manufacture
a great quantity of serges, baizes, and stuffs, with
which they carry on a considerable trade, and there
is a silver mine, named Guallana, in this district.
Huialas is the chief place of a district in the
centre of the Andes, beginning fifty leagues from
Lima, in the same direction as Conchucos. The low
parts produce grain and fruit, and the upper abound
in cattle and sheep, which form the great branch of
its trade. Some gold is found in the mines of this
district.
Caxatambo is also the chief town of a district
commencing thirty-five leagues north of Lima, and
extending twenty leagues partly among the mountains,
so that the climate is various, but the whole
district is very fertile, producing abundance of
grain. The Indians manufacture baize, and work
some silver mines, of which those of the towns of
Caxatambo and Chanca are the most productive.
Conchucos, the chief place of a district or partido
of the same name, beginning forty leagues north-north-east
of Lima, and extending along the centre
of the Andes, is noted for its cattle and grain, and
for the great number of looms worked by the
Indians. It contains also the mines of Conchucos,
Siguas, Tambillo, Pomapamba, Chacas, Guari,
Chavin, Guanta and Ruriquinchay.
Guanuco is the chief town of a partido, commencing
120 miles north-east of Lima, in a mild
and pure climate, with a fertile soil producing excellent
fruits. This town is 120 miles north-east of
Lima, in 9° 59' south latitude, and 75° 56' west longitude,
and was founded in 1539, under the name
of Leon de Guanuco; the first inhabitants being
those who favoured the royal party in the wars
between Pizarro and Almagro. It was formerly a
large city, but is now a small village, containing the
remains of a palace of the Incas, a temple of the
sun, the ruins of the houses built by the conquerors,
some marks of the great road from Cuzco
to Quito, a church and three convents.
Pasco is on the borders of the small lake de los
Reyes, and is chiefly noted as being the place in
which the office of the provincial treasury is held,
and from which the mines of the Cerro de Bombon
or Yauricocha are named.
This province contains several districts; it is
bounded on the north by Truxillo, east by Tarma
and Guancavelica, west by the Pacific, and south
by Arequipa.
Its principal districts are Chancay, Huarachiri,
Lima, Canta, Canete, Ica, Pisco and Nasca.
Lima is the seat of the royal audience, which
was established in 1542, and contains one archbishopric
and four bishoprics in its jurisdiction,
viz. those of Truxillo, Guamanga, Cuzco, and
Arequipa.
The revenue of the archbishop of Lima is 30,000
dollars per annum; he has, besides the above
bishops, those of Panama, Maynas, Quito, and
Cuença, as suffragans.
In this province rain is seldom or ever known to
fall on the west of the Cordillera of the Andes,
which runs along its eastern side; on the sea-coast
it is very hot, but as the land rises towards
the interior, the air becomes cooler and milder.
The wealth of the province consists chiefly
in the produce of the mines of Tarma, which are
worked by proprietors in Lima; but agricultural
pursuits are not neglected, and the whole vale
may be said to be cultivated.
Lima is noted as being the place where the
grains of Europe were first planted, as Maria de
Escobar, the wife of Diego de Chaves, carried a
few grains of wheat to Lima, then called Rimac,
shortly after the conquest. She sowed these grains,
and the produce of the harvests she obtained, was
distributed for three years among the colonists;
so that each farmer received twenty or thirty grains.
It increased rapidly, but in 1547, wheat bread
was still a luxury in Cuzco that was hardly to be
obtained. Some idea may be formed of the difficulty
in procuring articles of utility or luxury
in the early periods of the settlement of these
countries, from the circumstance of Benalcazar, the
conqueror of Quito and Popayan, purchasing a
sow at Buza, for a sum equal to 166l. sterling,
which sow was killed for a feast; the riches of the
conquerors must consequently have been immense.
In the middle of the 16th century, two hogs were
worth 300l.; a camel from the Canaries, 1400l.;
an ass, 320l.; a cow, 50l.; and a sheep, 8l. The
camels that were introduced both in Peru and
Caraccas, did not thrive, and their utility was superseded
in the former country by the vicunas,
llamas, &c.; and in both by mules.
The chief town of the intendancy of Lima is
Lima, which being also the capital of Peru has
been already described. The other towns of most
note are Guara, Guarachiri, Chancay, Canta, Canete,
Ica, Pisco and Nasca.
Guara consists of a single street containing
200 houses, and many Indian huts, with a parish
church and convent, and is chief town of a district
of the same name, which is covered with
plantations of sugar canes, corn, maize, &c. At
the south end of Guara stands a large tower and
fortified gate, which protects a stone bridge, under
which flows the river Guara, and separates the
suburb of the Indians from the town. Guara is
in 11° 3' 36" south latitude, near the Pacific
Ocean. This town lies on the high road to
Lima from Truxillo, and on this road are many
magnificent remains of the tambos, or palaces of
the Incas.
Guarachiri is the chief place of a partido, commencing
in the Andes, six leagues east of Lima,
in which the valleys and lower grounds are the only
inhabited parts; and these being very fertile, produce
wheat, barley, maize and other grain in great
abundance.
The high mountains of Guarachiri, and the
neighbouring district of Canta, contain excellent
coal, but on account of the difficulty and
high price of carriage, it cannot be used in Lima;
cobalt and antimony have also been found in Guarachiri,
which likewise contains several silver mines
of which that of Conchapatu is the most noted.
