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PERU AS IT IS:
A RESIDENCE IN LIMA,
AND OTHER PARTS OF THE PERUVIAN REPUBLIC,
COMPRISING
AN ACCOUNT OF THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES
OF THAT COUNTRY.
BY ARCHIBALD SMITH, M.D.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1839.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
TO
SIR ALEXANDER CRICHTON, M.D. F.R.S.
PHYSICIAN IN ORDINARY TO THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA, AND TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE; KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF THE ORDERS OF ST. WLADIMIR
AND ST. ANNE, KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF THE RED EAGLE OF PRUSSIA, ETC.
the following account of Peru, a country which, it is probable, the
Author never would have visited but for his very kind and disinterested
patronage, is most gratefully dedicated by
ARCHIBALD SMITH.
PREFACE.
In this refined age and country, to make a graceful appearance as an
author requires endowments to which the writer of the following pages
has no pretension: neither would he have intruded himself on the public
notice, had he not thought it a duty incumbent on every one who travels,
to give his own country the benefit of his observation and experience.
He will venture to assert, that he has had ample means of making himself
acquainted with his subject, and that he has treated it with candour and
impartiality.
For upwards of ten years he lived in Peru: sometimes residing
among miners; at other times associating with agriculturists; and
professionally brought into contact with persons of all classes and ranks
in society, from the palace to the humblest hut.
In the interior of Peru, but more especially in Lima, the writer has met
with great courtesy and kindness in private life, and been distinguished
by very flattering marks of public favour. He therefore, it may be well
believed, has not “set down aught in malice;” and he trusts that in
the following pages there will not be found any thing injurious to the
Peruvian people, or at variance with that lasting gratitude and honest
pride with which he remembers and acknowledges their hospitality.
With respect to the manner of executing his task, he feels that he
requires the indulgence of his reader; but, with regard to the matter,
he persuades himself that, however unskilfully treated it may be, and
however deficient in that exquisite minuteness of detail which delights
the curious, it will nevertheless be found to convey to the intelligent
reader a fair general idea of the physical and moral condition of Peru;
which, as it is all that the writer has aimed at, so to have attained it
is all that he desires.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
Boundaries of the Peruvian Republic.—General appearance
and climate of the coast.—Seasons divided into Wet and
Dry.—Vegetation.—Lunar influence.—Enervating effects of the
climate of Lima. Page 1
CHAPTER II.
Chances of life in Lima diminished by neglect of medical
police.—Statements showing the proportion of deaths to the
population of Lima.—Proportion between the different sexes
and castes of the inhabitants. 18
CHAPTER III.
Food, fruit, and water used in Lima. 32
CHAPTER IV.
Remarks explanatory of certain Dietetic maxims, and established
notions or prejudices, illustrative of the physical
constitution and domestic habits of the Limenians. 46
CHAPTER V.
Condition of Slave population, and its influence on the family
economy and moral sentiments of the European race. 106
CHAPTER VI.
Social state of the Limenians under the Spaniards
and Patriots.—Spanish colonists.—Style of
conversation.—Improvements in female education.—Zamba
attendants.—Omnipotence of the ladies at fifteen.—Esprit
de corps of the fair sex.—Forgiving temper of public
opinion.—Defective administration of justice.—Prerogative
called Empeño.—God-fathers and god-mothers.—Saint-day
parties.—Flowers and perfumes.—Limenian women excel in
attention to the sick.—General character of the white women
and dark races.—Boys of European race.—Few men of intellectual
habits.—Promenade of Amencaes, as illustrative of national
feeling and character.—Pillo and Pillo-fino.—Money a substitute
for morality.—Relaxation of morals general, but not universal. 121
CHAPTER VII.
Religious prejudices.—No faith with heretics.—Corpse of an
Englishman cast into the street by the pious mob.—English
supposed to have been buried with money in the island of San
Lorenzo.—New cemetery, and Latin inscription for the English
burial-ground.—Religious disadvantages of the British in Peru. 160
CHAPTER VIII.
Clergy and lawyers more honoured than physicians
or surgeons.—University of St. Mark.—Anatomical
amphitheatre.—College of San Fernando.—State of the medical
schools and profession on the coast and in the Sierra.—General
remarks on Limenian education. 177
CHAPTER IX.
General features of the Sierra.—Roads.—Wilds of San
Mateo.—Indian’s eyrie.—Mountain curate.—Enterprise of a priest
engaged in inland traffic.—Pastoral life of Indians.—Ancient
ruins.—Royal road of the Incas.—Tarma, a pretty Sierra
town, or pueblo.—Various sorts of bridges.—Balsa, or canoe
of rushes.—Ancient aqueducts and terraced gardens of the
aborigines.—Pagan edifices among the rocks near the coast.—Vale
of Rimac.—Temples of the ancient Sun-worshippers of the land. 199
CHAPTER X.
