CHAPTER VII.

On Climate and Disease.—Panama, Guayaquil, Peru, and Chile.

For those who propose to cross the Isthmus of Panama, or visit the

shores of the Pacific, it may be interesting to be made in some degree

acquainted with the influence of particular climates, and the sort

of illness which they are most likely to experience at the principal

commercial ports, particularly to the south of the line. On this account

the author now offers some general hints on these subjects, having it

in view to publish as a separate treatise a practical account of the

diseases of Peru, described as they occur at different altitudes, in the

diversified climate of that country.

The seasons at Panama are divided into wet and dry: the rainy season

begins towards the latter end of May, and continues till November; and

from November to June, or the latter end of May, is the dry season. At

Panama, agues, fevers, bilious and gastric complaints are common in the

wet season; but the yellow fever, or “_Vomito negro_,” very rarely has

been known to pass the mountain barriers which separate the Atlantic

from the Pacific. At Cruces the traveller may enjoy a better and safer

climate, during the wet and unhealthy months, (when the thermometer

never, perhaps, falls below 90°,) than either at Panama or Chagres.

To the north of the Isthmus, along the shores of Central America and

Mexico, as far at least as the northern tropic, the climate is considered

“malsano,” or exceedingly unhealthy; a fact well known to those who trade

with Realejo, San Blas, and Mazatlan, where very dangerous remittent

fevers prevail.

To the southward of the Isthmus on the shores of Colombia, in about 2°

south latitude, we find the port and city of Guayaquil, of well-known

commercial importance. Here, the climate is considered unhealthy during

the wet season, when the air is sultry and oppressive; but in the dry

season Guayaquil is not reckoned particularly sickly. The rain commences

in light showers in December, is very heavy in February, and dwindles

away in April. From May to December is the dry season.

The wet season, being the hottest, would naturally be considered as

summer; but here, as in other places of seasonal or periodical rains, the

wet season is called “invierno,” or winter, and the dry season “verano,”

or summer; yet the latter is cooler than the former, and allows one to

wear warmer clothing than would be agreeable in the rainy months.

In the rainy season the thermometer ascends to 90° or 96° Fahrenheit;

but, during the dry season, it ranges from 65° to 85°, being 65° at

night, and rarely exceeding 80°, though it sometimes reaches 85° during

the day. The rain usually falls in the afternoon or night, seldom in

the forenoon, when the sun is often so powerful as nearly to dry up

the pools and streets before the evening rain comes on again; however,

there are days when no rain falls. The houses being covered with tiles,

and furnished with arcades, are sufficiently defended against sun and

rain. The plain extending between mountain and sea is, for ten or twelve

leagues inland, well wooded, and intersected here and there with smaller

rivers which the natives call esteros or lakes, in allusion probably to

their appearance during the wet season, when, teeming with alligators,

they inundate the beautiful meadows round about; so that the term “river”

is only applied, by way of distinction, to the great navigable river

of the city, which is so influenced by the tide, at least in the dry

season, as to be quite briny to the taste. Here the natives bathe all the

year round,—a practice, we believe, which conduces not a little to the

general health and fair and stately form of the Guayaquilenian ladies,

who are said to be fonder of town, and the ease of their hammocks, than

of country air and exercise. The streets of Guayaquil, being steeped in

rain, become contaminated for want of police; insects swarm on every

side, and vegetable and animal emanations pollute the atmosphere: malaria

abounds; and fevers, dysenteries, and various gastric disorders attack

the inhabitants, and especially the imprudent stranger, who, trusting in

his youth and strength, and not considering that difference of climate

demands corresponding difference of life, perseveres in the same habits

under every parallel of latitude through which he passes from one

temperate zone to the other.

In warm and humid situations, such as Guayaquil, surrounded by rivers,

stagnant pools, lagoons, and exuberant vegetation, atmospherical heat may

operate in causing disease, not merely by promoting the production of

miasmata, but also by increasing the irritability of the organs of the

body, so as to predispose to severe attacks of illness. The affection of

the skin commonly known under the name of “prickly heat” is very likely

to arise from profuse perspiration while in Guayaquil; and all excess in

the cuticular secretion should be avoided by every proper means, such as

suitable clothing, temperate living, and moderate bodily exertion, &c.

The contrary practice, of encouraging sweat by heating drinks, has a bad

tendency, both moral and physical:—physically, it produces, sooner or

later, gastric and hepatic diseases;—morally, it furnishes a pretext

and excuse for deep potations;—and the end of all is a broken down

constitution, and a mind impaired in its noblest powers. In another point

of view, without supposing that the fevers which on the shores of the

Pacific are termed putrid arise from the want of a due quantity of saline

ingredients in the blood, it is not improbable that, when perspiration

is excessive and too long continued, it may indeed carry off from the

circulation more of these saline portions than can be quite compatible

with a state of perfect health. We have sometimes observed horses, when

hard pressed on a hot day along the sandy plains of Peru, lie down

exhausted and overcome by excessive sweat and muscular exertion; and, on

being unsaddled and allowed to cool, the poor animals on such occasions

would appear as if covered with hoar-frost, from the quantity of saline

matter left behind from the fluids perspired and evaporated.

Moderate transpiration, however, is a cooling process, and a necessary

one to the natural condition of the system, when the circulation of

the blood is much increased, as is the case under high atmospherical

temperature, though at the same time muscular vigour usually becomes

much diminished under such circumstances. The functions of the stomach

often grow languid as the relaxation of the skin has been great and long

continued; but, while the appetite is thus diminished, the flow of bile

is apt to be increased, and the bowels often become irregular,—sometimes

too lax and irritable, at other times torpid and costive.

In one we may observe that, when the bowels are lax from an overflow of

bile, the skin is dry, and that for months together; while in another,

exposed to the same changes of climate, the skin is always soft, while

the secretion from the kidneys is scanty, and the intestines appear

to lack their wonted moisture, and become sluggish, as if deprived of

their muscular power of healthy action. But it more usually occurs,

on being transported from a cold to a warm and humid climate, that a

very notable alteration and increase is observed in both secretions—the

biliary and cutaneous, of the liver and of the skin. The state of the

bowels therefore requires to be attended to very particularly in all

great transitions of climate; because, from undue accumulations in the

intestinal passages during warm and sultry weather, irritation and

fever may ensue, and a bilious disorder of the bowels, if neglected, or

ill-treated, will too readily decline into a fatal dysentery.

Having in the first chapter of the first volume of this work given a

sufficiently minute account of the climate of the Peruvian coast, it

will now be enough for us to remark that, at its northern extremity,

though bordering on the verdant country of the Equatorial Republic, the

air of the coast of Peru is less humid than it is at its southern limit,

where it joins the desert of Atacama.

The peculiar dryness of the province of Piura is not explained by the

fact that in this part of the coast the Andes retire farther inland than

in many others; for, from Piura, we have only to pass the river Tumbez,

when, as formerly mentioned, the face of nature is quite changed, and

the plains of Guayaquil, though at their lower and more maritime parts

far distant from the inland piles of mountains, are nevertheless deluged

in rain during the wet season; whereas Payta, the sea-port of Piura, has

(as we have been informed by a native of those parts, our enlightened

and public-spirited friend, Don Santiago Tabara,) not unfrequently, for

years in succession,—sometimes as many as ten or twelve years,—not a

shower to give life to a single blade of grass.

At Truxillo, again, the capital of a Peruvian province, situated on the

coast in lat. 8° 8´ south, the air is much drier than at Lima or Callao

in 12° 2´ of south latitude: yet Truxillo is in the vicinity of lofty

mountains which run parallel to the coast; and Huanchaco, its sea-port,

is situated at the foot of the lofty Bell Mountains. But, to enumerate no

more particulars, we think it will be found true as a general proposition

that, from the desert of Atacama to the landing-place of Pizarro on

the banks of the Tumbez,—from the southern tropic to close upon the

line,—there is a progressive diminution of atmospherical humidity.

The difference thus marked in the state of the air appears to influence

very materially the character of several diseases, as intermittent fevers

or _tercianas_, which on the northern coast of Peru, or what is called

_costa de abajo_, and more particularly in the eminently dry province

of Piura, are of milder type than along the shores of the southern and

maritime departments of Peru, known under the name of _los intermedios_.

