CHAPTER VII

THE CORDILLERA OF THE ANDES

IN ECUADOR, PERU AND BOLIVIA

Siste, viator; draw rein: your mule will stop willingly; he is

stricken with _soroche_ perhaps, the malady of the mountain, which

you yourself may suffer if at this elevation, where but half an

atmosphere presses upon us and oxygen is scant, you attempt to run

or climb. Draw rein upon this summit and look beyond. There is a

panorama it were worth a journey over a hemisphere to see. Range and

peak are clothed with perpetual snow, which gleams like porcelain in

the sun.

Heavenward thrown, crumpled, folded, ridged and fractured, with

gnomon-fashioned uplifts pointing to the sky, shattered strata and

sheer crevasse, natural terrace and grim escarpment, hung over

with filmy mist-veils and robed with the white clothing of its

snowfields, and, when the windows of heaven are open, drenched with

the deluges intercepted from the boundless plains and forests far

beyond; the father of the rivers whose floods are borne a thousand

leagues away the Cordillera crouches, rears and groans upon the

western seaboard of the continent. The beautiful Andes, the terrible

Andes, the life-giving Andes, the death-dealing Andes--so we might

apostrophize them--for the Cordillera is of many moods, and whatever

change of adjectives the traveller may ring, he will fail of truly

describing this mighty chain.

When the delicate tints of early morning shine on the crested snow

in rarest beauty, and the light and tonic air invigorates both

man and horse, the leagues pass swiftly by. Night falls, or the

snow-cloud gathers, or the pelting rain descends; then does the

weight of weariness and melancholy descend upon us[23]--so have I

felt it.

[23] The Author's _The Andes and the Amazon_.

The name of the Andes, to the traveller who has crossed the giddy

passes and scaled the high peaks of this stupendous mountain chain,

brings back sensations which are a blend of the pleasurable and

the painful. In his retrospect the Cordillera--for such is its

familiar name to the inhabitants of the land it traverses--bulks as

a thing of varied and almost indescribable moods. It possesses that

individuality--menacing, beautiful by turns--which no doubt is an

attribute of all mountains, in the recollection of those who best

know them.

The Andes are no playground, such as some of the mountains of Europe

have become, nor are they the object or scene of climbing enterprise

and exploration such as bring the Himalayas so frequently before

the geographically interested public. Comparatively simple in

their structure, it is their enormous length--a wall unbroken,

extending for four thousand miles from north to south along the

western littoral of their continent--their treeless aridity, their

illimitable, dreary, inclement uplands, and, these passed, their

chaste snowy peaks, tinged by the rising or the setting sun, that

most impress the traveller in those lands they traverse.

Here in the higher elevations of these remote fastnesses there

are no material comforts for man or beast. Humanity, as far as it

has the hardihood to dwell here, is confined to the Indian or the

_mestizo_, who has paid nature the homage of being born here, and

so can dwell and work in what is his native environment. In the

more sheltered valleys it is true that large centres of population

flourish; important towns which from their elevation above

sea-level--ten thousand or twelve thousand feet--might look down as

it were from a dizzy height upon the highest inhabited centres of

Europe; whilst, did we establish industrious mining communities on

the peak of the Matterhorn or Mont Blanc, we should still be far

below some of those places of the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes where

minerals are won for the marts of Europe.

The Andes consist physiographically of two great parallel chains,

forming into three, with lesser parallel undulations, in certain

parts of its course; the ranges being joined by _nudos_ or knots,

as the transversal ridges are termed; a very well marked structure.

In places vast tablelands lie between the high _paramos_ of

Colombia, the altiplanicies of Peru, the _punas_ of Bolivia, often

studded with lakes, including the enormous Lake Titicaca. In some

cases these high uplands between the enclosing Cordilleras are

indeed dreary and inclement, sparsely inhabited, and the dweller of

the lowlands loves not to sojourn there longer than may be necessary

for his purpose. Conversely, the highlander fears the enervating

climate of the lowlands.

Between the more easterly paralleling ranges great rivers run,

having their birth in the snow-cap and incessant rains, both of

which are the result of the deposition from the moisture-laden trade

winds which, sweeping across the Atlantic and Brazil for thousands

of miles, are intercepted by the crest of the Cordillera, impinging

thereon and depositing their moisture. Running down the easterly

slope, in a thousand rills, the waters gather in the giant channels,

all flowing northwards, in the troughs between the ranges, to where,

with curious regularity, they break through these ranges in deep

cuttings or _pongos_, as they are there termed, like gargantuan

mill-races, turning thus east and pouring forth their floods upon

the Amazon plain, where, after vast courses amid the forests, they

reach the main stream of the Amazon, and finally empty themselves

on the coast of Brazil into the Atlantic, whence they originally

came upon the wings of the wind--a mighty natural hydraulic engine,

unceasing in its operations, stupendous in its work. Yes; _Siste,

viator_, draw rein--

Hast thou entered the treasures of the snow?

Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail?

Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood?

Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds?

The imprint of the Andes perhaps never fades from the mind of the

traveller. When you have braved the tempest and the steep, when your

slow and panting beast overcomes the last few rising yards upon

the maritime range that shuts off from view the White Cordillera,

then, as the dark horizon of the foreground rocks gives place, your

astonished gaze rests upon that range of white-clothed sentinels

beyond, upraised some time since the Jurassic or Silurian Ages.

There they mark the eras: there they stand, performing their silent

and allotted work; and there, when evening falls, it tints their

brows with orange and with carmine, and wraps their bases with the

purple pall of finished day.

Borne upward three to five miles above the level of the ocean

arose these mighty guardians of the western shore, carrying some

ocean bed from where it lay, where strange creatures of the deep

reposed within the ooze--huge ammonites and cephalopods, whose

fossil scrolls and circles, now petrified in rigid schools upon

the stiffened summits, catch the traveller's eye as his weary mule

stumbles over the limestone ridges: and, blurred by the pelting rain

of the Andine winter and loosened from the stony grasp by frost

and sun and earthquake, they, together with the rocky walls that

hold them, are again dissolving into particles; a phase within the

endless sequence of Nature's work; an accident of her ceaseless and

inexplicable operations.

Has this great Cordillera produced a high type of humanity? Has the

clear atmosphere, the nearer approach to the clouds, the purity and

example of the heights made man here pure and noble? We shall judge

later, after viewing the palimpsest of history here, following on

the palimpsest of Nature, for the Cordillera is a scroll of time,

erased, rewritten in the physical and in the human world. The Andes

have been blood-stained along all their four-thousand-mile course,

that we know, ever since the white man trod them. We also know that

before his time the Cordillera did produce a high human culture,

that of the mysterious "Andine people," with their successors, the

Incas. Pagan, perhaps, but who, in the long ages, had evolved some

comprehension of the "Unknown God," and whose social code was more

in tune with a true economic philosophy of life than that of their

successors.

Descending now from the clouds, metaphorically and actually, we must

glance more particularly at the life of those modern countries which

have in part their home in the Cordillera, to whom the Cordillera is

a very real and palpable thing.

From north to south, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

and Chile occupy this extensive zone: countries whose general

conditions as regards the littoral we have seen in our journey

along the Pacific coast. Excepting Bolivia, all these lands have the

advantages accruing from the condition that they stretch from the

coast across the Andes, extending to the Amazon plains beyond; thus

enjoying zones respectively of coast, mountain and forest, with all

their diversity of environment, climate and resource.

As we shall see in the chapter devoted to the Amazon Valley, many

navigable streams traverse this forested region, giving access by

launch or canoe through thousands of miles of otherwise inaccessible

territory, for roads are often impossible and of railways there are

none.

Colombia we shall visit in another chapter. Both Colombia and

Venezuela lie in part upon the Andes and face upon the Spanish Main.

Ecuador is but a small country in comparison with the vaster areas

of its neighbours, but Nature has rendered it extremely diverse, and

has dowered it--it is a terrible gift, however--with some of the

most remarkable mountain forms on the face of the globe. Nothing can

exceed the stupendous grandeur of the great "avenue" of snow-clad

volcanoes which arises before us around Quito and terminates on the

Equator.

In Ecuador Nature might seem to have thought to display her

powers after the manner of a model, with every grade of climate,

topographical form and species of plant and animal life; to have

set up, within a measurable compass, an example of her powers in

the tropical world. The hot lowlands of the coast, covered in part

with the densest and rankest vegetation, intersected by the most

fertile of valleys, where ripen the most delicious and valuable

fruits, with rivers wherein the curious life of the Tropics has its

home, from gorgeous insect or bird down to the tortoise and the

loathly alligator, slope upwards to the bleakest tablelands, the

icy _paramos_, which themselves are crowned with the snow-capped

volcanoes, at times belching forth fire and ash, carrying

destruction to fruitful field and populous town. Beyond lies some

of the most broken region on the earth's surface, descending to the

forests inhabited by the half-naked and savage Indian, still outside

the pale of civilization or the influence of Christianity, who may

receive the incautious traveller with deadly weapons of blow-pipe

and poisoned arrows.

