In a wing of the Library buildings is the National Museum, which, however, merely fills two moderate-sized apartments. The Natural History collection is in such a wretched neglected state that it is in imminent danger, the ornithological department especially, of being entirely eaten up by insects.
Amongst the most valuable are some Peruvian antiquities, such as weapons, mummies, and what are calledHuacos,earthen jars, pots, and other utensils from ancient Indian graves. To the historical student the portraits of the whole of the Viceroys and Governors of Peru, which are suspended on the walls of the first apartment in chronological order, will prove extremely interesting. The finest head of the series, the one which most clearly tells of manly vigour, acuteness, and energy, is that of Francisco Pizarro, the natural son of a Spanish nobleman, who tended swine in his boyhood, and ended his life as Viceroy of Peru, having been slain by an assassin in the 64th year of his age.
Of the educational institutions, the only one deserving special remark is the "Escuela Normal Central" (Central Normal School), established by Government, at an expense of 160,000 dollars (£33,600), and opened in 1859. Its object is to provide suitable school instruction for industrious children of poor or aged parents; but hitherto the prefects of the provinces have, by protection, presented almost exclusively children of persons of means and position, and sent them on to the capital. Owing to the great want of good schools hitherto, it happens that every one crowds towards this new institute, which seems to promise to its pupils a more complete education and better training than any other. The number for which it was destined was 40 boarders and 200 day-scholars, the former of whom are well taken care of.
The system of education pursued is the Lancasterian, and is carried out by five professors. The estimated annual expenditure is about 20,000 dollars. One of the directors, Mr.J. C. Braun, a German by birth, who not long before had come to Lima to settle, and taught Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, accompanied me throughout the extensive building, and specially pointed out a class-room comfortably and even elegantly fitted up, as also a small museum of Natural History, with an excellent geological collection, and a small library attached to it. Singularly enough, the latter comprises a great number of school-books in much request among Protestant pedagogues. Apparently an order had been sent, without specifying any particular writers, to purchase good school-books at some German publishing-house, and now the Catholic youth of bigoted Lima is taught from the works of Protestant teachers! Various surveys and maps covered the walls of this class-room, all bearing evidence of their German origin in the names of publishers and places, most of them having been sent out from the distinguished house of Justus Perthes in Gotha.
One very remarkable and characteristic incident occurred at the opening of the school, at which were present the President of the Republic, Don Ramon de Castella, so hated and dreaded for his despotism, together with several senators and deputies. The Rector, Don Miguel Estorch, laid considerable stress, in the course of his address, upon the importance of really effective schools in a State, and maintained that, when children are well brought up, there is no longer any need of so large sums being spent for police and standing army to keep up security and order in the country. This remark, which madea deep impression on all present, nevertheless gave much offence to the President, who rose and replied, in a tone of considerable asperity, that the Rector's view was erroneous, and that a proper military force was as indispensable as a good system of education; that it least of all became the Rector to touch upon such a topic in that place and such presence.
Under the present politicalrégime, it is out of the question to look for anything like intellectual vigour in Lima, so sparse are the elements of such. There is an utter absence of that sympathy, interest, and support which is necessary to its existence, alike on the part of Government and of society at large.[136]Works, such as Manuel Fuentes' valuable "Estadistica General de Lima" (General Statistics of Lima), can only be considered as solitary special performances. Also in thefield of Journalism there is no person of mark visible, and even the few journals which appear in Lima, such as theComercioand theIndependiente, have a very limited circulation. As only a small proportion of the population can read or interest itself in politics, the principles advocated in those journals exercise no influence, so that Government has less difficulty in acting up to them than would otherwise be the case.
One thing that particularly struck me was the hostility displayed to Austria, which, during my stay in Lima, manifested itself in the daily press and a fraction of the population. The politics of Austria were discussed with a bitterness of hate, which was the more surprising in a nation which is itself a prey to intestine disorders, and suffers itself to be led about a willing captive, in the fetters of a half-Indian despot. I found, however, the clue to this excited language, when I learned on one occasion, that there are upwards of 8000 Piedmontese in Lima and Callao alone, chiefly shop-keepers and shipping-owners, who exercise a certain influence upon the native population. The war in Europe had so raised anew the pride of country in each Italian, and filled him with such sanguine patriotic aspirations and hopes of a united Italy, that his heated fancy beheld in every incident of the war the most righteous struggle that ever was engaged in, and in the opposite party the most detestable and inhuman of opponents.
Among such an auditory as those in which such opinions were ventilated, there was no difficulty in finding adherents. The ignorance of the native population respecting all countrieson the other side of the Andes became conspicuously evident in the course of the discussion. Of Italy and her plains they had at least heard tell, since Peru maintains a pretty active trade with Genoa. If I am not mistaken, the great revolutionary leader and popular idol of Italy was once captain of a ship along the Peruvian coast, and left here many a friend and well-wisher to his cause and himself. Of Austria, on the other hand, there were simply dim rumours flitting about as of some shadowy land, or the vanished empire of the Incas. Singular to say, it was precisely the renowned Concordat made with the Papacy which had brought such discredit on Austrian policy among the Roman Catholic population. I dare not repeat here the strong language which was used, not alone in the journals but to myself personally, by educated Peruvians and foreigners settled here.
In fact, all the misery that Peru has suffered since its subjugation by the Spaniards, and its present drooping condition, is here universally ascribed to the overwhelming influence of Spanish monks and priests in secular affairs. It has not yet been forgotten that monks stood at the head of the Inquisition,—that for centuries the people groaned under their oppressive sway. Conscious of their own fate, and the condition to which the clerical weapons reduced the puerile half-civilized races which inhabit Mexico and Central America, the lively imagination of the Peruvians led to consequences resulting from such a state-policy far more disastrous than could possibly be the case among a free-souled people like theAustrians. For it is the chief merit of European civilization, that every political measure threatening to impede the march of ideas by any process of fettering men's minds, only serves to evoke a more restless activity, as in our actual state of human culture enlightenment and science form far too formidable a bulwark for reaction to obtain any permanent success, or even to succeed in overleaping.
Among the excursions which I made during my stay in Peru, there were two of special interest,—a ride to the ruins of Cajamarquilla, and a visit to the Temple of the Sun at Pachacamác, the erection of which dates from a period antecedent to the dynasty of the Incas.
The ruins of Cajamarquilla are about nine English miles distant from the capital. Owing to the insecurity of life and property even in the region immediately around the capital, these ruins are but rarely visited. But very few strangers settled in Lima knew these ruins, and it required a long time ere I could procure the slightest information respecting them. My excellent host, Mr. Braun, who very soon perceived how much my heart was set on visiting these ancient Indian ruins, exerted himself to make up a party for me. It was a piece of real friendliness undertaken with the very kindest intentions, but unfortunately scientific objects do not usually admit of being mixed up with pleasure-parties, it being very difficult to unite the two. About twenty horsemen, chiefly English, had assembled to make the excursion. Among our company there were also a few ladies, whom the difficultiesand dangers could not deter from joining us. As we had to take with us provisions for the entire party, a string of mules heavily laden with prog had been sent off early in the morning to the goal of our excursion. These preparations seemed to be by far the most important in the eyes of a majority of the cavalcade, after their arrival at the ruins themselves, an examination of which was evidently the last thing they had thought of when they bestrode their steeds in the morning.