Journey from Lima to Pasco by Obrajillo.—Diversity of air
and climate.—Canta, a locality favourable to consumptive
individuals.—Obrajillo, residence of muleteers.—Relay of mules,
and payment in advance.—Cultivation and crops.—Ascent to and
pass of the Cordillera.—Veta, or Cordillera sickness.—Indian
hut.—Muleteers’ lodgings on the Puna.—Huallay.—Diezmo.—Pasco. 252
CHAPTER XI.
Account of another route between Pasco and Lima, by Junin,
Huaypacha, Pucara, Tucto.—Mines of Antacona, Casapalca,
Pomacancha, San Mateo, San Juan de Matucana, Surco, Cocachacra,
Santa Ana, and lastly, Chaclacayo.—Numeration of a series
of rocks, as they appear in succession from the pass of the
Cordillera to the entrance into the Vale of Rimac. 286
ERRATA.
Page 11, line 22, and in all other instances, _for_ L_o_rin
_read_ L_u_rin.
22, ” 7, _for_ Pelli_si_er _read_ Pelli_c_er.
25, ” 15, _for_ Ma_n_ano _read_ Ma_ri_ano.
42, ” 18, _for_ pa_t_illas _read_ pa_l_illas.
72, ” 2, _for_ co_j_ollo _read_ co_g_ollo.
84, ” 9, _for_ en cima _read_ e_nc_ima.
111, ” 12, _for_ ta_rr_ea read ta_r_ea.
135, ” 4, _for_ hon_or_ada _read_ hon_r_ada.
150, ” 5, _for_ 23rd of June _read_ 24th of June.
201, ” 20, _for_ Quich_o_a _read_ Quich_u_a.
204, ” 11, and in all other instances, _for_ la_ss_os
_read_ la_z_os.
212, ” 5, &c. _for_ pr_e_micia _read_ pr_i_micia.
257, ” 12, _for_ Ve_r_ugas, _read_ Ve_rr_ugas.
298, ” 3, &c. _for_ Cocacha_cer_a _read_ Cocacha_cr_a.
Transcriber’s Note: The errata have been corrected but otherwise the
original spelling (in both English and Spanish) has been preserved.
PERU AS IT IS.
CHAPTER I.
Boundaries of the Peruvian Republic.—General appearance
and climate of the coast.—Seasons divided into Wet and
Dry.—Vegetation.—Lunar influence.—Enervating effects of the
climate of Lima.
Modern Peru is bounded on the north by the Republic of the Equator; on
the south by the Republic of Bolivia; on the east by the Portuguese
territories, or Brazil; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The coast
of the Republic of Peru extends along the shores of the Pacific from the
river Loa, which is the southern boundary that divides it from Bolivia,
to the river Tumbez, which divides it on the north from Guayaquil, or the
Republic of the Equator. All this extent of coast, from 3° 30´ to 21° 30´
south latitude, is naturally a desert, intersected by several rivers, of
greater or less magnitude, that descend along narrow mountain-glens of
the Andes to the Pacific Ocean.
Many of these rivers are dried up for several months in the year; while
others, of larger size, carry a perennial stream, swelling during the
rainy season in the inland country, and are never seen to shrink so much
in time of drought in the elevated regions from whence they spring, as
not to supply the means of irrigating and beautifying the maritime vales
through which they flow as they approach the ocean.
It is remarkable that, while along the coast of Peru the eye wearies in
looking at sandy plains and hills, we no sooner pass the river Tumbez
than the face of nature changes: in the former range all looks arid and
scorched; in the latter country all is verdant and sappy. The coast of
the Equatorial Republic presents to the eye well-wooded plains; while
on the coast and in the valleys of the western side of the Peruvian
territory, trees, when not reared by man, are only to be met growing in
favoured places in the vicinity of springs and rivers. Piura, the most
northern province of Peru along the shores of the Pacific, is celebrated
for its remarkably dry atmosphere; but in a rainy year, which seldom
happens in this province, the pastures that suddenly spring up are
surpassingly luxuriant,—the very sand-fields, “arenales,” after one or
two days’ rain, unfold an exuberance of life and vegetation.
The temperature of the low valleys on the coast of Peru may be said in
general not to exceed 82° of Fahrenheit in summer, nor to descend much
under 60° in winter.[1] Where, however, high hills closely overhang
the sandy plains or dry “pampas,” it is difficult to say to what degree
the thermometer may fall during night, when the rush of cold air from
the upper regions is in proportion to the degree of radiation from the
plains, and the force with which the sun’s rays during the day had
struck on the scorched ground. So intensely on such occasions does the
traveller feel the transition, that, when benighted on desert places,
he is sometimes compelled by the keenness of the cold to dismount, and
bury himself up to the neck in the warm sand, until a returning sun again
befriend him on the morrow, and encourage him to pursue his trackless way.
