140 SUGAR AND MAIZE. [1839 



not grow beyond the height of 3500 feet above the level of 

 the sea. Cotton and maize are grown in almost every part of 

 the country. The former ranks next to the Sea Island and 

 Egyptian,in the English market, and, except in the province 

 of Fiura, is all short-stapled. Maize has formed, from time 

 immemorial, the chief farinaceous food of the Peruvians. 



i re are three sorts of this grain: the mdis morocho has 

 ill bright yellow or reddish brown kernels ; the mdis ama- 

 .- . llo is large, shaped like a heart, solid and opaque ; and the 

 third species, the mdis amarillo de changay, resembles the 

 second variety, but is a square-shaped grain, semi-transparent, 

 and having an elongated head. The maize stalks are from 

 eight to nine feet high and bear very large ears. 



The sugar plantations lie on the sea-coast or along the 

 banks of rivers, below the altitude of 4500 feet above the sea 

 level, on the western declivity of the Andes, and extending as 

 high as 6000 feet on the eastern declivity. In former times, 

 the ereole, or West India cane, was the species most culti- 

 vated ; but, latterly, the Otaheitan cane has been introduced, 

 and the product is both more abundant in quantity, and much 

 better in quality. The sugar mills are very rude structures. 

 In the valley of Iiuanueo, which contains the largest and 

 finest plantations, the cane is passed through wooden presses 

 with brass rollers. These clumsy machines are called Lrapi- 

 ches or igenios ; they are mostly worked by oxen or mules; 

 though, upon the largest plantations, water power is some- 

 times employed, and steam-engines have recently, in a few 

 instances, been put up. A portion of the expressed cane juice 

 is distilled into rum, or used for making a liquor called gu&~ 

 rapo ; the remainder is boiled down into sirup, or simmered 

 till it forms cakes (chanedcas) of brown sugar. From the 

 latter, loaves of white sugar are made, by purification, which 

 usually weigh about two arrobas* The Peruvian sugar 

 exceeds the Havana in sweetness, but its color is not so pure, 

 nor is its grain as fine. 



* The arroba'm Spanish America, as in old Spain, contains twenty-five pounds 

 avoirdupois. 