This town is situated in 11° 55' south latitude,
and 76° 18' west longitude, 50 miles east of Lima.
Chancay, in 11° 33' 47" south latitude, is also
the chief town of a district lying in the valley
north of Lima, having the river Passamayo running
through it, and fertilizing its plantations; the chief
growth of which is maize, for the purpose of fattening
hogs for the market of Lima. Chancay is
fourteen leagues from Guara and twelve from
Lima, on the high road from Tumbez; the distance
from Tumbez to Lima being 264 leagues.
Chancay contains about 300 houses, and many
Indian huts, with a large population, most of the
inhabitants being very rich.
Canta is the chief town of a jurisdiction of the
same name, beginning five leagues north-north-east
of Lima, terminating on the district of that city,
and extending above thirty leagues to the north,
over the eastern branch of the Andes; so that its
climate differs according to its situation, on the
tops, sides, or valleys of the Cordillera. It supplies
the markets of Lima with fruits; the upper
plains affording pasturage for innumerable flocks
of sheep, which belong to the rich inhabitants of
the capital of Peru.
Canete is the chief place of a district of the same
name, commencing six leagues south of Lima, and
extending along the coast for about thirty leagues;
the climate is the same as that of Lima, and the
soil being watered by several small streams, produces
vast quantities of wheat, maize and sugar
canes; these plantations are mostly the property of
the inhabitants of Lima. At a place called Chilca,
ten leagues south of Lima, saltpetre is found in
great quantities: the Indians of this district trade
with the capital in poultry, fish, fruits and vegetables.
Ica, Pisco and Nasca compose a jurisdiction
bordering on Canete and extending sixty leagues
along the coast, but interspersed with sandy deserts.
Great quantities of wines are made in this
district, which is fertile wherever the lands can be
irrigated from the rivers. Brandy is also an object
of export, chiefly to Guamanga, Callao, Guayaquil
and Panama. Olive plantations are numerous, as
well as those of maize, corn and fruit trees. The
country round Ica is noted for abounding in carob
trees, with the fruit of which vast numbers of asses
are fed. The Indians on this coast live by fishing,
their salted fish being eagerly sought after in the
interior.
The town of Ica or Valverde is situated in a
valley, and contains about 6000 inhabitants, its principal
commerce consisting in glass, wine and brandy;
it stands in 13° 50' south latitude, and 75° 28' west
longitude, 140 miles east-south-east of Lima.
Pisco was formerly situated on the shore of the
South-Sea, but in 1687, an earthquake, accompanied
by an inundation, destroyed the old town,
and it was rebuilt by the inhabitants a quarter of a
league further inland. It contains about 300 families,
most of whom are mestizoes, mulattoes and
negroes; the whites being the least predominant:
the road of Pisco is a fine anchoring ground,
capable of holding a large navy, and sheltered from
the south-east and south-west winds, which are the
most violent in this quarter. Pisco is 118 miles
south-south-east of Lima, in 13° 46' south latitude,
and 76° 9' west longitude.
Nasca has a fine harbour, but the town is in a
state of decay; the surrounding country is fertile in
vines and sugar canes, and is watered by a river of
the same name. Nasca is 190 miles south-east of
Lima, in 14° 48' south latitude, and 75° 6' west
longitude.
This province lies almost entirely in the mountains,
and is bounded on the north by Tarma, east
by Lima, west by Cuzco, and south by Guamanga.
The climate of this country is in general cold,
owing to the high situation of the land which is
surrounded by the lofty peaks of the Andes; its
districts are chiefly those of Xauxa and Angaraes,
the latter of which is about seventy-two miles in
length from east to west, and twelve in width, of
a very irregular figure, being bounded by the
Cordillera on the west; this district produces
wheat, maize and other grains, although its
climate is in general cold, being temperate only in
the valleys; in these are cultivated the sugar-cane,
some fruits and herbs, and a strong grass which
serves for fuel in the ovens in which the quicksilver
is extracted; from the sale of this fuel great
emolument is derived when the mines are in work.
The district abounds in cattle, and as mercury is
found in it, it also produces various earths used in
painting. The head waters of some of the streams
which join the Apurimac are in this jurisdiction,
which contains about thirty Indian villages.
The intendancy of Guancavelica is chiefly of
note on account of the mercury mines it contains,
there being only one silver mine of any importance.
The quicksilver of Peru is only found near Valdivui
in the district of Pataz, near the great
Nevado de Pelagato; in the district of Conchucos,
to the east of Santa; in the district of Huamalics,
to the south-east of Guarachuco, at the Banos de
Jesus; in the district of Guialas near Guaraz, and
near Guancavelica; of all those places Guancavelica
is the only one which has ever produced that useful
mineral in great abundance, the principal mine being
situated in the mountains of Santa Barbara, south
of the town of Guancavelica at the distance of more
than a mile; it was discovered by the Indian Gonzalo
de Abincopa, in the year 1567; but appears
to have been known in the time of the Incas, who
used cinnabar in painting themselves, and they are
said to have procured it in this neighbourhood. The
mine was opened in September 1570; it is divided
into three stories, named Brocal, Comedio and Cochapata,
the last of which the government forbid to
be worked, the bed containing red and yellow sulfuretted
arsenic or orpiment, which was the cause
of many deaths.
This mine is free from water, and contains galleries
cut in the solid rock at an immense expence.
