PERU: CAPITAL, DEPARTMENTS, AND CHIEF CITIES
THE CAPITAL
=Lima=, the capital of Peru, on the banks of the Rimac eight miles from
the port, Callao, is a city of picturesque charm. Its population, with
its suburbs 200,000, is no indication of its commercial importance or
of its elegance as a social centre. One of the three cities of the
world where the best Spanish is spoken, some impartial critics say that
in this respect it is unrivalled in the New World. Social amenities,
everywhere important, are here peculiarly requisite for agreeable and
successful business relations. Parisian elegance is seen on the narrow
streets, and in one story dwellings as well as in larger mansions. The
great cathedral is called the finest in South America.
The city takes pride in its numerous churches, its plazas, the
excellent shops on the narrow streets, its University, founded in 1551,
its museum, its new theatres, perhaps even in its bull-ring, the second
largest in the world. As in the other West Coast cities, the hotels
are inadequate (a new one is contracted for), but the old Maury long
had the reputation of being the best on the Coast, and the excellence
of its meals once rejoiced the heart even of a New York club man and
his East Indian valet. Of course the city has modern conveniences,
sky-scrapers happily excepted.
INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENTS
The COASTAL DIVISIONS follow beginning at the north.
=Tumbes=, the Province farthest north, is distinguished from the rest
of the coast by the fact that, bordering on Ecuador and the edge of
the Gulf of Guayaquil, it partakes of the nature of that region, its
north shore being covered with vegetation. (The adjoining Department of
Piura, because of its proximity to the Ecuador forests and moisture,
receives a rare torrential shower.) Rivers crossing Tumbes permit of
irrigation where needed. The agricultural products are sugar, tobacco,
coffee, and cacao. The oil wells are of great importance. Coal and
other minerals are found.
Tumbes, the capital, on the Tumbes River, is connected by a narrow
gauge railway with its port, Pizarro, seven miles distant, where
steamers on their way to Guayaquil call every week or two.
=Piura=, the first Department south of Tumbes, is mainly desert,
with some fertile irrigated valleys. The culture of a native cotton
resembling wool is a leading industry. Other exports are Panamá hats
and hides. Near the coast are important oil wells. Paita, with one of
the best harbors on the coast, is the first port of call for some of
the express steamers from Panamá.
Piura, capital of the Department, mean temperature 78°, is in an
irrigated valley 60 miles from the desert port Paita, with which it
is connected by rail. A line of narrower gauge goes on to Catacaos,
population 20,000, six miles distant but nearer the sea, where 300,000
Panamá hats are made yearly. They may be bought at Paita for one
fourth, perhaps for one eighth of the price commonly asked for the
finer ones in New York. The main railway is to be prolonged from Piura
to the town of Moropón. Farther south, from Bayovar, a small port on
the Bay of Sechura, a railroad leads 30 miles to the sulphur mines of
Reventazón; but the sulphur, an important export, must be cleared from
the custom house at Paita.
=Lambayeque=, south of Piura, contains large estates of sugar and
rice, the chief exports. It has one of the primary coast ports, Etén
(population 3000), but a poor one, merely an open roadstead where there
is always a swell, at times so severe that debarking passengers must
be lowered in a sort of hogshead by windlass, chain, and pulley to the
launch or small boat alongside. Freight lowered to lighters is likely
here to get a particularly hard bump. An iron pier 2000 feet long is
for the use of the lighters.
Chiclayo, the capital, is 41 miles by rail from Etén. By this railway
and its branches, Ferreñafe, Lambayeque, and Patapó may also be
reached. From Pimentel, a minor port, a shorter railway runs to
Chiclayo. From the Lobos Islands off the coast much guano was formerly
taken.
