The carrying out of this scheme, which m_Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy.

influence on the commerce of the Pacific slope of the Indies, is mainly

dependent on the disposition of the Chilean Government to guarantee a

given interest, and accord certain facilities to the company which is to

undertake so important and heavy an enterprise. Its requirements are by no

means extravagant. During a period of fifteen years, it asks for an annual

subvention of 125,000 dollars, for the first five years,[116] during the

next five years of 100,000 dollars, and in the last five years 75,000

dollars, after which all aid from the State is to be withdrawn. Further,

the company seeks to be secured in the exclusive right during those

fifteen years of working the coal-fields,[117] which are known to exist in

the Straits, to be presented free of expense with the land required for

the various buildings and stations, and, lastly, permission to fell wood

all along Magelhaen's Straits, and in the divergent bays, gulfs, and

channels, but on the condition that one half of the soil so reclaimed

shall remain the property of the State, the other half to remain in

perpetuity the property of the adventurers. From the day on which this

project is ushered into existence by the munificence and under the

auspices of the Chilean Government, a new era will commence for the

shipping interest along the west coast of South America! The difficulty is

in securing a monopoly of the Straits. At present any captain may run the

Straits if he will, and this is occasionally done. An English man-of-war

passed through in the spring of 1862.

At last, on 8th May, the European mail came in, but failed to bring the

letters we expected, giving us instead only news of several months back,

our bag having been sent to Lima instead of Valparaiso. However, the news

received direct from Europe left no doubt that a war was imminent between

France and Austria, and this circumstance at once determined our

commander, like a true patriot, to return immediately home, so as to make

his own services as well as those of his subordinates available in

protecting our native land from the dangers impending over it. The

original plan of sailing to Lima, and thence, after visiting the

Galipagos, to Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, was under the prevailing

circumstances totally abandoned. In a few days more the vessel was to sail

for Gibraltar direct round Cape Horn.

As this decision involved a sea-voyage of some 10,000 miles, which must

naturally be almost barren of ethnographic or statistical interest, and as

the arrival of the _Novara_ at Gibraltar could scarcely be expected under

from 80 to 90 days, the author of this narrative requested permission of

the commander of the Expedition to devote the time required for the

frigate to make her voyage, in prosecuting a journey overland to Lima and

Panama, with the intention of catching at Aspinwall the next British royal

mail steamer to Europe, and thus again fall in with the _Novara_ at

Gibraltar about the beginning of August. The paramount motive for this

proposal was the wish expressed to dedicate all this time to visit Lima,

Panama, and the intermediate ports, and thus to forward to the utmost the

objects of the Imperial Expedition, even when it was in fact homeward

bound. It was also his intention to institute certain inquiries while

residing in the capital of Peru, respecting the actual condition of those

Tyrolese families, who, misled by alluring prospects of all sorts, had

resolved on emigrating to Peru in 1851, and had since then sunk into a

most wretched state, according to indirect accounts received of their

unhappy case. Commodore Wuellerstorf, always ready to assist, whenever it

is in his power, in promoting and advancing scientific aims, at once

acceded to this request, conceiving that it was a deviation quite within

the scope of his instructions for the Expedition, and compatible with the

objects aimed at by its illustrious projector.

Before the departure of the _Novara_, the Austrian Consul-General gave a

splendid entertainment. This had been repeatedly postponed, as, under

existing circumstances, it was not certain whether Chilean society could

well be present. The intelligence, however, which a few days previous had

been received from the Northern provinces as to the attitude of

Government, the suppression of the insurrection, and the flight of the

leaders, had produced a vehement reaction in the public mind, and, at

least among governmental circles, had given hope of a happy solution.

Accordingly the ball came off, and very gay it was. The spacious and

elegant residence of M. Flemmich (the head of the distinguished English

firm of Huth, Gruening, & Co.) was richly adorned with flowers in every

apartment, and the whole brilliantly lit up, while a bevy of graceful

ladies swept through the salons, whose natural charms were enhanced by

their agreeable geniality, not less than by an elegance of toilette such

as Parisian salons themselves could not have surpassed.

A few days before the _Novara_ sailed, a merchantman dropped anchor in the

roads, which on her voyage from Melbourne to Europe had, while running 11

miles an hour, come into collision with an iceberg in 60 deg. S. and 149 deg. E.,

by which she had lost bowsprit, foremast, and all her topmasts, besides

carrying away her cutwater and figurehead, and damaging the hull, and, sad

to relate, sacrificing the lives of sixteen persons! The spectacle

presented by this mere ruin of a ship, as she ran in half dismasted under

jury-rig, created profound emotion even among the seafaring portion of the

community, which was still further deepened, when the full particulars of

their sufferings were detailed by the passengers. The captain, fully

expecting that a ship so seriously damaged must go to the bottom, formed

the unworthy resolution of escaping in a boat with fifteen of the men. The

whole perished, it is supposed, as nothing was ever heard of them, while

the vessel, which owed her truly marvellous preservation to the fact that,

having struck stem on, she had sprung no leak, though so terribly injured,

was enabled to pursue her voyage to Valparaiso, where she arrived, the

wind proving favourable, after a passage of 55 days.

On the 11th May all was ready for the departure of the _Novara_, and the

officer on duty only waited a favourable breeze to weigh anchor and set

sail. Unfortunately, however, none such sprung up, and when towards 7 A.M.

a gentle breeze at last rippled the water, it did not last long enough to

enable the vessel to clear the roads. The captain of H.M.S. _Ganges_ (80),

who, as also Admiral Baines, the venerable Commander-in-chief of the

British naval forces on the Pacific station, had already in a variety of

ways cordially cooperated with and aided the Austrian Expedition, sent

some of his boats to tow the frigate out of the roads, in which the French

corvette _Constantine_, which had arrived the day before, politely

assisted. Thus towed along by no less than 14 boats, the _Novara_

succeeded in getting into the open ocean. Favoured with a gentle breeze

from the northward, she was soon able to lie her course, and towards

evening, when a rather fresh S.W. sprang up, she was rapidly leaving the

hospitable shores of Chile.

The Commodore thought it advisable to make an offing of from 100 to 200

miles parallel with the coast, and to keep increasing his distance even

against contrary winds, so as to permit of his rounding Terra del Fuego,

running free before the S.W. winds, prevalent at that season off the Horn.

The weather was from time to time heavy and unfavourable, besides being

cold and rainy, but on the whole it was a very fair passage for the winter

season. But few observations could be got, though there were enough to

admit of keeping the ship on her course. Only once did it happen that no

observations could be got for several days, till, during the night of

23rd May the sky suddenly cleared. No sooner, however, had the officer of

the watch selected a star by which to calculate his position, than he

found himself involved in no small perplexity. The Southern Cross and

Centaur were close to the zenith, and when the seamen directed their

wondering gaze to the magnificent aspect presented by the southern stellar

hemisphere, they could with difficulty recognize the old familiar European

constellations as they now shone forth along the northern horizon, with

sadly diminished brilliancy.

The further south the _Novara_ ran, the more melancholy grew the aspect

both of the sun and the moon. Fog, clouds, and rain obscured a great

proportion of the feeble light left, and although the clearness of the

night occasionally made some compensation, yet to sailors long accustomed

to the warm, smiling tropical skies, they seemed doubly cold and gloomy.

The frigate rolled heavily, her oscillations increasing the general

discomfort, although the fetch of ocean was less than off the Cape of Good

Hope. Impelled by favourable winds, the good ship rapidly neared the

southernmost point of her voyage, and every one on board watched with

ever-increasing interest the alterations in the natural phenomena of these

inhospitable latitudes.

Several days were lost in calms and easterly winds, and partly to catch

the southerly breezes which might drive her N.E. into the zone of constant

winds, partly for the purpose of scientific investigation, the vessel was

carried as far south as the parallel of 60 deg.

On 28th May, the thermometer was observed to indicate a strongly-marked

and speedy decline in the temperature of the water, whence it was

conjectured that polar winds would be found following the course of the

cold current, or else that icebergs were near. The ship's head was now

laid for Terra del Fuego, the wind blowing very gently from the N.E., but

a S. wind springing up later, she began to work merrily along. Of several

ships which for some days had been in sight, steering the same course as

the frigate, none had ventured so far south; they now were all left

behind, having lost way by over-caution. Among these was the French

corvette _Eurydice_, which left Valparaiso Roads two days before the

_Novara_, and was overhauled on the 29th May.

With the polar wind snow fell during the night; and when day broke, about

9 A.M., the singular spectacle was presented of a ship all in

white,--white masts, white yards, white cannon. This appearance was

repeated the two following days only, but the weather remained for a much

longer period cold and disagreeable. The lowest reading, however, of the

thermometer only indicated 3 deg. Celsius below freezing (26 deg.6 Fahr.).

On 29th May, about noon, the _Novara_ crossed the meridian of Cape Horn,

and was once more in the Atlantic Ocean. Notwithstanding the uncertain

conditions of wind and weather, a variety of interesting observations

were made during the passage of the ship round Cape Horn, and numbers of

valuable results obtained for the benefit of navigators in those high

latitudes. Thus, for example, the fallacy was established of the assertion

of certain navigators that "the fluctuations of the barometer off Cape

Horn did not depend on the state of wind and weather." In like manner by

ascertaining the mean of a variety of collated data, it was found that the

temperature of the surface of the ocean demands the most careful

attention, inasmuch as the alterations in it from hour to hour may be

relied on to indicate corresponding changes in the wind and weather.

The low reading of the barometer off the Horn seems to be a sort of

compensation for the great pressure of the air in what are known to seamen

as "the Horse latitudes," and, in point of fact, the barometrical readings

at 56 deg. S. betray a drooping tendency, which corresponds with the movements

of the sun, as the latter also does with that of the zone of greatest

atmospheric pressure. Hence it is obvious that from this parallel the

atmospheric pressure will increase as we advance to the Pole, and this law

is farther confirmed by the prevailing winds further south. Hence, while

we find north-west or strong west winds blowing off Cape Horn, at the

South Shetland Islands, still further south, the prevailing winds are N.E.

or E., thus producing contrary atmospheric currents, almost resembling

chronic whirlwinds, and consequently that both north and south of the

central zone, the barometer will be found to indicate a greater

atmospheric pressure.

For this reason vessels intending to round the Horn from E. to W. usually

keep further to the south than those sailing in the opposite direction. On

the other hand, during the winter season of the southern hemisphere, the

east wind must blow more frequently at the Cape itself, in consequence of

the influence exercised by the zone of least atmospheric pressure, and the

weather be less likely to prove stormy. And such is found in fact to be

the case.

Hitherto, with the exception of Cape Horn, so few observations have been

made in high southern latitudes, that it is impossible to arrive at any

definite conclusion, important as the subject is to science as well as in

the interests of commerce, and which must exercise so much influence upon

the whole system of atmospheric changes over the entire surface of the

earth. To attain this object, an expedition consisting of but one ship

cannot suffice. It would be necessary to employ several, each provided

with instruments carefully compared, and which should sail simultaneously

to the southern waters at definite distances from each other, and at given

times make precisely similar observations and devote their entire

attention to investigating the laws which regulate this puzzle to the

scientific student.

Under more favourable political auspices, a joint expedition by the

various naval powers would be the best means of solving the problem, and a

fleet of some ten or twelve ships commencing upon a definite plan, might

obtain results such as might hand down the scientific renown of our age

and century to all future generations.

While sailing in these southern latitudes, the Commodore hit upon the idea

of ascertaining the increase of gravity as the poles were approached, by

the comparison of simultaneous observations taken with the mercurial and

Aneroid barometers. Both instruments, in fact, gave a regular rule for

calculating the weight of the atmosphere at the points of observation,

with this single difference, that the ordinary barometer gives the weight

by the pressure of the air upon a column of mercury, representing the

weight of a similar column of air; while in the Aneroid barometer, the

weight of the atmosphere is measured by an exhausted receiver, which, in

resisting this pressure, indicates the amount by the tension of a spring.

The indications of the Aneroid are moreover independent of the influence

of universal gravity and the disturbing conditions it introduces into the

instrument, to which the column of mercury is of course subject. Assuming,

for example, that the ordinary barometer and the Aneroid gave the same

readings, the similarity will no longer exist at a given distance from the

Equator--the Aneroid, owing to the elimination of the disturbing element

of gravity, indicating an increased pressure of the column of air, whereas

the ordinary barometer will continue to indicate the same pressure as at

the Equator. The difference between the two readings will, however, be

directly proportionate to the amount of gravity thus got rid of, and is

consequently susceptible of calculation. Although the data collected

during the voyage for widely different purposes, and those now collected

by means of the Aneroid, do not realize the anticipations that had been

formed, to the length of utmost precision, the result has shown that much

may be achieved in this direction by observations easily made in the

course of a voyage even by ordinary navigators, such as would greatly

benefit science; and captains of all grades, who in the course of their

voyages have occasion to traverse these special latitudes, and are able to

use good, reliable, thoroughly-tested instruments, might by a series of

such observations add materially to our acquaintance with physical

phenomena.[118]

The _Novara_ sailed into the Atlantic with fair strong winds, and on 1st

June was about the latitude of the Falklands,[119] that interesting group

of islands, which have belonged to England since 1842. The few colonists

at present resident there, not exceeding some hundreds in all, are

maintained here at the expense of the British Government, and trade in

skins and salt provisions. However, the annual cost of keeping up the

colony does not amount to above L5000. Should the project of cutting a

canal across the Isthmus of Central America, which has been the dream of

centuries, ever be realized, the Falklands will become one of the most

solitary spots on the face of the globe, owing to the entire abandonment

of the route round Cape Horn, and as such would become admirably adapted

for a penal colony. Judging, however, from the information respecting the

southern parts of South America furnished by Admiral Fitzroy, so well

known in connection with meteorological science, the eastern side of Terra

del Fuego presents much greater advantages for such a project, and we

cannot but feel surprised that England has not already founded an

establishment there, where so many advantages are obvious at a glance,

especially those relating to navigation.

