Life in Highland Peru, 1850s
Observations on the Peruvian Highlands, published in 1853 by US Navy Lt. William Lewis Herndon as “Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon”
Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on October 25, 1813, William Lewis Herndon entered the Navy in 1828 and was commissioned lieutenant in 1841. From 1842 to 1847 he served at the United States Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C. There he worked closely with his cousin, brother-in-law, and good friend, Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury, who later became known as "the father of modern oceanography" for his revolutionary studies of winds and water currents.
In 1851, Herndon was assigned to lead the first scientific expedition to explore the Amazon River Valley and three years later published the results in a popular illustrated book, Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon.
In November 1855, Captain Herndon was given command of the Central America (then named the George Law) in accordance with an act of Congress requiring that all mail steamships be captained by an officer in the US Navy. He completed 18 voyages before the ill-fated trip that began in Aspinwall on September 3, 1857. Herndon was survived by his wife Frances Hansbrough Herndon, and one daughter, Ellen Lewis Herndon, who later married Chester A. Arthur. (She died, however, before Arthur became the 21st president of the United States.
The town of Herndon, Virginia, is named in his memory, and in 1858 his native state presented a medal to his widow. In 1860, the United States Naval Academy erected a monument to the captain's memory, making Herndon the first peacetime hero to be honored at Annapolis.
[preparations and supplies for travel]
We also purchased about a thousand yards of coarse cotton cloth, made in the mills at Lima, and put up for mountain travel in bales of half a mule-load; hatchets, knives, tinder-boxes, beads, looking-glasses, cotton handkerchiefs, ribbons, and cheap trinkets, which we thought might take the fancy of the Indians, and purchase us services and food when money would not. These things were also put up in boxes of the same size and shape, and each equal to half a mule-load. Our trunks were arranged in the same way, so that they might be lashed one on each side of the mule's back, with an India-rubber bag, (also obtained from the Raritan,) which carried our bed-clothes, put on top in the space between them. This makes a compact and easily-handled load; and every traveler in the Cordillera should take care to arrange his baggage in this way, and have, as far possible, everything under lock and key; and in water-tight chests. Such small, incongruous articles as our pots and pans for cooking, our tent, and particularly the tent-pole, which was carried fore and aft above a cargo, and which, from its length, was poking into every thing, and constantly getting awry, gave us more trouble than anything else.
Our bedding consisted of the saddlecloths, a stout blanket, and anything else that could be packed in the India-rubber bag. An Englishman from New Holland, whom I met in Lima, gave me a coverlet made of the skins of a kind of raccoon, which served me many a good turn; and often, when in the cold of the Cordillera I wrapped myself in its warm folds, I felt a thrill of gratitude for the thoughtful kindness which had provided me with such a comfort:
'We purchased thick flannel shirts, ponchos, of India-rubber, wool, and cotton, and had straw hats, covered with oil-cloth, and fitted with green veils, to protect our eyes from the painful affections which often occur by the sudden bursting out of the sunlight upon the masses of snow that lie forever upon the mountain tops.
We carried two small kegs---one containing brandy, for drinking, and the other, the common rum of the country, called Ron de Quemar, for burning; also, some coarse knives, forks, spoons, tin cups and plates. I did not carry, as I should have done, a few cases of preserved meat, sardines, cheese, &c., which would have given us a much more agreeable meal than we often got on the road; but I did carry, in the India-rubber bags, quite a large quantity of biscuit, which I had baked in Lima, which served a very good purpose, and lasted us to Tarma.
We had the mules fitted with the heavy, deep-seated box saddles of Peru. I believe the English saddle would be much more comfortable, and probably as safe to the rider accustomed to it; but it would be almost impossible with these to preserve the skin of the mule from chafe. The Peruvian saddles rest entirely upon the ribs of the animal, which are protected by at least six yards of a coarse woolen fabric manufactured in the country, called jerga, and touch the backbone nowhere. These saddles are a wooden box frame, stuffed thickly on the inside, and covered outwardly with buckskin. They are fitted with heavy, square, wooden stirrups, which are thought to preserve the legs from contact with projecting rocks, and, being lined with fur, to keep the feet warm. There is also a heavy breast-strap and crupper for steep ascents and descents; and a thick pillon, or mat, made of thrums of cotton, silk, or hair, is thrown over the saddle, to make the seat soft. The reins and headstall of the bridle should be broad and strong, and the bit the coarse and powerful one of the country.
Our guns, in leathern cases, were slung to the crupper, and the pistols carried in holsters, made with large pockets, to carry powder-flasks, percussion caps, specimens that we might pick up on the road, &c. A small box of instruments, for skinning birds and dissecting animals; a medicine chest, containing, among other things, some arsenical soap, for preserving skins; a few reams of coarse paper, for drying leaves and plants; chart paper, in a tin case; passports and other papers also in a tin case; note books, pencils, &c., completed our outfit. A chest was made, with compartments for the sextant, artificial horizon, boiling point apparatus, camera lucida, and spyglass. The chronometer was carried in the pocket, and the barometer, slung in a leathern case made for it, at the saddlebow of Mr. Gibbon's mule.
