thick walls of adobe, or mere shacks of bamboo reeds, lashed together by
thongs of rawhide, and plastered within and without with thick layers of
mud. This style of architecture will answer in a country where it never
rains, and where cyclones never come, but if a good pour should fall in
Lima, much of the town would be washed into the river Rimac and carried
out to sea. There is never more than one entrance to a house, and that
is protected first by a great iron grating, and then by solid doors. The
windows are covered with bars. This was done as a precaution against
bandits in early times, and against revolutionists in later days; and a
very essential precaution it has been, for during the time of the
viceroy bands of robbers came down from the mountains, and hordes of
pirates from the sea. Through the single entrance passes every one who
comes and goes--the butcher, the baker, the priest who comes to shrive
the dying, and the young man to whom Mercedes is engaged.
The roofs of the dwellings are always perfectly flat, and among the
common people are used as barn-yards and henneries. In many cases a cow
spends all her days on the roof of her owner’s residence, being taken up
when a calf, and taken down at the end of life as fresh beef. In the
mean time she is fed on alfalfa, and the slops from the kitchen.
Chicken-coops are still more common on the roofs of dwellings, and in
the thickly populated portions of the town your neighbors’ cocks waken
you at daylight with reminders of St. Peter.
Lima is a poor place to sell umbrellas, for along the coast from the
northern boundary of Peru, far south-west to the end of the Chilian
desert, rain never falls. There is a disagreeable, dismal, sticky,
rheumatic dew, however, which is worse than a shower; for during the
winter season, beginning in April and ending in October, it penetrates
the thickest clothing, and gives one the sensation described by
Mantilini as “demnition moist.” The thermometer is pretty regular,
however, and ranges from sixty to eighty degrees Fahrenheit during the
year, January being the hottest month, and July the coolest. Pulmonary
complaints are unknown, but fevers are very common, and the mortality
among infants is pitiable. At Callao yellow-fever is usually endemic,
and there are three or four deaths every week among the marine
population, as the sanitary regulations are not well enforced, and the
city is dirty.
The chamber occupied by the Peruvian House of Deputies is a long, narrow
apartment in what was formerly the University of St. Mark, the oldest
institution of learning in America, having been founded in 1551, and
confiscated by the Government from the Church in 1869. The spectators
sit in a very high, narrow gallery over the heads of the
representatives, who are arranged in two rows of chairs, without desks,
around the three walls of the chamber, the presiding officer and clerks
having the fourth wall at their back. The centre of the room is occupied
by a long table, at one end of which sits the presiding officer, who is
a priest (with an appearance of having lived on the fat of the land),
and at the other end a crucifix is placed, upon which the members of
Congress are sworn to support the Constitution. When a formal speech is
made, the orator stands upon a platform, with a desk or table before
him, and a running debate is participated in by members from their
chairs.
The Senate Chamber is in the old Inquisition building, just across the
Plaza de Bolivar, in which one hundred heretics are said to have been
burned to death, and thousands publicly scourged.
The people of Peru entertain the most cordial sentiments towards the
United States, which is the more remarkable because of the feeling
prevalent in all classes that the administration of President Garfield
was the cause of many of the losses and much of the misery which they
suffered during the war with Chili. They cannot be convinced that they
were not trifled with and betrayed at the most critical period of their
history, and that Mr. Blaine was not responsible. Without entering into
the controversy as to whether Mr. Blaine authorized General Hurlbut to
interfere, or whether General Hurlbut’s action was voluntary, it is
nevertheless true that the moment he stepped in Chili held back, and the
moment he withdrew she renewed the devastation of her sister republic
with a hundred-fold more energy than before. If our Government had taken
the same stand in the war between Chili and Peru that she occupied
regarding the troubles in the Central American States, thousands of
lives, property worth millions of dollars, and the richest resources of
Peru might have been saved. Mr. Blaine’s original attitude was that the
[Illustration: VIEW OF CUZCO AND THE NEVADO ASUNGATA FROM THE BROW OF
THE SACSAHUAMAN.]