From the Falkland latitude, the _Novara_ steered nearly a great circle

course, or, in other words, followed the shortest line of distance, to the

point where she must pass through the "Horse latitudes," about 25 deg. W. of

Greenwich, and with favourable west winds, sometimes rather stormy, sped

along at from 200 to 250 knots per diem on her homeward voyage. On 5th

June, about 9 P.M., a sudden squall from W.N.W. struck the ship about the

latitude of the most northerly part of Patagonia, so violent that had not

the sails been taken in with all despatch, the very masts must have been

blown out of the vessel, or at all events have sustained serious injury.

Notwithstanding her being short of upper sails, the frigate heeled over

more at this time than at any other period throughout the voyage.

On 7th and 8th June, the _Novara_ encountered a severe tornado, about the

latitude of the mouth of the La Plata. A violent wind, which blew from the

N.N.E., on the 7th, hauled round by N. and N.N.W. to W.S.W., and reached

its greatest power on the 8th, about 9 A.M., the wind being N.W. At this

moment the motion of the ship was so great, and she laboured so heavily in

the high short waves, that the boats on her lee quarter were in imminent

danger of being swept overboard. By observations made it was found that

she heeled over 38 deg. to starboard and 12 deg. to port, so that the entire

amount of oscillation was 50 deg.

Unfortunately one of the barometers got broke on this occasion; the

officer, while observing it, being precipitated against it by a sudden

roll of the ship. It was the most trustworthy instrument on board, and,

albeit near the end of the voyage, it was not the less vexatious to have

the series of admirable observations made with this instrument suddenly

interrupted.

The 11th June possessed an interest of its own for those on board the

_Novara_, as on that day she crossed the course which she had followed

two years before, in sailing from Rio to the Cape of Good Hope. Thus the

actual circumnavigation had been successfully completed, and at least the

material portion of the undertaking happily achieved.

Meanwhile the wind, though still always favourable, had abated greatly

from its first strength, and each day saw the barometer steadily rising.

Even the sea-birds, those constant attendants of vessels, so long as they

are in the extra-tropical latitudes of the Southern Ocean, now gradually

began to cease flitting around the ship, as she approached the hot zones.

On 15th June, in 25 deg. 40' S., by 25 deg. 9' W., the ship reached the S.E.

trades. The weather was divine; the deep blue sky above, the exquisite

tints of the atmosphere and the ocean, and the calm beauty of the long

full-moon nights, exercised a most marked and beneficial influence upon

the spirits and bodily health of the crew. Huge whales disported about,

"blowing," as it is termed, immense masses of water into the air, like so

many springs leaping from the bosom of the deep, or rushing upwards till

half of their immense bodies emerged vertically from the water, into which

they slowly plunged once more with a tremendous splash, the whole surface

of the sea boiling and undulating as they fell back, athwart which might

be seen dolphins gambolling about, or cleaving the blue depths with

unmatched velocity. The S.E. trade blew with unbroken regularity, usually

in its normal direction, but occasionally hauling up a little towards

N.E., till, as we approached the Equator, it gradually blew steadily from

the S.E.

On 23rd June the Equator was reached and crossed for the sixth and last

time in 26 deg. 13' W. In 25 days the frigate had run in a direct line 3800

nautical miles, or an average of 6-1/3 knots an hour.

The very strongly-marked westerly current which prevails near the Equator

materially lengthened the voyage, its strength in 2 deg. 39' N. and 26 deg. 14' W.

being such that while the ship made 213 knots in the 24 hours upon her

direct course, she was carried within the same period no fewer than 65

miles in a direction of W. by N.

The S.E. trade remained as such as far as 4 deg. 36' N., 25 deg. 38' W., when

fresh N.E. breezes were encountered, and stayed by the ship till she

reached 9 deg. 54' N. by 29 deg. 42' W. She now had to make her way slowly forward

through a belt of calms, rain-squalls, and occasional puffs of wind from

W. and S.W., till, at length, on 2nd July, the wind came on to blow from

N.N.E., in 11 deg. 47' N., by 29 deg. 29' W.

The French corvette _Eurydice_, which had laid her course for St. Helena,

had on that account kept more to the eastward, and had crossed the line in

about 22 deg. W., and had in consequence lost so much more way than the

_Novara_ that she took three days longer than our frigate to get from St.

Helena to lat. 20 deg. N., to which this other circumstance contributed, that

the N.E. trade does not blow so strongly or so steadily in the vicinity

of the Cape de Verd Islands as a little further out.

On 7th July, in 22 deg. 58' N., 36 deg. 51' W., the _Novara_ reached the

well-known Mar de Sargasso, a portion of the Atlantic Ocean, in which the

current, setting from the coast of Africa, encounters a branch of the

great gulf stream, and forms a basin of still water, in which is collected

an immense mass of seaweed (_sargassum bacciferum_, etc.) which is

propelled slowly forward in long ranks by the action of the wind.

The 9th July was a day of mourning on board. One of the sailors, who for a

year past had been ailing and almost constantly in sick bay, died, and was

committed to the deep, the last victim during the voyage.

Next day, in 37 deg. 37' N., 39 deg. 1' W., the N.E. trade began to draw to the

eastward, and gradually became more favourable, but at the same time lost

in strength, till on the 14th it failed entirely.

Several ships now hove in sight, and as one of these by her course must

obviously approach the frigate pretty close, it seemed a good opportunity

to get news from Europe, which the voyagers had for 54 days been

speculating upon with anxious hearts. Accordingly a boat was lowered from

the frigate and sent to board the merchantman, which proved to be the brig

_Hero_, Captain Williams. He had left Barcelona 50 days before, and was

bound for New York. The captain accordingly was not in a position to

satisfy the very natural curiosity of those on board the _Novara_ as to

the turn affairs had taken in Europe, or to give them late intelligence

of public events especially in Austria. A few half-torn newspaper leaves

round some bottles of cognac was all that the most earnest wish to oblige

could furbish up in the way of information. In the course of conversation

with the captain, it was only casually elicited that war had broken out

two months before. More than this the honest seaman did not know, feeling,

in fact, much greater interest in securing a profitable freight for his

ship than in the political state of Europe.

As soon as the frigate's boat had returned, the officer in charge was met

with a storm of questions and inquiries. His reply was very

unsatisfactory, and little consolatory. Among the fragments of papers

there was little that was important, still less that could give

satisfaction, and, as usually happens under such circumstances, precisely

at the spot where some news of our own country had been printed, the leaf

was torn across, and the rest missing. Thus the anticipations formed of

obtaining intelligence from the merchantman which should allay the anxiety

on board had not merely failed to do so, but had in fact increased it in

intensity, and the excitement caused by this episode on the minds of all

on board reached almost fever heat. One would far sooner have encountered

a tempest than such uncertainty, especially if it could have driven the

frigate more rapidly towards her goal!

On the 19th July, at midnight, with favourable west winds and a lovely

moon, the _Novara_ passed between Flores and Corvo, through the narrow

channel of the Azores Islands--the first land that had been sighted since

the frigate left the west coast of South America, 71 days before! The fact

that it was hit so accurately, also furnished satisfactory proof, in a

scientific point of view, that the seven chronometers in use on board,

despite 27 months of constant handling under the most varying and

frequently unfavourable conditions, were still in perfect order, and

indicated with admirable accuracy the longitude of the ship.

Unfortunately--a circumstance to be expected in such latitudes in the

height of summer--the ship now lost entirely the favouring gales which

hitherto had filled her sails, and sped her rapidly on her course. When

not above a few hundred miles distant from Gibraltar, those on board had

to toss about for a number of days in calms that seemed as though they

would never cease. Anxiety was at its height.

FOOTNOTES:

[101] In one single year (1854), the imports into Australia of Chilean

grain amounted to L630,000. In a good year Chile produces 2,500,000

fanegas (920,755 quarters) of wheat, 4,500,000 fanegas (1,855,054

quarters) of barley, and 180,000 fanegas (16,071 tons) of beans. The

_fanega_ varies in weight according to the article measured; thus a fanega

of wheat is 165 lbs., of barley 155 lbs., and of beans 200 lbs.

[102] That ships in good holding ground and with sound tackle are in no

great danger riding out even a heavy storm in the roads, is best proved by

the fact, that in the inner harbour there is a floating dry dock in use

throughout the year, which, notwithstanding the occasionally severe

weather while we were there, had a three-masted ship, full-rigged, masted

and tackled upon it, with repairs of all sorts going on upon her sides.

[103] About 1_s._ 1_d._; a dollar is about 4_s._ 4_d._, and a dollar has 8

reals.

[104] We must especially remark the large and valuable zoological

collection with which our natural history stores were enriched by a German

gentleman, Dr. C. Seget of Santiago de Chili. With similar liberality

another gentleman, Mr. Friedrich Leybold, a Bavarian by birth, now

resident in Santiago, where he practises as a chemist, presented the

Expedition with several valuable geological and botanical specimens.

[105] The charge for apartments of three persons (two sleeping and one

drawing-room), including board, was 30 Spanish piastres=L6 6_s._ per diem!

[106] The Chilean Mint is entirely arranged on the French system, and is

provided with French machinery.

[107] "Historia fisica y politica de Chile, segun documentos adquiridos en

esta Republica durante doze anos de residencia en ella, y publicado bajo

los auspicios del supremo Gobierno por Claudio Gay, &c., Paris, 1844,

8vo.;" besides two large quarto volumes, "Atlas de la historia fisica y

politica de Chile."

[108] The results of the great attention bestowed on public instruction

have not been inadequate, as is apparent from the latest statistics on the

subject, according to which the average proportion of the inhabitants, who

can read and write, is 100 out of every 561 of the male population, and

100 in 1095 of the females, or an average of 100 in every 828. In 1858,

there were on the whole State 950 schools, attended by 39,657 scholars

(viz. 27,288 male and 12,369 female). There is, however, a difference in

these two statements of 6 per cent. The proportion of females to males

_attending school_ is 45 to 100; of those able to read and write, of 51

females to 100 males.

[109] There are in the whole country 37 public and 12 private libraries

(including in the latter only such as are really worthy of the name).

[110] See Gay's History of Chile, Zoology, vol. i, p. 161.

[111] The whole consumption of ice used in Valparaiso and Santiago is

supplied by American ships, which take in their cargo at Boston, and sell

it here at about 2-1/4d. per lb. It is cheaper to import the ice from

America round the Horn than from the Andes, though the latter are only 50

or 60 miles distant, and though ice is found on these at certain seasons

at an elevation of only 6000 feet.

[112] Mr. Haidinger, who at the very first exerted himself to the utmost

of his ability and patriotism to promote the objects of the _Novara_

Expedition, was so thoughtfully kind as to provide the geologist attached

to it with a number of copies of publications of the Imperial Institute,

as well as a corresponding number of neat little specimens of tertiary

petrifactions from the Vienna basin, for the purpose of presenting them to

kindred institutes in different quarters of the globe.

[113] The lines of road already in operation or projected throughout Chile

are as follows:--

_a._ From Valparaiso to Santiago, 110 miles, constructed at the

expense of the State, and estimated to cost $7,150,000

(L2,860,000). This had been opened when we were there, as far as

Guillota, 30 miles, but the whole was to be finished by 1862.

_b._ From Valparaiso to Talca (180 miles), and

_c._ From Port Caldera to Copiapo, the mining capital (50

miles), both constructed by private companies. From Copiapo a

tramway leads to Pabellar, whence there is a mule-road to the

mines of Chanarullo (4400 feet above sea-level). Mr. Evans had

invented a new description of locomotive, capable of climbing

even to this elevated region. Lastly, a road is projected to

unite Copiapo with the mining district of Tres Puntos.

[114] See a very interesting "Essay" upon Chile, published at Hamburg by

Senor Vicente Perez-Rosales, Consul-General for Chile at that port.

[115] This estimate is founded on the following calculations:--

120,000 tons at $40 per ton, comes to $4,800,000, the annual

expenses of which, such as crew, insurance, &c., and

including interest for money invested, amounts to 30 per

cent. for 20 days $80,000

Further saving of interest and insurance on goods valued at

$16,000,000 at 20 per cent. for 20 days 177,776

--------

Total saving effected by vessels using the Straits of Magelhaen $257,776

[116] The Steam-packet Company which now carries the mails twice a month

from Valparaiso to the southern ports of Chile, receives an annual subsidy

from Government of $50,000 (L10,500).

[117] According to the reports of Mr. George Schuthe, governor of the

little colony in the Straits of Magelhaen, some very valuable coal-strata

exist near Punta Arenas. These, although difficult of access, would,

nevertheless, fetch a high price, considering the high price of coal in

the harbours along the east coast of South America. In Buenos Ayres and

Monte Video, 12 to 15 days' sail distant, the average price of coal is 12

dollars (L2 10_s._) per ton.

