Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Iii Part 20

If not in ease and comfort, at any rate in scientific interest, I found my excursion to Cajamarquilla surpa.s.sed by that made to Pachacamac in the valley of Lurin, which I made in company with some friend, and in the course of which I stayed behind the rest of my party, in company with the flag-lieutenant of the since world-renowned frigate _Merrimac_.

My visit to Pachacamac was, however, in so far less interesting than that to Cajamarquilla, that the greater part of the road, as far as Chorillos, was accomplished by railroad, the remainder of the way being over sand barrens, abhorred by both steed and rider.

Chorillos, about nine miles from Lima, and a favourite watering-place of the inhabitants of the capital, with salt-water baths and gaming-tables, lies in a small romantic cove, but is of rather difficult access, owing to the steep sand-hills which, 150 to 200 feet in height, bar all access from seaward. Formerly the ride to Chorillos, like that from Callao to the capital, was performed under considerable difficulty and danger, whence it has not seldom resulted that visitors to the watering-place, who have made money at the tables of Chorillos, have on their homeward ride to Lima been eased of their winnings by some of their previous companions over the board of green cloth! At present one bowls thither over a well-made road, easily and without dread of being called on to "stand and deliver," since, even in Peru, people have not yet succeeded in amalgamating railroads and robbery.

The little place itself boasts of a few good dwelling-houses, and some 100 to 150 Ranchos of wood and _adobes_, or constructed of mud and reeds, in which delectable abodes the good folk from the capital are content to pa.s.s the hottest and most unhealthy months of the year (from January to May).

These Ranchos, very unsightly without and exceedingly poorly furnished, are sometimes most habitable within-doors, and fitted with delightful verandahs or open porches, in which the free-and-easy occupants loll about in gra.s.s hammocks or rocking-chairs, fanned by the cool sea-breezes, in a state of dreamy _dolce-far-niente_. Altogether Chorillos is a very unpretending and altogether uncomfortable place, in which there is little room for elegancy or self-a.s.sertion, the President of the Republic himself occupying a wretched, dirty Rancho. Don Ramon pa.s.ses most of his time in the gaming-room, where he is a much-desired and most welcome guest, on account of the large sums which he is in the habit of wagering.

On a lovely June morning, about 6.30 A.M., we rode out of Chorillos, and three hours later reached the ancient Pachacamac,[137] a Quichua village close to the sea-sh.o.r.e, with the temple of the Sun there existent at a period antecedent to the Incas, and which was afterwards dedicated by the Incas to the service of the invisible G.o.d. These ruins are much older than those of Cajamarquilla. They are partly of clay-tile, but by far the largest part consists of hewn stone, held together by mortar, the whole presenting, even in its ruined state, a lasting and ma.s.sive aspect. Of the temple which once stood here, there is, however, no trace at present visible beyond mere indistinct traces of the foundation.

In the midst of a s.p.a.cious Indian village there is seen a hill about 400 feet high, with artificial terraces in regular gradation, and surrounded by lofty walls, that look as though they had been battlemented. On this rising ground once stood the temple which the Yuncas had built in honour of their chief G.o.d. Somewhat later, when this wild race had been subdued by the Incas, these consecrated the temple in honour of the Sun, flung out the idols of the Yuncas, and designed a number of royal virgins for its service. Pizarro, however, completed the work of destruction, when, with his fanatical followers, he penetrated, in 1534, into the valley of Lurin, hitherto the most populous and peacefully prosperous of the entire Peruvian coast. The villages were laid waste, the temple overthrown, and its virgin priestesses delivered over to the brutal soldiery, and afterwards put to death.

Quite close to the ruins, as they lie scattered along the coast, the island of Pachacamac, or Morosolar, rises from the bottom of the ocean, scarcely accessible owing to its steep, precipitous sides, and on which there is not a single architectural memorial of any sort to be found, as erroneously stated, or copied, by several authors.

From the summit of the hill the visitor finds a surprising landscape, stretching over the beautiful and fertile valley of Lurin; it is difficult to imagine a more vivid and delightful contrast than is presented by the greyish-brown, sandy, far-extending ruins, and the soft verdure of the surrounding plain, variegated with the hues of every description of tropical plant. The attention is further arrested by the singularity of the abounding vegetation beginning close to the sea, where sugar-cane and gra.s.s flourish in the most luxuriant superabundance, while scarcely a half-mile distant the landscape resumes the barren, sandy features, which extend for miles inland. Not till the Lurin valley is reached does the magnificence of tropical vegetation again enliven the scene.

