734 



PERSIA. 



PERU. 



need only instruction to make good soldiers of 

 their men. The army is raised by conscription, 

 which falls very unequally on different districts 

 and tribes. The War-Office does not even 

 pretend to levy the troops in proportion to the 

 population of the different districts. Many 

 towns escape the conscription entirely. The 

 nomad tribes, which are without court influ- 

 ence, and are too poor to bribe the officials, are 

 required to furnish far more than their rightful 

 share. The men are supposed to be discharged 

 after a short terra of service, and replaced by 

 fresh annual contingents; but oftentimes the 

 discharge can only be obtained by bribery, and 

 many are kept in the service all their lives. 

 Their physique is excellent, their nature patient 

 and cheerful, and their disposition toward their 

 commanders obedient and tractable. Their 

 powers of marching are celebrated, but the 

 system wkich enables them to get over the 

 ground so rapidly is fatal to good discipline. 

 Most of the soldiers possess donkeys, which 

 they ride on the march, carrying also the arms 

 of their comrades who go on foot. They do 

 not form, or make any attempt to march in 

 order, but each one takes his own pace ; still, 

 by means of their beasts they accomplish a 

 longer march in a day than any infantry can 

 make on foot only. They wear a tunic of the 

 European pattern, and a black, lamb's-wool 

 busby r , with a brass ornament representing the 

 emblems of the lion and the sun. The effect 

 of the uniform is entirely destroyed, however, 

 by the long frocks which they generally wear 

 under the tunic, and the cloths wound around 

 their heads in the summer-time, on the top of 

 which they set their caps. They are partly 

 armed with breech-loading rifles, which have 

 been lately furnished ; but the majority carry 

 muzzle-loading, smooth-bore muskets, of French 

 make. The cavalry are equally wanting in order 

 and discipline, but adapted, if well led, for good 

 service of the irregular kind. They are mounted 

 on strong, stanch horses of all sizes. They are 

 uniformed in long, dark-blue frocks, sheep-skin 

 busbys, and brown-leather boots, reaching half- 

 way to the knee. They carry a rifle and a 

 saber, which is very much curved and has no 

 guard for the hand. The cartridges for their 

 carbines are carried in their brown-leather 

 belts. To the bridle is fastened a camel's-hair 

 rope, with an iron peg at the end, for picket- 

 ing. The artillery is the best disciplined branch 

 of the army. Their armament, however, is 

 defective, consisting mainly of old smooth-bore 

 nine-pound guns, though a considerable number 

 of Uchatius rifled cannon have recently been 

 imported. Not over 20,000 troops are kept un- 

 der arras, garrisoning the principal towns and 

 guarding frontier posts. The remainder are 

 with their flocks and herds, or engaging in 

 their agricultural or commercial occupations. 

 The pay is nominal and never reaches them. 

 Their rations are liberal, according to the regu- 

 lations, but usually there are no rations given 

 out at all. The soldiers are consequently 



driven, when not assigned to duty, to ply the 

 not very respectable trades of drug-selling and 

 usury, and even the sentries on guard have 

 little tables covered with wares which they sell 

 to passers-by. 



PERU (REPUBLICA DEL PEE*;). For details 

 concerning territorial division, area, popula- 

 tion, etc., reference may be made to the "An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia" for 1873, 1875, 1878, and to 

 the article BOLIVIA in the volume for 1879. 



The home of the ancient Incas, and after- 

 ward a Spanish viceroyalty, it was not until 

 1824 that Peru became an independent repub- 

 lic, although her declaration of independence 

 dates from July 28, 1821. By the terms of the 

 latest Constitution, proclaimed on August 31, 

 1867, and modeled after that of the United 

 States, the legislative power resides in a Sen- 

 ate, composed of two members from each prov- 

 ince ; and a House of Representatives, whose 

 members, at the rate of one for every 20,000 

 inhabitants, are nominated by the electoral 

 colleges of provinces and parishes. The pa- 

 rochial electoral colleges send deputies to the 

 provincial colleges, and these in turn send rep- 

 resentatives to Congress. In the session of 

 1876 there were 44 Senators, and the members 

 of the House of Representatives numbered 

 110. The executive power is vested in a 

 President, assisted by a Vice-President, both 

 elected by the people for a term of four years. 

 The last constitutional President was General 

 Ignacio Prado, who, despairing of a successful 

 resistance against the victorious Chilian in- 

 vader, left his country in December, 1879. 

 From that time until the fall of Lima, in Jan- 

 uary, 1881, the government was in the hands 

 of the Dictator, Don Nicolas de Pierola. After 

 the decisive battles of Chorrillos and Miraflores, 

 and the occupation of the capital by the Chi- 

 lian troops, Pierola fled to the mountains with 

 the debris of his army, and for several months 

 maintained a warlike attitude toward the con- 

 querors. 



In March a number of leading men of Lima 

 met in council, and elected, as Provisional 

 President, Sefior Don F. Garcia Calderon, with 

 a Cabinet composed of the following ministers: 

 Foreign Affairs, Senor Arenas ; Interior, Sefior 

 Torrico ; Finance, Sefior Elguera ; Justice, Se- 

 nor Paz Soldan; "War, Sefior Carillo. This 

 election was afterward ratified by a Congress 

 convened under the direction of the Chilian 

 commander-in-chief, at Chorrillos (July I0th). 

 But the end of the year found Peru in the de- 

 plorable situation of a country without a gov- 

 ernment of its own, without any regular armed 

 force by land or by sea, and deprived of the 

 chief sources of national income : President 

 Calderon deported to Chili ; the remnants of 

 the army scattered far and wide- in the train of 

 reckless guerrilla chiefs; the navy annihilated; 

 the nitrate and guano deposits in the posses- 

 sion of and controlled by the invader; and the 

 proceeds of the customs applied to support 

 the Chilian army of occupation. The peace 



