FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[101]In one single year (1854), the imports into Australia of Chilean grain amounted to £630,000. In a good year Chile produces 2,500,000 fanegas (920,755 quarters) of wheat, 4,500,000 fanegas (1,855,054 quarters) of barley, and 180,000 fanegas (16,071 tons) of beans. Thefanegavaries in weight according to the article measured; thus a fanega of wheat is 165 lbs., of barley 155 lbs., and of beans 200 lbs.[102]That ships in good holding ground and with sound tackle are in no great danger riding out even a heavy storm in the roads, is best proved by the fact, that in the inner harbour there is a floating dry dock in use throughout the year, which, notwithstanding the occasionally severe weather while we were there, had a three-masted ship, full-rigged, masted and tackled upon it, with repairs of all sorts going on upon her sides.[103]About 1s.1d.; a dollar is about 4s.4d., and a dollar has 8 reals.[104]We must especially remark the large and valuable zoological collection with which our natural history stores were enriched by a German gentleman, Dr. C. Seget of Santiago de Chili. With similar liberality another gentleman, Mr. Friedrich Leybold, a Bavarian by birth, now resident in Santiago, where he practises as a chemist, presented the Expedition with several valuable geological and botanical specimens.[105]The charge for apartments of three persons (two sleeping and one drawing-room), including board, was 30 Spanish piastres = £6 6s.per diem![106]The Chilean Mint is entirely arranged on the French system, and is provided with French machinery.[107]"Historia fisica y politica de Chile, segun documentos adquiridos en esta Republica durante doze años de residencia en ella, y publicado bajo los auspicios del supremo Gobierno por Claudio Gay, &c., Paris, 1844, 8vo.;" besides two large quarto volumes, "Atlas de la historia fisica y politica de Chile."[108]The results of the great attention bestowed on public instruction have not been inadequate, as is apparent from the latest statistics on the subject, according to which the average proportion of the inhabitants, who can read and write, is 100 out of every 561 of the male population, and 100 in 1095 of the females, or an average of 100 in every 828. In 1858, there were on the whole State 950 schools, attended by 39,657 scholars (viz. 27,288 male and 12,369 female). There is, however, a difference in these two statements of 6 per cent. The proportion of females to malesattending schoolis 45 to 100; of those able to read and write, of 51 females to 100 males.[109]There are in the whole country 37 public and 12 private libraries (including in the latter only such as are really worthy of the name).[110]See Gay's History of Chile, Zoology, vol. i, p. 161.[111]The whole consumption of ice used in Valparaiso and Santiago is supplied by American ships, which take in their cargo at Boston, and sell it here at about 21⁄4d. per lb. It is cheaper to import the ice from America round the Horn than from the Andes, though the latter are only 50 or 60 miles distant, and though ice is found on these at certain seasons at an elevation of only 6000 feet.[112]Mr. Haidinger, who at the very first exerted himself to the utmost of his ability and patriotism to promote the objects of theNovaraExpedition, was so thoughtfully kind as to provide the geologist attached to it with a number of copies of publications of the Imperial Institute, as well as a corresponding number of neat little specimens of tertiary petrifactions from the Vienna basin, for the purpose of presenting them to kindred institutes in different quarters of the globe.[113]The lines of road already in operation or projected throughout Chile are as follows:—a.From Valparaiso to Santiago, 110 miles, constructed at the expense of the State, and estimated to cost $7,150,000 (£2,860,000). This had been opened when we were there, as far as Guillota, 30 miles, but the whole was to be finished by 1862.b.From Valparaiso to Talca (180 miles), andc.From Port Caldera to Copiapó, the mining capital (50 miles), both constructed by private companies. From Copiapó a tramway leads to Pabellar, whence there is a mule-road to the mines of Chanarullo (4400 feet above sea-level). Mr. Evans had invented a new description of locomotive, capable of climbing even to this elevated region. Lastly, a road is projected to unite Copiapó with the mining district of Tres Puntos.[114]See a very interesting "Essay" upon Chile, published at Hamburg by Señor Vicente Perez-Rosales, Consul-General for Chile at that port.[115]This estimate is founded on the following calculations:—120,000 tons at $40 per ton, comes to $4,800,000, the annual expenses of which, such as crew, insurance, &c., and including interest for money invested, amounts to 30 per cent. for 20 days$80,000Further saving of interest and insurance on goods valued at $16,000,000 at 20 per cent. for 20 days177,776———Total saving effected by vessels using the Straits of Magelhaen$257,776[116]The Steam-packet Company which now carries the mails twice a month from Valparaiso to the southern ports of Chile, receives an annual subsidy from Government of $50,000 (£10,500).[117]According to the reports of Mr. George Schuthe, governor of the little colony in the Straits of Magelhaen, some very valuable coal-strata exist near Punta Arenas. These, although difficult of access, would, nevertheless, fetch a high price, considering the high price of coal in the harbours along the east coast of South America. In Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, 12 to 15 days' sail distant, the average price of coal is 12 dollars (£2 10s.) per ton.[118]We cannot help stating here that we think it far from unimportant, that when employed to measure the altitude of prominent objects, the Aneroid may be made to supply widely different results from those of the ordinary barometer, as the elimination of gravity in the Aneroid readings remains as a constant element, and hence the difference between the two can only be rectified by due regard being had to this circumstance, when performing the requisite calculations.[119]This group, between 51° and 53° S., and 57° and 62° W., comprises, besides the two larger islands, 90 smaller islands, the superficial area of the whole being about 6000 square miles, or 3,840,000 acres. The summer temperature is 69°.8 Fahr. and that of winter rarely falls below 30°.2 Fahr., so that the climate greatly resembles that of Scotland in many respects. The islands present a cheerless aspect; a rolling country with peat soil, covered with rank grasses, and intersected by low ranges of hills, alternating with marshy rivers and torrents. The lower part of the country is clay, slate, and sandstone, covered with turf, which is used for fuel. Tussock grass (Dactylis cespitosa) is the most common plant.

[101]In one single year (1854), the imports into Australia of Chilean grain amounted to £630,000. In a good year Chile produces 2,500,000 fanegas (920,755 quarters) of wheat, 4,500,000 fanegas (1,855,054 quarters) of barley, and 180,000 fanegas (16,071 tons) of beans. Thefanegavaries in weight according to the article measured; thus a fanega of wheat is 165 lbs., of barley 155 lbs., and of beans 200 lbs.

[102]That ships in good holding ground and with sound tackle are in no great danger riding out even a heavy storm in the roads, is best proved by the fact, that in the inner harbour there is a floating dry dock in use throughout the year, which, notwithstanding the occasionally severe weather while we were there, had a three-masted ship, full-rigged, masted and tackled upon it, with repairs of all sorts going on upon her sides.

[103]About 1s.1d.; a dollar is about 4s.4d., and a dollar has 8 reals.

[104]We must especially remark the large and valuable zoological collection with which our natural history stores were enriched by a German gentleman, Dr. C. Seget of Santiago de Chili. With similar liberality another gentleman, Mr. Friedrich Leybold, a Bavarian by birth, now resident in Santiago, where he practises as a chemist, presented the Expedition with several valuable geological and botanical specimens.

[105]The charge for apartments of three persons (two sleeping and one drawing-room), including board, was 30 Spanish piastres = £6 6s.per diem!

[106]The Chilean Mint is entirely arranged on the French system, and is provided with French machinery.

[107]"Historia fisica y politica de Chile, segun documentos adquiridos en esta Republica durante doze años de residencia en ella, y publicado bajo los auspicios del supremo Gobierno por Claudio Gay, &c., Paris, 1844, 8vo.;" besides two large quarto volumes, "Atlas de la historia fisica y politica de Chile."

