CuAP. XYIII. POPULATION. 291 



lias been established. Pernicious as centralization always is 

 when carried too far in old and densely-peopled countries, 

 it is an absolute necessity in young states, with a small 

 population thinly scattered over a vast extent of country. 

 The distant inaccessible districts do not possess the materials 

 for self-government within themselves, and necessarily depend 

 for their prosperity and advancement on the capital. 



Peru has only once been subjected to the federal expe- 

 riment, and she has not suffered so much from internal 

 dissensions as the unfortunate countries above mentioned. 

 She holds a central position amongst the South American re- 

 publics, not so cruelly torn by anarchy as Mexico on the one 

 hand, and not enjoying so good and settled a government as 

 Chile on the other. Her people too are perhaps inferior in 

 capacity and mental endowments to the Chilians and the 

 natives of New Granada, but infinitely superior to those of 

 Central America and Mexico. She may, therefore, be taken 

 as an average example of these haK Spanish, half Indian 

 states ; and as such I will proceed to give some account of 

 her people, her government, and her material resources. 



The population of Peru, by the latest accounts, was 1,880,000 

 souls : the whole of the labom-ing classes in the interior being 

 pure Indians ; the artizans and shopkeeping classes in the 

 tovms partly Indians and partly half-castes or mestizos ; the 

 lower orders on the coast being negi-os, or zambos, a caste 

 between negros and Indians, Avith some imported Chinese; 

 and the upper classes being chiefly of Spanish descent with a 

 slight dash of Indian blood, many nearly or quite half-castes, 

 not a few pure Indian, and an exceedmgly small proportion 

 of pm-e Spanish descent.^ The men of Indian extraction 

 display perhaps more energy and equal abUity with their 



3 In Spanish times there were 83 | and 1 viscount. The descendants of 

 " titulos de Castilla " in Peru, consist- | several of these nohlemen still reside 

 ing of 1 duke, 46 marquises, 35 counts, j on their estates in Peru. 



U 2 