[118] We cannot help stating here that we think it far from unimportant,

that when employed to measure the altitude of prominent objects, the

Aneroid may be made to supply widely different results from those of the

ordinary barometer, as the elimination of gravity in the Aneroid readings

remains as a constant element, and hence the difference between the two

can only be rectified by due regard being had to this circumstance, when

performing the requisite calculations.

[119] This group, between 51 deg. and 53 deg. S., and 57 deg. and 62 deg. W., comprises,

besides the two larger islands, 90 smaller islands, the superficial area

of the whole being about 6000 square miles, or 3,840,000 acres. The summer

temperature is 69 deg.8 Fahr. and that of winter rarely falls below 30 deg.2

Fahr., so that the climate greatly resembles that of Scotland in many

respects. The islands present a cheerless aspect; a rolling country with

peat soil, covered with rank grasses, and intersected by low ranges of

hills, alternating with marshy rivers and torrents. The lower part of the

country is clay, slate, and sandstone, covered with turf, which is used

for fuel. Tussock grass (_Dactylis cespitosa_) is the most common plant.

[Illustration: Station on the Panama Railway]

XXII.

An Overland Journey from Valparaiso to Gibraltar, _via_ the Isthmus of

Panama.

16th May To 1st August, 1859.

Departure from Valparaiso.--Coquimbo.--Caldera.--Cobija.--

Iquique.--Manufacture of saltpetre.--Arica.--Port d'Islay.--

_Medanos_, or wandering sand-hills.--Chola.--Pisco.--The Chincha

or Guano Islands.--Remarks respecting the Guano or Huanu beds.--

Callao.--Lima.--Carrion crows, the principal street-scavengers.--

Churches and Monasteries.--Hospitals.--Charitable institutions.--

Medical College.--National Library.--Padre Vigil.--National

Museum.--The Central Normal School.--Great lack of intellectual

energy.--Ruins of Cajamarquilla.--Chorillos.--Temple to the Sun

at Pachacamac.--River Rimac.--Amancaes.--The new prison.--

Bull-fights.--State of society in Peru.--The _Coca_ plant, and

the latest scientific examination respecting its peculiar

properties.--The _China_, or Peruvian-bark tree.--Departure from

Lima.--Lambajeque.--Indian village of Iting.--Paita.--Island of

La Plata.--Taboga Island.--Impression made by the intelligence

of Humboldt's death.--Panama.--"Opposition" Line.--Immense

traffic.--The Railway across the Isthmus.--Aspinwall.--

Carthagena.--St. Thomas.--Voyage to Europe on board the R.M.S.

_Magdalena_.--Falmouth.--Southampton.--London.--Rejoin the

_Novara_ at sea.--Arrival at Gibraltar.

Five days after the departure of the _Novara_, I left the roads of

Valparaiso on board the mail steamer _Callao_. The weather was

exceedingly unfavourable, the rain falling in torrents, while a heavy

tumbling sea made the embarkation of the numerous passengers and their

effects a process anything but agreeable. I have, therefore, the greater

pleasure in expressing my gratitude for the courtesy of the Captain of

H.M.S. _Ganges_, who sent his own gig to take me off to the steamer, and

to the numerous friends, who despite the stormy weather had assembled on

board to bid me a last farewell, and provide me with letters of

introduction to the authorities and most influential persons of the more

important of the localities I was about to visit. At 2 P.M. the shore bell

sounded, a little boat made its appearance on the port side, pitching

heavily in the swell, and a long thin figure stepped on deck. This proved

to be Captain Stewart of the _Louisa_, whose acquaintance I had formed at

the island of Tahiti, and who now, half breathless, handed me a small

packet with the following endorsement,--"These are the extracts you

requested from my journal, and which I promised to prepare for you on my

first voyage from Norfolk Island to Pitcairn." They consisted in fact of

those remarks upon the latest phase of the strange destiny of the Pitcairn

Islanders, which have already appeared in a previous chapter. The worthy

Captain had kept his word with true John Bull punctuality. A few moments

more and the _Callao_ was steaming out of Valparaiso Roads, on her voyage

northwards.

Although the boats of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company plying between

Valparaiso, Callao de Lima, and Panama, are tolerably large, clean, and

elegantly fitted, yet the number of passengers for intermediate ports make

them anything but a comfortable mode of travel. For, notwithstanding the

high fares,[120] it is necessary to crowd three or four passengers into

each state-room, which in the heat of the tropics is most inconvenient,

and at times almost intolerable. Personally, however, I had no reason to

complain on this score, as all the captains of the various steamers in

which I journeyed north, so soon as my connection with the _Novara_

Expedition was known, at once, with the most marked courtesy and

attention, secured to me a state-room for my own exclusive use, and

whenever we reached a port, placed their own boats at my disposal during

our stay.

The morning after we left Valparaiso, we reached Coquimbo, where, a few

weeks before (24th April, 1859), a severe action had been fought between

the Chilean troops and those of Pedro Gallo, the former proving

victorious. Coquimbo is a small town of about 2000 souls, whose sole claim

to importance is its proximity to some rich copper-mines. M. Longomasino,

one of the many victims of the _coup d'etat_ of the second December, who,

the reader will recollect, received permission to make the voyage from

Tahiti to Valparaiso on board the _Novara_, was among our passengers; he

left the steamer at Coquimbo, intending to go to the adjoining mining town

of Serena (20,000 souls), where, through the kindness of friends, he had

been invited to edit a political paper.

Here I went on board the British corvette _Amethyst_, which just a year

before had been lying alongside of the _Novara_ in Singapore harbour, and

was received by her excellent commander with a most cordial welcome. To my

astonishment I found a number of civilians on board: refugees, who had

taken an active part in the late insurrection, and who now, when all hope

of success was over, sought an asylum on British soil, for such is the

deck of an English man-of-war, and, thanks to British political

proclivities, had been cordially received there.

About 11 P.M. the same night we were off the insignificant little harbour

of Huasco, and about nine next morning ran into Caldera, a dreary-looking

little place of some 2000 inhabitants, built upon one of a succession of

sand-slopes. There is not a trace of vegetation; no foliage, no shrubs, no

patches of grass,--all around as far as the eye could reach was a

cheerless waste of sand. Only extraordinary opportunities for money-making

could have induced the inhabitants to settle in this desolate wilderness,

deficient in the very first necessity of life--fresh water. Every drop of

this most important beverage has at present to be brought from 90 miles

inland, so that a cask containing some 15 gallons costs 31 cents or 1_s._

4_d._ English. The charge for supplying water alone to 90 or 100 workmen

amounts to 40 dollars, or L8 8_s._, a week! At the time I visited it, the

people were negotiating for the erection of a steam distilling apparatus,

for procuring fresh water from the sea, at a less cost than was paid

previously. From Caldera, a locomotive line of rail leads to the mining

town of Copiapo, 71 miles inland, in the vicinity of which are rich mines

of silver and copper. This enterprise has proved so remunerative, that,

although its construction cost 2,500,000 dollars (L525,000 or about L7400

a mile), the shareholders receive an annual dividend of 16 per cent.

I visited the copper-smelting kilns, which belong to an English company,

and produce annually from 1800 to 2000 tons of almost virgin copper (90 to

96 per cent.), in ingots and pigs, as they are termed, an ingot weighing

from 16 to 18 lbs avoirdupois. The ore, as at first found in the mines of

Copiapo, has barely 18 to 36 per cent. of copper, and has to undergo six

or seven smeltings before it becomes sufficiently pure to be sold at a

profit in the markets of Europe. The smelting-furnace produces about seven

tons of copper per diem, at a consumption of 60 tons of coal,[121] which

is imported from Swansea, partly from Pennsylvania, and is worth 12 to 15

dollars per ton of 2240 lbs. The rate of wages at Caldera remains pretty

steady at two to three dollars per diem, and this is the reason why the

enterprise is less remunerative than would be the case if wages were

lower.

The total annual yield of the copper and silver mines of the department of

Copiapo is worth about 14,000,000 dollars, and gives employment to from

6000 to 7000 labourers, or one-third the entire population of the

district.

On 20th May we anchored off Cobija, the sole harbour possessed by Bolivia

on the west coast, and with a population of 1000. The state of affairs in

Bolivia affords a marked example of how closely the development of a

country is connected with the fact of its possessing more or less of

sea-coast. How great is the commerce, the. prosperity, and the

civilization of Chile, a proportionally small strip of not over-fertile

soil, but the entire extent of which is sea-coast, compared with the

poverty and barbarism of the interior state of Bolivia, so admirably

fitted by nature for raising all manner of valuable produce, but whose

sole means of communication with the rest of the world is through one

insignificant harbour!

The same day we reached Iquique, the southernmost harbour of Peru, with a

population of about 4000, and which quite recently has increased greatly

in importance, owing to the trade in saltpetre, which is found in immense

quantities all along this rainless coast, and of which 1,000,000

hundredweight (50,000 tons) are exported annually to England, North

America, and Germany, in which countries it is extensively and

beneficially used for manure.[122] Here we found lying at anchor a large

merchantman, the _Victorine_ of Bordeaux, 3000 tons burthen, which was

taking in a full cargo, exclusively, of this valuable product. The

saltpetre is found between beds of clay from one to six feet below the

surface, boiled in large vats to free it from impurities,[123] and dried

in the form of cakes, which are packed for shipment in sacks of 250 lbs.

It is worth, if purified, 21 reals (about 11_s._ 4_d._) per cwt. on the

spot, and fetches L16 to L17 per ton in England. Upon a rough calculation,

the quantity of saltpetre along the coast of Peru at an average breadth of

30 miles amounts to 60,000,000 tons, enough to maintain the existing

supply[124] for at least another thousand years. The rate of wages of the

men engaged in the trade, owing to the scarcity of labour, is from two to

three dollars per diem! The scarcity of water at Iquique is so great, that

the town has to be supplied by means of a distilling apparatus, an

undertaking the gross daily receipts of which are six hundred dollars! For

the precious element has to be purchased not merely for men but animals;

the price, for example, for a male to drink _ad libitum_ is one real,

about 8-1/2_d._

Tincal, or Biborate of Soda, is also largely found all along the coast,

but the export was long prohibited, the suspicious jealousy of the

Peruvian Government seeking to obtain first of all conclusive evidence of

the value of this natural product, and the best means of making it

contribute to the State treasury. At present about 200 tons, worth from

L16 to L20 per ton, are exported annually. As we lay at anchor off

Iquique, numbers of natives shot about with arrow-like rapidity in their

exceedingly primitive boats, made of seal-skins fastened together in

canoe-fashion. To avoid overturns, these curious specimens of naval

architecture have bladders attached on either side!

The heat now began to be very perceptible. The bare, treeless, almost

perpendicular sand-bluffs along the coast, impart to it a dreary aspect,

which even the rocky chain immediately behind, rising some 2000 to 4000

feet, scarcely succeeds in softening. A great number of the passengers,

mostly Peruvians, indemnified themselves for the cheerless monotony of the

prospect on deck, by intense devotion to the mysteries of the green table

in the saloon. All through the day, till far on in the night, the painted

pasteboard flew from hand to hand. The favourite game was Rocambor,

something like Ombre, diversified with Monte and dice, and for very high

sums. I saw ten condors (L21) laid upon a single card. A few elderly

gentlemen sat regularly in a distant corner of the saloon, where they

played assiduously from nine in the morning till midnight without

interruption. One wealthy Peruano, well known along this coast, in the

course of a single voyage is said to have lost 80,000 dollars (L16,800)!!

On 20th May we anchored in Arica, an elegant seaport of some 7000

inhabitants, surrounded by beautiful luxuriant gardens, and which, though

belonging to Peru, may be considered as the chief outlet for the produce

of Northern Bolivia, since Tacna, the most important manufacturing town of

that State, with a population of 12,000, is only nine English miles

distant, lying at the foot of the Cordillera, while La Paz, the capital of

the Republic, with a population of 75,000, is 288 miles distant, and is

easiest reached from Arica. The political division of Bolivia is a crying

injustice to that lovely country and its industrious population. The

harbour of Arica belongs by natural position to Bolivia and not to Peru;

commercial interests and general intercourse unite it far more intimately

with Northern Bolivia than with Peru. The chief exports of Arica are

silver, copper, alpaca wool, cinchona bark, chinchilla furs, cotton, and

tin. There are also two steam flour-mills within the little town in full

operation; the grain comes from the interior, and is shipped as flour to

the various harbours along the coast. A railroad from Arica to Tacna

greatly facilitates traffic and commerce, but further in the interior all

intercourse is carried on by means of narrow mule-paths.[125]

The houses, constructed for the most part of sun-dried bricks all along

the coast of Peru, where rain is absolutely unknown, and even the

dew-deposit is trifling, are flat, barely roofed in with thin strips of

cane, and consequently when seen from the street have a very untidy

appearance. Unfortunately these terrace-like roofs are likewise the sole

receptacles for the refuse of the house, and any one who, in order to get

a better view, ventures to ascend one of the adjoining dazzling white

sand-heaps, will long remember the filthy but unique spectacle which

greets his eye.