[108]The results of the great attention bestowed on public instruction have not been inadequate, as is apparent from the latest statistics on the subject, according to which the average proportion of the inhabitants, who can read and write, is 100 out of every 561 of the male population, and 100 in 1095 of the females, or an average of 100 in every 828. In 1858, there were on the whole State 950 schools, attended by 39,657 scholars (viz. 27,288 male and 12,369 female). There is, however, a difference in these two statements of 6 per cent. The proportion of females to malesattending schoolis 45 to 100; of those able to read and write, of 51 females to 100 males.

[109]There are in the whole country 37 public and 12 private libraries (including in the latter only such as are really worthy of the name).

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

[111]The whole consumption of ice used in Valparaiso and Santiago is supplied by American ships, which take in their cargo at Boston, and sell it here at about 21⁄4d. per lb. It is cheaper to import the ice from America round the Horn than from the Andes, though the latter are only 50 or 60 miles distant, and though ice is found on these at certain seasons at an elevation of only 6000 feet.

[112]Mr. Haidinger, who at the very first exerted himself to the utmost of his ability and patriotism to promote the objects of theNovaraExpedition, was so thoughtfully kind as to provide the geologist attached to it with a number of copies of publications of the Imperial Institute, as well as a corresponding number of neat little specimens of tertiary petrifactions from the Vienna basin, for the purpose of presenting them to kindred institutes in different quarters of the globe.

[113]The lines of road already in operation or projected throughout Chile are as follows:—a.From Valparaiso to Santiago, 110 miles, constructed at the expense of the State, and estimated to cost $7,150,000 (£2,860,000). This had been opened when we were there, as far as Guillota, 30 miles, but the whole was to be finished by 1862.b.From Valparaiso to Talca (180 miles), andc.From Port Caldera to Copiapó, the mining capital (50 miles), both constructed by private companies. From Copiapó a tramway leads to Pabellar, whence there is a mule-road to the mines of Chanarullo (4400 feet above sea-level). Mr. Evans had invented a new description of locomotive, capable of climbing even to this elevated region. Lastly, a road is projected to unite Copiapó with the mining district of Tres Puntos.

[113]The lines of road already in operation or projected throughout Chile are as follows:—

a.From Valparaiso to Santiago, 110 miles, constructed at the expense of the State, and estimated to cost $7,150,000 (£2,860,000). This had been opened when we were there, as far as Guillota, 30 miles, but the whole was to be finished by 1862.b.From Valparaiso to Talca (180 miles), andc.From Port Caldera to Copiapó, the mining capital (50 miles), both constructed by private companies. From Copiapó a tramway leads to Pabellar, whence there is a mule-road to the mines of Chanarullo (4400 feet above sea-level). Mr. Evans had invented a new description of locomotive, capable of climbing even to this elevated region. Lastly, a road is projected to unite Copiapó with the mining district of Tres Puntos.

b.From Valparaiso to Talca (180 miles), and

c.From Port Caldera to Copiapó, the mining capital (50 miles), both constructed by private companies. From Copiapó a tramway leads to Pabellar, whence there is a mule-road to the mines of Chanarullo (4400 feet above sea-level). Mr. Evans had invented a new description of locomotive, capable of climbing even to this elevated region. Lastly, a road is projected to unite Copiapó with the mining district of Tres Puntos.

[114]See a very interesting "Essay" upon Chile, published at Hamburg by Señor Vicente Perez-Rosales, Consul-General for Chile at that port.

[115]This estimate is founded on the following calculations:—120,000 tons at $40 per ton, comes to $4,800,000, the annual expenses of which, such as crew, insurance, &c., and including interest for money invested, amounts to 30 per cent. for 20 days$80,000Further saving of interest and insurance on goods valued at $16,000,000 at 20 per cent. for 20 days177,776———Total saving effected by vessels using the Straits of Magelhaen$257,776

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

120,000 tons at $40 per ton, comes to $4,800,000, the annual expenses of which, such as crew, insurance, &c., and including interest for money invested, amounts to 30 per cent. for 20 days$80,000Further saving of interest and insurance on goods valued at $16,000,000 at 20 per cent. for 20 days177,776———Total saving effected by vessels using the Straits of Magelhaen$257,776

[116]The Steam-packet Company which now carries the mails twice a month from Valparaiso to the southern ports of Chile, receives an annual subsidy from Government of $50,000 (£10,500).

[117]According to the reports of Mr. George Schuthe, governor of the little colony in the Straits of Magelhaen, some very valuable coal-strata exist near Punta Arenas. These, although difficult of access, would, nevertheless, fetch a high price, considering the high price of coal in the harbours along the east coast of South America. In Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, 12 to 15 days' sail distant, the average price of coal is 12 dollars (£2 10s.) per ton.

[118]We cannot help stating here that we think it far from unimportant, that when employed to measure the altitude of prominent objects, the Aneroid may be made to supply widely different results from those of the ordinary barometer, as the elimination of gravity in the Aneroid readings remains as a constant element, and hence the difference between the two can only be rectified by due regard being had to this circumstance, when performing the requisite calculations.

[119]This group, between 51° and 53° S., and 57° and 62° W., comprises, besides the two larger islands, 90 smaller islands, the superficial area of the whole being about 6000 square miles, or 3,840,000 acres. The summer temperature is 69°.8 Fahr. and that of winter rarely falls below 30°.2 Fahr., so that the climate greatly resembles that of Scotland in many respects. The islands present a cheerless aspect; a rolling country with peat soil, covered with rank grasses, and intersected by low ranges of hills, alternating with marshy rivers and torrents. The lower part of the country is clay, slate, and sandstone, covered with turf, which is used for fuel. Tussock grass (Dactylis cespitosa) is the most common plant.

Station on the Panama Railway

An Overland Journey from Valparaiso to Gibraltar,viâthe Isthmus of Panama.

16th May To 1st August, 1859.

Departure from Valparaiso.—Coquimbo.—Caldera.—Cobija.—Iquique.—Manufacture of saltpetre.—Arica.—Port d'Islay.—Medanos, or wandering sand-hills.—Chola.—Pisco.—The Chincha or Guano Islands.—Remarks respecting the Guano or Huanu beds.—Callao.—Lima.—Carrion crows, the principal street-scavengers.—Churches and Monasteries.—Hospitals.—Charitable institutions.—Medical College.—National Library.—Padre Vigil.—National Museum.—The Central Normal School.—Great lack of intellectual energy.—Ruins of Cajamarquilla.—Chorillos.—Temple to the Sun at Pachacamác.—River Rimac.—Amancaes.—The new prison.—Bull-fights.—State of society in Peru.—TheCocaplant, and the latest scientific examination respecting its peculiar properties.—TheChina, or Peruvian-bark tree.—Departure from Lima.—Lambajeque.—Indian village of Iting.—Païta.—Island of La Plata.—Taboga Island.—Impression made by the intelligence of Humboldt's death.—Panama.—"Opposition" Line.—Immense traffic.—The Railway across the Isthmus.—Aspinwall.—Carthagena.—St. Thomas.—Voyage to Europe on board the R.M.S.Magdalena.—Falmouth.—Southampton.—London.—Rejoin theNovaraat sea.—Arrival at Gibraltar.

