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the mountain-streams were made of one large tree, flanked by two smaller ones. If our mules had not understood their business, and been as active and sure-footed as goats, we certainly could not have ridden. Mine had no bit, not having been accustomed to one, but she climbed up and jumped down with most extraordinary agility and sagacity. Her business was to go, mine to hold on!'-Maw, pp. 76, 77.

One other extract will suffice. After passing through the Montaña, or wooded country, they came to a part of the road called the Ventuña (the window), the rock being nearly perpendicular, with a few narrow trenches cut in it for the mules' feet.

'We all dismounted, and scrambled down in the best manner we could. How the mules got down I am at this moment at a loss to conceive; the only one that I saw, for I got out of the way as quickly as possible, was my own. I had given her to one of the arrieros to hold until I was clear below, but he let her go rather too soon, and she tumbled past, still keeping her feet like a cat.

I do not hesitate to say of this passage across the Montaña, that, had I not been a witness to the contrary, I could scarcely have believed it possible for any animal to have carried a human being over it alive; and I think any other person who had seen the track would be of the same opinion. The road appeared to me to be badly made, worse kept, and absurdly chosen, as it varied repeatedly in its direction, even as far as from north to south, whilst, as far as I could judge, it passed over every ridge in the country. This remark, though not to so great an extent, I conceive to be generally applicable to the roads throughout Peru. Instead of following valleys or levels that occasionally lead to the eastward, and afterwards making northing along the summits of some of the most even ridges, they wind about in almost all directions, whilst scarcely a ridge is allowed to escape crossing. This I suppose to proceed from two causes-first, the true positions of the cities not being known; secondly, that the Incas, having no cattle but llamas, and being accustomed to, and living on the mountains, did not feel the inconvenience of these kind of roads; and the Indians, who were employed to make the roads in the time of the Spaniards, not being properly superintended, naturally kept much to their old system.'-Maw, pp. 79, 80.

We confess, therefore, we see nothing to be gained to the commerce or correspondence of transalpine Peru, by the very nearest approach they may ever be able to make to the great trunk of the Amazon-nay, not even for the valuable products of the mines on this side the Cordilleras, the conveyance of which by the rivers would only abridge the time from Lima by twenty days. But if the time by the mountainous and river route from Lima be nearly the double of that round Cape Horn, what must the return be to Lima, against the streams, and up the more precipitous sides of the Cordilleras? we suppose nearly quadruple.

We have said nothing yet of the state of society, of the character

and

and condition, the habits and manners of the dwellers of the mountains and valleys of the Cordilleras. The Peruvian peasantry of these wild and romantic parts, whether of pure Spanish blood, now rarely to be found, or the more numerous Meztizos, are generally poor, but kind and attentive to the wants of travellers and strangers, and always ready to supply them to the utmost of their power. Their only wealth is in mules and horses of a small breed, and a few sheep; cows are kept chiefly for the supply of animal food, and various articles of clothing; milk is very rarely to be had, and butter and cheese are almost unknown. The standing dish is chupé, being bits of flesh of beasts, birds, or fishes, stewed up with different vegetables. Indian corn or maize is in general use: and though wheat is grown, wheaten bread is rarely met with; manioca is a favourite vegetable, and prepared in various ways. Their dwellings are of the most humble kind, sometimes collected into small villages, or pueblos, frequently quite alone, or accompanied only by a miserable Indian hut or two, whose inmates assist the peasant in his occupations, with little if any remuneration beyond a morsel of food.

