Montana of San Carlos de Vitoc--Villages--Hacienda of Maraynioc--the
Coca Plant--Mode of Cultivating and Gathering it--Mastication of
Coca--Evil Consequences of its excessive Use--Its Nutritious
Qualities--Indian Superstitions connected with the Coca
Plant--Suggestions for its Introduction in the European
Navies--Fabulous animal called the Carbunculo--The Chunchos--Missions
to Cerro de la Sal--Juan Santos Atahuallpa--The Franciscan
Monks--Depopulation of Vitoc.
The Montana of San Carlos de Vitoc is, without exception, one of the
most interesting districts of Peru. It has on the one side, and at a
short distance, the populous villages of the Sierra, and on the other it
borders on the forests, through which the wild Indians range in their
hunting excursions. It was formerly the principal key to the missionary
stations of the Pampa del Sacramento, the Chanchamayo, Perenc, and Upper
Ucayali. It is only twenty leagues distant from Tarma, from whence the
road leads through the fertile valley Acobamba, to Palca. Eastward of
the latter place are the ruins of a fort, which in former times must
have been a place of considerable importance. The wild Indians have
repeatedly made hostile sallies from their forests, and it is only by
this bulwark, which, with four small field-pieces, completely defends
the narrow valley, that they have been checked in their advance on
Tarma. An exceedingly steep path runs about a league and a half up the
acclivity; then, becoming somewhat more level, it extends to the base of
the crest, which at that part is about 14,000 feet above the level of
the sea. Here the aspect of the Andes is by no means so imposing as that
of the Cordillera, for the glaciers and steep rocky summits are wanting.
The highest peaks rise only about 200 feet above the crest. As in the
Cordillera, the eastern declivity inclines much more gently than the
western, but the road is marshy, and is interspersed with large
hollows, into which the mules often fall and are killed. After passing
over the Andes, two leagues further, we come to the hacienda
Maraynioc, where numerous herds of cattle are kept. Round the hacienda
there are potato plantations, and the potatoes reared here are so
excellent, that they are celebrated throughout the whole Sierra. Every
morning the sky is obscured by heavy clouds; it rains regularly two days
in the week, and there are frequent falls of snow; yet notwithstanding
this excessive humidity, a bad harvest is an event never to be
apprehended. The cultivation of maize is, however, found to be
impracticable here, for soon after germination the ears rot. A small
stream flows past the hacienda, and after a course of about three
leagues, it reaches the Montana de Vitoc. Formerly, the road ran close
along the bank of this stream, but in consequence of the repeated
depopulation of Vitoc, it became neglected, and at length impassable.
The way is now over the Cuchillo, or sharp edge of a mountain ridge, and
it must be at least four times longer than the course formerly taken.
From Maraynioc the road proceeds, for the length of a league, through a
valley overgrown with brushwood, and then rises to a lateral branch of
the Andes, which is almost as high as the main chain. The Indians call
this ridge, _Manam rimacunan_ ("Thou shall not speak!"), for a heavy
wind, accompanied by drifting snow, blows constantly, and renders it
scarcely possible to open the mouth to utter a word. From Manarimacunan,
downwards, to the lower Montana, the road passes over stones laid in
_echelon_ form, and through a very slippery hollow way, which descends
rapidly downward, and is surrounded by almost impenetrable woods; the
only open and level place is the field of Chilpes, which is a few
hundred paces long.
Here it is highly interesting to contemplate the rapid increase of
vegetation, and the varied changes in the animal world. From the brink
of a ridge where only feeble vegetation can be seen, we descend a few
leagues and speedily find ourselves in the region of the Cinchona tree,
and in the evening we are among lofty palms. The first human dwellings
seen on entering the Montana are half a dozen small huts, forming the
hamlet Amaruyo, formerly called Sibis, and immediately after we come to
the village of Vitoc. It consists of about fifty wretched huts, and has
a small church, in which worship is performed twice a year for the
inhabitants of the whole valley.
Vitoc is surrounded by two rivers, which unite in a sharp angle, called
the Tingo, and which separate the valley from the territory of the wild
Indians. The valley is deep, and the surrounding heights are broken by
many quebradas. The soil is very fruitful, and the locality is less than
some others infested with troublesome insects; yet it is but scantily
peopled, for, besides the two villages and the Hacienda of Maraynioc,
already mentioned, it contains only a few scattered chacras. The
inhabitants of this, the most favored district of the Montanas, scarcely
amount to 200. The villagers employ themselves chiefly in the
cultivation of pines, which are sent to Lima. The Indians of Palca and
Tapo bring them potatoes, salt, and butcher's meat, for which the
villagers exchange their pine-apples. The fruit is conveyed by asses
to the coast, where, however, it seldom arrives in good condition. The
other productions of the Montana are maize, oranges, bananas, paltas,
Spanish pepper, &c.; but these articles are sold only in the Sierra.