Five days after the departure of theNovara, I left the roads of Valparaiso on board the mail steamerCallao. The weatherwas exceedingly unfavourable, the rain falling in torrents, while a heavy tumbling sea made the embarkation of the numerous passengers and their effects a process anything but agreeable. I have, therefore, the greater pleasure in expressing my gratitude for the courtesy of the Captain of H.M.S.Ganges, who sent his own gig to take me off to the steamer, and to the numerous friends, who despite the stormy weather had assembled on board to bid me a last farewell, and provide me with letters of introduction to the authorities and most influential persons of the more important of the localities I was about to visit. At 2P.M.the shore bell sounded, a little boat made its appearance on the port side, pitching heavily in the swell, and a long thin figure stepped on deck. This proved to be Captain Stewart of theLouisa, whose acquaintance I had formed at the island of Tahiti, and who now, half breathless, handed me a small packet with the following endorsement,—"These are the extracts you requested from my journal, and which I promised to prepare for you on my first voyage from Norfolk Island to Pitcairn." They consisted in fact of those remarks upon the latest phase of the strange destiny of the Pitcairn Islanders, which have already appeared in a previous chapter. The worthy Captain had kept his word with true John Bull punctuality. A few moments more and theCallaowas steaming out of Valparaiso Roads, on her voyage northwards.

Although the boats of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company plying between Valparaiso, Callao de Lima, and Panama,are tolerably large, clean, and elegantly fitted, yet the number of passengers for intermediate ports make them anything but a comfortable mode of travel. For, notwithstanding the high fares,[120]it is necessary to crowd three or four passengers into each state-room, which in the heat of the tropics is most inconvenient, and at times almost intolerable. Personally, however, I had no reason to complain on this score, as all the captains of the various steamers in which I journeyed north, so soon as my connection with theNovaraExpedition was known, at once, with the most marked courtesy and attention, secured to me a state-room for my own exclusive use, and whenever we reached a port, placed their own boats at my disposal during our stay.

The morning after we left Valparaiso, we reached Coquimbo, where, a few weeks before (24th April, 1859), a severe action had been fought between the Chilean troops and those of Pedro Gallo, the former proving victorious. Coquimbo is a small town of about 2000 souls, whose sole claim to importance is its proximity to some rich copper-mines. M. Longomasino, one of the many victims of thecoup d'étatof the second December, who, the reader will recollect, received permission to make the voyage from Tahiti to Valparaiso on board theNovara, was among our passengers; he left the steamer at Coquimbo, intending to go to the adjoining mining town of Serena (20,000 souls), where, through the kindness of friends, he had been invited to edit a political paper.

Here I went on board the British corvetteAmethyst, which just a year before had been lying alongside of theNovarain Singapore harbour, and was received by her excellent commander with a most cordial welcome. To my astonishment I found a number of civilians on board: refugees, who had taken an active part in the late insurrection, and who now, when all hope of success was over, sought an asylum on British soil, for such is the deck of an English man-of-war, and, thanks to British political proclivities, had been cordially received there.

About 11P.M.the same night we were off the insignificant little harbour of Huasco, and about nine next morning ran into Caldera, a dreary-looking little place of some 2000 inhabitants, built upon one of a succession of sand-slopes. There is not a trace of vegetation; no foliage, no shrubs, no patches of grass,—all around as far as the eye could reach was a cheerless waste of sand. Only extraordinary opportunities for money-making could have induced the inhabitants to settle in this desolate wilderness, deficient in the very first necessity of life—fresh water. Every drop of this mostimportant beverage has at present to be brought from 90 miles inland, so that a cask containing some 15 gallons costs 31 cents or 1s.4d.English. The charge for supplying water alone to 90 or 100 workmen amounts to 40 dollars, or £8 8s., a week! At the time I visited it, the people were negotiating for the erection of a steam distilling apparatus, for procuring fresh water from the sea, at a less cost than was paid previously. From Caldera, a locomotive line of rail leads to the mining town of Copiapó, 71 miles inland, in the vicinity of which are rich mines of silver and copper. This enterprise has proved so remunerative, that, although its construction cost 2,500,000 dollars (£525,000 or about £7400 a mile), the shareholders receive an annual dividend of 16 per cent.

I visited the copper-smelting kilns, which belong to an English company, and produce annually from 1800 to 2000 tons of almost virgin copper (90 to 96 per cent.), in ingots and pigs, as they are termed, an ingot weighing from 16 to 18 lbs avoirdupois. The ore, as at first found in the mines of Copiapó, has barely 18 to 36 per cent. of copper, and has to undergo six or seven smeltings before it becomes sufficiently pure to be sold at a profit in the markets of Europe. The smelting-furnace produces about seven tons of copper per diem, at a consumption of 60 tons of coal,[121]which is imported fromSwansea, partly from Pennsylvania, and is worth 12 to 15 dollars per ton of 2240 lbs. The rate of wages at Caldera remains pretty steady at two to three dollars per diem, and this is the reason why the enterprise is less remunerative than would be the case if wages were lower.

The total annual yield of the copper and silver mines of the department of Copiapó is worth about 14,000,000 dollars, and gives employment to from 6000 to 7000 labourers, or one-third the entire population of the district.

On 20th May we anchored off Cobija, the sole harbour possessed by Bolivia on the west coast, and with a population of 1000. The state of affairs in Bolivia affords a marked example of how closely the development of a country is connected with the fact of its possessing more or less of sea-coast. How great is the commerce, the. prosperity, and the civilization of Chile, a proportionally small strip of not over-fertile soil, but the entire extent of which is sea-coast, compared with the poverty and barbarism of the interior state of Bolivia, so admirably fitted by nature for raising all manner of valuable produce, but whose sole means of communication with the rest of the world is through one insignificant harbour!

The same day we reached Iquique, the southernmost harbour of Peru, with a population of about 4000, and which quite recently has increased greatly in importance, owing to the trade in saltpetre, which is found in immense quantities all along this rainless coast, and of which 1,000,000 hundredweight(50,000 tons) are exported annually to England, North America, and Germany, in which countries it is extensively and beneficially used for manure.[122]Here we found lying at anchor a large merchantman, theVictorineof Bordeaux, 3000 tons burthen, which was taking in a full cargo, exclusively, of this valuable product. The saltpetre is found between beds of clay from one to six feet below the surface, boiled in large vats to free it from impurities,[123]and dried in the form of cakes, which are packed for shipment in sacks of 250 lbs. It is worth, if purified, 21 reals (about 11s.4d.) per cwt. on the spot, and fetches £16 to £17 per ton in England. Upon a rough calculation, the quantity of saltpetre along the coast of Peru at an average breadth of 30 miles amounts to 60,000,000 tons, enough to maintain the existing supply[124]for at least another thousand years. The rate of wages of the men engaged in the trade, owing to the scarcity of labour, is from two to three dollars per diem! The scarcity of water at Iquique is so great, that the town has to be supplied by means of a distilling apparatus, an undertaking the gross daily receipts of which are six hundred dollars! For the precious element has to be purchased not merely for men butanimals; the price, for example, for a male to drinkad libitumis one real, about 81⁄2d.

Tincal, or Biborate of Soda, is also largely found all along the coast, but the export was long prohibited, the suspicious jealousy of the Peruvian Government seeking to obtain first of all conclusive evidence of the value of this natural product, and the best means of making it contribute to the State treasury. At present about 200 tons, worth from £16 to £20 per ton, are exported annually. As we lay at anchor off Iquique, numbers of natives shot about with arrow-like rapidity in their exceedingly primitive boats, made of seal-skins fastened together in canoe-fashion. To avoid overturns, these curious specimens of naval architecture have bladders attached on either side!