The Indian population of Piura are a hardy and healthy race of people,

naturally inclined to corpulency; and, indeed, the Indians of Peru in

general are constitutionally disposed to a sleek rotundity of form, which

it would only require ease and good generous diet to call into full

developement, so as to render the bulk of this race _as fat as Caciques_.

Most of the chronic diseases of the Piuranos are said to result from

leaving all to nature in the earlier stages of their complaints; and,

among these northern provincialists, phthisis, dysentery, tercianas or

agues, and typhus mitior,[32] are endemic. The same sort of complaints,

varying however in the intensity of attendant symptoms, are met with all

along the maritime valleys of the coast; and in the list of prevalent

diseases at Lima and elsewhere, visceral obstructions, intestinal

hæmorrhage, disorders of the heart, and asthma, deserve particular

notice. There are also a variety of cutaneous eruptions and nervous

diseases of frequent occurrence, upon the nature and cure of which it is

not at present our purpose to enlarge.

In consumption, which, in all its various forms, is a common disease on

the coast of Peru, a portion of the lungs becoming by degrees ulcerated

and destroyed, there is consequently an interruption to the proper

discharge of the pulmonary functions, accompanied with nocturnal

increase of fever and excessive perspiration. But, even in this advanced

stage of the disease, changing the air of the coast for that of the

mountains or temperate valleys of the Sierra, is found to produce great

relief and prolongation of life.

Spitting of blood from the lungs seems in most instances to depend on

the presence of tubercular phthisis, or on an inherent constitutional

tendency to this disease; and any accidental excitement, as that from

cold or undue exposure to atmospherical vicissitudes, may hurry on cases

of pulmonary hæmorrhage to a fatal termination. Suckling, in particular,

is known to be apt to occasion spitting of blood, which, if not cured in

time, usually ends in those symptoms which characterise consumption of

the lungs.

It is curious to observe that, in the warm climates of the coast, cold

is the exciting cause of most of the diseases which present themselves,

such as catarrh, phthisis, bowel complaints, rheumatism, and even the

intermittent and remittent fevers; for we believe that the baneful

influence of malaria would not be nearly so often experienced, were its

operation in the developement of fever not aided by some check to the

perspiration, or what the natives call _resfrio_.

It is a subject of remark on the sugar estates of Cañete, and other parts

of the coast, that the slave population, though they work in the humid

cane-fields, are yet by no means so liable to ague as either the white

man or Indian. One reason for this difference appears to be that the

sebaceous glands of the dark races, and especially the negro, keep their

skin smooth and soft with a supply of unctuous or oily matter, of rather

offensive odour, but admirably fitted to guard against the evil effects

of atmospherical vicissitudes.

As black surfaces radiate heat better than those of lighter tints, it

might be expected that the body of the negro would be excessively chilled

when exposed to the night air: but the negroes of the coast of Peru

often sleep in the open air, without interrupting the healthy action of

the dermal system. This is a fact which we are disposed to refer to the

preservative effect of the unctuous exudation, because all oily matters

being bad conductors prevent the excessive radiation of internal, and the

too rapid communication of external heat; and therefore, by this natural

inunction of the negro and zambo skin, nature provides a remedy against

the extremes of cold or heat under ordinary circumstances.

We thus learn that flannels or woollens, being bad conductors, are,

when worn next the skin, very valuable as preservatives of an equal

circulation, and therefore of general health, particularly for the

European of finer and unanointed skin when subjected to the influence of

tropical climates.

During the hot months of January and February, on the coast of Peru,

the irritability of the whole system is increased, and particularly of

the mucous membrane of the alimentary passages; and cholera morbus thus

becomes an exceedingly common disease, for which the standard remedy is

ice, or iced water.

The privilege of selling ice in the capital of Peru belongs to the

government, who usually let it out for a term of years to the highest

bidder. The empresario, or lessee, conveys the ice on mules from the

nearest snow-clad mountains at the back of Lima; and is bound to have

always on hand a sufficient quantity for the supply of the capital, and

be ready to deliver it at all hours of the day and night. In form of

frescos, or cooling drinks, every one uses ice in warm summer weather;

and it is considered not merely a luxury or a remedy, but a necessary of

life, indispensable for the due preservation of the public health.

The facility of procuring ice renders cholera morbus a disease of easy

cure, according to the popular practice of the natives. In the first

stage of this malady they administer diluents, such as warm water,

linseed or mallow water, with or without a little seasoning of cream of

tartar or tamarinds; and these simple drinks they continue to give until

they consider that the patient has vomited and voided enough, that is,

until all undigested matters be thrown off, and the bowels well unloaded;

and then they administer iced water, which produces a powerfully sedative

effect.

The death-like coldness of the patient deters neither the vulgar nor the

regular practitioner (who sometimes conjoins opiates and iced drinks)

from giving this remedy with confidence; and the general consequence of

the seasonable use of ice and iced water in this fearful disorder is,

that the stage of external coldness is shortened by the early removal of

internal heat; and thus the exhausting career of the disease is quickly

arrested.

Under this vulgar but satisfactory and long-established treatment of

cholera morbus in Lima, where the disease is endemic, though more

prevalent in the hot months, vomiting, hiccup, and cramps disappear;

reaction is so mild and favourable as never to require the lancet: yet

recovery is almost always certain, though cases appear from time to time

so intense as to assume the aspect of what is called Asiatic cholera,

during which, as a native physician expresses it, the patient is a horrid

image of death.

At Ica and various other points to the southward, where vineyards abound,

it is observed in vintage-time that to eat freely of the grape on an

empty stomach, or without eating bread with the fruit, is one of the

most frequent causes of dysentery, which disease is more appalling and

fatal on the shores of the Pacific than the cholera morbus to which we

have just alluded. It is, however, gratifying to know that, in the form

of dysentery which commonly prevails, the calomel and opium plan of

treatment, when discreetly conducted, is assuredly the safest and best

yet adopted, whether in Lima or in the interior of the country.

Moquegua, which lies a considerable way inwards towards the mountains

behind the sea-port of Ilo, is not less famous for its wine and its

grapes, than for its dysenteries and violent agues; but Tacna, on the

other hand, about seven leagues inward from the port of Arica, is so

healthy as to be a place of resort to the people of the port during the

_terciana_, or aguish season, which, over all the coast, is about the

vernal and more particularly the autumnal equinox.

The salubrity of climate for which Tacna is distinguished is considered

to be partly owing to its vicinity to the cold of the mountains, (for the

snowy pass of the Cordillera, which leads to upper Peru, is within four

hours’ ride of this town,) and still more to a fine dry plain between

it and the sea, which only wants water to become rich in agricultural

produce.[33] But in its present state it is free from that malaria which

the humidity attendant on irrigation would not fail to engender here

as well as in other parts of the coast. In its environs cotton grows

spontaneously; and the native women collect it, and make thread from it

by means of the _spindle_, just as we have often seen done in some of the

warmer inland valleys, where the cotton is indigenous. It is a fact, not

perhaps undeserving of notice, that a bud cut off a cotton-tree in the

neighbourhood of Arica or Tacna was hung up in the cabin of an English

merchant-ship, preserved its vitality in the navigation round Cape Horn,

and opened when about half-way between Peru and England.

The whole coast of upper Peru—now called Bolivia—is arid and desert;

so much so, that the celebrated president Santa Cruz—who, much to the

prejudice of Arica,[34] made Cobija a free port for the introduction of

merchandise,—found that he could not, by sinking pits in the deep sands

of Cobija, come at a supply of good water.[35] For want of water and

lucern, mules from the interior of Bolivia often die at the sea-port of

Cobija; for there is no vegetation within a great distance from this

place. The little water that is obtained at Cobija is brackish, like

that in the pozo or well of the great castle at Callao,[36] which has

invariably been observed to give disorder of the bowels to the soldiers,

who, during the sieges which that fortress has sustained, were obliged

to drink of it. The same has been observed at Cobija, and therefore

there are boats kept there for the purpose of conveying water to it from

Paquisa and other distant parts, which makes it an expensive necessary of

life.

On several parts of the coast of Peru, water, even for domestic uses, is

very scarce; and in the dry season wells are often dug in the beds of

dried-up rivers, or in other places in the neighbourhood of irrigated

lands. At Port Bermejo and Casma, between nine and ten degrees of south

latitude, we are told by the Spanish coasting pilots that, dig where you

will, at ten or twelve paces from the sea, you are sure of finding water

at the depth of half a fathom that is not very brackish. Wells or pits,

however, thus opened in different parts of the coast, are often found to

dry up as they do in Lima (where they are common enough) during the dry

season, which is the time when they are most required.

