PERU. 



567 



by the slow motion of the pen. Dr. Perkins 

 early commenced reducing the modern Syriac 

 to a written form, and translating into it por- 

 tions of the Scriptures. In 1841 Dr. P. visited 

 this country, accompanied by Mar Yohannan, 

 the Nestorian bishop. In August of 1869, 

 wearied and worn by his labors, he came 

 home to die. 



PEED", a republic in South America. Pres- 

 ident, elected in 1868, Colonel Jose Balta. 

 Minister of the United States, General Alvin 

 P. Hovey (appointed in May, 1866). Area, 

 510,107 square miles; population, estimated in 

 1859 at 2,500,000. In 1868 the Ministers of 

 Government, Justice, and Foreign Affairs pre- 

 sented to Congress the following budget for 

 the next year: Government, $9,083,772.10; 

 Justice, $4,414,121.70; Foreign Affairs, $1,- 

 468,932.92. The national debt, on December 

 31, 1866, amounted to $50,140,621. The army, 

 in 1866, consisted of 10,608 men; the navy 

 consisted of 11 vessels, with 108 guns. The 

 merchant navy, in 1861, consisted of 110 sea- 

 going vessels, together of 24,234 tons. 



In the beginning of 1869, bills were passed 

 by the Peruvian Congress authorizing the 

 Government to issue bonds to the amount of 

 60,000,000 soles (one sole equal to $1.25), which 

 were to be applied to the construction of rail- 

 ways connecting the most important points 

 throughout the republic. 



In May, the republic recognized the insur- 

 gents of Cuba as a belligerent power, by the 

 following decree of her President : 



LIMA, May 13, 1869. 

 JOSE BALTA, Constitutional President of Peru : 



Whereas the insurrection in Cuba has for its object 

 the independence of the island, and that the bonds 

 being broken that bound Cuba to the Government of 

 Spain, there are two parties that carry on the war 

 with a political object and should be regarded by 

 other nations in a spirit consonant with international 

 right: 



That the Government and the people of Peru sym- 

 pathize with the noble cause proclaimed by the 

 Cubans; that the commander or the revolutionary 

 forces of Cuba has asked the recognition of his party 

 as belligerents : 



That Peru should recognize the political status of 

 the insurgents, not considering them as subjects of 

 a government actually at war with Peru, and without 

 prejudice to the manifestations that Peru may here- 

 after make in their behalf, I decree : 



1. That the Government of Peru recognizes as 

 belligerents the political party that is now struggling 

 for Cuban independence. 



2. The citizens, ships, and other appurtenances of 

 Cuba serving the cause of independence, shall be 

 considered as friends by Peru. 



The Minister of Foreign Affairs is charged with 

 the execution and circulation of this decree. 



JOSE BALTA. 

 J. A. BARBENECHEA. 



The Government took an important step 

 toward colonizing the Amazon region, by the 

 following liberal decree : 



The Government will concede a free passage to na- 

 tives of this country or to foreigners who may desire 

 to settle in the Amazon region. The local authorities 

 will distribute the public lands to the settlers, in 

 accordance with the laws of Peru. The Government 



will furnish to the immigrants, before commencing 

 their voyage, all the agricultural and other necessary 

 implements gratis, the local authorities supplying 

 them with seeds, etc. 



The pensioners of the state who may desire to 

 emigrate to the Amazon will, in addition to the 

 above-mentioned privileges, receive their pay in the 

 place of their settlement. The payments Avill be 

 made by the department treasuries, according to the 

 established custom. The government concedes a 

 monthly payment of eight soles for six months to the 

 foreign or Peruvian settlers, a sufficient time in which 

 to gather the first harvest. 



The prefects of departments will open a careful 

 register of the number and nationality of the settlers, 

 together with all important circumstances that may 

 occur. 



The emigrants oblige themselves to remain at least 

 four years in the Amazonian regions. Those who 

 receive money for their passage to the country of the 

 Amazon must commence their voyage within three 

 months from said receipt ; those who fail to do so 

 must return the passage-money and pay the expenses 

 they may have occasioned the Government. 



The opening up of the headlands of the 

 Amazon within the Peruvian territory is of 

 great prospective importance ; the most valu- 

 able drug and dyestuffs are found there ; timber 

 of great importance abounds ; there are open 

 valleys, well watered, having a virgin soil; any 

 climate, from the coldest to the torrid, can be 

 reached; and the country abounds in game, 

 while the numerous rivers are alive with fish. 

 The principal difficulty that of reaching this 

 region is now obviated by the decree, since 

 the Government will land the immigrants at 

 the place designated, and, besides, take care 

 of them until the time for gathering the first 

 crop has passed by. Add to these benefits the 

 fact that Brazil has declared the free naviga- 

 tion of her Amazonian waters, and Peru fol- 

 lowed her example, and that a railway is being 

 projected by the most influential and wealth- 

 iest men of the republic, to connect Lima with 

 the Peruvian head-waters of the King of 

 Eivers, thus offering two outlets for the prod- 

 ucts of the settlers. Protected by the Gov- 

 ernment forces, the other danger, of attacks 

 from the Indians, who are hostile and warlike, 

 is diminished. 



The agreements made December; 1868, be- 

 tween the United States minister, General 

 Hovey, and Antonio Barrenechea, Minister of 

 Foreign Relations, for the settlement of all 

 outstanding claims of the citizens of both coun- 

 tries, were ratified and exchanged in June. 



In the month of September, the fears of 

 great earthquakes (predicted by the German 

 savant, Falb) were increased by the alarming 

 accounts of earthquakes continually occurring 

 in the south, the extraordinary tidal pheno- 

 mena noticed along the coast, the sea rising 

 higher than for many years past, and the prox- 

 imity of the earth to those planets known to 

 exercise a most unpleasant influence upon it. 



Many families left the capital, and even the 

 merchants took their most valuable effects 

 from the bonded warehouses of the custom- 

 house ; fully 20,000 people left the two cities 

 of Lima and Callao. The earthquake period 



