Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests Part 18

Some of the church festivals are celebrated by the Indians of the Sierra, in a manner which imparts a peculiar coloring to the religious solemnities. In the midnight ma.s.s on Christmas Eve, they imitate in the churches the sounds made by various animals. The singing of birds, the crowing of c.o.c.ks, the braying of a.s.ses, the bleating of sheep, &c., are simulated so perfectly, that a stranger is inclined to believe that the animals have a.s.sembled in the temple to partic.i.p.ate in the solemnity. At the termination of the ma.s.s, troops of women perambulate the streets, during the remainder of the night. Their long black hair flows loosely over their bare shoulders; and in their hands they carry poles with long fluttering strips of paper fixed to the ends of them. They occasionally dance and sing peculiarly beautiful melodies, accompanied by a harp, a fiddle, and a flute; and they mark the measure of the music by the movement of their poles.

The celebration of Christmas-day is marked by the appearance of what are termed the _Negritos_. These are Indians, with their faces concealed by hideous negro masks. Their dress consists of a loose red robe, richly wrought with gold and silver thread, white pantaloons, and their hats are adorned with waving black feathers. In their hands they carry gourd bottles, painted in various gay colors, and containing dried seeds.

Whilst they sing, the _Negritos_ shake these gourds, and mark the time by the rattling of the dried seeds. They perform the dances of the Guinea negroes, and imitate the att.i.tudes and language of a race which they hold in abhorrence and contempt. For the s.p.a.ce of three days and nights these negritos parade the streets, entering the houses and demanding chicha and brandy, with which the inhabitants are glad to supply them, to avoid violence and insult.

On New Year's Day other groups of mummers, called _Corcobados_, perambulate the streets. They are enveloped in cloaks of coa.r.s.e grey woollen cloth, their head-gear consists of an old vicuna hat, with a horse's tail dangling behind. Their features are disguised by ludicrous masks with long beards; and, bestriding long sticks or poles, they move about accompanied by burlesque music. Every remarkable incident that has occurred in the families of the town during the course of the year, is made the subject of a song in the Quichua language; and these songs are sung in the streets by the _Corcobados_. Matrimonial quarrels are favorite subjects, and are always painted with high comic effect in these satirical songs. The Corcobados go about for two days; and they usually wind up their performances by drinking and fighting. When two groups of these Corcobados meet together, and the one party a.s.sails with ridicule anything which the other is disposed to defend, a terrible affray usually ensues, and the sticks which have served as hobby-horses, are converted into weapons of attack.

In order to facilitate the conversion of the idolatrous Indians, the Spanish monks who accompanied Pizarro's army, sought to render the Christian religion as attractive as possible in the eyes of the heathen aborigines of Peru. With this view they conceived the idea of dramatizing certain scenes in the life of Christ, and having them represented in the churches. In the larger towns these performances have long since been discontinued, but they are still kept up in most of the villages of the Sierra; indeed the efforts made by enlightened ecclesiastics for their suppression, have been met with violent opposition on the part of the Indians.

On Palm Sunday, an image of the Saviour seated on an a.s.s is paraded about the princ.i.p.al streets of the town or village. The Indians strew twigs of palm over the animal, and contend one with another for the honor of throwing their ponchos down on the ground, in order that the a.s.s may walk over them. The animal employed in this ceremony is, when very young, singled out for the purpose, and is never suffered to carry any burthen save the holy image. He is fed by the people, and at every door at which he stops, the inmates of the house pamper him up with the best fodder they can procure. The a.s.s is looked upon as something almost sacred, and is never named by any other appellation than the _Burro de Nuestro Senor_ (our Lord's a.s.s). In some villages I have seen these animals so fat that they were scarcely able to walk.

Good Friday is solemnized in a manner the effect of which, to the unprejudiced foreigner, is partly burlesque and partly seriously impressive. From the early dawn of morning the church is thronged with Indians, who spend the day in fasting and prayer. At two in the afternoon a large image of the Saviour is brought from the sacristy and laid down in front of the altar. Immediately all the persons in the church rush forward with pieces of cotton to touch the wounds. This gives rise to a struggle, in which angry words and blows are interchanged; in short, there ensues a disgraceful scene of uproar, which is only checked by the interposition of one of the priests. Order being restored, the sacred image is fixed on the cross by three very large silver nails, and the head is encircled by a rich silver crown. On each side are the crosses of the two thieves. Having gaped at this spectacle to their hearts' content, the cholos retire from the church.