In Lima, the capital of Peru, neither the extremes of heat nor of cold
are ever experienced;[2] an advantage which it partly owes to its very
splendid back-ground of mountains, rising one above another to the skies.
In winter, the thermometer of Fahrenheit never, in the centre of the
town, falls under 60° in the shade; and, during summer, we have never
seen it rise above 82°,—its usual station being about 80° in well-aired
apartments. The ordinary difference between the fall of the night and
day thermometer is only from three to four degrees when the thermometer
is placed inside a common barred window without glass, and opening into
a veranda or corridor, such as is usual in Lima houses, for the sake of
free ventilation.
In the sultry month of February, the thermometer, if placed on the open
and flat-roofed house-top of mud plaster, rarely ascends above 112°; and
at this season, when the hot noon-day air may be said to be fanned by the
countless “gallinazas,” or vultures, that wheel and sweep in mid-sky, the
canopy overhead is curtained with white light clouds that happily protect
the city and its inhabitants from the too scorching beams of a tropical
sun.
The hygrometer—Leslie’s—seldom indicates fewer than 12° or 15° in the wet
season, and rarely exceeds 50° in the summer months.
The range of the barometer may be considered exceedingly limited; for,
during the period of six months that we had the opportunity of observing
barometrical variations, the mercury was commonly stationary at 29⁹⁄₁₀,
and was not seen to fall below 29½ inches. Our means of observation began
in September, and ended in March, and therefore included the transition
from wet to dry weather,—from the cool of winter to the highest heat of
summer.
On one occasion when we observed the barometer fall from 29⁹⁄₁₀ to 29½
inches, there had been a smart earthquake, which, though it happened in
the usually dry month of January, was preceded by a gentle shower of
rain, at the appearance of which the people in the streets rejoiced,
and called it “agua bendita,” holy water!—On another occasion, when
we noticed a similar sinking of the mercury, the river Rimac showed
by its turbid and swollen stream that it rained heavily in the higher
mountains.[3] As for thunder and lightning, they have been so rarely
witnessed in Lima, that there they may be said to be unknown. The above
statements regarding the state of the atmosphere in Lima, it may be
proper to mention, are founded on observations made by the writer at
his residence in Archbishop’s Street, close to the cathedral and great
square; but about a mile higher up, in a part of the city called the
“Cercado,” the influence of the adjacent hills is more sensibly felt
in the cooler evenings and mornings;—the night thermometer sometimes
sinks down to 54° at the orchards of the Cercado, when in the centre
of the city it falls within an open window or veranda not under 60° of
Fahrenheit.
In Lima the four seasons are by no means distinctly marked: the dry
summer weather frequently encroaches on the autumnal season, supposed to
be humid; and again, the sort of weather and ailments most prevalent in
winter are sometimes continued through a part of spring.
Hence, though the seasons are usually distinguished into spring, summer,
autumn, and winter, it would be more truly characteristic to adhere to
the usual division of the aborigines, into wet and dry.
In May the mornings become damp and hazy; and, from the beginning to the
latter end of June, more or less drizzly. In October, again, the rains,
which even in the months of July and August are seldom heavier than a
Scotch mist, cannot be said to be altogether over, as the days are still
more or less wet, or occasionally there may be seen to fall a light and
passing shower; the evenings and mornings being damp and foggy.
In November and December, when the dry season may be reckoned to have
set in, the weather, except for an interval at noon, is for the most
part cool, bracing, and delightful: and April, too, is in this respect
an agreeable month; at the latter end of which, the natives of the
capital, being so exceedingly sensitive as to feel a difference of only
two or three degrees betwixt the temperature of two succeeding days like
an entire change of climate, are admonished, by a disagreeable change
in their sensations, to protect themselves by warm apparel against the
chills arising from an occasional north-west, or from the influence of
the common south-west wind.
Throughout summer the wind blows almost uniformly, and in gentle breezes,
from the south; but the prevailing wind for nine months in the year is
the south-west, which, as it mingles with the warmer air along the arid
coasts of Peru, tends to moderate the temperature of the atmosphere,
and to produce the fog and “garua,” or thick Scotch mists, of which we
have taken notice. During the dry season on the coast, the rains are
experienced in the interior of the country and lofty range of the high
table-lands,—especially in the months of January, February, and March,
when the rain that falls inland is often very heavy, and, on the most
elevated regions, it is not unfrequently alternated with snow and hail.