=La Libertad=, the larger Department following, has two primary ports,
the first, Pacasmayo, a short sail from Etén. From Pacasmayo 85 miles
of railway lead up country to the towns Guadalupe and Chilete. From
Chilete the road should be carried over the Cordillera to the important
city of Cajamarca, 50 miles beyond, whither Pizarro marched nearly 400
years ago; but the grades would be difficult and the road awaits the
supply of more pressing needs. Another long pier serves the port of
Pacasmayo, from which are shipped sugar, rice, fruit, etc. Sixty-six
miles farther is the primary port of Salaverry, population 5000.
Trujillo, the capital of the Department, is eight miles distant;
beyond is the Chicama Valley, noted for its splendid sugar estates.
A railway 75 miles long going up the valley to Ascope, does a large
business. An extension planned to the plateau above, 12,900 feet, will
pass extensive coal fields at Huanday, and reach copper and silver
mines at Queruvilca. A maximum grade of 6¹⁄₂ per cent would make the
construction expensive. Another road from the sugar lands is being
constructed to the better port, Malabrigo. A little north of Salaverry
is the minor port of Huanchaco, which also exports much sugar, though
the chief shipment is from Salaverry.
=Ancash=, the next Department, which is still larger, has five minor
ports, one of which, Chimbote, should soon become a primary. For
this expectation there are several reasons: first, the harbor, land
locked by a long peninsula and several islands, is called the finest
on the entire West Coast below Panamá. It has an area of 36 square
miles without a rock below its placid surface. Though now with but an
ordinary iron pier for lighters, docks approachable by the largest
ships could be arranged on an island, which a bridge over a 200 yard
channel would easily connect with the main land. There are two other
entrances, one half a mile across.
The American capitalist, Henry Meiggs, the prime mover in the
construction of the South and Central Peruvian Railways, had the
foresight in the early seventies to perceive the great commercial
possibilities of this harbor. He planned a city on the shore and began
a railway to extend up the Santa River Valley to Huarás, 167 miles. The
road bed had been constructed 80 miles, the rails laid 60, when the
Chilian war broke out. The invaders, after capturing Chimbote, carried
off the rolling stock and supplies and destroyed what else they could.
Subsequently the project remained long in abeyance, the road being
operated for 35 miles only; but after several recent concessions and
delays with little work accomplished, the Government has taken over
the line and is pushing forward the extension from the point already
attained, La Limeña, 65 miles from Chimbote. Work was begun July,
1919, on a branch line to coal fields near Ancos, 15¹⁄₂ miles, which
later will pass near two copper deposits and through Huamachuco and
Cajabamba. After the first few miles the main road follows the Santa
River, which enters the ocean a few miles north of the harbor.
The Santa has the distinction of being the largest river in Peru
flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Rising among the heavily snow covered
peaks of the White Cordillera, though nowhere navigable it has a large
water supply for irrigation, made use of by the Incas. It could easily
be made available for a large district back of Chimbote. At present the
railway serves only a few sugar plantations on the lower part of the
river’s course, but its further construction will open up immense coal
fields, and farther on in the Huailas Valley great mineral deposits of
gold, silver, etc., and a fine though limited agricultural district
which already has a large population.
The Huailas Valley has on the east the Cordillera Blanca, whose
splendid snow capped summits rise to an altitude of 20,000 to 22,000
feet; on the west the Cordillera Negra reaches a height of 17,000 to
18,000 feet; the passes into the valley are above 14,000. The floor of
the valley rises from 3000 feet at the north to 10,000 at Huarás and
11,000 at Recuay. Along the way are the considerable towns of Caráz,
Yungay, Carhuaz, and Huaráz, capital of the Department, each with
populations of from 5000 to 10,000, besides the people at _haciendas_
and at mining centers on either hand. This has been called the richest
and most thickly settled portion of Peru. All sub-tropical and
temperate productions flourish here at various elevations; the mineral
riches may rival the Klondike as the scenic splendor surpasses that of
Chamonix. East of Yungay rises the magnificent twin-peaked Huascarán,
the first and only ascent of which was made by the author with two
Swiss guides, September 2, 1908; the north peak, altitude 21,812 feet,
is still, 1921, the highest point in all America yet attained by any
North or South American.