At eight in the evening they rea.s.semble to witness the solemn ceremony of taking down the Saviour from the cross. The church is then brilliantly lighted up. At the foot of the cross stand four white-robed priests, called _los Santos Varones_ (the holy men), whose office it is to take down the image. At a little distance from them, on a sort of stage or platform, stands a figure representing the Virgin Mary. This figure is dressed in black, with a white cap on its head. A priest, in a long discourse, explains the scene to the a.s.sembled people, and at the close of the address, turning to the Santos Varones, he says, "Ye holy men, ascend the ladders of the cross, and bring down the body of the Redeemer!" Two of the Santos Varones mount with hammers in their hands, and the priest then says, "Ye holy man, on the right of the Saviour, strike the first blow on the nail of the hand, and take it out!" The command is obeyed, and no sooner is the stroke of the hammer heard, than deep groans and sounds of anguish resound through the church; whilst the cry of "_Misericordia! misericordia!_" repeated by a thousand imploring voices, produces an indescribable sensation of awe and melancholy. The nail is handed to one of the priests standing at the foot of the altar, who transfers it to another, and this one in his turn presents it to the figure of the Virgin. To that figure the priest then turns and addresses himself, saying: "Thou afflicted mother, approach and receive the nail which pierced the right hand of thy holy Son!" The priest steps forward a few paces, and the figure, by some concealed mechanism, advances to meet him, receives the nail with both hands, lays it on a silver plate, dries its eyes, and then returns to its place in the middle of the platform. The same ceremony is repeated when the two other nails are taken out. Throughout the whole performance of these solemnities, an uninterrupted groaning and howling is kept up by the Indians, who at every stroke of the hammer raise their cries of _Misericordia!_ These sounds of anguish reach their climax when the priest consigns the body of the Saviour to the charge of the Virgin. The image is laid in a coffin tastefully adorned with flowers, which, together with the figure of the Virgin Mary, is paraded through the streets. Whilst this nocturnal procession, lighted by thousands of wax tapers, is making the circuit of the town, a party of Indians busy themselves in erecting before the church door twelve arches decorated with flowers. Between every two of the arches they lay flowers on the ground, arranging them in various figures and designs. These flower-carpets are singularly ingenious and pretty. Each one is the work of two cholos, neither of whom seems to bestow any attention to what his comrade is doing; and yet, with a wonderful harmony of operation, they create the most tasteful designs--arabesques, animals, and landscapes, which grow, as it were by magic, under their hands. Whilst I was in Tarma, I was at once interested and astonished to observe on one of these flower-carpets the figure of the Austrian double eagle. On inquiry I learned from an Indian that it had been copied from the quicksilver jars, exported from Idria to Peru. On the return of the procession to the church, a hymn, with harp accompaniment, is sung to the Virgin, as the figure is carried under the arches of flowers. The bier of the Saviour is then deposited in the church, where it is watched throughout the night.

On the following morning, at four o'clock, the ceremony of hanging Judas takes place in front of the church. A figure of Judas, the size of life, is filled with squibs and crackers, and is frequently made to bear a resemblance to some obnoxious inhabitant of the place. After the match is applied to the combustible figure, the cholos dance around it, and exult in the blowing up of their enemy.

In the Sierra, as well as on the coast, the priests are usually the tyrants rather than the guardians of their flocks; and they would frequently be the objects of hatred and vengeance but for the deep-rooted and almost idolatrous reverence which the Indians cherish for priestcraft. It is disgusting to see the Peruvian priests, who usually treat the Indians like brutes, behaving with the most degrading servility when they want to get money from them. The love of the Indians for strong drinks is a vice which the priests turn to their own advantage. For the sake of the fees they frequently order religious festivals, which are joyfully hailed by the Indians, because they never fail to end in drinking bouts.

Added to the ill treatment of the priests, the Indians are most unjustly oppressed by the civil authorities. In the frequent movements of troops from one place to another, they are exposed to great losses and vexations. They are compelled to perform the hardest duties without payment, and often the produce of their fields is laid under contribution, or their horses and mules are pressed into the service of the military. When intelligence is received of the march of a battalion, the natives convey their cattle to some remote place of concealment in the mountains, for they seldom recover possession of them if once they fall into the hands of the soldiery.