The uplands of Ecuador embody a high tableland, cut up into three

_hoyas_ or basins, known as those of Quito, Ambato and Cuenca

respectively.

"Rising from both the eastern and western rims of this elevated

plateau are the higher Cordilleras, their main summits

culminating far above the perpetual snowline, which in Ecuador

lies at about 15,750 feet above sea-level. As before remarked,

due to their peculiarly symmetrical arrangement and spectacular

appearance, such an assemblage of snow-clad peaks is not found

in any other part of the world. Not only for their height

are the Ecuadorian peaks noteworthy, but for their peculiar

occurrence in parallel lines, sometimes in pairs facing each

other across the 'cyclopean passage' or avenue formed by the

long plateau. There are twenty-two of these great peaks, several

of which are actual volcanoes, grouped along the central plains

almost within sight of each other. Built up by subterranean

fires, the great mountain edifices of Ecuador are sculptured by

glacier streams and perpetual snows. The volcanoes of Ecuador

have rendered the country famous among geologists and travellers

of all nationalities. They were the terror of the primitive

Indian, and objects of awe and worship by the semi-civilized

peoples of the land, and have been at various periods terrible

scourges and engines of destruction.

"The largest number of high peaks and the greatest average

elevations occur upon the eastern Andes, or Cordillera Oriental,

whilst the western or Occidental is distinguished by having the

highest individual elevations. The altitudes given by various

authorities of these peaks differ somewhat, and the measurements

of later investigators vary considerably from those of Humboldt

in some cases. Humboldt was the first to study and measure the

Ecuadorian volcanoes, and La Condamine measured them in 1742.

The more modern investigators were Drs. Reiss and Stübel, who

spent four years, from 1870 to 1874, in the study, and in 1880

they were the subject of Edward Whymper's famous travels. The

alleged remarkable condition of the sinking or rising of various

of these summits and localities may account, it has been stated,

for the variation found in measurements made at different

times. It has been estimated that a considerable decrease in

the elevation of the Ecuadorian Andes in the region took place

during last century. Quito has sunk, it is stated, 26 feet

in 122 years, and Pichincha 218 feet in the same period. The

farm at Antisana, where Humboldt lived for some time, has sunk

165 feet in sixty-four years. On the other hand, two of the

active volcanoes, those of Cotopaxi and Sangay, have increased

in altitude since they were measured by La Condamine, it is

asserted. Underlying seismic disturbances have doubtless been

the cause of these movements."[24]

[24] _Ecuador_, loc. cit.

The highest of these peaks is Chimborazo, 20,498 feet, followed by

Cotopaxi, 19,613 feet, Antisana and Cayambe, both over 19,000 feet,

with others ranging downwards to about 14,000 feet.

"The great Cotopaxi, with its unrivalled cone, is the most

terrible and dangerous in Ecuador, and the highest active

volcano in the world. From its summit smoke curls upwards

unceasingly, and knowledge of its activities begins with

South American history after the Conquest. The first eruption

experienced by the Spaniards was in 1534, during the attempted

conquest of the ancient native kingdom of Quito by Alvarado.

The Indians regarded the terrible outpourings of the volcano,

which coincided with this foreign advent, as a manifestation of

Nature in aid of the invaders and against themselves, and this

was a factor in breaking down their opposition. But the rain

of ashes from the burning mountain greatly troubled the small

army of Alvarado for several days, as before described. After

this out-burst Cotopaxi remained quiescent for more than two

hundred years, until 1741, when it broke out with extraordinary

force, and became for twenty-six years the scourge of the

districts of Quito and Latacunga. The province of Leon and

Latacunga, which formerly had been among the most beautiful and

fertile, became poverty-stricken by reason of the eruptions.

These outbreaks generally consisted in a great rain of sand

and ash, followed by vast quantities of mud and water, which

were thrown over the valleys and plains, destroying whatever

lay in the way. Between 1742 and 1768 there were seven great

eruptions of this character, and it is noteworthy that none of

these were accompanied by earthquakes. The thunderings were

heard at Honda, in Colombia, 500 miles away, it is recorded.

Cotopaxi then remained quiescent for thirty-five years, until

1803, when Humboldt heard the detonations of a new outbreak,

like discharges of a battery, from the Gulf of Guayaquil, where

he was on board a vessel for Lima. A number of lesser outbreaks

occurred during the nineteenth century, but comparatively little

record has been kept of them. There were streams of fresh

lava, columns of black smoke, and showers of sand sent forth

at various periods, and in 1877 a further memorable eruption

took place, followed by others up to 1880. It would appear

that since the volcano of Tunguragua entered again into action

Cotopaxi has been less vigorous. Cotopaxi is regarded by various

travellers as one of the most beautiful mountain peaks in the

world, its symmetry of outline rivalling the famous Fuji-yama

of Japan, which it overtops by more than 7,000 feet. This

Ecuadorian volcano is 2,000 feet higher than Popocateptl, the

"smoking mountain" of Mexico, and more than 15,000 feet higher

than Vesuvius, and 7,000 higher than Teneriffe. It rises in a

symmetrical cone, with a slope of 29° or 30°. Its height, as

before given, is 19,613, according to Whymper, and the crater

varies from 2,300 feet to 1,650 feet in diameter, and is 1,200

feet deep approximately, bordered by a rim of trachytic rock.

The summit of Cotopaxi is generally shrouded in cloud masses,

and only visible for a few days even in the clearest season of

the year."[25]

[25] _Ecuador_, loc. cit.

This high region of Ecuador is gained by the railway from Guayaquil

to Quito, which ascends amid some remarkable scenery over a

difficult route, traversing deep ravines and fertile districts. Some

of the passages are terrific in character.

"Riobamba is reached at 9,020 feet. The town is lighted from a

hydro-electric station in the mountain stream. Beyond this point

Chimborazo bursts upon the view. The great mountain displays

a double peak, the snow-clad crests of which are outlined

against the upland sky, at those times when the firmament

is free from clouds. The plateau of Riobamba has a healthy

climate, described, on the authority of Humboldt, as one of the

best in the world. In this region a considerable increase in

the production of wheat has followed upon the building of the

railway.

"Between Riobamba and Ambato the Chimborazo pass is crossed, at

Urbina, the highest point reached, and thence a rapid descent is

made to Ambato, 8,435 feet in the midst of a district producing

fruits and foodstuffs abundantly. Along the Latacunga Valley,

comparatively flat and some ten miles wide, rich pastures,

intersected by irrigation ditches, abound, with numerous bands

of cattle and horses. Grain, corn, potatoes, alfalfa, apples,

peaches, strawberries, etc., are products of this high fertile

district, and good cheese and butter are made. Beyond the

town of Latacunga, 9,055 feet elevation, the line crosses the

base of Cotopaxi, whose snowy cone is surmounted by the thin,

unceasing smokewreath from its crater, the cloud hanging in

the atmosphere. This point of the line is 11,653 feet above

sea-level, only slightly less than that of the Chimborazo pass.

Beyond Cotopaxi lies the fertile valley of Machachi, one of the

most pleasing districts in Ecuador. On either hand is the row of

famous volcanoes, a mighty avenue of great peaks, often clothed

in green up to the line of perpetual snow. A view is obtained

from the railway of the Chillo Valley, with various cotton and

woollen mills, actuated by water power. In these establishments,

hydraulically worked from the river, cloths of cheap character

for native clothing are made. Still descending, the railway

approaches and enters the city of Quito at 9,375 feet elevation.

"The construction of this remarkable railway from Guayaquil

to Quito was mainly due to the activity and enterprise of an

American financier and railway builder, Mr. Archer Harman, whose

work in connection with which began in 1897. The line remains as

a worthy monument to this man, whose grave lies at the pretty

town of Huigra. A strong impulse was given to the progress of

Ecuador by the building of this railway and by the influence of

its builder, and the Republic has cause to remember his name

with gratitude, as indeed has the traveller.

"Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is not without an atmosphere

of interest and even romance. Remote and inaccessible as it

has been until, in the last few decades, the railway united it

with the outer world, Quito still conserves its character of a

mountain capital, surrounded by lofty snow-clad volcanoes, whose

names are bywords in geography. There are many large towns in

the Andes, throughout Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Venezuela, but

both by reason of its history and its topography the capital of

Ecuador is among the most interesting. The Quito Valley lies

at an elevation of 9,500 feet above sea-level. Around the

upland valley are twenty noble volcanic summits, whose variety

of form is remarkable, from the truncated to the perfect cone,

from jagged and sunken crests to smooth, snow-covered, gleaming

domes, among them the beautiful, if dreaded, Cotopaxi. These

mountains are fully described in dealing with the peaks and

volcanoes.

[Illustration: THE APPROACH TO QUITO.

Vol. I. To face p. 222.