The road to the ruins of Cajamarquilla is excessively fatiguing, rough, and rocky: nothing but climbing over rocky hills, upon which close to the very edge of the precipice is a faint Indian track, or crossing torrents, where the horse sinks to his crupper in the water, so that only a practised horseman can save himself from a thorough soaking.
Immediately on leaving the city begins a tract of desolate sterile stone-fields, in the midst of which one reaches what is known as the Hacienda de Pedrero, a lonely farm, where, it being as usual a fête-day of some Peruvian saint, a dozen field labourers had collected under the shadow of the verandah round the farm-house, blissfully occupied in doing nothing. No two of these were of the same breed; there were men of every variety of race and shade of colour; whites, Indians, Chinese, Negroes, Mulattoes, Mestizoes, Chinos, Sambos, Quadroons, &c. &c., and this specimen in little of the population of Peru would lead any observer to conjecture correctly as to the main reason of the low position held by the countryin the scale of nations. As in the Hacienda of San Pedrero, so throughout the country one encounters fifty coloured men of all shades for one full-blooded white. In Chile, on the other hand, one has to penetrate deep into the interior before one finds any traces of the Indian stock, while of negro population, (and this is the greatest advantage enjoyed by that Republic over Peru,) there is absolutely none. In the settled parts along the coast of Chile there are none but whites, and even the working classes are Spaniards, English, German, Italians, and North Americans. The preponderating white element in the population, their greater intelligence, energy, and perseverance, form the principal source of that intellectual and political activity which has placed Chile far in advance of the other Southern and Central-American Republics, and is opening a brilliant future to that State, far surpassing that of any of the neighbouring republics.
From the Hacienda de San Pedrero it is half an hour's ride to that of Guachipa and the Neveria of Don Pablo Sassio, where we engaged a guide, who accompanied us a couple of miles further to the goal of our excursion.
Cajamarquilla is an ancient Peruvian hamlet in the valley of and close to the river Rimac, which waters the whole district and makes it productive. The remains of the dwellings are built exclusively of sun-dried bricks, and the laying out of each single apartment differs little from the mode of constructing Indian huts at the present day. It must to allappearance have been an extensive place once, as the ruins cover eight to ten acres. Considering the little space which the Indian of the present day requires for his household gods, it may be assumed that this was a place of from 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. I saw no buildings of very remarkable dimensions, nor indeed any one the laying out of which designated it as once intended for religious purposes. The ruins are for the most part, relics of simple mud-huts, all similarly laid out in single chambers, differing from each other mainly in the greater or less dimensions of the apartments. Nothing here told of the existence of any buildings intended for public meetings, temples for worship, sacrificial altars, &c., such as one meets with in the ruined cities of Central America, in Copan, Quiriguá, Petén, Palenque, and so forth. One perceives that each of these huts, like those inhabited by the Indians at the present day, consisted of two compartments, the entire superficial area being from 36 to 42 feet square. The larger of the two apartments is about 60 feet, the smaller from 12 to 18 feet in width and depth. Nowhere could we discern a trace of that special construction which is observable among the Indian races of the high lands of Guatemala, and is there usually employed for taking vapour-baths (Temaskal.)
To form any notion of the antiquity of these buildings is doubly difficult in a climate where it never rains and the temperature is the same throughout the year, and where consequently buildings are not exposed to the destructive alternationsof cold, damp, and scorching heat, as in other less favoured countries. Even earthquakes are here not so much to be dreaded as where houses are of brick or stone, since the Adoba possesses far more elasticity than intractable building material, and is therefore better able to withstand the repeated undulations of the earth's surface.
The site of the town, which lies in a long deep valley surrounded on all sides by hills of the most fantastic shape, rising to a height of from 8000 to 10,000 feet, is exceedingly grand. Unfortunately when we visited it, all the peaks and hills of the country around were naked, barren, and bleak-looking. But in winter after the first dews have fallen, those slopes and table-lands that now looked so desolate are covered with dense deep-green verdure, when they make a far more agreeable impression on the beholder.
Of trees I saw only a few kinds of bamboo and acacia, which, more spreading than lofty, were visible in the swampy ground along the edges of the torrents. Some of the hills around seem at first sight like artificial fortifications, but when we approach closer there is not the slightest indication of Cajamarquilla having ever been a fort or place of defence. To all appearance the spot, at the time of the Spaniards first coming to Peru, was inhabited by the Quichua Indians, who afterwards either abandoned voluntarily their peaceful abodes through dread of their pursuers, or were driven thence by violence. None of the present inhabitants of the vicinity, to whom I spoke, could give us any definite information as tothe ancient history of the ruins, and one hoary Indian, named Pablo Plata, who lives in the village of Guachipa, and remembers some wild traditions respecting Cajamarquilla, which he received by word of mouth from preceding generations, I unfortunately missed seeing owing to the shortness of my stay.
Quite close to the remains of the town, is at present a large Hacienda, with magnificent clover pasturages, fertilized by the river Rimac. It was at one of these green oases that our company sat down to a comfortable pic-nic, which spoke volumes for the preparations that had been made for creature comforts. No small portion of what had been brought with us was left on the field, to be gobbled up by the clouds of negroes that crowded round, glad of the opportunity of tasting something cooked in the European fashion, though they do not like them as well as the product of their own wretched native kettles. Thus, for example, our guide, a negro, preferred vegetables anddulce(sweets) to meat, and declared sherry and cognac offered him to be "too strong."
If not in ease and comfort, at any rate in scientific interest, I found my excursion to Cajamarquilla surpassed by that made to Pachacamác in the valley of Lurin, which I made in company with some friend, and in the course of which I stayed behind the rest of my party, in company with the flag-lieutenant of the since world-renowned frigateMerrimac.
My visit to Pachacamác was, however, in so far less interesting than that to Cajamarquilla, that the greater part of theroad, as far as Chorillos, was accomplished by railroad, the remainder of the way being over sand barrens, abhorred by both steed and rider.
Chorillos, about nine miles from Lima, and a favourite watering-place of the inhabitants of the capital, with salt-water baths and gaming-tables, lies in a small romantic cove, but is of rather difficult access, owing to the steep sand-hills which, 150 to 200 feet in height, bar all access from seaward. Formerly the ride to Chorillos, like that from Callao to the capital, was performed under considerable difficulty and danger, whence it has not seldom resulted that visitors to the watering-place, who have made money at the tables of Chorillos, have on their homeward ride to Lima been eased of their winnings by some of their previous companions over the board of green cloth! At present one bowls thither over a well-made road, easily and without dread of being called on to "stand and deliver," since, even in Peru, people have not yet succeeded in amalgamating railroads and robbery.