Each inhabitant of the village cultivates his own piece of ground,
which he can enlarge when he pleases; but these people are too
indolent to devote themselves seriously to agriculture. It is only
when the governor in Tarma compels them to pay the annual
contribution, that they make an effort to augment their earnings; they
then seek a market for the products of their cultivation, and sell
them for ready money. Vitoc and some of the villages in its
neighborhood form altogether only one ecclesiastical community, whose
pastor lives in Tarma the whole year round. He goes to Pucara only
once in six or eight months, to read a couple of masses, and to
solemnize marriages and christenings, but chiefly to collect fees for
burials which may have taken place during his absence.
The plantation of Pacchapata is of considerable extent, but produces
very little. The system of repartimientos, already described, by which
the poor Indian is kept in a state of slavery by advances of clothing,
meat, brandy, &c., is practised in this hacienda to a great extent. The
laborer who is set down in the plantation-book as a debtor for ten or
twelve dollars, has a good chance of remaining during the rest of his
life a tributary slave; for if he tries by prolonged labor to relieve
himself from the debt the owner of the plantation causes brandy to be
made, and this is too great a temptation to be resisted by an Indian.
The butcher's meat given to the laboring Indians in general consists of
_Chalonas_, that is, the dried flesh of sheep which have died in the
haciendas of the hilly districts. For a meagre, tough, unwholesome
chalona the Indian has to add a dollar and a half or two dollars to his
debt, while a living sheep in the Sierra would not cost half the price.
It is the same with other articles furnished by the haciendas. European
importations, such as can be purchased at very low prices in the Sierra,
are sold at high profits by the owners of plantations to the poor
Indians, who have to repay them by long and severe labor.
At Pacchapata, besides maize, yuccas, and fruits, sugar, coffee, and
coca are also cultivated. The sugar-cane grows in abundance, and is of
good quality. An excellent kind of coffee is grown here; the bean is
slightly globular, and its color is a greenish blue. In former times the
viceroy used to send the coffee of Vitoc as a highly-esteemed present to
the court of Madrid. The coca is also very fine, and yields three
harvests in the year; which, however, is only the case in a few of the
Montanas, as, for example, at Pangoa and Huanta. I may here subjoin
some notice of this highly interesting plant.
The coca (_Erythroxylon coca_, Lam.) is a shrub about six feet in
height, with bright green leaves and white blossoms. The latter are
succeeded by small scarlet berries. It is raised from the seed, in
garden-beds called _almazigas_. When the young shoots are one and a half
or two feet high, they are removed to regularly laid out coca fields
(_cocales_), where they are planted at the distance of about three spans
from each other. The coca requires humidity; therefore, during the first
year or two after it is planted in the fields, maize is sown between the
_matas_, or young shoots, to screen them from the too great influence of
the sun. When the leaves are ripe, that is to say, when on being bent
they crack or break off, the gathering commences. The leaves are
stripped from the branches, a task usually performed by women, and it
requires great care lest the tender leaves and young twigs should be
injured. In some districts, the Indians are so very careful in
gathering the coca, that, instead of stripping off the leaves, they cut
them from the stem by making an incision with their nails. The plant
thus rendered leafless is soon again overgrown with verdant foliage.
After being gathered, the leaves are spread out on coarse woollen cloths
and dried in the sun. The color of the leaves when dried is a pale
green. The drying is an operation which likewise demands great care
and attention, for if the leaves imbibe damp, they become dark
colored, and then they sell for a much lower price than when they are
green. The dry coca is finely packed in woollen sacks, and covered
with sand. These sacks are of various sizes and colors, in different
parts of the Montanas. In Huanuco they are grey or black, and when
filled weigh from 75 to 80 pounds. In Vitoc they are grey and white,
and contain 150 pounds. In Huanta and Anco they are small in size, and
black or brown in color, and contain merely one aroba. In the Montanas
of Urubamba, Calca, and Paucartambo, the coca leaves are put into
small baskets called _cestos_, and covered with sand. Great care is
also requisite in the carriage of the coca, for if damp be allowed to
penetrate the sack, the leaves become hot, or as the natives express
it, _Se calientan_, and are thereby rendered useless.