]

"The historical interest of Quito lies in the fact that it was

the ancient centre of the Shiri Empire, formed by the mysterious

Caras and the Quitus, as described in the historical section

of this work, whose dynasty fell before the Incas under Huayna

Capac, who in their turn gave way to the Spaniards. The famous

Inca road, traversing the Cordilleras and tablelands, joined

Quito with Cuzco, passing through the various centres of Inca

civilization, with their stone-built temples and palaces,

flanked by hill fortresses which guarded the heads of the

valleys to the east or the west against the attacks of savage

tribes. The remains of this road still exist.

"As regards the character of the climate and surroundings

of Quito, opinions differ considerably. It is difficult to

comprehend why the Shiris and the Incas should have built or

maintained their capital city upon such a spot, a small, broken

_meseta_, or plain, as is that of Quito, or why the Spaniards

perpetuated it upon a site of so little advantage and utility,

when near at hand are the flat lands of Turubamba and Añaquito,

and not very far off the spacious and delightful valleys of

Chillo and Tumbaco. Of all the towns on the inter-Andine

_hoyas_ Quito is the highest and coldest. The surrounding

vegetation is poor and of melancholy aspect, and corresponds

with the inclement situation. The position is healthy and even

agreeable for those who are acclimatized thereto, but the

descriptions lavished by some writers thereon of 'delicious' and

of 'eternal spring' are exaggerations, says one observer.[26]

Another authority says that 'the traveller is charmed in looking

at the carpet of perpetual verdancy on which Quito stands. The

climate is delightful. It is neither summer nor spring nor

winter, but each day of the year offers a singular combination

of the three seasons. Neither cholera nor yellow fever nor

consumption is known there. The mild and healthy temperature

which prevails is something admirable. In short, it may be said

that the great plateau of Quito is a kind of paradise.'[27] Thus

extremes of opinion are seen to exist.

[26] Wolf.

[27] Professor Orton of New York.

"The annual death-rate of Quito is given as about 36 per

1,000,[28] but this might undoubtedly be reduced under better

sanitary measures. It is a well-known circumstance that the high

upland regions and towns of the Andes are generally free from

pulmonary consumption, and tubercular disease of the lungs,

which on the coastal lowlands of tropical America is very

frequent, is unknown above 8,000 feet.

[28] _Bulletin_ of the Bureau of American Republics,

Washington.

"The aspect of Quito, is picturesque. The first impression is

that of a white city, relieved by roofs of red tiles, the

streets thronged with interesting people. As seen from the

slopes of Pichincha, which descend to the city on its western

side, or from the summit of the Panecillo, a small hill standing

within the borders of the city, or from other high points near

at hand, the city unfolds pleasingly to the view. It may be

likened to a city of the third order in Europe. In spite of the

broken character of the land upon which it is built, the streets

are nearly all straight, the principal thoroughfares being

wide and paved. It is traversed from west to east by two deep

_quebradas_, or ravines, which descend from Pichincha and other

hills, and one of these is arched over in order to preserve the

alignment of the streets. The city follows the general Latin

American system of town-planning, being laid out mainly in great

rectangular squares, the streets at right angles to each other.

The architectural type of the houses is that embodying the old

Spanish or Moorish style, well known to the traveller in Latin

America, from Mexico to Peru or Argentina: the picturesque and

often chaste character of façade (although some may term it

monotonous), with iron grilles before the windows and high, wide

entrance doorway, or _saguan_, admitting a mounted horseman. The

main feature of the house of this type is the interior _patio_,

or courtyard, upon which the rooms open, often followed by a

second _patio_. The material of which the houses are constructed

is _adobe_, or sun-dried earthern brick, which in the dwellings

of more pretension are generally covered with stucco or

plaster, whitened, and at times painted with vivid colours.

Stone is also used. The use of colour, on the walls of houses

in Latin American towns gives a picturesque appearance at times

even to the meanest _pueblo_, and relieves what might often be

an extreme poverty of appearance. The roofs of the Quito houses

often project over the footpaths, affording protection from

rain, and balconies overhang from every window.

"The public buildings of Quito are of the heavy, square,

colonial Spanish type. Looking upon the great square, or

_plaza mayor_, occupying the whole of its southern side, is

the cathedral, and on the western side the Government palace,

with a handsome façade, whose main feature is its long row

of columns. On the north side of the _plaza_ is the palace

of the Archbishop, and on the east the municipal hall. This

arrangement, with some modification, is one encountered in

nearly all Latin American capitals, wherein are grouped upon

the _plaza_ the principal edifices of Church and State, the

former taking the place of honour. The arrangement is generally

a pleasing and useful one. The _plaza_ is the pulse of the

community, and during those times when the band plays in its

garden it forms a meeting-ground for the people and the sexes.

There are other smaller _plazas_ and subsidiary squares in the

city, including those of San Francisco and Santo Domingo. The

many ecclesiastical buildings are an indication of the part

which the Church has played. The finest building in the city

is the Jesuits' church, with a façade elaborately carved, and

the university occupies part of what formerly was the Jesuit

college. There are eleven monastic institutions, six of which

are nunneries. One of the convents, that of San Francisco,

covers a whole _cuadra_ or block, and takes its place as one of

the largest institutions of this nature in the world. A part of

this great building is in ruins, and another part has been used

for the purpose of a military barracks by the Government. The

university has faculties of law, medicine and theology--those

three professions which appeal so strongly to the Latin American

character; but the institution is regarded as backward, and it

has been but poorly supported.

"The commerce of Quito is small: there is little produced in

so high a region for export. Superior hand-made carpets are

woven, and much skill is shown in wood-carving and in gold and

silver work. These industries were often characteristic of the

ancient people of America, and weaving was essentially a widely

practised craft among the Andine races. The beautiful textile

fabrics of the Incas and pre-Incas, some of them probably

thousands of years old, which have been preserved attest the

taste and skill of these people. The native manufactures of

Quito include _ponchos_, blankets, mattings and coarse woollen

carpets, also tanned leather, saddles and shoes. There is

a tendency among all the Andine people to preserve their

interesting home-crafts and cottage industries, which a wise,

economic spirit would endeavour to assist. But cheap imports

menace them.

"The streets of Quito are thronged from morning to evening with

horses, mules, donkeys and oxen, also llamas, with loads of all

kinds, and ladies in victorias drive about, or to the shops,

which are replete with merchandise from London, Paris, New

York, Vienna or Berlin. Officers in regimentals and gentlemen

in top-hats and frock-coats are numerous, and Indians with

red and yellow _ponchos_ and white cotton trousers and hats.

But as regards modern conveniences Quito is backward, and the

lack of hotels and public hygiene is very serious, and the

general conditions surrounding public health call for urgent

improvement."[29] [30]

[29] A recent London traveller summed up his impressions of

Quito as "a city of seventy churches and one bath." But there

has been some improvement since.

[30] _Ecuador_, loc. cit.

The Ecuadorian "Orient," as the eastern forested region is termed,

is, as has been said, the third natural division of the country,

and a maze of rivers flow to it from the _divortia aquaram_ of the

Cordillera. The boundary-line with Peru, Ecuador's neighbour on the

south, is in dispute, notwithstanding arbitration by the King of

Spain in recent years. The relations between the two nations have

been seriously embittered by reason of this controversy. Ecuador

is, in point of population, the weaker nation: perhaps her claims

have not been considered in a sufficiently generous spirit. The

law of _uti possidetis_ alone holds. But an outlet to the great

navigable affluents of the Amazon is a question of paramount

importance in this forested region, cut off as it is from the

Pacific by the huge rampart of the Andes, and--without prejudice to

the historical aspects of the boundary question--this matter should

receive full consideration. The Orient, although an undeveloped and

little-travelled region at present, must, in the future, be of great

value. Peru enjoys a vast territory in the same zone, and could well

afford to take a generous outlook upon the wishes of her neighbour,

thereby healing ancient quarrels and laying the foundation of future

international stability and friendship.

We shall tread this region again in the chapter dealing with the

Amazon.

The upland region of the Cordillera between Ecuador and Peru,

little known to-day, was the scene of bitter struggles between the

Incas--under Tupac Yupanqui and his son Huayna Capac, both famous

princes of the Inca dynasty--and the Shiris, of the empire or

kingdom of Quito, which the Incas wished to subjugate.

Cacha Duchisela, whose armies had beaten off the Inca attacks--he

was the fifteenth and last of the Shiri Kings of Quito--was rapidly

declining in health.