The little place itself boasts of a few good dwelling-houses, and some 100 to 150 Ranchos of wood andadobes, or constructed of mud and reeds, in which delectable abodes the good folk from the capital are content to pass the hottest and most unhealthy months of the year (from January to May). These Ranchos, very unsightly without and exceedingly poorly furnished, are sometimes most habitable within-doors, and fitted with delightful verandahs or open porches,in which the free-and-easy occupants loll about in grass hammocks or rocking-chairs, fanned by the cool sea-breezes, in a state of dreamydolce-far-niente. Altogether Chorillos is a very unpretending and altogether uncomfortable place, in which there is little room for elegancy or self-assertion, the President of the Republic himself occupying a wretched, dirty Rancho. Don Ramon passes most of his time in the gaming-room, where he is a much-desired and most welcome guest, on account of the large sums which he is in the habit of wagering.
On a lovely June morning, about 6.30A.M., we rode out of Chorillos, and three hours later reached the ancient Pachacamác,[137]a Quichua village close to the sea-shore, with the temple of the Sun there existent at a period antecedent to the Incas, and which was afterwards dedicated by the Incas to the service of the invisible God. These ruins are much older than those of Cajamarquilla. They are partly of clay-tile, but by far the largest part consists of hewn stone, held together by mortar, the whole presenting, even in its ruined state, a lasting and massive aspect. Of the temple which once stood here, there is, however, no trace at present visible beyond mere indistinct traces of the foundation.
In the midst of a spacious Indian village there is seen a hill about 400 feet high, with artificial terraces in regular gradation, and surrounded by lofty walls, that look as though they had been battlemented. On this rising ground once stood the temple which the Yuncas had built in honour oftheir chief god. Somewhat later, when this wild race had been subdued by the Incas, these consecrated the temple in honour of the Sun, flung out the idols of the Yuncas, and designed a number of royal virgins for its service. Pizarro, however, completed the work of destruction, when, with his fanatical followers, he penetrated, in 1534, into the valley of Lurin, hitherto the most populous and peacefully prosperous of the entire Peruvian coast. The villages were laid waste, the temple overthrown, and its virgin priestesses delivered over to the brutal soldiery, and afterwards put to death.
Quite close to the ruins, as they lie scattered along the coast, the island of Pachacamác, or Morosolar, rises from the bottom of the ocean, scarcely accessible owing to its steep, precipitous sides, and on which there is not a single architectural memorial of any sort to be found, as erroneously stated, or copied, by several authors.
From the summit of the hill the visitor finds a surprising landscape, stretching over the beautiful and fertile valley of Lurin; it is difficult to imagine a more vivid and delightful contrast than is presented by the greyish-brown, sandy, far-extending ruins, and the soft verdure of the surrounding plain, variegated with the hues of every description of tropical plant. The attention is further arrested by the singularity of the abounding vegetation beginning close to the sea, where sugar-cane and grass flourish in the most luxuriant superabundance, while scarcely a half-mile distant the landscape resumes the barren, sandy features, which extend formiles inland. Not till the Lurin valley is reached does the magnificence of tropical vegetation again enliven the scene.
After a cursory examination of the locality, we passed the night at an adjoiningHacienda, a large sugar plantation and refinery, which employs 180 Chinese coolies. Each Chinese labourer receives rations of rice and vegetables, besides four dollars a month, and binds himself to stay eight years with his employer, to repay the latter's outlay for his voyage, &c. The speculator, however, who imports the coolies from the northern provinces of China receives a premium of 300 dollars for every coolie imported. The Chinese whom we saw at Lurin, as indeed all those we encountered throughout Peru, were very filthy and depressed-looking, but seemed in good health, and, on the whole, better off than in Brazil or the West Indies. We were told that two Chinese will not get through so much work as one negro. There are at present about 10,000 Chinese in Peru, who have been imported by speculators during the last ten years, to some of whom their deportation has been a vast benefit, since, after their eight years' service, they are free, and may and do begin to work zealously on their own account. In Peru, as in the Indies, Java, and indeed wherever they are employed, the Chinese cling close to each other, and mutually assist each other, should any of their number fall into poverty.
The following morning early we paid a second visit to the ruins of Pachacamác, and took with us from the Hacienda a number of negroes, with working implements, for the purposeof digging up and examining the graves. At various points, especially close to the hill on which stands what probably was once a fort, we found a great number of skulls lying about. Most of those we picked up had been artificially compressed, though they did not all seem to have had the pressure applied at the same place, thus affording unmistakeable proof that artificial pressure had been resorted to here. Many of the skulls, though they had been interred for centuries, were still thickly covered with hair. There cannot be a doubt that most of those buried here belonged to the race which occupied this part of the country when the Spaniards first visited it, for after the occupation and the subsequent wholesale baptisms which the proselytizing monks performed upon the ignorant brown natives in droves, it is improbable that any of the Christianized Indians would thereafter be interred in unconsecrated earth.
The Peruvian Indians, as is well known, were accustomed to envelope their dead in coarse cloths, after which they were buried in basket or sack-shaped straw-plait work, certain objects and utensils being placed by their side, preference being given to those the deceased had most used in life. Thus, fish-nets, baskets, &c., were placed in the grave, and in the case of a chief, weapons, staffs with golden knobs, pots of wood or burnt earth, and so forth. The head usually reposes on a sort of pillow of grass or cotton. I brought away with me from Pachacamác about half a dozen of the most remarkably shaped of these skulls, as also some portions of mummifiedcorpses, which the negroes had disinterred in my presence. All these objects were in excellent preservation, about three or four feet under the surface, some in simple graves, others in longish sepulchres of hewn stone, such as we might imagine were occupied by the wealthier class of the community. It is usual to find several skeletons (probably members of the same family) in each separate grave. I also found layers of woven stuffs, some of very superior design and finish, interposed between various corpses.
While the negroes were engaged in further excavations, I once more ascended the hill on which the Temple of the Sun must once have stood, and which to this day is called by the neighbouring inhabitants "Castillo del Sol." On the side next the sea, there are still visible a number of buttresses, which seem as though they had formed part of an older line of fortifications. There was nothing resembling a sacrificial altar, or to tell of the religious ceremonies that must once have been performed here. Here and there the material of the wall was still covered with a reddish tint, just as if it had been but recently painted. In several portions of the wall still standing, there were pieces of wood alternating with layers of mortar, now quite decayed, and affording unmistakeable evidence of the antiquity of the buildings. We also remarked in the walls of several of the Indian huts niche-shaped depressions, about 11⁄2feet deep by 11⁄2feet in length and width, the use of which has never been even plausibly conjectured. While the whole of the buildings of Cajamarquilla consisted of sun-dried tilesand bricks, those of Pachacamác seem to have been almost entirely built of stone hewn into the shape of tiles. So much of the wall as still remains is very strong and solid. According to tradition the walls of ancient Pachacamác once stretched as far as Cuzco, 240 miles distant E.N.E.!
