tively unimportant strip of land fronting the Pacific, and lying between the lowest range of the Andes and the sea. they are of proportionate thickness, and support on their trunks a hundred different parasitical plants, which present the appearance of a shrubbery growing on one majestic tree. Some distil fragrant gums, others are laden with the richest fruits. The chirimoya, the pride of Peru, which Mr. Markham compares to spiritualized strawberries,' possesses that happy mixture of sweetness and acidity which is so grateful in a tropical climate. The scent of the blossom is as exquisite as the flavour of the fruit. It is difficult to conceive a greater source of enjoyment than even such a partial glimpse into the virgin forests of the world. These wildernesses of wood had scarcely before been entered by a European.nea:ly 50 square leagues. Its existence in To scale 'the immeasurable heights The productions which chiefly contribute to the resources of Peru are not now derived from mines of silver and gold, but from substances the commercial value of which has been of comparatively recent growth, and, the steady demand for which promises to enrich the republic to an extent which could never have been anticipated. The desert region before referred to abounds in a mineral for which there is a great and increasing demand, namely, nitrate of soda, which is found in layers, several feet thick, over a space of Peru had been known to Europe for more than a century, when, in the year 1820, a Of woods decaying, never to be decayed,' small quantity was imported, by way of experiment, into England; but the duty being and that in an enterprise so beneficial to considered greater than the supposed value of mankind, must have given rise to thrilling the commodity, the nitrate was thrown into emotions. Mr. Markham especially deserves the sea. In 1830 a cargo reached the United our commendation for the interesting narra-States, but it proved unsaleable. In 1831 tive in which he has described his achieve ment. another attempt was made to introduce it into England, and it then realised from 30s. to 40s. per ton. Mr. Pusey was one of the first to call the attention of agriculturists to its valuable properties, and, having instituted a series of experiments, he gave it the preference for many purposes over guano. When mixed in equal quantities with common salt, he found that it produced on some soils a greater effect than the better known fertilizer: applied in the early spring it was found to act as a cordial to feeble and sickly vegetation, and its influence upon cold and undrained clays was found to be most beneficial.* It was moreover proved that the poorer the soil the greater was its effect, and In striking contrast to this Traus-Andean region of Peru is that belt of land which extends from the foot of the Western Cordillera to the sea. There rain never falls: a damp mist pervades the atmosphere and veils the sun for months. Instead of the rich and varied foliage of the montaña, gigantic cacti forty feet high abound. The extreme dryness of this portion of Peru is caused by the prevalence of the south-easterly winds, which are deprived of their moisture in their passage over the continent before they reach the eastern slopes of the Andes. Little snow or rain, therefore, falls in the Cordillera of South Peru. The dry winds from the Andesit passing over the lands of the western coast are the cause of its peculiar aridity. If the winds blew from the west, they would of Course arrive charged with moisture from the Pacific, and the now desert tract of Peru would be a garden. The smaller area of sterility caused by the prevalent direction of the winds cannot but be regarded as a beneficent arrangement; Brazil would otherwise have been a desert instead of a small portion of Peru; and a country of boundless resources, adapted for the future home of millions, would have been almost uninhabitable for want of that humidity which is the principal cause of its exuberant fertility. desert region gion is now confined to a compara supplied to wheat precisely the kind of nourishment which it required. Such being its recognised importance in agriculture, it is satisfactory to know that the supply from Peru is practically inexhaustible. The province of Tarapaca alone contains nitrate of soda that will suffice for the supply of the world for centuries. The exports of nitrate of soda from Peru, which were only 18,700 cwts. in 1830, amounted in 1858 to 61,000 cwts. In 1860 the export from the port of Iquique alone amounted to 1,370,248 cwts. Allowing 100 lbs. of nitrate for every square yard of the deposits already known, they will yield 63,The000,000 tons-sufficient, at the present rate of consumption, to last for 1393 years. An interesting description is given of these valuable deposits by Mr. Bollaert, by whom their *The chirimoya, Mr. Bollaert says, takes its name from chiri,' cold, and 'mahu,' seed, or coldseeded. It is a species of anona, and sometimes weighs as much as two pounds. *The result of these experiments is detailed in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society' for 1853. extent and importance were first fully made known. The principal places in which nitrate of soda is found