The Indians masticate the coca. Each individual carries a leathern
pouch, called the _huallqui_, or the _chuspa_, and a small flask gourd,
called the _ishcupuru_. The pouch contains a supply of coca leaves, and
the gourd is filled with pulverised unslaked lime. Usually four times,
but never less than three times a day, the Indian suspends his labor,
for the purpose of masticating coca. This operation (which is termed
_chacchar_ or _acullicar_) is performed in the following manner: some of
the coca leaves, the stalks having been carefully picked off, are
masticated until they form a small ball, or as it is called an
_acullico_. A thin slip of damp wood is then thrust into the
_ishcupuru_, or gourd, and when drawn out some portion of the powdered
lime adheres to it. The _acullico_, or ball of masticated coca leaves,
is, whilst still lying in the mouth, punctured with this slip of wood,
until the lime mixing with it, gives it a proper relish, and the
abundant flow of saliva thus excited is partly expectorated and partly
swallowed. When the ball ceases to emit juice, it is thrown away, and
a new one is formed by the mastication of a fresh mouthfull of coca
leaves. In Cerro de Pasco, and in places still further south, the
Indians use, instead of unslaked lime, a preparation of the pungent
ashes of the quinua (_Chenopodium Quinua_, L.). This preparation is
called _Llucta_ or _Llipta_. In using it a piece is broken off and
masticated along with the _acullico_. In some of the Montana regions
the Llucta is made from the ashes of the musa root. The application of
the unslaked lime demands some precaution, for if it comes in direct
contact with the lips and gums, it causes a very painful burning.
During a fatiguing ride across the level heights, where, owing to the
cold wind, I experienced a difficulty of respiration, my Arriero
recommended me to chew coca, assuring me that I would experience great
relief from so doing. He lent me his _huallqui_, but owing to my
awkward manner of using it, I cauterized my lips so severely that I
did not venture on a second experiment.
The flavor of coca is not unpleasant. It is slightly bitter, aromatic,
and similar to the worst kind of green tea. When mixed with the ashes of
the musa root it is somewhat piquant, and more pleasant to European
palates than it is without that addition. The smell of the fresh dried
leaves in a mass is almost overpowering; but this smell entirely goes
when they are packed in the sacks. All who masticate coca have a very
bad breath, pale lips and gums, greenish and stumpy teeth, and an ugly
black mark at the angles of the mouth. An inveterate _coquero_, or coca
chewer, is known at the first glance. His unsteady gait, his
yellow-colored skin, his dim and sunken eyes encircled by a purple ring,
his quivering lips and his general apathy, all bear evidence of the
baneful effects of the coca juice when taken in excess. All the mountain
Indians are addicted more or less to the practice of masticating coca.
Each man consumes, on the average, between an ounce and an ounce and a
half per day, and on festival days about double that quantity. The
owners of mines and plantations allow their laborers to suspend their
work three times a day for the _chacchar_, which usually occupies
upwards of a quarter of an hour; and after that they smoke a paper
cigar, which they allege crowns the zest of the coca mastication. He
who indulges for a time in the use of coca finds it difficult, indeed
almost impossible, to relinquish it. This fact I saw exemplified in
the cases of several persons of high respectability in Lima, who are
in the habit of retiring daily to a private apartment for the purpose
of masticating coca. They could not do this openly, because among the
refined class of Peruvians the chacchar is looked upon as a low and
vulgar practice, befitting only to the laboring Indians. Yet,
Europeans occasionally allow themselves to fall into this habit; and I
knew two in Lima, the one an Italian and the other a Biscayan, who
were confirmed coqueros in the strictest sense of the word. In Cerro
de Pasco there are societies having even Englishmen for their members,
which meet on certain evenings for the chacchar. In these places,
instead of lime or ashes, sugar is served along with the coca leaves.
A member of one of these clubs informed me that on the few first
trials the sugar was found very agreeable, but that afterwards the
palate required some more pungent ingredient.
The operation of the coca is similar to that of narcotics administered
in small doses. Its effects may be compared to those produced by the
thorn-apple rather than to those arising from opium. I have already
noticed the consequences resulting from drinking the decoction of the
datura.[98] In the inveterate coquero similar symptoms are observable,
but in a mitigated degree. I may mention one circumstance attending the
use of coca, which appears hitherto to have escaped notice: it is,
that after the mastication of a great quantity of coca the eye seems
unable to bear light, and there is a marked distension of the pupil. I
have also observed this peculiarity of the eye in one who had drunk a
strong extract of the infusion of coca leaves. In the effects
consequent on the use of opium and coca there is this distinction,
that coca, when taken even in the utmost excess, never causes a total
alienation of the mental powers or induces sleep; but, like opium, it
excites the sensibility of the brain, and the repeated excitement,
occasioned by its intemperate use after a series of years, wears out
mental vigor and activity.
It is a well known fact, confirmed by long observation and experience,
that the Indians who regularly masticate coca require but little food,
and, nevertheless, go through excessive labor with apparent ease. They,
therefore, ascribe the most extraordinary qualities to the coca, and
even believe that it might be made entirely a substitute for food.
