ascertained, there can be little doubt that valuable discoveries of the gem would reward a diligent search. All accounts agree in the fact of its former abundance, particularly in the State of Equador, which once formed an integral part of Peru. Humboldt informs us that emeralds are found in the neighbourhood of Santa Fé de Bogotà in veins traversing clay-slate, hornblende-slate, and granite, and that they are also associated with calcareous spar and iron pyrites in veins of black carbonaceous limestone. The deep green of the emerald arises from the presence of protoxide of iron, to which common bottle-glass owes its tint.

The general calmness of the atmosphere in Peru is in singular contrast with the frequent disturbances of the earth. On the coast the only thunder ever heard is from below. At Lima slight shocks of earthquake are felt daily, but they are as little regarded as hailstorms in England. Earthquakes are of rare occurrence in the districts of active volcanoes, but in other portions of the country these appalling phenomena are both frequent and violent. Humboldt mentions places in Peru where the earth has rocked incessantly for days together. A volcanic mountain, Jorullo, after ninety days of subterranean thundering, rose in one night 1580 feet above the surrounding level. No familiarity with these awful occurrences cau ever reconcile the human mind to them. From early childhood, Humboldt remarks, we are habituated to the contrast between the mobile element water and the immobility of the earth; but when suddenly the ground begins to rock, the illusion of the whole of our earlier life is annihilated in an instant; we feel ourselves transported to the realm, and made subject to the empire, of destructive, unknown powers, and can no longer trust the earth on which we tread.' A late traveller in Peru has recorded the feelings of one who was long resident in the region which is most severely afflicted with earthquakes: 'I have faced,' he said, the bayonet, and stood before the cannon's mouth, and I cannot say altogether.without the sensation of fear-that was the fear of human enemies; and the prospect of death is generally accompanied by a hope of the future-but during a severe earthquake the reason is subdued, and my predominant feeling was, that we were utterly lost.

It seemed as if the Almighty had abandoned His creatures and his works, both material and immaterial, and that nature was about to expire.'t In the region of the Peruvian Andes there is an alternation on a grand

* On the 29th September, 1759. Hill's Journey to Cuzco.'

scale of districts of active and dormant vol canoes, but some of the latter have not shown signs of activity for three centuries. Sir Charles Lyell conceives it possible that different sets of vents may thus reciprocally relieve each other in providing an escape for the imprisoned gases and lava.* Few volcanoes in the region of the Peruvian Andes have in recent times been known to pour out lava, but they occasionally freely eject vapour and scoriæ. It is remarkable that the shocks of earthquakes in Peru are most violent which proceed from the direction of the sea. There are indications of the regular recurrence of volcanic movements, which point to some general cause of the phenomena which is at present inscrutable. Thus Lima was violently shaken by an earthquake on the 17th of June, 1578; and again on the same day of the same month in 1678; and the eruptions of Coseguina, in the years 1709 and 1809, are the only two recorded of that volcano previous to the one of 1835. The whole ridge of the Cordilleras fronting the Pacific is studded with volcanic peaks, most of them in a state of habitual activity, over a range of sixteen degrees of latitude. Not less than twenty-four distinct volcanoes-of which thirteen have been seen in eruptionare reckoned in this group. Aconcagua, east of Valparaiso, lat. 32° 39', said to be above 23,000 feet high and therefore one of the most lofty mountains in South America, is still active. The city of Mendoza, the capital of the province of that name belonging to the Argentine Confederation, and seated on the eastern slope of the Cordillera, was destroyed in March, 1861, by a terrific earthquake, in which ten thousand persons perished. This convulsion was local only, the western side of the chain being undisturbed. The volcanoes of Peru rise from a lofty plateau to heights of from 17,000 to 20,000 feet. The most tremendous earthquake which Peru is known to have experienced was that of 1746, when two hundred shocks were felt in twenty-four hours; the city of Lima was totally destroyed, and a portion of the coast near Callao was converted into a bay. Of the four thousand inhabitants of Lima only two hundred survived. Earthquakes are now of almost daily occurrence in other parts of Peru, and the rise of the coast-line along the shores of the Pacific shows that an elevatory action is still going on, the same probably that in the course of centuries has effected a change of climate in the region of ancient civilisation bordering on Lake Titicaca. The