The proprietor of the sugar plantation in the Lurin valley told me that he himself, about ten years previous, had seen mummies disinterred in the neighbourhood of Pachacamác, in the mouths of which were gold ornaments, while various objects were buried with them, such as small idols of gold and silver, staffs with golden buttons, earthen jars and vessels filled with Chicha (the well-known favourite intoxicating drink of the Indians), and fruits, the Chicha and fruits having remained in a wonderful state of preservation.[138]
On our way back to Chorillos we passed the beautifully situated village of Susco, environed with neat country-houses, which was a favourite summer retreat of the inhabitants of Lima, before Chorillos reached its present development. At present Susco is dreary and forsaken-looking.
When I reached Lima on my return from this interestingexcursion, I had only a few days more left before I was to take steamer againen routeto Panama, which I employed in riding about to examine all that was best worth seeing in the environs, and making a few parting calls.
One of the finest promenades in Lima is theAlameda Nueva, opened about two years previous, which lies on the road to Amancaes on the further bank of the Rimac, which divides the city into two unequal parts, of which, however, far the larger one, constituting indeed the city proper, lies on the left or southern bank. After the romantic descriptions I had read of the Rimac, I found myself woefully undeceived by the reality. Of the thundering rapids below the bridge, of which Castelnau gives us such a picturesque sketch, I found not a trace visible, the greater part of the river-bed, 150 to 200 feet wide, being quite dry, with a wretched little driblet of water trickling through it. The season of the year may, however, have contributed to this disenchanting prospect, and in August and September, when the melting snows and violent rain-storms of the neighbouring Cordilleras swell the brooks and rivers, they possibly impart a more imposing and lively aspect to the Rimac. The stone bridge over the river, which forms the communication with the suburb of San Lazaro, is a handsome structure, built in 1638-1640, from the designs of an Augustine monk, and cost nearly half a million dollars.
TheAlameda Nuevaconsists of a long, wide lane, with pretty garden nurseries and flower-beds on either side, interspersed with tasteful marble statues life-size, the whole enclosed in anelegant iron railing richly ornamented. In the winter season, more particularly (June to September), this beautiful promenade is in great request, when, after a few heavy falls of dew, the hills and valleys of the environs are covered with verdure of the most delicate shades, and the residents of the capital wander through the lovely glades of Amancaes, which is so overrun with the yellow blossoms of the Amaryllis (Ismene Hamancaesof Herbert), that this fine plant has given its name to the whole valley. On such occasions quite a colony of booths is extemporized, where eatables and drinkables are consumed, and giants and dwarfs, panoramas and art-saloons, are thronged with visitors, while ballad-singers, musicians, rope-dancers, mountebanks, jugglers, gamblers, and thieves, are never weary of plying their various trades, to the lightening of the purses of the pleasure-seeking crowds.
Of public amusements and places of resort there are but few in Lima, and these not of a very refined description. The theatre is an old and downright ugly building, where Spanish comedians play indifferent pieces. An Italian operatic company proved a failure owing to want of subscribers, even the highest talent barely succeeding in gaining sufficient to charter a ship to carry thetroupeback to Europe. The sole amusement, which never fails to collect a delighted multitude, is a bull-fight. These come off at intervals during the summer in the Plaza del Acho, in an uncovered amphitheatre specially built for the purpose, and constructed of sun-dried brick. On these days all Lima is in a state of excitement, and an incalculablecrowd of curious sight-seers of both sexes are hastening through the Alameda Nueva to the arena, there to gloat over the bloody scene. Fully 12,000 to 15,000 human beings throng into the confined area; each hastily deposits his half dollar (2s.) of entrance-money, so as to get the chance of a better seat. One would think it must be to a splendid soul-elevating drama that they are flocking to listen to, whereas it is but the torture of a wretched herbivore that excites their depraved curiosity. The reader will excuse me for not reiterating the loathsome details of an often-told spectacle.
It is a fact of considerable historic interest that bull-fights are now confined to the Spaniards and to their coloured descendants, in the various regions of the globe whither her dominion has extended, and it seems but a fit pendent, that the laws of the same nation should, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, condemn to the galleys Roman Catholics who venture to embrace Protestantism.
We wish here to add one single remark of our own on a feature of the entertainment which we have not seen mentioned elsewhere, viz. what becomes of the flesh of the animals thus killed. It is forthwith cut up in quarters quite close to the arena, and sold at a reduced price to the populace, although it is a well-known physiological fact, that the meat of any animal killed in a state of rabid agony cannot be eaten without prejudice to the health. The negroes, however, erroneously maintain that meat thus killed is far more tender than that of cattle slaughtered in the ordinarymode, and the Government of Republican Peru finds it best to leave each to decide the physiology of the question by his own digestive powers.
Of the state of society in Lima I have little to say. A stranger finds it difficult to obtain a footing among the better families, especially if his stay be as limited as mine necessarily was. The high-pressure existence of the capital has of late years obliterated much of its former originality and poetry. He who saw Lima twenty years ago would hardly recognize it now-a-days. The "Saya" and the "Manto," those singular but in Lima once indispensable articles of apparel of the Limañas, which enabled them like masks to attend church or market, to join processions, in short, never left their face in the street or at the promenade, have entirely disappeared, and with them have necessarily gone many other peculiar habits and customs. Formerly no lady durst venture into the street without a "Saya" or "Manto;" now, on the contrary, she would run the risk of being insulted, or at least stared at, should she appear in public in this peculiar mask-like disguise. The ancient usages peculiar to the country must give way to French manners; the Saya, the close-fitting, usually black or cinnamon-coloured upper garment, which once was the customary attire, and consequently rendered a more careful toilette unnecessary, has made way for the voluminous crinolined silk dress, while the Manto, that heavy veil of a thick black silken material, which was thrown over the back, shoulders,and head, and drawn so close that there was only a small triangular space left through which peeped one eye, has been displaced by the long black head-dress which the Spanish women are accustomed to wear.
The ladies of Lima are usually of elegant, slight, graceful appearance, their chief attractions being brilliant complexion, large dark gleaming eyes, dazzling white teeth, rich black hair, and very neat little feet. They greatly reminded me of the Havana ladies, with whom they have much in common so far as regards the passion for personal adornment, while in figure and intelligent expression of face both lag far behind the ladies of Chile.
