FOOTNOTES:

By Dr. Lebreton, a French physician long settled in Panama, who, together with an Austrian gentleman, Dr. Kratochwil from Saaz in Bohemia, placed me under the deepest obligation for their cordial hospitality, I was furnished with a variety of most interesting details of the sanitary statistics of the Isthmus, and some curious and valuable particulars respecting the poison with which the Indians arm their arrow-tips. In Panama is published a most ably-edited daily paper in English, the "Panama Star and Herald," conducted by two Americans, Messrs. Power and Boyd, which so fully and impartially treats of the political, social, and commercial condition of the Isthmus and the South American Republics, as makes it indispensable for every one to subscribe to it who takes any interest in the development of this remarkable country. It is chiefly due to these two large-minded, far-seeing gentlemen that we possess a statistical detail of the very important commerce of the Isthmus, as well as along the west coast of South America. Thesefigures now lie before me, and give better than anything else a fair and complete estimate of its present activity, which, it may be remarkeden passant, has owed nothing to the natives, but is entirely due to the energy of foreigners.

No fewer than 64 powerful mail steamers, of the united burthen of 96,000 tons, and representing a money value of at least £4,000,000, ply, part on the Atlantic side (SouthamptonviâSt. Thomas, and New York to Aspinwall), part on the Pacific side to the various harbours on the west coast of America, and keep up regular communication between Europe and that series of States, consisting of not less than 11,000,000 human beings. The value of the products and merchandise annually passing to and fro across the Isthmus amounts to about £15,000,000, while the amount of precious metals is not very much less.

The pearl-fishery in the Gulf of Panama has of late years notably fallen off from its former importance. At present it lags far behind that of the Persian Gulf, from which there are annually about £300,000 worth brought up, whereas here, notwithstanding the enormous extent of the pearl-oyster-banks, the yearly take of pearls does not exceed £24,000. Indeed the fishery is carried on less for its costly contents than for the sake of the mother-of-pearl itself, of which some 800 or 900 tons are shipped annually.

On 23rd June I went by rail from Panama to Aspinwall, on the Atlantic side. Except on the days when the steamers on either side bring their fortnightly quota of passengers,the traffic of the line is very small. When, however, the passenger steamer at either end has disembarked her living freight, the Isthmus is all alive, and the coffers of the Company are amply replenished. The number of passengers both ways annually has been estimated at from 36,000 to 40,000, and the gross receipts of the Company at from £200,000 to £300,000.[155]

The fare for the somewhat short distance, 47 miles, is high. There is but one class of carriage, and the charge is £5 5s., besides 10 cents (5d.) for every pound of baggage above 30 lbs. But it must always be borne in mind that enormous difficulties had to be overcome in the construction of the line, and that the cost of maintaining the permanent way in anything like order is very great, in consequence of the climate and the rich tropical vegetation. Whoever has struggled through the almost impenetrable forests of the Isthmus, before the rail passed through it, and bears in mind the immense physical difficulties of that laborious operation, would thankfully pay double the sum now charged for performing within a few hours a journey which often occupied a whole week.

The construction of the Panama Railroad was commenced in 1850, the first sod being cut on the Atlantic side. On 27th January, 1855, the locomotive first performed the journey from ocean to ocean. The cost of construction amounted to about £1,100,000.[156]This capital was speedily subscribed by the eager speculative Yankees, and, as the result proved, insured from the very first to the shareholders a handsome constantly-increasing dividend.

The concession enjoyed by the Company from the Government of New Granada only lasts for twenty years, from the day on which the entire line is opened; on the expiry of that period the New Granada Government must either pay down 5,000,000 dollars (the entire cost of construction), or extend the concession for ten years more. At the expiration of this second term, the Government may purchase for 4,000,000 dollars, or grant a third term of equal length, after which they are to be at liberty to purchase it for 2,000,000 dollars.

The traffic managers of the line, Messrs. Lewine and Dorsay, showed me the most polite attention. The resident director, Mr. Center, whose office is in Aspinwall, and to whom I had letters of introduction, invited me by telegraph to make free use of the line, as nothing would give him greater pleasure than to become of some service to a scientific traveller. I took with me fourteen goodly packages, chieflycollections of natural history. Most of these required great care and attention, some on account of their fragile texture, others in consequence of being of a perishable nature. All these were transported with as much care as though they had been charged the very highest rate of freight. The treatment of scientific travellers is to some extent a measure of the degree of civilization of a people. Hence it is that the North American States and the British colonies are the points of the globe where the efforts of scientific travellers elicit the heartiest sympathy, where he may count upon the most friendly reception, and the most cordial co-operation in carrying out the objects he has in view. And speaking now after ten years of the most varied experiences of travel, I look back thankfully to the conspicuous evidences of good-will which I have universally received from all Americans, from the banks of the St. Lawrence to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and recall with gratitude how every class of the community bestirred itself to promote and facilitate the scientific researches of a solitary traveller,—how, more particularly, the press, that great power of the intellect, lent the utmost assistance of its influential position to forward my wishes, and how its columns, thanks to the interest its conductors themselves felt, were always open in the most remote districts to welcome the stranger. And now, when for a second time I received from the sons of that same mighty republic the same cordiality of welcome, I recalled with redoubled vivacity the happiness of those long-vanished but most pleasant days, as Irecord this tribute with so much the more satisfaction, that I felt it was not the individual but his profession that was thus honoured, as is abundantly proved by the experience of many another scientific traveller.

The journey across the Isthmus, right through the heart of the primeval forest, which was decked out in its gayest attire, is one of the most exciting, soul-stirring scenes that the eye of the lover of nature ever rested upon. In no part of the world have I seen more luxuriant and abundant vegetation than is presented by the forests of Central America, and more especially upon the Isthmus. And, as if to heighten still further the sense of marvel and enchantment, one traverses this magnificent forest landscape behind a locomotive running on its iron track. What a contrast! The wild ravel of creepers and the green feathery branches of the palms almost penetrate into the waggons, and tell with unmistakeable emphasis that the traveller is indeed surrounded by all the beauties of Nature in her tropic garb. Trees of the most varied description and of colossal dimensions flourish in the foreign garment of a borrowed adornment. Between each solitary giant of a forest tree, parasites andLianæspread their delicate green coils, while many a gigantic stem, enveloped in thousands of beautiful shoots, or dead trunk choked in the embrace of a parasitic creeper, attracts the eye as the train speeds past. So quick and so strong is the process of vegetation here, that every section of this line has twice in each year to be freed from the encroachments of the forest-children; nay, were theline to be left unused but for one twelvemonth, it would be difficult to discover any trace of its existence, so completely within that time would the whole district become once more a wilderness!

The physico-geographical conditions of the Isthmus have only latterly been made the subject of profound and exhaustive study by a German naturalist, who has published the result of his researches. The justly-dreaded climate was the main cause of its having been so long left unexamined. To that keen indefatigablesavant, Dr. Moritz Wagner, my whilom faithful travelling companion through Northern and Central America, is due the praise of having first accurately and analytically investigated the territory of the Isthmus,—that dam which separates two ocean worlds as it may be considered from one point of view,—that bridge which unites two immense continents as it may be regarded from another,—and who, in so doing, has contributed many new and important facts to our previous stock of statistics respecting the hypsometrical and geognostic features of the Isthmus, as well as to the geographical distribution of the forms of organic life which are found there.

In the course of constructing the railroad, the geological profile of the country was laid open through a length of 47 miles. This fortunate circumstance the German naturalist availed himself of as an excellent opportunity for carrying out his design, but his labours were none the less beset with difficulties, and only his indomitable perseverance could havecarried him through the tropical intermittent fevers and mental anxiety, which at one time threatened to prostrate his physical strength, or even to lay him in his grave. Wagner had been first struck by the very remarkable evidence of an entire alteration in the form of the hills between Veragua and Obispo. This change in the vertical configuration, the decided depression of the Cordilleras, which is most apparent between Limon Bay (at the mouth of the Chagres river) and the Gulf of Panama, is just as much an important geological fact for physical geography, and for solving the important questions of the present and future commerce so intimately connected with the artificially cutting through of this neck of land, as the change in the horizontal configuration or the sudden compression of this part of the world in the north-west of the province of Choco, or the rugged steepness that characterizes the range of hills which forms the contour of the coast-line. The geological and botanical specimens, those most reliable of all data for physical generalization, with which Wagner illustrates his interesting exposition of the natural character, the prevailing formations, and the most prominent representations of the vegetation of the Isthmus, form at present a valuable part of the collections of natural history in the Museum of Munich.