After a cursory examination of the locality, we pa.s.sed the night at an adjoining _Hacienda_, a large sugar plantation and refinery, which employs 180 Chinese coolies. Each Chinese labourer receives rations of rice and vegetables, besides four dollars a month, and binds himself to stay eight years with his employer, to repay the latter's outlay for his voyage, &c.

The speculator, however, who imports the coolies from the northern provinces of China receives a premium of 300 dollars for every coolie imported. The Chinese whom we saw at Lurin, as indeed all those we encountered throughout Peru, were very filthy and depressed-looking, but seemed in good health, and, on the whole, better off than in Brazil or the West Indies. We were told that two Chinese will not get through so much work as one negro. There are at present about 10,000 Chinese in Peru, who have been imported by speculators during the last ten years, to some of whom their deportation has been a vast benefit, since, after their eight years' service, they are free, and may and do begin to work zealously on their own account. In Peru, as in the Indies, Java, and indeed wherever they are employed, the Chinese cling close to each other, and mutually a.s.sist each other, should any of their number fall into poverty.

The following morning early we paid a second visit to the ruins of Pachacamac, and took with us from the Hacienda a number of negroes, with working implements, for the purpose of digging up and examining the graves. At various points, especially close to the hill on which stands what probably was once a fort, we found a great number of skulls lying about. Most of those we picked up had been artificially compressed, though they did not all seem to have had the pressure applied at the same place, thus affording unmistakeable proof that artificial pressure had been resorted to here. Many of the skulls, though they had been interred for centuries, were still thickly covered with hair. There cannot be a doubt that most of those buried here belonged to the race which occupied this part of the country when the Spaniards first visited it, for after the occupation and the subsequent wholesale baptisms which the proselytizing monks performed upon the ignorant brown natives in droves, it is improbable that any of the Christianized Indians would thereafter be interred in unconsecrated earth.

The Peruvian Indians, as is well known, were accustomed to envelope their dead in coa.r.s.e cloths, after which they were buried in basket or sack-shaped straw-plait work, certain objects and utensils being placed by their side, preference being given to those the deceased had most used in life. Thus, fish-nets, baskets, &c., were placed in the grave, and in the case of a chief, weapons, staffs with golden k.n.o.bs, pots of wood or burnt earth, and so forth. The head usually reposes on a sort of pillow of gra.s.s or cotton. I brought away with me from Pachacamac about half a dozen of the most remarkably shaped of these skulls, as also some portions of mummified corpses, which the negroes had disinterred in my presence. All these objects were in excellent preservation, about three or four feet under the surface, some in simple graves, others in longish sepulchres of hewn stone, such as we might imagine were occupied by the wealthier cla.s.s of the community. It is usual to find several skeletons (probably members of the same family) in each separate grave. I also found layers of woven stuffs, some of very superior design and finish, interposed between various corpses.

While the negroes were engaged in further excavations, I once more ascended the hill on which the Temple of the Sun must once have stood, and which to this day is called by the neighbouring inhabitants "_Castillo del Sol_." On the side next the sea, there are still visible a number of b.u.t.tresses, which seem as though they had formed part of an older line of fortifications. There was nothing resembling a sacrificial altar, or to tell of the religious ceremonies that must once have been performed here.

Here and there the material of the wall was still covered with a reddish tint, just as if it had been but recently painted. In several portions of the wall still standing, there were pieces of wood alternating with layers of mortar, now quite decayed, and affording unmistakeable evidence of the antiquity of the buildings. We also remarked in the walls of several of the Indian huts niche-shaped depressions, about 1-1/2 feet deep by 1-1/2 feet in length and width, the use of which has never been even plausibly conjectured. While the whole of the buildings of Cajamarquilla consisted of sun-dried tiles and bricks, those of Pachacamac seem to have been almost entirely built of stone hewn into the shape of tiles. So much of the wall as still remains is very strong and solid. According to tradition the walls of ancient Pachacamac once stretched as far as Cuzco, 240 miles distant E.N.E.!