Setting aside all extravagant and visionary notions on the subject, I am
clearly of opinion that the moderate use of coca is not merely
innoxious, but that it may even be very conducive to health. In support
of this conclusion, I may refer to the numerous examples of longevity
among Indians who, almost from the age of boyhood, have been
in the habit of masticating coca three times a day, and who in the
course of their lives have consumed no less than two thousand seven
hundred pounds, yet, nevertheless, enjoy perfect health.[99] The food of
the Indians consists almost exclusively of vegetable substances,
especially roasted maize and barley converted into flour by crushing,
which they eat without the admixture of any other substance. The
continued use of this farinaceous food occasions severe obstructions,
which the well known aperient qualities of the coca counteract, and many
serious diseases are thereby prevented. That the coca is in the highest
degree nutritious, is a fact beyond dispute. The incredible fatigues
endured by the Peruvian infantry, with very spare diet, but with the
regular use of coca; the laborious toil of the Indian miner, kept up,
under similar circumstances, throughout a long series of years;
certainly afford sufficient ground for attributing to the coca leaves,
not a quality of mere temporary stimulus, but a powerful nutritive
principle. Of the great power of the Indians in enduring fatigue with no
other sustenance than coca, I may here mention an example. A Cholo of
Huari, named Hatun Huamang, was employed by me in very laborious
digging. During the whole time he was in my service, viz., five days and
nights, he never tasted any food, and took only two hours' sleep
nightly. But at intervals of two and a half or three hours, he regularly
masticated about half an ounce of coca leaves, and he kept an acullico
continually in his mouth. I was constantly beside him, and therefore I
had the opportunity of closely observing him. The work for which I
engaged him being finished, he accompanied me on a two days' journey of
twenty-three leagues across the level heights. Though on foot, he kept
up with the pace of my mule, and halted only for the _chacchar_. On
leaving me, he declared that he would willingly engage himself again for
the same amount of work, and that he would go through it without food if
I would but allow him a sufficient supply of coca. The village priest
assured me that this man was sixty-two years of age, and that he had
never known him to be ill in his life.
The Indians maintain that coca is the best preventive of that difficulty
of respiration felt in the rapid ascents of the Cordillera and the Puna.
Of this fact I was fully convinced by my own personal experience. I
speak here, not of the mastication of the leaves, but of their decoction
taken as a beverage. When I was in the Puna, at the height of 14,000
feet above the level of the sea, I drank, always before going out to
hunt, a strong infusion of coca leaves. I could then during the whole
day climb the heights and follow the swift-footed wild animals without
experiencing any greater difficulty of breathing than I should have felt
in similar rapid movement on the coast. Moreover, I did not suffer from
the symptoms of cerebral excitement or uneasiness which other travellers
have observed. The reason perhaps is, that I only drank this decoction
in the cold Puna, where the nervous system is far less susceptible than
in the climate of the forests. However, I always felt a sense of great
satiety after taking the coca infusion, and I did not feel a desire for
my next meal until after the time at which I usually took it.
By the Peruvian Indians the coca plant is regarded as something sacred
and mysterious, and it sustained an important part in the religion of
the Incas. In all ceremonies, whether religious or warlike, it was
introduced, for producing smoke at the great offerings, or as the
sacrifice itself. During divine worship the priests chewed coca leaves,
and unless they were supplied with them, it was believed that the favor
of the gods could not be propitiated. It was also deemed necessary that
the supplicator for divine grace should approach the priests with an
_Acullico_ in his mouth. It was believed that any business undertaken
without the benediction of coca leaves could not prosper; and to the
shrub itself worship was rendered. During an interval of more than 300
years Christianity has not been able to subdue the deep-rooted idolatry;
for everywhere we find traces of belief in the mysterious power of this
plant. The excavators in the mines of Cerro de Pasco throw masticated
coca on hard veins of metal, in the belief that it softens the ore, and
renders it more easy to work. The origin of this custom is easily
explained, when it is recollected, that in the time of the Incas it was
believed that the _Coyas_, or the deities of metals, rendered the
mountains impenetrable, if they were not propitiated by the odor of
coca. The Indians, even at the present time, put coca leaves into the
mouths of dead persons, to secure to them a favorable reception on their
entrance into another world, and when a Peruvian Indian on a journey
falls in with a mummy, he, with timid reverence, presents to it some
coca leaves as his pious offering.
