50 



Population of Peru. Newspapers. 

 Earthquakes at Lima. 



PERU. 



Want of moisture. Rain Fire not used 

 often. The river Rimac. 



riages and at the dinner-table. It does not seem 

 to be considered by any one as unpleasant, and 

 foreigners have adopted the custom. 



There does not appear to exist any accurate 

 account of the population of Peru ; but it is gene- 

 rally believed to have decreased, particularly as 

 regards the whites and negi'oes. The best informa- 

 tion gives but little over a million inhabitants, viz. 

 about one hundred and twenty-five thousand whites; 

 natives and cholos, eight hundred thousand ; with 

 ninety thousand negroes and ranches, of whom 

 about thirty-five thousand are slaves. This does 

 not vary much from the number given by the geo- 

 graphies forty years ago. The country appears, 

 from all accounts, not only to have decreased in 

 population, but to have diminished in wealth and 

 productiveness. A much less proportion of the soil 

 is now cultivated than formerly under the " children 

 of the sun." 



There are half a dozen newspapers published in 

 Lima, two of which are issued daily. They are, 

 like the Spanish, small sheets. They have a good 

 deal of control over public opinion. Few or no ad- 

 vertisements are seen in them. These are deemed 

 unnecessary in Lima, and all the amusements, such 

 as the theatre, cock-fighting, &c., are placarded on 

 the portals. A high price is asked for the news- 

 papers. 



Most of the buildings in Lima have suffered 

 more or less from earthquakes. It was the season 

 of earthquakes during our stay, and three were felt. 

 Some of our gentlemen complained of a sickening 

 sensation during the first. It did not, however, do 

 much damage. The second took place on the 5th 

 of June, and was sensibly felt ; a third was expe- 

 rienced on the 10th of June, with a continued 

 shaking of the walls and floors. The last was 

 reported as having been more severe to the north- 

 ward. 



With the name of Peru the want of moisture is 

 generally associated. The general impression is 

 that it never rains there. This, however, is far 

 from being strictly true, except in certain parts of 

 it. Were it not, however, for irrigation by the 

 mountain streams, a great portion of Peru would 

 certainly become nearly a desert. Indeed, the up- 

 land is so now, not yielding any herbage whatever 

 until the pasture region of the Cordilleras is reached. 

 We are not to imagine, however, that the atmos- 

 phere is very clear, or that sunshine always pre- 

 vails. It is extremely difficult to get a clear day. 

 Father Feiiillee has put upon record, more than a 

 century ago, that the heavens were generally ob- 

 scured. I can bear testimony to the truth of this 

 remark, for although a glimpse of the sun was 

 usually had some time during the day, yet it was 



almost as difficult to get equal altitudes at Callao 

 during our stay as it was at Terra del Fuego. 



The dew (aliruizo) of Lima is never so great as 

 to produce running water, yet it is more like rain 

 than a Scotch mist. 



The peculiarity of there being no rain, has been 

 accounted for in several ways, but not to me satis- 

 factorily. The prevailing cold and dry winds from 

 the southward sweep over the western shores of 

 the continent; having a great capacity for moisture, 

 they absorb it as they advance to the northward, 

 from every thing. On reaching the latitude of 12 

 S., they cease, and having become saturated, now 

 rise to a sufficient height, where they are condensed 

 by the cold strata, and again deposited on the 

 mountains in almost constant rains. This will ac- 

 count for the aridity in the high Cordilleras of 

 Chili, as well as for the existence of the Desert of 

 Atacama, the want of rain on the coast of Upper 

 Peru ; and at the same time, for the moisture of 

 the high Cordilleras of Peru, which will be shortly 

 spoken of. It will be remembered that our parties 

 on the Cordilleras of Chili found the aridity to 

 increase on ascending, to the very edge of the per- 

 petual snow, and all the plants were of a thorny 

 character. 



The records of Lima mention the falling of rain 

 only four times in the eighteenth century, and the 

 occurrence of thunder and lightning an equal num- 

 ber of times. But this applies to a small part of 

 Peru only, namely, the country bordering the coast, 

 some fifty or sixty miles in width around Lima. It 

 will be seen that our party who visited the interior, 

 when at the height of ten thousand feet, entered a 

 region subject to rain, and on the crest of the 

 mountains the soil was kept perfectly moist by the 

 frequent snows and rain. 



Fire is not used often, but from the continual 

 dampness there is a cold and clammy feeling, that 

 is exceedingly uncomfortable and prejudicial to 

 health. Lima has certainly the reputation of being 

 a healthy place how obtained I know not but it 

 certainly does not deserve it. The interments have 

 annually averaged over three thousand five hun- 

 dred, in a population amounting by the best accounts 

 to no more than forty-five thousand. Many of these 

 deaths are those of strangers, and the climate has 

 always been futal to the Indians. 



The Rimac derives its waters exclusively from 

 the snows of the Cordilleras. It is a mountain tor- 

 rent throughout its whole course. The quantity of 

 water in it is small. The width at its mouth is 

 about thirty feet, and one foot deep. It has not 

 sufficient force to break a passage through the 

 beach to the sea, and the water filters through the 

 pebbly soil. 