In northern Peru the practice of digging pits for water in the beds

of rivers is very common; and such is the scarcity of fresh water at

the sea-port of Payta, that it is carried to the city on mules, from

the distance of several leagues. But on the contrary, at the sea-port

of Arica, in southern Peru, good water is found wherever a pit is

dug for it; and within two leagues of this port is the fine vale of

Asapa, abounding in vines, olives, lucern, corn, &c. and affording a

more convenient and copious supply of fresh provisions for shipping

than either Payta or Cobija. These facts are of value not only in an

economical but medical point of view; since on the quality of the

water, as well as of the condition of the atmosphere, in any particular

situation, must greatly depend the health of its inhabitants. Thus, in

Arequipa, of which Quilca was the old, and Islay the present sea-port,

the river-water is said to contain some salts in solution, which render

it unwholesome until it is boiled; and this is known to be one of the

causes of dysentery, which is a prevalent disease in that city.

The peasantry, who travel with asses between Bolivia and Chile across the

deserts of Atacama, pitch their tents by day, to avoid the extreme heat

of the sun reflected from the burning sand, and proceed on their journey

by night; carrying with them all the water and provisions necessary for

the journey. And it may be remarked that the soldiers, sent by order of

General Salaverry to invade Cobija, had to march from the landing-place

at Iquique over desert sands like these, when under their gallant leader

Quirroga they took by surprise the port of Bolivia. These coast marches

usually fall to the lot of the Indian infantry, and these hardy natives

of the mountains generally prefer performing them between sun-down and

sun-rise; for not being constituted, like the sable races, to live in

very warm climates, they are more liable to fever when posting over sandy

plains during the noon-tide heat; and, if they do but meet with musk or

water-melons on their way, they devour them so greedily that they are

sure to fall victims to sundry disorders—as intermittents, remittents,

dysentery, &c.

In Chile, Nature puts on a different appearance from what she wears in

Peru and Bolivia; there, however, as in these countries, the year is

divided into wet and dry—the winter and summer. But in Chile it rains,

as in Colombia and the Equatorial Republic, at the same season on the

mountains and coast; in which respect it differs altogether from Peru

and Bolivia. In the southern extremity of this republic, at about 40° of

south latitude, the rains are heavier, and of longer continuance, than in

the northernmost part, where it joins the great desert of Atacama. On the

coast of Chile very severe gales are experienced, when the coast of Peru

is only refreshed by light and gentle breezes.

During summer, the sun at noon is felt very powerfully at the capital of

Chile, and it is requisite to guard against the risks of insolation; just

as happens in Lima in the month of May, when the mornings and evenings

are cool and cloudy, but the mid-day so excessively hot that it has

become proverbial, and children and others are at this season warned by

the older and more wary Limenians to keep out of the sun in these words,

“Quitese de este sol que madura duraznos!”—Get out of this sun, hot

enough to ripen peaches! an expression probably used in reference to the

mode of ripening fruit of various sorts in Lima, by having it stoved. We

understand that this is done chiefly to prevent the birds from eating the

fruit, which they would not fail to do if it were left to ripen naturally

on the tree. The cheremoya is the fruit most commonly stoved.

In July and August the snow sometimes falls around Santiago, when the

native of Lima who visits this Chilean capital is peculiarly struck with

the novel appearance of the orange-trees in the “_patios_” or court-yards

of the houses, bending under the double weight of fruit and congealed

snow; the green leaves forming a remarkable contrast with the sparkling

crystals, like the jewel garden of the Incas.[37] It rarely snows in the

valleys; but in the winter of 1834, as we were told, a postman and his

horse perished in the snow on the road between Santiago and its sea-port

Valparaiso,[38] where in the months of June, July, August, and September,

it rains a great deal. But during the dry season, though sometimes foggy

in the morning, the sky upon the whole is clear, and the climate healthy

and agreeable.

In giving an account of the climate and progress of vegetation on the

coast of the middle provinces of Chile, it is stated, on good authority,

that “the rainy season, as already mentioned, begins in May, and

continues to October; the heaviest rains are in June and July. After a

few days of rain, there is an interval of fine weather for at least one

or two weeks; and the quantity that falls during the season is small,

varying from twelve to sixteen inches. In summer the atmosphere is

excessively arid, and there is little or no dew. The temperature at noon,

in the middle of the rainy season, is generally about 60°; at night,

seldom under 40°, though there is occasionally a little frost. In summer

the thermometer at noon stands between 70° and 75°; but, during the

night, in clear weather, it frequently falls more than 20°.

“During the latter part of summer, vegetation is almost dormant, and

scarcely a plant of any kind is to be seen in flower; but, in a very few

weeks after the first rains, every part of the country is clothed with

verdure.

“In the south of Chile the heavy rains render the road almost impassable;

and, as vegetation does not advance so rapidly there as in the north,

he” (_the naturalist_) “can botanise in October, November, December, and

January.”[39]

The following observations on atmospherical vicissitudes and miasmatous

matter, with the rationale of their effects in the production of disease

among the inhabitants of Santiago of Chile, we have pleasure in being

able to offer in the form of a translation from an essay in Spanish,[40]

published in the year 1828, by Doctor William C. Blest; upon whom,

though an Englishman, the Government of Chile conferred the highest

professional honours, by nominating him to the protomedical chair, which

he fills with credit in that republic.

Dr. Blest, in endeavouring to rouse the attention of those functionaries

who preside over the destinies of the republic, to the neglected state

of its municipal police, says of Santiago that “The streets, with a few

exceptions, have either very bad pavement, or none at all. The canals

or water-courses, (las acequias,) which, without doubt, were originally

intended to refresh and purify the city, are at present receptacles

of every sort of nuisance; and, not having free exit, they terminate

in stagnant pools around the city, which are so many laboratories of

putrefaction. The cross streets are left in so shameful a state of

neglect, that it is impossible to pass along their narrow foot-paths

without being shocked at every step.

“The suburbs, where the poorer and more numerous class of the community

reside, are so full of dirt and mud, that even on horseback it is

difficult to pass through them. In almost every street there are small

and confined apartments, without air or light, except that which enters

at the door, and these are occupied by whole families of artisans; so

that it is not uncommon to see seven or eight persons crowded together in

one wretched abode, where dogs and cats add to the nuisance, and still

further crowd the family group.

“Such is a true picture of the police of Santiago; and, to convince the

curious reader of its accuracy, we need only refer to the aqueducts which

pass through the streets and houses,—to the heaps of putrid matter in

the cross streets,—to the deep deposits of mire and marshes,—and to the

crowded and unventilated dwellings of the poor and labouring classes....

“It is too well and generally known that at all seasons, and for days

together in every week, the aqueducts which pass through the houses are

so completely blocked up with the quantity of vegetable matter and dead

animals collected in them, that they cannot transmit even the smallest

stream of water. The subordinate or cross streets, and many of the

principal ones, are not less filthy; and any stranger who visits Santiago

will be inclined to believe that, of all the towns of South America, it

is the dirtiest.[41]

“Sad experience, and especially in recent times, has taught, that during

the decomposition of organized matter, whether animal or vegetable,

under the action of heat and moisture, certain exhalations take place,

which possess properties in the highest degree injurious to the health

of man. This is a truth which is attested by a multitude of medical

authors. It is the good fortune of the inhabitants of Santiago, that the

atmosphere in which they breathe does not so readily absorb, or act upon

substances undergoing the process of putrefaction, as to engender those

dreadful epidemics, which have carried off millions of lives, and are

still reaping their harvest of mortality in various parts of Spain, North

America, India, Mexico, Panama, Vera Cruz,[42] and many other regions of

the Old and New World.

“Were they not thus favoured by the natural salubrity of their

atmosphere, the church-bells of the Chilean capital would be daily heard

to toll the mournful knell of death, and every home would present the

tearful scene of grief and lamentation.

“But although in Santiago the action of the atmospheric air on substances

in a state of putrefaction is not so active as to produce such epidemics

as those alluded to, yet it cannot be denied that it is capable of

acquiring such properties as make it exercise a most baneful influence

on the public health: inducing attacks of dysentery, typhus and other

fevers, which, from time to time, appear epidemically. In truth, to some

general cause of this nature we must attribute those violent and fatal

dysenteries which were so very prevalent in the year 1826, and which

recurred in the months of March and April of the present year (1828). To

a similar cause must be referred that vexatious sort of puerperal fever

which in the year 1827 attacked such a number of women; and also those

cases of typhus or _chabalongo_ which abound, with few exceptions, every

year.