Immediately outside of the suburb of Chimba, the desolate nature of the

country comes conspicuously into view. I next walked to one of the nearest

sand-hills, because I was assured that there were numerous graves of

queens to be found there, as well as quantities of mummies. Owing to the

extreme dryness of the atmosphere, the skulls of the dead which here lay

scattered upon the surface of the soil, seemed as though they were so many

anatomical preparations. Even some dead bodies of animals showed no

symptoms of decomposition, but had been perfectly dried. The peculiarity

of the meteorological conditions, the extreme dryness of the atmosphere,

and the saline impregnation of the soil, have very much more to do with

these marvellous antiseptic appearances than any indigenous skill in

embalming the Indian corpses; since, even now, when the brown

Catholicized Peruvians have lost none of their old superstitions, though

they have abandoned most of their former arts and customs, the dead

committed to the earth without further preparation, present the same

mummified appearance when disinterred. I took away with me the skull of an

Indian, from the neighbourhood of Arica, which was remarkable for the

singular malformation resulting from compression by circular bandages.

This artificial disfigurement of the skull has its origin in the peculiar

customs of several Indian races of both North and South America, of

mechanically altering the form of the cranium in the new-born infant. Of

the difference in point of beauty of the different Indian races along the

west coast of North America, a clear indication is afforded by the profile

of the head of a native of Puget Sound, Oregon territory, for which I am

indebted to the kindness of Dr. Ried of Valparaiso, he having been

presented with it in 1856, by the medical officer of an American

man-of-war. Here, in strong contrast with the oblong form of the cranium

of an Indian from the neighbourhood of Arica, it appears that the skull

has been flattened transversely, by pressure between two boards.

At first one is disposed to attribute the squeezed-in appearance of the

head, remarked in different Indian races, here lengthened in an unsightly

degree, there hideously flattened, to some freak of nature; but more

accurate investigations leave no doubt that the deformity in question, in

whatever form, is the result of pressure artificially applied, and that

this displacement of the brain is not confined to individuals, but is

characteristic of entire tribes, yet without any sensible diminution of

the intellectual faculties, or morbidity in their exercise.

The valley of Azapa, three Spanish leagues (nine miles English) distant

from Arica, is very fertile, and a good soil, but badly supplied with

water. However, at an expense of a few millions of dollars, a

communication might easily be established with the waters of the river

Arica, the expense of which would be amply repaid by the increased

productive power thus given to the valley. Sugar-cane, vintage-grape,

oranges, pine-apples, olives, and vegetables of every description, could

forthwith be raised, and advantageously disposed of at Arica.

Among the Germans resident in Arica, we formed the acquaintance of M.

Colmann, a merchant, and Consul for Chile, as also of Dr. Mittendorf, the

latter of whom is physician to the Railway Company here. By the latter

gentleman we were told that cuticular diseases, dysentery, and

intermittent fevers were the most common ailments, but that on the whole

the climate of Arica is healthy, and that many cases of illness were

solely attributable to the irregular, licentious mode of life of the

natives. Although it hardly ever rains, yet during the summer season

(January to March), when the snows begin to melt in the interior, and

tremendous falls of rain occur on the Cordillera, the beds of the rivers

become torrents, wheeling along vast volumes of water to the sea, and

partly sinking into the soil, so that, at a depth of two or three feet,

one comes upon water, or, at all events, moisture, while the surface

remains burned to a cake. A little canalization of the river-bed, and

damming up the water, so as to have a permanent reservoir, would not

merely secure a better supply of water, but would most beneficially

influence the salubrity of the neighbourhood. The river dries up entirely

every year in the months of July and August, during which accordingly

occur the largest number of cases of sickness, and it seems the more

necessary that measures of some sort should be at once taken to control

the water, as otherwise there is reason to fear that unless artificial

dykes and dams be constructed, the bed of the river will gradually be

sanded up, when the whole district will be worse off for water than ever;

since with each successive year's floods, as they dash down from the

mountains, a perceptible falling off in quantity has been remarked, so

that whereas ten years ago the bed of the river was full for four or five

months together, at present it is rarely full so long as two months in

all.

On 22nd May, we entered the little harbour of Port d'Islay, the access to

which is very difficult. The settlement itself stands on a steep rock, 150

feet high, descending almost perpendicularly into the sea on all sides, so

that the only landing-place is a mole, which communicates with the village

above by an iron ladder. The well-known traveller, Count Castelnau, who in

the course of a scientific expedition through South America visited this

port in 1848, prophesied a splendid future for it; but I do not believe

that its commerce has materially increased since then.

The sole claim to consideration of Port d'Islay consists in its proximity

to Arequipa, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, and the variety of valuable

natural products which abound in that fertile section of country, from

which, however, the port is separated by a sand-barren, 36 miles in width

and 120 in length, the city of Arequipa itself being 7500 feet above the

sea, at the foot of the volcano of the same name,[126] and amid a

magnificent scenery.

The dreary waste between Port d'Islay and Arequipa is continually swept by

drift sand, which, by constantly obstructing the road, renders travelling

thither absolutely unsafe, and indeed frequently dangerous to life. For

the unfortunate who misses his way amid these wastes is lost beyond all

possibility of succour. The wandering sand-columns or _medanos_,[127]

formed of drift sand, present a singular appearance as they spin along

before a S.E. wind, admirably described by Tschudi in his valuable

Sketches of Travel in Peru. These extraordinary pillars, which constantly

change both their form and position, and complete the perplexity of the

traveller, are usually semi-circular, 8 or 10 feet high, and from 20 to 50

feet wide, but occasionally they are seen 50 feet in height, when their

diameter is about 150 feet. They are of most frequent occurrence in the

hot season, when the parched sand obeys the slightest impulse of the

atmosphere, whereas in winter, owing to the deposition of a fine

penetrating dew (_garua_), which all along the coast of Peru supplies the

place of rain, which is never seen, the sand increases in weight, and the

basis of the column is solidified, so to speak, by the moisture absorbed.

Between Port d'Islay and Arequipa, the _medanos_ are first encountered

about 18 miles inland, or nearly half-way across the sand-barren.

In the dells near the harbour volcanic ashes are occasionally found at

certain spots, whereas they are never discovered further inland, nor near

the volcano of Arequipa, which since the memory of man has never been

known to be in a state of activity, and whose beautiful cone, not unlike

that of Ometepec in Nicaragua, seems to be densely wooded up to the very

summit. Apparently these are the remains of former eruptions of a

neighbouring volcano, which have been borne towards the coast by the

prevailing winds. The ashes themselves have no saline constituents, and

are used by the natives in the manufacture of sun-dried clay-bricks

(_adobes_), the quality of which they materially improve.

We made an excursion to a churchyard in the vicinity of d'Islay, where the

skulls of some half a hundred human beings lay exposed to view. They all

seemed to have been bleached by exposure, and were in good preservation,

so that on many might still be discovered heavy heads of hair. The eyes

had shrivelled up into the skull, and were by no means gleaming and

crystal-like as is alleged of those found in Indian graves, and offered

for sale to strangers. These so-called "crystallized human eyes," of which

an Italian curiosity dealer of Arica possessed one or two sacks-full,

belong to a species of mollusca (_Loligo gigas_), and were used by the

Indians to adorn their dead. To this circumstance must be attributed the

great number that are to be found in the graves in the neighbourhood of

Arica.

We continued to coast along during the entire night. The number of

passengers, especially of those on the "'tween decks," had again

increased. Among the late arrivals was an Austrian, a Tyrolese, from

Iquique, who was travelling into the interior of Peru. This man, seduced

by dazzling promises, had in 1856 emigrated to Peru with 293 of his

fellow-countrymen, and after two years of the most terrible hardships and

privations, at last succeeded in finding employment at the salt mines of

Iquique. He was now earning 3 dols. a day (12_s._ 6_d._), and was on his

way to fetch his family away from the colony of Pozuzu, and taking them

with him to the scene of his labours. That none of his countrymen did not

follow him was, as he explained to us, in consequence of one of the

colonists, "a half student," dissuading them from doing so, and himself

leading them to try their luck at another spot, where unfortunately they

had to battle with want in its severest form. I have rarely seen any man

so excited and agitated at the sound of his native tongue as this hearty

specimen of the sons of the Alps, when I addressed him "in good Austrian,"

and shook him by the hand. The reader will find further on, in the account

of my stay at Lima, a more full account of the Tyrolese colony at Pozuzu,

its present condition and possible future.

On 23rd May, at 6 A.M., the steamer anchored off Chala, which first

attained the dignity of a seaport in 1857, being intended to facilitate

intercourse and increase the trade with Cuzco. Chala is the nearest

harbour to the ancient capital of the Incas, 240 miles distant. Though

singularly ill-adapted for a port, being, in fact, nothing but an open

roadstead, Chala bids fair to become a place of some importance, so soon

as the country is at peace, and a good road is constructed hence to Cuzco,

so as to be able to convey with dispatch the numerous valuable products of

Cuzco. When we visited it, the little settlement, barely a year old, had

212 inhabitants, in some thirty wooden huts extending along the sandy

shore. The chief exports are wool and copper, the latter being found at

Chaipa and Atiquipa, nine miles N. of Chala.

The following morning, after passing the _Barracoon_ of Pisco, a rather

dangerous passage beset with low islands between Barraca Head (on

Sangallan Island) and Huasco Head (a projecting headland of the mainland),

we reached Pisco, also nothing but an open roadstead, the tremendous surf

in which does not admit of ships approaching within two or three miles of

the shore. Several years before a Mr. Wheelwright had commenced to

construct a mole here, to project some hundreds of feet into the sea, so

as to facilitate the loading and unloading of ships and the embarkation of

passengers, but the works were still unfinished, and indeed would need to

be very largely added to ere the object aimed at could possibly be

obtained. On the declivity of Barraca Head sloping seaward are visible

three marks in the form of crosses, which, according to tradition, were

made in the sand by the pious monks of former centuries. Their size must

indeed be colossal, since, though we passed from four to five miles off,

the outlines of the three figures were plainly visible. Well-known as this

phenomenon is to everybody, no one has ever had the curiosity to make an

excursion thither from Pisco, so as to clear up the fact of their being

actually the work of human hands, or, as seems more probable, simply

columns of drift sand, like the _medanos_ of Arica, thrown into this

fantastic shape by the caprice of some passing storm.

The chief staple of cultivation at Pisco, and throughout the province, is

the vine. I never tasted such delicate, juicy, luscious grapes as those I

got there. They are chiefly used in the manufacture of the well-known

"Pisco," a sort of "Aguardiente" (burning water, sc. brandy), the

consumption of which is extraordinarily great. There were also fruits in

most diverse profusion, chirimoyas (a species of anona), bananas,

aguacales, mangoes, pine-apples, lemons, oranges, peaches, apples, pears,

&c., which are grown here of the most delicate description for the market

of Lima.

Pisco is the first point along the entire barren coast at which the

traveller, since leaving Valparaiso, sees the shores covered once more

with vegetation. With inexpressible relief the eye rests upon the green

carpet which, on all sides, gleams forth, even between and among the

houses. The place has about 3000 inhabitants, and possesses numerous

churches, whose lofty belfries impart to it quite the appearance of a

large town. About 45 miles inland, in a lovely and fertile valley, lies

the large city of Ica, with which there is considerable traffic, and the

chief product of which is also the grapevine. Ten English miles N. of

Pisco, and, in fact, opposite the town, are the renowned Chincha or Guano

Islands, and towards these our course was now directed. These are three

small islands rising close to each other out of the bosom of the sea, the

most north-easterly of which has been the most stripped. Here also is the

chief village, consisting of upwards of 100 wooden huts, inhabited by some

200 to 250 persons. In 1858 there were some 2000 men living on the

islands, while several hundred ships at a time would be lying at anchor in

the harbour, loading with the valuable excretions of innumerable

sea-fowls, of which the islands chiefly consist. When we visited them, the

depredations had somewhat fallen off, the number of labourers was

diminishing, and there were only a few vessels in the harbour.

The islands have a melancholy, naked, barren look; the same substance

which, in smaller quantity, contributes so powerfully to promote the

productiveness of the soil, to which it is applied, here stifles all

vegetation, by reason of its very abundance, and fails to show any trace

of that fertilizing principle which lies concealed within it.

The northern island is about 4200 feet long, and 1500 to 1800 feet wide.

Its height is from 150 to 180 feet. The _Huanu_,[128] consisting of the

excrement of various descriptions of sea-birds, chiefly sea-mews,

sea-ravens, divers, and _laridae_, forms strata, sometimes of a

greyish-brown, sometimes of a rusty red colour, which at some points

attain a thickness of 120 feet. The huts of the settlers are erected on

the very guano beds. A handsome, comfortable hotel has latterly been

added. All the necessaries of life, even drinking-water, have to be

brought from the mainland, 14 miles distant. Living, consequently, is very

expensive on the island, though there is anything but privation, or even

lack of enjoyment. One of the inhabitants, a Swede, who has a small store

on the island, observed to me, "We live as well and comfortably on the

Chincha Islands as anywhere on the globe, and have occasionally even music

and a dance!"

In May, 1859, the population consisted of 50 Europeans, 50 Chinese, and

250 Peruanos and Negroes. The majority were labourers, who were in great

request as "_Mangueros_" or "_Abarrotadores_," and were busily engaged in

excavating the indurated excrement, and transporting it to the various

points for lading. The daily wages of the free labourers was 1 dollar 50

cents (about 6_s._ 3_d._) per diem; the Chinese, on the other hand,

received only 5 dollars per month, and a daily ration of rice. One

Peruvian planter, Domingo Elias, had imported at his own cost several

hundred Chinese coolies, who, like those in the West Indies, were to pay

in labour for the expense of their voyage. The remuneration given to these

hardy sons of the Middle Empire was of the scantiest. While they had to

work alongside of convicts, longer and harder than any other class of

labourers, they only received one-tenth of the pay of the latter.