are on the western margin of the pampas, in the sides of ravines, and in the hollows of the mountains on the coast; and it is remarkable that no deposit has yet been discovered within eighteen miles of the sea. It appears to be the received opinion that common salt has gradually undergone a chemical conversion into nitrate of soda. Salt being the probable origin of nitrate of soda, it becomes a curious subject for inquiry how such vast accumulations could have been formed in the dry region of Peru. Malte Brun describes the surface-salt in several places as reflecting the image of perpetual winter, and says that small crystals, resembling hoar-frost, might frequently be observed suspended from the trees; and Mr. Bollaert conceives that the great Pacific, under a cloudless sky and burning sun, is converted into a caldron perpetually giving off saline particles, which are wafted to the land and there precipitated. The ordinary dews are sensibly saline. Wherever salt is deposited there it remains, as there are no rains to wash it back into the ocean. The soil thus becomes in the course of ages saturated with salt, and the large salures or superficial deposits appear to have been drawn from the earth by the action of a powerful sun on a surface moistened with dew. The salt if removed speedily reappears. A trader who had quite cleared the mountains of Santa Rosa of their salt found, he says, 'a very fair crop' on them three years from the time of his first visit.t It has been ascertained that sodium is almost universally present in the atmosphere. This has been proved by some recent and interesting experiments on the chemical effects of the prismatic spectrum. The salts of certain metals are found to impart bright colours to the flame of the blow-pipe. Every metallic base produces a certain bright line in the spectrum; the colour of the line and its position afford a decisive test of the presence of the metallic base by which it is produced, and this effect is observable even when the quantity present is infinitesimally small. Sodium produces a bright yellow colour, and its universal presence has been ascertained by its detection even in dust blown from a book at a distance of several feet from the spectrum. A curious result of the extreme dryness of the atmosphere charged with saline particles 'Geography,' vol. v., p. 447. Near the town of La Nueva Noria are two towns, Noria and Salar, both of them constructed entirely of salt. See 'Researches on the Solar Spectrum,' by Professor Kirchhoff of Heidelberg. has been observed in some of the more elevated regions of Peru. The pure drying winds have the effect of embalming bodies submitted to their influence. The ancient Peruvians appear to have occasionally availed themselves of the desiccating quality of the air by leaving their dead aboveground instead of burying them. In the desert of Atacama there is a cemetery of this description, which was accidentally discovered by Dr. Reid, a late traveller in Peru. He found the dried bodies of 600 men, women, and children, all in a perfect state of preservation, and in a sitting posture, arranged in a semicircle, gazing as it seemed on vacancy. There they had sat for centuries: a jar of maize and a cooking utensil were found by the side of each. Peru has recently contributed a new and valuable substance to the arts in borate of lime. It is found in the nitrate districts, in nodules generally imbedded in dry saline mud. This discovery is likely to be one of importance to Peru, inasmuch as it at present possesses a monopoly of an article which is extremely valuable in some manufactures, 607. per ton having been paid for this mineral in England by smelters. The Peruvian Government does not permit the working and export of borate of lime except as a monopoly, conceiving it to be an important element in the future wealth of the country. In the Bay of Pisco, and about twelve miles from the main land, is situate that small but celebrated group known as the Chincha Islands, from which Europe for the last twenty years has chiefly received its supplies of the most valuable of manures. Little could the Spaniards have imagined, when they first visited the coasts of Peru, and were amazed at the vast flocks of sea-birds which darkened the sky in their flight, that these birds bad deposited in the course of ages on a few barren islands a treasure which rivalled the riches of the Peruvian mines; that hundreds of ships would proceed annually from Europe to carry it away; that it would excite the cupidity of civilised nations, and even become the subject of civil conflict, and the prize of successful revolution.