Read Ebook: Peru as It Is Volume 1 (of 2) A Residence in Lima and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That Country by Smith Archibald

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OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Boundaries of the Peruvian Republic.--General appearance and climate of the coast.--Seasons divided into Wet and Dry.--Vegetation.--Lunar influence.--Enervating effects of the climate of Lima. Page 1

Chances of life in Lima diminished by neglect of medical police.--Statements showing the proportion of deaths to the population of Lima.--Proportion between the different sexes and castes of the inhabitants. 18

Food, fruit, and water used in Lima. 32

Remarks explanatory of certain Dietetic maxims, and established notions or prejudices, illustrative of the physical constitution and domestic habits of the Limenians. 46

Condition of Slave population, and its influence on the family economy and moral sentiments of the European race. 106

Social state of the Limenians under the Spaniards and Patriots.--Spanish colonists.--Style of conversation.--Improvements in female education.--Zamba attendants.--Omnipotence of the ladies at fifteen.--Esprit de corps of the fair sex.--Forgiving temper of public opinion.--Defective administration of justice.--Prerogative called Empe?o.--God-fathers and god-mothers.--Saint-day parties.--Flowers and perfumes.--Limenian women excel in attention to the sick.--General character of the white women and dark races.--Boys of European race.--Few men of intellectual habits.--Promenade of Amencaes, as illustrative of national feeling and character.--Pillo and Pillo-fino.--Money a substitute for morality.--Relaxation of morals general, but not universal. 121

Religious prejudices.--No faith with heretics.--Corpse of an Englishman cast into the street by the pious mob.--English supposed to have been buried with money in the island of San Lorenzo.--New cemetery, and Latin inscription for the English burial-ground.--Religious disadvantages of the British in Peru. 160

Clergy and lawyers more honoured than physicians or surgeons.--University of St. Mark.--Anatomical amphitheatre.--College of San Fernando.--State of the medical schools and profession on the coast and in the Sierra.--General remarks on Limenian education. 177

General features of the Sierra.--Roads.--Wilds of San Mateo.--Indian's eyrie.--Mountain curate.--Enterprise of a priest engaged in inland traffic.--Pastoral life of Indians.--Ancient ruins.--Royal road of the Incas.--Tarma, a pretty Sierra town, or pueblo.--Various sorts of bridges.--Balsa, or canoe of rushes.--Ancient aqueducts and terraced gardens of the aborigines.--Pagan edifices among the rocks near the coast.--Vale of Rimac.--Temples of the ancient Sun-worshippers of the land. 199

Journey from Lima to Pasco by Obrajillo.--Diversity of air and climate.--Canta, a locality favourable to consumptive individuals.--Obrajillo, residence of muleteers.--Relay of mules, and payment in advance.--Cultivation and crops.--Ascent to and pass of the Cordillera.--Veta, or Cordillera sickness.--Indian hut.--Muleteers' lodgings on the Puna.--Huallay.--Diezmo.--Pasco. 252

Account of another route between Pasco and Lima, by Junin, Huaypacha, Pucara, Tucto.--Mines of Antacona, Casapalca, Pomacancha, San Mateo, San Juan de Matucana, Surco, Cocachacra, Santa Ana, and lastly, Chaclacayo.--Numeration of a series of rocks, as they appear in succession from the pass of the Cordillera to the entrance into the Vale of Rimac. 286

ERRATA.

Transcriber's Note: The errata have been corrected but otherwise the original spelling has been preserved.

PERU AS IT IS.

Boundaries of the Peruvian Republic.--General appearance and climate of the coast.--Seasons divided into Wet and Dry.--Vegetation.--Lunar influence.--Enervating effects of the climate of Lima.

Modern Peru is bounded on the north by the Republic of the Equator; on the south by the Republic of Bolivia; on the east by the Portuguese territories, or Brazil; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The coast of the Republic of Peru extends along the shores of the Pacific from the river Loa, which is the southern boundary that divides it from Bolivia, to the river Tumbez, which divides it on the north from Guayaquil, or the Republic of the Equator. All this extent of coast, from 3? 30? to 21? 30? south latitude, is naturally a desert, intersected by several rivers, of greater or less magnitude, that descend along narrow mountain-glens of the Andes to the Pacific Ocean.

Many of these rivers are dried up for several months in the year; while others, of larger size, carry a perennial stream, swelling during the rainy season in the inland country, and are never seen to shrink so much in time of drought in the elevated regions from whence they spring, as not to supply the means of irrigating and beautifying the maritime vales through which they flow as they approach the ocean.