The sanitary condition of the settlement was described to me as

exceedingly favourable. The guano-getters contribute the smallest

contingent to the sick list, and even the strong, penetrating, and

exceedingly disagreeable stench of the substance, impregnated as it is

with ammonia, seems to have not the slightest prejudicial effect upon the

lungs, pulmonary complaints hardly ever making their appearance among the

workmen. So far from this being the case, it is even contended that

persons suffering under affections of the lungs derive benefit in the

first stage of the malady from a residence in the Huanu Islands, and find

themselves in improved health on their return to the mainland.

The centre island has been only partially excavated, but the works there

have been discontinued. At present it is entirely uninhabited, though

there are still visible on its summit a few wooden huts, which formerly

sheltered the workmen, as also some of the "shoots" or slides used for

facilitating the collection and shipment of the guano.

The southernmost of the three islands is quite in its primitive state,

never having been touched. No sign indicative of man's presence on it is

anywhere visible.

The earliest attempts to export guano to Europe as a manure were made in

1832, but they proved so losing a speculation, that not till eight years

later did the Peruvian mercantile house of Messrs. Quiros again direct

attention to the importance of guano as an article of export, when the

Government of Peru granted them, for a fixed sum, the exclusive privilege

of exporting guano for six years. This gave an opportunity for

instituting, on a sufficient scale, those experiments which, it will be

remembered, Mr. Meyer of Liverpool was making at that period, and which

was followed by such surprising results.

From March to October, 1841, 23 vessels conveyed 6125 tons of guano to

England, Hamburg, Antwerp, and Bordeaux. In November of the same year, the

English barque _Byron_ brought to Peru the cheering intelligence that a

ton of guano was selling in England for L28 per ton. This totally

unexpected and startling result induced the Government, by a decree of

17th November, to declare that the agreement with Messrs. Quiros was

cancelled, and fresh offers for the privilege of shipping guano were

invited from speculators.

Since that period the exportation of this important manure has attained

unprecedented dimensions in every part of the globe. Of late years it has

reached the enormous amount of 500,000 tons from these islands alone, and

the revenue to the Government has been 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 dollars.

The contractors sell the guano in Europe for account of the Peruvian

Government, and receive for it a commission fee of from 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 per

cent. of the gross amount; for this they get, moreover, paid 5 per cent.

of interest for outlays and pecuniary advances (pretty considerable) which

they make to the native Government. The contracts are generally entered

into for four years.

A complete exploration and survey of the islands was made in 1853 by M. C.

Faraguet, a French engineer. According to his report, which was pretty

comprehensive, and drawn up under the co-operation of several other

scientific gentlemen, the quantity of guano on the northernmost island, in

September, 1853, was 4,189,477 Peruvian tons (about 3,740,866 tons

English); the middle island about 2,237,954 English tons, and the

southernmost 5,072,032 English tons; or the entire cubical mass was at

that period about 11,050,852 tons English. Assuming an average price, this

would imply a money value of about L120,000,000. Since 1841, when the

first considerable shipment was made, to 1861, there had been exported

from the Chincha Islands 3,000,000 tons of guano, worth about 135,000,000

dollars (L29,250,000).

At first, owing to the enormous mass of guano left to accumulate

undisturbed for centuries, the very natural error was made of reckoning

the quantity deposited at too high an estimate, and the amount annually

taken at too low a figure.[129] Hence it happened that a few native and

many foreign writers have spoken of these islands as affording a supply

which only centuries could exhaust. It is now, however, ascertained that,

supposing the export proceeds at its present rate, only 25 to 30 years

will elapse ere the entire strata of excremental manure of all the three

Chincha Islands will have been carried off!

Notwithstanding ample supplies of guano have been discovered besides all

along the west coast of South America, on uninhabited islands and

promontories, and upwards of 7,000,000 tons of this valuable commodity

been found on the islands south of Callao alone,[130] yet, even should

this statement turn out correct, it would only supply the existing demand

for other 10 or 15 years, while the formation of beds of guano must year

after year become more and more confined to solitary, inaccessible islands

of the Southern Ocean. For so soon as such beds of guano begin to be

explored, they are quickly abandoned by the birds, which are gradually

retreating from the islands along the coast and the usual channels of

commerce.

The Peruvian Government does not seem to realize the calamity impending

over the country on the exhaustion of the guano beds, which would dry up

one of its principal sources of revenue. Certainly it seems impossible to

make a more unwise use of the immense sums which are flowing into the

State treasury. Nothing is done for making roads or railways so as to

furnish intercourse with the fertile provinces of the interior, or to

raise and encourage agriculture or commerce. Just as this revenue does not

result from the energy or industrial activity of the people, it is

expended without any object of utility to show for it. The Government

pockets the dues as a monopoly, and expends the sums thus obtained in

avaricious schemes of aggrandizement, or warlike expeditions against

Ecuador and Bolivia, which keep the country in perpetual hot water, and

only add to its burthens. The guano duties go in gunpowder! Lightly won,

as lightly gone!

During the nine days of our voyage between Valparaiso and Callao de Lima

there were some musicians on board, who gave us a concert on deck every

evening. As we left the Chincha Islands some frolicsome young Peruvians,

disregarding the discord of the flute and violin, and unmindful of the

timeless tuneless twanging of the two harps, got up a dance.

In the course of the night we ran into Callao harbour, and when I came on

deck, in the cool of the morning, I found we were already lying at anchor

in this spacious and secure port. The tradition that with a calm sea and a

clear sky it is possible to perceive the ruins of the old town, with its

houses and church-towers, which sank here suddenly in 1746 by the shock of

an earthquake, has survived to the present day, and is told to every

new-comer, who greedily swallows it down, though not one of the narrators

has ever beheld the marvel with his own eyes! Earthquakes, indeed, are by

no means so frequent as at the beginning of the present century, when it

was rare for a fortnight to elapse without at least one _temblore_ or

horizontal oscillation. The vertical shocks (_terra-motos_), the most

dangerous kind of earthquake, have not occurred here since 1828. The

season at which earthquakes most frequently occur are the months of March,

April, and September, whence the latter month has received from the people

the jocular name of "_Se tiembla!_" (it trembles!) One Peruvian who has

long occupied himself with scientific observations has repeatedly

witnessed that a magnet, freely suspended, regularly lost its attractive

powers a few minutes before each shock, and that a piece of steel held by

the magnetic force fell to the ground. If this be confirmed by a series of

observations the magnet might ultimately become a sort of

earthquake-monitor.

The Callao of the present day is a dirty, ugly hole, with narrow streets,

and low houses built principally of mud and cane, with flat roofs. Only a

few of the houses of foreigners, erected out of hearing of the hubbub of

the port, form a grateful exception. The entire population will be about

20,000 souls.

The most interesting building of the port is undoubtedly the new Custom

House with 31 colossal magazines, each capable of containing six to eight

entire ships' freights. I repeatedly heard complaints made of the

slovenliness of the attendants, in consequence of which it frequently

happened that days elapsed ere goods, paid for, were delivered out of

bond. The warehouse charge is very small, and consists chiefly of

stamp-duties, which are imposed on the money paid for goods. The trade of

Callao is apparently on the increase, and, considering the productiveness

of the country, would be even greater, were internal order restored, when

peace and confidence would follow in its train.

As I had to prosecute my journey northwards by the next steamer, I

hastened on to Lima, so as to satisfy my curiosity as to this the most

important city of Peru in modern days. A few hours after my arrival in

Callao, I found myself on the road to the "City of the Kings."[131] Only a

few years back the journey from Callao to Lima, though only six English

miles, was an exceedingly arduous and even dangerous undertaking. The road

lay through a shadeless desert of deep sand, between uncultivated fields

and low scrubs, and was absolutely unsafe owing to attacks of robbers. Now

it is a frequent excursion, a tolerably good railroad performing the

distance in about half an hour.

By the kindness of Mr. Wilhelm Brauns, the Consul-General of Hamburg, and

head of the distinguished English house Huth, Gruening, and Co.,[132] to

whom I brought letters of introduction, and who was most kindly in

waiting for me. I was speedily and pleasantly conveyed from the station in

Lima, to take up my quarters in his house till I took my leave. Owing to

this fortunate event, I found myself unexpectedly brought into the very

thick of the very best German society. Nowhere in the course of many years

of travel in various countries, all over the globe, did I meet with more

cordial hospitality, or a more delightful reception, than during my 19

days' stay in the "City of the Kings."

On our way from the station to the house of Mr. Brauns, I remarked that

the houses in every part of the city that we passed were painted with

variegated stripes, and heard, to my intense astonishment, that, in

consequence of a recent decree of the Government, every householder in

each quarter was ordered, with a view to facilitating the identification

of their houses, to paint them of a colour corresponding with the coloured

official plans of the city! Accordingly in one quarter all the houses were

green, in another yellow, in a third white, in a fourth reddish, and in a

fifth sky-blue. As in all Spanish American cities exposed to earthquakes,

most of the houses in Lima also are but one storey high. The larger

buildings are constructed of sun-dried bricks or fire clay, the smaller of

cane set up double, with the space between filled up with clay, and the

whole whitewashed. Their most singular feature is the flat roofs, which

consist of a layer of cane and straw mats, which, for better security,

occasionally have a coating of clay. Thus an open space (_Azotea_),

surrounded by balustrades, is secured, which is used as a playground by

children, and serves as a promenade for the grown-up portion of the

community. Some of the windows communicate with the roof by a sort of

trap-door, which instead of sashes of glass has shutters of wood, which

communicate with the rooms beneath by a long cord, so that they can be

opened or shut from below at pleasure. Many of the chambers in the

interior of the house get light and air solely through these apertures

(called _Ventana de Teatinas_, because first introduced by the Theatine

monks), while windows properly so-called are less numerous, and when

looking towards the street are usually provided with large, broad,

sometimes richly-gilt iron shutters. We saw these curious cords for

opening and shutting the trap-doors in the roof hanging down in the middle

of even elegantly-furnished apartments, and not even the circumstance of

being made of silk prevented their having a peculiar and ungraceful

effect.

The mode of constructing the houses, together with the elegant

ornamentation of the open courts (_patio_) of the interior, speedily

remind the stranger that he is in a place where rain (at least according

to Northern ideas) is an unknown phenomenon, since one single, even

down-pour must inevitably do immense damage in the Lima of the present

day. During the winter months, however, as they are called, viz. June to

November, fogs (_garuas_) are very frequent, which, albeit light, are

sufficiently penetrating thoroughly to soak the pedestrian or horseman who

happens to be surprised by them. I have myself repeatedly experienced in

Lima fogs of such density, that it was quite practicable to count each

separate drop. During these winter months, fine, clear days free of all

cloud are comparatively rare; but the statement one occasionally hears,

that for five months together the sun is invisible in Lima, is an

exaggeration. The temperature of Lima is much lower than we could expect

from a city within 12 degrees of the Equator, and seems to be affected

principally by the proximity of the eternal snows of the Andes, and the

prevailing atmospheric currents. The thermometer never rises higher than

85 deg.8 Fahr., nor falls below 68 deg.2 Fahr. The average temperature during

the hot season is 77 deg., and during the cold 63 deg.5 Fahr. Such a climate

renders fires superfluous, and it is more habit than necessity that

induces some Spanish families to carry about copper or iron pans

(_Brasero_) filled with live coal, with which to warm their hands or feet.

The exteriors and internal equipments of the dwellings are very simple and

devoid of ornament, only a few of the older buildings, such, for instance,

as the house of Torre Tagle, near San Pedro, forming the exception. Among

the architectural decorations, which preserve to the present day the

tradition of the glories of the Peruvian kingdom, one may marvel at

majestic designs and beautiful mosaics, which even in their ruin tell of

the magnificent luxury that was once indulged in here.

The streets are wide and tolerably regular, but the absence of gutters and

the wretched foundation of the roadway prevent their being used by

carriages or horsemen, or by pedestrians even more than they can help. The

open ditches at either side are full of filth and animal impurities, which

are continually being thrown in, and but for the services of numerous

carrion crows (_cathartes f[oe]tens_), who perform the duties of

scavengers, Lima, owing to the supineness of the native authorities, would

be one of the filthiest and most unhealthy cities in South America. But

the _gallinazos_, as these black-headed birds are called by the natives,

although lazy and unwieldy, nevertheless are in such immense numbers here,

that they suffice to keep the streets comparatively free from putrescent

odours. Everywhere, even in the thick of places of public resort, one sees

these birds, which no one injures on account of their usefulness, and

which even the rising generation never think of disturbing in their

disgusting avocations, hopping about upon the bare ground, and gorging

themselves on the garbage around.

One of the greatest improvements to the city is its almost universal

illumination by gas, which in the evening imparts a peculiar charm to the

streets and fashionable shops of Lima, and enables them, in this

particular at least, to vie with those of the capitals of Europe.

The largest buildings in Lima are, as we might expect from a country

conquered and colonized by Spaniards, the churches and monasteries, of

which there are in this capital no fewer than eighty. Many of these

Spanish memorials, of a religious epoch more bigoted than sincere, are at

present decayed, and even those which are still preserved in something

like good order fail to charm the eye by any graces of architecture or

majestic simplicity in their interior fittings up. The Cathedral even,

which takes up almost the entire east side of the chief square, is no

exception to this rule, and, though it was 90 years in erection, is after

all a very indifferent edifice. The interior is lofty and spacious, but

owing to the choir having its proportions curtailed by a wide altar in the

midst, one perceives on entering the church only the smaller half, so that

the impression is destroyed, which, but for this interposed erection,

would undoubtedly be made by the high altar, richly overlaid with gold and

silver, seen through the vista of the entire building. The ornaments, the

sacred vessels, and censers used in performing mass are exceedingly rich

and valuable, but are too much overlaid to please an aesthetic taste. In

the catacombs of the Cathedral repose the remains of Francisco Pizarro.

