the. Ancient Roads of the Pemvians. 57 



tion with the various nations inhabiting both sides of the Andes. 

 It is evident, from the size of these roads, and the precision 

 and care with which they have been formed, that their inter- 

 course with these nations must have been considerable ; and they 

 are calculated to convey to us high ideas of the energy and civi- 

 lization of the Indians of Peru, before they had any knowledge 

 of European costoms. At the present day, the Peruvian Indians 

 are so tenacious of the customs and habits of their ancestors, 

 that they generally prefer travelhng on foot to every other mode, 

 and thus, from constant habit, are capable of performing on foot 

 very long journeys in a short space of time, without exhaustion, 

 and with very little nourishment. To this cause may with jus- 

 tice be ascribed the circumstance of the Spanish officers, during 

 the late war of independence, having so effectually retained this 

 part of the new world under the dominion of the mother coun- 

 try ; almost the whole of their infantry was composed of these 

 Indians, with whom they were able to make such long and ra- 

 pid marches, as rendered them, in a mountainous country, su- 

 perior in point of mobility to any other force which could be 

 brought against them. Some of these Indians, who are called 

 Cholos by the people to the south, even now occasionally travel 

 on foot from Peru, along these mountain routes, to visit Chile, 

 Mendoza, and other places, where they carry on a petty traffic with 

 gums, and various vegetable products of their own country, and 

 a few articles of their own manufacture. This mountain route, 

 in a considerable part of its extent, is also at the present day 

 frequented by such of the inhabitants of Mendoza and San Juan 

 as convey troops of mules for sale, and carry brandies and other 

 articles of produce to Upper Peru, or Bolivia, as it is now called. 

 This road is considered by them to be the most direct, and pre- 

 ferable to any other, on account of the plentiful supply of water, 

 fire-wood, and pasture for their mules ; and it is probable that, 

 in time coming, it will be much frequented for similar purposes. 

 This route is traversed in various parts of its extent, by a num- 

 ber of passes across the Cordillera of the Andes, among which, 

 north of that of Uspallata, may be mentioned, the Pass of Los 

 Patos, celebrated as the road by which General San Martin 

 crossed with his army from Mendoza to Chile before the battle 

 of Chacabuco. Further to the north are situated the respective 