The proprietor of the sugar plantation in the Lurin valley told me that he himself, about ten years previous, had seen mummies disinterred in the neighbourhood of Pachacamac, in the mouths of which were gold ornaments, while various objects were buried with them, such as small idols of gold and silver, staffs with golden b.u.t.tons, earthen jars and vessels filled with Chicha (the well-known favourite intoxicating drink of the Indians), and fruits, the Chicha and fruits having remained in a wonderful state of preservation.[138]

On our way back to Chorillos we pa.s.sed the beautifully situated village of Susco, environed with neat country-houses, which was a favourite summer retreat of the inhabitants of Lima, before Chorillos reached its present development. At present Susco is dreary and forsaken-looking.

When I reached Lima on my return from this interesting excursion, I had only a few days more left before I was to take steamer again _en route_ to Panama, which I employed in riding about to examine all that was best worth seeing in the environs, and making a few parting calls.

One of the finest promenades in Lima is the _Alameda Nueva_, opened about two years previous, which lies on the road to Amancaes on the further bank of the Rimac, which divides the city into two unequal parts, of which, however, far the larger one, const.i.tuting indeed the city proper, lies on the left or southern bank. After the romantic descriptions I had read of the Rimac, I found myself woefully undeceived by the reality. Of the thundering rapids below the bridge, of which Castelnau gives us such a picturesque sketch, I found not a trace visible, the greater part of the river-bed, 150 to 200 feet wide, being quite dry, with a wretched little driblet of water trickling through it. The season of the year may, however, have contributed to this disenchanting prospect, and in August and September, when the melting snows and violent rain-storms of the neighbouring Cordilleras swell the brooks and rivers, they possibly impart a more imposing and lively aspect to the Rimac. The stone bridge over the river, which forms the communication with the suburb of San Lazaro, is a handsome structure, built in 1638-1640, from the designs of an Augustine monk, and cost nearly half a million dollars.

The _Alameda Nueva_ consists of a long, wide lane, with pretty garden nurseries and flower-beds on either side, interspersed with tasteful marble statues life-size, the whole enclosed in an elegant iron railing richly ornamented. In the winter season, more particularly (June to September), this beautiful promenade is in great request, when, after a few heavy falls of dew, the hills and valleys of the environs are covered with verdure of the most delicate shades, and the residents of the capital wander through the lovely glades of Amancaes, which is so overrun with the yellow blossoms of the Amaryllis (_Ismene Hamancaes_ of Herbert), that this fine plant has given its name to the whole valley. On such occasions quite a colony of booths is extemporized, where eatables and drinkables are consumed, and giants and dwarfs, panoramas and art-saloons, are thronged with visitors, while ballad-singers, musicians, rope-dancers, mountebanks, jugglers, gamblers, and thieves, are never weary of plying their various trades, to the lightening of the purses of the pleasure-seeking crowds.

Of public amus.e.m.e.nts and places of resort there are but few in Lima, and these not of a very refined description. The theatre is an old and downright ugly building, where Spanish comedians play indifferent pieces.

An Italian operatic company proved a failure owing to want of subscribers, even the highest talent barely succeeding in gaining sufficient to charter a s.h.i.+p to carry the _troupe_ back to Europe. The sole amus.e.m.e.nt, which never fails to collect a delighted mult.i.tude, is a bull-fight. These come off at intervals during the summer in the Plaza del Acho, in an uncovered amphitheatre specially built for the purpose, and constructed of sun-dried brick. On these days all Lima is in a state of excitement, and an incalculable crowd of curious sight-seers of both s.e.xes are hastening through the Alameda Nueva to the arena, there to gloat over the b.l.o.o.d.y scene. Fully 12,000 to 15,000 human beings throng into the confined area; each hastily deposits his half dollar (2_s._) of entrance-money, so as to get the chance of a better seat. One would think it must be to a splendid soul-elevating drama that they are flocking to listen to, whereas it is but the torture of a wretched herbivore that excites their depraved curiosity. The reader will excuse me for not reiterating the loathsome details of an often-told spectacle.