There has been extracted from it up to the year 1789,
1,040,452 quintals, or 136,573,162 pounds troy, being
4 or 6000 quintals annually; 50 quintals of tolerable
mineral containing and yielding by distillation eight
or twelve pounds of mercury. The cinnabar is found
in a bed of quartz freestone of about 1400 feet in
thickness, in strata and in small veins, so that the
metalliferous mass averages only from 196 to 229
feet in breadth. Native mercury is rare, and the
cinnabar is accompanied with red iron ore, magnetic
iron, galena and pyrites, the crevices being
frequently variegated with sulphate of lime, calcareous
spar, and fibrous alum, and the bottom of
the mine is 13,805 feet above the level of the sea.
This mine employed seven thousand Peruvian
camels, or alpacas, and llamas in carrying the ore
to the furnaces of the town; which animals were
governed by dogs trained for the purpose.
Carelessness, or rather the avidity of the overseers
destroyed this celebrated mine for a time, as this
being the only royal mine in Spanish America, these
men were anxious to obtain as much profit and
credit as they could by sending great quantities of
the mineral to the royal office. The gallery of the
Brocal, which was the uppermost, was supported
by pillars of the rock containing the ore; as the
mineral became scarcer in the body of the mine,
these pillars were thinned, and at last cut away,
so that the roof fell in and hindered all communication
with the other parts. At present, it is said,
some attempts are making, owing to the dearth of
mercury from China, to re-open the gallery; but
the silver works of Peru are mostly supplied from
small veins which are found in other parts of the
same chain of mountains, near Silla Casa; these
veins generally traverse alpine limestone, are full of
calcedony, and although thin, they cross and form
masses, from which the Indians, who are allowed to
work them, are said to obtain 3000 quintals annually
by merely uncovering the surface.
The chief town of this intendancy is Guancavelica,
thirty miles north-west of Guamanga, in
12° 45' south latitude, and 74° 46' west longitude.
It was founded, in 1572, by the viceroy Toledo, and
stands in a breach of the Andes, being one of the
largest and richest cities of Peru. The temperature
of the air at Guancavelica is very cold, and
the climate changeable, as it often rains and
freezes on the same day, in which there are tempests
of thunder, lightning and hail.
The houses are generally built of tufa found
near a warm spring in the neighbourhood, and
there is a dangerous torrent near the city, which
is crossed by several bridges. This town was
founded on account of the quicksilver mines of
Santa Barbara, from the working of which the
inhabitants derived all their subsistence.
In this intendancy with its dependencies of
Castro Vireyna and Lircay there is one mine of
gold, eighty of silver, two of quicksilver, and
ten of lead.
Guancavelica is 12,308 feet, and the neighbouring
mountain of Santa Barbara 14,506 feet,
above the level of the sea.
The number of its inhabitants is now only 5200,
probably owing to the abandonment of the mine.
The other towns of most note are Xauxa and
Castro Vireyna.
Xauxa or Jauja is the chief town of a district on
the southern extremity of Tarma, reaching to about
forty leagues from Lima, in the spacious valleys
and plains between two parallel chains of the Andes.
The river Xauxa runs through this district, in
which there are several pretty towns or large villages
well inhabited by Spaniards, Indians and
Mestizoes.
The soil produces plenty of wheat and other
grains, together with a great variety of fruits, and
the city is on the great road of the mountains to
Cuzco, Paz, and La Plata; it borders on the east, as
well as the district of Tarma with the country between
the Andes and the Apurimac, inhabited by fierce
and wild Indians, some of whom have made inroads
into these jurisdictions; the missionaries have however
succeeded in establishing villages amongst them,
the nearest being the town of Ocopa.
Castro-Vireyna is the chief town of a district of
the same name, which lying on the Cordillera, has
a very various climate, and produces the fruits of
the tropic and temperate regions.
On its great plains, which are in the highest and
coldest parts, are numerous flocks of the Vicuna,
or Peruvian sheep, whose wool is the chief article
of commerce.
This animal prefers the coldest and highest parts
of the Andes, and is rarely seen north of the line;
they formerly were very numerous in all the mountains
of Peru, till they were so much hunted for
the sake of their fleeces, that they are now caught
with great difficulty, and are only to be seen wild
in the most inaccessible parts of the southern
Andes.
The town of Castro Vireyna is 125 miles south-east
of Lima, in 12° 50' south latitude, and 74° 45'
west longitude.
Is bounded on the north by Guancavelica and
the uncultivated countries on the banks of the Apurimac,
east by the same and Cuzco, west by Lima,
and south by Arequipa.
It contains several fine districts, of which Guanta,
Vilcas-Guaman, Andagualas, Parina Cocha and
Lucanas are the chief, with that of Guamanga
itself.
The capital is Guamanga, situated in 12° 50'
south latitude, and 77° 56' west longitude, in a
wide and beautiful plain, watered by a fine river,
and having a healthful climate. The buildings are
of stone, and are equal to any in Peru, and the city
is decorated with fine squares, gardens and walks,
which render it a very pleasant residence. The
soil in the surrounding district is fertile in grain and
fruit, the chief articles of commerce being cattle,
hides and sweetmeats, with the produce of several
mines; sixty of gold, 102 of silver, and one of
quicksilver, having been wrought in this and the
dependent district of Lucanas.
Guamanga was founded by Pizarro in 1539, and
is the see of a bishop, whose annual revenue is
8000 dollars.