[dealing with arrieros, muleteers]
On the 15th of May, I engaged the services of an arriero or muleteer. He engaged to furnish beasts to carry the party and its baggage from Lima to Tarma at ten dollars the head, stopping on the road wherever I pleased, and as long as I pleased, for that sum. An ordinary train of baggage mules may be had on the same route for about seven dollars the head. The arrieros of Peru, as a class, have a very indifferent reputation for faithfulness and honesty, and those on the route, (that from Lima to Cerro Pasco,) to which my friend particularly belonged, are said to be the worst of their class. He was a thin, spare, dark Indian of the Sierra, or mountain land, about forty-five years of age, with keen, black eye, thin moustache, and deliberate in his speech and gesture. I thought I had seldom seen a worse face; but Mr. McCall said that he was rather better looking than the generality of them. He managed to cheat me very soon after our acquaintance.
Arrieros, when they supply as many mules as I had engaged, always furnish a peon, or assistant, to help load and unload, and take care of the mules. Mine, taking advantage of my ignorance in these matters, said to me that his peon was "desanimado." (disheartened,) was afraid of the "Piedra Parada'' or upright rock, where we were to cross the Cordillera, and had backed out; but that he himself could very well attend to the mules if I would be good enough to let him have the occasional assistance of my Indian servant.
I unwarily promised, which was the cause of a good deal of difficulty; but when the old rascal complained of over-work and sickness on the road; I had an answer for him which always silenced him--that is, that it was his own cupidity and dishonesty which caused it, and that, if he did not work and behave himself, I would discharge him without pay, and send back to Lima for another.
I directed him to bring the mules to the hotel-door on the 20th; but, upon his finding that this was Tuesday, he demurred, saying that it was an unlucky day and that no arriero was willing, to start on that day, but that Monday was lucky, and begged that I would be ready by then. This I could not do; so that on Wednesday, the 21st of May, we loaded up, though I had to cajole, and finally to bribe the old fellow, to take on all the baggage, which he represented to be too much for his beasts.
I did wrong to start, for the party was short of a servant allowed by my instructions. (I had not been able to get one in Lima, except at an unreasonable price, and depended upon getting one in some of the towns of the Sierra.)
The arriero needed a peon, and the mules were overloaded. I would strongly advise all travelers in these parts to imitate the conduct of the Jesuits, whose fist day's journey is to load their burden-mules, saddle, and mount their riding-mules; go twice round the patio, or square, on the inside of their dwelling, to see that everything is prepared and fits properly; and then unload and wait for the morning.
However, I foresaw a longer delay by unloading again than I was willing to make; and after a hard morning's work in drumming up the Peruvian part of the expedition, (these people have not the slightest idea that a man will start on a journey on the day he proposes,) the party, consisting of myself, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Richards, Mr. Ijurra, Mauricio, an Indian of Chamicuros (a village on the Huallaga,) and the arriero, Pablo Luis Arredondo, with seven burden-mules, defiled out, by the Gate of Marvels, (Puerta de Maravillas,) and took the broad and beaten road that ascends the left bank of the Rimac. . . .
[a highland hacienda in Peru]
To the right were the green cane and alfalfa fields, about Miraflores and Chorillos; and on the left and behind, the vegetation afforded by the valley of the Rimac; but ahead all was barren, grim, and forbidding. Just before sunset, we stopped at the hacienda (estate, or farm, or settlement) of Santa Clara, and applied for pasturage. We were told by an old negro woman sitting on the ground at the door of the house, that there was none; which was confirmed by two men who just then rode up, and who expressed their regret at not being able to accommodate us.
It was remarkable to see such poverty and squalid wretchedness at nine miles from the great city of Lima; it was like passing in a moment from the most luxurious civilization into savage barbarity--from the garden to the desert.
We rode on, about three miles further to the hacienda of Pacayar, where we arrived at half--past six o' clock, p.m. Before the mules could be unloaded it became very dark so that the arriero and Mauricio had considerable trouble in driving them to the pasturage. Indeed, some of them got away; I could hear them galloping furiously up and down the road, and I went to bed, on a table, in the only room in the house, with the comfortable reflection that I had balked at starting, and should have to return or send back to Lima to buy more mules.
Tormented with these reflections, and oppressed with the excitement and fatigue of the day, I could not sleep; but tossed "in restless ecstasy" for many a long hour, until just before daylight, when, as I was dropping to sleep a couple of game cocks; tied by the leg in the room, commenced "their salutation to the morn," and screamed out their clarion notes within a yard of my ear. This was too much for me. l rushed out--to meet a heavenly morning and old Luis, with the intelligence that the mules were "all right." I took off my upper clothes, and plunged head, neck, and shoulders, into the water of a little mountain stream that rushed clear and cold as ice by the roadside in front of the house. Thus refreshed and invigorated, the appearance of affairs took a new aspect, and light-heartedness and hope came back as strong and fresh as in the days of boyhood.
The mayordomo, or steward of the estate, was a Chino, (descendant of Indian and negro,) and seemed an amiable and intelligent fellow. He gave us a supper of a thin soup (caldo) and chupe; and whilst we were eating it, he was engaged in teaching the children of a neighbor the multiplication table and the catechism. Chupe is a universal article of diet in the Sierra. It is a broth, or soup, made generally of potatoes, cheese, and lard; sometimes meat is boiled in it. It is the last dish served at dinner at a gentleman's table before the dessert.
From the appearance of things, I judge this estate paid little enough to its owner; for I saw small signs of cultivation about it, though I should think that the valley of the Rimac, which is a full mile in width in front of the house; would produce good and (considering the short distance to Lima) valuable crops of grass and vegetables. The land is ploughed with a rude, heavy, wooden plough of one handle, which is shod with iron. It is generally worked by a yoke of oxen.