It is a fact of considerable historic interest that bull-fights are now confined to the Spaniards and to their coloured descendants, in the various regions of the globe whither her dominion has extended, and it seems but a fit pendent, that the laws of the same nation should, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, condemn to the galleys Roman Catholics who venture to embrace Protestantism.

We wish here to add one single remark of our own on a feature of the entertainment which we have not seen mentioned elsewhere, viz. what becomes of the flesh of the animals thus killed. It is forthwith cut up in quarters quite close to the arena, and sold at a reduced price to the populace, although it is a well-known physiological fact, that the meat of any animal killed in a state of rabid agony cannot be eaten without prejudice to the health. The negroes, however, erroneously maintain that meat thus killed is far more tender than that of cattle slaughtered in the ordinary mode, and the Government of Republican Peru finds it best to leave each to decide the physiology of the question by his own digestive powers.

Of the state of society in Lima I have little to say. A stranger finds it difficult to obtain a footing among the better families, especially if his stay be as limited as mine necessarily was. The high-pressure existence of the capital has of late years obliterated much of its former originality and poetry. He who saw Lima twenty years ago would hardly recognize it now-a-days. The "Saya" and the "Manto," those singular but in Lima once indispensable articles of apparel of the Limanas, which enabled them like masks to attend church or market, to join processions, in short, never left their face in the street or at the promenade, have entirely disappeared, and with them have necessarily gone many other peculiar habits and customs. Formerly no lady durst venture into the street without a "Saya" or "Manto;" now, on the contrary, she would run the risk of being insulted, or at least stared at, should she appear in public in this peculiar mask-like disguise. The ancient usages peculiar to the country must give way to French manners; the Saya, the close-fitting, usually black or cinnamon-coloured upper garment, which once was the customary attire, and consequently rendered a more careful toilette unnecessary, has made way for the voluminous crinolined silk dress, while the Manto, that heavy veil of a thick black silken material, which was thrown over the back, shoulders, and head, and drawn so close that there was only a small triangular s.p.a.ce left through which peeped one eye, has been displaced by the long black head-dress which the Spanish women are accustomed to wear.

The ladies of Lima are usually of elegant, slight, graceful appearance, their chief attractions being brilliant complexion, large dark gleaming eyes, dazzling white teeth, rich black hair, and very neat little feet.

They greatly reminded me of the Havana ladies, with whom they have much in common so far as regards the pa.s.sion for personal adornment, while in figure and intelligent expression of face both lag far behind the ladies of Chile.

The gentlemen of Lima, by which term I allude chiefly to the white Creoles or pure descendants of the Spaniards, who const.i.tute about one-third of the population,[139] do not leave that impression of a splendid future resulting from a prosperous development of the resources of the country, which might be reasonably expected if there were more intellectual movement, and more industrial and commercial activity apparent among their number. The state of affairs in Peru since its separation from Spain in 1822, the constant squabbles and civil wars, as also the fact that a mere mestizo, like Ramon Castilla, devoid of intellectual or moral pre-eminence, should have succeeded in getting himself declared President for life of the Republic,[140] are the best proofs of the political and moral degradation of the Republic of Peru. All the splendid territories from Peru to Mexico have, after three centuries of Spanish rule, sunk into a state of demoralization and degeneracy, owing to the listless, labour-hating, sluggish mestizo races that inhabit it, such as only the immigration of one of the hardy northern races can ever adequately remedy.

In a previous visit to Central America, I have wandered through its rich scenery, clad in the hues of perpetual summer, and smiling in exuberance of fertility, and everywhere the same impression was made upon me. Almost the only effect this wealth of nature seems to exercise upon the Indian or negro mestizo is to incapacitate him from mastering by any effort of his own the lethargy that preys upon him. Where a few rare exceptions occur, as, for instance, in Costa Rica, in which a sounder policy is preserved, it is invariably found that they are of purer Spanish descent than their sister republics in tropical South America.[141]

Owing to their political organization, these various states can scarcely fail to be powerfully affected by the impulses of our time. They have no other prospect than that of becoming either an integral portion of the immense North American Federation, or of once more being consolidated into a monarchy under the sceptre of some scion of a European royal family. In all probability, whether they be North Americans, or English, or Germans, they will always be children of some of a more powerful race, who must ultimately subvert the races of the Southern type, awaken a new spirit of energy, and so carry out that which the lazy mixed races of the present time have neither the power nor the inclination to effect. An immigration of stilled Northerners can alone raise these countries politically and commercially, develope their natural resources, and restore them to the grade of civilized states.