Few strangers omit to visit this spot, and usually feel as much surprised

as pleased at finding offered them for sale by the sacristan, various

sorts of relics of the renowned conqueror of Peru, though all cannot hope

to be so fortunate as an English lady at Lima, who informed me with all

gravity that she had purchased from a guide a slipper taken from the

coffin of Pizarro. Should this mania for relics on the part of visitors,

and readiness to humour it on the part of vergers, continue unchecked,

there will remain ere long in the catacombs only an empty shell, in which

once lay the celebrated Conquistador. Perhaps, though, the speculative

sacristan contents himself with gratifying the wishes of curiosity-loving

visitants, by means similar to those of the artful cicerone who

accompanies the enthusiastic stranger in his rambles among the ruins of

classic antiquity.

The monastery of San Francisco is more worth notice for its immense

extent, which equals in size many an old imperial walled city of Suabia,

than for elegance of style or tasteful artistic interior. The facade,

painted in various colours, and overlaid with ornament, resembles by far

more a Buddha temple than a Roman Catholic church. The corridors are the

finest part of the building, their wooden ceilings being very richly

carved. On all the walls of the passages are suspended drawings

illustrative of the lives of various holy men, which, however, singular to

say, are hung with their faces to the wall, and are only turned round on

appointed festivals to charm the eyes of believers!

The church is very roomy within, but quite bare of ornament. The sacristan

with evident pride directed our attention to San Benito, a "black" saint,

who was held in high esteem by the negroes, probably on account of his

colour. Quite close to the monastery is the "Casa de Ejercicios," whither

the monks repair at certain periods of the year to perform the prescribed

religious exercises. The cells here have a more comfortless look than in

the cloister proper. A bed-frame with a skin stretched upon it, a hard

stool, a plain table, a crucifix, and a human skull, comprise the entire

inventory. The latter, the cranium of a departed brother, was covered with

numerous aids to religious meditation, some written, some carved on the

substance of the bone.

The lay-brother who escorted us round had not long been a denizen of this

gloomy monastic abode. Though still very young, he was leaving behind him

a tolerably enlarged experience of the world. Starting as a gold-digger in

California, he became a gambler and speculator, when he quickly lost all

he had so laboriously wrested from the soil, and returned to Lima, where,

more for the sake of change and comfort than for any special vocation or

imperious spiritual necessity, he had entered the order of Franciscans.

His temperament being much more that of a man of the world than a monk, he

must have felt himself sorely hampered by the restrictions of monastrism,

were it not for the lax morality which is the standard of convent life in

the capital of Peru; but the monk's cowl is in Lima not only the attire of

humility and resignation, it is likewise the cloak for all manner of

licentiousness and hypocrisy--the "_surtout_" which conceals many a lapse

from virtue!

The monastery of San Pedro was the wealthiest in Lima, so long as it

remained the property of the Jesuits. When, in 1773, the order went forth

for the suppression of the Order throughout South America, it was not

executed without the Spanish viceroy's cherishing certain secret hopes of

obtaining large riches. The Jesuits, however, on this occasion vindicated

their reputation for subtlety, which has become proverbial among mankind.

When the inventory was taken, nothing but empty boxes were to be found,

and the most strict investigations and inquiries led to no more favourable

result.

Among the hospitals which we visited, that of San Andres deserves foremost

notice for its size and comprehensiveness. It has room for 600 patients,

who are tended by 50 _S[oe]urs de la Charite_, the majority of whom are

French. The yellow fever, which, introduced in 1852 by immigrants,

penetrated deep into the interior, though of a milder type, had of late

carried off numerous victims, and indeed had seriously weakened the

hygienic good name[133] of Lima; the small-pox also had annually committed

fearful ravages; for vaccination is not made imperative by law, and

inoculation is therefore neglected. Besides the hospital of St. Andrew,

there are others for female patients, for the military, for incurables and

imbeciles, an asylum for orphans,[134] and one for foundlings.[135]

The best managed hospital apparently is that of Santa Anna, the wards of

which are roomy, light, and airy, and make up about 350 beds. On the other

hand, a portion of the above hospital set apart for those mentally

afflicted, as also the regular Lunatic Asylum (_casa de Locos_), were in a

state of filth and neglect, that are a positive disgrace to the present

century. It is, in fact, a singular consideration that in every quarter of

the globe men have only now begun to bethink them of their duties to those

unhappy fellow-creatures, whose wretched lot should have commanded their

most active sympathies! The reform of hospitals, and even of prisons and

penitentiaries, had long been carried out in Europe, before asylums

especially designed for the treatment of lunatics were projected. I must

not, however, omit to add, in justice to the philanthropic society

(_Sociadad de Beneficiencia_), to whose management the whole of the

hospitals and poor-houses of the capital are intrusted, that a new Lunatic

Asylum was in course of construction, the cost of which will amount to

85,000 dollars (about L17,800).

The _Hospital de los Locos_ (Hospital for the Insane) in the Cercado is

all on the ground-floor, with chambers used at once for sitting-room,

dining-room, and bed-chamber, but with accommodation for about 200

patients. Twenty of the cells are set apart exclusively for refractory

patients. The institution is in charge of Dr. Ulloa, one of the most

skilful of the native physicians, who studied both in France and England.

The patients are tended by the Grey Sisterhood, which has only recently

reached the country.

The old university buildings, on what formerly was called the Square of

the Inquisition, now named Independence Square, are at present only used

for festivities, examinations, conferring of degrees, &c. &c., while the

different lectures are read in various buildings. I visited the School of

Medicine, of which at that time Dr. Cajetano Herredia was rector, a

gentleman more respectable for his zealous discharge of duty than by his

scientific attainments. There are some good lecture-rooms, a chemical

laboratory, a small museum, consisting mainly of pathological specimens,

and a very fair library, which boasts several really valuable and

little-known prints and books, especially such as relate to the history of

Peru. One of the Professors, Don Antonio Raimondi, a Neapolitan by birth,

bids fair to raise the reputation of the School of Medicine of Lima by his

extensive knowledge and excellent mode of instruction. This gentleman

teaches several branches of Natural History, and, during the short period

he has been in Lima, has already given practical proof of his activity in

a variety of fields.

Unfortunately Professor Raimondi, with a number of his pupils, was absent

on an excursion for practical scientific instruction, so that I was

deprived of the opportunity of making his personal acquaintance. In his

studio I saw two very remarkable skulls of Indians, which, owing to

artificial pressure, had assumed a most singular form, one of which had

belonged to an Indian of Cuzco, the other to a native of the Chincha

tribe, who reside between Pisco and Canete. I was also shown on the same

occasion a female skull in such excellent preservation, that one could

still easily perceive the expression of the face. This was the skull of a

half-breed Indian woman, named Maria Palacel, aged 25, who had died in the

hospital of Santa Anna, 27th Sept. 1856, of dysentery, and on 1st March,

1859, nearly two and a half years later, had been disinterred in a state

of complete preservation. Nature had in this case taken on herself the

process of embalming, and had, owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, and

the quantity of saline matter in the soil, secured results which in Europe

could only have been obtained artificially and at a considerable expense.

Adjoining the Escuela de Medecina is the National Library, a large

building containing some 30,000 volumes, treating of every department of

human knowledge, but which, owing to want of means, has of late years

received hardly any accession. The librarian is Don Francisco de Paula

Vigil, a highly intelligent and liberal-minded priest and man of the

world, who had been excommunicated by Pio Nono on account of his learned

work, "Defence of the Principles of Secular Authority against the

Pretensions of the Holy See." Nothing daunted by the fulmination of this

penalty, the excellent old gentleman is prosecuting his researches yet

farther, and is energetically defending his principles; and what is still

more surprising, he has anything but fallen off in public estimation in

consequence. This is due to the fact that, unlike the female population,

the Peruvians are very tolerant in religious matters, and rather averse

from those pre-disposed to spiritual matters, whence there results the

very small influence of the Peruvian clergy, everywhere visible, and the

obstinate virulent enmity with which also, since the Spanish yoke was cast

off, the priestly party oppose the progress of liberal ideas. This feeling

is moreover powerfully aided by the ghastly testimony of history, that it

was the monks who first introduced the rack and the Inquisition into the

country.

Father Vigil received me with much cordiality, and we had a long talk upon

a variety of subjects. At last it turned upon his own well-known work, and

the painful position in which he felt himself with respect to the See of

Rome. This was the most interesting portion of our conversation. "It is

not Catholicism that has made the majority of Catholic nations lag so

woefully in the career of progress," exclaimed the venerable priest, "but

that which Catholicism has suffered to be mixed up with it,--the

Inquisition and Monasticism. It is marriage and labour that make

individuals moral and useful, and nations great and powerful. Human

society can get on very well without monks or nuns, but not without

morals, not without matrimony and labour."

Had I not transcribed these words almost at the moment they were spoken, I

should hardly have dared to repeat them here, for I durst not have

trusted to my memory, that a Spanish American priest, should have made

such a remark in the "city of the Three Kings." These revelations, which

are far from being solitary, but find a responsive echo in the bosoms of a

portion at least of the male population of the capital, are highly

important in arriving at a conclusion respecting the actual religious

sentiment of the Peruvian Republic, and are very marked indications that

an immense movement is likewise preparing in the Catholic Church on the

further side of the Andes; and that Peru also has found its "Father

Passaglia." Nay, it would not surprise me in the least, should South

America, which for upwards of three centuries has been dumbly obeying the

behests of spiritual intolerance, suddenly emit letters and propositions

which would amount to a virtual separation from the Roman Catholic Church!

It is but a few years since Catholic priests in the Legislative Assemblies

of Nicaragua and Honduras recorded their votes in favour of repealing the

ordinance of celibacy, and from their pulpits harangued their flocks on

the advantages of revolutionary insurrection!

In a wing of the Library buildings is the National Museum, which, however,

merely fills two moderate-sized apartments. The Natural History collection

is in such a wretched neglected state that it is in imminent danger, the

ornithological department especially, of being entirely eaten up by

insects.

Amongst the most valuable are some Peruvian antiquities, such as weapons,

mummies, and what are called _Huacos_, earthen jars, pots, and other

utensils from ancient Indian graves. To the historical student the

portraits of the whole of the Viceroys and Governors of Peru, which are

suspended on the walls of the first apartment in chronological order, will

prove extremely interesting. The finest head of the series, the one which

most clearly tells of manly vigour, acuteness, and energy, is that of

Francisco Pizarro, the natural son of a Spanish nobleman, who tended swine

in his boyhood, and ended his life as Viceroy of Peru, having been slain

by an assassin in the 64th year of his age.

Of the educational institutions, the only one deserving special remark is

the "Escuela Normal Central" (Central Normal School), established by

Government, at an expense of 160,000 dollars (L33,600), and opened in

1859. Its object is to provide suitable school instruction for industrious

children of poor or aged parents; but hitherto the prefects of the

provinces have, by protection, presented almost exclusively children of

persons of means and position, and sent them on to the capital. Owing to

the great want of good schools hitherto, it happens that every one crowds

towards this new institute, which seems to promise to its pupils a more

complete education and better training than any other. The number for

which it was destined was 40 boarders and 200 day-scholars, the former of

whom are well taken care of.

The system of education pursued is the Lancasterian, and is carried out by

five professors. The estimated annual expenditure is about 20,000 dollars.

One of the directors, Mr. J. C. Braun, a German by birth, who not long

before had come to Lima to settle, and taught Natural Philosophy and

Chemistry, accompanied me throughout the extensive building, and specially

pointed out a class-room comfortably and even elegantly fitted up, as also

a small museum of Natural History, with an excellent geological

collection, and a small library attached to it. Singularly enough, the

latter comprises a great number of school-books in much request among

Protestant pedagogues. Apparently an order had been sent, without

specifying any particular writers, to purchase good school-books at some

German publishing-house, and now the Catholic youth of bigoted Lima is

taught from the works of Protestant teachers! Various surveys and maps

covered the walls of this class-room, all bearing evidence of their German

origin in the names of publishers and places, most of them having been

sent out from the distinguished house of Justus Perthes in Gotha.

One very remarkable and characteristic incident occurred at the opening of

the school, at which were present the President of the Republic, Don Ramon

de Castella, so hated and dreaded for his despotism, together with several

senators and deputies. The Rector, Don Miguel Estorch, laid considerable

stress, in the course of his address, upon the importance of really

effective schools in a State, and maintained that, when children are well

brought up, there is no longer any need of so large sums being spent for

police and standing army to keep up security and order in the country.

This remark, which made a deep impression on all present, nevertheless

gave much offence to the President, who rose and replied, in a tone of

considerable asperity, that the Rector's view was erroneous, and that a

proper military force was as indispensable as a good system of education;

that it least of all became the Rector to touch upon such a topic in that

place and such presence.