The gentlemen of Lima, by which term I allude chiefly to the white Creoles or pure descendants of the Spaniards, who constitute about one-third of the population,[139]do not leave that impression of a splendid future resulting from a prosperous development of the resources of the country, which might be reasonably expected if there were more intellectual movement, and more industrial and commercial activity apparent among their number. The state of affairs in Peru since its separation from Spain in 1822, the constant squabbles and civil wars, as also the fact that a mere mestizo, like Ramon Castilla, devoid of intellectual or moral pre-eminence,should have succeeded in getting himself declared President for life of the Republic,[140]are the best proofs of the political and moral degradation of the Republic of Peru. All the splendid territories from Peru to Mexico have, after three centuries of Spanish rule, sunk into a state of demoralization and degeneracy, owing to the listless, labour-hating, sluggish mestizo races that inhabit it, such as only the immigration of one of the hardy northern races can ever adequately remedy. In a previous visit to Central America, I have wandered through its rich scenery, clad in the hues of perpetual summer, and smiling in exuberance of fertility, and everywhere the same impression was made upon me. Almost the only effect this wealth of nature seems to exercise upon the Indian or negro mestizo is to incapacitate him from mastering by any effort of his own the lethargy that preys upon him. Where a few rare exceptions occur, as, for instance, in Costa Rica,in which a sounder policy is preserved, it is invariably found that they are of purer Spanish descent than their sister republics in tropical South America.[141]
Owing to their political organization, these various states can scarcely fail to be powerfully affected by the impulses of our time. They have no other prospect than that of becoming either an integral portion of the immense North American Federation, or of once more being consolidated into a monarchy under the sceptre of some scion of a European royal family. In all probability, whether they be North Americans, or English, or Germans, they will always be children of some of a more powerful race, who must ultimately subvert the races of the Southern type, awaken a new spirit of energy, and so carry out that which the lazy mixed races of the present time have neither the power nor the inclination to effect. An immigration of stilled Northerners can alone raise these countries politically and commercially, develope their natural resources, and restore them to the grade of civilized states.
One of the most important as well as useful plants of Peru, and with samples of which I provided myself on leaving Peru, for the purpose of future analysis, is the Coca (Erythroxylon Coca), the leaves of which mixed with chalk or ashes of plants, form so important an article of diet as well as a masticatory among some Indian races of Peru and Bolivia.Before I left Europe one of our most celebrated German pharmacologists, M. Wöhler of Göttingen, expressed to me his wish to procure a considerable quantity of coca leaves, to enable him to analyze more completely than had as yet been done the chemical constituents of this remarkable plant, and I therefore made it a duty to take measures for procuring the requisite supply. Although the wonderful stimulant properties of the coca had for more than half a century been known to European travellers, the leaves of the plant, which flourishes best on the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras of Peru and Bolivia, at an elevation of about 8000 feet, and a temperature of from 64°.4 to 68° Fahr., have hitherto only reached Europe in very small quantities, having in fact been carried home simply as curiosities. It was reserved for one of theNovaraexpedition to bring over as much as 60 lbs. weight for the purpose of investigation of its properties by German men of science. Half of this quantity I took to Europe among my own effects; the remainder was forwarded somewhat later, through the kindness of two German gentlemen resident in Lima, Messrs. C. Eggert and N. Linnich.
So many, and in the main correct, accounts[142]have been published by travellers of the coca plant, its culture, its effectupon the system, and the marvels that have been achieved by its use, that I may well be excused from dwelling at length upon the habit which prevails among the Indians of chewing coca, or on its importance as a chief article of subsistence for several millions of our fellow-creatures. I may, however, mention certain instances which came within my own personal knowledge, as also a few statistical data relating to the annual consumption of coca in Peru and Bolivia, and the economical importance of this cultivation.
A Scotchman named Campbell, who was settled as a merchant at Tacna in Bolivia, and with whom I travelled to Europe from Lima, informed me that a few years before, being engaged upon matters of urgent business, he had performed in one day a distance of 90 English miles on mule-back, and throughout that long distance had been accompanied by an Aymara Indian, who kept up easily with the mule, without other refreshment than a few grains of roasted maize and coca leaves, which, mingled with undissolved chalk, he chewed incessantly. On reaching the station where he was to pass the night, Mr. Campbell, though mounted on an excellent animal, found himself greatly fatigued; the guide, on the other hand,after he had stood on his head for a few minutes,[143]and had drank a glass of brandy, set off without further delay on his homeward journey!!
In April, 1859, Mr. Campbell despatched a native from La Paz to Tacna, a distance of 249 English miles, which the Indian accomplished in four days. He rested one day at Tacna, and set off the following morning on his return journey, in the course of which he had to cross a pass 13,000 feet in height. It would seem that throughout the whole of this immense journey on foot, he followed the Indian custom of taking no other sustenance than a little roasted maize and coca leaves, which he carried in a little pouch at his side, and chewed from time to time.[144]
Like other experienced travellers, Mr. Campbell, who has lived over 14 years in Bolivia, is of opinion that a moderate use of coca exercises no prejudicial influence upon the general health, but simply tends to make the Indian races of the higher regions of the Andes more capable of continued laborious work. Many coca-chewers attain a great age, and Mr. Campbell knew one such, who had taken part in the insurrection of Tupac-Amaru in 1781, and at the time of my visit, 1859, was still in full possession of all his faculties. In short, as in the case of opium and wine, it would seem that it is only the abuse of coca that is followed by evil consequences.
The coca is less cultivated in Peru than in Bolivia, and the leaves are not in such request among the Quichua asamong the Aymara Indians.[145]As the Government of Bolivia draws a very handsome revenue from coca cultivation, a tax of five reals, about one shilling, being levied on everycesto, or about 25 lbs. English, there is a better opportunity of getting at the correct amount of the entire production than in Peru, where the plant is grown free of duty. The coca tax realizes in all in Bolivia 300,000pesosor dollars (about £75,000), so that the entire annual product is about 480,000cestosor 1,200,000 lbs. Thecestois worth at La Paz from 7 to 9pesos, but when employed in large quantities for export, it cost about 10 dollars, placed on board ship. Altogether the coca crop of Bolivia may reasonably be estimated at rather less than 700,000cestos, equal to about 78,000 tons.