One of the most important as well as useful plants of Peru, and with samples of which I provided myself on leaving Peru, for the purpose of future a.n.a.lysis, is the Coca (_Erythroxylon Coca_), the leaves of which mixed with chalk or ashes of plants, form so important an article of diet as well as a masticatory among some Indian races of Peru and Bolivia.

Before I left Europe one of our most celebrated German pharmacologists, M. Wohler of Gottingen, expressed to me his wish to procure a considerable quant.i.ty of coca leaves, to enable him to a.n.a.lyze more completely than had as yet been done the chemical const.i.tuents of this remarkable plant, and I therefore made it a duty to take measures for procuring the requisite supply. Although the wonderful stimulant properties of the coca had for more than half a century been known to European travellers, the leaves of the plant, which flourishes best on the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras of Peru and Bolivia, at an elevation of about 8000 feet, and a temperature of from 64.4 to 68 Fahr., have hitherto only reached Europe in very small quant.i.ties, having in fact been carried home simply as curiosities.

It was reserved for one of the _Novara_ expedition to bring over as much as 60 lbs. weight for the purpose of investigation of its properties by German men of science. Half of this quant.i.ty I took to Europe among my own effects; the remainder was forwarded somewhat later, through the kindness of two German gentlemen resident in Lima, Messrs. C. Eggert and N.

Linnich.

So many, and in the main correct, accounts[142] have been published by travellers of the coca plant, its culture, its effect upon the system, and the marvels that have been achieved by its use, that I may well be excused from dwelling at length upon the habit which prevails among the Indians of chewing coca, or on its importance as a chief article of subsistence for several millions of our fellow-creatures. I may, however, mention certain instances which came within my own personal knowledge, as also a few statistical data relating to the annual consumption of coca in Peru and Bolivia, and the economical importance of this cultivation.

A Scotchman named Campbell, who was settled as a merchant at Tacna in Bolivia, and with whom I travelled to Europe from Lima, informed me that a few years before, being engaged upon matters of urgent business, he had performed in one day a distance of 90 English miles on mule-back, and throughout that long distance had been accompanied by an Aymara Indian, who kept up easily with the mule, without other refreshment than a few grains of roasted maize and coca leaves, which, mingled with undissolved chalk, he chewed incessantly. On reaching the station where he was to pa.s.s the night, Mr. Campbell, though mounted on an excellent animal, found himself greatly fatigued; the guide, on the other hand, _after he had stood on his head for a few minutes_,[143] and had drank a gla.s.s of brandy, set off without further delay on his homeward journey!!

In April, 1859, Mr. Campbell despatched a native from La Paz to Tacna, a distance of 249 English miles, which the Indian accomplished in four days.

He rested one day at Tacna, and set off the following morning on his return journey, in the course of which he had to cross a pa.s.s 13,000 feet in height. It would seem that throughout the whole of this immense journey on foot, he followed the Indian custom of taking no other sustenance than a little roasted maize and coca leaves, which he carried in a little pouch at his side, and chewed from time to time.[144]

Like other experienced travellers, Mr. Campbell, who has lived over 14 years in Bolivia, is of opinion that a moderate use of coca exercises no prejudicial influence upon the general health, but simply tends to make the Indian races of the higher regions of the Andes more capable of continued laborious work. Many coca-chewers attain a great age, and Mr.

Campbell knew one such, who had taken part in the insurrection of Tupac-Amaru in 1781, and at the time of my visit, 1859, was still in full possession of all his faculties. In short, as in the case of opium and wine, it would seem that it is only the abuse of coca that is followed by evil consequences.