Every fortnight a mail is despatched with letters from Lima to Tarma, Jauja, Huancavelica, Ayacucha, Cuzco, and into Bolivia; another proceeds to the northern provinces; a third to Arequipa and the southern provinces; and every week one is despatched to Cerro de Pasco. In Lima, the letter-bag is consigned to the charge of an Indian, who conveys it on the back of a mule to the next station,[77]

where it is received by another Indian; and in this manner, handed from cholo to cholo, the letter-bag traverses the whole of its destined route, unaccompanied by an official courier. As soon as the mail arrives at a station, a flag is displayed at the house of the post-master, to intimate to those who expect letters that they may receive them; for they are not sent round to the persons to whom they are addressed, and it is sometimes even a favor to get them three or four days after their arrival. The Peruvian post is as tardy as it is ill-regulated. On one of my journeys, I started from Lima two days after the departure of the mail. On the road I overtook and pa.s.sed the Indian who had charge of the letters, and, without hurrying myself, I arrived in Tarma a day and a half before him. Ascending the Cordillera, I once met an Indian very leisurely driving his a.s.s before him with the mail-bag fastened to its back. Between the towns which do not lie in the regular line of route, there is no post-office communication; for example, between Pasco and Caxamarca, or between Pasco and Tarma, or Jauja; and when it is wished to despatch letters from one to another of these towns, private messengers must be employed. The consequence is, that business, which in Europe would be conducted through the medium of correspondence, can be arranged only by personal communication in Peru. Travelling is difficult, but not very expensive, as every one possesses horses or mules.

The best mules employed in the Sierra are obtained from the province of Tuc.u.man in Buenos Ayres. Formerly the arrieros used annually to bring droves of several thousand mules through Bolivia and the Peruvian Sierra, selling as many as they could on the way, and taking to Cerro de Pasco those that remained unsold. During the Spanish domination, the mule trade was in the hands of the Government, to whose agents it afforded ample opportunity for the exercise of injustice and extortion. It was one of the most oppressive of the _repartimientos_.[78] Every Indian was compelled to purchase a mule, and was not allowed even the privilege of choosing the animal. The mules were distributed by the authorities, and were tied to the doors of the houses for whose occupants they were destined. After the distribution of the mules, a collector went round to receive the payment. During the war in Buenos Ayres the traffic in mules suffered very considerably. For the s.p.a.ce of twelve years not a mule had been brought from that part of South America to Peru, when in 1840 the Tuc.u.manians revisited the Sierra with their droves of mules. They were joyfully welcomed by the Serranos, who gave good prices for the animals, and since then the traffic has begun to revive.

In tracing the characteristic features of the Sierra, I have as far as possible confined myself to generalities, and I will not now weary the reader by entering upon a minute description of particular towns and villages. All are built pretty nearly after one model. The large quadrangular Plaza is closed on three of its sides with buildings, among which there is always the Government house (_cabildo_), and the public jail; the fourth side is occupied by a church. From this Plaza run in straight lines eight streets, more or less broad, and these streets are crossed at right angles by others; all presenting the same uniformity as in Lima. The houses are roomy, surrounded by court-yards, and consist of a ground-floor and a story above, but very frequently of the ground-floor only. The walls are of brick, and the roofs are tiled.

The churches are in very bad taste, with the exception of a few in the larger towns, which have a good appearance externally, and are richly decorated within. The smaller Indian villages are poor and dirty, and are built with little attention to regularity. But even in them the quadrangular Plaza is never wanting, and at least four straight streets issue from it.

The Sierra is by far the most populous part of Peru. The banks of the rivers flowing through the fertile valleys are thickly cl.u.s.tered with villages, which give a peculiar charm to the landscape, doubly pleasing to the eye of the traveller who comes from the barren parts of the country. The cultivated lands afford evidence of progressive improvement, and it is easy to imagine the flouris.h.i.+ng condition to which this country might arrive with increased population.

From the Sierra two separate roads lead to the eastern declivity of the Andes. One lies along the banks of the mountain rivers, and the other pa.s.ses over the ridges of the mountains. The first way is very difficult, and scarcely practicable, for in some parts the streams flow through narrow ravines, bordered on each side by perpendicular rocks, and occasionally their course is hidden amidst impenetrable forests. The other way, across the mountains, leads again into the Puna region, and from thence over the steep ridges of the Andes to their barren summits.