The character and manners of these descendants of the ancient Peruvians are not such as to inspire much respect. When collected in pueblos, where there is a padré, they are attentive enough to their religious formalities, though they comprehend little of the faith they profess; they are obedient to his instructions, and not difficult to manage; but when they assemble to celebrate one of the numerous holidays and festivals of the Romish church, they terminate the day by amusing themselves with dancing and buffoonery, which end almost always, by the whole party, men and women, getting beastly drunk, with a fermented liquor made from Indian corn, called chica, or with another kind, from the sugarcane, named hurapo. The leaves of the yuca supply them with another intoxicating beverage: these are first chewed by the women till reduced to a pulp; they then spit it out into a large jar, and leave it to ferment, and after two or three days drink it mixed with water, when it does its work, as Robinson Crusoe says of his glass of rum, to their exceeding refreshment.' . Both sexes,' says Mr. Smyth, are very much addicted to intoxication; scarcely a day passes without a drinking-bout in some of the houses, the preparation for which employs the women for two or three days in chewing yuca, Indian corn, or plantains, from which the masata is to be made. They seat themselves round a trough, called a canoe, with a pile of the boiled vegetables between each two, and continue at their filthy work for hours together.' This nasty practice is common to many of the Pacific islands, where it is called kiva. The coca leaf (a species, we believe, of pepper),

pepper), chewed with lime, as the areca nut is in the East Indies, is almost in universal use. Mr. Smyth says:—

'The Indians of Panao are generally short, stout made, and well proportioned; their complexion is swarthy, their cheek-bones high, and noses aquiline, with large black eyes, and fine teeth. They suffer their hair to grow long behind, and plait it in one or two long tails. Their dress is commonly an old white felt hat, of any shape, with a white cotton shirt without a collar; sometimes with a blue jacket, but more generally without; blue short trowsers or breeches, without stockings, and hide sandals, made in a very rough manner. They ornament their waist with a girdle of cotton of various colours, and very like those which are found in the tombs of the ancient Peruvians: to this is suspended a bag for coca, and a small gourd containing lime. They are sullen and silent, except when under the influence of liquor, when they become loquacious in the extreme. They are deceitful, and have been taught by their forefathers to place no confidence in a white man; so that the more kind and indulgent he is, the more suspicious they are of his designs.'-Smyth, pp. 107, 108.

He adds,

'Their amusements are dancing, buffoonery, and gambling with cards and dice: in the latter they have an unfortunate example set them by their superiors. We were informed that a whimsical superstitious custom prevails, when a man is obliged to make a distant journey, and cannot take his wife with him. In order to ascertain her constancy during his absence, he places a quantity of a certain grass in a hole in the rock-unknown, of course, to the lady-when he sets out; and if, on his return, he finds it withered, the delinquency of the wife is considered as proved, and she is severely chastised. One of these curious tests of conjugal fidelity was pointed out to us.'-ibid. pp. 110, 111.

At one village the Indians were dancing and singing, and making a prodigious uproar :

In the evening the noise of drums and pipes, the bawling of drunken Indians, the squalling of their children, and barking of their dogs, produced such an uproar, that we found rest would be hopeless, and entreated the alcalde to endeavour to disperse our kind friends; which, after some time, he consented to do, and we retired, but were soon disturbed by the news that our steersman had cut off half of one of his wife's ears in a state of intoxication, she being as drunk as her husband. Mr. Lowe dressed the wound as well as he could, and the next day she was at her usual occupation, and neither party seemed to think that anything out of the common way had happened.'-ibid. pp. 138, 139.

With all their failings in this respect, which may well be pardoned, considering their position and circumstances, they are a friendly, well-disposed, and kind-hearted people. The meeting with Padre Plaza, the patriarch of Sarayacu, at Santa Catalina, is thus described :

'He is a rather short and fat person, between sixty and seventy years

of

of age, with a good-humoured countenance, and no sooner had we disengaged ourselves from his arms, than the Indian women began, but with more fervour, a similar welcome: not content with kissing and hugging, they dragged us, with their arms entwined about our persons, to their houses, expressing themselves all the time delighted to see us, in the only Spanish word they knew, "Amigo."-Smyth, p. 180.

The people themselves are next described :—

'The men were dressed in a long frock, like that worn by carters in England; the women wear a short petticoat, barely reaching to the knees, and a loose covering for the breast: none of them were handsome, but still there was something agreeable in their countenances, though their long flowing hair and painted faces and bodies gave an extravagant and savage wildness to their appearance.