The coca is less cultivated in Peru than in Bolivia, and the leaves are not in such request among the Quichua as among the Aymara Indians.[145]

As the Government of Bolivia draws a very handsome revenue from coca cultivation, a tax of five reals, about one s.h.i.+lling, being levied on every _cesto_, or about 25 lbs. English, there is a better opportunity of getting at the correct amount of the entire production than in Peru, where the plant is grown free of duty. The coca tax realizes in all in Bolivia 300,000 _pesos_ or dollars (about 75,000), so that the entire annual product is about 480,000 _cestos_ or 1,200,000 lbs. The _cesto_ is worth at La Paz from 7 to 9 _pesos_, but when employed in large quant.i.ties for export, it cost about 10 dollars, placed on board s.h.i.+p. Altogether the coca crop of Bolivia may reasonably be estimated at rather less than 700,000 _cestos_, equal to about 78,000 tons.

The a.n.a.lysis to which the coca leaves I brought home with me were subjected at Gottingen, was attended by most important results, though the experiments are far from being completed. It was reserved for one of the a.s.sistants of the chemical laboratory, named Albert Niemann, to discover in the leaves a peculiar crystallized organic base, to which, following the usual custom in such cases, the name Cocain has been given.[146]

The lamented death of Dr. Albert Niemann in the flower of his youth, and in the midst of his promising labours, necessarily interrupted for a time the investigations into the nature and properties of cocain. M. Wohler, however, in his capacity of Director of the Chemical Laboratory of the University, was so good as to a.s.sign to another able a.s.sistant, Mr. W.

Lossen, the task of taking up the a.n.a.lysis at the point where its gifted discoverer had left it, when it was found that, when heated in chlorine, the cocain underwent a singular and astonis.h.i.+ng metamorphosis, being in fact resolved into Benzoic acid and a new organic base, for which M.

Wohler proposes the name of Ecgonin (from [Greek: Echgonos] an off-shoot).

Further researches with the coca leaves lead to the discovery of a second organic base, which, it would appear, is contained in its primitive form in the coca, the composition of which will be treated of in a forthcoming paper by Mr. Lossen. This base is in a liquid form, for which the provisional name hygrin (from [Greek:hugros], fluid) has been adopted.[147]

Hitherto the experiments made to determine the physiological properties of cocain have been less important in their results, as it is only found in small quant.i.ties in the coca leaf, and an adequate quant.i.ty can only be obtained with great trouble and difficulty.[148] Consequently it is as yet impossible to decide the questions, whether one of these bases is stronger than the other, as also to which of the two are to be ascribed the peculiar properties of the plant. Singular enough, the various experiments with an effusion of the coca leaves had not the least result, while it is well known that the use of this kind of tea in the Cordilleras wonderfully stimulates the breathing powers of the traveller, besides satisfying his appet.i.te.[149] It would also appear that the coca leaves lose part of their virtue in transit, and that their most intense activity is only developed in their native regions. If, however, the ultimate results of the experiments of Mr. Lossen, inst.i.tuted with as much sagacity as zeal, should incontestably prove the value and utility of the plant for pharmaceutical purposes, as well as in all cases where the human strength is exposed to unwonted strains upon its energies, the means will surely and easily be found for extracting _on the spot_ the active principles of coca, as is being at present done by industrious Yankees in Ecuador, with the Cinchona or China bark.

When the _Novara_ was leaving Batavia, I cherished the hope that our stay in South America would be sufficiently prolonged to admit of my making an excursion to the Cinchona forests, so as to enable me to speak authoritatively and from personal knowledge upon certain questions discussed at Lembang with Dr. Junghuhn,[150] which had hitherto been left unsettled or altogether unexamined, and which were of such deep import to the attempts being made in Java to cultivate the Cinchona. Circ.u.mstances, however, had conspired to render this impracticable. Instead of the entire expedition, as originally projected, visiting that cla.s.sic region, it was reserved to myself, a solitary individual, to tread the scenes, where Humboldt once collected the first valuable contributions to science, and even then my time was so limited that my attention had to be confined to the capital of Peru, and the neighbouring country. Under these circ.u.mstances such a project as a regular scientific excursion deep into the heart of the Cinchona forests was entirely out of the question. I did not fail, however, to translate into Spanish and English, the disputed points which Dr. Junghuhn had requested me to ascertain for him, so that I might obtain such information upon these interesting questions from such of the friends I made in Peru or Chile as seemed likely, either in their own persons or by the opportunities for natural studies that might happen to characterize their place of residence, to advance our knowledge of the Cinchona tree and its cultivation. My different efforts to obtain reliable information on the cultivation of the China bark tree in its mother country were especially promoted by my having met, while at Lima, with Mr.