The journey across is not made at the speed one would expect on a line where the locomotive is in charge of a Yankee. It takes four hours to do the 471⁄2English miles. The stations are very numerous, often situate in the heart of the forest,where there are only a few labourers' huts. Moreover, halts are frequent at spots where there are no passengers visible, either to take up or set down. One of the most beautiful of the stations is that at the little village of Paraiso, about nine miles distant from Panama, which lies in a kettle-shaped glade. At this point large clearings have been made, and the eye ranges over a rather more extended landscape, only bounded in fact by the contour of the neighbouring hills. The only inhabitants are negroes, mulattoes, and mestizoes, who for the most part are employed as labourers on the line. A few miles after leaving Paraiso, the train reaches the station of Culebra, or, as it is more generally called by the inhabitants, "the Summit," the narrow steep rise of which marks the water-shed between the Rio Grande, falling into the Pacific, and the Rio Chagres, which debouches into the Caribbean Sea. This is the highest point of the line. The actual height of the pass is 287 English feet, but it has been lowered by about 25 feet, so that Summit station is only 262 feet above the mean level of the ocean.

The most important village along the line is Matachin, a large straggling village, which, however, seems to be inhabited exclusively by negroes, mulattoes, and Zamboes. As I have previously remarked, the majority of the labourers on the line emigrated hither from the West Indies, especially Jamaica, attracted by the high wages of labour, and after it was completed, settled along its course in neat, clean, but small cottages. And whereas the baleful tropical climatedecimated every other class of labourer employed during the construction of the lines, these latter have flourished here better than any other description of settler. They seem to be universally healthy and well fed, and their oceans of children, who impart life to the landscape, attest that the women have not lost their fertility. They all seemed to be well and were neatly clothed. However, when I crossed, it happened to be a holiday, and consequently every one wore his Sunday dress, clean white trowsers, white shirt, and a narrow-brimmed hat of fine straw.

Near Barbacoa station the eye of the traveller, that has hitherto revelled in the voluptuous beauties of nature, rests with pleasure on a splendid trophy of human industry, an iron bridge, 600 feet long, which spans the River Chagres at this point. It was on one of the Cerros, a little west of Barbacoa, that Vasco Nuñez de Balboa first beheld both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans at once, and, regarding his stand-point in the Isthmus as a mere handful of earth, may have imagined himself a conqueror, whose glance comprehended both worlds.

The last portion of the line, as we near the Atlantic side, passes over vast swamps, which rendered the construction of this portion of the road exceedingly difficult and very expensive. Aspinwall itself moreover, the terminus of the Inter-oceanic Railway, lies on a small island, two-thirds of the surface of which is morass, and covered with tropical marsh vegetation. This station was selected, notwithstanding itsvery unwholesome climate, chiefly because the roadstead of Limon Bay furnishes a safe anchorage in all weathers for vessels of even the largest size.

This small island, only 7000 feet long by 5800 wide, which was first named from the immense quantity ofHippomane mancinella, a tree with a very powerful poison, that is found on it, and is now called "Isla de Manzanilla," was formally made over by the New Granada Government to the American Company at the beginning of the works in the year 1852, and was used by it for the new city, as also for the erection of warehouses, &c.

Aspinwall, or Colon, as it is sometimes called, numbers at present some 1500 inhabitants, of whom 150 are North Americans and English, the rest negroes and mulattoes. The little town, with its neat frame-houses and clean cottages, involuntarily reminds one of the new settlements in the North American States. Here, besides the residences of the officials, are the warehouses and workshops of the Company. In the latter about 700 workmen are employed, while four schooners maintain uninterrupted communication between Aspinwall and New York, for the purpose of providing for the various wants of the crowded establishment. Even the very provisions are imported from North America. The resident director, Mr. A. J. Center, received me with the most hearty welcome, and during my entire stay continued to display the same kindness and interest, which he manifested from the moment he received my letter of introduction.

In Aspinwall the climate has within the last few years become more salubrious than at the period of the first colonization, when "Chagres fever" acquired a gruesome reputation, and no resident who stayed above two months in the place escaped the attack of the fever. Even mules and dogs could not escape the universal malaria. However, to this day a lengthened residence on this marshy soil is not unattended with danger, although the miasmatic poison has undoubtedly lost much of its virulence. The negroes longest resist its dangerous effect, after whom come the coolies, then the Europeans, while the Chinese are invariably the earliest attacked.[157]

On 23rd June, about midnight, I left Limon Bay in the steamerMedway. Having been committed to the charge of her captain by the kind attention of Mr. B. Cowan, the English Consul in Aspinwall, I found myself more comfortable and better attended to on board this small filthy old tub than I could possibly have expected. The Company avowedly employ in the Intercolonial lines the worst and most uncomfortable of their vessels, and the traveller who has to make any short passage, for instance, among the West Indiaislands, is exposed to the doubly disagreeable feeling of paying a very much higher rate of fare, for very inferior accommodation. TheMedwaywas an old acquaintance of mine in my previous West Indian rambles, as in former years she performed the mail service between Belize, Jamaica, Hayti, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, and Havanna, and this opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with her I hailed with anything but a sentiment of satisfaction.

Early on the 25th June we ran into the extensive and beautiful bay of Carthagena, which now-a-days is only accessible on one side, the second entrance having been destroyed by the Spaniards during their supremacy, and never reopened. This seaport contains about 11,000 inhabitants, many churches and monasteries, as also large fortifications, but of trade and commerce there is next to nothing. In the roads there lay but three small coasting crafts. For the naturalist, and especially for the zoologist, Carthagena is on the other hand classic soil.

Our steamer was fairly beleaguered by shoals of small canoes with natives on board, who offered for sale any quantity of the most various and beautiful little denizens of the surrounding country. Any naturalist who should spend a short time here, might, with the assistance of the Indians, who seem to be both zealous and apt collectors, get together an extensive and most valuable zoological and botanical collection. Carthagena indeed presents in particular great advantages for the shipment to Europe alive of the more interestinganimals. These steamers do not take much above a fortnight hence to England, and if dispatched about May or June, the animals would sustain but little detriment from the change to a European climate at that season. Thus on the present voyage of theMedwaythere were numbers of animals and chests of plants in full bloom, consigned to various museums and private collections in England.

On 30th June we anchored in the small but delightful harbour of St. Thomas, with bright green hills forming a picturesque back-ground, relieved by the white houses of the inhabitants picturesquely grouped along their slopes.

St. Thomas had changed little from what I remembered it at my previous visit in 1855. At the last census it had 15,000 inhabitants, and its trade is visibly increasing. It is, however, extremely difficult to get at the statistics of the annual amount of shipping here, as there is no toll-house, and the Danish Government publishes no official information as to the general trade. According to a German merchant long resident here, the number of foreign ships of all nations entering and leaving the port amounts to 860 annually, of coasters about 3500, while the annual value of merchandise so transshipped is about 6,000,000 dollars. One very remarkable trade is that in ice, which reaches the enormous amount of 1000 tons annually, chiefly for distribution among the adjoining islands, by far the largest proportion of which comes from Boston, where it is worth 20 dollars per ton, and at St. Thomas 80 dollars per ton, or 31⁄2cents per lb. One mayconceive that the entire ice-trade to the West Indies, South America, China, the Malay Archipelago, and the East Indies is in the hands of the keen North Americans, who evince a capacity for making a genial use of a natural phenomenon, which a less speculative race of men associate with the idea of cold, discomfort, and stagnation of intercourse.

M. A. Rüse, a wealthy chemist and zealous naturalist, by whom as by other German residents I was most kindly received, has acquired much distinction from his profound acquaintance with the lower animals of the West Indies, of which he possesses a small but valuable collection, chiefly of the Fauna of the islands of St. Thomas, Ste. Croix and Trinidad, and was so exceedingly courteous as to present me with duplicates of several of the most interesting. M. Krebs, merchant, and M. Kjaer harbour-master, also in their hours of relaxation gave me much valuable information on kindred topics, the latter gentleman farther presenting me with specimens from an excellent collection he had formed of petrifactions.

What, however, afforded me the sincerest satisfaction on the occasion of my present visit to St. Thomas, was the striking examples of industry, intelligence, and social comfort of the negro population. Of all nations among whom this curse of slavery has been implanted, the Danes have best comprehended how practically to solve the difficult problem of emancipation. The number of slaves in Danish colonies was at all times very small, and their manumission consequently more easy.Nevertheless the mode adopted in getting rid of the evil is deserving of attention and imitation. The duty of labouring does not cease with the means of compelling it. Slaves emancipated by the Danish Government may spend the wages they receive for their labour at their own discretion, and are permitted to change masters at pleasure, but they cannot quit their former employer till they have found a fresh one. The rate of wages at St. Thomas is pretty high, and the black population, who form the largest contingent of the labouring population, not only finds constant occupation, but is remarkably well paid besides. The negroes on this island are, however, very handy and quick, thanks to the constant intercourse with foreign nations. Many of them speak several languages fluently, and a German traveller who visits the island for the first time is apt to be not a little surprised at finding himself addressed in his mother-tongue by a swarthy son of Africa.