The heat now began to be very perceptible. The bare, treeless, almost perpendicular sand-bluffs along the coast, impart to it a dreary aspect, which even the rocky chain immediately behind, rising some 2000 to 4000 feet, scarcely succeeds in softening. A great number of the passengers, mostly Peruvians, indemnified themselves for the cheerless monotony of the prospect on deck, by intense devotion to the mysteries of the green table in the saloon. All through the day, till far on in the night, the painted pasteboard flew from hand to hand. The favourite game was Rocambor, something like Ombre, diversified with Monte and dice, and for very high sums. I saw ten condors (£21) laid upon a single card. A few elderly gentlemen sat regularly in a distant corner of thesaloon, where they played assiduously from nine in the morning till midnight without interruption. One wealthy Peruano, well known along this coast, in the course of a single voyage is said to have lost 80,000 dollars (£16,800)!!

On 20th May we anchored in Arica, an elegant seaport of some 7000 inhabitants, surrounded by beautiful luxuriant gardens, and which, though belonging to Peru, may be considered as the chief outlet for the produce of Northern Bolivia, since Tacna, the most important manufacturing town of that State, with a population of 12,000, is only nine English miles distant, lying at the foot of the Cordillera, while La Paz, the capital of the Republic, with a population of 75,000, is 288 miles distant, and is easiest reached from Arica. The political division of Bolivia is a crying injustice to that lovely country and its industrious population. The harbour of Arica belongs by natural position to Bolivia and not to Peru; commercial interests and general intercourse unite it far more intimately with Northern Bolivia than with Peru. The chief exports of Arica are silver, copper, alpaca wool, cinchona bark, chinchilla furs, cotton, and tin. There are also two steam flour-mills within the little town in full operation; the grain comes from the interior, and is shipped as flour to the various harbours along the coast. A railroad from Arica to Tacna greatly facilitates traffic and commerce, but further in the interior all intercourse is carried on by means of narrow mule-paths.[125]

The houses, constructed for the most part of sun-dried bricks all along the coast of Peru, where rain is absolutely unknown, and even the dew-deposit is trifling, are flat, barely roofed in with thin strips of cane, and consequently when seen from the street have a very untidy appearance. Unfortunately these terrace-like roofs are likewise the sole receptacles for the refuse of the house, and any one who, in order to get a better view, ventures to ascend one of the adjoining dazzling white sand-heaps, will long remember the filthy but unique spectacle which greets his eye.

Immediately outside of the suburb of Chimba, the desolate nature of the country comes conspicuously into view. I next walked to one of the nearest sand-hills, because I was assured that there were numerous graves of queens to be found there, as well as quantities of mummies. Owing to the extreme dryness of the atmosphere, the skulls of the dead which here lay scattered upon the surface of the soil, seemed as though they were so many anatomical preparations. Even some dead bodies of animals showed no symptoms of decomposition, but had been perfectly dried. The peculiarity of the meteorological conditions, the extreme dryness of the atmosphere, and the saline impregnation of the soil, have very much more to do with these marvellous antiseptic appearances than any indigenous skill in embalming the Indian corpses; since,even now, when the brown Catholicized Peruvians have lost none of their old superstitions, though they have abandoned most of their former arts and customs, the dead committed to the earth without further preparation, present the same mummified appearance when disinterred. I took away with me the skull of an Indian, from the neighbourhood of Arica, which was remarkable for the singular malformation resulting from compression by circular bandages.

This artificial disfigurement of the skull has its origin in the peculiar customs of several Indian races of both North and South America, of mechanically altering the form of the cranium in the new-born infant. Of the difference in point of beauty of the different Indian races along the west coast of North America, a clear indication is afforded by the profile of the head of a native of Puget Sound, Oregon territory, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Ried of Valparaiso, he having been presented with it in 1856, by the medical officer of an American man-of-war. Here, in strong contrast with the oblong form of the cranium of an Indian from the neighbourhood of Arica, it appears that the skull has been flattened transversely, by pressure between two boards.

At first one is disposed to attribute the squeezed-in appearance of the head, remarked in different Indian races, here lengthened in an unsightly degree, there hideously flattened, to some freak of nature; but more accurate investigations leave no doubt that the deformity in question, in whatever form, is the result of pressure artificially applied, and thatthis displacement of the brain is not confined to individuals, but is characteristic of entire tribes, yet without any sensible diminution of the intellectual faculties, or morbidity in their exercise.

The valley of Azapa, three Spanish leagues (nine miles English) distant from Arica, is very fertile, and a good soil, but badly supplied with water. However, at an expense of a few millions of dollars, a communication might easily be established with the waters of the river Arica, the expense of which would be amply repaid by the increased productive power thus given to the valley. Sugar-cane, vintage-grape, oranges, pine-apples, olives, and vegetables of every description, could forthwith be raised, and advantageously disposed of at Arica.

Among the Germans resident in Arica, we formed the acquaintance of M. Colmann, a merchant, and Consul for Chile, as also of Dr. Mittendorf, the latter of whom is physician to the Railway Company here. By the latter gentleman we were told that cuticular diseases, dysentery, and intermittent fevers were the most common ailments, but that on the whole the climate of Arica is healthy, and that many cases of illness were solely attributable to the irregular, licentious mode of life of the natives. Although it hardly ever rains, yet during the summer season (January to March), when the snows begin to melt in the interior, and tremendous falls of rain occur on the Cordillera, the beds of the rivers become torrents, wheeling along vast volumes of water to the sea, and partlysinking into the soil, so that, at a depth of two or three feet, one comes upon water, or, at all events, moisture, while the surface remains burned to a cake. A little canalization of the river-bed, and damming up the water, so as to have a permanent reservoir, would not merely secure a better supply of water, but would most beneficially influence the salubrity of the neighbourhood. The river dries up entirely every year in the months of July and August, during which accordingly occur the largest number of cases of sickness, and it seems the more necessary that measures of some sort should be at once taken to control the water, as otherwise there is reason to fear that unless artificial dykes and dams be constructed, the bed of the river will gradually be sanded up, when the whole district will be worse off for water than ever; since with each successive year's floods, as they dash down from the mountains, a perceptible falling off in quantity has been remarked, so that whereas ten years ago the bed of the river was full for four or five months together, at present it is rarely full so long as two months in all.

On 22nd May, we entered the little harbour of Port d'Islay, the access to which is very difficult. The settlement itself stands on a steep rock, 150 feet high, descending almost perpendicularly into the sea on all sides, so that the only landing-place is a mole, which communicates with the village above by an iron ladder. The well-known traveller, Count Castelnau, who in the course of a scientific expedition through South America visited this port in 1848, prophesied a splendidfuture for it; but I do not believe that its commerce has materially increased since then.

The sole claim to consideration of Port d'Islay consists in its proximity to Arequipa, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, and the variety of valuable natural products which abound in that fertile section of country, from which, however, the port is separated by a sand-barren, 36 miles in width and 120 in length, the city of Arequipa itself being 7500 feet above the sea, at the foot of the volcano of the same name,[126]and amid a magnificent scenery.

The dreary waste between Port d'Islay and Arequipa is continually swept by drift sand, which, by constantly obstructing the road, renders travelling thither absolutely unsafe, and indeed frequently dangerous to life. For the unfortunate who misses his way amid these wastes is lost beyond all possibility of succour. The wandering sand-columns ormedanos,[127]formed of drift sand, present a singularappearance as they spin along before a S.E. wind, admirably described by Tschudi in his valuable Sketches of Travel in Peru. These extraordinary pillars, which constantly change both their form and position, and complete the perplexity of the traveller, are usually semi-circular, 8 or 10 feet high, and from 20 to 50 feet wide, but occasionally they are seen 50 feet in height, when their diameter is about 150 feet. They are of most frequent occurrence in the hot season, when the parched sand obeys the slightest impulse of the atmosphere, whereas in winter, owing to the deposition of a fine penetrating dew (garua), which all along the coast of Peru supplies the place of rain, which is never seen, the sand increases in weight, and the basis of the column is solidified, so to speak, by the moisture absorbed. Between Port d'Islay and Arequipa, themedanosare first encountered about 18 miles inland, or nearly half-way across the sand-barren.