Under the present political _regime_, it is out of the question to look

for anything like intellectual vigour in Lima, so sparse are the elements

of such. There is an utter absence of that sympathy, interest, and support

which is necessary to its existence, alike on the part of Government and

of society at large.[136] Works, such as Manuel Fuentes' valuable

"Estadistica General de Lima" (General Statistics of Lima), can only be

considered as solitary special performances. Also in the field of

Journalism there is no person of mark visible, and even the few journals

which appear in Lima, such as the _Comercio_ and the _Independiente_, have

a very limited circulation. As only a small proportion of the population

can read or interest itself in politics, the principles advocated in those

journals exercise no influence, so that Government has less difficulty in

acting up to them than would otherwise be the case.

One thing that particularly struck me was the hostility displayed to

Austria, which, during my stay in Lima, manifested itself in the daily

press and a fraction of the population. The politics of Austria were

discussed with a bitterness of hate, which was the more surprising in a

nation which is itself a prey to intestine disorders, and suffers itself

to be led about a willing captive, in the fetters of a half-Indian despot.

I found, however, the clue to this excited language, when I learned on one

occasion, that there are upwards of 8000 Piedmontese in Lima and Callao

alone, chiefly shop-keepers and shipping-owners, who exercise a certain

influence upon the native population. The war in Europe had so raised anew

the pride of country in each Italian, and filled him with such sanguine

patriotic aspirations and hopes of a united Italy, that his heated fancy

beheld in every incident of the war the most righteous struggle that ever

was engaged in, and in the opposite party the most detestable and inhuman

of opponents.

Among such an auditory as those in which such opinions were ventilated,

there was no difficulty in finding adherents. The ignorance of the native

population respecting all countries on the other side of the Andes became

conspicuously evident in the course of the discussion. Of Italy and her

plains they had at least heard tell, since Peru maintains a pretty active

trade with Genoa. If I am not mistaken, the great revolutionary leader and

popular idol of Italy was once captain of a ship along the Peruvian coast,

and left here many a friend and well-wisher to his cause and himself. Of

Austria, on the other hand, there were simply dim rumours flitting about

as of some shadowy land, or the vanished empire of the Incas. Singular to

say, it was precisely the renowned Concordat made with the Papacy which

had brought such discredit on Austrian policy among the Roman Catholic

population. I dare not repeat here the strong language which was used, not

alone in the journals but to myself personally, by educated Peruvians and

foreigners settled here.

In fact, all the misery that Peru has suffered since its subjugation by

the Spaniards, and its present drooping condition, is here universally

ascribed to the overwhelming influence of Spanish monks and priests in

secular affairs. It has not yet been forgotten that monks stood at the

head of the Inquisition,--that for centuries the people groaned under

their oppressive sway. Conscious of their own fate, and the condition to

which the clerical weapons reduced the puerile half-civilized races which

inhabit Mexico and Central America, the lively imagination of the

Peruvians led to consequences resulting from such a state-policy far more

disastrous than could possibly be the case among a free-souled people like

the Austrians. For it is the chief merit of European civilization, that

every political measure threatening to impede the march of ideas by any

process of fettering men's minds, only serves to evoke a more restless

activity, as in our actual state of human culture enlightenment and

science form far too formidable a bulwark for reaction to obtain any

permanent success, or even to succeed in overleaping.

Among the excursions which I made during my stay in Peru, there were two

of special interest,--a ride to the ruins of Cajamarquilla, and a visit to

the Temple of the Sun at Pachacamac, the erection of which dates from a

period antecedent to the dynasty of the Incas.

The ruins of Cajamarquilla are about nine English miles distant from the

capital. Owing to the insecurity of life and property even in the region

immediately around the capital, these ruins are but rarely visited. But

very few strangers settled in Lima knew these ruins, and it required a

long time ere I could procure the slightest information respecting them.

My excellent host, Mr. Braun, who very soon perceived how much my heart

was set on visiting these ancient Indian ruins, exerted himself to make up

a party for me. It was a piece of real friendliness undertaken with the

very kindest intentions, but unfortunately scientific objects do not

usually admit of being mixed up with pleasure-parties, it being very

difficult to unite the two. About twenty horsemen, chiefly English, had

assembled to make the excursion. Among our company there were also a few

ladies, whom the difficulties and dangers could not deter from joining

us. As we had to take with us provisions for the entire party, a string of

mules heavily laden with prog had been sent off early in the morning to

the goal of our excursion. These preparations seemed to be by far the most

important in the eyes of a majority of the cavalcade, after their arrival

at the ruins themselves, an examination of which was evidently the last

thing they had thought of when they bestrode their steeds in the morning.

The road to the ruins of Cajamarquilla is excessively fatiguing, rough,

and rocky: nothing but climbing over rocky hills, upon which close to the

very edge of the precipice is a faint Indian track, or crossing torrents,

where the horse sinks to his crupper in the water, so that only a

practised horseman can save himself from a thorough soaking.

Immediately on leaving the city begins a tract of desolate sterile

stone-fields, in the midst of which one reaches what is known as the

Hacienda de Pedrero, a lonely farm, where, it being as usual a fete-day of

some Peruvian saint, a dozen field labourers had collected under the

shadow of the verandah round the farm-house, blissfully occupied in doing

nothing. No two of these were of the same breed; there were men of every

variety of race and shade of colour; whites, Indians, Chinese, Negroes,

Mulattoes, Mestizoes, Chinos, Sambos, Quadroons, &c. &c., and this

specimen in little of the population of Peru would lead any observer to

conjecture correctly as to the main reason of the low position held by the

country in the scale of nations. As in the Hacienda of San Pedrero, so

throughout the country one encounters fifty coloured men of all shades for

one full-blooded white. In Chile, on the other hand, one has to penetrate

deep into the interior before one finds any traces of the Indian stock,

while of negro population, (and this is the greatest advantage enjoyed by

that Republic over Peru,) there is absolutely none. In the settled parts

along the coast of Chile there are none but whites, and even the working

classes are Spaniards, English, German, Italians, and North Americans. The

preponderating white element in the population, their greater

intelligence, energy, and perseverance, form the principal source of that

intellectual and political activity which has placed Chile far in advance

of the other Southern and Central-American Republics, and is opening a

brilliant future to that State, far surpassing that of any of the

neighbouring republics.

From the Hacienda de San Pedrero it is half an hour's ride to that of

Guachipa and the Neveria of Don Pablo Sassio, where we engaged a guide,

who accompanied us a couple of miles further to the goal of our excursion.

Cajamarquilla is an ancient Peruvian hamlet in the valley of and close to

the river Rimac, which waters the whole district and makes it productive.

The remains of the dwellings are built exclusively of sun-dried bricks,

and the laying out of each single apartment differs little from the mode

of constructing Indian huts at the present day. It must to all appearance

have been an extensive place once, as the ruins cover eight to ten acres.

Considering the little space which the Indian of the present day requires

for his household gods, it may be assumed that this was a place of from

30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. I saw no buildings of very remarkable

dimensions, nor indeed any one the laying out of which designated it as

once intended for religious purposes. The ruins are for the most part,

relics of simple mud-huts, all similarly laid out in single chambers,

differing from each other mainly in the greater or less dimensions of the

apartments. Nothing here told of the existence of any buildings intended

for public meetings, temples for worship, sacrificial altars, &c., such as

one meets with in the ruined cities of Central America, in Copan,

Quirigua, Peten, Palenque, and so forth. One perceives that each of these

huts, like those inhabited by the Indians at the present day, consisted of

two compartments, the entire superficial area being from 36 to 42 feet

square. The larger of the two apartments is about 60 feet, the smaller

from 12 to 18 feet in width and depth. Nowhere could we discern a trace of

that special construction which is observable among the Indian races of

the high lands of Guatemala, and is there usually employed for taking

vapour-baths (Temaskal.)

To form any notion of the antiquity of these buildings is doubly difficult

in a climate where it never rains and the temperature is the same

throughout the year, and where consequently buildings are not exposed to

the destructive alternations of cold, damp, and scorching heat, as in

other less favoured countries. Even earthquakes are here not so much to be

dreaded as where houses are of brick or stone, since the Adoba possesses

far more elasticity than intractable building material, and is therefore

better able to withstand the repeated undulations of the earth's surface.

The site of the town, which lies in a long deep valley surrounded on all

sides by hills of the most fantastic shape, rising to a height of from

8000 to 10,000 feet, is exceedingly grand. Unfortunately when we visited

it, all the peaks and hills of the country around were naked, barren, and

bleak-looking. But in winter after the first dews have fallen, those

slopes and table-lands that now looked so desolate are covered with dense

deep-green verdure, when they make a far more agreeable impression on the

beholder.

Of trees I saw only a few kinds of bamboo and acacia, which, more

spreading than lofty, were visible in the swampy ground along the edges of

the torrents. Some of the hills around seem at first sight like artificial

fortifications, but when we approach closer there is not the slightest

indication of Cajamarquilla having ever been a fort or place of defence.

To all appearance the spot, at the time of the Spaniards first coming to

Peru, was inhabited by the Quichua Indians, who afterwards either

abandoned voluntarily their peaceful abodes through dread of their

pursuers, or were driven thence by violence. None of the present

inhabitants of the vicinity, to whom I spoke, could give us any definite

information as to the ancient history of the ruins, and one hoary Indian,

named Pablo Plata, who lives in the village of Guachipa, and remembers

some wild traditions respecting Cajamarquilla, which he received by word

of mouth from preceding generations, I unfortunately missed seeing owing

to the shortness of my stay.

Quite close to the remains of the town, is at present a large Hacienda,

with magnificent clover pasturages, fertilized by the river Rimac. It was

at one of these green oases that our company sat down to a comfortable

pic-nic, which spoke volumes for the preparations that had been made for

creature comforts. No small portion of what had been brought with us was

left on the field, to be gobbled up by the clouds of negroes that crowded

round, glad of the opportunity of tasting something cooked in the European

fashion, though they do not like them as well as the product of their own

wretched native kettles. Thus, for example, our guide, a negro, preferred

vegetables and _dulce_ (sweets) to meat, and declared sherry and cognac

offered him to be "too strong."

If not in ease and comfort, at any rate in scientific interest, I found my

excursion to Cajamarquilla surpassed by that made to Pachacamac in the

valley of Lurin, which I made in company with some friend, and in the

course of which I stayed behind the rest of my party, in company with the

flag-lieutenant of the since world-renowned frigate _Merrimac_.

My visit to Pachacamac was, however, in so far less interesting than that

to Cajamarquilla, that the greater part of the road, as far as Chorillos,

was accomplished by railroad, the remainder of the way being over sand

barrens, abhorred by both steed and rider.

Chorillos, about nine miles from Lima, and a favourite watering-place of

the inhabitants of the capital, with salt-water baths and gaming-tables,

lies in a small romantic cove, but is of rather difficult access, owing to

the steep sand-hills which, 150 to 200 feet in height, bar all access from

seaward. Formerly the ride to Chorillos, like that from Callao to the

capital, was performed under considerable difficulty and danger, whence it

has not seldom resulted that visitors to the watering-place, who have made

money at the tables of Chorillos, have on their homeward ride to Lima been

eased of their winnings by some of their previous companions over the

board of green cloth! At present one bowls thither over a well-made road,

easily and without dread of being called on to "stand and deliver," since,

even in Peru, people have not yet succeeded in amalgamating railroads and

robbery.

The little place itself boasts of a few good dwelling-houses, and some 100

to 150 Ranchos of wood and _adobes_, or constructed of mud and reeds, in

which delectable abodes the good folk from the capital are content to pass

the hottest and most unhealthy months of the year (from January to May).

These Ranchos, very unsightly without and exceedingly poorly furnished,

are sometimes most habitable within-doors, and fitted with delightful

verandahs or open porches, in which the free-and-easy occupants loll

about in grass hammocks or rocking-chairs, fanned by the cool sea-breezes,

in a state of dreamy _dolce-far-niente_. Altogether Chorillos is a very

unpretending and altogether uncomfortable place, in which there is little

room for elegancy or self-assertion, the President of the Republic himself

occupying a wretched, dirty Rancho. Don Ramon passes most of his time in

the gaming-room, where he is a much-desired and most welcome guest, on

account of the large sums which he is in the habit of wagering.

On a lovely June morning, about 6.30 A.M., we rode out of Chorillos, and

three hours later reached the ancient Pachacamac,[137] a Quichua village

close to the sea-shore, with the temple of the Sun there existent at a

period antecedent to the Incas, and which was afterwards dedicated by the

Incas to the service of the invisible God. These ruins are much older than

those of Cajamarquilla. They are partly of clay-tile, but by far the

largest part consists of hewn stone, held together by mortar, the whole

presenting, even in its ruined state, a lasting and massive aspect. Of the

temple which once stood here, there is, however, no trace at present

visible beyond mere indistinct traces of the foundation.

In the midst of a spacious Indian village there is seen a hill about 400

feet high, with artificial terraces in regular gradation, and surrounded

by lofty walls, that look as though they had been battlemented. On this

rising ground once stood the temple which the Yuncas had built in honour

of their chief god. Somewhat later, when this wild race had been subdued

by the Incas, these consecrated the temple in honour of the Sun, flung out

the idols of the Yuncas, and designed a number of royal virgins for its

service. Pizarro, however, completed the work of destruction, when, with

his fanatical followers, he penetrated, in 1534, into the valley of Lurin,

hitherto the most populous and peacefully prosperous of the entire

Peruvian coast. The villages were laid waste, the temple overthrown, and

its virgin priestesses delivered over to the brutal soldiery, and

afterwards put to death.