This city has three churches, one for the whites,
and the others for the Indians; as well as the cathedral,
several chapels and convents, and a university,
with a good revenue, in which the study of
divinity, philosophy and law is followed. The
number of inhabitants is 26,000, including Spaniards,
mestizoes, mulattoes and Indians.
Guamanga is also called San Juan de la Victoria,
in memory of the precipitate retreat which Manco
Capac made from Pizarro, when the armies were
drawn up for battle, and Pizarro founded the town
in order to keep up the communication between
Lima and Cuzco. About three leagues from Guamanga
is the town of Anco; the territory around
which is infested with jaguars and reptiles. Anco
stands in 13° 14' south latitude, and 73° 10' west
longitude.
Guanta is the chief town of a jurisdiction of the
same name, and is twenty miles north of Guamanga,
in 12° 30' south latitude, and 74° 16' west longitude;
the district begins four leagues from Guamanga,
and stretches for thirty leagues north-north-west
of it. It enjoys a temperate climate,
and is very fertile, but its mines, which were formerly
very rich, are abandoned.
In an island formed by the Tayacaxa or Xauxa
grows the coca or betel nut in great plenty, in
which, and with the lead produced in the mines, the
commerce of Guanta consists. It also carries on
a trade with the capital, which it supplies with
corn and fruits.
Vilcas Guaman is a district south-east of Guamanga,
beginning six or seven leagues from that
city and extending above thirty leagues; Vilcas
Guaman or Bilcas is the chief town, in which is a
church, built on the ruins of a Peruvian fortress.
The climate is temperate and the district furnishes
vast quantities of cattle. The chief commerce
is in woollens, &c., manufactured by the
Indians, and which they carry to Cuzco.
East of Guamanga, and verging to the south, is
the district of Andagualas with its town of the same
name. This district extends along the valley or
plain between two branches of the Andes for about
twenty-four leagues.
It is the most populous partido of Guamanga,
having large plantations of sugar-canes belonging
to the inhabitants of the capital. The river Pampas
which runs into the Apurimac, and several
others flow through this territory, contributing
greatly to its fertility; and the number of its inhabitants
is about 12,000.
Parina Cocha and Lucanas are districts lying
between that part of the chain of the Andes which
stretches down in a circular form towards Arequipa;
they abound in mines of silver and gold, and though
in a cold climate, produce grain, herbs and fruits
in abundance. The chief towns of these districts
have the same names excepting that of the first,
which is called Pausa.
In the mountains are found herds of huanucos or
Peruvian camels, and the plains and valleys are
filled with sheep, goats and cattle, in consequence
of which most of the inhabitants are drovers or
woollen manufacturers.
In the former district which contains 11,300 inhabitants
dispersed in thirty settlements; there is
the lake of Parina Cocha seven leagues in length
and one in width, in which a white bird of the
name of Panuira breeds. This name has been corrupted
to Parina, and the word cocha or lake being
added, has given rise to the designation of the
department.
Cuzco contains a number of partidos or districts
lying on the west of the great Apurimac, and on
the eastern Cordillera of the Andes; it is bounded
on the north by the Apurimac and the Andes of
Cuzco, on the west by unconquered countries, east
by Tarma, Guancavelica, and Guamanga, and
south by Arequipa and the viceroyalty of La Plata,
the boundary line of which runs between the lake
Chucuito or Titicaca and along the chain of Vilcanota,
and bounds the district of Paucartambo on
the south.
The capital of this extensive province is the celebrated
city of Cuzco, which has a peculiar jurisdiction
around it, over which its magistrates exercise
their authority. This district extends only two
leagues, but in it the climate is various, and on the
highlands the cold is intense, though in general
the temperature is mild. It contains, with the partido
of Carahuasi, nineteen mines of silver.
The city of Cuzco or Couzco is situated in 13°
25' south latitude, and 71° 15' west longitude, on uneven
ground in the skirts of mountains watered by
the small river Guatanay, its north and west sides
are surrounded by the mountains of Sanca, and on
the south it borders on a plain, in which are several
beautiful walks.
Cuzco was originally founded by Manco Capac
and his consort Mama Oello, who were supposed to
have reigned in the 12th or 13th century. He
divided it into high and low Cuzco, the former
having been peopled by the Peruvians whom he
assembled, and the latter by those whom his consort
had prevailed upon to leave their wandering
mode of life. The first tract forms the north, the
latter the southern divisions of the city; here he
founded a temple of the sun and appointed his
daughters to serve as priestesses.
The Spaniards who took possession of Cuzco,
under Pizarro, in October 1534, were astonished
at the extent and splendour of the city, the magnificence
of the temples and palaces, and the
pomp and riches which were every where displayed.
Cuzco was besieged by Manco Capac the
Second, who took it, but was soon driven out
by the Europeans, and afterwards blockaded the
place for eight months; in this and the subsequent
contest between the followers of Pizarro and Almagro,
Cuzco suffered very much, great part of the
city having been destroyed.
On the mountain which surrounds the north
part of this celebrated city, are the remains of the
fortress of the Incas, by which it appears that
they intended to encompass the mountain with a
wall, constructed in such a manner, that the
ascent would have been impracticable, though it
could be easily defended within. It was strongly
built of freestone, and is remarkable for the immense
size of the stones, as well as for the art
with which they are joined. The internal works
of the fortress itself are in ruins, but great part
of the wall is standing. A subterraneous passage
of singular construction led from this fort to the
palace of the Incas, and with these ruins, are
the remains of a paved causeway which led to
Lima.