The analysis to which the coca leaves I brought home with me were subjected at Göttingen, was attended by most important results, though the experiments are far from being completed. It was reserved for one of the assistants of the chemical laboratory, named Albert Niemann, to discoverin the leaves a peculiar crystallized organic base, to which, following the usual custom in such cases, the name Cocain has been given.[146]
The lamented death of Dr. Albert Niemann in the flower of his youth, and in the midst of his promising labours, necessarily interrupted for a time the investigations into the nature and properties of cocain. M. Wöhler, however, in his capacity of Director of the Chemical Laboratory of the University, was so good as to assign to another able assistant, Mr. W. Lossen, the task of taking up the analysis at the point where its gifted discoverer had left it, when it was found that, when heated in chlorine, the cocain underwent a singular andastonishing metamorphosis, being in fact resolved into Benzoic acid and a new organic base, for which M. Wöhler proposes the name of Ecgonin (from Εχγονος, an off-shoot). Further researches with the coca leaves lead to the discovery of a second organic base, which, it would appear, is contained in its primitive form in the coca, the composition of which will be treated of in a forthcoming paper by Mr. Lossen. This base is in a liquid form, for which the provisional name hygrin (from υγρος, fluid) has been adopted.[147]
Hitherto the experiments made to determine the physiological properties of cocain have been less important in their results, as it is only found in small quantities in the coca leaf, and an adequate quantity can only be obtained with great trouble and difficulty.[148]Consequently it is as yet impossible to decide the questions, whether one of these bases is stronger than the other, as also to which of the two are to be ascribedthe peculiar properties of the plant. Singular enough, the various experiments with an effusion of the coca leaves had not the least result, while it is well known that the use of this kind of tea in the Cordilleras wonderfully stimulates the breathing powers of the traveller, besides satisfying his appetite.[149]It would also appear that the coca leaves lose part of their virtue in transit, and that their most intense activity is only developed in their native regions. If, however, the ultimate results of the experiments of Mr. Lossen, instituted with as much sagacity as zeal, should incontestably prove the value and utility of the plant for pharmaceutical purposes, as well as in all cases where the human strength is exposed to unwonted strains upon its energies, the means will surely and easily be found for extractingon the spotthe active principles of coca, as is being at present done by industrious Yankees in Ecuador, with the Cinchona or China bark.
When theNovarawas leaving Batavia, I cherished the hope that our stay in South America would be sufficiently prolonged to admit of my making an excursion to the Cinchona forests, so as to enable me to speak authoritatively and from personal knowledge upon certain questions discussed at Lembang with Dr. Junghuhn,[150]which had hitherto been leftunsettled or altogether unexamined, and which were of such deep import to the attempts being made in Java to cultivatethe Cinchona. Circumstances, however, had conspired to render this impracticable. Instead of the entire expedition, as originally projected, visiting that classic region, it was reservedto myself, a solitary individual, to tread the scenes, where Humboldt once collected the first valuable contributions to science, and even then my time was so limited that my attention had to be confined to the capital of Peru, and the neighbouring country. Under these circumstances such a project as a regular scientific excursion deep into the heart of the Cinchona forests was entirely out of the question. I did not fail, however, to translate into Spanish and English, the disputed points which Dr. Junghuhn had requested me to ascertain for him, so that I might obtain such information upon these interesting questions from such of the friends I made in Peru or Chile as seemed likely, either in their own persons or by the opportunities for natural studies that might happen to characterize their place of residence, toadvance our knowledge of the Cinchona tree and its cultivation. My different efforts to obtain reliable information on the cultivation of the China bark tree in its mother country were especially promoted by my having met, while at Lima, with Mr. Campbell, who, during the many years he has been settled at Tacna, has paid especial attention to the China bark trade. For the chief export of this important medicament is in the hands of the Bolivians, and not of the Peruvians, as the uninitiated might imagine from the name it is usually known by in commerce, viz. Peruvian bark.[151]
The most important facts which I am here enabled to dwell upon relate to the correction of a widespread misconception, that owing to the thirst for plunder and the wilful neglect of the China tree in its own native regions, the supply of the valuable drug obtained from its bark, the well-known Countess'[152]or Jesuit bark, which to the practical physician is ofscarcely less importance than the potato to the labouring man, is daily diminishing. The Calisaya region (i. e. the limits within which the C. Calisaya, the species that furnishes the most valuable bark, is found in its finest and most abundant state) extends from about one degree north of Lake Titicaca, or from 14° 30′ to 20° S. In the forests of Cochabamba, between which place and La Paz is the principal district of the China tree, the tree is more frequently found than in those running parallel on either side with La Paz, in which it is usually met with at such a distance from the capital that it becomes valueless, owing to the cost of transport, which is as high as 17 dollars per 100 lbs. The more southerly forests are still quite virgin, and have never re-echoed the blows of the Cascarilleros' axe. The largest quantity is exported from Tacna through the port of Arica, only a small portion being smuggled northwards from Lake Titicaca, for shipmentviâPort d'Islay. According to statistics, from 8000 to 10,000 cwt. of bark may be thus exported for any lapse of time, without the slightest danger of the tree getting exterminated. Since 1845 the exportation of bark from Bolivia has been a Government monopoly, which has farmed out the privilege to a private company, that used to pay a certain annual premium based on an export of 4000 cwt. The company paid the Cascarilleros or other persons who collected the bark, 25 dollars to 30 dollars for every hundredweight of Calisaya delivered in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The enterprise, however, proved only partially successful, sincespeculation, avarice and the continual political troubles and alterations of the Government, have each and all proved sore enemies to the peaceful development of the industry of the country. Each new President had only one thought, viz. how to make the largest profit by seizing on the natural wealth of the country, and only sought to increase the export of the bark for the sake of the monopoly. In 1850 a native commercial house in La Paz paid the bark-gatherers 60 pesos for every 100 lbs., besides a duty to Government of 25 pesos additional, at the same time paying on an estimated export of 7000 cwt. The exorbitant wage thus granted to the Cascarilleros resulted in an enormous quantity of Calisaya being brought to La Paz from all parts of Bolivia, In order to preserve the public tranquillity, and not glut the market, the Bolivian Government now prohibited entirely the cutting or collecting of bark. Within eighteen months about 1400 tons of bark were brought in, and this gave the monopolists a perfect dread lest they should have to declare themselves bankrupt, and it was indeed only through the intervention of Government that they escaped. The latter took the entire stock on their own hands, paid the speculators with Treasury bonds, redeemable within a given number of years, and made a fresh contract with a native firm, which stipulated that the price at La Paz should be 65 dollars per 100 lbs., without further export duty.
As soon as the stock in hand was exhausted, the prohibition against cutting Calisaya had of course to be rescinded,and in the interim the most decided steps were taken to check the superfluous, indeed dangerous, zeal of the Cascarilleros in the collection of the bark.
While I was in Java chemical experiments had begun to be made with the bark of the young China trees, and from the fact that the valuable alkaloid was not found in these, it was hastily inferred that the bark of the trees grown in their adopted country had, owing to the change effected in climatic and other conditions, been deprived of the principle that made them most valuable in their native land. But researches made in South America have satisfied me, that even in the indigenous forests of Cinchona, the active principle quinine is only found in the bark of older trees, and that its quantity is perceptibly affected by the age of the tree, the finest quinine being obtained in largest quantities from trees upwards of fifty years old. To ignorance of this peculiarity must also be attributed in all probability the fact that, at the period of the Spanish rule, the China collectors or hunters (Cazadores de Quina) used to fell annually 800 or 900 young trees of from four to seven years old, to get at the 110 cwts. of fever-bark, which, intended exclusively for the use of the royal house, were shipped every year from Païta, and thence round the Horn to Cadiz.[153]
So, too, with respect to the quantities annually exported at present from Bolivia and Peru, and used in European stores, there remain serious errors to correct, prevalent even amongscientific circles. According to the latest estimates (which take cognizance of seven inferior sorts), there have been exported, between 1830 and 1860, not more than 10,000 tons, while of Calisaya, the specially valuable red bark (Cascarilla roja), not above 120,000 cwt. have been exported in all during the same period. While the annual export thus dwindles in dimensions from what had generally been supposed, there has lately been discovered in large quantities, in the forests between Tarija, Cochabamba, and La Paz, a species of Cinchona, whose bark is said to possess very much the same properties as the Calisaya. The curate of Tarija has offered for sale 3000 cwt. of this valuable bark (called by the Indians Sucupira). The position of the forests in which this species of Cinchona is found is so favourable for exportation, that the cost of transport from Tarija to Iquique, the nearest port, would only amount to from 8 to 10 dollars per quintal.