In the dells near the harbour volcanic ashes are occasionally found at certain spots, whereas they are never discovered further inland, nor near the volcano of Arequipa, which since the memory of man has never been known to be in a state of activity, and whose beautiful cone, not unlike that of Ometepec in Nicaragua, seems to be densely wooded up to the very summit. Apparently these are the remains of former eruptions of a neighbouring volcano, which havebeen borne towards the coast by the prevailing winds. The ashes themselves have no saline constituents, and are used by the natives in the manufacture of sun-dried clay-bricks (adobes), the quality of which they materially improve.

We made an excursion to a churchyard in the vicinity of d'Islay, where the skulls of some half a hundred human beings lay exposed to view. They all seemed to have been bleached by exposure, and were in good preservation, so that on many might still be discovered heavy heads of hair. The eyes had shrivelled up into the skull, and were by no means gleaming and crystal-like as is alleged of those found in Indian graves, and offered for sale to strangers. These so-called "crystallized human eyes," of which an Italian curiosity dealer of Arica possessed one or two sacks-full, belong to a species of mollusca (Loligo gigas), and were used by the Indians to adorn their dead. To this circumstance must be attributed the great number that are to be found in the graves in the neighbourhood of Arica.

We continued to coast along during the entire night. The number of passengers, especially of those on the "'tween decks," had again increased. Among the late arrivals was an Austrian, a Tyrolese, from Iquique, who was travelling into the interior of Peru. This man, seduced by dazzling promises, had in 1856 emigrated to Peru with 293 of his fellow-countrymen, and after two years of the most terrible hardships and privations, at last succeeded in finding employment at the salt mines of Iquique. He was nowearning 3 dols. a day (12s.6d.), and was on his way to fetch his family away from the colony of Pozúzu, and taking them with him to the scene of his labours. That none of his countrymen did not follow him was, as he explained to us, in consequence of one of the colonists, "a half student," dissuading them from doing so, and himself leading them to try their luck at another spot, where unfortunately they had to battle with want in its severest form. I have rarely seen any man so excited and agitated at the sound of his native tongue as this hearty specimen of the sons of the Alps, when I addressed him "in good Austrian," and shook him by the hand. The reader will find further on, in the account of my stay at Lima, a more full account of the Tyrolese colony at Pozúzu, its present condition and possible future.

On 23rd May, at 6A.M., the steamer anchored off Chala, which first attained the dignity of a seaport in 1857, being intended to facilitate intercourse and increase the trade with Cuzco. Chala is the nearest harbour to the ancient capital of the Incas, 240 miles distant. Though singularly ill-adapted for a port, being, in fact, nothing but an open roadstead, Chala bids fair to become a place of some importance, so soon as the country is at peace, and a good road is constructed hence to Cuzco, so as to be able to convey with dispatch the numerous valuable products of Cuzco. When we visited it, the little settlement, barely a year old, had 212 inhabitants, in some thirty wooden huts extending along thesandy shore. The chief exports are wool and copper, the latter being found at Chaipa and Atiquipa, nine miles N. of Chala.

The following morning, after passing theBarracoonof Pisco, a rather dangerous passage beset with low islands between Barraca Head (on Sangallan Island) and Huasco Head (a projecting headland of the mainland), we reached Pisco, also nothing but an open roadstead, the tremendous surf in which does not admit of ships approaching within two or three miles of the shore. Several years before a Mr. Wheelwright had commenced to construct a mole here, to project some hundreds of feet into the sea, so as to facilitate the loading and unloading of ships and the embarkation of passengers, but the works were still unfinished, and indeed would need to be very largely added to ere the object aimed at could possibly be obtained. On the declivity of Barraca Head sloping seaward are visible three marks in the form of crosses, which, according to tradition, were made in the sand by the pious monks of former centuries. Their size must indeed be colossal, since, though we passed from four to five miles off, the outlines of the three figures were plainly visible. Well-known as this phenomenon is to everybody, no one has ever had the curiosity to make an excursion thither from Pisco, so as to clear up the fact of their being actually the work of human hands, or, as seems more probable, simply columns of drift sand, like themedanosof Arica,thrown into this fantastic shape by the caprice of some passing storm.

The chief staple of cultivation at Pisco, and throughout the province, is the vine. I never tasted such delicate, juicy, luscious grapes as those I got there. They are chiefly used in the manufacture of the well-known "Pisco," a sort of "Aguardiente" (burning water, sc. brandy), the consumption of which is extraordinarily great. There were also fruits in most diverse profusion, chirimoyas (a species of anona), bananas, aguacales, mangoes, pine-apples, lemons, oranges, peaches, apples, pears, &c., which are grown here of the most delicate description for the market of Lima.

Pisco is the first point along the entire barren coast at which the traveller, since leaving Valparaiso, sees the shores covered once more with vegetation. With inexpressible relief the eye rests upon the green carpet which, on all sides, gleams forth, even between and among the houses. The place has about 3000 inhabitants, and possesses numerous churches, whose lofty belfries impart to it quite the appearance of a large town. About 45 miles inland, in a lovely and fertile valley, lies the large city of Ica, with which there is considerable traffic, and the chief product of which is also the grapevine. Ten English miles N. of Pisco, and, in fact, opposite the town, are the renowned Chincha or Guano Islands, and towards these our course was now directed. These are three small islands rising close to each other out of the bosom of thesea, the most north-easterly of which has been the most stripped. Here also is the chief village, consisting of upwards of 100 wooden huts, inhabited by some 200 to 250 persons. In 1858 there were some 2000 men living on the islands, while several hundred ships at a time would be lying at anchor in the harbour, loading with the valuable excretions of innumerable sea-fowls, of which the islands chiefly consist. When we visited them, the depredations had somewhat fallen off, the number of labourers was diminishing, and there were only a few vessels in the harbour.

The islands have a melancholy, naked, barren look; the same substance which, in smaller quantity, contributes so powerfully to promote the productiveness of the soil, to which it is applied, here stifles all vegetation, by reason of its very abundance, and fails to show any trace of that fertilizing principle which lies concealed within it.

The northern island is about 4200 feet long, and 1500 to 1800 feet wide. Its height is from 150 to 180 feet. TheHuanu,[128]consisting of the excrement of various descriptions of sea-birds, chiefly sea-mews, sea-ravens, divers, andlaridæ, forms strata, sometimes of a greyish-brown, sometimes of a rusty red colour, which at some points attain a thickness of 120 feet. The huts of the settlers are erected on the veryguano beds. A handsome, comfortable hotel has latterly been added. All the necessaries of life, even drinking-water, have to be brought from the mainland, 14 miles distant. Living, consequently, is very expensive on the island, though there is anything but privation, or even lack of enjoyment. One of the inhabitants, a Swede, who has a small store on the island, observed to me, "We live as well and comfortably on the Chincha Islands as anywhere on the globe, and have occasionally even music and a dance!"

In May, 1859, the population consisted of 50 Europeans, 50 Chinese, and 250 Peruanos and Negroes. The majority were labourers, who were in great request as "Mangueros" or "Abarrotadores," and were busily engaged in excavating the indurated excrement, and transporting it to the various points for lading. The daily wages of the free labourers was 1 dollar 50 cents (about 6s.3d.) per diem; the Chinese, on the other hand, received only 5 dollars per month, and a daily ration of rice. One Peruvian planter, Domingo Elias, had imported at his own cost several hundred Chinese coolies, who, like those in the West Indies, were to pay in labour for the expense of their voyage. The remuneration given to these hardy sons of the Middle Empire was of the scantiest. While they had to work alongside of convicts, longer and harder than any other class of labourers, they only received one-tenth of the pay of the latter.