Descending from these summits, we arrive on the sharp ridges of one of the many side branches of the Puna Cordillera, which run eastward. The Peruvians call these sharp mountain ridges _Cuchillas_ (knives). After crossing the Andes, and descending a few hundred feet lower, in the direction of the east, the traveller beholds a country totally different from that which he left on the western declivity of the mountains. On the eastern side the soil is richly covered with vegetation. From the cuchillas the road ascends to some higher ridges, crowned with stunted trees and brushwood, which, gradually spreading upward, blend with the high forests. These wooded ridges are called by the natives _Ceja de la Montana_ (the mist of the mountains). In these regions the climate is generally more mild than in the Sierra, for the mercury never falls to freezing point, and in the middle part of the day it never rises so high as in the warm Sierra valleys. Throughout the whole year the _Ceja de la Montana_ is overshadowed by thick mists, rising from the rivers in the valleys. In the dry season these mists are absorbed by the sun's rays, but in winter they float in thick clouds over the hills, and discharge themselves in endless torrents of rain. The damp vapors have an injurious effect on the health of the inhabitants of these districts, which are, however, very thinly populated, as the constant moisture unfits the soil for the cultivation of anything except potatoes. The pure alpine air of the Puna is preferred by the Indians to the vapory atmosphere of the Ceja.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 76: The Indians apply the designation _Misti_, meaning _Mestizo_, to all persons except Indians or Negroes, whether they be Europeans or White Creoles.]

[Footnote 77: The distance from one station to another varies from six to twelve miles.]

[Footnote 78: _Repartimientos_ (literally, distributions) were the compulsory sale of articles by the provincial authorities.]

CHAPTER XIV.

Road to the Primeval Forests--Barbacoas, or Indian Suspension Bridges--Vegetation--Hollow Pa.s.ses--Zoology--the Montana--Plantations--Inhabitants--Trade in Peruvian Bark--Wandering Indians--Wild Indians or Indios Bravos--Languages, Manners, and Customs of the Indios Bravos--Dress--Warlike Weapons and Hunting Arms--Dwellings--Religion--Physical formation of the Wild Indian Tribes--Animals of the Aboriginal Forests--Mammalia--Hunting the Ounce--Birds--Amphibia--Poisonous Serpents--Huaco--Insects--Plants.

Leaving Ceja de la Montana, we will trace the route to the Aboriginal forests, which extend eastwardly from the bases of the Andes. The whole plain is overspread by a thick veil of mist, which does not disperse until about noon, and then an undulating dark green canopy clouds the vapory atmosphere. A European, whose heart throbs at the bare idea of one of those vast virgin forests, gazes anxiously forward on the boundless distance, and finds the pace of his cautious mule too tardy for his impatient hopes and wishes. He beholds in perspective the goal of his long journey. Nature, in all her virginal freshness and grandeur, opens to his astonished eyes, and he feels a sensation of delight he never before experienced. Regardless of present toil and danger, he sees only the pleasure to come. But he is soon drawn back to cool reality, and is forcibly reminded of the truth, that every enjoyment must be earned by labor. The road is broken, narrow, and steep; over the woody sides of the hill it is easily pa.s.sable; but as soon as it begins to descend, it presents all those difficulties which have been interestingly described by the early travellers in Peru. The scanty population of the surrounding districts, the native listlessness of the Indians, and their indifference to the conveniences of life, are obstacles to the making of roads which might be pa.s.sable without difficulty and danger. However, where nature from the state of the country has compelled man to establish a communication, it is executed in the most rude and unsatisfactory manner. A most decided proof of this is apparent in the bridges called _barbacoas_, which are constructed where the way is through a _derumbo_, or a small narrow mountain-pa.s.s, or where there is an obstruction caused by a rock which cannot be pa.s.sed circuitously. The barbacoas are constructed in the following manner.

Stakes from three to three and a half feet long are driven into the ground, or into the crevices of rocks. Over the ends of these stakes are fastened strong branches of trees, the interstices are filled up with mud, and the whole is covered by a sort of matting composed of plaited branches and reeds. If the ground admits of it, which is seldom the case, a pile of stones is built up beneath the barbacoa, extending to at least one half its breadth. When it is considered that there is, probably, on the one side of this bridge, a rock inclining at a very acute angle, or an almost perpendicular declivity of a hill of loose earth, and that on the other side there yawns a deep abyss against which there is not the least protection, the traveller may well be pardoned if he shudders as he pa.s.ses over the creaking and shaking barbacoa. These fragile bridges are often so much worn, that the feet of the mules slip through the layers of mud and reeds, and whilst making efforts to disengage themselves, the animals fall over the edge of the barbacoa, and are hurled into the chasm below, dragging down the crazy structure along with them. In consequence of these accidents, the way is often for weeks, or even months, impa.s.sable.