The house was built of adobe, or sun-dried bricks, and roofed with tiles. It had but one room which was the general receptacle for all comers. A mud projection, of two feet high and three wide, stood out from the walls of the room all round, and served as a standing bed place for numbers. Others laid their blankets and ponchos, and stretched themselves, upon the floor; so that, with whites, Indians, negroes, trunks, packages, horse furniture, game cocks, and Guinea pigs, we had quite a caravansera appearance.
The supper and bed that the steward had given us were gratuitous; he would accept no remuneration; and we got our breakfast of chupe and eggs at a tambo or roadside inn nearly opposite. Though we commenced loading up soon after daylight, we did not get off until half-past nine. Such delays were invariable; and this was owing to the want of a peon and another servant.
May 22.--Roads still good; valley gradually narrowing, and hills becoming higher and more barren and rocky. We passed several squads of asses and llamas carrying potatoes and eggs, some of them as far as from Jauja to Lima. Six miles from Pacayar is the village (pueblo) of Chaclacayo, consisting of four or five houses, constructed of cane and mud. A mile further is the Juzgado of Santa Ines, quite a large, good-looking house, with a small chapel near it. This was the residence, in the Spanish times, of a justice of the peace, who administered law and judgment to his neighbors; hence called Juzgado.
[village and hacienda of Parac]
They live in poverty and filth, but seem happy enough. We saw the women winnowing the beans (which were gathered dry from the plant) by collecting them in pans made of large gourds, and flinging them into the air; and also sifting flour, which comes from toe other side of the Cordillera, about Jauxa. The costume of the Serrana women, is different from that of the women of the coast. It consists of a very narrow skirt, and a body of coarse woolen cloth, generally blue, which comes from Lima, and is belted around the waist with a broad-figured woolen belt, woven by themselves. A woolen apron, with a figured border, is worn on the left side, hanging from the right shoulder by a strap; and in the cold of the morning and evening, the shoulders are covered with a thick, colored blanket, reaching to the hips. A high, broad-brimmed straw-hat, with shoes of rawhide, drawn with a string around the ankle, and no stockings, complete the costume. These people seem contented with what they have, and don't want money. It was with great difficulty we could persuade them to sell us anything, always denying that they had it.
On our return from the mines at Parac, (where Mr. Gibbon had been sick with chills and fever,) he could not eat the chupe, which had, at first, been made with charqui, or jerked beef, but which had now dwindled down to cheese and potatoes. I made a speech to some curious loafers about the tent, in which I appealed to their pride and patriotism, telling them that I thought it strange that so large a town as San Mateo, belonging to so famous a country as Peru, could not furnish a sick stranger, who could eat nothing else, with a few eggs. Whereupon, a fellow went off and brought us a dozen, though he had just sworn by the Pope that there were no such things in the village.
May 28.-Mr. Gibbon and I, guided by a boy, rode ever to the hacienda of San Jose de Parac, leaving Richards and Ijurra in charge of the camp. The ride occupied about three hours, over the worst roads, bordered by the highest cliffs and deepest ravines we had yet seen. The earth here shows her giant skeleton bare: mountains, rather than rocks, of granite, rear their gray heads to the skies; and our proximity made these things more striking and sublime. We found, on the sides of the hills, short grass and small clover, with some fine cattle feeding; and, wherever the mountain afforded a level shelf, abundance of fine potatoes, which the people were then gathering.
I brought letters from Mr. Prevost to Don Torribio Malarin, the superintendent of the mines, who received us kindly, and entertained us with much hospitality. His house was comfortably heated with a stove, and the chamber furnished with a large four-post bedstead and the biggest and heaviest bureau I had ever seen. I was somewhat surprised at the sight of these—“Not that the things were very rich or rare, I wonder'd how the devil they got there." They must have come up in pieces for nothing so large could have been fastened on a mule's back, or passed entire in the narrow harts of the road.
The hacienda is situated near the head of a small valley, which debouches upon the road just below San Mateo; the stream which drains it emptying into the Rimac there. It is a square, enclosed with one-story buildings, consisting of the mill for grinding the ore, the ovens for toasting it when ground, the workshops, store-houses, and dwelling-houses. It is managed by a superintendent and three mayordomos, and employs about forty working hands. These are Indians of the Sierra, strong, hardy-looking fellows, though generally low in stature, and stupid in expression.
They are silent and patient, and, having coca enough to chew, will do an extraordinary quantity of work. They have their breakfast of caldo (soup) and cancha (toasted maize,) and get to work by eight o'clock. At eleven they have a recess of half an hour, when they sit down near their place of work, chat lazily with each other, and chew coca, mixed with a little lime, which each one carries in a small gourd, putting it on the mass of coca leaves in his month with a wire pin attached to the stopper of the gourd that carries the lime. Some dexterity is necessary to do this properly without cauterizing the lips or tongue. They then go to work again until five, when they finish for the day, and dine off chupe. It has made me, with my tropical habit of life, shiver to see these fellows puddling with their naked legs a mass of mud and quicksilver in water at the temperature of thirty-eight Fahrenheit.
These Indians generally live in huts near the hacienda, and are supplied from its store-houses. They are kept in debt by the supplies; and by custom, though not by law, no one will employ an Indian who is in debt to his patron; so that he is compelled to work on with no hope of getting free of the debt, except by running away to a distant part of the country where he is not known, which some do.
The diseases incident to this occupation are indigestion, called empacho, pleurisy, and sometimes the lungs seem affected with the fumes and dust of the ore; but on the whole, it does not seem an unhealthy occupation.
