PERU 



PERU 



caneers. To one soldier fell, as a spoil, the im- 

 mense gold image of the sun, with rays or 

 on tin wall of a great temple. This 

 was a large fortune, but in the madness of the 

 hour possessor gambled it away in a 



simile nicht. thus giving rise to the Spanish 

 proverbial >n. "to gamble away the sun 



before th- When the Inca empire was 



overthrown, the people were reduced to slu\ 

 to satisfy the conquerors' thirst for gold. 



W. II. Pn-n.n's Conquest oj Peru, an Ameri- 

 can classic, everywhere familiar, relates the 

 of the marvelous conquest in interesting 

 detail. 



The history and all the learning of the Inca 

 population were preserved among that strange 

 people, not by picture writing (as in Mexico), 

 but by memory, aided by a strange system of 

 quipus, or cords, variously knotted and colored. 

 Every knot, every color, meant something to be 

 remembered; and the quipu system of record- 

 ing events was more or less efficient for meeting 

 all the needs of that peculiar civilization. 



Cuzco, the capital of the Incas, has been ren- 

 dered somewhat familiar as a subject in many 

 lands through dramas portraying the conquest. 

 A classic drama bearing the title Ollanta, writ- 

 ten by a Spaniard in the seventeenth century 

 and translated into English by Sir Clements R. 

 Markham, came into world-wide fame in 1837. 

 It presents a vivid picture of the life of the 

 Quichuas, the Inca's people, in centuries long 

 past; and being based on facts carefully pre- 

 served by legend it lends interest to the ancient 

 palace (visited by tourists to-day) which sup- 

 plied some of its heroic scenes. Ollanta, the 

 mountain chit-Main. and('u-i. the Inca's daugh- 

 ter, are the hero and heroine. 



In the palace at Lima, the modern capital, 

 is an unbroken line of portraits of all the forty- 

 four Spanish rulers of Peru from Pizarro (1533) 

 to Pezuello (1824). with whom Spanish rule 

 ended. The line of viceroys included great and 

 good men. Gasca (in the middle part of the 

 sixteenth century), who abolished slavery, has 

 been compared to George Washington; and }o 

 the historian Prescott he seems to have been 

 raised up by Pro t his noble \\ 



Sonv :i conspicuous in IV- 



ruvian history. The Senora Maria de Escobar, 

 1'izarro's i ty of Trixillo, brought 



from Spain an ai for seed, 



and t aught the natives to use this cereal. She 

 Is to establish real homes of 

 culture. : in camps of ad 



Condessa (countess) 01 



of the sixteenth century viceroys, being cured 

 of a fever by a faithful native when her own 

 eminent physician despaired of her life, devoted 

 If to spreading abroad through the world 

 the blessing of the native medicine used in her 

 case, which was the bark of a tree called quino- 

 quino. Scienti.-t> have applied her name (some- 

 what altered) to the cinchona tree, and the 

 medicine is called quina, or quinine. 



The good work of faithful priests in moderat- 

 ing the rigors of rulers and in teaching the peo- 

 ple useful arts, investigating plant and animal 

 life, preserving the history and promoting i 

 good word and work, is lauded by Prescott, and 

 presents a model of Christian activity outside 

 of spiritual labors. 



The Spanish power in Peru, described above, 

 was finally overthrown in the Battle of Aya- 

 cucho, December 9, 1824, in which General 

 Sucre, an aid of Bolivar, commanded the pa- 

 triots. San Martin (of Argentina) and the 

 British admiral Lord Cochrane, in command of 

 the Chilean fleet, had rendered notable aid 

 two years before. H.M.S. 



Consult Wright's Old and New Peru; Martin's 

 Peru of the Twentieth Century. 



Related Subject*. The reader who Is inter- 

 ested in Peru is referred to the following articles 

 *n these volumes : 



CITIES 



Arequlpa Cuzco 



Callao Lima 



UNCLASSIFIED 



Andes Quinine 



Guano Titicaca, Lake 



Inca Vanadium 

 Pizarro. Francisco 



PERU, IND., the county seat of Miami 

 County and the commercial center for a large 

 agricultural section in the northern part of tin- 

 state. The city is situated about midway be- 

 ii the geographical center and the northern 

 border of Indiana, and is on the Wabash H. 

 M \teen miles east of Logansport and sev 

 four miles north of Indianapolis. It has the 

 service of the Wabash, the Lake Erie A West- 

 m and ill. Chesapeake A Ohio railways, and 

 interurlian lines operate to cities north, south. 

 east and west. The people arc chiefly engaged 

 in making foundry and machine-shop prod 

 automobiles and gaa engines; the shop* of the 

 railroads entering the city are located here, and 

 tin-re are bagging mills, carbon works and fur- 

 niture and wagon factories. The Wabash Rail- 

 way has a hospital m the , ity for its employees. 

 Peru was settled in 1827, was incorporated in 

 1834 and is governed under a charter of 1868. 