The sanitary condition of the settlement was described to me as exceedingly favourable. The guano-getters contributethe smallest contingent to the sick list, and even the strong, penetrating, and exceedingly disagreeable stench of the substance, impregnated as it is with ammonia, seems to have not the slightest prejudicial effect upon the lungs, pulmonary complaints hardly ever making their appearance among the workmen. So far from this being the case, it is even contended that persons suffering under affections of the lungs derive benefit in the first stage of the malady from a residence in the Huanu Islands, and find themselves in improved health on their return to the mainland.

The centre island has been only partially excavated, but the works there have been discontinued. At present it is entirely uninhabited, though there are still visible on its summit a few wooden huts, which formerly sheltered the workmen, as also some of the "shoots" or slides used for facilitating the collection and shipment of the guano.

The southernmost of the three islands is quite in its primitive state, never having been touched. No sign indicative of man's presence on it is anywhere visible.

The earliest attempts to export guano to Europe as a manure were made in 1832, but they proved so losing a speculation, that not till eight years later did the Peruvian mercantile house of Messrs. Quiros again direct attention to the importance of guano as an article of export, when the Government of Peru granted them, for a fixed sum, the exclusive privilege of exporting guano for six years. This gave an opportunity for instituting, on a sufficient scale, those experimentswhich, it will be remembered, Mr. Meyer of Liverpool was making at that period, and which was followed by such surprising results.

From March to October, 1841, 23 vessels conveyed 6125 tons of guano to England, Hamburg, Antwerp, and Bordeaux. In November of the same year, the English barqueByronbrought to Peru the cheering intelligence that a ton of guano was selling in England for £28 per ton. This totally unexpected and startling result induced the Government, by a decree of 17th November, to declare that the agreement with Messrs. Quiros was cancelled, and fresh offers for the privilege of shipping guano were invited from speculators.

Since that period the exportation of this important manure has attained unprecedented dimensions in every part of the globe. Of late years it has reached the enormous amount of 500,000 tons from these islands alone, and the revenue to the Government has been 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 dollars.

The contractors sell the guano in Europe for account of the Peruvian Government, and receive for it a commission fee of from 31⁄2to 41⁄2per cent. of the gross amount; for this they get, moreover, paid 5 per cent. of interest for outlays and pecuniary advances (pretty considerable) which they make to the native Government. The contracts are generally entered into for four years.

A complete exploration and survey of the islands was made in 1853 by M. C. Faraguet, a French engineer. According to his report, which was pretty comprehensive, and drawnup under the co-operation of several other scientific gentlemen, the quantity of guano on the northernmost island, in September, 1853, was 4,189,477 Peruvian tons (about 3,740,866 tons English); the middle island about 2,237,954 English tons, and the southernmost 5,072,032 English tons; or the entire cubical mass was at that period about 11,050,852 tons English. Assuming an average price, this would imply a money value of about £120,000,000. Since 1841, when the first considerable shipment was made, to 1861, there had been exported from the Chincha Islands 3,000,000 tons of guano, worth about 135,000,000 dollars (£29,250,000).

At first, owing to the enormous mass of guano left to accumulate undisturbed for centuries, the very natural error was made of reckoning the quantity deposited at too high an estimate, and the amount annually taken at too low a figure.[129]Hence it happened that a few native and many foreign writers have spoken of these islands as affording a supply which only centuries could exhaust. It is now, however, ascertained that, supposing the export proceeds at its present rate, only 25 to 30 years will elapse ere the entire strata ofexcremental manure of all the three Chincha Islands will have been carried off!

Notwithstanding ample supplies of guano have been discovered besides all along the west coast of South America, on uninhabited islands and promontories, and upwards of 7,000,000 tons of this valuable commodity been found on the islands south of Callao alone,[130]yet, even should this statement turn out correct, it would only supply the existing demand for other 10 or 15 years, while the formation of beds of guano must year after year become more and more confined to solitary, inaccessible islands of the Southern Ocean. For so soon as such beds of guano begin to be explored, they are quickly abandoned by the birds, which are gradually retreating from the islands along the coast and the usual channels of commerce.

The Peruvian Government does not seem to realize the calamity impending over the country on the exhaustion of the guano beds, which would dry up one of its principal sources of revenue. Certainly it seems impossible to make a more unwise use of the immense sums which are flowinginto the State treasury. Nothing is done for making roads or railways so as to furnish intercourse with the fertile provinces of the interior, or to raise and encourage agriculture or commerce. Just as this revenue does not result from the energy or industrial activity of the people, it is expended without any object of utility to show for it. The Government pockets the dues as a monopoly, and expends the sums thus obtained in avaricious schemes of aggrandizement, or warlike expeditions against Ecuador and Bolivia, which keep the country in perpetual hot water, and only add to its burthens. The guano duties go in gunpowder! Lightly won, as lightly gone!

During the nine days of our voyage between Valparaiso and Callao de Lima there were some musicians on board, who gave us a concert on deck every evening. As we left the Chincha Islands some frolicsome young Peruvians, disregarding the discord of the flute and violin, and unmindful of the timeless tuneless twanging of the two harps, got up a dance.

In the course of the night we ran into Callao harbour, and when I came on deck, in the cool of the morning, I found we were already lying at anchor in this spacious and secure port. The tradition that with a calm sea and a clear sky it is possible to perceive the ruins of the old town, with its houses and church-towers, which sank here suddenly in 1746 by the shock of an earthquake, has survived to the present day, and is told to every new-comer, who greedily swallows it down, though not one of the narrators has ever beheld themarvel with his own eyes! Earthquakes, indeed, are by no means so frequent as at the beginning of the present century, when it was rare for a fortnight to elapse without at least onetembloreor horizontal oscillation. The vertical shocks (terra-motos), the most dangerous kind of earthquake, have not occurred here since 1828. The season at which earthquakes most frequently occur are the months of March, April, and September, whence the latter month has received from the people the jocular name of "Se tiembla!" (it trembles!) One Peruvian who has long occupied himself with scientific observations has repeatedly witnessed that a magnet, freely suspended, regularly lost its attractive powers a few minutes before each shock, and that a piece of steel held by the magnetic force fell to the ground. If this be confirmed by a series of observations the magnet might ultimately become a sort of earthquake-monitor.

The Callao of the present day is a dirty, ugly hole, with narrow streets, and low houses built principally of mud and cane, with flat roofs. Only a few of the houses of foreigners, erected out of hearing of the hubbub of the port, form a grateful exception. The entire population will be about 20,000 souls.

The most interesting building of the port is undoubtedly the new Custom House with 31 colossal magazines, each capable of containing six to eight entire ships' freights. I repeatedly heard complaints made of the slovenliness of the attendants, in consequence of which it frequently happenedthat days elapsed ere goods, paid for, were delivered out of bond. The warehouse charge is very small, and consists chiefly of stamp-duties, which are imposed on the money paid for goods. The trade of Callao is apparently on the increase, and, considering the productiveness of the country, would be even greater, were internal order restored, when peace and confidence would follow in its train.

As I had to prosecute my journey northwards by the next steamer, I hastened on to Lima, so as to satisfy my curiosity as to this the most important city of Peru in modern days. A few hours after my arrival in Callao, I found myself on the road to the "City of the Kings."[131]Only a few years back the journey from Callao to Lima, though only six English miles, was an exceedingly arduous and even dangerous undertaking. The road lay through a shadeless desert of deep sand, between uncultivated fields and low scrubs, and was absolutely unsafe owing to attacks of robbers. Now it is a frequent excursion, a tolerably good railroad performing the distance in about half an hour.