"But his mind did not share the ills of his body, and he

formulated careful plans for the organization of his forces,

which, under Calicuchima, were carried out. Amid the snowy

heights of Azuay the vanguard of the Puruhaes detained for

long the onward march of the Inca forces. But, aided by the

Cañaris, the Peruvians opened a way, and upon the bleak and

melancholy _páramos_ of Tiocajas, where years before their

fathers had fought, battle was again waged, and with the same

fatal result for the forces of the Shiri. Completely defeated,

Cacha retired upon the fortress of Mocha, as his father Hualcopo

had done; but, still more unfortunate, Cacha could not prevent

the advance of the Incas. Having lost almost all his army, not

so much by death as by desertion and disaffection, Cacha was

forced to abandon the provinces of Mocha, Ambato, Latacunga,

and Quito, which seemed insecure, and to pass to the northern

provinces. Followed by the Inca, he first fortified himself at

Cochasqui and then at Otalvo.[31] Here the valiant Caranquis,

who had always been the faithful vassals of the Shiris, fought

with such bravery that from the defensive the army passed to the

offensive, and the Inca, escaping from an attack, was obliged

to raise the siege of the Caranqui fortress and to suspend

operations. He ordered strongholds to be made at Pesillo, and

turned back to Tomebamba, with the purpose of calling up from

Cuzco and the other provinces fresh forces of the imperial

troops. In the meantime the Caranquis attacked and took the

Pesillo fortress, and killed its garrison, an exploit which

was at once answered by Huayna Capac with a strong detachment

of soldiers, under the command of his brother Auqui Toma.

Encountering no resistance, this general advanced to Otalvo,

but he fell in the first attack. Discouraged by his death, the

Peruvians halted. Huayna Capac then advanced, bent on vengeance,

and the attack was renewed, but without result. At length by

means of a subterfuge, in which the Incas pretended to flee

and then made a flank attack, the castle was taken and burnt.

The cheated Caranquis fell confused before the enemy, and only

a captain and a thousand men escaped, taking refuge in the

forests. Cachi fled to the famed Hatuntaqui fortress, the last

hope of his remaining vassals, and around this stronghold his

troops were concentrated. The Shiri king, notwithstanding his

wasting infirmity, caused his servants to carry him in his chair

to the place of greatest danger in the combat. The Inca sent him

the last invitation to an honourable surrender, with the hope of

avoiding further bloodshed. Cacha made reply that the war was

not of his seeking, that he was defending the integrity of his

people, and that he would die before submitting. The attacks

continued, and at first it seemed that the tide of battle might

turn in favour of the Shiri. But these hopes were vain, for,

suddenly struck by a lance, which penetrated his body, the brave

Shiri fell dead in his chair. Disaster followed: the vanquished

army gave up its weapons and surrendered, proclaiming, however,

at the last moment, upon the stricken field, the right of

accession to kingship of Paccha, the son of the dead king. But

with the battle of Hatuntaqui fell the dynasty of the Shiris,

and on the plain which had formed, he fatal battleground the

traveller may observe to-day the numerous tumuli beneath which

repose the remains of those who once formed the army of the

kingdom of Quito. Thus was played out in those high regions,

overlooked by the Andine snows and volcanoes, one of those

fateful dramas of early America, analogous in many ways with the

historic struggles of Old World dynasties.

[31] Velasco and Cevallos.

"An incident of Huayna's reign, as concerns Ecuador, was the

rebellion of the Caranquis, who had accepted the Inca rulers. It

was a long and obstinate conflict to overcome them, but terrible

punishment was meted out. The Inca caused 20,000[32] of the

rebels to be drowned in a lake, that of Yahuar-Cocha, whose name

means 'the lake of blood,' which it bears to the present time.

The number given, other writers remark, was probably that of the

combatants who fell on both sides. When the punitive expedition

was accomplished Huayna returned to Quito, greatly troubled

by the constant insurrections of the various provinces of the

northern empire. There was a shadow upon the mind of the great

Inca ruler, a portent of some disaster to befall his nation.

These forebodings were later to be realized, for the caravels of

the white man, although at that moment the Inca did not know it,

were about to traverse the waters of the Pacific upon the coasts

of the empire.

[32] According to Cieza de Leon.

"Huayna Capac doubtless received news of the earlier

arrival of the white men on the Panama coast of South

America, and the matter impressed him strongly. Tradition

states that supernatural occurrences heralded the fall of

the Inca Empire--flaming comets, earthquakes, and so forth.

On his deathbed, according to tradition, Huayna recalled a

prognostication that had been earlier made, that after twelve

Incas had reigned--Huayna himself was the twelfth--a valorous

race would appear, a white, bearded people, who would overcome

the empire. 'I go to rest with our father the Sun,' he added.

But it would appear that the great Inca had not always regarded

the sun as an infallible power. Some years before, at the great

feast of Raymi, the festival of the Sun, at Cuzco, the chief

priest had observed that the monarch looked up from time to

time at the orb with considerable freedom, an action prohibited

and considered almost sacrilegious; and he inquired, why the

Inca did this. Huayna replied: 'I tell you that our Father the

Sun must have another lord more powerful than himself; a thing

so inquiet and so bound in his course could not be a god.'

Before he died Huayna Capac admonished his successor ever to

carry on the noble traditions of their dynasty, in fulfilling

their title as 'lovers of the poor.' Indeed, a civilization

and rulers who had so organized the material resources of the

realm and the life of the community that none were in want, and

where no class oppressed another, as was indisputably the case

under the Inca Empire, well merited such a title, and that the

system should have been destroyed by the ruthless individualism

of the Europeans is one of the most melancholy incidents in

history."[33][34]

[33] The author at the request of the Economic Circle of the

National Liberal Club in London lectured before that body on

"The Land Laws and Social System of the Incas" (1912).

[34] _Ecuador_, loc. cit.

These same remote uplands were the scene of the strenuous march of

the Spaniards under Alvarado (whose earlier adventures we followed

in Mexico), who affected to consider Quito as outside Pizarro's

jurisdiction. Theirs was a dreadful march. Accustomed to warmer

lands, men and horses starved with cold and famine in the inclement

and foodless Cordillera. They were forced to eat the bodies of their

horses and to boil herbs in their helmets for food. The march was

made in vain, for Alvarado had been forestalled by Benalcazar, who,

with Almagro, was the real conqueror of Ecuador.

Ecuador, after the time of Independence, in which the famous

Liberator, Bolivar, figured prominently, formed part of the

republican incorporation with Columbia and Venezuela. Afterwards

it was subject to revolutionary strife and civil wars of the most

savage and bloodthirsty nature.

Among the leaders of the republican period the name of Dr.

Garcia-Moreno stands forth. It was a steadfast doctrine of his

that political progress could not be secured whilst widespread

poverty among the people remained--a doctrine opposed to the merely

political ideas of other Presidents of the Republic, and which

indeed is as true to-day in the Spanish American Republics as it was

then.[35]

[35] For an account of this ruler, see _Latin America_, Calderon,

South American Series.

The antagonisms of the Liberal and clerical elements at this period

brought dreadful excesses in political life, with assassination

and destruction. The clergy were in a large measure corrupt, their

opponents uncompromisingly hostile, and woe fell upon the land, and

as late as the year 1912 the most dreadful deeds were committed, and

the future seems to hold little immunity from similar occurrences.

Our way lies now into Peru. But no highways unite the two Republics

along the almost inaccessible ranges of the Cordillera; no railways

traverse this wild and broken region between them, and for a

thousand miles the whistle of the locomotive is unheard among the

mountains, whose solitudes are traversed only by the difficult

mule-trail, over which the hardy _arriero_ pursues his arduous

course, or the slow and patient llama, feeding on the scanty herbage

as it goes.

It was in one of the more northern towns of Peru, that of Cajamarca,

that the principal act of the drama in the downfall of the Inca

Empire took place, and we cannot do less, as we stand in the plaza

of the town, than cast a backward glance at this page of early

American history, fraught with such changes of destiny to the folk

of the Cordillera.

We have seen elsewhere how Pizarro and his followers painfully

made their way along the South American coast. On September 24,

1532, they began their march upon Cajamarca, ascending from the hot

coastal lands to the cold regions of the Andes. Stories had reached

them of great, populous valleys, high up among the clouds which

covered the mountains, of people who had gold in such profusion that

they regarded it as a commonplace, and made their household utensils

of the yellow metal.

The Inca Empire at that moment was divided against itself. The two

sons of the great Huayna Capac, Atahualpa and his brother Huascar,

were fighting for the inheritance. Never had the Empire been divided

thus, and its dissension was the precursor of its fall.

Pizarro sent emissaries before him, and they found evidence of

a remarkable civilization--in cut-stone buildings, bridges, and

intensive agriculture. By torture of the Indians, information was

extracted concerning the intentions of Atahualpa, whose swift

messengers had already apprised the Inca chief of the white man's

arrival on the coast. Atahualpa was crafty and laid plans for their

destruction, but meantime he sent gifts of llamas and golden cups.

However, the arrival was a peaceful one. The Spaniards formed camp

and arrogantly sent to summon the Inca to appear before them.

Hernando de Soto, the emissary, found the chief in the courtyard

of his residence--a part of which still stands in Cajamarca--and,

riding up to him, rudely forced his horse in front of Atahualpa,

until the animal's breath fanned his very face.