* The guano of Peru, like the nitrate of soda, greatly af fected the course of British husbandry. One The Peruvian civil war of 1853-4 was called the Guano War, and the possession of the Guano Islands was the prize. The United States attemptwithout paying for it, on the pretext that it was ed to assert a right of carrying away the guano an uninhabited island, and the common property of the world; and even Daniel Webster lent his great name to this attempted aggression upon the rights of another nation, which was supported by a large party in the States. It is needless to say that Europe repudiated all participation in the meditated spoliation. . vice has lately been rendered by Peru to India, by giving it the true Peruvian cottonplant. Peruvian cotton has long been known in India, but the species introduced came originally from Brazil, and was grown in, and adapted for, a hot, moist climate. The native cotton of the Peruvian coast valleys had never been tried. On a dry soil it is found to succeed admirably, and as it possesses a staple even longer than that of New Orleans cotton, it may eventually render England independent of future supplies from the Am of first-rate quality from our own great dependency. Considerable excitement has been caused in the Madras Presidency by this opportune discovery. great merit of this manure is its condensed form, which admits its transport for 6000 miles at a considerable profit. It may be almost termed a fertilising essence, so powerful are its properties.* Yet this substance forms the mass of lofty cliffs, and is quarried in some places eighty feet deep. The region of this extraordinary accumulation of the excrement of sea birds, may truly be called Pacific Ocean. No rain has ever been known to fall there; no storms of thunder and lightning disturb the perpetual serenity of the atmosphere. The ocean is of an ultra-erican States, and we shall obtain an article marine blue. The sun-sets are glorious beyond belief, and the sky glows with tints as bright but as evanescent as those of the rainbow. A tépid sea swarms with fish, which provide the multitude of birds which haunt it with inexhaustible, nutriment. The ancient Peruvians knew and appreciated this manure, but from the limited means of transport which they possessed the consumption could not have been very great. The first cargo of guano arrived in England in 1841, and the demand has since rapidly increased. Calculations have been made of the quantity yet available for exportation. It was at one time estimated that the Chincha Islands contained 250,000,000 tons of guano, and that at the then selling price in England, it would realise 3,000,000,000. On a careful survey made by the Peruvian Government in 1846, the quantity of guano then remaining on the islands was supposed to be about 33,170,795 tons, which, at a profit of 47. per ton to the Government, represents a sum of 132,688,9847. Mr. Markham, however, gives the total quantity of guano in the three Chincha islands in 1853 as 12,376,100 tons; and as from that time to 1860 2,837,365 tons have been exported, he estimates that there were remaining in 1861 only about 9,538,735 tons, which, at its present rate of consumption, will last until 1883. No further supplies can then be expected. It is to be hoped, therefore, either that nitrate of soda will adequately supply its place, or that science will provide some adequate substitute. The cultivation of cotton has recently become a favourite speculation in Peru. The soil and climate of the coast valleys are well suited to its growth, and the quality is excellent. The quantity of land available for cotton cultivation is immense, and the profit has lately been such as to tempt capitalists into this branch of agriculture. Peru may therefore speedily become a valuable source of supply for England. An important ser * The convicts who work the guano are provided with iron masks, so great is the pungency of the ammoniacal salts. Bollaert, p. 149. Peru has also recently contributed to our Australian colonies an animal of great value and importance. The introduction of the alpaca into New South Wales will probably form a new starting-point in the marvellous progress of Australia, and in its results may even surpass the introduction of the merino by Macarthur. Australia owes the possession of a considerable flock of alpacas to the energy and perseverance of Mr. Charles Ledger, a gentleman who had long devoted himself to the study and breeding of these useful creatures in Peru. Neither the llama nor its allied species, the alpaca and vicuña, were known to Europe before the conquest of Peru. The two former were found in a domesticated state by the Spaniards, while the vicuña ranged the Andes as the chamois does the Alps. From the earliest period to which the Peruvian traditions extend, the llama has been used as an animal of burthen, beasts of draught being unknown in the country, and they were considered capable of carrying from 100 to 200 lbs. The Spanish writers inform us that 11,000 of these animals, laden with gold from the different provinces of Peru, were simultaneously put in motion by order of an imprisoned Inca, to carry to Caxamaca the treasure which was to redeem him from captivity. The llama is still used as a beast of burthen, but its chief value consists in its wool. In 1834 the importation of llama and alpaca wool into Great Britain amounted to only 5,700 lbs.; in 1859 it had risen to 2,501,634 lbs. The future value of the alpaca to Australia will arise from its fleece, which is wrought into many admirable textures. Blended with silk the glossy wool of the alpaca produces a fabric equal to the most lustrous satin; wrought in patterns, it has an effect equal to the richest silk brocade; it makes an admirable substitute for figured silks; when it is mixed with cotton, an attractive