The only difficulty in the construction of the railway is where the
Santa River breaks through the Black Cordillera to turn towards the
coast, the narrow gorge being impracticable even for pedestrians.
In this region and beyond are immense coal fields. These, chiefly
anthracite and semi-anthracite, therefore non-coking, some people
believed worthless, being ignorant that for many purposes hard coal is
more valuable than soft. However there are also beds of bituminous.
The coal deposits continue in the lateral valleys, where the owners
use them merely for their own households. Samples run over 82 per cent
carbon. A quarter of a mile from Caráz (population 8000) coal may be
mined and put on trucks at $1.50 a ton. The Chuquisaca River from the
north joins the Santa just before that breaks through the Cordillera.
This Department is very mountainous. Besides the Santa, four rivers
descend to the sea, _i.e._, they do sometimes; for, rising on the west
of the Black Range, obviously so called because it has little snow on
it, these rivers are often dry, yet they serve to irrigate many sugar
plantations. At the mouth of the Santa River north of Chimbote is the
village Santa, an occasional port of call for the _caletero_ (not
express) boats, which regularly visit several ports below: Samanco, 27
miles of desert from Chimbote, Casma, after 50 miles more, and Huarmey,
55 beyond. Back of Samanco is the Nepeña River Valley with two large
sugar plantations; and high in the Black Range, Colquipocro, one of the
richest silver mines worked in Peru. Some of the selected ore ran as
high as $2000 a ton, and large quantities averaged $200 when silver was
50 cents an ounce. Samanco and Casma are the usual ports for entering
the Huailas Valley; Chimbote also serves.
=Lima.= The Departments of Lima and Ica follow, in which the mountains
come closer to the shore than in the greater part of the country, and
the rivers except at the extreme south are nearer together. Thus the
Departments exhibit much verdure, a larger proportion of the country
being devoted to agriculture. A minor port of Lima is Supe, followed by
Huacho, of more importance and connected with the capital by rail, 150
miles, passing Ancón, a frequented summer seashore resort.
=Callao=, the port of Lima and the chief port of Peru, is with its
suburbs a little Province all by itself, surrounded by the Department
of Lima except on the ocean side.
Cerro Azul is a more southern port in the Department of Lima, serving a
very mountainous section, with fertile valleys producing sugar, cotton,
vegetables, etc., and in the mountains many minerals.
=Ica= is an extremely fertile Department, raising very fine grapes and
other fruits, sugar cane and cotton; also corn, alfalfa, divi-divi,
and ají, a kind of pepper much used in Peru and other countries. Wine
making is a very important industry. Minerals exist, but are not much
worked except a silver mine.
Ica, the capital, centre of the finest grape country in the Republic,
is 46 miles by rail from Pisco, the chief port, and the most important
one between Callao and Mollendo. Lomas is a smaller port in the
Department. Ica has some good land uncultivated, but needing irrigation.
=Arequipa=, the last littoral Department, has five minor ports besides
the primary port, Mollendo, second in importance in Peru; but the
port is a very poor one, no real harbor at all. Chala is a port of
call for some steamers, but the rest are very minor: Camaná, at the
mouth of the Majes River which comes down from Mt. Coropuna, Quilca,
Matarani, and Islay, the last two not far north of Mollendo, and with
better harbors. Along here the mountains are farther back and some
have much snow, so that several rivers present good possibilities for
additional irrigation. Cotton, sugar, and grapes grow in the valleys;
corn, potatoes, and cereals higher up. There is a variety of mineral
products: the most important, silver from Cailloma; but gold, copper,
lead, coal, borax, sulphur, manganese, alum, gypsum, are found, and
some of them are exported.
The Southern Railway of Peru, leading up from Mollendo, is an important
line which will be referred to later. Back of the coastal bluffs, which
rise on irregular slopes 3000 feet or more, is a desert plateau of
especial interest, on account of the sand dunes 10-12 feet high which
move slowly over it.