United States would not tolerate the dismemberment of Peru, and that was
clearly and plainly announced, with a wholesome effect. All at once the
protest was withdrawn, without warning, without any premonition, and
then, with a knife at her throat and a revolver at her heart, Peru
consented to surrender the coveted provinces.
General Hurlbut had been condemned for acting imprudently, for getting
our Government into a scrape without excuse, for committing it to a
policy that was not tenable; but no one can visit Peru and see the
results of the war without respecting the memory of General Hurlbut. He
acted from the noblest impulses, in behalf of humanity, in defence of
civilization. Whether he tried to put a stop to the war with or without
authority, he was justified in doing so--justified in trying to prevent
the burning of defenceless cities, the murder of non-combatants, the
robbery of homes, and the despoliation of everything that was sacred.
Peru was overcome, conquered, and resistless. Her army was destroyed,
and her citizens, who had attempted to defend her capital with what
weapons they could gather, were smitten down like grass before the
scythe. There was scarcely a voice to be raised in defence of the women
and children. Then the pillage commenced. Dynamite and petroleum were
the weapons of Chili, and millions of dollars’ worth of private property
was swept away daily, until the Chilians got tired of murder, of rapine,
of pillage and devastation. It was these which General Hurlbut tried to
prevent, and had our Government supported him, or at least had not
interfered, he would have been successful. As it is, the Chilians laugh
and the Peruvians mutter curses, when “the foreign policy of the United
States” is mentioned. It is said that Hurlbut exceeded his instructions,
and much of the blame of failure was thrown upon him. He was a proud and
sensitive man, and felt censure keenly. His disgrace, and the neglect of
his Government to sustain him in the attitude he had taken, not only
shortened but ended his life, and he died in Lima a broken-hearted man.
But he has been canonized by the people of Peru as a political saint,
and they worship his memory as they do that of Bolivar--the Washington
of South America, the man who gave liberty to five republics. They
regard Hurlbut as the noblest of all Americans. His portrait hangs in
their parlors, and is still for sale at the photograph galleries and
picture stores. His funeral was attended by the greatest demonstration
Peru has ever witnessed, and the grateful people would erect a statue to
him if they had money enough left to pay the expense.
When Chili conquered Peru, Admiral Lynch, the Irishman who commanded the
Chilian army, set up General Iglesias as “provisional President until
the pacification of the country.” General Caceres, who commanded a
division of _montañes_, or mountaineers, refused to surrender, and
rejected the terms of peace dictated by Chili. He retired to the Andes,
and carried on a guerilla warfare as long as the Chilian army was in
Peru. When Lynch and his legions retired, Caceres turned his attention
to the government with the alliterative title which the Chilians left in
Lima, and for three years kept Iglesias busy defending the coast and the
capital from his assaults. Business was almost entirely suspended;
commerce was stagnant, because Peruvians were producing nothing, and had
no money to pay for imported goods. The people lived on the pawn-shops,
and the Government, deprived of its revenues, resorted to extreme
conscription and confiscation measures. Caceres hovered around Lima for
three years with his army of Indian guerillas, doing little fighting,
but producing terror everywhere. Iglesias had no force to suppress his
rival, and could only defend the capital and chief seaports against
attack.
In the centre of Lima, as in all Spanish-American towns, is a plaza, or
public square, with a fountain and statuary in the centre, and the
palace, the cathedral, the archbishop’s residence, the municipal
offices, and other public institutions facing it on the four sides. Into
this plaza, the very heart of the city, in August, 1885, the Government
troops permitted Caceres and his mountaineers to come; but they had
[Illustration: BETWEEN BATTLES, BALLS.]
sufficient notice of his approach to enable them to place sharp-shooters
in the towers of the churches, cannon on the roof of the palace, and
musketeers on the roofs of all the buildings around it. The buildings
are two stories high, with the front walls reaching two or three feet
above the roof, so that those who participated in this novel defence of
the city had good breastworks to protect them. When Caceres came into
the plaza he was met with volleys from all sides, and the pavements were
strewn with the dead. He made a desperate struggle, but his Indians, few
of whom had ever been in a city before, and none of whom had ever been
under fire, scattered and were lost in the labyrinth of narrow streets,
where they were pursued and killed by cavalrymen, who plunged out of the
palace at full gallop when it was seen that the forces of Caceres were
wavering. Of the three thousand men who came with the mountain general,
two thousand lay dead or wounded upon the pavements of Lima before the
battle was two hours old, and with the rest, who were called together by
trumpeters, Caceres retired to Arequipa to prepare for another campaign.