The departure of the mail steamer from Callao de Lima was fixed for the afternoon of 12th June, when several of my friends were so kind as to accompany me on board. In Callao I paid a short visit to H.M.S.Ganges, and then the U.S. frigateMerrimac(destined in less than three years to acquire a mournful renown in the horrors of civil war, as also imperishable celebrity as the pioneer of iron navies), one of the finest and most powerful screw-ships of the North American navy, armed at that time with 32 cannon, and of 960-horse power. I had had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the officers of both ships, partly in Valparaiso, partly in Lima.On board theGangesI experienced a not less cordial and kind reception, and Admiral Baines, as commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the Pacific, did me the honour of granting me an official pass to all captains of British ships, setting forth my scientific pursuits, and recommending me to their particular attention.
On the morning of the 14th June, the good steamerValparaiso, commanded by that courteous model of a British sailor, Captain Bloomfield, reached Huanchaco, the principal harbour of Truxillo, which is only six miles distant, and was once the capital of the northern portion of the empire of the Incas. The export of silver, wool, and cochineal from this port is pretty considerable. Here came on board a Scotchman named Blackwood, who for some years past had been cultivating cochineal in Truxillo, but was now, as he confessed, unable any longer to compete in its production with other countries, in consequence of the price of labour being so high, and the uncertain state of labour-supply. Mr. Blackwood intended proceedingviâCalifornia to the East Indies, where he hoped to light upon a more suitable field for cochineal-growing, the cost of labour there being still low, and there existing a constantly-increasing demand for that substance[154].
On the 15th June we anchored in the roads of San José de Lambajeque in the department of Chola. The position of this village is so unsuitable, that it is only possible to effect a landing by means of what are calledBalsas(rafts with sails), consisting of huge thick trunks of trees bound together. One of these curious contrivances conveyed on shore in safety 76 passengers at once, together with all their miscellaneous effects!
Fifteen miles north of Lambajeque lies the Indian village of Iting (Repose), with 5000 inhabitants, whose language is totally different from the Quichua dialect, usually spoken in the province. One Peruvian on his return from his travels even went so far as to say that the idiom of the Iting Indians strongly resembled that of the Chinese! In Monsefú, not quite two miles from Iting, lives an Indian population which speaks nothing but Spanish, and consequently can neither understand nor be understood by its neighbours! This singular state of things almost entitles us to conjecture that the Spanish conquerors have adopted here the same tactics as those they put in practice in Central America, where they repeatedly were at the pains to introduce among the subjugated tribes, colonies of another race frequently hostile to the aborigines, in order by difference of customs and language to render any united action against the common enemy almost impossible. I have myself frequently observed in the Central-American State of San Salvador, that, for instance, the Tlascaltecas, who speak the language of Montezuma, had been settled in the midstof foreign races. Such colonizations have almost invariably been effected for political purposes, and were compulsory, instead of being undertaken voluntarily.
On 16th June we anchored in the beautiful and sheltered harbour of Payta. The little town itself has about 4000 inhabitants, who carry on a pretty brisk trade with the interior and along the coast. The principal article of export is hides, especially goat-skins, chinchilla fur (Eriomys Chinchilla), cotton, fruit, oil, herb-archel (Roccella tinctoria—used occasionally as a medicine, but more commonly as a dye,—the well-known litmus, used for chemical test papers, being prepared from it), and straw hats. Forty-five miles distant from Payta, in a beautiful and fertile neighbourhood, lies the town of Piura with 10,000 inhabitants, which carries on an extensive trade in fruit and vegetables along the coast, and indeed supplies Lima with its excellent produce.
Payta harbour is visited annually by from fifty to sixty whalers, who take in fresh provisions here, do their repairs, and give their crews a little repose after long and heavy labours. The climate is very healthy and exceedingly dry. At the same time there is no lack of good water, which the Indians bring to the city from the river Chirar, 18 miles distant, in casks on mule-back. This mode of transport is so cheap, that the erection of a distilling apparatus in Payta would not pay. The cargo of one mule, about 12 gallons, would sell for about 2 reals (about 1s.51⁄2d.). Ships take in their supplies of water at Tumbez, a little further north.
When I was at Payta, there were some twenty merchant ships in the harbour. The trade of the place was evidently increasing. This was indicated not alone by the energy of the inhabitants, but by a general well-to-do air. Large, round, broad-brimmed straw hats are annually exported to the value of 400,000 dollars. Of goat-skins, the annual stock is about 1200 cwt.; of herb-archel from 1500 to 2000 cwt. There are also at Payta some very remunerative manufactures of castor oil (from theRicinus communis), and its cognate from the piñon bean (Jatropha curcas), both of which are found in large quantities in the interior. By an iron machine worked by steam some 85 gallons of the oil are made daily, part of which is used in the country for lamps and in the preparation of soap; but by far the largest portion is exported to the United States.
A few weeks before I reached Payta, there had been accidentally found in a cave among the bare sand-hills which form the naked desolate environs of the town, a quantity of maize, which was supposed to have formed part of a stock which had been placed here by the Incas. It was of a smaller kind than that grown at the present day. The grains, notwithstanding the centuries they had lain interred, were in very tolerable preservation. All along the coast nothing was spoken of but this incident, as though some great treasure had been discovered, whereas it was but some 60 lbs. of maize that were found. Moreover, the interest felt by the Indians in thistrouvaillehad nothing to do with its historic suggestiveness, but because their readily-inflamed imagination prefiguredboundless stores of maize yet to be lighted upon and made available, without their having to labour for them!
In the course of the afternoon we left Payta, and next day sighted the island of La Plata, distant about 10 miles from the mainland. A tradition, constantly in the mouth of the people, to the effect that the ancient Incas buried here a large amount of treasure, has led to many formal expeditions having been dispatched to this island at various times, every one of which, however, proved abortive. We now began to find the temperature perceptibly rising; for a few hours it rose from 65° to 76° Fahr.
At 6P.M.of the 20th, we reached the Taboga Islands, a group of lovely islets, about 11 miles from Panama, where are the warehouses and wharves of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. Taboga Island, the most important of the group, is only one mile and a half long by half a mile broad, but with the adjacent islet of Taboquilla, forms a very convenient crescent-shaped harbour, which unites to a secure haven a tolerably healthy climate, so that during the unhealthy season, when the yellow fever sometimes commits fearful ravages in Panama, many of the inhabitants resort to this island, which, up to the year 1858, had remained entirely free of the scourge.