In the construction of these rude bridges, I observed that the Indians, in their simplicity, always faithfully copy their great instructress, nature. The majority of the plants growing in these regions belong, if I may use the expression, to an aerial vegetation. The small, gnarled, low-branched trees, have often scarcely one half of their roots in the earth: the other half spreads over the surface of the soil; then winding round the roots or branches of some neighboring plant, fastens on it, and intimately uniting with it, forms a kind of suspension bridge, over which the intertwining of numerous luxuriant climbing plants makes a strong, impenetrable network. All the trees and shrubs are covered with innumerable parasites, which, in the higher regions, are met with in their smaller forms, as lichens, mosses, &c.; but lower down, in the course of the various transformations they undergo, they appear in larger development.

The whole vegetable kingdom here is stamped by a peculiar character. It presents immense fulness and luxuriance: it spreads widely, with but little upward development, rising on the average only a few feet above the earth. Trees, shrubs, and tendrils, in endless complication of color, entwine together, sometimes fostering, sometimes crus.h.i.+ng each other. Out of the remains of the dead arises a new generation, with an increase of vital impulse. It seems as though the ice-crowned Andes looked down with envy on the luxuriant vegetation of the forests, and sought to blight it by sending down cold, nightly winds. The low temperature of the night counteracts that extreme development which the humidity of the soil and the great heat of the day promote. But what the vegetation loses in upward growth it gains in superficial extension, and thereby it secures more protection against the ever-alternating temperature.

The further we descend the eastern declivity, the more difficult becomes the way. During the rainy season deep fissures are worked out by the flow of waters; the ground is slippery and full of holes. The sides of these hollow pa.s.ses are often so close together that the rider cannot keep his legs down on each side of his mule, and is obliged to raise up his feet and thrust them forward. When beasts of burthen, coming in opposite directions, meet in these places, the direst confusion ensues, and frequently sanguinary conflicts arise among the Indians. The weaker party are then obliged to unload their mules, and the poor beasts are dragged backward by their hind legs, until they reach a point at which there is sufficient s.p.a.ce for the others to pa.s.s. When I was proceeding through one of these cavities on Christmas-eve, 1840, I encountered a heavily laden a.s.s coming down a steep declivity. Ere I had time to leap from my saddle, the a.s.s came direct upon me with such force that my horse was driven backwards by the concussion, and I was thrown. Ten months afterwards, another encounter of the same kind threatened me with a similar disaster, and to save myself I had no alternative but to shoot the a.s.s. The Indian who was driving the animal neglected the usual warning cry, given by the arrieros when they enter those dangerous pa.s.ses, and he was regardless of my repeated calls desiring him to stop.

In some steep places, with the view of improving the roads, the Indians lay down large stones in the form of steps; but to ride over these rude flights of steps is no easy task, for the stones are small, and are placed at the distance of a foot and a half or two feet apart. The mule begins by placing his hind feet on the first stone, then springing forward he reaches the third stone with his fore feet, at the same time placing his hind feet to the second. By this manoeuvre the mule's body is kept at full stretch, and the rider is obliged to lean forward over the animal's neck to avoid being thrown head-foremost by the violent jerks when the mule springs from step to step. It is absolute torture to ride down a descent of five or six leagues, along a road such as I have just described: willingly would the hara.s.sed rider dismount and pursue his course on foot; but were he to attempt to do so, the mule would stand stock still. I have already remarked the singular obstinacy with which the mules refuse to proceed when their riders dismount, and it sometimes gives rise to very comical scenes. On my way to Vitoc, I was pa.s.sing through a ravine in which the uprooted trunk of a tree was resting slantwise against a rock. Though there was not room for me to ride under it, yet there was sufficient s.p.a.ce to allow my mule to pa.s.s, and I accordingly dismounted; but all my efforts to drive the animal forward were fruitless. I had no alternative but to ride close up to the tree, then spurring the mule, I quickly slipped out of the saddle, and seizing the trunk of the tree, I hung to it until the mule had pa.s.sed on.

No less difficult and dangerous are the steep declivities over loamy soils, which are frequently met with in these districts. On them the mule has no firm footing, and is in danger of slipping down at every step. But the wonderful instinct of these animals enables them to overcome the difficulty. They approximate the hind and fore feet in the manner of the Chamois goat, when he is about to make a spring, and lowering the hinder part of the body in a position, half sitting half standing, they slide down the smooth declivity. At first this sliding movement creates a very unpleasant feeling of apprehension, which is not altogether removed by frequent repet.i.tions. Accidents frequently occur, in which both mule and rider are mortally injured.