Campbell, who, during the many years he has been settled at Tacna, has paid especial attention to the China bark trade. For the chief export of this important medicament is in the hands of the Bolivians, and not of the Peruvians, as the uninitiated might imagine from the name it is usually known by in commerce, viz. Peruvian bark.[151]

The most important facts which I am here enabled to dwell upon relate to the correction of a widespread misconception, that owing to the thirst for plunder and the wilful neglect of the China tree in its own native regions, the supply of the valuable drug obtained from its bark, the well-known Countess'[152] or Jesuit bark, which to the practical physician is of scarcely less importance than the potato to the labouring man, is daily diminis.h.i.+ng. The Calisaya region (i. e. the limits within which the C. Calisaya, the species that furnishes the most valuable bark, is found in its finest and most abundant state) extends from about one degree north of Lake t.i.ticaca, or from 14 30' to 20 S. In the forests of Cochabamba, between which place and La Paz is the princ.i.p.al district of the China tree, the tree is more frequently found than in those running parallel on either side with La Paz, in which it is usually met with at such a distance from the capital that it becomes valueless, owing to the cost of transport, which is as high as 17 dollars per 100 lbs. The more southerly forests are still quite virgin, and have never re-echoed the blows of the Cascarilleros' axe. The largest quant.i.ty is exported from Tacna through the port of Arica, only a small portion being smuggled northwards from Lake t.i.ticaca, for s.h.i.+pment _via_ Port d'Islay. According to statistics, from 8000 to 10,000 cwt. of bark may be thus exported for any lapse of time, without the slightest danger of the tree getting exterminated. Since 1845 the exportation of bark from Bolivia has been a Government monopoly, which has farmed out the privilege to a private company, that used to pay a certain annual premium based on an export of 4000 cwt. The company paid the Cascarilleros or other persons who collected the bark, 25 dollars to 30 dollars for every hundredweight of Calisaya delivered in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The enterprise, however, proved only partially successful, since speculation, avarice and the continual political troubles and alterations of the Government, have each and all proved sore enemies to the peaceful development of the industry of the country. Each new President had only one thought, viz. how to make the largest profit by seizing on the natural wealth of the country, and only sought to increase the export of the bark for the sake of the monopoly. In 1850 a native commercial house in La Paz paid the bark-gatherers 60 pesos for every 100 lbs., besides a duty to Government of 25 pesos additional, at the same time paying on an estimated export of 7000 cwt. The exorbitant wage thus granted to the Cascarilleros resulted in an enormous quant.i.ty of Calisaya being brought to La Paz from all parts of Bolivia, In order to preserve the public tranquillity, and not glut the market, the Bolivian Government now prohibited entirely the cutting or collecting of bark. Within eighteen months about 1400 tons of bark were brought in, and this gave the monopolists a perfect dread lest they should have to declare themselves bankrupt, and it was indeed only through the intervention of Government that they escaped. The latter took the entire stock on their own hands, paid the speculators with Treasury bonds, redeemable within a given number of years, and made a fresh contract with a native firm, which stipulated that the price at La Paz should be 65 dollars per 100 lbs., without further export duty.

As soon as the stock in hand was exhausted, the prohibition against cutting Calisaya had of course to be rescinded, and in the interim the most decided steps were taken to check the superfluous, indeed dangerous, zeal of the Cascarilleros in the collection of the bark.

While I was in Java chemical experiments had begun to be made with the bark of the young China trees, and from the fact that the valuable alkaloid was not found in these, it was hastily inferred that the bark of the trees grown in their adopted country had, owing to the change effected in climatic and other conditions, been deprived of the principle that made them most valuable in their native land. But researches made in South America have satisfied me, that even in the indigenous forests of Cinchona, the active principle quinine is only found in the bark of older trees, and that its quant.i.ty is perceptibly affected by the age of the tree, the finest quinine being obtained in largest quant.i.ties from trees upwards of fifty years old. To ignorance of this peculiarity must also be attributed in all probability the fact that, at the period of the Spanish rule, the China collectors or hunters (_Cazadores de Quina_) used to fell annually 800 or 900 young trees of from four to seven years old, to get at the 110 cwts. of fever-bark, which, intended exclusively for the use of the royal house, were s.h.i.+pped every year from Pata, and thence round the Horn to Cadiz.[153]

So, too, with respect to the quant.i.ties annually exported at present from Bolivia and Peru, and used in European stores, there remain serious errors to correct, prevalent even among scientific circles. According to the latest estimates (which take cognizance of seven inferior sorts), there have been exported, between 1830 and 1860, not more than 10,000 tons, while of Calisaya, the specially valuable red bark (_Cascarilla roja_), not above 120,000 cwt. have been exported in all during the same period.