It is remarkable that, while along the coast of Peru the eye wearies in looking at sandy plains and hills, we no sooner pass the river Tumbez than the face of nature changes: in the former range all looks arid and scorched; in the latter country all is verdant and sappy. The coast of the Equatorial Republic presents to the eye well-wooded plains; while on the coast and in the valleys of the western side of the Peruvian territory, trees, when not reared by man, are only to be met growing in favoured places in the vicinity of springs and rivers. Piura, the most northern province of Peru along the shores of the Pacific, is celebrated for its remarkably dry atmosphere; but in a rainy year, which seldom happens in this province, the pastures that suddenly spring up are surpassingly luxuriant,--the very sand-fields, "arenales," after one or two days' rain, unfold an exuberance of life and vegetation.

The temperature of the low valleys on the coast of Peru may be said in general not to exceed 82? of Fahrenheit in summer, nor to descend much under 60? in winter. Where, however, high hills closely overhang the sandy plains or dry "pampas," it is difficult to say to what degree the thermometer may fall during night, when the rush of cold air from the upper regions is in proportion to the degree of radiation from the plains, and the force with which the sun's rays during the day had struck on the scorched ground. So intensely on such occasions does the traveller feel the transition, that, when benighted on desert places, he is sometimes compelled by the keenness of the cold to dismount, and bury himself up to the neck in the warm sand, until a returning sun again befriend him on the morrow, and encourage him to pursue his trackless way.

In Lima, the capital of Peru, neither the extremes of heat nor of cold are ever experienced; an advantage which it partly owes to its very splendid back-ground of mountains, rising one above another to the skies.

In winter, the thermometer of Fahrenheit never, in the centre of the town, falls under 60? in the shade; and, during summer, we have never seen it rise above 82?,--its usual station being about 80? in well-aired apartments. The ordinary difference between the fall of the night and day thermometer is only from three to four degrees when the thermometer is placed inside a common barred window without glass, and opening into a veranda or corridor, such as is usual in Lima houses, for the sake of free ventilation.

In the sultry month of February, the thermometer, if placed on the open and flat-roofed house-top of mud plaster, rarely ascends above 112?; and at this season, when the hot noon-day air may be said to be fanned by the countless "gallinazas," or vultures, that wheel and sweep in mid-sky, the canopy overhead is curtained with white light clouds that happily protect the city and its inhabitants from the too scorching beams of a tropical sun.

The hygrometer--Leslie's--seldom indicates fewer than 12? or 15? in the wet season, and rarely exceeds 50? in the summer months.

The range of the barometer may be considered exceedingly limited; for, during the period of six months that we had the opportunity of observing barometrical variations, the mercury was commonly stationary at 29?/??, and was not seen to fall below 29 1/2 inches. Our means of observation began in September, and ended in March, and therefore included the transition from wet to dry weather,--from the cool of winter to the highest heat of summer.

On one occasion when we observed the barometer fall from 29?/?? to 29 1/2 inches, there had been a smart earthquake, which, though it happened in the usually dry month of January, was preceded by a gentle shower of rain, at the appearance of which the people in the streets rejoiced, and called it "agua bendita," holy water!--On another occasion, when we noticed a similar sinking of the mercury, the river Rimac showed by its turbid and swollen stream that it rained heavily in the higher mountains. As for thunder and lightning, they have been so rarely witnessed in Lima, that there they may be said to be unknown. The above statements regarding the state of the atmosphere in Lima, it may be proper to mention, are founded on observations made by the writer at his residence in Archbishop's Street, close to the cathedral and great square; but about a mile higher up, in a part of the city called the "Cercado," the influence of the adjacent hills is more sensibly felt in the cooler evenings and mornings;--the night thermometer sometimes sinks down to 54? at the orchards of the Cercado, when in the centre of the city it falls within an open window or veranda not under 60? of Fahrenheit.

In Lima the four seasons are by no means distinctly marked: the dry summer weather frequently encroaches on the autumnal season, supposed to be humid; and again, the sort of weather and ailments most prevalent in winter are sometimes continued through a part of spring.

Hence, though the seasons are usually distinguished into spring, summer, autumn, and winter, it would be more truly characteristic to adhere to the usual division of the aborigines, into wet and dry.

In May the mornings become damp and hazy; and, from the beginning to the latter end of June, more or less drizzly. In October, again, the rains, which even in the months of July and August are seldom heavier than a Scotch mist, cannot be said to be altogether over, as the days are still more or less wet, or occasionally there may be seen to fall a light and passing shower; the evenings and mornings being damp and foggy.

In November and December, when the dry season may be reckoned to have set in, the weather, except for an interval at noon, is for the most part cool, bracing, and delightful: and April, too, is in this respect an agreeable month; at the latter end of which, the natives of the capital, being so exceedingly sensitive as to feel a difference of only two or three degrees betwixt the temperature of two succeeding days like an entire change of climate, are admonished, by a disagreeable change in their sensations, to protect themselves by warm apparel against the chills arising from an occasional north-west, or from the influence of the common south-west wind.