One of the stones designed for the wall lies on
the ground near it, and is so large that it has
obtained the name of Cansada, alluding to the
apparent impracticability of bringing such a mass
from the quarries, by a people unacquainted with
machinery, or even by those who are.
Most of the houses of Cuzco are covered with
red tiles, and built of stone; their interior is spacious,
and those of the rich highly decorated; the
mouldings of the doors being gilt, and the ornaments
and furniture of the most costly kind.
The cathedral is a noble building of stone, and
is erected on the spot where the Spaniards rescued
the place from the Inca Manco Capac the Second;
it is served by three priests, one for the
Indians, and two for the whites; Cuzco also contains
six parish churches, and nine convents, one of
which, the Dominican, is built on the spot where
stood the Temple of the Sun, the stones of that
building serving to erect its church, the altar
being paced on the same ground where the golden
image of the luminary was formerly fixed. These
convents contain hospitals for the sick Indians and
whites. There are also four nunneries, and
the government of the city consists of a corregidor
and alcaldes, who are chosen from the first
people in the place.
There are four hospitals, two universities, and
a college, the latter being for the children of
Indian caciques; and the courts are those of the
royal audience, revenue, inquisition, cruzada, &c.
The bishop of Cuzco is suffragan of the archbishop
of Lima, and enjoys a revenue of 24,000
dollars annually.
This city contains 32,000 inhabitants, of whom
three-fourths are Indians, who are very industrious
in the manufacture of baize, cotton and leather,
and have a great taste for painting. It formerly
contained many Spanish families, but at present
the Indians and castes prevail.
Quispicanchi is a district of Cuzco, beginning
close to the city, and extending thirty leagues from
east to west, and thirty-five from north to south,
producing maize, wheat and fruits. Part of this
district borders on the forests inhabited by independent
Indians, and which contain great quantities
of coca or betel.
The chief town is Urcos, 12 miles south of
Cuzco, and the partido has 26 other settlements,
which only contain 7200 inhabitants.
Abancay is another district and town of Cuzco,
extending about 26 leagues east and west, and
fourteen broad, and commencing four leagues north
of the capital. It forms, on its northern boundary,
an extended chain of mountains covered with
snow. Its climate is in general hot, so that it
contains great plantations of sugar canes, in which
fine sugar of a superior whiteness is made. It
has seventeen villages or towns, the chief of
which, Abancay, is seated in a fertile and spacious
valley, 60 miles north of Cuzco, in 31° 30' south latitude,
and 72° 26' west longitude, on the river
Abancay, over which is thrown one of the largest
bridges in Peru. In this province is the valley
Xaquijaguana, in which Gonzalo Pizarro was taken
prisoner by Pedro de la Gasca. The river Abancay
joins the Apurimac, which runs through this
district; the junction being to the north of the
town.
On the north of Abancay, and on the east of
the Cordillera, named the Andes de Cuzco, the Vilcamaya,
Urubamba, or Quillabamba river, at about
12° 30' south latitude, throws itself into the Apurimac,
which, having pursued a north-west course
through Cuzco, Quispicanchi and Abancay, suddenly
turns, after meeting the Vilcamayo, to the
north-east; and on the eastern shores of the Apurimac
are the small towns Vilcabamba, Urubamba
and Calca.
The Andes de Cuzco divide the valley of the
Vilcamayo from that of the Paucartambo river.
The district of Paucartambo begins eight leagues
east of Cuzco, and is of great extent, having indefinite
bounds on its northern, western and southern
sides. It is mostly uninhabited, its chief town of
the same name lying in 72° west longitude, and
nearly in the same latitude as Cuzco, between the
Andes de Cuzco and the chain of Vilcanota, which
separates it from La Plata. The river Paucartambo
takes its rise in this chain, and flows northerly, to
meet the Apurimac, which it enters in 10° 45'
south latitude, after a course of 200 miles. The
junction is only a short distance south of that of
the Beni, with the Apurimac; and the country
in the vicinity of these mouths, is inhabited by several
independent tribes of Indians. West of
Paucartambo, and between it and the river Beni,
is the country called Chunchos, also peopled by
warlike tribes.
The inhabitants of Paucartambo amount to 8000,
dispersed in eleven settlements.
Calcaylares is another district, beginning four
leagues west of Cuzco, and between it and Paucartambo.
The climate is exceedingly fine, and
the chief town is Calca, above mentioned.
Chilques y Masques is also a district at the distance
of seven or eight leagues south-east of Cuzco,
and extending above thirty leagues, noted
for its producing abundance of grain, and feeding
great quantities of cattle and sheep; but it is
chiefly inhabited by Indians, who manufacture
coarse woollens.
The jurisdiction of Cotabamba begins twenty
leagues south-west of Cuzco, and extends thirty
leagues between the rivers Abancay and Apurimac,
which are separated from each other by a ridge of
mountains. It abounds in cattle, and the temperate
parts produce maize, wheat and fruit.
There are also several gold and silver mines;
but most of them are abandoned. Its chief place
is an unimportant town named Cotabambas.