Our departure was fixed for 1st July. The various mail steamers which had been expected from the different ports of the West Indies and the eastern coast of Central America, had all arrived. The fine and comfortable but old and slow steamerMagdalenawas to leave for Europe at noon. Suddenly a sailing vessel came in like a Job's comforter, with the intelligence that the splendid new steamerParamatta, which was about due with the mails from England, had on her first voyage gone ashore on the Anegada shoal near the island of Virgin Gorda, 60 nautical miles from St. Thomas, and with her40 passengers, and a valuable cargo, was in need of instant relief. This intelligence again delayed our departure. It was at first determined to send off every disposable steamer to the scene of the disaster, and to detain theMagdalena, till full particulars of the mischance had been obtained, for transmission to the directors in London. Afterwards it was arranged that theMagdalenashould proceed to the spot where theParamattawas lying nearly high and dry, to assist if possible in floating the ship off the reef.

At 6P.M.accordingly we steamed out of the Bay of St. Thomas. On the present occasion theMagdalenahad 163 passengers on board, the majority of whom were planters from the various West India islands, bound on a pleasure trip during the hot season. Not merely the black servants, but even their white and chocolate-coloured masters, broke out into the most marvellous English or French jargon, according as they came from Jamaica and Demerara, from Martinique, Guadaloupe, or Hayti. The presence of a great number of children, who, so long as they kept free of sea-sickness, evidently considered the whole of the quarter-deck as especially designed for them to play on, in which notion they were zealously upheld by their mothers and their nurses, made the passage anything but agreeable. Moreover, the impression made by the grown-up passengers was such as to heighten one's aspirations for a speedy voyage. The intelligence which had been received from the seat of war in Italy gave rise to much excitement, and within the first twelve hours had made it apparentthat it was vain to hope for a pleasant voyage. Nothing was heard on every side but politics, and it may be left to the reader to guess in what tone they would be discussed, when Frenchmen, heated with visions ofla gloire militaire, were the principal spokesmen.

Early the next morning we were near the reef, which had disabled the largest and finest of the Company's ships, that had just cost £140,000. The unfortunate ship had struck the reef when running 11 knots an hour, and now lay on her starboard side on the reef, having careened so far over that her port paddle-wheel was quite clear of the water. A committee on the spot having decided that she must be entirely dismantled before even her bare hull could be got off the reef, it was resolved not to detain theMagdalena, it being thought desirable that she should as speedily as possible make her way to Southampton, so as to enable the directors at once to determine what course to adopt, before the sailing of the next steamer. Our captain was furnished with a general account of the accident, together with a sketch by the head engineer of the position of theParamatta, and with these theMagdalenawas permitted to take her departure.

The voyage threatened to be long and tedious, though attempts were made to enliven the mornings and evenings by music, and an occasional dance on deck. The former might have been made very agreeable, had not thechef d'orchestre, who was second steward, ventured on playing his own compositions as often as possible. To please the susceptibilities ofthe two nationalities,God save the QueenandPartant pour la Syriewere regularly called for each night. A more serious cause of alarm was the fear lest we should have to put into some intermediate port to coal. When she left St. Thomas theMagdalenahad 1200 tons on board, but as, notwithstanding constant calms and a sea like a mill-pond, she never made above 190 to 220 miles in the early part of the voyage, at a consumption of 70 tons per day, there seemed every prospect of our exhausting our supply. As she consumed her stock, however, she lightened perceptibly, till she even got up to the for her unusual speed of 280 miles a day. How different from the same Company's shipsAtratoandLa Plata, which frequently make 340 miles a day, and in fact average only 13 days on the passage home, while the average of theMagdalenaand her consorts is 18 days!

At last, on 18th July, we sighted the Lizard's. Although barely 200 miles from our destination, the captain thought it best to put into the nearest port for a supply of coal, and shortly after noon we anchored in Falmouth Harbour, where the first intelligence we got was that peace had been concluded. Singular to say, even this intelligence produced no accession of harmony between the two great political parties on board. As for myself, I had kept as much as possible by myself; and now stepping ashore, I wandered through the narrow dirty streets of Falmouth, which presents the accurate type of the old-fashioned English provincial town. The meadows and sloping hills around shone forth in all the freshverdure of spring. Even the traveller fresh from the voluptuous loveliness of the tropics, finds ever new beauties in the manifold variety of nature. The more the student of Nature walks with her and finds in her his chief pleasures, the more receptive does his soul become for all that is marvellous and beautiful, as from day to day they present themselves in new and unexpected phases.

The same evening theMagdalenaresumed her voyage, and about noon on the 19th we passed the renowned "Needles," and in two hours afterwards reached Southampton. Dire was the confusion on board, each person wishing to have his own trunk conveyed on shore the first. I found with my voluminous boxes the most courteous consideration. It sufficed to explain the object of my travels to have all my luggage passed without examination. For down to the English Custom House officials, who are not, it must be confessed, prone to show much tenderness to travellers' baggage, extends that honourable feeling of respect for science which Englishmen of all grades seem to entertain. The same evening I reached London.

As the next steamer for Gibraltar was not to leave for eight days, I immediately started to London, and availed myself of this opportunity to renew old acquaintance, and make up my leeway as regarded the important strides and valuable discoveries made in the fields of science during my long absence from Europe. The warm interest and cordial reception I met with from such gentlemen as Sir RoderickMurchison, General Sabine, Sir Charles Lyell, Professor Owen, Dr. Gray, Mr. Henry Reeve, Mr. Crawford, Mr. John Murray, Mr. Ellis, and many others, was the most gratifying and conclusive evidence of the interest and high expectations which theNovaraExpedition had excited among scientific circles in England.

On 27th July I embarked on board the P. and O. Company's steamerBehar, Captain Black,en routeto Gibraltar, which I reached after a passage of 41⁄2days, and, what is still more curious, by a singular coincidence, at the very same moment when theNovara, with every stitch of canvas set, was proudly careering through the famous Straits!! As the noble frigate shot past our steamer, Captain Black saluted, and was so thoughtfully kind as to signal theNovarathat I was among his passengers. Very soon after, both ships anchored in the roads of Gibraltar. In the course of my overland journey from Valparaiso to Gibraltar, I had travelled 8832 nautical miles, and had been but 29 days actually travelling.

I now felt pervaded by a sentiment of profoundest gratitude to a benevolent fate, which had led me safely and pleasantly through so many dangers till I rejoined that Expedition with which not alone the best and happiest remembrances of my life are henceforth associated, but which opened to me the unspeakably gratifying prospect of being better able to contribute, by extended knowledge and experience, to the advancement of science in my native land!