“Reasoning on the generally received principle that air at a high

temperature occasions a greater degree of exhalation from bodies than

cool air does, and from what we know the influence of summer heat to be

in other countries, we should suppose that diseases caused by miasmatous

matter should be here more common in summer than in winter; but our

acquaintance with this climate induces us to think differently on this

subject.

“Here, in summer, the air of the atmosphere is uniformly clear and

cloudless; and the emanations from the earth’s surface, meeting

neither clouds nor mists to impede their ascent, mingle with the other

atmospherical ingredients, and diffuse themselves freely through the

regions of space. The opposite of this takes place in winter. The

heat of the sun is always very considerable, or at least sufficient to

disengage from heaps of nastiness and rubbish the noxious vapours which

putrefaction has generated in them. At sunset these vapours come in

contact with the clouds that gather around us, and soon meet the cold

air of the approaching night; the consequence of which is, that they

are precipitated into the lower strata of the atmosphere, and wafted

on the nocturnal breeze into the interior of our habitations. Thus a

satisfactory and rational explanation is given, why there should be

more sickness in winter than in summer; and by associating this view of

the matter with the bad ventilation in the houses of the poor, who from

their inability to provide themselves with fuel[43] and warm clothing,

are compelled to exclude the free admission of air, we may perceive the

reason why at this season the poor are more obnoxious to disease than

those whose pecuniary circumstances enable them to protect their homes

from the severities of winter by better means than the utter exclusion of

the air.

“The generality of persons, overlooking the course of atmospherical

changes, imagine that the diminution in the number of cases of sporadic

fever observable in summer is owing to the abundant consumption of the

fruits of this season. We will not deny that the use of fruit may improve

to a considerable extent the health of those persons who in winter and

spring have been nourished with strong and stimulating aliment, such as

is calculated to disorder the digestive functions; but we are far from

thinking that to the use of fruits alone are to be assigned all the good

effects which the vulgar fancy they derive from them. We know that in

other countries not less bounteously supplied with fruit than Chile,

though not favoured with so benign a climate, epidemic diseases prevail

more in summer than in winter. For these, and many other reasons which

it would be superfluous to detail, we consider ourselves authorized to

dissent from public opinion on this subject, and to assign the diminution

in the diseases of the character alluded to, during the summer months,

to causes more in conformity with medical philosophy: namely, the

benign state of the atmosphere in summer; the bodily exercise which the

different classes of the community indulge in every summer evening; and

the wholesome ventilation which they enjoy at this season, their doors

being constantly open, and many of them choosing to sleep even in the

open air.”

APPENDIX

ON THE ZOOLOGY OF WESTERN PERU.

Under the head of the zoology of western Peru we beg leave to present

to the reader a translation of a chapter on the influence of climate on

animals, especially on domestic animals, taken from the work of the late

Dr. Don Hipolito Unanue, entitled “Observaciones sobre el Clima de Lima.”

Dr. Unanue was an ornament to society, and honoured by his country, as

well under the Spanish as the Patriot government: by the former, as the

reader already knows, he was appointed chief of the medical tribunal of

Peru; by the latter, president of that republic.

TRANSLATION.

The horrid picture of America which has been drawn by some ultramarine

philosophers does not apply to Peru, and can only be viewed as the

production of their own excited imaginations. Where else, indeed, could

they have found those dark and unfriendly dies which enabled them to

depict these happy regions under a repulsive aspect?—as so many dark

spots in the creation denied the blessing of Providence,—as the dismal

abode of serpents, crocodiles, and venomous monsters.[44]

Quale portentum neque militaris

Daunia in latis alit esculetis;

Nec Jubæ tellus generat, leonum

Arida nutrix.

HOR.

The learned Count Buffon laid down and wished to establish the four

following propositions: 1st, that of the animals common to the old and

new continents, the breed is larger in the former than in the latter;

2d, that the animals indigenous to the new are less than those of the

old hemisphere; 3d, that the species of domestic animals which have

been transplanted from Europe, have degenerated in America; 4th, that

this part of the earth furnishes but few races of animals peculiar to

itself. But the inaccuracy of these propositions has been demonstrated

by the illustrious President Jefferson[45] in comparative tables of

the existing animals on both continents. This, however, seems to be

certain, that, as animals depend for their support on the productions

of the vegetable kingdom, their number and growth will be in proportion

to the luxuriance of vegetation; and therefore, there being in the one

hemisphere as well as in the other very extensive plains covered with

abundant pastures, and likewise poor and sterile regions that yield

little or no nutriment, either hemisphere will exceed the other in the

size, number, and beauty of its animals, wherever it happens to exceed

the other in the fertility and extent of its woods and meadows.

Peru is by no means well fitted to maintain the numerous species of

indigenous animals which inhabit the forests of North America, nor

calculated for the multiplication of those which may be transplanted from

Europe, to that prodigious extent which is observed on the broad plains

and exuberant pastures of Chile and Parana. Still, however, this country,

in its coast, its mountain ranges, and Montaña, comprises upon the whole

a vast and beautiful variety, with which the pages of natural history

will be one day enriched; but it is only our object at present to offer

observations on some of the most remarkable of these, as they appear to

be influenced by our climate.

INDIGENOUS QUADRUPEDS.

Of the families of quadrupeds found in Peru at the period of its

discovery and conquest, the following are the chief.

_Paco._[46]—_Camelus Peruvianus_, Linn. Syst. Nat.;—Molina, Histor. de

Chile, Part I.

_Alco._—_Canis Americanus_, Linn.; _Kiltho_,—_Thegua_, Mol.

_Puma._—_Felis puma_, Linn.; _Pagi_, Mol.

_Uturuncu._—_Felis onsa_, Linn.; _Felis gigna_, Molin.—is found in the

west of Peru; and by the same name is designated the yaguar of Azara,

plate IX. which inhabits the woods and thickets on the eastern side of

the country.

_Ucumari._—_Ursus Americanus_, Linn.

_Tarúca._—_Elaphus_, Linn. ast corpore minor.

Providence, which has everywhere supplied its rational creatures with

means of maintenance, and of executing the labours to which they are by

nature destined, conferred on the native of the Andes an inestimable

boon in the _paco_; by whose wool he is clothed, by whose flesh he is

nourished. The fleet huanaco and the timid vicuña afford him amusement

and pastime in the chase; and the llama and alpaca convey his goods with

safety through the rough and narrow pathways of his native mountains. The

long and upraised neck of these animals, their full and expressive eyes,

the _urcu_, or tuft which adorns their foreheads, and the dignified air

with which they look around them, as with composed and solemn step they

march along in a right line like disciplined troops, form altogether a

picture of such peculiar and striking beauty as must always be admired,

and never can be forgotten.

The _alco_ is the most faithful companion of the Indian: it is of middle

size; and its body is commonly covered with black wool, all except at the

breast and tail, where it is grey. These dogs are endowed with singularly

acute powers of perception, their bark never fails to give notice of

anything new that happens about the hut or dwelling, and they also attack

strangers with great ferocity. Of this race there is a small breed

like our lapdogs, which the Indian women carry on their _quipes_,[47]

and cherish in their bosoms; and, as these pet-dogs are taciturn, this

peculiarity has made some persons suppose that the alcos do not bark, and

therefore belong not to the dog species.

The pacos and alcos inhabit the Sierra or highlands. Such of them as are

domesticated descend with their masters to the coast, where they stay

but a short time, and then return; for in the heat of the coast they

soon fall victims to the _caracha_ or itch,—the consequence of increased

excitement and circulation on the surface of the body, and a want of

perspiration occasioned by the thickness of the skin. Not more remarkable

for their beauty are the eyes of the llamas and tarúcas in the Sierra,

than are the aborigines of the same mountains for the smallness of their

eyes and their inclination outwards towards the external angle: an useful

structure, for it adjusts their sight to their situation, and, by giving

them a side-long view of objects, often prevents them from falling over

precipices when crossing the wild passes of the mountains. The same

peculiarity of structure also defends them from the bad effects of the

sun’s reflection from the snow, which in white people and the natives of

the coast, whose eyes are full and large, induces _zurumpe_, which is a

troublesome ophthalmia.