Soon after the conquest of Peru, when the Spaniards treated the Indians
and all their customs with contempt, coca became an object of aversion
to the whites. The reverence rendered by the natives to the coca plant
induced the Spaniards to believe that it possessed some demoniacal
influence. The officers of the government and the clergy, therefore,
endeavored, by all possible means, to extirpate its use, and this is one
cause, hitherto overlooked, of the hatred with which the Indians
regarded the Spaniards. In the second council held at Lima, in 1567,
coca was described "as a worthless object, fitted for the misuse and
superstition of the Indians;" and a royal decree of October 18, 1569,
expressly declares that the notions entertained by the natives that coca
gives them strength, is an "illusion of the devil" (_una elusion del
Demonio_). The Peruvian mine owners were the first to discover the
importance of the _chacchar_ in assisting the Indians to go through
their excessive labor, and they, together with the plantation owners,
became the most earnest defenders of coca. The consequence was, that, in
defiance of royal and ecclesiastical ordinances, its use increased
rather than diminished. One of the warmest advocates of the plant was
the Jesuit Don Antonio Julian, who, in a work entitled, "Perla de
America," laments that coca is not introduced into Europe instead of
tea and coffee. "It is," he observes, "melancholy to reflect that the
poor of Europe cannot obtain this preservative against hunger and
thirst; that our working people are not supported by this strengthening
plant in their long-continued labors."[100] In the year 1793, Dr. Don
Pedro Nolasco Crespo pointed out in a treatise the important advantages
that would be derived from the use of the coca plant, if introduced into
the European navies, and he expresses a wish that experiments of its
utility in that way could be tried. Though it is not probable that Dr.
Crespo's wish will ever be realized, yet there is little doubt that the
use of coca as a beverage on board ship would be attended with very
beneficial results. It would afford a nutritious refreshment to seamen
in the exercise of their laborious duties, and would greatly assist in
counteracting the unwholesome effects of salt provisions. As a stimulant
it would be far less injurious than ardent spirits, for which it might
be substituted without fear of any of the evil consequences experienced
by the _coqueros_. After a long and attentive observation of the effects
of coca, I am fully convinced that its use, in moderation, is no way
detrimental to health; and that without it the Peruvian Indian, with his
spare diet, would be incapable of going through the labor which he now
performs. The coca plant must be considered as a great blessing to Peru.
It is an essential means of preserving the nationality of the Indians,
and in some measure mitigating the melancholy fate of that once great
race which disease and excessive labor now threaten to destroy.
In former times the cultivation of coca in the Montana de Vitoc was very
considerable. Upwards of 4,000 arobas used to be annually forwarded to
the market of Tarma. Now only fifty arobas are sent. Vitoc produces no
fodder for horses or mules; those animals, therefore, are very lean and
feeble in this district, and are usually unfit for work after two years.
Indeed, they suffer so much from the attacks of the blood-sucking bat
and the gad-fly (_tabano_), that after being only a few weeks in the
Montana de Vitoc, their strength is exhausted, and they are scarcely
able to reach the Puna. Black cattle, on the contrary, thrive
excellently; but it is not possible to keep up herds, for the young
calves are all devoured by the numerous animals of prey. The llamas,
which the Cholos bring from Tapo to Vitoc, are so enfeebled and overcome
by the journey, that on the second day after their arrival it is often
found necessary to send them to a colder district.
In this Montana the large animals of prey seldom approach human
habitations, though sometimes the ounce pays them a visit, and the
Cuguar descends from the Ceja. Other animals of the feline genus are
very numerous, and their depredations render it impossible to breed
poultry. Even the fabulous animal, called the _carbunculo_, is said to
have been seen oftener than once in Vitoc. In almost every place I
visited on the coast, in the Sierra, and in the Montanas, extraordinary
stories concerning this animal were related; and many persons even
assured me they had seen him. The carbunculo is represented to be of the
size of a fox, with long black hair, and is only visible at night, when
it slinks slowly through the thickets. If followed, he opens a flap or
valve in the forehead, from under which an extraordinary, brilliant, and
dazzling light issues. The natives believe that this light proceeds from
a brilliant precious stone, and that any fool hardy person who may
venture to grasp at it rashly is blinded; then the flap is let down, and
the animal disappears in the darkness. Such are the stories related by
the Indians; and it appears that the belief of the existence of the
carbunculo has prevailed in Peru from the earliest times, and certainly
before the conquest, so that its introduction cannot be attributed to
the Spaniards. It is even prevalent among many of the wild Indian
tribes, by whom the early missionaries were told the stories which they
in their turn repeated about the animal. As yet nobody has been
fortunate enough to capture such an animal, though the Spaniards always
showed themselves very desirous to obtain possession of the precious
jewel; and the viceroys, in their official instructions to the
missionaries, placed the carbunculo in the first order of desiderata.
What animal may have served as a foundation for those fabulous stories,
it is certainly difficult to decide; probably a different one in each
particular district. On the coast it may have been the _anash_ (one of
the mephitic animals), which seeks for his food only at night. I have
often observed for a moment a singularly brilliant flashing in the eyes
of that animal when irritated.