On the last day of December, 1885, he repeated the attack with better
success, and captured the city, ending a seven years’ war in Peru. A
provisional government was organized until April, when Caceres was
elected constitutional President, and has since, in a thorough, wise,
and patriotic way, been trying to restore a crushed and devastated
nation.
General Andres Caceres, the successful leader, the chosen President of
Peru for a term ending April, 1890, is a man about fifty years of age, a
native of the ancient town of Ayacucho, and the son of a colonel of the
army of Chili. His mother was a Peruvian, and his father spent the later
years of his life in Peru. The mother had Indian blood in her veins, and
from her Caceres has inherited much of the Indian disposition and
character which have given him his popularity among the montañes who
followed his standard in the struggle. At an early age Caceres entered
the army, and having by his daring energy and military skill won the
confidence and admiration of President Castilla, was sent to Europe to
learn the art of war in the French and German military schools. Upon his
return he was detailed for duty as an engineer, but when the war with
Chili broke out he was made a general of division, and was perhaps the
most successful officer in the Peruvian army.
Don Miguel Iglesias, the head of the government which Caceres tried so
long to overthrow, is a descendant of one of the oldest and most
aristocratic families of Peru, and before the war with Chili he occupied
several posts of eminence and honor, having been Secretary of the
Treasury, and afterwards Secretary of War. He is a _plantador_, or
planter, and lives at the old town of Caxamarca, which the readers of
Prescott’s story of the Conquest will remember as the seat of Atahualpa.
During the war with Chili General Iglesias also took a prominent part,
but was not considered a successful military leader, having no taste or
inclination in that direction. After the downfall of the Calderon
government Iglesias was made provisional President, and continued to
exercise power for four years, but lacked the energy and ability
necessary to meet the crisis; and although the people generally regarded
him as an honest and patriotic man, he lost their confidence, and the
victory of Caceres was welcomed.
Another of the leading men of Peru is Don Nicolas Pierola, who has been
a conspicuous figure in the political dramas and military tragedies that
have been enacted during the last ten years, and will continue to be
heard from in the future. He has had a most remarkable career, having
been four times banished from the republic. Pierola is a son-in-law of
the ill-starred Emperor Iturbide of Mexico, whose daughter he met while
a student in Paris. His life has been a romantic one, and illustrates
the ups and downs of South American politics. Pierola _père_ was a
famous scientist and _littérateur_, and was the intimate friend and
co-worker of Humboldt, Sir Humphry Davy, Doctor Von Tschudi, the
Austrian philosopher, and other men of that age. He was for a long time
a professor of natural sciences at the University of Madrid, and
returned to Peru, his native country, to pursue his inquiries into the
traditions of the Incas, and to preside over the university at Arequipa,
the second city in Peru. He had something to do with politics too, and
was the Peruvian Minister of Finance for several years.
[Illustration: A WARRIOR AT REST.]
Pierola the younger, who was educated in Europe, is one of the most
accomplished and able men in South America. He commenced life as an
editor, and in 1864 became the manager of _El Tiempo_, the organ of
President Pezot, who was overthrown by a revolutionary army under
General Prado. The latter banished the young and ardent editor until he
was himself overthrown. Then Pierola returned to Peru, and became the
Minister of Finance under President Balta, being the ruling spirit of
the administration, and inaugurating the vast system of public
improvements under Henry Meiggs. Prado again led a successful
revolution, and in 1878 Pierola was banished for the second time. When
the war with Chili broke out he returned to Peru, and tendered his
allegiance and his sword to the man who had driven him into exile. His
services were accepted, and he became the commander of a regiment, and
afterwards a general of division.