The _tarúca_ or deer, and the _puma_ or lion, being fitted to endure the

temperature of the Sierra and of the coast, pass backwards and forwards

from one climate to the other: the deer go about in flocks; but the

little lions wander in solitude, apart from others of their kind. The

deer are of a middle size, and have pretty horns.[48] They are fleet,

and afford amusement to those who are fond of coursing. The _otorunco_ or

tiger, and the _ucumari_ or bear, do not frequent this side of the Andes,

but they inhabit the regions eastward of these mountains, where there are

many other animals of prey.

FOREIGN QUADRUPEDS.

The sheep transported from Europe have increased to an amazing degree on

the great commons or pastures of _ichu_[49] which abound in the heights

of the Andes; and in the wide-spreading provinces of Collao the quality

of the wool is particularly superior.

In the high and Cordillera ranges, horses, asses, and black cattle are,

like man, of small size, because their growth is stinted by cold: they

are covered with hair which has the softness, length, and consistence

of wool; by means of which Nature protects them against the inclemency

of those bleak and frozen wastes, even as she does the flowers of such

shrubs[50] as grow on the same frigid heights.

On the other hand, in the valleys and on the coast, where the heat

is sufficient to enable the various members of the body to develope

themselves freely, those very quadrupeds are of good size, spirited, and

showy. The donkey[51] is strong, and in Lima the most serviceable of

the domestic animals; as he is also at the sugar-works, where he carries

on his back a great weight of cane from the field to the mill: the horse

is graceful and spirited: the bulls are powerful; and in the valleys of

Chincha and Cañete, where a certain wild breed are carefully reared for

the bull-ring, these animals are most ferocious.

The black cattle of the Sierra do not endure the climate of the coast:

immediately that they descend from their native mountains, to use the

vulgar expression, they become _touched_; that is, they become stupified,

and die with amazing rapidity. On examining the entrails of cattle thus

cut off, the liver, which has a broiled appearance, is observed to be

indurated. I conceive that these animals are affected by transition of

climate in the same manner as the human species; for, as soon as bullocks

from the high and cold regions of the Andes arrive on the warm coast, the

circulation of their blood is unusually accelerated and directed to the

surface; but, as the skin which covers them is too thick and unyielding

to allow of proper transpiration, the consequence is that there arises

an ardent fever which destroys them. In beeves this fever is more

violent and burning than it is in the paco or alco, because the skin

of the latter, being of thinner texture than that of oxen, offers less

resistance to the outlet of the humours; so that in the animals of finer

skin there comes out a salutary eruption, which saves them; while in

black cattle nothing of this sort occurs, and therefore they perish with

incredible celerity.[52]

The butchers have not yet found out a remedy for this disorder. They only

know from experience that the mortality among the cattle is greater in

summer than in winter: a fact confirmatory of our conjectures as to the

nature of the distemper: and therefore it is during the winter, or misty

season on the coast, that cattle are driven down from the mountains to

supply the Lima market.

Should we compare the dogs reared in this city with those allowed equal

freedom in the cities of Upper Peru, it will be found that the former are

most indolent and indifferent to everything, so that any one, though an

entire stranger, may step over them without the least molestation; but

the latter surly curs it is necessary to approach with caution, because

they attack all persons with whom they are not well acquainted and on

friendly terms.

These animals are subject, especially in spring, to catarrhal epidemics

which are peculiar to themselves; and they are also liable to influenzas

by which mankind are affected, it being among them that the fatal

epidemic commenced in the Trojan army.

Neither in Peru, nor in the neighbouring sections of South America, were

dogs ever known to be attacked by hydrophobia prior to 1803; but about

this time the malady broke out, during the heat of summer, in the valleys

of the northern coast, from whence it extended southward along the

maritime plains; having arrived at the city of Arequipa in the spring of

1807, while in Lima it was observed between the summer and autumn of the

same year.

Having collected all the necessary data for disclosing the origin of

this disorder, and consulted in writing the physicians and well-informed

persons who had witnessed its symptoms, I have clearly learned,—1st.

That this disease arose spontaneously from the increased atmospherical

temperature of the years 1803 and 1804. It commenced on the northern

coast, commonly called _Costa Abajo_, where the air was so heated that

Reaumur’s thermometer indicated the temperature of 30° in some of the

valleys: the calms were extreme, without the lightest breeze that could

ripple the surface of the ocean; animals rushed into lakes and pools of

still water to relieve themselves from the sensation of excessive heat;

so that the season described by Horace was fully realized:

Jam Procyon furit,

Et stella vesani Leonis:

... caretque

Ripa taciturna ventis.

2. This disorder affected every sort of quadruped without distinction:

and such was the degree of phrensy excited by it, that some animals in

their fury bit and tore themselves to pieces; and, in situations where

the heat was extreme, several men fell ill with all the symptoms of

hydrophobia without having been bit.

3. The malady attached itself more especially to dogs, and some of them

suffered so mild an attack that their bite was not mortal; but the

greater number were severely affected, and propagated the infection to

their kind, to other quadrupeds, and to man.

The mean and niggardly overseer of a sugar-estate had distributed among

his negroes, though advised not to do so, some head of cattle that died

rabid; which he did under the impression that they were only _tocado_, or

touched with that disease which in hot weather usually affects cattle

from the mountains: and the result was, that of the poor negroes who had

partaken of this meat, many died with symptoms of hydrophobia.

4. In the towns of Ica and Arequipa the number of individuals who died,

after having been bit by mad dogs, was greater, and their cases less

equivocal than the preceding.

In Ica a single rabid bitch bit fourteen persons in one night, of whom

eight were in one house; some sleeping _al fresco_, or in the open air;

others were variously occupied; and the remaining six were among those

who, on hearing the alarm, ran to assist in killing the bitch. The

surgeon of the place, Don Mariano Estrada, wished to persuade them to

submit to be cured; but they rejected his proposal, saying the will of

God should be done; and all died with the exception of two men, the one

twenty-eight and the other fifty years of age, who agreed to be placed

under medical treatment. The physician cured them, happily, on the safest

plan; which consists in applying a blister on the part bitten, with a

view to promote suppuration from it, and in exciting salivation by means

of mercurial inunction.

In the city of Arequipa it was much disputed whether or not the malady

was a legitimate hydrophobia, and very learned papers _pro_ and _con_

were written by the Doctors Rosas and Salvani. In this paper-war much

time was lost that should have been taken advantage of for resisting the

progress of the malady. True it is, that in many cases those disorders,

which by frightened imaginations were represented to be real examples

of hydrophobia, were, in point of fact, no such thing; and the alarming

misconceptions thus induced were soothed down and removed by persuasive

means. Hence, this circumstance, which was the natural consequence of

the general panic existing at the time, led Professor Salvani to think

that it was precisely the same in all instances, until at length a

succession of melancholy results declared the real nature of the disease.

Immediately upon being made acquainted that the epidemic hydrophobia

approached the capital, the Viceroy of Peru, Abascal, ordered all the

dogs in the place to be killed,[53] by means of which he liberated

Lima from the impending scourge; for though a very few hydrophobic

patients entered, during this period, into the hospitals, they were not

inhabitants of the city, but some individuals who had come in from the

neighbouring farms and valleys.

5. When this calamitous epidemic commenced in the valleys of _Costa

Abajo_, Don Jose Figueroa, Bachelor of Arts, wrote me to say, that “the

dogs went about with their tails between their feet; they slavered much;

hid themselves from human sight; howled lustily; and presently they fell

down and moved no more:—as remedies in these cases, cutting off the ears

and giving oil were tried in vain. The cats, with their hair on end, ran

about the house-tops. Horses and asses got enraged the one against the

other; they threw themselves on the ground, rolled about, and instantly

on being dead they swelled and putrefied. Black cattle—roaring and

lowing—bounded about, fought with each other, in the contest even broke

their horns, and they died quickly.”

6. Professor Estrada confidently stated, that of forty-two individuals

who died in the city of Ica, after having been bit by mad dogs, the

greater number were cut off from twelve to ninety days after the

accident. The symptoms which followed the ingraftment of the poison

disclosed themselves in the form of convulsions, oppression at the

breast, sighs, sadness, laborious breathing, horror at liquids and

shining objects, fury, vomiting of dark bilious matter, and an incessant

urgent call on the part of the patients that the assistants should

depart from them, because they felt themselves impelled to attack, bite,

and tear them to pieces: none in this state survived beyond the term of

five days.