The principal articles furnished from the store-house are maize, coca, mutton, charqui, rum, sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, chancaca, (cakes of brown sugar,) soap, baize, cotton, and coarse linen cloths, woolen cloths, silk handkerchiefs, foreign ponchos, ribbons, silk, sashes, &c., &c., which are supplied to the Indians at about one hundred percent. advance on their cost at Lima; and charged against his wages, which amount to half a dollar a day, with half a dollar more if he work at night.
[mining techniques in the Peruvian highlands] Later you will read descriptions of mining and a miner's life during the 1960s. How much had changed in a century?]
The manner of getting the silver from the ore, or beneficiating it, as it is called in Peru, is this: The ore, after it is dug from the mine and brought to the surface, is broken into pieces about the size of a Madeira nut or English walnut, and sent to the hacienda, in hide-bags, on the backs of llamas or mules. (The hacienda is always situated on the nearest stream to the mine, for the advantages of the waterpower in turning the mill.)
There it is reduced, by several grindings and siftings, to in impalpable powder. The mill consists of a horizontal water wheel, carrying a vertical axis, which comes up through the floor of the mill, the wheel being below. To the top of this axis is bolted a large crossbeam, and to the ends of the beam are slung, by chains, heavy, rough stones, each about a ton weight. The stones, by the turning of the axis, are carried around nearly in contact with a concave bed of smoother and harder rock, built upon the floor of the mill, and through which the axis comes up. The ore is poured by the basket-full upon the bed, and the large hanging rocks grind it to powder, which pours out of holes made in the periphery of the bed. This is sifted through fine wire sieves, and the coarser parts are put in the mill again for re-grinding. The ground ore, or harina (which also means flour), is then mixed with salt (at the rate of fifty pounds of salt to every six hundred pounds of harina) and taken to the ovens (which are of earth) and toasted. I could not learn the quantity of heat necessary to be applied; it is judged of by experiment.
The fuel used in these ovens is the dung of cattle, called taquia; it costs three cents for twenty-five pounds. The ovens here burn one million five hundred thousand pounds yearly. After the harina is toasted, it is carried in hide-bags to the square enclosed in the buildings of the hacienda, and laid in piles of about six hundred pounds each upon the floor. This floor is of flat stones. but should be of flags cemented together; because the stones have often to be taken up to collect the quicksilver, many pounds of which run down between the interstices. Ten of these piles are laid in a row, making a caxon of six thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. The piles are then moistened with water, and quicksilver is sprinkled on them through a woolen cloth. (The quantity of mercury, which depends upon the quantity of silver in the ore, is judged of beforehand by experiments on a small scale.)
The mass is well mixed by treading with the feet and working with hoes. A little calcined iron pyrite, called magistral, is also added--about four pounds to the caxon. The pile is often examined to see that the amalgamation is going on well. In some conditions the mass is called hot; in others, cold. The state of heat is cured by adding a little lime and rotten dung; that of cold, by a little magistral or oxide of iron.
Practice and experience alone will enable one to judge of these states. It is then left to stand for eight or nine days, (occasionally retrodden and reworked) until the amalgamation is complete, which is also judged of by experiment. It is then carried to all elevated platform of stone and thrown, in small quantities at a time, into a well sunk in the middle of the platform; a stream of water is turned on, and four or five men trample and wash it with their feet. The amalgam sinks to the bottom, and the mud and water are let off, by an aperture in the lower part of the well, into a smaller well below lined with a rawhide, where one man carries on the washing with his feet.
More amalgam sinks to the bottom of this well, and the mud and water again flow off through a long wooden trough, lined with green baize, into a pit prepared for it, where the water percolates through the soil, leaving the mud to be again re-washed. When the washing is finished for the day, the green baize lining of the trough, with many particles of the amalgam clinging to it, is washed in the lager well. The water, which by this time is clear, is let off, and all the amalgam, called "pella,''' is collected, put in hide-bags, and weighed. Two caxons are washed in a day. The pella is then put into conical bags of coarse linen, which are hung up, and the weight of the mass presses out a quantity of the quicksilver, which oozes through the interstices of the linen, and is caught in vessels below.
The mass now dry, and somewhat harder than putty, is carried to the ovens, where the remainder of the quicksilver is driven off by heat, and the residue is the plata pina, or pure silver. This is melted, run into bars, stamped according to the ley or duality of the silver, and sent to Lima, either for the mint or for exportation.
In the refining process, the fumes of the mercury are condensed, and it is used again. Two pounds, however, are lost to every pound of silver. The proportion of pure silver in the pella seca, or amalgam, after the draining off of the mercury through the bag, is about twenty-two per cent. A careful experiment made by Mr. Galt, a jeweler of this city, on a bit of the pella which I brought home from Cerro Pasco, gave but eighteen and thirty-three per cent. of pure silver.
Salt is worth at this place three reales (371/2 cents) the arroba, and mercury costs one dollar the pound in Lima. The superintendent is paid twelve hundred dollars yearly; three mayordomos, thirty dollars each, monthly; the corporals, or heads of the working gangs in the mines, twenty dollars; the miners, sixty-two and a half cents per day, (as much more if they work at night;) and the laborers at the hacienda, fifty cents. This, however, is nominal, being more than swallowed up by the supplies. The estimated yearly expenses of these mines are thirty thousand dollars, and the annual yield, seventy thousand dollars. A caxon, of six thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of the ground ore, yields, by the assay on the small scale, fifty marks, though only twenty-five or this process, showing a loss of nearly one-half, obtains thirty. The quantity of silver obtained from the relabes, or re-washings, is about twenty per cent. of the whole: that is, if a caxon yields twenty-five marks at the first washing, the re-washing will give five.