=Moquegua=, a Province south, the last district held by Peru, has a
primary port, Ilo, from which a railway 62 miles long extends to its
capital, Moquegua. The soil of the Province is especially adapted to
grapes and olives, which with wine and oil are the chief exports. Many
varieties of minerals are known to exist here in quantity.
THE SIERRA REGION
This, perhaps the best populated of the three sections, comprises seven
Departments, some of which run over or down into the montaña, as most
of the Coast Departments run up into the sierra.
=Cajamarca=, bordering on Ecuador, is the first Department at the
north, a rather long one, running south back of Piura, Lambayeque, and
part of Libertad, which last is also on the south, as in its southern
part it extends over the West Cordillera and beyond the Marañon.
Cajamarca has that river on the east separating it from Amazonas.
Communication with the outside world is poor, the best by way of
Pacasmayo. An extension of the railway from this port is hoped for. The
highlands favor cattle and sheep breeding; the valleys produce cereals,
coffee, and sugar. Of course there are minerals.
Cajamarca, the capital, famed for the seizure and murder of Atahuallpa
by Pizarro and the slaughter or dispersion of his army, is an important
town and distributing centre, with many industries; leather goods,
mining, cotton and woolen cloth, etc.
=Huánuco=, the next Sierra Department, does not touch Cajamarca. East
of Ancash, it has Junín on the south, and Loreto east and north.
Traversed by the Central and the East Cordilleras, by the Marañon,
Huallaga, and Pachítea Rivers, it has the Ucayali as its eastern
boundary. At the northeast corner the Pachítea flows into the Ucayali,
both rivers being navigable. The central route from Lima to Iquitos
goes down the Pachítea. All kinds of riches are here, but communication
is too difficult to make them very valuable at the moment. Quicksilver,
coal, iron, and copper are found, gold and silver as a matter of
course, agricultural products of great variety.
Huánuco, the capital, with a good climate, is 68 miles from Cerro de
Pasco, on the Huallaga River. It is an important place with varied
industries including sugar mills.
=Junín=, south of Huánuco, a very large and rich Department, is east
of Ancash and Lima, has Huancavelica south, and Cuzco and Loreto east.
It has three important districts, better known than those in the
Departments farther north: the mountain knot and range at the west, the
plateau, and the montaña section running down to the Ucayali River,
which separates it from Loreto. Lake Junín, 36 miles long and 7 wide,
altitude 13,322 feet, is the second largest Andean Lake. Near by,
occurred the battle of August 6, 1824.
In Junín are the head waters of important rivers: in the northwest
corner the lakes which are the source of the Marañon, Santa Ana and
others; the Jauja or Mantaro flows south from Lake Junín, uniting with
the Apurimac later to form the Ené; the Perené, rising on the montaña
side of the mountain far down unites with the Ené to form the Tambo,
which soon joins the Urubamba then becoming the Ucayali. The smaller
Pichis and Palcazu unite to form the Pachítea of the Department of
Huánuco. Junín contains immense mineral wealth; among other mines the
famous ones of Cerro de Pasco; large stocks of cattle and more sheep.
Cereals, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables and fruits grow in the
valleys of the plateau, which has an altitude of 13,000 to 14,000 feet,
with a temperature of 22°-65°. In the tropical east are plantations of
coca, coffee, cacao, sugar, and fruit.
Cerro de Pasco, the capital, will be referred to later.
=Huancavelica=, a smaller Department directly south, touches Lima on
the west, has Ica west and south, and Ayacucho east. This is a Sierra
Department exclusively, all high mountains, plateau, a few alpine
lakes, but with several deep cañons in which flow the rivers, at the
north the Mantaro. Minerals are the chief wealth. Famous since they
were opened in 1566 are the quicksilver mines; but since they were
buried years ago by a cave-in not much quicksilver has been extracted
till a very recent resumption of activity.
