80 THE CHOLOS. Chap. V. 



into topos (5000 square yards), each valued at a thousand 

 dollars, and every six weeks a harvest of salitre (carbonate 

 of soda) is reaped. From Calera there is a fine view of the 

 green valley of Yui-a, and of a grand range of porphyritic 

 mountains. 



The population of the campina and town of Arequipa is 

 reckoned at about 50,000.* The place was first colonized by 

 the luca Mayta, who established a body of mitimaes or colo- 

 nists there, from the village of Cavanilla, near Puno, and 

 ordained that they should remain and settle there. Hence 

 the name " Ari quepai/,^' "Yes ! remain :" or more probably 

 it is derived from the words " Aric quepa," "Behind the sharp 

 peak." These mitimaes were the ancestors of the present 

 Indians, or Cholos as they are called, and were established in 

 villages in the campina, occupied in the cultivation of maize ; 

 but the city is purely Spanish, and was founded by Pizarro in 

 1540, at which time the stone-quarries first began to be 

 worked. 



The Cholos or Indians of Arequipa have long been 

 notorious for their turbulence, and for the eagerness with 

 which they join any attempt at revolution, apparently from 

 mere love of excitement. They are addicted to the use of 

 cliicha — a fermented liquor made from Indian corn — to such 

 an extent that it is said that nearly all the maize which is 

 raised in the campina is used in brewing this liquor ; mider 

 the influence of which the Cholos have established the fame 

 of Arequipa as the grand focus of Peruvian revolutions. 

 But this habit of drinking to excess has rendered the 

 Cholos, though capable of fighting desperately behind Malls, 

 quite worthless as soldiers in a campaign ; and their habit 

 of body becomes so bad that a slight wound is frequently 

 fatal. 



8 M Peru en 1860, por Alfredo Leubel. 