FOOTNOTES:[120]The fares, first class (including provisions and bedding, but without wine), are as follows:MilesDols.£s.d.Valparaiso to Callao de Lima146795or19190Callao to Panama1594110"2320Aspinwall (E. coast of Isthmus of Panama) to St. Thomas, and thence to Southampton4572360"75120Total, exclusive of 49 miles of rail from Colon to Panama7633565"118130[121]Hitherto, the coal procured at Lota in the south of Chile has been neglected, in consequence of the freight being so heavy that it is cheaper to import coals from England and North America.[122]See "On the Source and Supply of Cubic Saltpetre, or Nitrate of Soda, and its use in small quantities as a Restorative to Corn-crops, by Philip Pusey." London, W. Clowes and Sons, 1853.[123]The proportion as found along the coast is 93 to 95 per cent. of saltpetre, to 7 to 5 per cent. of earth.[124]The export, however, is constantly increasing. In 1858 it amounted to 61,000 tons, in 1859 to 78,000, of which 22,500 tons went to England, 15,200 to France, and the remainder to Germany.[125]From Arica there are bridle-paths to Potosi, Oruru, Cochabamba, La Paz, Chuquisaca, and Calamaca, probably the highest inhabited point of the earth's surface, where a population of 800 souls live at an elevation of 13,800 feet above the level of the sea.[126]The volcano of Arequipa is 10,500 feet above its base, but 18,000 above sea-level.[127]"Peru; Sketches of Travel, 1839-42, by J. J. v. Tschudi." St. Gall, 1846: Vol. i. p. 335. Also, "Investigations on the Fauna of Peru." St. Gall, 1844-46. The author from personal observation speaks as follows of these singular sand-columns, whirling along before the wind. "Driving before a strong wind, themedanosspeedily overleap all barriers, the lighter and more easily-propelled preceding the heavier like an advanced guard. Sometimes they are hurled against each other, when, so soon as they meet, they are dashed violently together, and break up simultaneously. Frequently a flatstretchof ground is covered within a few hours by a row of sand-hills, which within a day or two more resume their level monotonous appearance. The most experienced guides consequently become confused as to the way, and it is they who the soonest give way to despair as they wander blindly about among the sand-hills. The small mountain-spurs, by which the country is traversed from W. to E., afford some sort of clue, but these oases are few and far between in the sterile wilderness around."[128]The ordinary mode of writing the word "Guano" is erroneous, as already remarked by Tschudi, as the Quichua language, to which the word belongs, is deficient in the consonant G, among others. The Spaniards first converted into a G the strongly aspirated H of the original, while the last syllable "nu," which so frequently terminates the words adopted from the Quichua, was changed by them into "no."[129]Only the immense numbers of sea-fowl, their extraordinary voracity, and the bounteous provision for supplying them with food, can furnish any possible explanation of the enormous mass accumulated here, even allowing for such a lapse of time. Mr. Tschudi, in the course of his travels in Peru, once kept for several days a liveSula variegata, which he was continually feeding with fish. He carefully collected the excrement, when, notwithstanding these birds eat much less in captivity than in a state of nature, it voided in a day from 31⁄2to 5 oz.! According to other investigations in natural history, it seems that the pelican eats 20 lbs. a day of fish.[130]Beds of guano have also been discovered lately by Captain Ord at the Kooria-Mooria Islands, on the south coast of Arabia, in 18° N. 56° E., 850 miles E.N.E. of Aden. Here any ship can load this valuable cargo on paying a duty of £2 per ton to the English Government, which has recently established a colony at the bay and islands of that name, and has made it a coaling station. But the African guano is by no means so strong or so pungent a manure as that found on the rainless coasts of Peru, where certain peculiarities of climate combine to make it less liable to diminution of its saline virtues by dissolution or liquefaction.[131]The day on which Lima was founded by Pizarro was the 6th January, 1534, which according to the Catholic calendar is that dedicated to the Three Kings of Cologne, whence, in conformity with the religious customs of the period, the city was named "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of the Kings).[132]I feel it a pleasant duty to express here publicly how much I am indebted to the representatives of this celebrated firm in the different ports of South America, and to the head of the house in London, for the kind and generous manner in which this gentleman endeavoured to facilitate and advance the objects I had in view.[133]One of the most distinguished physicians of the capital, Dr. Archibald Smith, has collected some interesting particulars, with the dates, respecting the outbreak of these fearful maladies, which we intend to publish elsewhere.[134]This institution is also in charge of the Sisters of Charity. There were only some ten or twelve children in course of education, who, however, seemed to be in excellent health and well fed. When I expressed to the lady superintendent my astonishment that the establishment was not more extensively patronized, she replied, "Los niños se crian en la Calle!" (The children are here brought up in the streets.)[135]There are in Lima 46 private lying-in establishments. The mothers are extremely loth to separate from their children, and if great difficulty be experienced in getting wet-nurses, this is to be attributed far more to the love of the mothers for their children than to strict morality among the mass of the population.[136]A Peruvian author, Don J. A. Delavalle, gives in one of his works the following severe, yet faithful, portraiture of the state of letters in his native country:—"En un país en el que el cultivo de las letras ni constituye una profesion, ni crea una posicion social, ni procura lo necesario—no decimos para lucrar con ella—para conseguir el sustento para la vida, nos admiraremos de que haya quien escriba en Lima, y reputaremos como extraordinario el número de obras que han salido de sus prensas en 1860, por muy pequeño que este haya sido. Sin proteccion, pues, y sin estimulo, ni oficial, ni social, ¿ qué se podrá esperar de las letras Peruanas?" (Translation of the foregoing.) "In a country where the cultivation of letters is not a profession by itself, where literature confers no social position, and barely procures the necessaries of life,—we do not speak of realizing competence and independence,—we marvel there should be any one in Lima who writes at all, and we consider little less than extraordinary the number of books which have issued from its press in 1860, insignificant as the sum total may be. Without protection, without influence, and without stimulus, official or social, who can suffer himself to hope for a better future for Peruvian literature?" (Compare Peru in 1860, in the National Annual Register, by Alfredo G. Leubel, Lima, 1861.)[137]Pachacamác, the invisible God, i. e. "he who created the earth out of nothing."[138]In Cañete, an Indian village of 9000 inhabitants, 60 English miles from Lurin, there are also numerous Peruvian architectural memorials, as also an antique temple of idols, which have never been carefully examined. On my return to Lima, I was shown the mummy of a very young child, which Don Juan Quiros, deputy from the province of Cañete, had brought to the capital with him from his own home. The little corpse, quite mummified, lay in a beautiful, neatly-plaited little basket, and was swathed in layers of fine variegated cloth. On both sides lay toys of various kinds, attesting not alone the tenderness of the mother for her dead offspring, but also that a high degree of artistic taste and finish had been attained.[139]According to the "Estadistica general de Lima" (1858) of M. Fuentes, Lima has a population of 94,195, all told; according to the "Anuario Nacional" of A. Leubel for 1861, only 85,116 souls, who inhabit a surface of 6523.597 square Varas (Spanish). The entire population of Peru can hardly exceed 1,900,000, but a reliable census has never yet been made.[140]Once during my stay in Lima I had an opportunity of conversing with Don Ramon. He had come up from his country-seat, or rather from the roulette-table of Chorillos, to the capital, and was courteous enough to accord me a reception at his house. After passing a couple of sentinels, I was ushered through a large bare room into a small ill-lighted apartment on the ground-floor, when I found myself suddenly face to face with the President of the Peruvian Republic. I was presented by a friend settled in Lima. The General is a mestizo with a strongly-marked brown Indian visage, projecting cheek-bones, and an arched nose, wiry grey hair kept close cropped, and energetic, but withal coarse features. He is so far entitled to gratitude, that during the few years he has swayed the destinies of the Republic, he has maintained internal tranquillity. But there still remains the saddening feeling, borne out by the actual state of matters, that a territory over which Spanish grandees and viceroys once held sway, is at present ruled by an Indian half-breed, who can scarcely read and write. In manners and general appearance, Don Ramon Castilla strongly reminded me of his dusky confrère, General Rafael Carrera, President of Guatemala, with whose despotic tendencies he may be said fully to sympathize.[141]Thus too it is the predominance of the pure Spanish type and the extent of foreign immigration, which render the future of Chile so hopeful.[142]Vide E. Pöppig, Travels in Chile, Peru, and down the Amazon, vol. ii. p. 248.—Von Tschudi, Sketches of Peruvian Travel, vol. ii. p. 290.—Weddell, Travels in Northern Bolivia in 1853, p. 514.—Von Bibra, Narcotics and their Influence on Man.—History of the Expedition of M. Castelnau in the Central Territories of South America. Paris, 1850, vol. iii. p. 349.—Dr. Paul Montegazza, "Researches into the Hygienic and Medicinal Properties of Coca. Annali de Medicina, March, 1859."[143]This custom of the Aymara Indians, not less universal than extraordinary, of standing on their heads after long and fatiguing marches, seems to be the result of an instinct which teaches them how best to mitigate the severe pressure of the blood.[144]The mail goes four times a month from La Paz to Tacna, and usually weighs 25 lbs., which the courier carries on his back and delivers within some five or six days, without other nourishment than that already specified![145]The Aymara Indian rarely uses animal food, as to do so he would require to kill one of his beloved Llamas. His chief food consists of roastedChuño, a small bitter species of potato, which flourishes only on the barren, rugged plateau of the Andes inhabited by the Aymara, where neither the common potato nor the maize continue to grow; even barley, which the Spaniards introduced, ceases to thrive. Their only other food is a species of moss, which grows in the swamps, and is called by the natives "Lanta." Under such alimentary conditions, it is readily intelligible why the Aymara have a predilection for coca balls (acullica), which (as sailors and others do with us, with tobacco) they keep continually rolling about in their mouths, and which, as soon as the whole of the juice has been sucked out, is thrown away and replaced by a fresh "quid." The juice of the green leaves diluted with oceans of saliva is usually swallowed. An Indian chews on the average an ounce to an ounce and a half per diem, but on feast-days double that quantity.