Since the year 1808 this terrible epidemic has been disappearing. From

time to time, however, a dog may be seen running violently hither and

thither, and biting all whom he may happen to meet, in the same way as is

done by the really mad dog.—But, in the examples wherein no bad results

arise from the bite, they may be considered of the same character with

the disorder observed by Mr. Colombier, which attacks dogs, renders them

furious, and excites them to bite, but has, nevertheless, nothing at all

of hydrophobia in it;—still, however, the safest way is to kill the dogs

thus affected, and to implore the Father of mercies that these regions

may never again experience so severe a visitation.

Canis ore timendo,

Ore vomit flammam.

GERMAN ARAT.

BIRDS.

The shores of the South Sea are covered with myriads of birds, among

which are distinguished, for their incalculable number, the Huanaes;

from whose ordure, as some believe, is produced that red-coloured

earth or manure (huano[54]), of a penetrating and alkaline smell, which

enriches the land so much as to make it yield triple or quadruple the

produce it could do without this dressing: a discovery made by the

ancient Indians, who were most skilful agriculturists.

Gulls, herons, ducks, and some other families of the feathered class,

descend during autumn from the mountain lakes to the coast, where they

remain until the commencement of summer, when they again return to the

Sierra.

In undertaking this journey, they take their flight in the morning in

large flocks; and, as they soon come in contact with lofty barriers of

mountains which oblige them to change their course, they ascend the

higher regions in a winding and spiral manner, till, after numberless

evolutions and gyrations, they have risen above the loftiest peaks of

the Cordillera, and find themselves again at liberty to pursue their

journey in a direct line.

The condor[55] often stations himself in the middle of the spires,[56]

either as acting the part of a guide, or to boast in proud display the

strength of wing by which the most vigorous and powerful of birds can

soar above all the rest of the feathered race.

In his outward aspect the male bird bears upon him many marks of dignity

which distinguish him from the female: such is the crest which serves him

as the emblem of monarchy,—a crown; the blackish and loose skin which in

folds covers the head, and gathering up behind, after the manner of curls

or frizzled hair, resembles a wig; and the white of the wings, when the

bird stands erect, gives his shoulders the appearance of being covered

with a mantle or cloak.—See the excellent Memoir of Messrs. Humboldt and

Bonpland on the Natural History of the Condor, printed in Paris in the

year 1807.

Santiago Cardenas, better known by the name of Santiago _el Volador_,

or Flier, for many years watched the flight of the condor, with the

intention of imitating him; and he left a quarto volume written on this

subject, which I have deposited in the library of the College of San

Fernando. In this work he describes three different kinds of condor.

1. Moromoro with ruff (golilla) and mantle of the colour of ashes.—It has

of “_embregadura_,” or length, from the point of one wing to that of the

other, from thirteen to fifteen feet.

This, of all the condors, is the strongest; and he takes ostentatious

delight in combating against the wind, and balancing himself on extended

but flutterless wing in the most imposing and majestic manner. It has

been said of the moromoro, that, seizing the newly-born lamb, he throws

it over his shoulder, where he keeps it steadily fixed; and, having thus

secured his prey, rises on the wing, and betakes himself to flight.[57]

2. Condor of ruff and mantle of the colour of clear coffee.—He has of

_embregadura_ from eleven to thirteen feet, and he is swift and daring.

3. Condor with white mantle and ruff.—He has expanse of wing, or

_embregadura_, from nine to eleven feet; and this is the most abundant

and beautiful species. The condor inhabits the steep rocks of the Andes;

and, according to the observations of Santiago, he makes every day two

journeys to the coast in search of food, which shows his prodigious

velocity.

In our dissection of this bird, we met with no air-vessel which could

maintain a communication between the lungs and the spongy substance of

the clavicles, nor any communication between the crop and windpipe. The

internal cavity of the chest is lined by a fine and transparent membrane

or pleura, which forms various little cells; the lungs descend as low as

the abdomen, and adhere, at their posterior extremity, to the spine and

ribs, which have perforations at the points of adhesion, communicating

with the interior of their spongy body. The texture of the lungs is

porous, so that, as soon as they are blown into and inflated through

the windpipe, they freely supply with air all the recesses or concealed

crevices, great and small, that are about them; and they also fill with

air the cavities of the ribs and sternum.

Condor-grease is considered excellent for resolving and dissipating hard

glandular tumours of the breast and other parts of the body; and the

Peruvians attribute to it as many other virtues as the Europeans do to

the kid, of which it is said by one of their physicians that _totus est

medicamentosus_—all is medicinal.

INSECTS.

It is well known that warm and humid countries are infested with

swarms of small insects, as flies, mosquitos, zancudos, fleas, &c.;

and a certain traveller has asserted that, on this account, Lima was

insupportable as a place of residence: but the statement is erroneous,

for such insects do not flourish in the midst of population and

cleanliness.

Notwithstanding the mildness of winter in Lima, it is sufficient to

annihilate the flies and zancudos: mosquitos are not within doors at

any season of the year. The flies and zancudos multiply in summer; and

the latter are very annoying, especially at night, for they prevent

sleep by the buzzing of their wings. But by taking care that no water be

left in the house till it become nearly putrid, this little insect will

not be allowed to grow troublesome; for the zancudos are the offspring

of the animalcules which are produced in water tending to a state of

decomposition: neither do the flies prove troublesome by their numbers in

the houses where cleanliness is not neglected.

The pediculus may be said to be sterile on the coast, but most highly

prolific in the Sierra: insects of this and the cimex kind persecute man

wherever he sojourns, and Lima does not appear to be more infested or

overstocked with such vermin than certain European cities. In Paris alone

there are seventy-seven species of the cimex.[58]

The most intrusive, the most vexatious insect of the torrid zone, is

the _pique_ or _chigre_, which in other parts is known by the name of

_nigua_. Uncleanly in the extreme, it searches the _corrales_, or pens,

where pigs are enclosed, and multiplies infinitely in dirty situations.

The heaps of rubbish, or sweepings and refuse from streets and houses,

&c. are, as it were, in a state of effervescence with _piques_, which

also follow the footsteps of man, pursuing relentlessly those with

overgrown nails, and others who neglect cleanliness. Less than the flea,

but of the same colour, it contrives to introduce itself inside shoes and

stockings, and to lodge in the tenderest part of the foot,—in the sole,

or under the nails: there it fixes itself, causing as much pain as would

be occasioned by the point of a needle, and it secures its position so

well as to render it very difficult of being detached. In attempting to

remove it, the soft parts are often ill-treated by the instrument, which

is either a needle or pin, commonly used for its extraction; and when,

during the operation, the part acted upon becomes tinged with blood, the

end of the matter is, that the _pique_, instead of being removed entire,

is lacerated, and, the one-half only being taken away, the other is

still left inserted under the skin, and there occasions more pain than

at first. For this reason, those persons who are accustomed to _piques_

keep very quiet when they observe that one of them has fixed itself

under the epidermis or outer skin, and leave it undisturbed for a day or

two: here it forms its nest; and is gradually metamorphosed into a white

globe, of the appearance of a moderately-sized pearl. It holds on fast

to the skin, by its mouth, at the point where it first adhered. Having

attained maturity, it is in fact nothing else than a group of innumerable

little eggs united by a white glutinous matter, and covered by a common

envelope which encloses the whole. While growing, the _pique_ scarcely

causes inconvenience; but instantly it has acquired its due size, if

not extracted, it gives rise to very stinging pain. Two or three days

after its introduction it will have attained a sufficient growth for

being removed. In the performance of this operation the negroes are

most expert, on account of the constant practice they have in operating

on themselves. With the point of a pin they carefully separate the

epidermis under which the _nigua_ is fixed, leaving it still attached by

its reddish mouth; and then they thread or transfix it, and extract it

in its globular form. Great care should be taken not to burst the bag

or envelope of the insect at the time of extracting it, for otherwise

several ova, equivalent to so many parasitic insects, are left to infest

the foot; and besides, should part of the bag be left behind, pain and

inflammation will supervene, followed by suppuration to cast off the

foreign body. The hollow left after the _pique_ is abstracted, is to be

filled with snuff or the ashes of a cigar; as it stops any oozing of

blood from the little wound, and assists in promoting the separation, or

absorption, of any fragments of the envelope of the insect that may have

remained behind; and by this means the pain is avoided which otherwise

might arise if these parts were left to themselves, and allowed to slough

off.

