CHAP. XXII. AMERICAN MINES. 155 



A division of Peru took place in this century, Peru. 

 when its extent was diminished, first, by the 

 separation from it of the province of Quito, 

 which was in 1718 allotted to the kingdom of 

 New Granada, now denominated Columbia; and, 

 secondly, by detaching from it, in the year 177$, 

 the districts of La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosi, 

 Oruro, Carangas, and some others, which were then 

 added to Buenos Ayres, on occasion of that pro- . 

 vince being erected into a viceroyalty. In viewing 

 the produce of the precious metals between the 

 years 1700 and 1810, it will be better to consi- 

 der them under the new than the old divisions. 

 Peru, Columbia, and Buenos Ayres, when here 

 spoken of, are intended to be distinguished as they 

 existed in the beginning of the present century, 

 and up to the time when the Spanish authority 

 began to be dissolved. 



In this diminished extent Peru, though it con- 

 tains avast surface 1 , has very few inhabitants : they 

 do not appear by any authentic census to exceed 

 one million one hundred thousand persons, among 

 whom are reckoned six hundred and eight thousand 

 Indians, two hundred and forty thousand Meestees, 

 and eighty thousand negroes ; and it is doubtful if 

 they have increased or diminished since that census 

 was taken in 1803 2 . 



1 The extent of Peru, as given by Argiielles in his Diccionarlo 

 de Hacienda, is three hundred and sixty thousand square 

 miles, or about seven times that of England. 



2 The census here mentioned is in the work entitled Guia 

 de Peru, por Hippolito Uanane, printed in Lima, 1804. 