But the stoic Inca, although he had never beheld these terrible

men-animals, as the Indians termed the horsemen, before, moved

not. He wore the _llauta_, a fringe of crimson wool, the emblem

of sovereignty. He vouchsafed no reply at first, but afterwards

professed his friendship, and _chicha_, or native beer, in a golden

loving-cup, was brought forth for the Spaniards' refreshment. Thirty

thousand soldiers with lances surrounded him. At a word of his the

Spaniards might have been destroyed, or at least driven off.

A careful watch was kept that night in the Spanish camp. "They are

five hundred to one, comrades," said Pizarro; "but if we must fight

and die, it shall be like Christians, with Providence on our side."

Or such at least is what the historians have recorded of Pizarro's

address; and, as we have before remarked, the men of Spain, on

occasion, were devout.

The Spanish plan was a surprise attack and to seize the person of

Atahualpa. On the following day the chief was to return the visit.

The Incas were seen approaching, with bands, dancing, and singing,

adorned with gold and silver; and, decked in his regal bravery,

reclining in his litter, was the figure of the prince, the last of

the Incas.

Whether the intentions of the Peruvians were hostile or not is

doubtful. But the Spaniards saw, or pretended to see, arms concealed

beneath the peaceful robes, and they prepared themselves to make

a sudden attack--to strike the first blow, after their customarily

valiant manner.

It was the hand of the Church that gave the signal for the onslaught

that marked the beginning of the end of the Incas. The Friar

Vicente Valverde--chroniclers have acclaimed him as "the rascally

friar"--advanced, at the instigation of Pizarro, with a Bible in one

hand and a cross in the other, accompanied by an interpreter, to

meet Atahualpa as he approached, the armed Spaniards being concealed

by the wall of the plaza. "You must here render tribute and homage

to our Emperor," exclaimed Valverde, "to our Pontiff, and to the God

of the Christians"; and he held forth the Bible.

The Inca chief took the book, in curiosity perhaps, probably not

understanding what was said. Opening it, he fingered the pages a

moment, and then haughtily and impatiently threw the book from him.

"Christians!" called out the friar--and it is recorded that it was

his intention, or that he had instructions, to break the peace under

any circumstances--"Christians, I call upon you to avenge this

insult to the faith!"

Atahualpa, suspecting a menace, stood up in his litter and ordered

his soldiers to prepare. Pizarro and his men grasped their arms and

rushed forth. The trumpets sounded; the mounted Spaniards rode to

the charge; the Indians, stricken with terror at the sound of the

guns, retreated in panic; and the Christians, falling upon the Inca

army, triumphed, massacring the Indians like sheep.

Then they raised their eyes to heaven, giving thanks for this great

victory. The conquest of Peru was, by this easy victory, already

theirs.

The Inca chief had been taken prisoner in the engagement. He was a

man of some thirty years of age, good-looking, fierce, stoic, a good

reasoner and speaker, and the Spaniards regarded him as a wise man

and treated him well at first. Probably they felt his superiority

over them, these rude knights of the conquest. Great chiefs came

from all parts of Peru to do him homage in his captivity. Huascar,

his brother, had been murdered, it is said, by Atahualpa's orders;

and Pizarro was wroth at this occurrence.

The scene changes again. Fearing that, sooner or later, the white

men would kill him, Atahualpa offered them a princely ransom for his

release.

"What ransom can you give?" asked Pizarro, seeing thereby a means of

securing untold gold. "And when and how can you deliver it?"

The imprisoned chieftain raised his arm to a white line that ran

high around the wall of his chamber or cell. "I will fill this room

up to that line with gold," he said--"gold as pots and vases, gold

as nuggets and as dust. I will fill this room, also, twice over

with silver, in addition. That shall be my ransom, and it shall be

completed in two months' time."

The offer, naturally, was accepted. "Have no fear," said Pizarro.

The Inca sent swift messengers to Cuzco, the capital, hundreds

of miles to the south, along the rugged Cordillera, with orders

that two thousand Indians should bring the golden vessels from the

temples and the palaces.

One of the remarkable institutions of the Inca Empire was the system

of posts, established along the famous roads. Relays of postmen

or runners were kept stationed at the _tambos_ or post-houses.

When a message was despatched, the runner ran his section at full

speed, shouting out the message to the next waiting postman, who

immediately proceeded to cover his stage in the same way; and thus

the message was conveyed with the utmost speed for hundreds of miles.

Stores of gold began to arrive--vases, jars, pots, some weighing as

much as twenty-five pounds each of the precious metal. The Spaniards

one day saw a remarkable spectacle upon the precipitous mountain

track, on the farther side of the valley--a line of golden pots,

borne on llamas, gleaming in the sun, coming to Cajamarca for the

royal ransom.

The promise of the Inca was fulfilled. The ransom was made good.

Did the Spaniards fulfil their part? For the answer we may point

to the final scene, when Atahualpa, at first condemned by his

captors--especially the priest--to be burnt to death, was strangled,

after a mock trial in the plaza--infamously done to death, on what

was probably a trumped-up charge of intended treachery.

The only bright spot on this foul page of Spanish history is in

the circumstance that twelve of the Spaniards, among them Hernando

de Soto, protested vigorously against the deed. But Pizarro and the

false friar Valverde, and others, were resolved upon it, and nothing

moved them.

[Illustration: PIZARRO, THE CONQUISTADOR.

Vol. I. To face p. 240.

]

Possibly Pizarro, on the day of his own assassination, nine years

afterwards, recalled this hour. He was killed, whilst at dinner on

Sunday, by the follower of his partner Almagro--because he did not

keep his promises.

Peru has always appealed to the imagination by reason of its natural

wealth, added to its mysteries and remoteness. Humboldt spoke of

it as "a beggar sitting upon a heap of gold," an aphorism designed

to convey the idea of undeveloped riches. There is scarcely any

valuable or useful product of Nature in the mineral and vegetable

world which we may not find in one or other of the wide zones

of littoral, mountain and forest of this land; scarcely any

potentiality of life is lacking among her people, could they but

make their way to its enjoyment. Since Humboldt wrote, much has been

done, it is true, but it is little more than a beginning, in some

respects.

If on the coastal zone we remark great tracts of territory capable

of cultivation under irrigation, so do we find the agricultural

resources of the uplands still calling for development, and mineral

resources still lying unworked in many districts; whilst in the

great Montaña, or region to the east of the Andes, which occupies

the greater part of the Republic, settlement and cultivation are

in the nature only of a few scattered oases in what is a rich and

fertile wilderness.

The uplands of the Andes in Peru contain some of the most

thickly-populated parts of the country, notwithstanding their

considerable elevation. Here we find capital cities or towns of the

various Departments or States at elevation ranging from 8,000 to

13,000 feet above the sea, whilst populous mining centres, such as

Cerro de Pasco and others, are at heights up to 14,000 feet.

"The people of pure Spanish blood in these upland communities

are few, relatively, for in the course of time they have become

so intermingled with the original inhabitants that they now

form the real Mestizos, or people of mixed race. But they are,

to all intents and purposes, as much Spanish Americans as

the dwellers of the littoral provinces, their language being

Spanish, and their customs principally of similar origin. They

are a well-meaning class, desirous of progress and betterment,

but kept backward by the isolation of their position, and the

poverty of the country, and low standard of living consequent

thereon.

"But the main bulk of the population of these regions is

formed by the original people who constituted the communities

of the Inca Empire--the Quechuas and Aymaras. Whilst in

general terminology these are called Indians, they must not be

confounded with the savage tribes of the forest, from which

they are distinct in every respect. They merge into the Cholos,

with an admixture of Spaniard. They have, of course, absolutely

nothing in common with the imported negroes of the coast, and

are not necessarily dark-skinned--their complexion sometimes

being relatively light--although they are beardless. The hair

is worn in a queue. They are strong and hardy in constitution,

and are much sought after as mining labourers, having a natural

aptitude for this work. The mining regions, in some cases, are

situated at very high elevations, from 11,000 to 17,000 feet, or

more, and in the greatly rarefied air of such altitudes none but

the actual sons of the soil--who have paid Nature the homage of

being born there--can endure the hard physical exertion which

mining demands.

"The history of these people is a chequered and terrible one.

At the time of the Inca Empire they lived in a condition of

happy and contented enjoyment of the fruits of their toil--a

quiet, pastoral life, ruled by beneficent laws and monarchs who

had their welfare at heart in a manner such as has never been

carried out among the subjects or citizens of any Christian

nation. They inhabited their glorious uplands, wresting from

Nature, with pleasurable toil, the means of their simple

existence, until--in the inexplicable plan of Nature, which

ever demands strife and change--Spaniards came sailing round

the world, and substituted for that peaceful regime battle and

bloodshed, and long and terrible oppression. A resulting fear

of the invading white man inspired the distrust which to-day is

one of their dominant characteristics--Spain's legacy in the

Andes. This has induced a feeling of despair, which is imprinted

on their melancholy countenances, and in the passive resistance

which has become their habitual attitude towards progress and

the administration of the Republic. But it would not be fair

to cast the onus of this distrust upon the Spaniards alone,

for the Cholos have been abused and oppressed by the Peruvians

of the Republic, almost up to the present day. In times of

revolutionary war their goods have been commandeered, and

themselves made to serve as soldiers in strife in which they had

no interest, whilst in times of peace they have been considered

an easy subject for spoliation by the petty authorities and the

wealthier Mestizo class.