[146]Cocain is precipitated in colourless inodorous prismatic crystals. It is with difficulty soluble in water, but melts readily in alcohol, and with still more facility in ether. When dissolved in alcohol, the solution becomes a strong alkaline reagent, and has a peculiar slightly bitter taste. When brought in contact with the nerves of the tongue, it possesses the singular property of deadening sensation after a few seconds have elapsed, in the part to which it has been applied, which for a time becomes almost void of feeling. It fuses at a temperature of 208°.4 Fahr., and in cooling resumes its former prismatic crystalline form. When heated beyond this temperature, it changes to a reddish hue, and volatilizes with a strong ammoniacal odour. Only a small portion seems to get liberated by the destructive process. When heated on a platinum disc, it burns away with a bright flame, leaving no residuum. Cocain completely neutralizes acids, although most of the resulting salts seem to crystallize with difficulty, and to remain for a considerable time in an amorphous state. The resultant chloride seemed the most readily formed as well as delicately shaped of the crystals. Cocain exposed in chlorine is followed by such a development of heat that the former is fused. (Compare "Cocain, an Organic Base in the Coca," letter of Professor F. Wöhler to W. Haidinger, acting Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, presented at the meeting of the Class of Mathematics and Physical Science, 8th March, 1860. See also "On a New Organic Base in the Coca-leaves," Inaugural dissertation on attaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Göttingen, by Albert Niemann of Goslar. Printed at the Göttingen Press, 1860.)[147]According to Wöhler, this fluid substance admits of being distilled even along with water; its odour strongly recalls Trimethylamin; it is a strong alkaline reagent, but is not bitter to the taste, and forms a white cloud when acids are poured upon it. Its chloride crystallizes readily, but is very volatile. With chloride of platina it forms a flocculent uncrystallized precipitate, which decomposes on the liquid being heated. With chloride of quicksilver, it assumes a dim milky appearance, which is caused by the formation of a substance resembling drops of oil. Hygrin is not poisonous; a few drops given to a rabbit were followed by no perceptible symptoms.[148]As, judging by the experiments hitherto made, cocain seems to consist of two atoms in juxta-position, there is reason to conjecture that it is destined to be the source of a large number of products of transformation. It is highly probable, as Wöhler has remarked, that cocain may yet beartificiallymade by a mixture of hygrin with Benzoic acid, or rather with one of the substances forming part of the Benzoyle group.[149]See Von Tschudiut suprà, vol. ii. 309.[150]I append here the most important points on which information is sought respecting the climatic and other conditions of the various Cinchona species as cultivated in South America, concerning which Dr. Junghuhn needed more correct information, and can but express the hope, that, should curiosity or destiny lead the steps of any one of my more earnest readers to Peru, he may succeed by his own observation in solving these questions, my inability to aid more effectively in which has been to me a source of deep mortification. The learned naturalist of Java furnished me with the following particulars:—"What it behoves us especially to ascertain, respecting which Hasskarl has observed nothing, and Weddell furnishes no accurate information, is comprised in the following questions:1. What are the highest and lowest limits of theCinchona Calisaya, or at all events, what is the altitude of the region in which it most abounds?2. What is the unvarying warmth of the soil, as observed at a depth of 5 feet below the surface?3. On what soil does it grow most abundantly and luxuriantly? Does it affect rich black mould, in moist forcing soils, or rather dry, stony, barren soils? Does it grow on steep acclivities, or does it seem to prefer gentle slopes or level ground? Can specimens of the soil be procured? What is the description of the rock formation, trachytic, granitic, or gneiss, or are slate or sandstone the characteristic formations?4. What are the general meteorological conditions, and what is the annual amount of rain-fall? For how many and during what months does it rain, and during what period of the day are the showers heaviest? Does it rain for months at a time, and for how many, and during what months? Or does it not rain at all, in which case is its place supplied by regular afternoon storms? How many days of rain are there in the rainy season of that particular region of the tropical zone? Are the nights and forenoons, as in Java, usually clear until noon? Is it known whether observations have ever been made by the Spanish Creoles as to the amount and duration of the rain-fall? A correct knowledge of the amount of moisture and rain-fall of the Calisaya district is of special importance to all engaged in the cultivation of that plant. Further, frequent observations must be made with the psychrometer in the morning before sunrise, between nine and ten o'clock, at the hour of maximum of temperature, and in the evening, in the forest and in the open ground, that these may afterwards be compared with mine in Java.5. Does the Calisaya prefer the deepest shadows of the forest, does it grow there quite apart from other trees, or is it more frequently found in the open spaces where it is warmed by the sun's rays, such places being usually rather clear of trees? Does it grow solitary, or is it found in groups or clusters, and are its special peculiarities in this respect observable in every forest? Is it observed to be more numerous towards the edge of the forest, and does it evince a tendency to extend thence over the grass, the drift, the plateaux, &c., and what alterations do these make in its habits?6. Information is wanted as to the month in which the Calisaya blossoms, and that in which the fruit ripens, as also what length of time usually elapses between the first appearance of the buds and the shedding of thecorolla, and from the shedding of thecorollato the bursting, i. e. the complete maturity of the capsules. It would seem that in Java it takes a much longer time, as also that it blossoms at an entirely different season from that in which it blossoms in its native regions.7. Much anxiety is felt as to whether it is possible to ascertain with accuracy how many years old, as also what are the usual height and the diameter (at the base of the trunk) of a Calisaya tree, when it first begins to blossom, and whether these first blossoms are developed into ripe fruit, with seeds capable of fertilization.8. How high, how thick, and how old are—a.The youngest and smallest, andb.The largest and oldest,Calisaya trees, which are now felled for their bark in South America? What description of bark is the most prized, that from the young and slender, or that from the larger and older trees? Also whether the bark of a very young tree, e. g. four years old, contain thus early the active principle, genuine?9. As, judging by appearances, it has been rightly assumed that the bark of any given description of Cinchona is found to be more abundantly provided with alkaloid, especially quinine, the greater the elevation above the sea, and becomes impoverished in these respects in proportion as a lower level and a warmer climate are reached, it is desirable that special observations should be made for the elucidation of these particulars.10. It is desirable information should be got from the China bark collectors (Cascarilleros) of Peru, as to the natural foes of the Cinchona plant, especially C. Calisaya, and it appears likewise important to ascertain whether the Calisaya is there also liable to be injured and bored into by mites and other noxious insects.11. It is highly desirable that all the above recommended observations made respecting Cinchona Calisaya, may also be applied toall otherspecies of Cinchona that may occur in South America, of which those ranking next in interest and importance to us in Java, and which have been planted here, are C.Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia,laurifolia,lanceolata, as also C.cordifolia, C.ovata, andvar. erythroderma.12. Is the pure red China bark actually obtained from the C.ovata, var. erythrodermaof Weddell, as would appear from an article by Howard in "the Pharmaceutical Journal for October, 1856?" The leaves of that variety have the most resemblance to those of the three young trees brought over, which we now possess in Java, and which I have spoken of asCinchona cordifolia.13. The experiments in acclimatization of the above-named species in Java, especially in Western Java, which, it must be admitted, has a very much more moist, rainy climate than Peru, and still more so than Southern Bolivia, where the Calisaya chiefly grows, have already undergone several phases, and it has successfully struggled with numerous obstacles, some natural, others the result of failures of the earliest cultivators. The species named C.Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia, has shown itself more susceptible of being acclimatized than the C.Calisaya, and at present (May, 1858) promises to produce from 50,000 to 70,000 ripe fruit, within a few weeks, all fit for reproduction. Apparently the climate and other physical conditions of the locality in Java, where the cultivation has been carried on, have corresponded with those natural conditions which enable this plant to grow so abundantly in its native soil of Peru."[151]The name dates from the time when what is now Bolivia (in the forest of which the China tree chiefly grows) formed an integral portion of Peru, and was in fact called Upper Peru, whereas from that which is now called Peru, hardly any bark is exported, while that found in New Granada and Ecuador, whence it is exported to Spain under the name of Pitaya, is a species of very inferior quality for medicinal purposes.[152]The name, Countess' powder, which was given to the drug owing to its use by a certain Countess Chinchon (wife of a Peruvian viceroy), was afterwards altered to Cardinal's or Jesuit's powder, in consequence of the Procurator-general of the order of Jesus, Cardinal de Lugo, having, during his passage through France, everywhere made known the virtues of the drug, and recommended it to the particular attention of Cardinal Mazarin, as the brethren of the order had begun to drive quite a lucrative trade in South American China bark, which they had carried on by their missionaries. V. Humboldt's "Ansichten der Natur," third edition, 1849, vol. ii. p. 372.[153]See Humboldt's Ansichten der Natur. Third edition. 1849. Vol. ii. p. 319.[154]Señor Emilio Escobar of Lima sent me a small flask of a hitherto little-known vegetable stuff, which gives very much the same dye as the cochineal insect, and is found in great abundance throughout Peru. I have added this bottle of dye, which at all events merits more minute investigation, to the other collections of theNovaraExpedition.[155]In 1859, there were forwarded, according to official documents:From Aspinwallto Panama.From Panamato Aspinwall.Totals.Passengers23,20616,56739,773Bullion3,146,98357,097,06160,244,044Mail parcels of the U.S.pounds643,752184,395828,147Mail parcels of England"47,0608,82455,884Merchandisetons17,2783,80221,080Coal."7,618-7,618Personal baggagepounds67,69862,581130,279[156]The cost of keeping in repair is not less than £100,000 per annum, owing to the destroying energies of the atmosphere and of insects, as also of the rapid growth of vegetation, to keep which under employs not less than 3000 labourers.[157]The statistics of mortality among the various races on the Isthmus for the year 1858 give the following results.Of thenatives, there die annually1 in 50"immigrant negroes1 in 40"Coolies1 in 40"Europeans1 in 30"Chinese1 in 10