The symmetry of their figures, however, is exquisite; for, although of small stature, they are beautifully proportioned, and their arms, legs, ankles, and feet are most delicately formed. They wear ornaments of beads round their necks, wrists, and ankles; most of the women have a hole bored through the septum of the nose, whence a small piece of pearl-shell, or a large bead, is suspended. Both sexes stain the teeth black with a plant called "yanamuco," which they say preserves them from decay; but, from what we saw at this place, it seemed to have a contrary effect.'-ibid. pp. 182, 183.

It would seem, from the account given of this part of South America, that this immense plain of Santo Sacramento possesses all the advantages that contribute to make life desirable-save and except society.

'The vegetable kingdom, which has hitherto been unexplored by botanists, rivals in beauty and fragrance that of any other part of the world. The climate seems very much like that of the island of Madeira. During our stay at Sarayacu, we registered the thermometer three times a day, and its minimum and maximum were 75° and 85° of Fahrenheit, and the sun at this time passed over our zenith. Padre Plaza told us that, in the dry season-that is, in June, July, and August—the temperature is extremely even, and the heat by no means oppressive, as it is allayed by refreshing breezes, which generally blow in the contrary direction to the current of the river.'-ibid. p. 202.

The good father Plaza, who has so long presided over the missions of Sarayacu, complained much, and with great reason, of the abandoned state of these missions: for nine years, he said, he had endeavoured to rouse the attention of the republic, without any notice being taken of his representations, in which he strongly depicted the danger of a relapse, on the part of the native Indians, to their former state of barbarism; he said, that he himself, during the above interval, had not received any compensation whatever, and that, to support himself and the mission, he had been compelled to enter into a trade with Tabatinga, the frontier Brazilian town on the Amazon. He stated that the Pampa del

Sacramento

Sacramento was neglected and abandoned to the unconverted Indians-though the two continents of America do not contain another country so fertile and so favourably situated as this extensive plain, whose dimensions are not less than 300 miles from north to south, and from 40 to 100 from east to west; that it lies between the four rivers, the Huallaga, the Ucayali, the Marañon, and the Pachitea-that two of these, the Marañon and Ucayali, are at all times navigable for vessels of large burden, and the other two for small craft and boats; that the indigenous productions of the Pampa are most valuable, the woods abounding with gums and resins of various kinds, balsam capivi, vanilla, cocoa, sarsaparilla; that they abound also with the tapir the wild hog, the cassowary, and many other beasts and birds, useful to man; and the rivers swarm with a great variety of fish, with the common seal, the manatee, and with turtle. Of the native tribes of Indians, consisting of the Panos, Setebos, Conibos, Shipebos, and Sencis, he has collected at his mission a mixture of about 2000 individuals.

But we are told of another bos, near the port of Mayro, on the Pachitea, the cannibals called Cashibos,-of whom we have a word or two to say. Mr. Smyth observes that these poor people have the reputation of being cannibals, and that the fact seems to be well established; and how? First, all the neighbouring Indians who make war on them, agree in the assertion; and, secondly, the Padre told him that he once had a Cashibo boy, who, on some occasion, expressed a great desire to eat one of his companions; observing, when remonstrated with, Why not? he is very good to eat.' Mr. Maw too, gives a sort of countenance to the existence of the practice of cannibalism—and he clearly proves one of a not less atrocious character. On the banks of the Marañon, where it flows through the Brazilian dominions, there are scattered in the woods villages inhabited by a class of lawless ruffians, known under the denomination of brancos (whites), in which are included all those who claim connexion by birth or by descent with the blood of Europe. These fellows are stated to be in the constant practice of going into the woods to catch Indians and sell them into slavery. At Egas, Mr. Maw was told that, for this purpose, two brancos were then away in the woods trying their fortune.' In the event, he adds, of not being fortunate in the chase, they purchase these poor creatures for a trifle from such petty Indian chiefs as may have prisoners to dispose of, and who keep them in corals, or high uncovered enclosures, to kill and eat, or to exchange for goods.' And Mr. Maw further says, that, incredible as these accounts may appear, we had them too repeatedly

VOL. LVII. NO. CXIII.

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