Late in the evening the English and American papers came on board, from which we got the first intelligence of the march of events at the seat of war in Italy, as also of another world-wide calamity,—the death of Alexander vonHumboldt. Even here on the shores of the far Pacific, the intelligence of the greatest naturalist of our age having departed from among us, made a deep and powerful impression, which not even the tempests which impended over the political horizon, and threatened to envelope the entire world, could allay. Although the outbreak of hostilities between two such powers as France and Austria must inevitably react severely upon the condition of the inhabitants of North and South America, yet little was discussed respecting events in Italy; while the obituary notice of Humboldt was read aloud in the cabin, and many a fellow-traveller inscribed on a slip of paper for preservation those beautiful words which the noble and venerable old savant is said to have spoken, when on a lovely sunny May-day his spirit winged its flight from our planet, whose physical constitution his mighty mind had more closely investigated and comprehended than any other mortal of our day. "How gloriously those sunbeams dart forth; they seem as though inviting the earth to the heavens!"
Thus it was forbidden to the members of the Expedition to find the great naturalist yet alive on their return to their common native land! How full of meaning did those touching words now prove, and how fall of mournful memories, with which Humboldt concluded his scientific suggestions to theNovaravoyagers, when he prayed to Almighty God, "That His Holy Spirit would be with this great and splendid undertaking to the honour of the common Fatherland!"TheNovarastaff above all must doubly regret the death of the "Nestor of Science." The warm and active interest he took in their expedition contributed in no small degree to advance its scientific efficiency, and if it be the privilege of theNovarato live in the memory of the scientific world, it will, as the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian himself expressed it in a letter to the venerable philosopher, "redound in its honour to the latest ages, that it was permitted to associate its name with that of Humboldt, who for three generations of men has been associated with every triumph that has been achieved in the domain of science."
On the 21st, at 7A.M., we anchored in the roads of Panama. Large ships are obliged to lie to from two to three miles off shore, as the beach is nothing but "slike," and at ebb-tide presents an immense unsightly expanse.
The town of Panama (many fish), built on low green hills amid the most magnificent forms of tropical vegetation, presents when viewed from seaward a most lovely, enchanting aspect, especially to the traveller coming from the sterile sandy shores of the west coast of South America. As soon, however, as he sets foot on the shore, and has entered the precincts of the city, his first pleasing impressions are rudely dispelled. The streets are everywhere narrow and filthy, the houses low and poverty-stricken in appearance; even upon their roofs the luxuriance of tropical vegetation bursts forth! Moreover the chief square with its cathedral leaves an impression of decay. Only a few of the houses situate near thebeach, the property of strangers, and a few of the hotels, have anything of a respectable appearance. The whole population does not exceed 8000 to 9000 inhabitants, of whom about 500 are whites, the rest being negroes and mestizoes. At the time when the railroad was being made across the Isthmus, in the construction of which thousands of Irish and Chinese fell victims to the climate and the severity of the work, the experiment was made of introducing negroes from Jamaica, whose cosmopolitan nature asserted itself by their having increased and multiplied even here. At present there are upwards of 100,000 negroes on and near the Isthmus.
The expense of living in Panama is no longer so exorbitant as it was ten years ago, at the period of the first emigration to the newly-discovered gold-fields of California, when there was no railroad, and the journey across the Isthmus was made partly on mules, partly in small canoes. For from three to four dollars a day, one gets very fair board and lodging at the best hotels. The most expensive item is washing, the charge being 2 dollars (8s.) a dozen!! In a climate where European cleanliness necessitates frequent change of apparel, this item alone amounts to some 25 dollars to 30 dollars per month for a single person! Accordingly, it is found to be more economical to fling away several articles of the toilette as soon as they have been soiled, and purchase a fresh supply, rather than pay this heavy tax on the purification of the old garments.
The North American Company, which maintains directcommunication between California and New York, has made such excellent arrangements, that the passengers on their arrival in Panama by the train are conveyed in a small steamer from the station, which is close to the shore, out to the large steamer lying in the roads, which is to convey them to California. The entire time occupied in convoying 700 or 800 passengers with their usually rather heavy baggage from Colon across the Isthmus, and thence to their re-embarkation in the steamer upon the West Coast, does not exceed ten hours. The hotel-keepers of Panama, on the other hand, complain sorely of this arrangement, for whereas formerly no passenger ever crossed the Isthmus without spending one dollar at least, hundreds now pass through without ever setting a foot in the city.
When I was in Panama there existed an "Opposition Line" of steamers, a genuine American institution, of which we have occasional examples in Europe, but which is only to be seen in its fall bloom in the United States. Formerly, the fare for a deck-passage from New York to San Francisco was 160 dollars (£33 10s.). The "Opposition Line" lowered the fare to 35 dollars, and as out of this sum 25 dollars had to be paid to the railway, there remained only 10 dollars (£2 2s.) for the cost of transport and maintenance of passengers on board large handsome steamers from New York to San Francisco! For the public at large this was undoubtedly a vast benefit, and in consequence of the unexampled lowness of fares, an immense number of persons hadgone to California during the last preceding few months. Whereas formerly only adventurers, speculators, or persons of means, could turn their eyes on the land of gold, a poor but industrious labouring population now pressed eagerly thither. Of course, however, it was too good to last:—no enterprise could continue upon such ruinous principles. It was the war of large capital against small; whichever could longest stand the incessant drain, remained in possession of the field. Occasionally, however, a "compromise" is effected between the two parties, but in that case the public is usually the sufferer, since in order to make up for past extravagance, the two quondam foes combine to keep up exorbitant rates.
The salubrity of Panama, though still unhealthy enough during the wet season (May to September), is undoubtedly better than it ever was in former years. The doses of quinine pills with which people used to be presented in society, very much the same way as a pinch of snuff, have become infrequent, neither is it now the custom to drink sherry or brandy and water with quinine in it. Indeed, were foreign settlers to abstain from the practice of frequent meals, which even in more temperate climes cannot be continued in with impunity, the health of the inhabitants would benefit greatly. I repeatedly heard it maintained that the use of ice, which at present can be got in large quantities and at very low rates upon the whole Isthmus, and forms an ingredient of every beverage, and many dishes even, has materially improved thehygienic conditions of Panama. About 360 tons of ice are imported into Panama annually, or about one ton per diem. The whole quantity is supplied from the North American lakes, chiefly from Boston, and is sold in gross at 7 dollars 50 cents (about £1 25s.) per 100 lbs., the retail price being a trifle over a shilling per pound. In order to avoid a glut which might make ice importation unremunerative, and endanger the steadiness of the supply, the Government has kept in its own hands the monopoly of the ice-trade.