article is produced at a very moderate price; while for tropical use, a coat may be made which has all the appearance of fine cloth at a fourth of its cost, and is of less than a fourth in weight. Such being the value of the wool of the alpaca, it became of importance to ascertain whether it could be introduced and acclimatised in one of our colonies. * It was the earnest desire of Mr. Ledger to convey a flock of these animals to New South Wales, the climate and soil of which he conceived were suited to their constitution and habits. A peculiar grass (ichu), their favourite food, grows abundantly on the Australian uplands. The difficulties, however, to be surmounted in getting the animals out of Peru, were great. It was necessary for Mr. Ledger, in order to get his flock on board ship, first to elude the Peruvian authorities, and then to drive his alpacas through the territory of the Argentine Confederation. After a series of extraordinary adventures, extending over a period of four years, in collecting his flock, he left the eastern slopes of the Andes in March, 1858, with 843 alpacas, and commenced a journey of 700 miles through an inhospitable country, varying in altitude from 800 to 17,000 feet above the sea, and safely shipped 345, being all that remained, in the following September at the Chilian port of Caldera. Of these he succeeded in landing 252 at Sydney in the following December, having, from sickness and accidents, lost nearly two thirds of his original flock. Expectations are justly entertained, that the acquisition of these animals will produce immense results to the Australian colonies. The wool already shows a considerable improvement, and Mr. Ledger, by a cross between the llama and alpaca, has succeeded in producing an animal far superior to either. Brought,' Mr. Ledger writes, from a dreary and barren situation, an inclement, boisterous, and variable climate, to a climate and country equally well adapted to its habits, and at the same time infinitely healthier and better adapted for feeding, the alpaca attains to maturity earlier than in South America, has a larger form, an improved general appearance, and, without the least doubt, a heavier and finer fleece.' The alpaca feeds contentedly with sheep, and even acts as their protector. In Peru it is customary to associate eight or ten wether alpacas with a flock of 1000 ewe sheep; the alpacas conduct the flock to pasture, and defend it from foxes, condors, and dogs. They are extremely * The exportation of the llama and alpaca was prohibited under severe penalties; but the prohibition has since been removed. New South Wales Catalogue, International Exhibition,' p. 41. vigilant, the 'punteras' or leaders being ever on the alert, and, on the appearance of a menaced danger, show a steady front, and rush forward in concert to meet it. These animals possess the power of endurance and abstinence of the camel, and combine in a remarkable degree courage and gentleness.* Commencing in 1861 with 200 females and 50 males, Mr. Ledger estimates that in twenty years his alpacas will amount to 20,000; and that at the ordinary rate of increase the number in New South Wales in fifty years will be 9,760,000, the annual clip of which, at 28. per lb. for the wool, will be worth 6,832,000l. The alpaca might probably be successfully introduced into some of our other colonies. New Zealand, Tasmania, the Cape, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia possess a suitable climate; and it might perhaps be worth a trial whether it would not succeed in some parts of Scotland. The alpaca appears to be hardier and freer from constitutional disease than sheep, and the flocks. require very little tending. They seldom stray; and their power of enduring cold, heat, damp, hunger, and thirst, has been as fully proved in Australia as on their native mountains in Peru. The falling off in the production of the precious metals has been very marked in Peru since it became an independent state. A country which once stood in the same relation to Spain as Australia does to Great Britain, and California to the American States, is now a very inconsiderable contributor to the metallic wealth of the world. The abundance in which the precious metals were found in Peru by the first Spanish settlers must have represented the accumulated produce of centuries. No data exist for forming any estimate of the annual yield of the mines while the country was governed by its native sovereigns, but it was probably regulated merely by the requirements of the state. We know, however, that a great and immediate increase took place as soon as the Spanish Government became aware of the mineral wealth of its new acquisition. In the year 1681 it was proved from official documents that from the period of the first discovery of the great silver-mine of Potosi, 1480 millions of dollars had paid duty to the Crown; and it was believed that half as much more had been smuggled out of the country, making altogether the prodigious sum of 2960 million dollars, equivalent to 592 mil *The late Earl of Derby, whose zoological tastes are well known, possessed a pair of llamas, which grazed for some time in the Park of Knows ley. They wandered very little, and preferred the