There is more variety of animals in these regions than in the mountainous parts; but they have few peculiarities of character. The swift-footed roe of the Cordillera roams here and dwells in the thickets, avoiding the warm forest. The dark brown coati (_Nasua montana_, Tsch.) howls, and digs at the roots of trees in search of food; the shy opossum crawls fearfully under the foliage; the lazy armadillo creeps into his hole; but the ounce and the lion seldom stray hither to contest with the black bear (_Ursus frugilegus_, Tsch.) the possession of his territory. The little hairy tapir (_Tapirus villosus_, Wagn.) ventures only at twilight out of his close ambush to forage in the long gra.s.s.

Of the birds there is not much variety of species; but all are remarkable for gay-colored plumage. Among the most characteristic of these districts are the red-bellied tanagra (_Tanagra igniventris_, Orb.), the fire-colored pyranga (_Phoenisoma bivittata_, Tsch.), two species of the crow, one of which is of a fine blue color (_Cyanocorax viridicya.n.u.s_, G. R. Gray), the other green on the back and bright yellow on the belly (_Cyanoc. perua.n.u.s_, Cab.). The Indians call the latter _Quienquien_, as it utters a sort of screaming sound resembling these syllables. Individual birds belonging to the Penelope family (_P.

rufiventris_ and _adspersa_, Tsch.) and the green pepper-eater (_Pteroglossus caeruleo-cinctus_, Tsch., _Pt. atrogularis_, Sturm.) are found in the lower forests.

Proceeding still further downward we at length reach the _Montana_. The Peruvians apply this name to the vast aboriginal forests which extend across the whole country from north to south along the eastern foot of the Andes. Those which lie higher, and in which the s.p.a.ces between the lofty trees are overgrown with thick ma.s.ses of bushes and twining plants, are called by the natives simply _Montanas_. Those which are free from these intermediate ma.s.ses of vegetation they call _Montanas reales_ (royal mountains). At first sight they produce the impression of a virgin forest of oaks.

The distance from the Ceja to the district properly called the Montana is very various at different points. In some parts it takes six or eight days' hard riding; in other directions the traveller may, in the morning, leave the snow-covered Puna huts, and at sunset, on the uninhabited margin of the primeval forest, he may taste pine-apples and bananas of his own gathering. Such a day certainly deserves to form an epoch in his life; for in the course of a few hours he pa.s.ses through the most opposite climates of the earth, and the gradual progression of the development of the vegetable world is spread out in visible reality before him.

The Montanas of Peru are, in general, but thinly peopled with Christian Indians. They are employed either in cultivating their own fields, or in working as day-laborers in the great plantations. The productions of the haciendas consist chiefly of sugar, coffee, maize, coca, tobacco, oranges, bananas, and pine-apples, which are sent to the Sierra. The cultivation of bark, balsams, gums, honey and wax, also occupies a great number of Indians.

The plantation buildings stand on rising grounds. The walls are constructed of reeds, the interstices being filled up with loam, and the roofs are of straw or palm leaves. Around the buildings are the fields allotted to cultivation, in which the soils favorable to the production of certain plants are selected. The coffee usually grows round the house, and an adjacent building contains the store-rooms. The fruit-trees grow along the margins of the maize fields; marshy ground is selected for the sugar fields; in the vicinity of brooks and streams the useful banana flourishes; the pine-trees are ranged in rows on the hot, dry declivities, and the coca is found to thrive best in warm, hollow dells.

As the humidity of the atmosphere, added to the mult.i.tudes of insects, mice and rats, prevents any lengthened preservation of provisions, the cultivators sell or exchange them as speedily as possible; hence arises a very active intercourse in business between the Montanas and the Sierra. The mountain Indians bring llamas, dried meat, potatoes, bark, and salt, to exchange for fruit; it is very seldom that any money circulates in this traffic. Only the owners of plantations sell their productions for ready money, with which they purchase, in the upland towns, European goods, particularly printed and plain cottons, coa.r.s.e woollen stuffs, knives, hatchets, fis.h.i.+ng-tackle, &c.; with these goods they pay their laborers, charging them for every article five or even six times its value. As there is throughout these forest regions a great want of men, the plantation owners endeavor to get the few Indians who settle voluntarily on their property, fixed to it for ever. They sell them indispensable necessaries at an extravagant price, on condition of their paying for them by field labor.