An idea may be formed of the, value of these mines when I state that at Cerro Pasco, which is seventy-five miles further from Lima, and on the other side of the Cordillera, ore which yields only six marks to the caxon will give a profit to the miner, though it is saddled with some duties-such as those for drainage and for public works, from which the ore of Parac is exempt. Malarin, the superintendent, said that the caxon must yield fifteen marks here to pay. But granting this, I do not wonder at his expression, that these mines would in a few years render my countryman, Mr. Prevost, the richest man in the country, (“El hombre mas poderoso, que hay en el Peru,") he owning a third of them.
May 29.-Visited the mines. These are situated down the valley with regard to the hacienda, and are two leagues W.S.W. of it. They are much nearer San Mateo than is the hacienda; but there is no road to them from that. The road, or rather path, lay along the side of the mountain, and zigzagged up and down to turn precipices, now running near the banks of the little stream, and now many hundreds of feet above it.
The ride was bad enough at this time---it must be frightful in the rainy season; though Malarin says he sometimes travels it on horseback. This I am sure I should not do; and when these paths are slippery, I would much prefer trusting to my own legs than to those of any other animal. Many persons suffer much in riding amongst these precipices and ravines. Dr. Smith knew a gentleman, who, “familiar with downs and lawns, was affected at the steeps of the Paxaron with a giddiness that for some time after disordered his imagination;” and one of a party of English officers, who crossed the Cordillera at Valparaiso whilst I was there, had to return without crossing, because he could not bear the sight of the sheer descents.
The valley of Parac lies about east and west; and the veins of silver on the sides of the mountains E. N. E. and W.S.W., thus crossing the valley diagonally. There are four mines belonging to the establishment, which employ about sixty workmen, though more could be employed to advantage. These men are directed by a mayordomo and
four corporals. They are divided into two gangs for each mine: one party will go on duty at 7 p. m. and work till 5 a. m., when they come out, rest two hours, and go on again till 7 p. m. They are then relieved by the other party. This is very hard work, for the mines are very wet and cold. The getter-out of the ore wields, with one hand, a hammer of thirty pounds, and the carriers of the ores bear a burden of one hundred and fifty pounds from the bottom of the shaft to the surface—a distance of about a quarter of a mile, of a very steep and rough ascent. When I first met one of these men toiling up in the dark, I thought, from the dreadful groans I heard before I saw him, that some one was dying near me; but he does this “a purpose,” for when we met he had breath enough to give me a courteous salutation, and beg a paper cigar. Boys commence this work at eight years of age, and spend probably the greater part of their lives in the mine.
The mine called Sta. Rosa, which we visited, has a perpendicular depth of five hundred and twenty feet-that is, the bottom of the shaft, which penetrates the mountain at an angle from the horizon of about 25°, is five hundred and twenty feet below the mouth of it. By the mining laws, the shaft (canon) of the mine must be three feet eight inches high, three feet five inches wide, and arched for security. The superincumbent earth frequently requires to be supported by beams of woods laid against each other in form of Gothic arch. I could not learn how much ore a man could get out in a day, for it is a very uncertain quantity, depending upon the hardness of the rock that encloses the vein. Malarin told us that he had instructed the workmen not to blast whilst we were in the mine, because of the dreadful reverberation of sound often had an unhappy effect upon people not accustomed to it, which, as we were men who sometimes dealt in heavy artillery, we did not thank him for.
Returning from the mine, we met a drove of llamas on their way from the hacienda. This is quite an imposing sight, especially when the drove is encountered suddenly at a turn of the road. The leader, which is always selected on account of his superior height, has his head decorated with tufts of colored woolen fringe, hung with little bells; and his extreme height, (often six feet,) gallant and graceful carriage, pointed ear, restless eye, and quivering lip, as he faces you for a moment, make him as striking an object as one can well conceive. Upon pressing on him he bounds aside, either up or down the cliff; and is followed by the herd scrambling over places that would be impassable for the mule or the ass.
They travel immense distances, but by short stages--not more than nine or ten miles per day. It is necessary, in long journeys, to have double the number required to carry the cargo, so as to give them relays. The burden of the Ilama is about one hundred and thirty pounds; he will not carry more, and will be beat to death rather than move when he is overloaded or tired. The males only are worked; the females are kept for the breeding. They appear gentle and docile, but when irritated, they have a very savage look, and spit at the object of their anger with great venom. The spittle is said to be very acrid, and will raise blisters where it touches the skin. We saw none in the wild state. They are bred on haciendas in great numbers. We had no opportunity of seeing the guanaco or alpaca, (other varieties of the Peruvian sheep,) though we now and then, in crossing the mountains, caught a glimpse of the wild sand shy vicuna. These go in herds of ten or fifteen females, accompanied by one male, who is ever on the alert. On the approach of danger, he gives warning by a shrill whistle, and his charge makes off with the speed of the wind. The wool of the vicuna is much finer and more valuable than that of the other species-it is maroon-colored.