dry fern and brambles to more succulent herbage. lion pounds sterling. Mr. M'Culloch estimates that the present produce of all the gold and silver mines of Peru and Bolivia does not exceed on an average 750,000l. a. year; while Mr. Markham gives the export of specie from Peru alone, in 1859, as amounting to only 200,000l., of which a portion consisted of coined money and plate. Peru is nevertheless still eminently rich in the precious metals, and good government is alone wanted to develop its vast mining capabilities. The mines of Guantajaya, in the province of Terapaca, have been called the Potosi of the South; but these workings of almost fabulous richness which have produced masses of pure silver weighing 800lbs., are in the midst of a desert. The only material for building is salt, water is only to be obtained from springs twenty miles distant, and not a blade of grass grows in the district. These mines are still worked, but in so imperfect a manner that long periods elapse in which no discoveries are made; yet masses of pure silver, fifteen yards long and a yard thick, occasionally reward the perseverance of the explorer. Malte Brun makes the extraordinary statement that great wealth had been obtained in the Pampa de Novar, where there was a piece of ground half a square league in size, from which, when the turf was removed, immense quantities of sulphuretted and native silver were found in filaments adhering to the roots of the grass. The mines of Huanlaxaya are also occasioually very productive. They are situate in a mountain hollow 2800 feet above the sea. The silver is found in nodules called 'papas,' weighing from 160 ounces to 900 lbs., and imbedded in a stratum of limestone fragments and dried mud. The mining operations appear to be of the most unscientific and improvident character. No regular plan of working by shafts and adits is adopted, the only system being to extract as little rock as possible; and instead of bringing it, in miners' language, to grass,' to leave it in the mine, to the hindrance of further explorations. Long periods thus necessarily elapse between discoveries, and mines which once employed four thousand persons now scarcely give occupation to one hundred and fifty. Careless and unscientific working is the only cause of the present poverty of the Peruvian silver-mines. Mr. Bollaert, himself a practical miner, states that he could indicate spots where rich veins would certainly be cut, and probably great discoveries made. The mountains surrounding Lake Titicaca are well known to be rich in silver. The mines of Santa Rosa and El Carmen produced 600,000l. in ten years of very inefficient working; and a single 'boya' in another mine, three yards in length and twenty in height, produced 100,0007.* Peru is probably still as rich in minerals as when the Spaniards took possession of the country. The Eastern Andes everywhere abound with veins of quartz impregnated with gold; and Mr. Markham, in his recent travels, saw many such, of which the yield would undoubtedly, he thinks, be considerable. The streams in the province of Carabaya are all rich in gold, in the form both of dust and nuggets. The river Challuma and its tributaries are, and have been for ages, auriferous to a great extent, but the approaches are rugged, and almost impracticable for the transport of machinery. The great mountain Ilimani was struck by lightning in 1681, and a portion of its apex thrown down, from which large quantities of gold were obtained. All the rivers which flow into the Amazon from the Andes are auriferous-many in a high degree; and it was doubtless chiefly from these streams that the ancient Peruvians obtained their immense supplies of gold. In forming an estimate of the wealth of Peru, it is proper to take into consideration the hoards of gold that are confidently believed still to exist in the country, secreted in ravines very difficult of approach or buried in places known only to the Indians. Great numbers of vases and other ornaments in the precious metals were hidden at the period of the conquest. Strange stories are related of Indians becoming possessed of gold in an unaccountable manner, and of their mysterious periodical visits to unknown localities among the mountains. Peru is not known to be rich in gems. The diamond has not been found there; but at the time of the Spanish conquest emeralds were abundant, and many derived from Peru are now among the crown jewels of Spain. It is doubtful whether any have been found in modern times within the present limits of the republic, but in the opinion of mineralogists the gem exists there. Emeralds were freely used in the Incarial times. The river Esmeraldas, in Equador, is so called from the quarries on its banks formerly rich in these crystals. The mines are believed to have been worked successfully by the Jesuits, and stones as large as pigeons'-eggs were casionally met with. Sky-blue as well as green emeralds have also been found in the Cordillera of Cubillan; and the Spaniards are said to have collected such vast quantities of these gems on their march to Quito that they were obliged to throw them away in order to disencumber themselves. The geological position of the emerald being *Bollaert, p. 240. OC |