Thus, the dry season of the coast is the wet in the sierra, or mountain
land, and _vice versâ_; and by merely ascending nigher to the sierra,
or descending close to the sea, without any appreciable shifting of
latitude, the favoured Peruvians may enjoy, by the short migration of a
few leagues, a perpetual summer or an endless winter,—if that, indeed,
should be called winter, which is the season of natural growth and
herbage.
Whoever, late in August, or early in September, has had the good fortune
to visit _Buena Vista_ in the enchanting vale of Lurin, six or seven
leagues south of Lima, and for many years the hospitable mansion of that
enlightened philanthropist, John Thomas, Esquire, must have observed
that at this season, when the sandy downs of Lurin are yet moistened by
slight rains and vapours, and garnished with flowers, such of the trees
in the vale as are not evergreen, and depend not, like the vegetation of
the neighbouring heights, on the periodical rain of the coast, impart a
certain melancholy hue to the landscape, as they have already commenced
to shed abroad their sear foliage; and here the music of the thicket, and
booth on the height, are both in unison with feelings inspired by the
yellow-leaved willows, when the “lomero,” or herdsman of the downs, tunes
the “yaravi,” a mournful Indian strain, on his homely lute, and when the
_cuculi_, in a plaintive note, responds from the guarango grove.
By the end of September, or beginning of spring, we find the trees in
the great avenues around Lima beginning to bud; and the new leaves expand
on them, as the grass dies on the adjacent hills, or is only seen to
preserve its verdant appearance in the deep clefts and tops of the hilly
recesses of Amencaes.[4] But no sooner dies the natural vegetation on the
neighbouring heights, and nearer ridges and declivities in view of the
city, than the fertile irrigated fields and enclosures throw forth the
waving verdure of a hopeful harvest.
Barley, peas, and maize, sown during the wet or misty season, come to
maturity through the joint operation of sun and artificial moisture
after all natural or spontaneous vegetation has withered and disappeared
from the now arid hills and sandy downs. The maize crops the farmers
always harvest in the “_menguante_,” decrease of the moon; for it is a
fact known to every husbandman, that if they collect the crop in the
“creciente,” or increase of the moon, it will not keep free of moths for
three months, even though allowed the advantage of being left in husk, in
which state it is found to be least liable to damage.
In the valleys around Lima the agriculturist is very careful not to sow
in the creciente, lest the seed should become so diseased and injured as
never to yield a healthy crop. The same attention to lunar influence is
bestowed by the wood-cutter, who knows that timber cut in the creciente
soon decays, and on this account is not of use for constructing houses,
or for any other permanent purpose; this is particularly the case
with the willow and alder, as the writer had once occasion to know
experimentally. Being disinclined to believe what he considered to be
the prejudices of the natives respecting lunar influence, he insisted
upon roofing in part of a house with alder and willow cut in the
creciente; and after a couple of years he was convinced of his own error,
when he saw the timber employed become quite brittle and useless, so as
to need to be replaced or supported to prevent the roof from falling.
The “arriero,” or muleteer, scrupulously attends to the influence of
the moon on his cattle; for if he travels in the creciente, and in a
warm or even temperate climate, he takes strict care not to unsaddle
his riding-horses, nor to unpad his cargo-mules, until they have
rested awhile and cooled sufficiently: and, if he should neglect these
precautions, he would be sure to have his cattle disabled by large
inflammatory swellings, rapidly running on to suppuration, forming on
their shoulders or loins.
In short, the very “chalan,” or horse-jobber, will not be prevailed upon
to cut the lampas from a beast’s gums, nor will a Limenian at any time,
except in the “menguante,” offer to pare his own corns, (and few are
free of such tormentors,) for fear of inducing severe irritation as the
reward of his indiscretion; and we may reasonably infer from all these
common-place and familiar facts, that, in Peru, lunar influence is very
remarkable, since both in the animal and vegetable kingdom it forces
itself upon the attention and experience of every one.
If it be asked what general influence such a climate as we have now
described may have on the animal frame, we would answer that there
appears to be something peculiarly enervating and degenerating,
aggravated by the total neglect of sanitary police, in the state of
the atmosphere and locality of Lima. This effect is observable in the
dog species, which becomes sluggish and spiritless, and more disposed
to bark than to bite; but it shows itself more especially in the male
descendants of unmixed European parentage.
We commonly see the son of the brave and stately Spaniard dwindle away
from the strength of frame and manly character of his progenitor. His
mind, like his person, becomes _petit-maître_; and, though vivacious in
youth, it continues through life to be more distinguished for readiness
than power, for mobility than vigour.