"The population of these regions in prehispanic days was very

considerable. The destroying tendency of the Spanish rule is

indicated by the fact that the Viceroy Toledo, in 1575, numbered

eight million Indians, exclusive of the savages of the forests,

whilst at the close of the Spanish regime the whole population

of the country only numbered about a million and a quarter. At

present it is calculated that the number of the Cholo-Indians

of the Andine regions is something under two millions. None of

these calculations is quite reliable, but the fact remains that

the country was well-populated in pre-Colombian times, and that

great destruction took place during the epoch of Pizarro and the

viceroys, whilst internal feuds and the Chilean War accounted

for a great many more deaths. High mortality, moreover, was

brought about from misery and privation consequent upon wars.

To-day the population tends slowly to increase, but infant

mortality among the Cholos is very heavy, due to the wretched

and insanitary condition of their life, added to the rigours of

the climate on the high plateaux; which latter, however, would

not be an evil were the standard of life higher.

"The poor Cholo has retained one fortunate condition from

the civilization of his Inca forbears--he is an independent

landholder. The small holding, or _chacara_, which he has

wrested from Nature's chaos of rocks and ravines on the Andine

slopes is his own; no one can dispossess him of it, and it

affords him sufficient crop of _maiz_, potatoes, and, in places,

_alfalfa_, to keep him and those dependent upon him. He is

often, in addition, the owner of herds of _llamas_, _alpacas_,

or sheep and goats, and from their wool he and his woman spin,

and weave with their primitive looms, the 'tweeds'--for of

this nature is the native cloth--and felt hat, which are his

garments. These small holdings have been made in the most

inaccessible places in many cases, by clearing away rocks and

banking up the ground on the lower side in a similar way to

that in which the _andenes_, or old cultivated terraces of the

Inca period, were formed, and which still remain and excite the

traveller's notice throughout the whole Andine region.

"Indeed, to the rough, topographical conditions and difficult

environment of these small holdings is due the Cholos'

undisputed possession, in the first instance, thereof. Had they

existed in more favourable situations they would have been

annexed long ago, first by the Spanish landholders, and then by

the owners of large _haciendas_ under the Republic, or taken by

the petty authorities under one or another pretext. It is again

an instance of Nature protecting her progeny against the ravages

of their own kind. The laws of the Republic now forbid these

small holdings to be alienated from the Cholos; a wise measure,

tending to preserve this useful peasant class.

"The _andenes_, as the terraced fields which cover the

hill-slopes of the Andine region are termed, are worthy of

detailed description. They exist in almost every valley,

extending upwards from the coast and the foothills to elevations

of 12,000 feet, and even 16,000 feet or more, covering the

slopes even in the most inaccessible situations and rigorous

altitudes. From some high saddle or summit whence the

surrounding horizon is visible, the observer notes a curious

chequered or rippled appearance upon the flanks of the ridges,

as far as the eye can reach, from the floor of the valleys up

to the precipitous rock escarpments. They are the _andenes_;

small terraces, one after the other, embanked on the lower sides

with stone walls, like a series of irregular steps, where the

soil has been collected and cultivated. The great number of

these small holdings in every direction throughout the Peruvian

Sierra has given rise to the supposition that a numerous

population inhabited the Andes in prehistoric times--estimates

even of ninety million inhabitants having been made. But this

is fabulous, although it is evident that a numerous people must

have formed and cultivated these remarkable terraces, of whom

the present population are only a residue.

"Adjacent to these valleys, especially in certain districts,

as upon the Upper Marañon,[36] are groups of extensive

ruins of habitations, as well as of burying-places, known

as _huacas_--often containing mummies--and of castles and

fortresses. These latter often command the heads of valleys

and defiles, and they go to show that the former inhabitants

must have dwelt as separate groups or communities under the

leadership of some chief--probably in pre-Inca times. These

_andenes_, as the Spaniards termed the terraces when they

conquered Peru, may have given rise, it has been surmised,

to the name of the Andes; but this probably is not correct,

the real derivation undoubtedly coming from the name of the

_Antis_--a tribe which inhabited the snow-covered Cordillera

region, which was termed by the Incas _Ant-isuyu_. This name, in

Quechua, signifies 'copper-bearing,' and copper was extensively

used by the Incas.

[36] Visited by the author and described before the Royal

Geographical Society.

"The Cholo, then, provides for his wants, and he is quite

independent--when allowed to be so--of the governing race. He

asks nothing from civilization, and indeed this has, so far,

brought him mainly two things--the superstitious part of

the Roman Catholic religion, and alcohol! The one has partly

improved his mind--the other tends to ruin his body.

"At Fair times, and on the numerous Church feast-days, the

Cholos and their women flock into the towns to buy, sell, drink

and indulge in religious exercises. With their bright-hued

blankets and _ponchos_--generally made by themselves--they

lend colour and interest to the scene. And the priests--ha! the

priests!--this is the time of their harvest, and the Cholos

are the inexhaustible supply whence they draw fees, tithes and

offerings. For the Cholo nature has been most susceptible to

the rites and representations with which Roman Catholicism is

interpreted among them. They all bear Spanish names--Christian

and surname--and each has his patron saint: and they must be

considered a civilized race.

"As stated, these people are the descendants of the Incas, or

rather of the Quechuas and Aymaras, who formed the population of

the Inca Empire, for of the Inca line there are no descendants

whatever left. The Incas were a royal line, and whilst their

members were more or less numerous, owing to the polygamy

customary to them, the irregular descendants were not recognized

as legitimate Incas, the real line of succession having been

preserved by the progeny of the marriage of the reigning Inca

with his own sister. The illegitimate offspring naturally

intermarried with the common people, and were merged into

these again. Elsewhere some particulars of the past history and

conditions of the Incas, and the population under their rule,

have been described, as also their structures--temples, palaces

and habitations--the ruins of which are encountered to-day along

these vast uplands, where the Cholo feeds his flock, and lives

his remote and melancholy existence. In marked contrast are some

of these beautiful ruins to the wretched habitations of the

present occupiers of the land.

"The Cholo-Indians of the uplands are, then, miners, shepherds

and agriculturists. In tending their flocks, and in the

breeding and domestication of the _llama_, they are remarkably

expert, and their patience and endurance arouse the interest

of the traveller who sojourns among them. They have many good

qualities, which have been unable yet to expand. The true

policy of the administrations which govern them must be towards

bettering them and causing them to multiply, for, apart from

motives of humanity, they are one of the country's most valuable

human assets. If they fail, and become exterminated, a large

part of the uplands and higher valleys of the Andes would become

an uninhabited desert, for it is doubtful if any other race

could ever occupy their place, or perform manual labour at the

great elevations which form their habitat.

"Let us now glance at the conditions of life in some of the

principal towns of this region of the Sierra. As is but natural,

the farther these communities are removed from the coast, the

more primitive does their mode of life become. When the only

means of communication with the outside world are by difficult

and sometimes dangerous mule-roads, journeys are undertaken

but rarely, and new influences, objects and appliances are not

easily forthcoming. Yet in some cases demand is met by supply,

and in spite of the difficulty of conveyance of heavy goods;

pianos, billiard-tables and such things are constantly met

with in the houses and restaurants of the large towns in the

inter-Andine region. But books, pictures and other essentials of

refined life are scarce.

"What is the aspect of these towns? Imagine yourself astride

your mule upon the summit of the range which bounds one of

these Andine valleys. You have toiled on all day, saddle-galled

and weary, and you gladly direct your gaze to where the town

lies spread below--a bird's-eye view. The streets run at right

angles, with a central _plaza_ containing the cathedral or

church, and official buildings; the hotel--if there be one

at this particular place--and various shops and houses. The

cultivated plain surrounds it--the 'flat place' which Nature has

provided, and which, together with the river which intersects

it, is the reason of man's habitation there at all. For it is

early impressed upon the traveller in the Andes that 'flat

places' are a prime requisite for humanity's existence. You

begin the descent, having seen that the crupper of your mule is

in place, in order that you may not journey upon the animal's

neck; whilst your _arriero_ tightens the pack-mule's girths.

Small _chacaras_, or holdings, with little tumble-down stone

huts, grass-roofed, straggle up the hillside, and bare-legged,

unwashed children rush out among your animal's legs--the

progeny of unkempt Cholo peasant women, at work within upon

the preparation of some primitive meal. The little holdings

are surrounded by rude stone walls, or hedges of prickly-pear,

or _maguey_ (agave). Still you descend. The huts give place

to adobe houses, with whitewashed walls and red-tiled or

grass-thatched roofs; the straggling trail forms itself more

into the semblance of a street; your beast's hoofs rattle over

the cobble pavement; some few inhabitants stand at their doors

to stare and remark at the advent of a stranger; and in a moment

you have entered the _plaza_.