In the valleys around Lima the agriculturist is very careful not to sow in the creciente, lest the seed should become so diseased and injured as never to yield a healthy crop. The same attention to lunar influence is bestowed by the wood-cutter, who knows that timber cut in the creciente soon decays, and on this account is not of use for constructing houses, or for any other permanent purpose; this is particularly the case with the willow and alder, as the writer had once occasion to know experimentally. Being disinclined to believe what he considered to be the prejudices of the natives respecting lunar influence, he insisted upon roofing in part of a house with alder and willow cut in the creciente; and after a couple of years he was convinced of his own error, when he saw the timber employed become quite brittle and useless, so as to need to be replaced or supported to prevent the roof from falling.

The "arriero," or muleteer, scrupulously attends to the influence of the moon on his cattle; for if he travels in the creciente, and in a warm or even temperate climate, he takes strict care not to unsaddle his riding-horses, nor to unpad his cargo-mules, until they have rested awhile and cooled sufficiently: and, if he should neglect these precautions, he would be sure to have his cattle disabled by large inflammatory swellings, rapidly running on to suppuration, forming on their shoulders or loins.

In short, the very "chalan," or horse-jobber, will not be prevailed upon to cut the lampas from a beast's gums, nor will a Limenian at any time, except in the "menguante," offer to pare his own corns, for fear of inducing severe irritation as the reward of his indiscretion; and we may reasonably infer from all these common-place and familiar facts, that, in Peru, lunar influence is very remarkable, since both in the animal and vegetable kingdom it forces itself upon the attention and experience of every one.

If it be asked what general influence such a climate as we have now described may have on the animal frame, we would answer that there appears to be something peculiarly enervating and degenerating, aggravated by the total neglect of sanitary police, in the state of the atmosphere and locality of Lima. This effect is observable in the dog species, which becomes sluggish and spiritless, and more disposed to bark than to bite; but it shows itself more especially in the male descendants of unmixed European parentage.

Chances of life in Lima diminished by neglect of medical police.--Statements showing the proportion of deaths to the population of Lima.--Proportion between the different sexes and castes of the inhabitants.

If the mildness of contagious epidemic diseases were to afford a fair test by which to judge of the climate of any particular locality, or the medical police of its community, that of Lima would surely rank as one of the most favourable. But, however open and spacious be the construction of the houses and site of this capital, and whatever may be said for or against the personal and domestic cleanliness of its inhabitants, and other circumstances affecting the health of individuals, it must be admitted that the salubrity of Lima, and the chances of life it affords, are materially diminished from the want of due attention to public cleanliness.

The manure conveyed from the pens and stables, --this manure, when not thrown into the canals, is conveyed to the broad walls of the picturesque city, and there heaped up day after day; or, if not thus disposed of, it is carried to the river's brink, where it is suffered to accumulate into fermenting mounds of daily increasing size. Here it absorbs moisture, and generates miasmata that taint the air breathed by the inhabitants; and so their sloth is chastised. We are persuaded that their own culpable inattention to the cleanliness and salubrity of their capital contributes largely to entail upon them a greater proportion of disease and mortality than could at first sight be expected from the features of the climate. Those natives, indeed, who have passed a life of well-regulated habits, are said to attain a cheerful old age in Lima; and there are instances of a few individuals exceeding a hundred years of age, who preserve considerable bodily activity and mental vivacity. There was living, when we left Lima in 1836, an active little Franciscan friar, said to be considerably above a hundred. A Spanish gentleman of the name of Pellicer, very remarkable for the acuteness and vigour of his mental powers and general health, died in our own day, at the age of a hundred and two or three; and some other instances of this sort might be mentioned. These, however, are exceptions. For it is worthy of particular remark, that, whatever be the causes that tend to produce the melancholy result, the truth is, that the general mortality in Lima is very great; a fact which the records of its Pantheon fully confirm, as may be seen from the annexed documents.

TABLE

Showing the number of Deaths in Lima and its Suburbs from the year 1826 to the year 1835, both inclusive.

Before we offer any remarks on the above table taken from a careful examination of the register-books belonging to the Pantheon, or public cemetery of Lima, it may not be amiss to premise what was the population of Lima when the last census was taken, just before the revolution broke out, and when that city is supposed to have been full of people and at its acme of prosperity. This census, taken by John Baso, one of the "oidores," or judges of that period, and dated at Lima, September 30, 1818, concludes by the following summary:--"As is demonstrated by the preceding statement, the capital of Lima comprehends within its walls, huts and cottages contiguous to the city gates, and suburbs of San Lazaro, 54,098 persons of all sexes, castes, states, and conditions, which are distinguished minutely in the same statement, of which the total amount consists of 27,545 males, and 26,553 females."