A good and learned Presbyter, Dr. Cabrera, whose portrait hangs in the library at Lima, by patience and gentleness, succeeded in obtaining a cross between the alpaca and vicuna, which he called paco vicuna, the wool of which is said to combine the finesse of that of the vicuna and the length of staple of that of the alpaca. The value of vicuna wool, at the port of shipment, was, in 1838, one hundred dollars the hundred weight; that of the, alpaca, twenty-five dollars; and that of the sheep, from twelve to fifteen. Peru shipped, from the ports of Arica, Callao, and Islay, during the four years between 1837 and 1840, inclusive, wool of the sheep, alpaca, and vicuna, to the value of two million two hundred and forty-nine thousand and thirty-nine dollars. Were any care taken in the rearing of these wild sheep of Peru, the country might draw a great revenue from the sale of their wool.
[life of the upper classes; fiesta]
Sunday is the great market-day, and the market-place is filled with country people, who come in to sell their manufactures of ponchos, blankets, shoes, hats, (made of the vicuna wool,) &c., and to buy coca, cotton goods, and agua diente, [elsewhere aguardiente] as well as to attend mass and get drunk. It is quite a busy and animated scene. The men are generally dressed in tall straw hats, ponchos, breeches, buttoned at the knee, and long woolen stockings; the women, in a blue woolen skirt, tied around the waist, and open in front, to show a white cotton petticoat, the shoulders covered with a mantle consisting of two or three yards of gay-colored plush, called "Bayeta de Castilla," or Spanish baize.
Every thing foreign in this country is called “de Castilla," (of Castile;) as in Brazil, it is called "da Rainha," (of the Queen.) The skirt of a lady of higher quality consists of a colored print, or mousseline. She rarely, unless dressed for company, takes the trouble to put on the body of her dress, which hangs down behind, and, is covered with a gay shawl, passed around the bust, with the end thrown gracefully over the left shoulder. The hair, particularly on Sundays, is in perfect order; parted in the middle and hangs down in two plaits behind. It is surmounted by a very neat, low-crowned straw-hat, the crown being nearly covered with a broad ribbon; and she is always "bien calzada," (well shod.) The women are generally large and well developed; not very pretty, but with amiable, frank, and agreeable manners; they have, almost invariably, a pleasant smile, with an open and engaging expression of countenance.
Religion flourishes in Tarma; and the Cura seems to have a busy time of it; though it is said he is cheated of half his rights in the way of marriage fees. I think that no day passed while the were here that there was not a "fiesta" of the church; for, although there are not more than twenty-five or thirty feast days in the year insisted upon the church and the government, yet any piously-disposed person may get up one when he pleases. The manner seems to be this: A person, either from religious motives pr ostentation, during or after Divine service in the church, approaches the altar, and, l kissing one of its appendages, (I forget which,) proclaims his intention of becoming mayordomo or superintendent of such and such a fiesta--generally that of the Saint after whom he is named, and thereupon receives the benediction of the priest. This binds him and his heirs to all the expenses of the celebration, which, in the great functions in Lima, may be set down at no small matter---the heaviest item being the lighting of one of those large churches from floor to dome with wax. The jewels and other adornments of the images borne in procession are generally borrowed from the devout Senoras of the higher and richer class; but I am told that many a person impoverishes his family for years by paying the expenses of one of these festivals.
The fiestas in Tarma are generally celebrated with music, ringing of bells, firing of rockets, and dances of Indians. A dozen vagabonds are dressed in what is supposed to be the costume of the ancient Indians. This consists of a red blanket hanging from one shoulder, and a white one from the other, reaching nearly to the knee, and girded around the waist; the usual short blue breeches, with a white fringe at the knee; stockings of an indifferent color, and shoes, or sandals, of ray--hide, gathered over the toes with a draw-string, and tied around the ankles. The headdress is a low-crowned, broad-brimmed round hat; made of wool; and surrounded with a circlet of dyed feathers of the ostrich. Thus costumed, the party march through the streets, and stop, every now and then, to execute a sort of dance to the melancholy and monotonous music of a reed pipe, accompanied by a rude flat drum, both in the hands of the same performer. Each man has a stick or club, made of hard wood, and a very small wooden or hide shield, which he strikes with the club at certain periods of the dance, making a low clattering in time with the music.
They have also small bells; called "cascabeles," attached to the knees and feet, which jingle in the dance. They and their company of Indians and Mestizos smell very badly on a near approach. Connected with this there is a great deal of riot and drunkenness; and I felt annoyed that the church should patronize and encourage so demoralizing a procedure. The secular clergy of Peru, with a few honorable exceptions, have not a high character, if one is s to believe the stories told of them by their own countrymen; and I had occasion to observe that the educated young men, as well of Chili as of Peru, generally spoke of them in terms of great contempt. I judge that, the case is different with the clergy of the monastic orders, particularly the missionaries. Those I met with were evidently men of high character; and to their zeal, energy, and ability, Peru owes the conquest of by far the largest and richest part of the republic. It happens, unfortunately for the Peruvian character, that nearly all of these are foreigners--generally Spaniards and Italians.
[dangers and inconveniences of highland travel]
June 7.-I suffered all day with violent pain in the head and limbs, from the ride of yesterday. These Peruvian saddles, though good for the beasts, and for riding up and down hill, stretch the legs so far apart as for a long time to give the unaccustomed rider severe pains in the muscles of the thighs; and I had to ride a large portion of the distance with my leg over the pommel, like a lady.
We saw some miserable huts on the road, and met a few asses carrying reeds and poles from Chanchamayo. It seemed a providence that we did not meet these at certain parts of the road, where it is utterly impossible for two beasts to pass abreast, or for one to turn and retreat; and the only remedy is to tumble one off the precipice, or to drag him back by the tail until he reaches a place where the other can pass. Von Tschudi relates an instance of his shooting a mule which met him at one of these places.