The district of Tinta, or Canas y Canches,
commences fifteen or twenty leagues from Cuzco,
and extends in breadth and length about twenty
leagues; the Cordillera dividing it into two parts,
the highest being called Canas, and the lowest
Canches. The latter yields all kinds of grains and
fruits, while the former feeds numerous flocks and
herds; and in the valleys between the mountains,
20 or 30,000 mules, are annually pastured from
the neighbouring provinces. There is also a great
fair for mules at Tinta, which draws people from
all parts of Cuzco. In Canas is the mine of Condonoma,
formerly noted for yielding much silver.
Tinta is the chief town on the west of the Vilcamayo
river, at sixty miles distance south of
Cuzco.
The district of Aymaraez commences forty
leagues south-west of Cuzco, and is bounded on
the north-west and west by Andahuailas; east by
Cotabamba, west by Parinacocha, and south by
Chumbivilcas.
It is 120 miles long from north to south, and
26 miles from east to west, full of mountains;
the Andes here taking a circuitous turn towards
the coast, in the southern part of this district,
their summits frequently entering the limits of
perpetual congelation. Its valleys are productive
in grain and sugar, and afford sustenance to numerous
herds of cattle, and it is intersected by
three rivers, which unite and form the Pachachaca,
that flows into the Abancay, and is crossed by no less
than 40 bridges of ropes and wood.
Numerous veins of gold and silver in its mountains
are not worked owing to the poverty of the
inhabitants, of whom it contains 15,000. There
are fifty settlements in Aymaraez, and lake Chinchero
is in this district.
The jurisdiction of Chumbivilcas begins forty
leagues south-east of Cuzco, and extends about
thirty leagues. It is chiefly noted for feeding large
herds of cattle, and contains many unworked
mines.
Lampa the last district of the intendancy, commences
thirty leagues south of Cuzco, and is of
great extent among the mountains, but its climate
being cold, it produces little else than pasturage
for numerous herds of cattle; but this district
contains many valuable silver mines, and the chief
town is Lampa, ninety miles south of Cuzco, in
14° 55' south latitude, and 81° 44' west longitude.
Lampa is bounded by the chain of Vilcanota,
which separates it from Asangara on the east, in
the kingdom of La Plata, and whose crests also
constitute a part of the barrier between the viceroyalty
of Buenos Ayres and the kingdom of Peru.
The last great division of the Peruvian territories
towards the south, is—
Which is bounded on the north by those of
Lima, Guamanga, and Cuzco; on the east, by
Cuzco and the viceroyalty of La Plata; on the west
by the South Sea or Great Pacific Ocean; and on
the South by the desert of Atacama in the viceroyalty
of La Plata.
It contains several districts, of which Arequipa,
Camana, Condesuyos, Cailloma, Moquehua, and
Arica, are the most important.
The district of Arequipa Proper, contains the
capital of the intendancy, also called Arequipa, which
is situated 217 leagues south-east of Lima, sixty
south-west of Cuzco, and fifty north of Arica, and
is the last town of any note in Peru. The city of
Arequipa stands in 16° 16' south latitude, and 71°
58' west longitude, in the valley of Quilca, twenty
leagues from the Pacific. It is one of the largest
towns in the Peruvian government, containing
24,000 inhabitants, and was founded in 1539 by
order of Pizarro in a bad situation, but was soon
afterwards removed to its present scite. This town
is well built, most of the houses being of stone
and vaulted, and are much decorated on the outside.
It is watered by the Rio Chilé, which is
conducted by sluices over the neighbouring fields,
and by canals through the city, serving at once for
convenience and cleanliness. The climate of
Arequipa is remarkably good, though frost is
sometimes known, but the cold is never intense,
or the heat troublesome. The surrounding district,
which is about sixteen leagues in length, and twelve
wide, is always clothed with verdure, and presents
the appearance of a perpetual spring, its plantations
producing sugar, wheat, maize, and potatoes,
and it carries on also a commerce with the neighbouring
provinces in wine and brandy.
The port of Arequipa is Aranta, at twenty
leagues distance, the harbour of which is deep,
but difficult of access.
Arequipa is the see of a bishop, who enjoys a
revenue of 16,000 dollars. This bishopric was
erected on the 20th July 1609.
The public buildings consist of a cathedral with
a parish-church for the Indians, six convents, a
college, seminary, hospital, and three nunneries,
with the revenue office, &c.
This city has been repeatedly devastated by
earthquakes, which have four times totally ruined
it; and a volcano in its vicinity, named Guayna
Patina, contributed to destroy the devoted town
by a tremendous eruption, on the 24th of February
1600.
The district of Camana lies along the shore of
the South Sea, north of Arequipa, and is very
large, but contains many deserts, extending on the
east to the chain of the Andes. Its temperature
is nearly the same as the former, excepting on
the mountains, where it is cold. It contains many
old silver mines, but these being neglected, its
chief trade consists in supplying the mines of
the neighbouring district with asses and other
beasts of burthen. The principal town of the
same name is seventy miles north-west from
Arequipa, on the river Camana near its confluence
with the South Sea.
The next district to the north and bounding
Lima, is Condesuyos de Arequipa, extending
about thirty leagues. It is chiefly inhabited by
Indians who breed the cochineal insect, with which
they supply the woollen manufactures of the adjacent
districts. Condesuyos abounds in gold and
silver mines, but they are unworked.
Ocona is situated in this district, and is a port on
the Pacific, ninety-six miles west-north-west of
Arequipa, in sixteen degrees south latitude, on the
Rio Ocona, which rises in the interior, and receives
a small river flowing from lake Parina Cocha.