Quite close to the ruins, as they lie scattered along the coast, the

island of Pachacamac, or Morosolar, rises from the bottom of the ocean,

scarcely accessible owing to its steep, precipitous sides, and on which

there is not a single architectural memorial of any sort to be found, as

erroneously stated, or copied, by several authors.

From the summit of the hill the visitor finds a surprising landscape,

stretching over the beautiful and fertile valley of Lurin; it is difficult

to imagine a more vivid and delightful contrast than is presented by the

greyish-brown, sandy, far-extending ruins, and the soft verdure of the

surrounding plain, variegated with the hues of every description of

tropical plant. The attention is further arrested by the singularity of

the abounding vegetation beginning close to the sea, where sugar-cane and

grass flourish in the most luxuriant superabundance, while scarcely a

half-mile distant the landscape resumes the barren, sandy features, which

extend for miles inland. Not till the Lurin valley is reached does the

magnificence of tropical vegetation again enliven the scene.

After a cursory examination of the locality, we passed the night at an

adjoining _Hacienda_, a large sugar plantation and refinery, which employs

180 Chinese coolies. Each Chinese labourer receives rations of rice and

vegetables, besides four dollars a month, and binds himself to stay eight

years with his employer, to repay the latter's outlay for his voyage, &c.

The speculator, however, who imports the coolies from the northern

provinces of China receives a premium of 300 dollars for every coolie

imported. The Chinese whom we saw at Lurin, as indeed all those we

encountered throughout Peru, were very filthy and depressed-looking, but

seemed in good health, and, on the whole, better off than in Brazil or the

West Indies. We were told that two Chinese will not get through so much

work as one negro. There are at present about 10,000 Chinese in Peru, who

have been imported by speculators during the last ten years, to some of

whom their deportation has been a vast benefit, since, after their eight

years' service, they are free, and may and do begin to work zealously on

their own account. In Peru, as in the Indies, Java, and indeed wherever

they are employed, the Chinese cling close to each other, and mutually

assist each other, should any of their number fall into poverty.

The following morning early we paid a second visit to the ruins of

Pachacamac, and took with us from the Hacienda a number of negroes, with

working implements, for the purpose of digging up and examining the

graves. At various points, especially close to the hill on which stands

what probably was once a fort, we found a great number of skulls lying

about. Most of those we picked up had been artificially compressed, though

they did not all seem to have had the pressure applied at the same place,

thus affording unmistakeable proof that artificial pressure had been

resorted to here. Many of the skulls, though they had been interred for

centuries, were still thickly covered with hair. There cannot be a doubt

that most of those buried here belonged to the race which occupied this

part of the country when the Spaniards first visited it, for after the

occupation and the subsequent wholesale baptisms which the proselytizing

monks performed upon the ignorant brown natives in droves, it is

improbable that any of the Christianized Indians would thereafter be

interred in unconsecrated earth.

The Peruvian Indians, as is well known, were accustomed to envelope their

dead in coarse cloths, after which they were buried in basket or

sack-shaped straw-plait work, certain objects and utensils being placed by

their side, preference being given to those the deceased had most used in

life. Thus, fish-nets, baskets, &c., were placed in the grave, and in the

case of a chief, weapons, staffs with golden knobs, pots of wood or burnt

earth, and so forth. The head usually reposes on a sort of pillow of grass

or cotton. I brought away with me from Pachacamac about half a dozen of

the most remarkably shaped of these skulls, as also some portions of

mummified corpses, which the negroes had disinterred in my presence. All

these objects were in excellent preservation, about three or four feet

under the surface, some in simple graves, others in longish sepulchres of

hewn stone, such as we might imagine were occupied by the wealthier class

of the community. It is usual to find several skeletons (probably members

of the same family) in each separate grave. I also found layers of woven

stuffs, some of very superior design and finish, interposed between

various corpses.

While the negroes were engaged in further excavations, I once more

ascended the hill on which the Temple of the Sun must once have stood, and

which to this day is called by the neighbouring inhabitants "_Castillo del

Sol_." On the side next the sea, there are still visible a number of

buttresses, which seem as though they had formed part of an older line of

fortifications. There was nothing resembling a sacrificial altar, or to

tell of the religious ceremonies that must once have been performed here.

Here and there the material of the wall was still covered with a reddish

tint, just as if it had been but recently painted. In several portions of

the wall still standing, there were pieces of wood alternating with layers

of mortar, now quite decayed, and affording unmistakeable evidence of the

antiquity of the buildings. We also remarked in the walls of several of

the Indian huts niche-shaped depressions, about 1-1/2 feet deep by 1-1/2

feet in length and width, the use of which has never been even plausibly

conjectured. While the whole of the buildings of Cajamarquilla consisted

of sun-dried tiles and bricks, those of Pachacamac seem to have been

almost entirely built of stone hewn into the shape of tiles. So much of

the wall as still remains is very strong and solid. According to tradition

the walls of ancient Pachacamac once stretched as far as Cuzco, 240 miles

distant E.N.E.!

The proprietor of the sugar plantation in the Lurin valley told me that he

himself, about ten years previous, had seen mummies disinterred in the

neighbourhood of Pachacamac, in the mouths of which were gold ornaments,

while various objects were buried with them, such as small idols of gold

and silver, staffs with golden buttons, earthen jars and vessels filled

with Chicha (the well-known favourite intoxicating drink of the Indians),

and fruits, the Chicha and fruits having remained in a wonderful state of

preservation.[138]

On our way back to Chorillos we passed the beautifully situated village of

Susco, environed with neat country-houses, which was a favourite summer

retreat of the inhabitants of Lima, before Chorillos reached its present

development. At present Susco is dreary and forsaken-looking.

When I reached Lima on my return from this interesting excursion, I had

only a few days more left before I was to take steamer again _en route_ to

Panama, which I employed in riding about to examine all that was best

worth seeing in the environs, and making a few parting calls.

One of the finest promenades in Lima is the _Alameda Nueva_, opened about

two years previous, which lies on the road to Amancaes on the further bank

of the Rimac, which divides the city into two unequal parts, of which,

however, far the larger one, constituting indeed the city proper, lies on

the left or southern bank. After the romantic descriptions I had read of

the Rimac, I found myself woefully undeceived by the reality. Of the

thundering rapids below the bridge, of which Castelnau gives us such a

picturesque sketch, I found not a trace visible, the greater part of the

river-bed, 150 to 200 feet wide, being quite dry, with a wretched little

driblet of water trickling through it. The season of the year may,

however, have contributed to this disenchanting prospect, and in August

and September, when the melting snows and violent rain-storms of the

neighbouring Cordilleras swell the brooks and rivers, they possibly impart

a more imposing and lively aspect to the Rimac. The stone bridge over the

river, which forms the communication with the suburb of San Lazaro, is a

handsome structure, built in 1638-1640, from the designs of an Augustine

monk, and cost nearly half a million dollars.

The _Alameda Nueva_ consists of a long, wide lane, with pretty garden

nurseries and flower-beds on either side, interspersed with tasteful

marble statues life-size, the whole enclosed in an elegant iron railing

richly ornamented. In the winter season, more particularly (June to

September), this beautiful promenade is in great request, when, after a

few heavy falls of dew, the hills and valleys of the environs are covered

with verdure of the most delicate shades, and the residents of the capital

wander through the lovely glades of Amancaes, which is so overrun with the

yellow blossoms of the Amaryllis (_Ismene Hamancaes_ of Herbert), that

this fine plant has given its name to the whole valley. On such occasions

quite a colony of booths is extemporized, where eatables and drinkables

are consumed, and giants and dwarfs, panoramas and art-saloons, are

thronged with visitors, while ballad-singers, musicians, rope-dancers,

mountebanks, jugglers, gamblers, and thieves, are never weary of plying

their various trades, to the lightening of the purses of the

pleasure-seeking crowds.

Of public amusements and places of resort there are but few in Lima, and

these not of a very refined description. The theatre is an old and

downright ugly building, where Spanish comedians play indifferent pieces.

An Italian operatic company proved a failure owing to want of subscribers,

even the highest talent barely succeeding in gaining sufficient to charter

a ship to carry the _troupe_ back to Europe. The sole amusement, which

never fails to collect a delighted multitude, is a bull-fight. These come

off at intervals during the summer in the Plaza del Acho, in an uncovered

amphitheatre specially built for the purpose, and constructed of sun-dried

brick. On these days all Lima is in a state of excitement, and an

incalculable crowd of curious sight-seers of both sexes are hastening

through the Alameda Nueva to the arena, there to gloat over the bloody

scene. Fully 12,000 to 15,000 human beings throng into the confined area;

each hastily deposits his half dollar (2_s._) of entrance-money, so as to

get the chance of a better seat. One would think it must be to a splendid

soul-elevating drama that they are flocking to listen to, whereas it is

but the torture of a wretched herbivore that excites their depraved

curiosity. The reader will excuse me for not reiterating the loathsome

details of an often-told spectacle.

It is a fact of considerable historic interest that bull-fights are now

confined to the Spaniards and to their coloured descendants, in the

various regions of the globe whither her dominion has extended, and it

seems but a fit pendent, that the laws of the same nation should, in the

latter half of the nineteenth century, condemn to the galleys Roman

Catholics who venture to embrace Protestantism.

We wish here to add one single remark of our own on a feature of the

entertainment which we have not seen mentioned elsewhere, viz. what

becomes of the flesh of the animals thus killed. It is forthwith cut up in

quarters quite close to the arena, and sold at a reduced price to the

populace, although it is a well-known physiological fact, that the meat of

any animal killed in a state of rabid agony cannot be eaten without

prejudice to the health. The negroes, however, erroneously maintain that

meat thus killed is far more tender than that of cattle slaughtered in the

ordinary mode, and the Government of Republican Peru finds it best to

leave each to decide the physiology of the question by his own digestive

powers.

Of the state of society in Lima I have little to say. A stranger finds it

difficult to obtain a footing among the better families, especially if his

stay be as limited as mine necessarily was. The high-pressure existence of

the capital has of late years obliterated much of its former originality

and poetry. He who saw Lima twenty years ago would hardly recognize it

now-a-days. The "Saya" and the "Manto," those singular but in Lima once

indispensable articles of apparel of the Limanas, which enabled them like

masks to attend church or market, to join processions, in short, never

left their face in the street or at the promenade, have entirely

disappeared, and with them have necessarily gone many other peculiar

habits and customs. Formerly no lady durst venture into the street without

a "Saya" or "Manto;" now, on the contrary, she would run the risk of being

insulted, or at least stared at, should she appear in public in this

peculiar mask-like disguise. The ancient usages peculiar to the country

must give way to French manners; the Saya, the close-fitting, usually

black or cinnamon-coloured upper garment, which once was the customary

attire, and consequently rendered a more careful toilette unnecessary, has

made way for the voluminous crinolined silk dress, while the Manto, that

heavy veil of a thick black silken material, which was thrown over the

back, shoulders, and head, and drawn so close that there was only a small

triangular space left through which peeped one eye, has been displaced by

the long black head-dress which the Spanish women are accustomed to wear.

The ladies of Lima are usually of elegant, slight, graceful appearance,

their chief attractions being brilliant complexion, large dark gleaming

eyes, dazzling white teeth, rich black hair, and very neat little feet.

They greatly reminded me of the Havana ladies, with whom they have much in

common so far as regards the passion for personal adornment, while in

figure and intelligent expression of face both lag far behind the ladies

of Chile.

The gentlemen of Lima, by which term I allude chiefly to the white Creoles

or pure descendants of the Spaniards, who constitute about one-third of

the population,[139] do not leave that impression of a splendid future

resulting from a prosperous development of the resources of the country,

which might be reasonably expected if there were more intellectual

movement, and more industrial and commercial activity apparent among their

number. The state of affairs in Peru since its separation from Spain in

1822, the constant squabbles and civil wars, as also the fact that a mere

mestizo, like Ramon Castilla, devoid of intellectual or moral

pre-eminence, should have succeeded in getting himself declared President

for life of the Republic,[140] are the best proofs of the political and

moral degradation of the Republic of Peru. All the splendid territories

from Peru to Mexico have, after three centuries of Spanish rule, sunk into

a state of demoralization and degeneracy, owing to the listless,

labour-hating, sluggish mestizo races that inhabit it, such as only the

immigration of one of the hardy northern races can ever adequately remedy.

In a previous visit to Central America, I have wandered through its rich

scenery, clad in the hues of perpetual summer, and smiling in exuberance

of fertility, and everywhere the same impression was made upon me. Almost

the only effect this wealth of nature seems to exercise upon the Indian or

negro mestizo is to incapacitate him from mastering by any effort of his

own the lethargy that preys upon him. Where a few rare exceptions occur,

as, for instance, in Costa Rica, in which a sounder policy is preserved,

it is invariably found that they are of purer Spanish descent than their

sister republics in tropical South America.[141]

Owing to their political organization, these various states can scarcely

fail to be powerfully affected by the impulses of our time. They have no

other prospect than that of becoming either an integral portion of the

immense North American Federation, or of once more being consolidated into

a monarchy under the sceptre of some scion of a European royal family. In

all probability, whether they be North Americans, or English, or Germans,

they will always be children of some of a more powerful race, who must

ultimately subvert the races of the Southern type, awaken a new spirit of

energy, and so carry out that which the lazy mixed races of the present

time have neither the power nor the inclination to effect. An immigration

of stilled Northerners can alone raise these countries politically and

commercially, develope their natural resources, and restore them to the

grade of civilized states.

Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. · 第 10 / 13 章

The carrying out of this scheme, which must exercise an incalculable