While the annual export thus dwindles in dimensions from what had generally been supposed, there has lately been discovered in large quant.i.ties, in the forests between Tarija, Cochabamba, and La Paz, a species of Cinchona, whose bark is said to possess very much the same properties as the Calisaya. The curate of Tarija has offered for sale 3000 cwt. of this valuable bark (called by the Indians Sucupira). The position of the forests in which this species of Cinchona is found is so favourable for exportation, that the cost of transport from Tarija to Iquique, the nearest port, would only amount to from 8 to 10 dollars per quintal.

The departure of the mail steamer from Callao de Lima was fixed for the afternoon of 12th June, when several of my friends were so kind as to accompany me on board. In Callao I paid a short visit to H.M.S. _Ganges_, and then the U.S. frigate _Merrimac_ (destined in less than three years to acquire a mournful renown in the horrors of civil war, as also imperishable celebrity as the pioneer of iron navies), one of the finest and most powerful screw-s.h.i.+ps of the North American navy, armed at that time with 32 cannon, and of 960-horse power. I had had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the officers of both s.h.i.+ps, partly in Valparaiso, partly in Lima. On board the _Ganges_ I experienced a not less cordial and kind reception, and Admiral Baines, as commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the Pacific, did me the honour of granting me an official pa.s.s to all captains of British s.h.i.+ps, setting forth my scientific pursuits, and recommending me to their particular attention.

On the morning of the 14th June, the good steamer _Valparaiso_, commanded by that courteous model of a British sailor, Captain Bloomfield, reached Huanchaco, the princ.i.p.al harbour of Truxillo, which is only six miles distant, and was once the capital of the northern portion of the empire of the Incas. The export of silver, wool, and cochineal from this port is pretty considerable. Here came on board a Scotchman named Blackwood, who for some years past had been cultivating cochineal in Truxillo, but was now, as he confessed, unable any longer to compete in its production with other countries, in consequence of the price of labour being so high, and the uncertain state of labour-supply. Mr. Blackwood intended proceeding _via_ California to the East Indies, where he hoped to light upon a more suitable field for cochineal-growing, the cost of labour there being still low, and there existing a constantly-increasing demand for that substance[154].

On the 15th June we anch.o.r.ed in the roads of San Jose de Lambajeque in the department of Chola. The position of this village is so unsuitable, that it is only possible to effect a landing by means of what are called _Balsas_(rafts with sails), consisting of huge thick trunks of trees bound together. One of these curious contrivances conveyed on sh.o.r.e in safety 76 pa.s.sengers at once, together with all their miscellaneous effects!

Fifteen miles north of Lambajeque lies the Indian village of Iting (Repose), with 5000 inhabitants, whose language is totally different from the Quichua dialect, usually spoken in the province. One Peruvian on his return from his travels even went so far as to say that the idiom of the Iting Indians strongly resembled that of the Chinese! In Monsefu, not quite two miles from Iting, lives an Indian population which speaks nothing but Spanish, and consequently can neither understand nor be understood by its neighbours! This singular state of things almost ent.i.tles us to conjecture that the Spanish conquerors have adopted here the same tactics as those they put in practice in Central America, where they repeatedly were at the pains to introduce among the subjugated tribes, colonies of another race frequently hostile to the aborigines, in order by difference of customs and language to render any united action against the common enemy almost impossible. I have myself frequently observed in the Central-American State of San Salvador, that, for instance, the Tlascaltecas, who speak the language of Montezuma, had been settled in the midst of foreign races. Such colonizations have almost invariably been effected for political purposes, and were compulsory, instead of being undertaken voluntarily.