The worst enemies of the delightful Montana de Vitoc are the wild
Indians, who are only separated from the Christian Indians by the two
rivers Aynamayo and Tullumayo. They belong to the ferocious race of the
_Chunchos_, and in their savage manners they somewhat resemble the
Casibos and Campas. They have their chief residence in Chibatizo, nine
leagues from Pucara. Only three leagues from Pacchapata, at the
confluence of the Chanchamayo and Tullumayo, they have a pretty large
village; and Palmapata, which they temporarily took possession of, is
situated still nearer. They frequently extend their hunting excursions
to the banks of the great rivers, and make inroads upon the territory of
Vitoc, cruelly murdering all the Cholos they meet with. Any kind of
friendly intercourse with them is impracticable. I took some pains to
accomplish that object, but without success. While they were on their
hunting expeditions I have left in their huts knives, fish-hooks,
ear-rings, and other things. In return for these presents they left for
me some of their edible roots, among which were yuccas, but all were
poisoned, so that, had we not observed caution, I and my venturous
companion, Klee, might have fallen victims to the treachery of these
Indians. The Chunchos, when on their expeditions, are almost in a state
of nudity. Sometimes they wear a short whitish-brown shirt without
sleeves. This garment, when worn by the chiefs, is red. Most of them dye
their hair with achote (_Bixa Orellana_, L.), a deep vermilion, and
paint the face and breast of the same color. Their weapons consist of a
bow of chonta (_Guilielma speciosa_), with which they use two kinds of
arrows. One kind are very long, with round points and barbs of chonta;
the others are shorter, and have points made of reed, which inflict deep
wounds, very difficult to be healed. They also use the great wooden
sword, the _macana_. A cross having been put up in the forest, they
fastened to it a few days afterwards a macana and two arrows, as
symbols of irreconcilable enmity to Christians. Their warlike instrument
is a reed, two feet long and four inches broad, through which their
howlings resound in horrible discord.
It is a custom with the inhabitants of Vitoc to undertake two
expeditions every year against the Chunchos. They are the most laughable
enterprises imaginable. All the Cholos of the valley, with the Alcalde
at their head, or rather in the midst of them, proceed, armed with
sticks, axes, forest knives, and _two_ muskets,[101] to explore the banks
of both rivers. The front ranks advance with drums beating, and a number
of Indians carry large calabashes filled with guarapo, to which they pay
their earnest devotions every half hour. When by accident some of the
Chunchos are seen, the Cholos fly with all the rapidity that terror can
inspire, and cannot be got together again till they reach their village;
then they raise a tremendous shout, and when safe in their dwellings
boast proudly of their heroic deeds.
The Chunchos are in possession of a very rich bed of salt, some twelve
or fourteen leagues from Vitoc, from whence they permit the neighboring
tribes with whom they are at peace, to supply themselves with salt.
Hostile tribes, such as the Campas and the Callisecas, sometimes attempt
to carry away salt, and then a sanguinary contest ensues. This stratum
of salt comes from the top of a hill, called the Cerro de la Sal, and it
runs in the direction from south-west to north-east, to the length of
nearly three leagues, covering a breadth of about thirty ells. The salt
is mixed with red earth. It is probably a continuation of the great salt
bed of Maynas, stretching eastward along the left bank of the Perene. It
may be presumed that it does not extend as far as the immense Pajonal,
as the Campas go for their salt to the Cerro de la Sal.
In former times various attempts were made to convert the Chunchos to
Christianity; and these attempts were partially successful. The first
missionary who ventured among them was the intrepid Fray Geronimo
Ximenes. In 1635 he penetrated from Huancabamba to the Cerro de la Sal,
and there preached the gospel in the language of the people. He built a
chapel, and then directed his course south-west to Vitoc, where he
founded the village San Buenaventura. Two years after he embarked on the
Chanchamayo, with the intention of extending his mission to the Campas
tribe, by whom he was killed, together with his companion, Fray
Christoval Larios, and twenty-eight other Spaniards. Several
missionaries subsequently proceeded to the Cerro de la Sal, and found
favor with the natives, so that in 1640 they had no less than seven
villages of converted Chunchos, Amagas, and Campas; but only a few years
afterwards all the missionaries and soldiers were killed and the chapels
were destroyed. The Franciscan monks, inspired by their indefatigable
zeal, ventured in 1671, on a new mission to the fatal Cerro de la Sal;
and they had the good fortune to found a village in which eight hundred
Neophytes were collected. A second and smaller village was founded in
the vicinity of the destroyed San Buenaventura, and named Santa Rosa de
Quimiri; but the avarice of some Spaniards who fancied there were gold
mines in the Cerro de la Sal, induced them to get the missions withdrawn
from the superintendence of the priests, and to turn the whole into a
political system. Then commenced the oppression of the Indians in those
parts. The consequence was a great insurrection in 1674, when all the
whites were massacred. Thus were the labors of the missionaries a second
time annihilated. Every attempt for the conversion of Indians was for a
long time fruitless, and the missionaries who ventured to approach them
were shot. After the lapse of about thirty years, during which interval
the Chunchos had fallen back to their original savage state, the founder
of the Convent of Ocopa, Fray Francisco de San Jose, with four priests
and two lay brothers, penetrated into the valley of Vitoc, and entered
upon the territory of the Chunchos. At this time (1709) Vitoc was first
peopled, and in the course of twenty years six large villages were
built. In the year 1739 these missions, again flourishing, counted ten
Christian villages and three thousand baptized Indians. Three years
afterwards the Indian insurrection, headed by the apostate Juan Santos,
destroyed all the missions of Central Peru.