[120]The fares, first class (including provisions and bedding, but without wine), are as follows:MilesDols.£s.d.Valparaiso to Callao de Lima146795or19190Callao to Panama1594110"2320Aspinwall (E. coast of Isthmus of Panama) to St. Thomas, and thence to Southampton4572360"75120Total, exclusive of 49 miles of rail from Colon to Panama7633565"118130

[120]The fares, first class (including provisions and bedding, but without wine), are as follows:

MilesDols.£s.d.Valparaiso to Callao de Lima146795or19190Callao to Panama1594110"2320Aspinwall (E. coast of Isthmus of Panama) to St. Thomas, and thence to Southampton4572360"75120Total, exclusive of 49 miles of rail from Colon to Panama7633565"118130

[121]Hitherto, the coal procured at Lota in the south of Chile has been neglected, in consequence of the freight being so heavy that it is cheaper to import coals from England and North America.

[122]See "On the Source and Supply of Cubic Saltpetre, or Nitrate of Soda, and its use in small quantities as a Restorative to Corn-crops, by Philip Pusey." London, W. Clowes and Sons, 1853.

[123]The proportion as found along the coast is 93 to 95 per cent. of saltpetre, to 7 to 5 per cent. of earth.

[124]The export, however, is constantly increasing. In 1858 it amounted to 61,000 tons, in 1859 to 78,000, of which 22,500 tons went to England, 15,200 to France, and the remainder to Germany.

[125]From Arica there are bridle-paths to Potosi, Oruru, Cochabamba, La Paz, Chuquisaca, and Calamaca, probably the highest inhabited point of the earth's surface, where a population of 800 souls live at an elevation of 13,800 feet above the level of the sea.

[126]The volcano of Arequipa is 10,500 feet above its base, but 18,000 above sea-level.

[127]"Peru; Sketches of Travel, 1839-42, by J. J. v. Tschudi." St. Gall, 1846: Vol. i. p. 335. Also, "Investigations on the Fauna of Peru." St. Gall, 1844-46. The author from personal observation speaks as follows of these singular sand-columns, whirling along before the wind. "Driving before a strong wind, themedanosspeedily overleap all barriers, the lighter and more easily-propelled preceding the heavier like an advanced guard. Sometimes they are hurled against each other, when, so soon as they meet, they are dashed violently together, and break up simultaneously. Frequently a flatstretchof ground is covered within a few hours by a row of sand-hills, which within a day or two more resume their level monotonous appearance. The most experienced guides consequently become confused as to the way, and it is they who the soonest give way to despair as they wander blindly about among the sand-hills. The small mountain-spurs, by which the country is traversed from W. to E., afford some sort of clue, but these oases are few and far between in the sterile wilderness around."

[128]The ordinary mode of writing the word "Guano" is erroneous, as already remarked by Tschudi, as the Quichua language, to which the word belongs, is deficient in the consonant G, among others. The Spaniards first converted into a G the strongly aspirated H of the original, while the last syllable "nu," which so frequently terminates the words adopted from the Quichua, was changed by them into "no."

[129]Only the immense numbers of sea-fowl, their extraordinary voracity, and the bounteous provision for supplying them with food, can furnish any possible explanation of the enormous mass accumulated here, even allowing for such a lapse of time. Mr. Tschudi, in the course of his travels in Peru, once kept for several days a liveSula variegata, which he was continually feeding with fish. He carefully collected the excrement, when, notwithstanding these birds eat much less in captivity than in a state of nature, it voided in a day from 31⁄2to 5 oz.! According to other investigations in natural history, it seems that the pelican eats 20 lbs. a day of fish.

[130]Beds of guano have also been discovered lately by Captain Ord at the Kooria-Mooria Islands, on the south coast of Arabia, in 18° N. 56° E., 850 miles E.N.E. of Aden. Here any ship can load this valuable cargo on paying a duty of £2 per ton to the English Government, which has recently established a colony at the bay and islands of that name, and has made it a coaling station. But the African guano is by no means so strong or so pungent a manure as that found on the rainless coasts of Peru, where certain peculiarities of climate combine to make it less liable to diminution of its saline virtues by dissolution or liquefaction.

[131]The day on which Lima was founded by Pizarro was the 6th January, 1534, which according to the Catholic calendar is that dedicated to the Three Kings of Cologne, whence, in conformity with the religious customs of the period, the city was named "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of the Kings).

[132]I feel it a pleasant duty to express here publicly how much I am indebted to the representatives of this celebrated firm in the different ports of South America, and to the head of the house in London, for the kind and generous manner in which this gentleman endeavoured to facilitate and advance the objects I had in view.

[133]One of the most distinguished physicians of the capital, Dr. Archibald Smith, has collected some interesting particulars, with the dates, respecting the outbreak of these fearful maladies, which we intend to publish elsewhere.

[134]This institution is also in charge of the Sisters of Charity. There were only some ten or twelve children in course of education, who, however, seemed to be in excellent health and well fed. When I expressed to the lady superintendent my astonishment that the establishment was not more extensively patronized, she replied, "Los niños se crian en la Calle!" (The children are here brought up in the streets.)

[135]There are in Lima 46 private lying-in establishments. The mothers are extremely loth to separate from their children, and if great difficulty be experienced in getting wet-nurses, this is to be attributed far more to the love of the mothers for their children than to strict morality among the mass of the population.

[136]A Peruvian author, Don J. A. Delavalle, gives in one of his works the following severe, yet faithful, portraiture of the state of letters in his native country:—"En un país en el que el cultivo de las letras ni constituye una profesion, ni crea una posicion social, ni procura lo necesario—no decimos para lucrar con ella—para conseguir el sustento para la vida, nos admiraremos de que haya quien escriba en Lima, y reputaremos como extraordinario el número de obras que han salido de sus prensas en 1860, por muy pequeño que este haya sido. Sin proteccion, pues, y sin estimulo, ni oficial, ni social, ¿ qué se podrá esperar de las letras Peruanas?" (Translation of the foregoing.) "In a country where the cultivation of letters is not a profession by itself, where literature confers no social position, and barely procures the necessaries of life,—we do not speak of realizing competence and independence,—we marvel there should be any one in Lima who writes at all, and we consider little less than extraordinary the number of books which have issued from its press in 1860, insignificant as the sum total may be. Without protection, without influence, and without stimulus, official or social, who can suffer himself to hope for a better future for Peruvian literature?" (Compare Peru in 1860, in the National Annual Register, by Alfredo G. Leubel, Lima, 1861.)

[137]Pachacamác, the invisible God, i. e. "he who created the earth out of nothing."

[138]In Cañete, an Indian village of 9000 inhabitants, 60 English miles from Lurin, there are also numerous Peruvian architectural memorials, as also an antique temple of idols, which have never been carefully examined. On my return to Lima, I was shown the mummy of a very young child, which Don Juan Quiros, deputy from the province of Cañete, had brought to the capital with him from his own home. The little corpse, quite mummified, lay in a beautiful, neatly-plaited little basket, and was swathed in layers of fine variegated cloth. On both sides lay toys of various kinds, attesting not alone the tenderness of the mother for her dead offspring, but also that a high degree of artistic taste and finish had been attained.

[139]According to the "Estadistica general de Lima" (1858) of M. Fuentes, Lima has a population of 94,195, all told; according to the "Anuario Nacional" of A. Leubel for 1861, only 85,116 souls, who inhabit a surface of 6523.597 square Varas (Spanish). The entire population of Peru can hardly exceed 1,900,000, but a reliable census has never yet been made.

[140]Once during my stay in Lima I had an opportunity of conversing with Don Ramon. He had come up from his country-seat, or rather from the roulette-table of Chorillos, to the capital, and was courteous enough to accord me a reception at his house. After passing a couple of sentinels, I was ushered through a large bare room into a small ill-lighted apartment on the ground-floor, when I found myself suddenly face to face with the President of the Peruvian Republic. I was presented by a friend settled in Lima. The General is a mestizo with a strongly-marked brown Indian visage, projecting cheek-bones, and an arched nose, wiry grey hair kept close cropped, and energetic, but withal coarse features. He is so far entitled to gratitude, that during the few years he has swayed the destinies of the Republic, he has maintained internal tranquillity. But there still remains the saddening feeling, borne out by the actual state of matters, that a territory over which Spanish grandees and viceroys once held sway, is at present ruled by an Indian half-breed, who can scarcely read and write. In manners and general appearance, Don Ramon Castilla strongly reminded me of his dusky confrère, General Rafael Carrera, President of Guatemala, with whose despotic tendencies he may be said fully to sympathize.