We met with a considerable fright in this way today. We were riding in single file along one of these narrow ascents, where the road is cut out of the mountainside, and the traveler has a perpendicular wall on one hand, and a sheer precipice of many hundreds of Poet upon the other. Mr. Gibbon was riding ahead. Just as he was about to turn a sharp bend of the road, the head of a bull peered round it, on the descent. When the bull came in full view he stopped, and we could see e the hauls of other cattle clustering over his quarters, and hear the shouts of the cattle-drivers, far behind, urging on their herd. I happened to be abreast of a slight natural excavation, or hollow; in the mountain side, and dismounting I put nay shoulder a against my mule's flank and pressed her into this friendly retreat; but I saw no escape for Gibbon, who had passed it. The bull, with lowered crest, and savage, sullen look, came slowly on, and actually got his head between the perpendicular rock and the neck of Gibbon's mule.
I felt a thrill of agony for I thought my companion's fate was sealed. But the sagacious beast, on which he was mounted, pressing her haunches hard against the wall, gathered her feet close under her and turned as upon a pivot. This placed the bull on the outside, (there was room to pass, though I did not believe it,) and he rushed by at the gallop, followed in single file by the rest of the herd.
I cannot describe the relief I experienced. Gibbon, who is as gallant and fearless as man can be, said, "It is of no use to attempt pt to disguise the fact--I was badly scared."
At 2 p, m.; we arrived at a place called Matichacra, where there was a single hut, inhabited by a woman and her child; the husband having gone to Cerro Pasco to exhibit some specimens of gold ore which he had found here. The woman, was afflicted with an eruption on her face, which she thou thought was caused by the metallic character of the earth around, particularly the antimonial. She took a knife, and, digging earth from the floor of her hut, washed it in a gourd, and showed us particles of metal like gold sticking to the bottom. I showed some of this earth to General Otero, who pronounced that there was no gold in it; but Lieutenant Maury, who examined some that I brought home with a powerful magnifier, has declared that there was. The mountains have an exceedingly metallic appearance, and the woman said that there were still in the neighborhood traces of the mining operations of the Spaniards.
About a mile and a half above Matichacra commenced the steep regular descent of the mountain range, and from just above it we could discern where the valley debouched upon an apparent plain, though bounded and intersected by distant mountains, bearing and ranging in different directions. This place we judged to be the "Montana." We stopped an hour at Matichacra, (Gourd Farm, from half a dozen gourd vines growing near the house,) and made a chupe with a leg of mutton we had bought the night before at Palca. We saw a few patches of Indian corn on the side of the mountain opposite, and the tops of the mountains are clad with small trees. We passed on five miles further, and camped on a level plat near the banks of the stream, with bushes and small trees growing around us.
June 18.--This was the longest and hardest day's ride. The road was very bad; rocky and rough where it descended the river, and steep and difficult where it ascended the mountain side. We, thought that the engineer who planned and constructed the road had frequently “taken the bull by the horns," and selected the worst places to run his road over; and that he would have done much better had he occasionally have thrown a bridge across the stream, and led the road along the flank of the mountains on the other side. In seven and a half miles, we arrived at Utcuyacu, (cotton water,) the first hacienda where we saw sugar cane, yucca, pineapples, and plantains. It had just been opened, and nothing yet bad been sold from it.
The road, by which we had descended the valley of Chanchamayo, turned at this place sharp to the right, and faced the mountains that divide this valley from that of the Rio Seco. We were near the junction of the two valleys, but a rock had fallen from the hills above and blocked up the road on which we were traveling, so that we had to cross the mountain on our right and get into the other valley. The ascent was steep, and trying to man and beast. It called the "Cuesta de Tanyachuca," or "Hill of take care of your hat," and is about three miles in length. The road, after passing through a thick forest, brought us out upon a bald eminence, the termination of the spur of the Andes that divides the two valleys. The rivers Seco and Chanchamayo unite at its base and flow off through a valley, rapidly widening out, covered with forests, and presenting an entirely distinct appearance.
[sugar cane plantation]
Sugar cane is the most valuable and useful product of the Afontaiia. The leaves of the cane, when green; serve for food for the cattle; when dry, to male wrappings for the chancaca and sugar. The crushed stalk is used as fuel for the oven. The hod's fatten on the foam at the top of the boiling. From the first boiling is made the ahaneaca or brown sugar cake, which is eaten after dinner by almost all classes, and in great quantities by the lower class; it is worth six and a quarter cents the pound in Tarma. From one thousand pounds of the caldo boiled ten hours, is made four hundred pounds of chancaca. Very little sugar is yet made in the Montaña of Chanchamavo; indeed, I did not see a nearer approach to it than chancaca in all the route.
[coca, leaves chewed by Andean Indians, today refined into cocaine]
Coca is a bush of about four feet high, producing a small light-green leaf, which is the part used. The blossom is white, and the fruit a small red berry. The seed is sown in beds at the end of the rainy season-about the first of March. The earth should be well broken up and cleaned. Arbors of palm leaves are frequently built over the young shoots to protect them from the sun, and they are watered, if it continues clear, for five or six days. It is transplanted in September, a year and a half after planting, and gives its first crop in a year, and every four months thereafter.
The bush, if not destroyed by ants, will continue to give leaves for many years. Sometimes, but rarely, the leaves wither and the crop fails. It is necessary to gather the leaves and dry them as quickly as possible, and, if a shower comes on, to gather them up at once, as they are injured by getting wet. Every hundred plants will give an arroba of leaves, which is worth, in Tarma, from six to seven dollars. Some persons do not transplant; but sew several of the seeds together, and, when they come up, pull up all but the one most flourishing, and leave that in its original place.