Juan Santos was an Indian born at Huamanga, and he claimed descent from
the last of the Incas. This claim was probably well founded, for before
the revolt he was called Atahuallpa, which was the name of the Inca put
to death by Pizarro. Juan Santos was haughty, high spirited, and clever.
In the year 1741 he killed, in a quarrel, a Spaniard of high rank, and
to elude the pursuit of justice, he fled to the forests. There he
brooded over plans for taking vengeance on the oppressors of his
country. He first addressed himself to the tribes of the Campas, and
having gained them over, he proceeded to Quisopongo in the Pajonal. From
thence, in the year 1742, he made his first attack on the mission of the
Cerro de la Sal. The Spaniards had already been warned of the intended
rising, but they considered it too unimportant to call for serious
measures of repression; and whilst lulling themselves in their imagined
security, they were surprised and massacred by the Indians. The
insurrection spread with incredible rapidity. Juan Santos himself led
all the principal attacks. In one night he took the fortress of Quimiri
with sixty-five men, all of whom were massacred in the most cruel
manner. The well-defended fort of Paucartambo was next taken by a small
number of Chunchos, commanded by Juan Santos. All the Christian churches
were destroyed by the insurgents. The sacred images and the priests were
tied together, and cast into the rivers; the villages were burned, and
the cultivated fields laid waste. The number of Spanish soldiers killed
in this insurrection was 245; the number of priests, 26. In the course
of a few weeks all the missions of central Peru were completely
destroyed, and terror spread even to the mountains. The Spanish
government found it necessary to adopt the most vigorous measures, for
there was reason to fear that the mountain Indians would revolt. Castles
and forts were built on the frontiers of all the Montanas and strongly
garrisoned; but the insurrection did not extend further. The ultimate
fate of Juan Santos Atahuallpa has never been satisfactorily
ascertained. Some assert that he became a powerful ruler, and that as
long as he lived the races of the Chunchos, Pacanes, Chichirrenes,
Campas, and Simirinches, were united. On an old manuscript in the
monastery of Ocopa I found a marginal note, in which it was said, "As to
the monster, the apostate Juan Santos Atahuallpa, after his diabolical
destruction of our missions, the wrath of God was directed against him
in the most fearful manner. He died the death of Herod, for his living
body was devoured by worms."
Shortly after the tragical downfall of these missions, two priests, Fra
Francisco Otasua and Fray Salvador Pando, visited the ruins of Quimiri,
and endeavored to conciliate the rebels; but in vain. After three
months, during which they suffered dreadful ill treatment from the
Chunchos, they returned to the monastery of Ocopa.
These missionaries were all monks of the order of San Francisco. Their
active zeal and heroic submission to any sacrifice in furtherance of the
cause in which they were embarked must excite at once astonishment and
admiration. Undaunted by incredible privations and laborious exertions
in the pathless forests, without food or shelter; undismayed by the
continual apprehension of a violent and cruel death, they courageously
obeyed the inward impulse which inspired them to preach the gospel to
the wild Indians. When intelligence was received of the violent death of
one of the brotherhood, others immediately offered to supply the place
of the victim, and the superiors of the order had much difficulty in
restraining the zealous monks. In the central and northern missions of
Peru, 129 Franciscan monks were murdered by the wild Indians. Those
who compose that number are recorded by name, but many others
disappeared without leaving a trace of what had become of them, and of
course they are not included in the list. The number of lay brethren
who perished is much greater. It is indeed melancholy to reflect how
little advantage has been obtained by the sacrifice of so many
valuable lives. The missions have nearly all disappeared, and the
Indians have now retrograded into the savage state in which they were
before the conquest of Peru.
The Franciscan monks were mild and patient teachers. They proceeded on
the principle of leaving the Christian religion to act for itself, and
they scorned to promote it by any kind of compulsion. The Dominicans, on
the other hand, who came to Peru with the conquerors, preached
Christianity with fire and sword. The Jesuits, who headed the missions
of Southern Peru, adopted the one way or the other, as they found most
advantageous to the object they had in view. By this means they secured
the attachment of the neophytes, and retained most of their conversions.