During the ten years embraced by the above table of mortality, the population of Lima is always estimated, by the best informed natives, as much under, as at the time of the census of Baso it was found to be above, 50,000; but no data, or census of later date, by which to verify this matter in a precise manner, exist in the hands of the patriots; therefore it is in some degree subject of conjecture, although from the number of houses that are now abandoned, and the great falling away of the agricultural and horticultural labourers, we are probably not far from the truth in calling the average population of the capital and suburbs during the last ten years 45,000; in which case the deaths in twenty years will, according to the above rate, as seen from 1826 to 1835, amount to 47,000,--a number greater than the whole population given.

Food, fruit, and water used in Lima.

As the degree of health, and vigour of constitution, enjoyed by individuals, depend in a great measure upon the diet, as well as on the air they breathe, climate, and caste, we shall offer a few general observations on the dietetic habits of the Limenians.

Besides maize, which is more generally cultivated than wheat, the latter being to a considerable extent an article of importation from Chili and other foreign parts, the staple food of the poor on the coast is derived from the camote and yuca, both of which roots are exceedingly nutritive and wholesome; but, in Lima, animal food is consumed in very large quantity. The quantity of poultry used here is incalculable; and a good reason for this is, that the sick, infirm, and convalescent,--always exceedingly numerous in this capital, as well in public hospitals as in private houses,--think themselves neglected in their diet if they have not, at least once a day, chicken or chicken soup. Geese and ducks are in low reputation as articles of aliment; but of pigeons and turkeys there is always a large supply in the daily market, held under sheds in convenient parts of the town. Fish is usually good and plentiful,--the fishermen, by the way, furnishing the best specimen we have seen of a robust form in the Indian family.

The number of fat pigs killed in the town has been, in the year 1835,--on occasion of imposing, for the support of the colleges, a duty of four reals, or about two shillings a-head, on each pig,--estimated considerably above twenty thousand yearly; and there is always so large a consumption of lard and fried pork, that the trade of the "mantequero," or lard and swine-dealer, is, after that of the baker and lottery-man, "suertero," one of the most lucrative in the capital.

From forty to fifty head of oxen, and from three to four hundred sheep, are slaughtered daily for the Lima market: the beef is very good; the mutton of inferior quality. We were told by one of the principal beef contractors that, early in the year 1836, the slaughter of oxen in Lima was reduced to thirty or thirty-five head daily; a decrease from the usual number which he ascribed to the poverty peculiar to that particular period of misrule, disabling many families from buying beef, and partly also to a new military order relating to the soldiers' rations.

Instead of his former allowance of meat, the soldier was now allowed two reals daily to provide for himself what food he pleased;--an injudicious alteration in his circumstances, for he either gave his ration-money for drink, or indulged his appetite in eating some unwholesome trash calculated to throw him too often on the sick-list.

Pastry and sweet-meat criers are seen everywhere in the Lima streets; and a sort of cook-stand, abounding in fried pork and fish, is to be found at the corner of every square. This practice gives some insight into the dietetic habits of the vulgar; and such poor families of genteel pretensions as from necessity hire out their slaves, are seldom at the trouble or expense of cooking at home when they can more easily call in from the street what little they may satisfy themselves with.

Masamorerias, or a sort of pap-shops, are very common in Lima. Of the sweet pap in vulgar use there are as many varieties as there are of meal and flour,--such as peas, beans, rice, maize flour, arrow-root, starch,--of which they have many varieties. Any of these boiled in water to a very soft consistence, with or without the addition of fruit or some vegetable acid, and sweetened exceedingly with sugar, molasses, or "chancaca," is what constitutes the great Limenian dish "masamora," to which these sweet-mouthed people are as proverbially partial as the English are to roast-beef.

However salutary in itself may be the quality of the more substantial food of such Limenians as can afford to live well and generously, yet most of their dishes are so sodden in lard, that the common fowl, the pigeon, turkey, and that excellent family dish the "puchero," consisting of a variety of fruit and vegetables, with pieces of meat of different kinds and quality, all boiled and presented in one great piece of plate,--are among the comparatively few which a simple palate can relish.

Their soups, together with a great variety of vegetable dishes, are so heated with agi-pepper, that the coats of the stomach would indeed require to be well greased to protect them against the piquant effects of this popular condiment. Useful and even necessary as this agi is found to be by those Indians of the valleys who cultivate it around their doors, and whose diet is nearly all vegetable, yet in a climate like that of Lima, and in constitutions so delicate as those of its inhabitants confessedly are, it must prove injurious to the organization of the stomach, and to the health in general, when freely and daily taken with a plentiful allowance of animal food, and a general mode of living sober but not temperate; for though the better classes deal sparingly in wine, yet, by partaking more or less of every dish at table, and these not a few, they usually eat more than the powers of digestion can comfortably apply to the support of the frame, not usually exposed by so indolent a people to great waste from athletic exertion.

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