[141]Thus too it is the predominance of the pure Spanish type and the extent of foreign immigration, which render the future of Chile so hopeful.

[142]Vide E. Pöppig, Travels in Chile, Peru, and down the Amazon, vol. ii. p. 248.—Von Tschudi, Sketches of Peruvian Travel, vol. ii. p. 290.—Weddell, Travels in Northern Bolivia in 1853, p. 514.—Von Bibra, Narcotics and their Influence on Man.—History of the Expedition of M. Castelnau in the Central Territories of South America. Paris, 1850, vol. iii. p. 349.—Dr. Paul Montegazza, "Researches into the Hygienic and Medicinal Properties of Coca. Annali de Medicina, March, 1859."

[143]This custom of the Aymara Indians, not less universal than extraordinary, of standing on their heads after long and fatiguing marches, seems to be the result of an instinct which teaches them how best to mitigate the severe pressure of the blood.

[144]The mail goes four times a month from La Paz to Tacna, and usually weighs 25 lbs., which the courier carries on his back and delivers within some five or six days, without other nourishment than that already specified!

[145]The Aymara Indian rarely uses animal food, as to do so he would require to kill one of his beloved Llamas. His chief food consists of roastedChuño, a small bitter species of potato, which flourishes only on the barren, rugged plateau of the Andes inhabited by the Aymara, where neither the common potato nor the maize continue to grow; even barley, which the Spaniards introduced, ceases to thrive. Their only other food is a species of moss, which grows in the swamps, and is called by the natives "Lanta." Under such alimentary conditions, it is readily intelligible why the Aymara have a predilection for coca balls (acullica), which (as sailors and others do with us, with tobacco) they keep continually rolling about in their mouths, and which, as soon as the whole of the juice has been sucked out, is thrown away and replaced by a fresh "quid." The juice of the green leaves diluted with oceans of saliva is usually swallowed. An Indian chews on the average an ounce to an ounce and a half per diem, but on feast-days double that quantity.

[146]Cocain is precipitated in colourless inodorous prismatic crystals. It is with difficulty soluble in water, but melts readily in alcohol, and with still more facility in ether. When dissolved in alcohol, the solution becomes a strong alkaline reagent, and has a peculiar slightly bitter taste. When brought in contact with the nerves of the tongue, it possesses the singular property of deadening sensation after a few seconds have elapsed, in the part to which it has been applied, which for a time becomes almost void of feeling. It fuses at a temperature of 208°.4 Fahr., and in cooling resumes its former prismatic crystalline form. When heated beyond this temperature, it changes to a reddish hue, and volatilizes with a strong ammoniacal odour. Only a small portion seems to get liberated by the destructive process. When heated on a platinum disc, it burns away with a bright flame, leaving no residuum. Cocain completely neutralizes acids, although most of the resulting salts seem to crystallize with difficulty, and to remain for a considerable time in an amorphous state. The resultant chloride seemed the most readily formed as well as delicately shaped of the crystals. Cocain exposed in chlorine is followed by such a development of heat that the former is fused. (Compare "Cocain, an Organic Base in the Coca," letter of Professor F. Wöhler to W. Haidinger, acting Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, presented at the meeting of the Class of Mathematics and Physical Science, 8th March, 1860. See also "On a New Organic Base in the Coca-leaves," Inaugural dissertation on attaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Göttingen, by Albert Niemann of Goslar. Printed at the Göttingen Press, 1860.)

[147]According to Wöhler, this fluid substance admits of being distilled even along with water; its odour strongly recalls Trimethylamin; it is a strong alkaline reagent, but is not bitter to the taste, and forms a white cloud when acids are poured upon it. Its chloride crystallizes readily, but is very volatile. With chloride of platina it forms a flocculent uncrystallized precipitate, which decomposes on the liquid being heated. With chloride of quicksilver, it assumes a dim milky appearance, which is caused by the formation of a substance resembling drops of oil. Hygrin is not poisonous; a few drops given to a rabbit were followed by no perceptible symptoms.

[148]As, judging by the experiments hitherto made, cocain seems to consist of two atoms in juxta-position, there is reason to conjecture that it is destined to be the source of a large number of products of transformation. It is highly probable, as Wöhler has remarked, that cocain may yet beartificiallymade by a mixture of hygrin with Benzoic acid, or rather with one of the substances forming part of the Benzoyle group.

[149]See Von Tschudiut suprà, vol. ii. 309.

[150]I append here the most important points on which information is sought respecting the climatic and other conditions of the various Cinchona species as cultivated in South America, concerning which Dr. Junghuhn needed more correct information, and can but express the hope, that, should curiosity or destiny lead the steps of any one of my more earnest readers to Peru, he may succeed by his own observation in solving these questions, my inability to aid more effectively in which has been to me a source of deep mortification. The learned naturalist of Java furnished me with the following particulars:—"What it behoves us especially to ascertain, respecting which Hasskarl has observed nothing, and Weddell furnishes no accurate information, is comprised in the following questions:1. What are the highest and lowest limits of theCinchona Calisaya, or at all events, what is the altitude of the region in which it most abounds?2. What is the unvarying warmth of the soil, as observed at a depth of 5 feet below the surface?3. On what soil does it grow most abundantly and luxuriantly? Does it affect rich black mould, in moist forcing soils, or rather dry, stony, barren soils? Does it grow on steep acclivities, or does it seem to prefer gentle slopes or level ground? Can specimens of the soil be procured? What is the description of the rock formation, trachytic, granitic, or gneiss, or are slate or sandstone the characteristic formations?4. What are the general meteorological conditions, and what is the annual amount of rain-fall? For how many and during what months does it rain, and during what period of the day are the showers heaviest? Does it rain for months at a time, and for how many, and during what months? Or does it not rain at all, in which case is its place supplied by regular afternoon storms? How many days of rain are there in the rainy season of that particular region of the tropical zone? Are the nights and forenoons, as in Java, usually clear until noon? Is it known whether observations have ever been made by the Spanish Creoles as to the amount and duration of the rain-fall? A correct knowledge of the amount of moisture and rain-fall of the Calisaya district is of special importance to all engaged in the cultivation of that plant. Further, frequent observations must be made with the psychrometer in the morning before sunrise, between nine and ten o'clock, at the hour of maximum of temperature, and in the evening, in the forest and in the open ground, that these may afterwards be compared with mine in Java.5. Does the Calisaya prefer the deepest shadows of the forest, does it grow there quite apart from other trees, or is it more frequently found in the open spaces where it is warmed by the sun's rays, such places being usually rather clear of trees? Does it grow solitary, or is it found in groups or clusters, and are its special peculiarities in this respect observable in every forest? Is it observed to be more numerous towards the edge of the forest, and does it evince a tendency to extend thence over the grass, the drift, the plateaux, &c., and what alterations do these make in its habits?6. Information is wanted as to the month in which the Calisaya blossoms, and that in which the fruit ripens, as also what length of time usually elapses between the first appearance of the buds and the shedding of thecorolla, and from the shedding of thecorollato the bursting, i. e. the complete maturity of the capsules. It would seem that in Java it takes a much longer time, as also that it blossoms at an entirely different season from that in which it blossoms in its native regions.7. Much anxiety is felt as to whether it is possible to ascertain with accuracy how many years old, as also what are the usual height and the diameter (at the base of the trunk) of a Calisaya tree, when it first begins to blossom, and whether these first blossoms are developed into ripe fruit, with seeds capable of fertilization.8. How high, how thick, and how old are—a.The youngest and smallest, andb.The largest and oldest,Calisaya trees, which are now felled for their bark in South America? What description of bark is the most prized, that from the young and slender, or that from the larger and older trees? Also whether the bark of a very young tree, e. g. four years old, contain thus early the active principle, genuine?9. As, judging by appearances, it has been rightly assumed that the bark of any given description of Cinchona is found to be more abundantly provided with alkaloid, especially quinine, the greater the elevation above the sea, and becomes impoverished in these respects in proportion as a lower level and a warmer climate are reached, it is desirable that special observations should be made for the elucidation of these particulars.10. It is desirable information should be got from the China bark collectors (Cascarilleros) of Peru, as to the natural foes of the Cinchona plant, especially C. Calisaya, and it appears likewise important to ascertain whether the Calisaya is there also liable to be injured and bored into by mites and other noxious insects.11. It is highly desirable that all the above recommended observations made respecting Cinchona Calisaya, may also be applied toall otherspecies of Cinchona that may occur in South America, of which those ranking next in interest and importance to us in Java, and which have been planted here, are C.Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia,laurifolia,lanceolata, as also C.cordifolia, C.ovata, andvar. erythroderma.12. Is the pure red China bark actually obtained from the C.ovata, var. erythrodermaof Weddell, as would appear from an article by Howard in "the Pharmaceutical Journal for October, 1856?" The leaves of that variety have the most resemblance to those of the three young trees brought over, which we now possess in Java, and which I have spoken of asCinchona cordifolia.13. The experiments in acclimatization of the above-named species in Java, especially in Western Java, which, it must be admitted, has a very much more moist, rainy climate than Peru, and still more so than Southern Bolivia, where the Calisaya chiefly grows, have already undergone several phases, and it has successfully struggled with numerous obstacles, some natural, others the result of failures of the earliest cultivators. The species named C.Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia, has shown itself more susceptible of being acclimatized than the C.Calisaya, and at present (May, 1858) promises to produce from 50,000 to 70,000 ripe fruit, within a few weeks, all fit for reproduction. Apparently the climate and other physical conditions of the locality in Java, where the cultivation has been carried on, have corresponded with those natural conditions which enable this plant to grow so abundantly in its native soil of Peru."