Many of the Jesuit missionaries were highly intelligent and
well-informed men. We are indebted to them for important geographical
and statistical information, and in particular for some philological
works of great value, viz., a grammar and dictionary of the language of
every tribe they converted. The Dominican monks, who were mere ignorant
fanatics, sacrificed to their blind zeal for conversion all the
monuments of the early civilization of the Peruvians, and restrained,
rather than promoted, the intellectual development of the people. The
Franciscans, animated by pious inspiration, earnestly preached the
doctrines of Christ to the wild inhabitants of the distant forests; but
they communicated little information to the rest of world. A few
imperfect maps, and some scanty notices on the manners and customs of
the Indians, are the whole amount of their laical labors.
In the year 1779 an attempt was again made to penetrate to the Cerro de
la Sal, and a road was opened leading from Palca to Chanchamayo, where a
fort was built; but at the expiration of five years the government
destroyed it, as continued irruptions of the Chunchos could not be
checked. In 1784, the governor of Tarma, Don Juan Maria de Galvas,
supported by the Superior of Ocopa, Fray Manuel Sobreviela, visited the
valley of Vitoc, which had been abandoned since the Indian insurrection.
The new village of San Teodoro de Pucara was founded, and the destroyed
fort, Santa Ana de Colla, was rebuilt. The Montana was soon peopled, and
in a short time it contained upwards of forty haciendas and large
chacras. The village of Sorriano, scarcely two leagues from Colla, was
then inhabited by Chunchos, who showed a willingness to maintain
friendly intercourse with the occupants of Vitoc, from whom they took
meat, tools, and other things, which they repaid by agricultural labor.
Unfortunately, the plantation owners soon began to take an undue
advantage of this friendly intercourse, and to charge exorbitant prices
for the articles required by the Indians. For a pin or a needle they
demanded two days' work, for a fishing-hook four, and for a wretched
knife, eight, ten, or more. A rupture was the consequence. The Chunchos
burned their own village, and returned again to Chanchamayo. Still,
however, they continued on a sort of amicable footing with the Cholos,
until one of the latter wantonly shot a Chuncho at a festival. The tribe
then mustered in thousands to avenge the murder. They destroyed the
Christian villages, and massacred all the inhabitants who were not able
to fly. Thus was Vitoc once more depopulated: Cardenas, the military
governor of Tarma, made a fresh endeavor to restore the cultivation of
this fine valley. He made the road again passable, laid out the large
plantation Chuntabamba, built and garrisoned the Colla fort. The site of
the former Chuncho village, Sorriano, was converted into a _cocal_ (or
coca field), and the Montana began once more to assume a flourishing
aspect. Still, however, the Chunchos continued to harass their
neighbors, particularly during the time of the coca harvest, which could
not be gathered without military protection. During one of the harvests
a laborer was shot by the wild Indians, which so terrified the Cholos,
that they all fled to Sorriano. Soon after, Cardenas died, and the coca
plantation being neglected, became a waste. A few years afterwards the
hacienda of Pacchapata was laid out. During the war of independence the
Spaniards destroyed Fort Colla, and the inhabitants of Vitoc were left
without any means of defence against their savage enemies. The last
attempt to reduce the Chunchos to subjection and order was made by a
military expedition under the command of General Don Francisco de Paula
de Otero, but owing to ill-arranged plans it totally failed. No more
than twenty-five years have elapsed since the valley of Vitoc, with its
rich plantations, was in the most flourishing prosperity. Now only faint
traces of its past cultivation are discernible.
The history of the Montana of Vitoc is the history of all the Montanas
of Peru. In all, we perceive the alternate rise and decline of
cultivation and civilization, caused by the efforts of the missionaries,
and the incursions of the wild Indians. Throughout all these districts
the present condition exhibits a marked inferiority to the past, a
circumstance which may be accounted for by the long-continued civil war,
during the contest for independence. Nevertheless, the internal
tranquillity of the country, and the increasing population, suggest
favorable prognostics for the future.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 98: See page 189.]
[Footnote 99: I allude here to individuals (and such cases are by no
means singular) who have attained the great age of 130. Supposing these
Indians to have begun to masticate coca at ten years old, and calculate
their daily consumption as a minimum at one ounce, the result is the
consumption of twenty-seven hundred weight, in 120 years.]
[Footnote 100: The worthy Padre forgets the high price that would be
charged for coca in Europe. In Tarma and Huenuco the aroba (twenty-five
pounds) costs at an average six Spanish dollars; add to this the
carriage to Lima, the freight to Europe, custom-house duties, &c., and
this price would be nearly doubled.]
[Footnote 101: The whole valley of Vitoc can furnish only two muskets,
and these are in as useless a state as possible. As for powder, there
is a constant want of it. During my residence in Vitoc I usually gave
the Alcalde some of my powder when he went out with his Cholos, or
when there was a firing on festival days. The want of a suitable
number of muskets, and sufficient powder in the dangerous vicinity of
the Chunchos, is characteristic of the improvidence of the
inhabitants of Vitoc.]