I have seen an Indian give five days' labor, from six o'clock in the morning to sunset, for a red pocket-handkerchief, which in Germany would not be worth four groschen. The desire to possess showy articles, the necessity of obtaining materials for his wretched clothing, or implements to enable him, in his few free hours, to cultivate his own field, and, above all, his pa.s.sion for coca and intoxicating drinks, all prompt the Indian to incur debt upon debt to the plantation owner. The sugar-cane is seldom used in the forest plantations for making sugar.

The juice is usually converted into the cakes called _chancacas_, which have been already mentioned, or it is made into _guarapo_, a strong liquor, which the Indians spare no effort to procure. When they begin to be intoxicated, they desire more and more of the liquor, which is readily given, as it is the interest of the owners to supply it. After some days of extreme abstinence they return to their work, and then the Mayordomo shows them how much their debt has increased, and the astonished Indian finds that he must labor for several months to pay it; thus these unfortunate beings are fastened in the fetters of slavery.

Their treatment is, in general, most tyrannical. The Negro slave is far more happy than the free Indians in the haciendas of this part of Peru. At sunrise all the laborers must a.s.semble in the courtyard of the plantation, where the Mayordomo prescribes to them their day's work, and gives them the necessary implements. They are compelled to work in the most oppressive heat, and are only allowed to rest thrice for a few minutes, at times fixed, for chewing their coca and for dinner. For indolence or obstinacy they suffer corporal punishment, usually by being put into a kind of stocks, called the CEPO, in which the culprit stands from twelve to forty-eight hours, with his neck or legs fixed between two blocks of wood.

The labor of bringing the forest lands into a productive state is one of the severest tasks in the Montanas, and it can only be performed in the hottest season of the year. As the soil is always moist, and the vegetation full of sap, the trees must be cut down about the end of the rainy season, and after drying for some months they are burned; but they are seldom brought into a state of such aridity as to be destroyed by the action of the fire. This is a considerable obstruction to the progress of raising plants; for the seed must be sown between the felled trees, which are perhaps only half-charred, and are still damp. In consequence of this, the practice is, in the first year, to plant maize at the places where the burnt trees are laid; the maize grows in almost incredible abundance, and the result is a singularly rich harvest, after which, part of the burned wood is removed. The same process is renewed after every harvest, until all the burnt trees are cleared off and a free field gained for the cultivation of the perennial plants.

Far more fortunate than the Indians who are neighbors of the plantations, are those who live far back in the interior of the forests, and who, in consequence of their great distance from any settlement, seldom have intercourse with the civilized world. Content with what bounteous nature offers them, and ignorant of the wants of more refined life, they seek nothing beyond such things as they can, without any great efforts, obtain in the districts in which they dwell. There they plant their little patches of ground, the care of which is consigned to the women. The men takes their bows and arrows and set out on hunting expeditions, during which they are for weeks, often months, absent from their homes. The rainy season drives them back to their huts, where they indulge in indolent repose, which is only occasionally suspended when they are engaged in fis.h.i.+ng. The return of the sunny sky draws them out again on their expeditions, in which they collect a sufficient supply of food for the year.

But wherever these Indians have settled on the banks of great rivers, the trading intercourse produces an alteration in their mode of life.

Europeans and Creoles then try to create among them, as among the plantation Indians, a desire to satisfy unnecessary wants, and thereby they are induced to collect the valuable productions of the forests.

In the loftier districts of the Montanas the Peruvian bark is found: the lower and more marshy places produce the sarsaparilla, and a sort of wood for dyeing called _Llangua_. This last-named article has not yet found its way to Europe.

In the month of May the Indians a.s.semble to collect the Peruvian bark, for which purpose they repair to the extensive Cinchona woods. One of the party climbs a high tree to obtain, if possible, an uninterrupted view over the forest, and to spy out the _Manchas_, or spots where there are groups of Peruvian bark trees. The men who thus spy out the trees are called _Cateadores_, or searchers. It requires great experience to single out, in the dark leaf-covered expanse, the Cinchona groups merely by the particular tint of the foliage, which often differs but very little from that of the surrounding trees. As soon as the cateador has marked out and correctly fixed upon the mancha, he descends to his companions, and leads them with wonderful precision through the almost impenetrable forest to the group. A hut is immediately built, which serves as a resting-place during night, and is also used for drying and preserving the bark. The tree is felled as near the root as possible, divided into pieces, each from three to four feet long, and with a short curved knife a longitudinal incision is made in the bark.