The leaf of this plant is to the Indian of Peru what tobacco is to our laboring classes in the South--a luxury, which has become a necessity. Supplied with an abundance of it, he sometimes performs prodigies of labor, and can go without food for several days. Without it, he is miserable and will not work. It is said to be a powerful stimulant to the nervous system, and, like strong coffee or tea, to take away sleep; but, unlike tobacco and other stimulants, no one has known it to be injurious to the health. Von Tschudi thinks that an immoderate use of it is injurious, but that, taken in moderation, it is in no way detrimental to health; and that without it the Peruvian Indian, with his spare diet, would be incapable of going through the labor which lie now performs. The coca plant he therefore considers as a great blessing to Peru.
He relates that an Indian, employed by him in digging, worked hard for five nights and days without intermission, except for two hours each night---and this without food. Immediately after the work, the Indian accompanied him on a two-days journey of twenty-three leagues on foot, and then declared that he was ready to engage in the same amount of work, and go through it without food, if he were allowed an abundance of coca. This man was sixty-two years of age, and bad never been sick in his life.
[coffee plantation]
Coffee is propagated from suckers or slips, and it is necessary to protect the plants from the sun by cultivating the broad-leafed plantain among them until they have grown up to about four feet in height. No care, except an occasional cleaning about the roots, is taken of them here, and yet the finest coffee I have ever drunk was from this district. The bush grows to seven or eight feet in height. and is very beautiful in appearance.
It has a small and very dark green leaf, pure white blossoms, and green, red, and dark purple fruit on it at the same time. It gives its first crop in two years; but this is small quantity and indifferent in quality. The, bush is not in perfection until four or five years after planting, and will then last for an indefinite period.
The fruit has the size and appearance of a small cherry. Two seeds are, contained in each berry. Each seed is wrapped in a thin paper-like envelope, and both together are covered with another, and then surrounded by a sweet, pleasant tasting pulp, which is covered with a thin skin. Having no machines for getting rid of this pulp, the cultivators gather the fruit, dry it in the sun, and then soak it in water till all the envelopes come off, except the paper-like skin surrounding each seed. The seeds are rain dried in the sun, and sent to market with this skin on. It is worth eight dollars the hundred pounds in Tarma. In Lima it generally commands twenty, and sometimes twenty-five or twenty-seven dollars, on account of its great superiority to the coffee of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and Central America, which is generally used there.
[cotton production]
"Cotton" may be planted at any time. It does not grow on a bush plant, as with us, but on a tree some eight or ten feet high. It gives its first crop in a year, and will continue to give for three years; after which the tree dries up, and it is necessary to replant. It bears cotton all the time; but this is not good nor gathered during the rainy season. I could not ascertain how much cotton a tree will give in its lifetime; but from the quantity of blossoms and bolls I saw on them, I should think its yield was great. The quality, particularly that of Chanchamayo, is very superior. It is the black-seed cotton, and when picked of leaves the seed perfectly bare and clean. There is also nankeen-colored cotton here, (the tree seeming in every respect like that of the white) and afterwards, in Brazil, I saw green-seed cotton, in which the seed (generally seven in number for each boil, or rather for each division of it, for the boll seemed to hold the cotton in four distinct parts) were aggregated in a single knot, and enveloped by the cotton. An active man will pick one hundred pounds of cotton a day.
[highland food crops]
Yucca," (cassava root) which is grown from the stalk of the plant, is planted at any time. It yields in nine months. The plant runs up to fifteen or twenty feet in height, with about the thickness of a man's wrist. It is difficult to distinguish this plant, or its fruit; from the mandioc. The mandioc is called in Peru "yucca brava," or wild yucca; and this yucca dulce, or sweet yucca. This may be eaten raw: the juice of the other is a deadly poison. The yucca answers the same purpose in Peru that the mandioc does in Brazil. It is the general substitute for bread, and roasted or boiled is very pleasant to the taste. Each plant will give from twenty to twenty-five pounds of the edible root, which grows in clusters like the potato, and some of which are as long and thick as a man's arm.
The most common drink of the Indians; called "masato," is also made from it. Masato is made from the yucca by rasping the root to a white pulp, and then boiling it. During the boiling, the Indian women who are making it take portions, into their mouths, chew it, and spit into the pot. After it is sufficiently heated, it is put into large earthen jars, covered and suffered to ferment. When used it is taken out of the jar by the handful, mixed with water in a gourd, stirred with the fingers, and drunk. It is a disgusting beverage and powerfully intoxicating. [Indians in Mexico use a similar technique of chewing up corn to make chicha.]
Three crops of “Indian corn” are made in the year. It is of good quality, but much care is necessary to preserve it from weevils and other insects after it is gathered and put away. It is generally placed in an upper story of a house, and a fire is kindled underneath from time to time to smoke it, or it will all be destroyed.
"Platanos"-which is the general name for all kinds of plantains, or bananas, of which last there are several species, called respectively "guineas," de la isla, &c.--are the most common fruit of the country. The people eat them raw, roasted, boiled; baked, and fried. There can be no dinner without them; and a vile rum is also made of them. By the Indians the fruit is generally cut- green and roasted. It is propagated from suckers or young bulbs, and gives fruit with such facility and abundance as to foster and minister to the laziness of the people, who won't wore when they can get-anything so good without it.
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