queathed to her colonies a full measure of her haughtiness and pride, they have certainly engrafted, on these failings some vices peculiarly their own. Several of the old colonies of Spain have, however, advanced beyond the mother country in religion. The Roman Catholic bigotry of the Peninsula is not reflected in all the republics of the New World. There have been in Peru indications even of an approaching revolt against the authority of the See of Rome. A distinguished ecclesiastic published in 1856 a remarkable work in six volumes, entitled 'A Defence of Government against the Pretensions of the Court of Rome,' for which he was excommunicated. The Peruvian Government immediately put itself in opposition to the Papacy, and prohibited the execution of the sentence. The Papal decree was replied to by a manifesto which, for cogent reasoning, bold language, and stirring eloquence, is said not to have been surpassed by any production of the Reformation. It inculcates the political subordination of bishops to the State, and the submission of the clergy to the laws; suggests the abolition of all priestly immunities, and the imposition of restraints upon monastic and conventual bodies; affirms the right of marriage for priests, and earnestly recommends toleration. These opinions, which have been openly countenanced by the Government, must, we think, be the precursors of an ecclesiastical reform which will eventually detach Peru from the Papacy, as they have already shaken its hold on the popular faith. The courageous divine, who has acquired great celebrity in Peru by his defiance of Rome, had been in a declining state of health before the arrival of the bull of excommunication. The thunder of the Vatican had the effect of a beneficial electric shock upon his system, imparting an energy to which it had been long a stranger, and of which Peru is likely to feel the lasting ef fects.*

The position and prospects of the Indian race in Peru is a subject of much interest. Their character has doubtless in some degree suffered from the effects of long-continued slavery and oppression, but they assuredly do not deserve the reproach of being wholly incapable of civilisation. Recent travellers, on the contrary, express their belief that everything in Peru is gradually tending to a native political preponderance. The Creole population does not increase; the Indian population, on the contrary, is making rapid

* Dr. Vigil is the ecclesiastic referred to. He is the superintendent of the National Library at Lima.

strides; and the people are recovering from the long-continued stupor and despair into which, as a nation, they were thrown by the conquest of their country. The numbers of each class are thus estimated :-Whites, 240,000; Mestizos and dark, 300,000; Negroes, 40,000; Indians, 1,620,000. The natives therefore possess an immense numerical preponderance in Peru, and constitute in fact almost the entire labouring class. No great immigration from Europe has yet counterbalanced the Indian element in South America, and that half of the continent differs materially from the other in its social state. Although fearfully reduced by centuries of oppression, the Indians greatly outnumber the descendants of their conquerors; while in the north they have succumbed before European civilisation until their number has become insignificant, and their political importance inappreciable. In one portion of Peru a tribe exists which has strictly preserved its independence. The Indians of Peru might be mistaken on a first impression for a spiritless and inoffensive race, out of which all energy had long been crushed by a merciless tyranny, as if hope had departed and ambition had become extinct; but under this calm and impassive exterior are concealed smouldering passions which have more than once broken out into frenzied excitement, and produced deeds of heroic daring not surpassed in the annals of any country or race. The Indian is slow in his movements, but persevering in whatever he undertakes. He performs the longest journeys with troops of mules laden with the produce of his land, and, with a little parched maize and the solace of his indispensable coca,* undergoes incredi ble fatigue; while the women remain at home superintending the cultivation of the soil, and tending the herds of llamas, alpacas, and sheep. The habitations are of rough stone, and seldom consist of more than one apartment, without windows; and at one end is an elevated part on which the family sleep, on llama and sheep skins. The dress of the men generally is a coarse cotton shirt, woollen breeches and jacket, stockings without feet, a large hat, and high sandals. A long strip of cotton hangs loosely round the neck to protect it either from cold or intense heat; and a waistband of various colours, and a poncho of blue or red, complete a not unpicturesque costume. The women wear a long cotton garment, over which is a woollen dress, a long mantle fastened with pins of silver, sandals, a necklace of coloured beads, to