Without having recourse to the process of extraction, the _piques_ may be

destroyed by rubbing the spot where they nestle with mercurial ointment,

or with a mixture of soap and oil: in either way they are killed, and

consequently fall off in form of crust. Tepid oil applied to the parts

injured during the extraction of the _pique_ or _nigua_ affords relief;

and it is requisite that the person who has been operated upon take great

care not to put his feet in cold water until the incision made in the

skin be entirely healed; for otherwise there would be risk of inducing

that fearful disease—locked jaw.

EXTINCT ANIMALS.

Notwithstanding the vast distance from one another at which different

nations of the earth have been planted, it may yet be traced in their

traditions that one great and glorious object had been seen in common

by their forefathers, the image of which had been so impressed on their

minds, that, when placed in analogous circumstances, it often recurred

to their thoughts, and was always referred to, though under different

appellations. Thus, in midst of the solemn and sublime apparatus of

thunder and lightning, Jehovah descends to the summit of Sinai to give

law to the Hebrews. This august and majestic image of the greatness of

Divine power is soon after applied to Jupiter darting thunderbolts from

the peak of Ida against the armies of Greece; and the _Great Man_[59]

appears in like manner on the mountains of Ohio to exterminate with his

darts a fierce animal, which desolated the fertile plains. So also, in

former times, the _Heavenly Angel_ came down to the summit of Santa

Helena in Southern America, to crush and overwhelm a fierce and polluted

race of giants, who, having entered these harbours from some unknown

clime, devastated the land.[60]

The Indians of the one and the other hemisphere corroborate the truth

of their traditions by being able to present the great molar teeth, or

grinders, which are found under the surface of the earth in the places

alluded to. In Peru, these teeth, with other bones of enormous magnitude,

are found in the province of Chichas, near the tropic of Capricorn; and

in Chile there are not wanting vestiges of the same sort of organic

remains.

I have had in my possession four of these molar teeth, of which I yet

preserve one in the library of the Medical College of San Fernando. When

compared among themselves, I have judged, from their configuration, that

they did not belong to the same fossil elephant; but, rather, that three

pertained to the mammoth, and that one had belonged to the mastodonton

of Cuvier: from which it is to be inferred that those very bulky animals,

which in remote ages lived in Siberia and North America, had penetrated

into Southern America, where they have left the natives, in the relics

of their destruction, or fossil remains, a memorial of the existence and

punishment of antediluvian giants.

The bony fragments which are considered to be parts of this gigantic

race, may they not rather consist of earthy petrifactions in water

impregnated with lime? Between the villages of Chorrillos and Miraflores,

in the locality named _Calera_, water impregnated with lime is observed

to percolate at the foot of the _barranco_, or broken bluff-land; and it

deposits on the stones, over which it drips or passes, certain crusts or

laminæ, which have the same appearance with the bony laminæ of the human

skull.[61]

GEOGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY IN THE ENVIRONS OF AREQUIPA, WITH

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MINERAL WATERS IN THE VICINITY OF THE SAME CITY.

According to the “Guia Politica, Eclesiastica, y Militar del Peru,”

edited by Dr. Unanue of Lima, the city of Arequipa is situated at 16°

13´ 20´´ south latitude; and it stands at the distance of about thirty

leagues from its present sea-port, Islay. In making from seaward to the

port of Chule, the burning mountain of Arequipa, (which now emits no

smoke,) described as resembling a sugar-loaf with the top broken off,

used to be taken as a landmark by the Spanish pilots on the South-Sea

coasts. The population is estimated at about twenty thousand, among

whom there are exceedingly few negroes or pardos. Towards the end of

the twelfth century, Maita Capac, fourth sovereign of Peru, colonized

the valley of Arequipa with three thousand families chosen from the

neighbouring provinces; and some refer the origin of the name Arequipa

to this early period, as in the Indian language the word Arequipa means,

“Remain as you are, if you like it,”—in allusion to the permission given

by the Inca to such of his captains as were inclined to settle in this

garden in the midst of the desert.

By order of Don Francisco Pizarro, the city was founded in the year 1540.

It suffered severely from the great earthquakes of the years 1582, 1600,

1604, 1687, 1715, and 1784.[62] All about Arequipa is a volcanic country,

of which the natural history is very interesting, as may be learned

from the following account, taken from an essay originally written and

published in Spanish by Don Mariano Rivero, director-general of the

mining department in Peru. This essay is deficient in minute chemical

analysis; but it has the recommendation of being the only one, so far as

we know, that has been written by a native Peruvian on the subjects which

it embraces.

TRANSLATION.

GEOGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION.

All the environs of the city of Arequipa are composed of volcanic

products; so much is this the case that its edifices are constructed of

a white and very light rock, rough to the touch, which contains pieces

of pumice-stone and lava. It is called in the country _piedra sillar_,

and, in fact, is a real trachyte (traquito). It is met with in different

places, at the distance of several leagues from the city,—as, for

example, in the glen through which passes the road of Islay. In the route

which leads to the glen of Yura, over and above the loose pieces and

sand, we meet the trachyte porphyry, not only in large detached masses,

but also forming portions of the soil. The principal mass is compact,

of a greyish black colour, with crystals of white vitreous felspar, and

spangles of bronzed mica; it passes by decomposition into an ash-coloured

trachyte, less hard than the first, and very rough to the touch: the

crystals of felspar and mica suffer no decomposition.

The adjacent hills are formed of rocks such as these, without presenting

a decided stratification. At various points there appears a rock which,

from its grain, its little hardness, the pieces of trachyte it contains,

and its reddish colour, would seem to be a conglomerate of aqueous

formation.

The waters which run through rocky passes give rise to deep excavations,

and with much good reason these parts (along which there is a road) are

denominated _narrows_,—for they are only a yard and a half broad. The way

is intersected at various points by ravines, (quebradas,) through which

several small streams descend from the snowy mountain called Chachani.

About a league before we reach Yura, and on the opposite side of the

glen, there is an horizontal stratification which extends towards the

west, presenting an interesting contrast with the Cordillera on the east,

and the hills on the side of the valley along which we pass to Yura.

It is not less worthy the admiration of a geologist to behold, amid so

much arid nakedness, the bottom of the deep glen of Yura clothed with

pure green and cheering verdure, which comforts the pilgrim, and serves

as a soothing restorative to the sick who, sacrificing their domestic

comforts and the pleasures of society, go in search of health to the

baths situated in this solitary spot.

The glen of Yura, which stretches in the direction of from east to west,

is in many parts extremely narrow, as at the site of the baths: but

towards the Calera it opens up; and its inhabitants take advantage of

this space to cultivate lucern, and collect the sub-carbonate of soda,

improperly called saltpetre, which they use in manufacturing the soap

consumed in Arequipa.[63]

Having passed the distance of one thousand yards, the glen again becomes

narrow, until it joins with the ravine of the river of Yura, which flows

from the north-east to south-west. From this place it becomes deeper

and narrower, and immediately follows a westerly direction. A rivulet

formed by the junction of the smaller streamlets which arise in the hill

called Horqueta irrigates some land in the strath beneath; and, pursuing

its course to the baths, passes them at a yard’s distance, (now ceasing

to be pure water,) to unite itself with the many jets that spring up a

little above the baths, as I have seen in a ditch recently opened. This

rivulet follows the course of the glen; and its waters, being impregnated

with saline ingredients, irrigate the lucern fields, and contribute

to increase the supply of the carbonate of soda. It at length joins

the river of Yura, which during the periodical rains is in the highest

degree dangerous to ford, on account of its strong current, and the many

stones it carries along its impetuous stream. In the glen of Yura, as

well as in the ravine alluded to, the different sorts of earth are of

volcanic and transition formation: the first extend to a hundred paces

beyond the ferruginous baths; the prevailing rock is trachyte, of a light

ash-colour, with pieces of white felspar half decomposed, pumice-stone,

and scales of black mica.