[Illustration: IN THE PERUVIAN ANDES.

Vol. I. To face p. 250.

]

"The condition of the _plaza_, in Spanish American cities, is

an index of the prosperity and enterprise of the particular

community. In the more wealthy and advanced towns it is well

paved, and planted with shrubs and flowers, and a band, during

several evenings of the week, discourses music therein, to the

delight of the populace. Here pretty girls and amorous youths

promenade--the only means of exercise the former are permitted,

and the only general meeting-ground of the two sexes. In the

interior towns of Peru the _plaza_ is often grass-grown and

unpaved. It seems to reflect the poverty of its inhabitants,

and to impress upon the foreigner that the country is but

slowly recovering from the misfortunes of its troubled history.

The traveller, accustomed to the movement and modernness of

the cities of other lands, will observe the _triste_ aspect

of the place with dismay, and wish he might turn his horse's

head again without delay towards the coast and civilization.

But the more leisurely observer will not fail to find much

that is interesting even here. The buildings are quaint; the

air of mediaeval times which shrouds the grass-grown _plaza_

and the half-ruined church, together with the strange garb of

the Indians who slink through the streets, and the struggling

evidences of modern civilization--in shop sign or municipal

notice--are almost pathetic. Whatever it is, it is peaceful; the

climate is bracing, the cost of living--to foreign eyes--_nil_;

and do not the surrounding hills and valleys contain unknown

possibilities of mineral and industrial wealth?

"The society of these places consists of the official

element--the prefect and other functionaries, and few

professional men; the few storekeepers, and the chief landowners

of the neighbourhood. There is but little social life--an

occasional _baile_, a few political meetings, and the Sunday

morning Mass. At the latter, the young men of the place

foregather at the church door, what time the devout _señoritas_

come forth, and pass review of soft faces and flashing eyes,

beneath shady mantillas. There is probably a club with

billiard-tables, brought with difficulty over mountain roads, as

before mentioned, and newspapers of somewhat remote date. But

the chief centres for gossip-mongers are the stores, and shops

where _copitas_ of brandy and native spirits are sold.

"The great merry-making period of the year is that of the

three days' carnival celebration. During this time business is

entirely suspended, and the whole population--whether in Lima

and other coast cities, the towns of the Andes, or the remote

hamlets of the plateaux--give themselves over to frenzied play.

This consists principally in bombarding each other from the

balconies of the houses with _globos_, or india-rubber bladders

full of water; squirts, scents, powder and other matters. It is

impossible to pass along the streets during these three days'

riotous play without being soaked or covered with flour or

powder from above, and the only method is either to enter into

the sport, or else lie low at home until it is over. The usual

reserve between the sexes is much broken down at this time, and

the warm-blooded Peruvian girl enters with much zest into the

temporary licence of Carnival.

"The houses of the upland towns are generally built of adobe

or _tapiales_--that is, of bricks or concrete made of wet

earth, sun-dried and whitened--the roofs being covered with red

pantiles, or thatched with grass. Through the wide entrance door

access is gained to the _patio_, or interior paved yard, after

the usual Spanish American style, upon which the various rooms

look and open. The windows upon the street are all securely

barred with iron _rejas_, or grilles, and the whole aspect is

quaint and mediaeval, though the arrangement lacks in comfort

from the foreigner's point of view; whilst the interior _ménage_

is naturally of a nature more primitive than that of communities

in European towns. But in general, the peoples of these regions

dwell in sufficiency, and that acute poverty, as among the lower

strata of foreign cities, does not exist in Peru.

"The ultimate and irrevocable line of caste distinction in

these places is that between the coat and the _poncho_. From

the prefect and the lawyer and the doctor, down to the shop

assistant, the dress is the coat of the ordinary European form.

Be there but the smallest recognized strain of European blood in

the individual, it will be sheltered by the coat, but below this

all is ignorance and the _poncho_. This useful but uncivilized

garment consists of a species of blanket with an opening in the

centre by which it is slipped over the head. We must, however,

temper this 'clothes--philosophy' by remarking that the _poncho_

is used even by _caballeros_ on certain occasions, especially on

horseback, when, in the form of a thin white material, it wards

off the sun's rays and protects the horseman from dust, whilst

as a thick woollen garment it shields him from the bitter blasts

and keen air of the mountain uplands. The _ponchos_ woven of

_vicuña_ wool by the Cholos are of the most exquisite texture,

and practically, waterproof. But the ordinary blanket _poncho_

is the poor Indian's greatest possession. It shelters him by

day from the sun or rain, and at night it forms his bed.

"The advent of a foreigner in these more remote places is a

matter of interest to the inhabitants, and--especially if he

be a person bent upon some scientific or exploratory work--he

is well and hospitably received, and all facilities afforded

to him. Keen interest is taken in anything pertaining to the

outside world, for these people, cut off as they are by natural

barriers from its happenings, are far from being apathetic, or

indifferent of events. Indeed it is this eager interest and

avidity for knowledge of the modern world which most greatly

touches the sympathy of the traveller, and which is the element

which must redeem the people of these remote places from

stagnation and decadence.

"Peruvian hospitality is proverbial, and nowhere is it stronger

than among the peoples of the upper class in the Sierra. The

traveller soon becomes the centre of a group who press their not

unwelcome attentions upon him; and they provide the best their

houses afford for his refreshment and entertainment, as a rule

accepting nothing in payment. This pleasing quality, in addition

to being born of their native kindness, is motived partly from

the desire to be considered civilized, and this is not without

a note of pathos. The traveller, moreover, will not fail to

recollect that he has sojourned in other--business--communities,

whose higher civilization certainly does not necessarily include

hospitality. These Sierra people of Peru, whilst they possess

pleasing traits of the above nature, have also others less

happy. They, as a class, are sometimes unscrupulous in their

business dealings, and agreements are not always to be relied

upon--a defect of the Spanish American generally, which at times

overshadows his better qualities."[37]

[37] _Peru_, Enock, in the South American Series.

We have already remarked on the mineral resources of the Andine

region of Peru. It may be that, in the future, attention will

be more widely directed thereto, and travellers with technical

knowledge of mining are increasingly making their way here, and some

notes on this score are of interest. Little, however, seems possible

in this field without the use of foreign capital.

In a land so famous for its gold as was that of Old Peru, it is

remarkable that so little gold is produced at the present time--an

insignificant annual amount of little over £100,000. Yet there are

many gold-bearing deposits scattered over the vast upland region,

from auriferous quartz-seams: to vast gravel deposits. There do not

appear to be any huge ore-bodies of the nature of South Africa, with

low-grade but abundant material. The seams, however, in many cases

offer "payable propositions." There are rock ledges of great length

and depth, capable of being worked economically by adits rather than

shafts, and sometimes with water-power available and with "cheap

mining labour" (that attractive item of the company-promoter's

prospectus) at hand, with immediate areas of fertile land for the

needful foodstuffs. A difficult feature sometimes is the matter of

transport, for, from the coast, the Cordillera must be surmounted.

The enormous gold-bearing alluvial deposits are generally situated

on the most westerly side or summits of the Cordillera, and in the

Montaña, and are difficult of access at present in the absence of

railways. Various enterprises have been set on foot to win the gold

from these in recent years--whether by the method of dredging,

whether after the Californian "hydraulic" system--but it is doubtful

if they have proved a success, from a variety of causes. There,

however, is the gold, awaiting recovery.

The reputation for fabulous wealth of silver in the Peruvian

mountains has passed into a proverb. Great wealth has been

recovered, and the ores are often extremely rich. Myriads of old

workings exist, which were abandoned because the more primitive

appliances of a past age did not permit the drainage of the mines,

which became filled with water; but they are capable of being

pumped out. Romantic tales are told of the enrichment of miners

who persevered in their labours in some lonely mine and won great

fortune. In the many examinations I made here of gold and silver

mines in Peru there were found conditions that should well repay

modern mining enterprise. There is, of course, a good deal of work

being carried on.

The great wealth of copper, lead, zinc, quicksilver, iron and coal

also present their attractions, and there are rarer metals whose

use commerce urgently requires. But foreign capital does not flow

very freely to Peru, and Peruvian capital does not seem to have the

organizing faculty to develop the mineral wealth of the country for

itself. The mining laws of Peru offer considerable privileges to the

foreigner, whom the Government is ever desirous of encouraging.

The Indian, the native miner, has his own methods of winning the

gold from the rocks and gravels, or the gold-bearing streams of the

Montaña, or the auriferous earths of the high pampas. In the streams

he selects a suitable spot and paves it with large stones. Then,

when the floods pass over the prepared surface of rude "riffles,"

the gold carried down by the waters from the auriferous rocks lodges

in the interstices, and, removing the stones, he recovers the

precious nuggets and dust. Or, by laborious panning in a _batea_, or

wooden bowl, hollowed out of a block of wood, he washes the gravel

from the rich banks of sediment, and the gold lies at the bottom.