By the kindness of Mr. Wilhelm Brauns, the Consul-General of Hamburg, and head of the distinguished English house Huth, Grüning, and Co.,[132]to whom I brought letters ofintroduction, and who was most kindly in waiting for me. I was speedily and pleasantly conveyed from the station in Lima, to take up my quarters in his house till I took my leave. Owing to this fortunate event, I found myself unexpectedly brought into the very thick of the very best German society. Nowhere in the course of many years of travel in various countries, all over the globe, did I meet with more cordial hospitality, or a more delightful reception, than during my 19 days' stay in the "City of the Kings."

On our way from the station to the house of Mr. Brauns, I remarked that the houses in every part of the city that we passed were painted with variegated stripes, and heard, to my intense astonishment, that, in consequence of a recent decree of the Government, every householder in each quarter was ordered, with a view to facilitating the identification of their houses, to paint them of a colour corresponding with the coloured official plans of the city! Accordingly in one quarter all the houses were green, in another yellow, in a third white, in a fourth reddish, and in a fifth sky-blue. As in all Spanish American cities exposed to earthquakes, most of the houses in Lima also are but one storey high. The larger buildings are constructed of sun-dried bricks or fire clay, the smaller of cane set up double, with the space between filled up with clay, and the whole whitewashed. Their most singular feature is the flat roofs, which consist of a layer ofcane and straw mats, which, for better security, occasionally have a coating of clay. Thus an open space (Azotea), surrounded by balustrades, is secured, which is used as a playground by children, and serves as a promenade for the grown-up portion of the community. Some of the windows communicate with the roof by a sort of trap-door, which instead of sashes of glass has shutters of wood, which communicate with the rooms beneath by a long cord, so that they can be opened or shut from below at pleasure. Many of the chambers in the interior of the house get light and air solely through these apertures (calledVentana de Teatinas, because first introduced by the Theatine monks), while windows properly so-called are less numerous, and when looking towards the street are usually provided with large, broad, sometimes richly-gilt iron shutters. We saw these curious cords for opening and shutting the trap-doors in the roof hanging down in the middle of even elegantly-furnished apartments, and not even the circumstance of being made of silk prevented their having a peculiar and ungraceful effect.

The mode of constructing the houses, together with the elegant ornamentation of the open courts (patìo) of the interior, speedily remind the stranger that he is in a place where rain (at least according to Northern ideas) is an unknown phenomenon, since one single, even down-pour must inevitably do immense damage in the Lima of the present day. During the winter months, however, as they are called, viz. June to November, fogs (garuas) are very frequent, which, albeit light,are sufficiently penetrating thoroughly to soak the pedestrian or horseman who happens to be surprised by them. I have myself repeatedly experienced in Lima fogs of such density, that it was quite practicable to count each separate drop. During these winter months, fine, clear days free of all cloud are comparatively rare; but the statement one occasionally hears, that for five months together the sun is invisible in Lima, is an exaggeration. The temperature of Lima is much lower than we could expect from a city within 12 degrees of the Equator, and seems to be affected principally by the proximity of the eternal snows of the Andes, and the prevailing atmospheric currents. The thermometer never rises higher than 85°.8 Fahr., nor falls below 68°.2 Fahr. The average temperature during the hot season is 77°, and during the cold 63°.5 Fahr. Such a climate renders fires superfluous, and it is more habit than necessity that induces some Spanish families to carry about copper or iron pans (Brasero) filled with live coal, with which to warm their hands or feet.

The exteriors and internal equipments of the dwellings are very simple and devoid of ornament, only a few of the older buildings, such, for instance, as the house of Torre Tagle, near San Pedro, forming the exception. Among the architectural decorations, which preserve to the present day the tradition of the glories of the Peruvian kingdom, one may marvel at majestic designs and beautiful mosaics, which even in their ruin tell of the magnificent luxury that was once indulged in here.

The streets are wide and tolerably regular, but the absence of gutters and the wretched foundation of the roadway prevent their being used by carriages or horsemen, or by pedestrians even more than they can help. The open ditches at either side are full of filth and animal impurities, which are continually being thrown in, and but for the services of numerous carrion crows (cathartes fœtens), who perform the duties of scavengers, Lima, owing to the supineness of the native authorities, would be one of the filthiest and most unhealthy cities in South America. But thegallinazos, as these black-headed birds are called by the natives, although lazy and unwieldy, nevertheless are in such immense numbers here, that they suffice to keep the streets comparatively free from putrescent odours. Everywhere, even in the thick of places of public resort, one sees these birds, which no one injures on account of their usefulness, and which even the rising generation never think of disturbing in their disgusting avocations, hopping about upon the bare ground, and gorging themselves on the garbage around.

One of the greatest improvements to the city is its almost universal illumination by gas, which in the evening imparts a peculiar charm to the streets and fashionable shops of Lima, and enables them, in this particular at least, to vie with those of the capitals of Europe.

The largest buildings in Lima are, as we might expect from a country conquered and colonized by Spaniards, the churches and monasteries, of which there are in this capitalno fewer than eighty. Many of these Spanish memorials, of a religious epoch more bigoted than sincere, are at present decayed, and even those which are still preserved in something like good order fail to charm the eye by any graces of architecture or majestic simplicity in their interior fittings up. The Cathedral even, which takes up almost the entire east side of the chief square, is no exception to this rule, and, though it was 90 years in erection, is after all a very indifferent edifice. The interior is lofty and spacious, but owing to the choir having its proportions curtailed by a wide altar in the midst, one perceives on entering the church only the smaller half, so that the impression is destroyed, which, but for this interposed erection, would undoubtedly be made by the high altar, richly overlaid with gold and silver, seen through the vista of the entire building. The ornaments, the sacred vessels, and censers used in performing mass are exceedingly rich and valuable, but are too much overlaid to please an æsthetic taste. In the catacombs of the Cathedral repose the remains of Francisco Pizarro. Few strangers omit to visit this spot, and usually feel as much surprised as pleased at finding offered them for sale by the sacristan, various sorts of relics of the renowned conqueror of Peru, though all cannot hope to be so fortunate as an English lady at Lima, who informed me with all gravity that she had purchased from a guide a slipper taken from the coffin of Pizarro. Should this mania for relics on the part of visitors, and readiness to humour it on the part of vergers, continueunchecked, there will remain ere long in the catacombs only an empty shell, in which once lay the celebrated Conquistador. Perhaps, though, the speculative sacristan contents himself with gratifying the wishes of curiosity-loving visitants, by means similar to those of the artful cicerone who accompanies the enthusiastic stranger in his rambles among the ruins of classic antiquity.

The monastery of San Francisco is more worth notice for its immense extent, which equals in size many an old imperial walled city of Suabia, than for elegance of style or tasteful artistic interior. The façade, painted in various colours, and overlaid with ornament, resembles by far more a Buddha temple than a Roman Catholic church. The corridors are the finest part of the building, their wooden ceilings being very richly carved. On all the walls of the passages are suspended drawings illustrative of the lives of various holy men, which, however, singular to say, are hung with their faces to the wall, and are only turned round on appointed festivals to charm the eyes of believers!

The church is very roomy within, but quite bare of ornament. The sacristan with evident pride directed our attention to San Benito, a "black" saint, who was held in high esteem by the negroes, probably on account of his colour. Quite close to the monastery is the "Casa de Ejercicios," whither the monks repair at certain periods of the year to perform the prescribed religious exercises. The cells here have a more comfortless look than in the cloister proper. Abed-frame with a skin stretched upon it, a hard stool, a plain table, a crucifix, and a human skull, comprise the entire inventory. The latter, the cranium of a departed brother, was covered with numerous aids to religious meditation, some written, some carved on the substance of the bone.