After a few days, if the pieces are found to be getting dry, the bark already incised is stripped off in long slips, which are placed in the hut, or in hot weather laid before it to dry. In many parts, particularly in the central and southern districts of Peru, where the moisture is not very great, the bark is dried in the forest, and the slips are packed in large bundles. In other districts, on the contrary, the bark is rolled up green, and sent to the neighboring villages, where it is dried. Towards the end of September the _Cascarilleros_[79] return to their homes.

In the more early periods of South American history, the bark was a princ.i.p.al article of Peruvian commerce. Since the commencement of the present century its value has, however, considerably diminished, chiefly in consequence of adulterated and inferior kinds, which are supplied from other quarters, perhaps also on account of the more frequent use of quinine; for in the production of the alkaloids less bark is employed than was formerly used in substance. During the war of independence the bark trade received its death-blow, and for the s.p.a.ce of several years scarcely more than a few hundred-weights of bark were exported from Peru. The Montanas of Huanuco, which once furnished all the apothecaries of Europe with the "divine medicine," are beginning again to yield supplies. From the roots of the felled trees a vigorous after-growth has commenced. In the Montanas of Huamalies a kind of bark is found, the nature of which is not yet defined by botanists; and from the Montanas of Urubamba comes the highly esteemed _Cascarilla de Cuzco_, which contains an alkaloid, named _Cusconin_.[80] Possibly the medicinal bark may again become a flouris.h.i.+ng branch of trade for Peru, though it can never again recover the importance which was attached to it a century ago. During my residence in Peru, a plan was in agitation for establis.h.i.+ng a quinine manufactory at Huanuco. The plan, if well carried out, would certainly be attended with success. There is in Bolivia an establishment of this kind conducted by a Frenchman; but the quinine produced is very impure. The inhabitants of the Peruvian forests drink an infusion of the green bark as a remedy against intermitting fever. I have found it in many cases much more efficacious than the dried kind, for less than half the usual dose produces, in a short time, convalescence, and the patient is secure against returning febrile attacks.

A cla.s.s of Indians who live far back in the heart of the woods of Southern Peru and Bolivia employ themselves almost exclusively in gathering balsams and odorous gums from resinous plants, many of which are burned in the churches as incense. They also collect various objects, supposed to be sympathetic remedies, such as the claws of the tapir, against falling sickness; and the teeth of poisonous snakes which, carefully fixed in leaves, and stuck into the tubes of rushes, are regarded as powerful specifics against headache and blindness.

Various salves, plasters, powders, seeds, roots, barks, &c., to each of which is attributed some infallible curative power, are prepared and brought to market by the Indians. When the rainy season sets in they leave the forest and proceed in parties to the mountainous country. On these occasions, contrary to the general custom of the Indians, the men, not the women, carry the burthens. They are accompanied by the women as far as the Sierra; for the loads, which are often very heavy, graze the backs of the men who carry them, and the women then act as surgeons. The injured part is first carefully washed with copaiba balsam, moistened, then covered with leaves fixed on with small strips of leather, overlaid with the hide of some forest animal. These operations being performed, the loads are again fastened on the backs of the Indians. In their native forests these people wear but little clothing. Their dress is limited to a sort of loose tunic without sleeves for the women, and for the men merely a piece of cloth fastened round the waist. They go barefooted; but they paint their feet and legs with the juice of the Huito (_Genipa oblongifolia_, R. Pav.) in such a manner that they seem to be wearing half-boots. The juice of the Huito has the effect of protecting them against the stings of insects. The coloring adheres so strongly to the skin that it cannot be washed off by water; but oil speedily removes it. In the Sierra these Indians put on warmer clothing, and on their feet they wear a kind of boots called _aspargetas_, made of the plaited tendrils of plants.

The stock of balsams and drugs being disposed of, the Indians, after a few months' absence, return to their homes. Some of them, however, wander to the distance of two or three hundred leagues from their native forests, traversing the greater part of Peru, and even visiting Lima, carrying large flask gourds filled with balsams. These wandering tribes seek frequent contact with other nations. They are not distrustful and reserved, but, on the contrary, annoyingly communicative. It is not easy to discover the cause of this exception, or to ascertain the time when the Indians began to travel the country as physicians and apothecaries.

The earliest writers on the oldest epochs of Peruvian history make no mention of this race of medical pedlars.