In December, 1879, President Prado deserted his post and secretly fled
from the country, leaving a proclamation on his desk which authorized
the Vice-President to exercise the duties of the office “until he had
returned from the transaction of some very urgent and important business
which demanded his presence abroad.” The army of Chili had been
successful in several battles, and was marching upon the capital. The
army of Peru had been practically destroyed; its ports were blockaded,
its treasury was empty, and the President, Prado, had fled from the
results of his blundering imbecility. He has never returned, and is
understood to be in Europe.
There was a mere gleam of hope left for Peru, and the people called on
Pierola to become their leader. A junta or convention of leading men was
quickly called, and the power of military and political chief, which is
the polite way of describing a dictator, was conferred upon Pierola. He
had no money, no ammunition, and only the frightened remnants of a
demoralized army; but he made the best fight he could, and compelled the
Chilian army to stop the carnival of devastation they had begun. When
Peru was conquered the Chilian Government would not recognize Pierola as
dictator, and in the absence of Prado, the constitutional President, set
up a dummy administration of their own choice, with which terms of peace
were made, forfeiting the strip of territory containing the deposits of
guano and nitrate of soda. This was what
[Illustration: GATE-WAY TO THE ANDES.]
Chili desired, and for this she made the war. Her Government knew that
Pierola would never consent to sacrifice the richest portion of the
republic, hence it refused to treat with him, and caused his banishment
for the third time.
Pierola went to France again, and remained in exile until May, 1885,
when he was sent for by the business men of Lima, who endeavored to
secure a suspension of hostilities between Caceres and Iglesias, the
leaders of the rival factions of Peru, and to place Pierola in power, in
order to restore peace to the country and revive its paralyzed trade and
industries. He returned reluctantly, and his friends arranged to have
him proclaimed President, but the Iglesias Government hearing of the
plot, banished him for a fourth time, shortly before Caceres captured
the city. Pierola is now in France, but expects to return to Peru, and
do his share towards restoring the country. This can be done only by the
introduction of foreign capital and labor, as the land-owners and
merchants of Peru are bankrupt, and the native laboring element largely
reduced by the casualties of almost thirteen years of constant warfare.
A large amount of English and American capital is already going into the
country, and will tempt labor to follow. The most important act of the
Government has been to contract with Mr. Michael P. Grace, of New York,
recently, for the completion of the famous Oroya railroad, and the
development of the Cerro del Pasco mines.
A quarter of a century ago an unknown man, a fugitive from justice,
arrived at the port of Callao, and appeared among the Spaniards, as
Manco Capac, at once the Adam and the Christ of the Incas, appeared to
the Indians two thousand years before. As the mysterious and deified
Manco Capac taught the Indians a knowledge of the agricultural and
mechanical arts, this unknown man taught their successors to build
railroads, and stands to-day as the ideal of Yankee enterprise and
engineering genius. He plunged the Government of Peru into a debt that
will never be paid, but laid the foundations for a system of internal
development that would bring the republic great wealth if peace could be
only secured.
[Illustration: HENRY MEIGGS.]
Everybody has heard of Henry Meiggs, the partner of Ralston, the
California banker, who drowned himself in the Golden Gate, the friend of
Flood, O’Brien, Mackey, Sharon, and one of the princes of the golden era
of ’49. Bret Harte has written of him, and Mark Twain has used him as a
text. He committed forgeries in San Francisco years ago, and when his
crime was discovered he took a boat and rowed out into the bay; but
instead of jumping overboard, as Ralston did twenty years afterwards, he
climbed upon the deck of a schooner, purchased her, and sailed away from
the scene of his remarkable career. He went to Peru, bringing much of
his wealth and all of his irresistible energy with him. These he applied
to the difficulties that had staggered that country, and overcame them.