The lay-brother who escorted us round had not long been a denizen of this gloomy monastic abode. Though still very young, he was leaving behind him a tolerably enlarged experience of the world. Starting as a gold-digger in California, he became a gambler and speculator, when he quickly lost all he had so laboriously wrested from the soil, and returned to Lima, where, more for the sake of change and comfort than for any special vocation or imperious spiritual necessity, he had entered the order of Franciscans. His temperament being much more that of a man of the world than a monk, he must have felt himself sorely hampered by the restrictions of monastrism, were it not for the lax morality which is the standard of convent life in the capital of Peru; but the monk's cowl is in Lima not only the attire of humility and resignation, it is likewise the cloak for all manner of licentiousness and hypocrisy—the "surtout" which conceals many a lapse from virtue!

The monastery of San Pedro was the wealthiest in Lima, so long as it remained the property of the Jesuits. When, in 1773, the order went forth for the suppression of the Order throughout South America, it was not executed without the Spanish viceroy's cherishing certain secret hopes of obtaininglarge riches. The Jesuits, however, on this occasion vindicated their reputation for subtlety, which has become proverbial among mankind. When the inventory was taken, nothing but empty boxes were to be found, and the most strict investigations and inquiries led to no more favourable result.

Among the hospitals which we visited, that of San Andres deserves foremost notice for its size and comprehensiveness. It has room for 600 patients, who are tended by 50Sœurs de la Charité, the majority of whom are French. The yellow fever, which, introduced in 1852 by immigrants, penetrated deep into the interior, though of a milder type, had of late carried off numerous victims, and indeed had seriously weakened the hygienic good name[133]of Lima; the small-pox also had annually committed fearful ravages; for vaccination is not made imperative by law, and inoculation is therefore neglected. Besides the hospital of St. Andrew, there are others for female patients, for the military, for incurables and imbeciles, an asylum for orphans,[134]and one for foundlings.[135]

The best managed hospital apparently is that of Santa Anna, the wards of which are roomy, light, and airy, and make up about 350 beds. On the other hand, a portion of the above hospital set apart for those mentally afflicted, as also the regular Lunatic Asylum (casa de Locos), were in a state of filth and neglect, that are a positive disgrace to the present century. It is, in fact, a singular consideration that in every quarter of the globe men have only now begun to bethink them of their duties to those unhappy fellow-creatures, whose wretched lot should have commanded their most active sympathies! The reform of hospitals, and even of prisons and penitentiaries, had long been carried out in Europe, before asylums especially designed for the treatment of lunatics were projected. I must not, however, omit to add, in justice to the philanthropic society (Sociadad de Beneficiencia), to whose management the whole of the hospitals and poor-houses of the capital are intrusted, that a new Lunatic Asylum was in course of construction, the cost of which will amount to 85,000 dollars (about £17,800).

TheHospital de los Locos(Hospital for the Insane) in the Cercado is all on the ground-floor, with chambers used at once for sitting-room, dining-room, and bed-chamber, but with accommodation for about 200 patients. Twenty of the cells are set apart exclusively for refractory patients. The institution is in charge of Dr. Ulloa, one of the most skilfulof the native physicians, who studied both in France and England. The patients are tended by the Grey Sisterhood, which has only recently reached the country.

The old university buildings, on what formerly was called the Square of the Inquisition, now named Independence Square, are at present only used for festivities, examinations, conferring of degrees, &c. &c., while the different lectures are read in various buildings. I visited the School of Medicine, of which at that time Dr. Cajetano Herredia was rector, a gentleman more respectable for his zealous discharge of duty than by his scientific attainments. There are some good lecture-rooms, a chemical laboratory, a small museum, consisting mainly of pathological specimens, and a very fair library, which boasts several really valuable and little-known prints and books, especially such as relate to the history of Peru. One of the Professors, Don Antonio Raimondi, a Neapolitan by birth, bids fair to raise the reputation of the School of Medicine of Lima by his extensive knowledge and excellent mode of instruction. This gentleman teaches several branches of Natural History, and, during the short period he has been in Lima, has already given practical proof of his activity in a variety of fields.

Unfortunately Professor Raimondi, with a number of his pupils, was absent on an excursion for practical scientific instruction, so that I was deprived of the opportunity of making his personal acquaintance. In his studio I saw two very remarkable skulls of Indians, which, owing to artificial pressure,had assumed a most singular form, one of which had belonged to an Indian of Cuzco, the other to a native of the Chincha tribe, who reside between Pisco and Cañete. I was also shown on the same occasion a female skull in such excellent preservation, that one could still easily perceive the expression of the face. This was the skull of a half-breed Indian woman, named Maria Palacel, aged 25, who had died in the hospital of Santa Anna, 27th Sept. 1856, of dysentery, and on 1st March, 1859, nearly two and a half years later, had been disinterred in a state of complete preservation. Nature had in this case taken on herself the process of embalming, and had, owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, and the quantity of saline matter in the soil, secured results which in Europe could only have been obtained artificially and at a considerable expense.

Adjoining the Escuela de Medecina is the National Library, a large building containing some 30,000 volumes, treating of every department of human knowledge, but which, owing to want of means, has of late years received hardly any accession. The librarian is Don Francisco de Paula Vigil, a highly intelligent and liberal-minded priest and man of the world, who had been excommunicated by Pio Nono on account of his learned work, "Defence of the Principles of Secular Authority against the Pretensions of the Holy See." Nothing daunted by the fulmination of this penalty, the excellent old gentleman is prosecuting his researches yet farther, and is energetically defending his principles; and whatis still more surprising, he has anything but fallen off in public estimation in consequence. This is due to the fact that, unlike the female population, the Peruvians are very tolerant in religious matters, and rather averse from those pre-disposed to spiritual matters, whence there results the very small influence of the Peruvian clergy, everywhere visible, and the obstinate virulent enmity with which also, since the Spanish yoke was cast off, the priestly party oppose the progress of liberal ideas. This feeling is moreover powerfully aided by the ghastly testimony of history, that it was the monks who first introduced the rack and the Inquisition into the country.

Father Vigil received me with much cordiality, and we had a long talk upon a variety of subjects. At last it turned upon his own well-known work, and the painful position in which he felt himself with respect to the See of Rome. This was the most interesting portion of our conversation. "It is not Catholicism that has made the majority of Catholic nations lag so woefully in the career of progress," exclaimed the venerable priest, "but that which Catholicism has suffered to be mixed up with it,—the Inquisition and Monasticism. It is marriage and labour that make individuals moral and useful, and nations great and powerful. Human society can get on very well without monks or nuns, but not without morals, not without matrimony and labour."

Had I not transcribed these words almost at the moment they were spoken, I should hardly have dared to repeat themhere, for I durst not have trusted to my memory, that a Spanish American priest, should have made such a remark in the "city of the Three Kings." These revelations, which are far from being solitary, but find a responsive echo in the bosoms of a portion at least of the male population of the capital, are highly important in arriving at a conclusion respecting the actual religious sentiment of the Peruvian Republic, and are very marked indications that an immense movement is likewise preparing in the Catholic Church on the further side of the Andes; and that Peru also has found its "Father Passaglia." Nay, it would not surprise me in the least, should South America, which for upwards of three centuries has been dumbly obeying the behests of spiritual intolerance, suddenly emit letters and propositions which would amount to a virtual separation from the Roman Catholic Church! It is but a few years since Catholic priests in the Legislative Assemblies of Nicaragua and Honduras recorded their votes in favour of repealing the ordinance of celibacy, and from their pulpits harangued their flocks on the advantages of revolutionary insurrection!

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