In the case of the gold-bearing ores, he digs shallow pits in the

surface of the ledge, where Nature, under the oxidation of the

pyrites, has transformed the gold into a form recoverable by the

simple method of amalgamation with quicksilver, after crushing the

friable quartz under a primitive rocking-stone.

Indeed, in many places, it would seem that Nature has placed the

gold here in a form such that recovery will remunerate the natural

son of the soil, when a more greedy and better-equipped "company"

would be unable to pay its way. The stores of gold possessed by

the Incas of Peru were won by such primitive methods; large bodies

of Indians being employed upon the work, and evidences of their

operations remain to the present time.

The ancient folk of the Andes had as their greatest food products

maiz, millet and potatoes, together with the numerous tropical

fruits of the lowlands. They gave Europe the potato--surely no

inconsiderable gift--having developed it in Ecuador, Peru and Chile,

from the wild, bitter variety; and Europe gave them wheat and other

cereals, and, of course, the domestic animals--ox, cow, sheep, horse

and pig.

The llama was their only beast of burden here--this curious, hoofed,

ruminating quadruped of the camel tribe, with its long neck and

timid face. In our journeys along these bleak uplands we shall meet

large droves of the llamas, bearing loads of merchandise, in weight

up to a hundred pounds. These animals are sagacious in their way,

and if overloaded refuse to move. Their services, their wool, their

flesh, are all extremely valuable adjuncts of Indian life. The

creature costs little or nothing to keep: it requires no shelter,

and it feeds itself as it goes along, at a rate of about four miles

an hour. The llama indeed was--and is--an outstanding figure in the

native economics of the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes. Its cousin the

alpaca is also to be seen in large bands.

Up to the limit of the temperate zone in the Peruvian Andes, about

11,500 feet, we shall remark some of the familiar flora of England,

such as ferns, nettles, buttercups, violets and stitchwort, together

with wild geraniums and pelargoniums. Apples, pears, cherries and

strawberries also grow, under desultory cultivation. Trees are scant

in the almost treeless Andes, and we find little beyond the groves

of stunted _quinua_ and other native shrubs, which, however, are

valuable for fuel. The _ichu_ grass--_stipa Incana_--which also

serves for "thatching" the Indian huts, is the predominant herbage.

As we ascend, the vegetation becomes even more humble. At 13,500

feet the potato will not grow; the hardy barley will not yield. Only

a few thorny shrubs and some curious cacti are to be seen. Higher

still we reach the limit of the perpetual snow, where little but the

lichens and a few cryptogams appear, except a few cold-resisting

flowers having medicinal properties. Above, all is bare, the

inorganic world asserts its kingdom--except for the condor of the

Andes circling around the summit of some ice-covered volcano.

Here in these high, inclement uplands, I have pitched my tent, and

my Indians are now preparing a meal around the camp-fire, made of

the dry grass or some scanty _leña_ or firewood, or possibly we

may have come across a "colony" of the curious _yareta_, a huge

mushroom-like woody growth, perhaps three feet in diameter, full

of resin, which burns fiercely: a product only of the Peruvian and

Bolivian heights. Failing these matters, the fire must be of dry

llama dung, or _taquia_, a useful fuel in the Andes, from which even

the ores of silver, in places, are smelted.

[Illustration: PERU: LLAMAS AND ALPACAS.]

[Illustration: PERU: NATIVE BLANKET WEAVER IN THE ANDES.

Vol. I. To face p. 260.

]

Here on the roof of the world we mark the rays of the setting sun

tinting a rosy red the eternal pinnacles of the Andes, and the last

glow gone, we must seek the tent and draw the ponchos about us; the

Indians throwing themselves upon the ground outside. Simple and

faithful souls are these children of the uplands, full of gratitude

to the _patron_ who treats them fairly; resourceful and industrious.

And the _Ingles_, of course, treat them well and justly. Is not an

Englishman's word his bond? Further, are not his pockets invariably

lined with silver! Months have I spent in these wilds, without any

other companions than the Quechua Indians and the Cholos, our only

language Spanish and what smattering of Quechua it was possible for

me to acquire.

Or perhaps I have formed camp in some abandoned Inca ruins, and

the evening meal has been cooked in the ruined stone fireplace of

folk departed these many centuries: my seat a cube of stone neatly

fashioned--one of those which strew the ground around--by some

ancient mason. There one may ponder upon the strange folk, who built

massive temples and megalithic walls--in a region where there is no

timber and where corn does not grow. Why did these folk establish

themselves in these high places? Are there any other mountains in

the world where Nature brought forth a dominating culture so near

the clouds as that whose progenitors went forth, as we are told,

from the mysterious island of Titicaca?

Or again, night has overtaken us on the edge of the Montaña, and,

below, we overlook the tree-filled valleys, part of the forest which

stretches unbroken for thousands of miles across the Amazon plains

of Brazil. The valley may be filled with mist, and the effect is

remarkable, as a weird transformation scene. The sun sets; it still

tinges the western sky with its beauteous and indescribable tints.

The palest saffron fades into the pearly-green of the zenith, and

the last, orange rays, calm and cold, flash faintly and expiringly

upwards. In the deep cañons the fleecy masses of pearly vapour

slowly pour--"slow, lingering up the hills like living things." So

soft and pure are they that they might be the couch spread for some

invisible god-traveller! No eye but mine beholds them. The Indians

are busy at the camp-fire. Then the mist masses arise as if to

engulf the lonely headland on which we stand, like awful billows.

But the light fades, except that of a single jewelled planet, which

gleams softly and protectingly down from its gathering height.

The Indians sustain themselves at times on their journeys by chewing

the leaves of the _coca_ shrub, which are a valued possession among

them. This shrub, peculiar to Peru and Bolivia--although it has now

been transplanted to Ceylon--is that which gives us the cocaine

of the pharmacopoeia. For the invaluable quinine, we may also be

grateful to Peru and to the memory of that viceroy's lady, the

Countess of Chinchon, who, sick of a fever--it was _tercianas_ or

tertial malaria--was cured by an Indian woman with doses of the

steeped bark of the quinine shrub, which bears her name to this day.

The most ancient and remarkable town of the Cordillera is Cuzco,

the one-time Inca capital. It lies in a valley, overlooked by lofty

mountains; and on its northern side stands the famous fortress of

Sacsaihuaman, the cyclopean fortress of the early Peruvians--the

Incas and their predecessors. Here we may stand upon the great walls

of what is one of the most remarkable of prehistoric structures,

forming terraces along the hillside of great stone blocks, built in

the form of revetments and salients, some of the stones being nearly

twenty feet high.

Many of the walls of the Cuzco streets still retain their Inca stone

construction, a monument to the clever masonry of these people,

which has excited the interest and admiration of many archæologists

and travellers. Here was the Temple of the Sun, and indeed part of

its beautifully moulded walls still remains.

The town is the centre of one of the most popular districts of Peru,

labouring Indians mainly; and it has a number of interesting Spanish

colonial buildings, with some textile and other industries. We may

reach Cuzco now by rail from Arequipa and the coast at Mollendo.

Not far away are others of the remarkable remains of early Peruvian

civilization, including the Inca "astronomical observatory" of

Intihuatana, where the priests determine the solstices by means of

the shadow cast by a stone column, a portion of which still exists.

Also Ollanta.

Cuzco witnessed the final overthrow of the Incas after the scene at

Cajamarca, and many excesses were committed here by the Spaniards,

in their purpose of stamping out the early Peruvian civilization--a

sad and pathetic page of history indeed.

If on these high and often dreary uplands it was destined that

the power of the Inca Empire should pass away in so melancholy a

fashion, it would seem that fate had here a similar end for the

empire of its conquerors in store. For are not the fateful names of

Junin and Ayacucho stamped upon the face of this Cordillera region?

Here the Royalists of Spain made their last stand.

We cannot enter upon the details of Spain's downfall. From its

history stand out the famous names of San Martin, with his march

across the Andes from Argentine into Chile; Bolivar, and his equally

or more renowned march across the Northern Andes; Cochrane, the

English admiral, and his operations on the coast; Sucre, La Serna,

and others. At the Battle of Junin the Royalist leader of the

Spanish forces was defeated. Cuzco, the last stronghold of Spain in

South America, fell. Then came the historic Battle of Ayacucho. The

patriots--Peruvians, Chileans and some Argentines--numbered some six

thousand; the Royalists nine thousand. The Royalists were utterly

routed, fifteen hundred were slain: the viceroy, his generals,

officers and army were captured. It was hailed as a providential

victory for freedom; a new life after three hundred years of

Spanish domination, and the colours of Iberia flew no more upon the

Cordillera.

[Illustration: THE RUINED INCA FORTRESS OF OLLANTAYTAMBO, PERU.

Vol. I. To face p. 264.

]