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which is often appended a small cross of gold, and occasionally a silver spoon. They marry young, in accordance with the policy of their ancient government, and generally lead irreproachable lives. Many poble families, descended from the Incas, are found in different parts of the country, and their genealogies are as strictly and proudly preserved as those of any European nobility. In the unavoidable absence of a priest, a cacique will not hesitate to officiate in some of the services of the Church; and one who was long resident in Peru, records the impression made upon him by hearing a chief on one of the feast days reading prayers to an assembled congregation, while the sun was sinking behind the mountains, and filling with its rich golden rays the interior of the chapel. The people are governed by alcaldes elected by themselves, and no tax-gatherer has yet ventured to enter their country. Four years after the establishment of the Republic they issued from their mountain fastnesses and inflicted a severe defeat on a regiment of infantry. Apprehensions are entertained that the Indians inay regain their independence and endeavour to establish some modified form of their ancient government. They are known to cling to their political traditions, and the anniversary of the death of the last of their kings is still celebrated by a rude tragedy which stirs their nature to its profoundest depths and produces the most passionate emotions. Great intellectual progress has, moreover, been made by the Indians since the Spaniards evacuated Peru. Formerly they were not permitted to enter the colleges; they are now encouraged to do so, and it is not improbable that they will eventually prove themselves as much superior to the Creoles in practical ability as they are believed to be in character and in morals. They have acquired considerable military experience during the many revolutions in which they were compelled to take a part; some retain the arms with which they fought, and implements of war are believed to be hidden among the mountains, where materials for the manufacture of gunpowder abound. Their courage is unquestionable. The Cholos of Arequipa in 1858 defended a position against the disciplined troops of Castilla for upwards of eight months, and their desperate valour during the assault of the town was as remarkable as their previous extraordinary endurance. They were in the pay of Vivanco, the rival of Castilla; and out of 600 rank and file, 540 fell at the barricades.*

The Indians certainly entertain a hope of ultimately freeing themselves from the foreign domination to which they have been subjected for centuries. It has been ascertained, says Mr. Bollaert, that there is an alliance between the Indians speaking Quichua, called Los Gentiles by the Spaniards, and the more barbarous tribes living in the fastnesses of the primeval forests; and if they should persevere in their avowed intention to establish a government of their own, he thinks that they will find the enterprise every day more easy. Nor is this anticipation of a renovated nationality confined to Peru. It pervades Bolivia, Ecuador, Chili, and all the other states which once constituted the great Peruvian monarchy. The idea of a political revival seems to be ever present to their. minds; and the reverence which they entertain for the burial-places of their ancestors, and for the spots where their leaders fell in the many noble but unfortunate struggles for their country, proves that they preserve unbroken the memories of the past; nor are the bloody deeds of the Pizarros and Almagros, and others whose names are embalmed in immortal hate, likely ever to be forgotten. Although to a great extent Christianized, they retain many observances connected with their former faith, and there are still tribes which venerate the mountains on which their forefathers worshipped, and bow to the rising sun. One of the most interesting races with which we are acquainted, therefore, instead of exhibiting only the fading remains of a society sinking amidst storms, overthrown and shattered by overwhelming catastrophes,* is presented to us in an attitude of expectation. It will not be one of the least of the triumphs of Christianity if it should have succeeded in eradicating from the hearts of a sensitive and deeply injured race the desire of retaliation and revenge. The Indians have certainly been treated with more justice and humanity by their Republican rulers than they ever were by the Government of Spain. The capitation tax has been repealed; there is no system of forced labour; and the only practical grievance is the conscription. Villages are often surrounded by soldiers, and all the able-bodied men are driven off to serve in the ranks, in open violation of the consti

with their llamas laden with silky vicuña wool; the former are a turbulent, excitable race, who will stamina and unable to endure fatigue; the latter fight desperately behind walls, but are without are a patient, long-suffering people, capable of extraordinary endurance, and are in the habit of marching distances which appear incredible to those whose experience is confined to the movements of European troops.'-Markham's Travels in Peru.

* Humboldt.