Huancavelica, the capital, is an important mining centre though reached
with some difficulty from Huancayo or Ica. Here above 12,000 feet the
production of wool might be expected; there are cotton mills also.
=Ayacucho=, a peculiarly shaped Department twice the size of the
preceding, runs to a point on the north between the Mantaro and
Apurimac Rivers. It has Huancavelica and Ica on the west, Arequipa on
the south and southeast, and Apurimac and Cuzco east. This also is
mostly highland, with temperate zone agriculture, cattle and sheep, and
with varied mineral riches.
Ayacucho, the capital, is a considerable and important city, but a long
way to go from anywhere. Mining and other industries are engaged in.
=Apurimac=, much smaller, has Ayacucho northwest and southwest, a bit
of Arequipa south, and Cuzco southeast and northeast. The Department is
highland, but lower than at the north, with great grazing ground and
forests, with fertile soil raising temperate and sub-tropical products,
and with the inevitable minerals.
Abancay, the capital, is most accessible from Cuzco or from the port of
Chala. It is a small city, of some interest.
=Cuzco=, the largest Sierra Department, with a little of Junín has
Ayacucho and Apurimac west, Arequipa south, Puno southeast and east,
with Madre de Dios, Loreto, and Brazil on the north. The Apurimac River
to which the Urubamba is nearly parallel, forms most of its western
boundary, both rivers flowing a little west of north. The upper waters
of the Purús, and Madre de Dios flow north, south, and east. Stock
raising is carried on and there are minerals, but agriculture is the
chief industry. Cuzco is famed for the excellence of its cacao, also
for its cocoa and coffee; it has large sugar plantations as well.
Though with mountainous highlands, it has much territory lower.
Cuzco, the capital, world famed since its conquest by Pizarro, is
beautifully situated at the head of the side-valley of the Huatanay
River. Interesting from its historic associations, its massive ruins,
and its picturesque charm, it is also of commercial importance.
=Puno=, the last Department of the sierra, has Madre de Dios on the
north, Cuzco, Arequipa, and Moquegua west, Chile and Bolivia south,
and Bolivia east. The Department, mostly highland, includes the
western part of Lake Titicaca. It contains many minerals, and has a
large output of gold. The production of wool, including the alpaca and
vicuña, is highly important. Potatoes, barley, etc., are grown.
Puno, the capital, a centre of mineral and woolen activities, is the
head of Peruvian navigation on Lake Titicaca and a meeting place of
the two tribes or races, the Quichuas and the Aymarás, the latter,
residents of northern Bolivia. The town is an important centre of
traffic.
THE MONTAÑA REGION
This region comprising nearly two thirds of Peru embraces the eastern
forest country, the eastern slopes of the East Cordillera and at the
north the lower slopes of the other ranges. The region has much rain,
many large navigable rivers, and dense tropical forests rich in useful
plants, fine hard woods, and rubber trees. It has some settlements on
the river banks and on higher lands, and in the forests, Indians, some
of whom are peaceable and friendly, others who might have been so had
they not been badly treated by whites of various nationalities, others
still who have never seen the white man and do not wish to. Three of
these Departments border on Ecuador, the most western, Amazonas, with
Cajamarca on the west, La Libertad south, and San Martín east. The
last Department, more than twice the size of Amazonas, has Loreto on
the east and south. It is traversed by the Central Cordillera and by
the Huallaga River, navigable to the important port of Yurimaguas, but
for steamers not much farther. The immense Department Loreto, touching
Huánuco and Cuzco on the south, with Brazil on the east, is with Madre
de Dios naturally the least known and least populated portion of Peru.
It is traversed by the Ucayali, and by the Amazon both above and for
some distance below Iquitos, to which port ocean steamers regularly
ascend. Madre de Dios, east of Cuzco and north of Puno, has been little
explored. A few rubber and mining concessions have been slightly
worked. Its future will come with transportation.