In some detached masses are seen in globules the substance called

_perlita_, (little pearl,) and black pieces, which, from their general

appearance and concavities, look like lava. Ascending a little higher

than the sulphurous baths, porphyry is met with; the principal mass of

which is compact and black, its fracture conchoidal, and it contains

crystals of white felspar. By decomposition it has partly become an

ash-coloured rock, less hard and more asperate, in which is found the

conduit which emits sulphurous vapours; and in my opinion it is an

ancient crater. On the walls of this crater, sulphur is deposited in

well-defined, acute, octahedral crystals; and, in some pieces in my

possession, the pure sulphur exists in its massive state. These rocks

cover a sandy ground, which from its coarse grain, composition, reddish

colour, and the fragments of volcanic rocks which it contains, appears to

be a sandy conglomerate; it is sufficiently consistent to admit of being

cut, and to serve for architectural purposes: there are certain places,

as in the Calera, and near the baths, where it is many yards thick: this

earth reposes on the transition series.

The earths, or mineral substances last mentioned, occupy all the parts

to the north and west: they are composed of _gres_, (a stone abounding

in sand,) semi-compact in some layers, and in others it has a fine

grain; its colour is a dirty white, inclining to green, and it passes to

a lightish black when it is near to the layers of the black “_esquito

hojoso_,” (foliated schist,) with which it alternates: it contains small

spangles of mica. The natives extract laminæ of this _gres_ of more than

a yard in length, and of a quarter in breadth, which serve to line the

upper part of the boilers wherein soap is made. The black “_esquito_”

also divides itself into laminæ of good size; but, for the most part, it

breaks very easily, forming small pieces which fall down to the bottom

of the glen. A heavy substance of dark colour, which separates in large

pieces, and effervesces when brought into contact with the acids, is

found in the “_esquito_,” and near to the layers of _gres_: it appears to

be a carbonate of iron, (_carbonato de hierro litoideo_,) like that which

is met with in the coal-mines of England and France. In the “_esquito_”

I have observed impressions of plants, vestiges of coal, crystals, and

small plates of gypsum.

The transition formation extends to the north and to the west, at great

distances. I am also assured that coal is met with near to the village of

Yura. Over the horizontal bed of _gres_, the direction of which is from

east to west, with an inclination northward, may be observed the white,

compact, fibrous gypsum of Synchita, distant six leagues from the glen,

which, as I conceive, belongs to the gypsum of the vale of Vitor.[64]

On the south side of the river Yura, in the locality called Calera, is

found in layers or coats of considerable thickness, but of little extent,

a limestone of a cellular and porous structure, composed in a great

degree of very small and delicate tubes: their colour is a dirty white,

and by all their signs and characters they appear to owe their origin

to infiltration. From this stone is made the lime which is consumed in

Arequipa and its neighbourhood.

ANALYSIS OF THE MINERAL WATERS OF YURA.

Mineral waters are distinguishable from common water by their taste,

particular smell, colour, temperature more or less raised, and by their

not being applicable to domestic purposes. They are found in different

parts of the world in springs and wells: sometimes they are of the same

temperature with the soil through which they pass, and at other times

their temperature rises to the boiling point of water,—and then they are

called thermal waters. In the countries where these waters appear, they

had attracted the attention of the inhabitants since very remote times,

and were medicinally employed internally as well as externally; but,

since their component parts were but imperfectly known, they were often

applied injudiciously, and they did not always obtain the reputation they

merited, for their effects were sometimes contrary to those which the

physicians desired to produce.

At the close of the seventeenth century chemists began to discover the

substances to which mineral waters owed their peculiar properties; and,

since this happy era, they have made such rapid progress in science, that

in the present day we are acquainted with many of these substances. This

knowledge we owe to simple and more exact methods of analysis. Nature

appears to have favoured in an especial manner the environs of Arequipa

with thermal springs to cure those maladies to which its inhabitants are

subject. This is, however, no more than might be expected, considering

the variety of medicinal ingredients with which the waters become

impregnated as they slowly percolate through beds of lava, or issue from

the deep recesses of burning mountains.

The baths of Yura are situated in a small and narrow glen, several

leagues to the N.N.W. of the city, and only one league from the village

of the same name,—which, according to my measurement, is one hundred and

seventy Spanish yards (varas) above the square of Arequipa.[65]

The road to the baths is very bad, and, above all, the declivities are

so; for the number of stones and narrow windings render it in the highest

degree disagreeable, to which the dull uniformity of the landscape also

contributes. To the right, all that presents itself to the traveller’s

view is the lofty volcano, the contiguous hills being denuded of every

blade of vegetation except the cactus Peruvianus, of melancholy aspect,

seen here and there along the surrounding slopes; and, if he turn his eye

to the left, he looks upon sterile plains cut up by mountain torrents,

or a group of hills perfectly arid, of greater or less elevation, and in

parts covered with white sand.

The analysis of the waters of Yura was attempted by the celebrated

naturalist Haenk in the year ’96; but, this philosopher not having

ascertained their constituent parts, I have now the honour of presenting

to the public the result of my investigations regarding these waters,

and several others which are used by the inhabitants of the city. In the

narrow glen of Yura there are two situations in which springs of thermal

water present themselves, and the one is distant from the other about

one hundred and fifty yards. The first, called _agua de hierro_, or

ferruginous water, is on the left-hand side of the road as we come from

the Calera; and those springs which are higher up are denominated _agua

de azufre_, or sulphurous water. I will begin by giving an account of the

_agua de hierro_.

THE FERRUGINOUS WATER.

From a little plane covered with grass, distant from the rivulet three

yards, and four from the ash-coloured trachytic rock, water bubbles up at

various points, forming large globules, as if boiling. Its temperature

is 94° of Fahrenheit, that of the air being 68°. In the corner where

these jets are found, there are at short distances small wells of equal

temperature, except one at 67°, which is found at the distance of a

yard from the principal jet; and it is the more worthy of notice, as it

happens to be very near to the water which indicates higher temperature.

All these little wells render tribute to the principal one, and to the

rivulet; their banks, and the bottom of one of the baths, contain a very

fine yellow substance, which is the true oxide of iron. These waters

are very transparent, without smell, and with taste half acidulated

and astringent; they disengage a gas which, passed through lime-water,

or a solution of the acetate of lead, throws down precipitates soluble

with effervescence in acetic acid. They redden the tincture of violets

and blue paper, which loses its colour on drying, and this proves the

existence of a free acid; being agitated, an air is disengaged with

noise: all the acids, weak and strong, produce effervescence with these

waters. The prussiate of potash, when a little of any acid is added to

it, causes in the ferruginous water a blue precipitate, which is the

prussiate of iron. Iron-water being boiled, it loses the property of

effervescing with the acids, of forming a precipitate with the prussiate

of potash, and also its astringency. A bottle of water being evaporated

affords, during the operation, a light, white precipitate, and its

surface becomes covered with a most delicate film. The operation, if

continued to dryness, yields sixteen grains of salts, which I have

analyzed. It appeared from the analysis that the iron-water is composed

of the following ingredients and proportions.

One bottle, or a pound and a half, of water afforded

Carbonic acid 10½ grains.

Muriatic acid 2

Sulphuric acid ¼

A hundred grains of the salts were composed of

Carbonate of magnesia 26 grains.

Carbonate of lime 6

Muriate of soda 15

Bicarbonate of soda 40

Sulphate of iron 3

Insoluble matter, consisting of

silex and sulphate of lime 8

---

98

---

This water greatly resembles, in its contents, that of Selz, Spa, and

Carlsbad. The exact quantity of carbonic acid which it disengages could

not be ascertained, for want of proper instruments for the purpose. The

carbonic acid of the saline parts is sufficient to saturate the lime,

magnesia, and soda.

MEDICINAL VIRTUES OF THE FERRUGINOUS WATER OF YURA.

The ferruginous waters are stated by Mr. Rivero, on the authority of

Haenk, and of Dr. Vargas of Arequipa, to be tonic, deobstruent, laxative,

diuretic, &c.; and, therefore, well calculated to remove general

debility, certain forms of hypochondriasis, dyspepsia, and weakness

consequent on debauchery.

THE SULPHUROUS WATER.

The jets (los ojos) of this water, as we formerly noticed, are placed

above the ferruginous baths, situated in a narrow part formed by the

trachyte rock on one hand, and on the opposite side by the _gres_, or

sandy soil, which furnishes the carbonate of soda. An oblique fissure,

extending to the base of the trachyte rock, serves as a conduit to this

thermal water, which unites itself with that which flows from the bottom

of the bath named Tigre. A short way from this jet there are others which

flow from other clefts, at almost the same degree of temperature.