Caylloma is the next jurisdiction bounding the
kingdom of La Plata on the east, and Cuzco
on the north; it lies entirely among the Cordilleras
of the Andes, which here divides its
western branch into several ramifications, approaching
very near the South Sea. Caylloma is
famous for containing a very high mountain of the
same name, and the sources of the Apurimac or
Genuine Maranon, which rises in a small lake
formed by the curvature of the chain of the Andes,
and flows through a long valley made by two
parallel ranges of the same mountains, which
divide its bed from that of the Vilcamayo on the
east. The source of the Apurimac is in about
16° 10' or 20' south latitude.
Caylloma contains, several badly worked mines of
silver; but the cold is so intense, owing to the great
height of the Andes, that the inhabitants who
have settled in it, are obliged to have recourse to
the neighbouring districts for grain, fruits, &c.;
and the country abounds with wild asses and
beasts of prey.
Caylloma, the principal place, is a village on the
eastern range of the Andes, at the silver mines of
the great mountain of the same name. It contains
an office for receiving the king's-fifths, and
for selling the quicksilver necessary in the extraction
of the metals.
South of Arequipa, at the distance of forty leagues,
lies the district of Moquehua, at sixteen leagues
from the Pacific. This jurisdiction extends forty
leagues to the south, in a fine climate and fertile
soil, adorned with large vineyards, producing great
quantities of wine and brandy, which constitute its
whole commerce, and with which it supplies all
the provinces, as far as Potosi on the Andes by
land carriage, and by sea to Lima; and the fruits
of Moquehua are also numerous and good, among
which are olives of excellent quality.
The chief town of the same name is principally
inhabited by Spaniards and mestizoes, who are in
general opulent; it is seventy miles south of
Arequipa, in 17° 20' south latitude, and 70° 56'
west longitude.
The most southerly district of the intendancy of
Arequipa, and the last of the kingdom of Peru, is
Arica; it is bounded on the north by Arequipa
and Moquehua, west by the Pacific, east by the
Cordillera and Charcas, and south by the desert
and province of Atacama in the kingdom of La
Plata. It is eighty-two leagues in length, north-west
and south-east; and sixteen wide, east and
west; composed of valleys commencing from the
Andes and running to the Pacific. The ranges
separating these valleys are arid and unfruitful,
while the vales themselves grow maize, wheat, &c.
Long-pepper is also cultivated, and a thriving trade
is carried on with this, and with cotton, sugar,
olives, wines, and brandies. The mountains feed
numerous herds of cattle, and are famed for the
vicunas, llamas, &c.; but the climate is hot, and
in the higher parts inclement.
The chief town is Arica, in 18° 26' south latitude,
and 70° 18' west longitude, 210 miles north-west
of La Plata, and 270 north-west of Atacama, in
a beautiful valley on the shore of the Pacific, with
a good port, much frequented by the coasting
vessels. It was formerly a large place, but
having been destroyed by an earthquake in 1605,
and sacked by the English in 1680, most of the
inhabitants removed to Tacna twelve leagues
distant, where the climate is better. Near the
small port of Yquique are the celebrated silver
mines of Huantajaya already mentioned.
Having now treated of the known provinces of
Peru, we shall give some account of those countries
which lie on the east of the Andes, between
the intendancies and the frontier of Portuguese
America.
By the most recent authorities it appears that
the viceroyalty of La Plata is supposed to extend
to the frontiers of Jaen de Bracamoros and Maynas
in New Granada; but as it is not distinctly stated
where its limits in this quarter are, it will be better
to follow the old boundary of Peru, on the north-east
and east.
Within the confines of that extensive territory,
lying between the Andes, the Guallaga, the Maranon,
or Ucayale, and the western frontiers of the
Portuguese settlements, are several immense tracts
of land, known by the names of Pampas del Sacramento;
Colonna, or the Land of the Missions;
Chunchos, &c.
The Pampas del Sacramento, in their restricted
sense, include all the country between the Guallaga
on the east, Maynas on the north, the Ucayale
on the west, and the Apurimac on the south.
It consists of immense plains, and was so called
by the Jesuits; but it is now usual to give the
same name to the whole country denominated the
Land of the Missions, and extending from the
Ucayale to the Portuguese limits, bounded only
by the Amazons on the north, and embracing
8000 square leagues. The Jesuit missionaries succeeded
in establishing several villages among the
numerous nations who inhabit this region, through
which flows the Ucayale. Father Girval is the
most recent traveller in this great steppe, and the
information he has given concerning the country,
is not uninteresting.
Embarking on the lake of the Great Cocama, at
the junction of the Guallaga and Tunguragua, in
Maynas, he went to the confluence of the true
and false Maranons, near St. Joachin de Omaguas,
(a Spanish fort, at the distance of 180 miles from
St. Pablo de Omaguas, the most westerly Portuguese
settlement.) Having two canoes with 14
Omaguan Indians to row them, he soon passed
into the Ucayale, which he ascended with great
resolution, frequently meeting with little fleets of
canoes, manned by unknown tribes, from whom it
required all his address to escape; and after 14
days' rowing, there appeared on the west a chain
of mountains, running south-east and north-west.