He sent back money to California to reimburse with good interest those
who lost by his forgeries, but remained away till he died, one of the
richest, most influential, and famous men on the coast. From Ecuador to
Patagonia, through Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, Meiggs’s enterprises
extended, and the result is a series of railroads at right angles with
the coast, connecting the interior of the country with the seaports, and
giving the estates, and the mines in the mountains, the sugar haciendas,
and the nitrate beds, easy outlets to the ocean. Nearly every port on
the west coast has its little railroad, from twenty to two hundred and
fifty miles in length, some of them reaching into the very heart of the
Andes, the arteries of the continent’s commerce, and intended to make
profitable possessions which would otherwise have no worth.
The Oroya road, which Meiggs left incomplete, has been counted as the
eighth wonder of the world, for there is nothing in the Rocky Mountains
or the Alps which compares with it as an example of engineering science,
or presents more sublime scenery. But neither scenic grandeur nor
engineering genius can alone make a railroad pay, particularly if it
goes nowhere. In this instance the money gave out, and Meiggs died when
the road was only partially completed, there remaining fifty miles
between the present terminus (Chicla) and the point which was aimed
at--the mines of Cerro del Pasco, one of the richest and most extensive
silver deposits in the world. Most of the grading and tunnelling between
Chicla and the mines has been completed, and it only remains to lay the
ties and rails and put in the bridges to send a locomotive over the
Andes into the great valley which stretches north and south between the
two Cordilleras. This Mr. Grace has agreed to do. The completion of the
line to the mining regions will cost ten million dollars, but that
portion already constructed and in operation, with all its rolling
stock, station-houses, and equipments of every sort, he gets for
practically nothing, as under the conditions of a ninety-nine years’
lease he has the use of the railroad and all that belongs with
[Illustration: THE HEART OF THE ANDES.]
it free for the first seven years, and pays but twenty-five thousand
dollars per year rental for the property during the remainder of the
term. In other words, Mr. Grace gets a property which cost twenty-seven
million six hundred thousand dollars, eighty-six miles of railroad
already equipped and in operation, fifty miles of the most expensive
tunnelling and grading in the world for nothing, provided he will
complete the line. And more than this, he gets the Cerro del Pasco
silver mines, which were worked for centuries by the Jesuits, and have
yielded hundreds of millions of dollars even under the primitive system
of working which was applied to them by the monks and the native
Indians. They were discovered by a native, who while watching sheep on
the hills was overtaken by night. He piled together a few stones, under
the lee of which he built a fire. In the morning he noticed that the
heat had split some of the stones, and he was attracted by something
shining from what had been the interior of one of them. He picked up the
stone, and took it home to show to his friends. The bright substance was
found to be silver, and the great mines of the Cerro del Pasco were
discovered.
From 1630 to 1824 the mines of the Cerro del Pasco are said to have
produced nearly twenty-seven thousand two hundred tons of pure silver.
The ore is not in fissure veins, but in an enormous mass, similar to the
carbonates of Leadville, and yields from forty to one hundred dollars
per ton. It is worked at a cost of three dollars per ton. Even the
tailings, which the priests and Indians have left during the two and a
half centuries they have been digging away in their rude manner, can be
shipped to New York at a profit, and they amount to millions of tons,
with silver enough in them, it is estimated, to pay the cost of
constructing the road, and to afford it a business that will pay the
expense of operating.
[Illustration: AN INCA REMINISCENCE.]
About ten per cent. of the Cerro del Pasco district is now occupied by
native miners, who are pegging along in the old-fashioned way, losing
more silver than they gain in their operations, and securing about
one-quarter of the profit they could obtain by the use of improved
machinery. Their mines are constantly flooded with water, and have to be
abandoned for the greater part of the year. There are also a number of
old mines, which were worked first by the Jesuits and then by the
Government, but which have been given up long since and allowed to fill
with water. These abandoned mines Mr. Grace agrees to pump and place in
working order, and when they are cleared he has the privilege of working
them to his own profit for ninety-nine years. The local miners have
agreed to give him twenty per cent. of their gross product for
introducing pumping machinery and operating it. The same set of pumps
will serve the whole district, and the revenue which will be derived
from the native miners will pay the expense of keeping in order the
mines which Mr. Grace will operate. It is estimated that seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars will clean up the property and pay for the
necessary machinery to do thorough work, and the profits cannot be
overestimated if all that is told of the mines is true.