"What it behoves us especially to ascertain, respecting which Hasskarl has observed nothing, and Weddell furnishes no accurate information, is comprised in the following questions:

1. What are the highest and lowest limits of theCinchona Calisaya, or at all events, what is the altitude of the region in which it most abounds?

2. What is the unvarying warmth of the soil, as observed at a depth of 5 feet below the surface?

3. On what soil does it grow most abundantly and luxuriantly? Does it affect rich black mould, in moist forcing soils, or rather dry, stony, barren soils? Does it grow on steep acclivities, or does it seem to prefer gentle slopes or level ground? Can specimens of the soil be procured? What is the description of the rock formation, trachytic, granitic, or gneiss, or are slate or sandstone the characteristic formations?

4. What are the general meteorological conditions, and what is the annual amount of rain-fall? For how many and during what months does it rain, and during what period of the day are the showers heaviest? Does it rain for months at a time, and for how many, and during what months? Or does it not rain at all, in which case is its place supplied by regular afternoon storms? How many days of rain are there in the rainy season of that particular region of the tropical zone? Are the nights and forenoons, as in Java, usually clear until noon? Is it known whether observations have ever been made by the Spanish Creoles as to the amount and duration of the rain-fall? A correct knowledge of the amount of moisture and rain-fall of the Calisaya district is of special importance to all engaged in the cultivation of that plant. Further, frequent observations must be made with the psychrometer in the morning before sunrise, between nine and ten o'clock, at the hour of maximum of temperature, and in the evening, in the forest and in the open ground, that these may afterwards be compared with mine in Java.

5. Does the Calisaya prefer the deepest shadows of the forest, does it grow there quite apart from other trees, or is it more frequently found in the open spaces where it is warmed by the sun's rays, such places being usually rather clear of trees? Does it grow solitary, or is it found in groups or clusters, and are its special peculiarities in this respect observable in every forest? Is it observed to be more numerous towards the edge of the forest, and does it evince a tendency to extend thence over the grass, the drift, the plateaux, &c., and what alterations do these make in its habits?

6. Information is wanted as to the month in which the Calisaya blossoms, and that in which the fruit ripens, as also what length of time usually elapses between the first appearance of the buds and the shedding of thecorolla, and from the shedding of thecorollato the bursting, i. e. the complete maturity of the capsules. It would seem that in Java it takes a much longer time, as also that it blossoms at an entirely different season from that in which it blossoms in its native regions.

7. Much anxiety is felt as to whether it is possible to ascertain with accuracy how many years old, as also what are the usual height and the diameter (at the base of the trunk) of a Calisaya tree, when it first begins to blossom, and whether these first blossoms are developed into ripe fruit, with seeds capable of fertilization.

8. How high, how thick, and how old are—

a.The youngest and smallest, and

b.The largest and oldest,

Calisaya trees, which are now felled for their bark in South America? What description of bark is the most prized, that from the young and slender, or that from the larger and older trees? Also whether the bark of a very young tree, e. g. four years old, contain thus early the active principle, genuine?

9. As, judging by appearances, it has been rightly assumed that the bark of any given description of Cinchona is found to be more abundantly provided with alkaloid, especially quinine, the greater the elevation above the sea, and becomes impoverished in these respects in proportion as a lower level and a warmer climate are reached, it is desirable that special observations should be made for the elucidation of these particulars.

10. It is desirable information should be got from the China bark collectors (Cascarilleros) of Peru, as to the natural foes of the Cinchona plant, especially C. Calisaya, and it appears likewise important to ascertain whether the Calisaya is there also liable to be injured and bored into by mites and other noxious insects.

11. It is highly desirable that all the above recommended observations made respecting Cinchona Calisaya, may also be applied toall otherspecies of Cinchona that may occur in South America, of which those ranking next in interest and importance to us in Java, and which have been planted here, are C.Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia,laurifolia,lanceolata, as also C.cordifolia, C.ovata, andvar. erythroderma.

12. Is the pure red China bark actually obtained from the C.ovata, var. erythrodermaof Weddell, as would appear from an article by Howard in "the Pharmaceutical Journal for October, 1856?" The leaves of that variety have the most resemblance to those of the three young trees brought over, which we now possess in Java, and which I have spoken of asCinchona cordifolia.

13. The experiments in acclimatization of the above-named species in Java, especially in Western Java, which, it must be admitted, has a very much more moist, rainy climate than Peru, and still more so than Southern Bolivia, where the Calisaya chiefly grows, have already undergone several phases, and it has successfully struggled with numerous obstacles, some natural, others the result of failures of the earliest cultivators. The species named C.Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia, has shown itself more susceptible of being acclimatized than the C.Calisaya, and at present (May, 1858) promises to produce from 50,000 to 70,000 ripe fruit, within a few weeks, all fit for reproduction. Apparently the climate and other physical conditions of the locality in Java, where the cultivation has been carried on, have corresponded with those natural conditions which enable this plant to grow so abundantly in its native soil of Peru."

[151]The name dates from the time when what is now Bolivia (in the forest of which the China tree chiefly grows) formed an integral portion of Peru, and was in fact called Upper Peru, whereas from that which is now called Peru, hardly any bark is exported, while that found in New Granada and Ecuador, whence it is exported to Spain under the name of Pitaya, is a species of very inferior quality for medicinal purposes.

[152]The name, Countess' powder, which was given to the drug owing to its use by a certain Countess Chinchon (wife of a Peruvian viceroy), was afterwards altered to Cardinal's or Jesuit's powder, in consequence of the Procurator-general of the order of Jesus, Cardinal de Lugo, having, during his passage through France, everywhere made known the virtues of the drug, and recommended it to the particular attention of Cardinal Mazarin, as the brethren of the order had begun to drive quite a lucrative trade in South American China bark, which they had carried on by their missionaries. V. Humboldt's "Ansichten der Natur," third edition, 1849, vol. ii. p. 372.

[153]See Humboldt's Ansichten der Natur. Third edition. 1849. Vol. ii. p. 319.

[154]Señor Emilio Escobar of Lima sent me a small flask of a hitherto little-known vegetable stuff, which gives very much the same dye as the cochineal insect, and is found in great abundance throughout Peru. I have added this bottle of dye, which at all events merits more minute investigation, to the other collections of theNovaraExpedition.

[155]In 1859, there were forwarded, according to official documents:From Aspinwallto Panama.From Panamato Aspinwall.Totals.Passengers23,20616,56739,773Bullion3,146,98357,097,06160,244,044Mail parcels of the U.S.pounds643,752184,395828,147Mail parcels of England"47,0608,82455,884Merchandisetons17,2783,80221,080Coal."7,618-7,618Personal baggagepounds67,69862,581130,279

[155]In 1859, there were forwarded, according to official documents:

From Aspinwallto Panama.From Panamato Aspinwall.Totals.Passengers23,20616,56739,773Bullion3,146,98357,097,06160,244,044Mail parcels of the U.S.pounds643,752184,395828,147Mail parcels of England"47,0608,82455,884Merchandisetons17,2783,80221,080Coal."7,618-7,618Personal baggagepounds67,69862,581130,279

[156]The cost of keeping in repair is not less than £100,000 per annum, owing to the destroying energies of the atmosphere and of insects, as also of the rapid growth of vegetation, to keep which under employs not less than 3000 labourers.

[157]The statistics of mortality among the various races on the Isthmus for the year 1858 give the following results.Of thenatives, there die annually1 in 50"immigrant negroes1 in 40"Coolies1 in 40"Europeans1 in 30"Chinese1 in 10

Of thenatives, there die annually1 in 50"immigrant negroes1 in 40"Coolies1 in 40"Europeans1 in 30"Chinese1 in 10

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