In two days after this, he reached the little settlement
of Sariacu, among the Panos, then the
habitation of Anna Rosa, an Italian lady, educated
at Lima; passing this, he reached the river
Manoa, which he ascended, with the view of seeing
if a passage could be had to Maynas, but it was
found almost impracticable, on account of the
thick forests, and the precipices; therefore again
descending the Maranon, he arrived at the missions
of Maynas, after an absence of four months.
In this voyage, Father Girval found that there
existed several singular tribes of Indians, of whom
the Conibos were nearly as fair as Europeans, but
that they were discoloured by the bites of mosquitoes,
and by painting their skins. Their customs
were much the same as those of the other
American Indians, in a state of nature.
In the second voyage of Girval, in 1791, he
was unaccompanied by any soldier or white person;
and again ascending the Ucayale, found the Casibos,
a fierce tribe on the eastern banks, but the
Conibos still appeared to be the principal navigators
of this part of the stream, and were the
most humane; the sound of their rude flutes indicating
peace, and a desire to show hospitality.
After passing the Conibos, they met the canoes
of the Panos, and sixty of these accompanied
him to Anna Rosa's village, where he found that
she had built a little convent, and that the tribe
obeyed her as their chief, with great devotion.
In twenty days' navigation from Sariacu, in the
latitude of Tarma, he found the Piros, whose
country produces a species of cinnamon, and in
which a settlement has since been made.
Father Girval is said to have passed 400 miles
up the Genuine Maranon, from its confluence
with the Tunguaragua; to have discovered twenty-five
tribes, and to have partly persuaded the Piros,
the Chipeos, the Panos, and the Conibos, to become
Christians.
He found the worship of most of these tribes
to consist in the adoration of the moon, and
evil spirits. In war they always choose a chief
noted for his courage and capacity, and make
prisoners of the women and children of their enemies,
slaying the men. Some tribes were gentle
and humane, while others resembled tigers more
than human beings; of these the Casibos, and Carapochas,
were anthropophagi.
The Capaguas, a tribe on the Mague, were
said to cook and eat their dead, and yet to be
one of the most humane of the savages on the
Maranon.
The Pampas del Sacramento are divided from
Peru by a lofty chain of mountains, from which
they appear so level as to resemble the ocean; they
are covered with trees and verdure, and produce
balsams, oils, gums, resins, a sort of cinnamon, cacao,
cascarilla, and many other excellent drugs,
spices, &c.
In these vast levels the trees are very lofty, and
form impenetrable forests unexplored by man, in
which wander all the animals peculiar to the torrid
climate of America. The heat is very great, and
is accompanied with much humidity, and thick
fogs, so that till the forests could be cleared, the
Pampas would not be a desirable residence for Europeans;
the missionaries have nevertheless been
very active in founding villages in the most accessible
parts, several of which now exist, and new
communications are opened constantly with Peru.
South of the Pampas del Sacramento is a district
named Montana Reale, through which runs a
chain east from the Andes, named the Cerro de la
Sal, which gives birth to the Pachitea, and several
other rivers, and divides their streams from the
Perene, and some others which flow into the Apurimac;
a branch from this Cerro, runs to the north,
under the name of Sierra de San Carlos, and separates
the Maranon, after receiving the Beni,
from the Pachitea. There are some missions in
this country, on the banks of the Pachitea, but it is
in general inhabited only by the Mayros, a fierce
nation, and several other wandering tribes.
The land of the Missions, or Colonna, now
included in the Pampas, is that territory on the
Amazons, through which flow the Cassiquin and
the Yvari, part of which serves as the boundary
of Brazil; the Yutay, the Yurba, and several
other large rivers, joining the Maranon, and of
which little, or in fact, nothing is known.
Chunchos is a district between the Beni and the
Paucartambo, in which are many wandering tribes,
who are very imperfectly known, and whose
country forms the barrier between Brazil and Peru.
We shall conclude the description of this viceroyalty,
by some few remarks upon the language
of the natives, &c.
The number of dialects totally differing from
each other, which are spoken by the Indian inhabitants
of this kingdom, is very great, and it was
the same during the time of the Incas; to remedy
which inconvenience, those sovereigns instituted
a general language, which they ordered all the
chiefs who came to their courts to speak; it was
called the Quichuan, or language of the Incas;
and was that which prevailed in the capital; and
so unbounded was the power of these princes, that
the Quichuan was soon learnt, even in the most remote
provinces, and continues to the present day
to be the general tongue of the Peruvians, who are
averse to making any efforts to obtain a knowledge
of the Spanish; so that the priests consider it as
indispensably necessary to become acquainted with
the Quichuan, in order to retain the Peruvians in
their power.
The sounds b, d, f, g, r, are wanting, but the
language is harmonious, and its grammar as variegated
and artificial as the Greek. A work has
been published at Lima on this subject; and great
pains have been used to render it well known.
At the time of the conquest, Peru was named
by its inhabitants Tavantin-suyu, or the Four
Parts. That on the east, in which was Cuzco, was
named Colla-suyu, or the east part; that of the
west or coast, Chinchay-suyu; that of the north, Anti-suyu;
and that of the south Conti-suyu; which
titles, with some alterations, were retained till very
lately, in the best maps. The names of most of
the principal places, are still Quichuan; and so
little is the Spanish language and power spread in
this country, the first of their conquests, that upwards
of sixty unsubdued nations or tribes, are said
to exist within its territories; though these have
been greatly straitened by the formation of the new
government, of which it now becomes necessary
to give a description.
