Description of the temple. 



PERU. 



Commerce and trade of Peru. 



Cl 



easy and good, on the inside of the island, I sent 

 the tender Flying-Fish thither, with Dr. Pickering 

 and Lieutenant Underwood. 



Pachacamac is one of the most interesting spots 

 on this part of the coast, although it is said it will 

 not compare with many others in various parts of 

 the country, especially at Cusco. 



They left Callao on the afternoon of the 28th of 

 June, and were at anchor about midnight abreast 

 of the place. At daylight the surf was found so 

 heavy as to render it dangerous to land in the 

 whale-boat. By the perseverance of the officers, a 

 raft was formed of the India-rubber mattrasses and 

 oars ; two balsas were also provided. Lieutenant 

 Underwood made the first attempt, and paddled 

 himself into the rollers, the first one of which threw 

 him and the balsas end over end. Shortly after, the 

 raft was seen bottom up, the oar broken, and the 

 fragments sticking up in various directions; but he 

 was missing. He soon, however, made his appear- 

 ance at some distance, and just as he reached the 

 raft, a second sea broke over him, and he again 

 disappeared, apparently much exhausted. When 

 the third roller broke over him, he was considered 

 for a few moments as lost ; and it was no small 

 relief to see him crawling from the water up on the 

 beach, a short time afterwards. The raft was now 

 pulled back to the tender by the line. In conse- 

 quence of the ill success of this experiment, it was 

 determined to make a trial in the whale-boat, which 

 succeeded without accident. Dr. Pickering and 

 Lieutenant Underwood now proceeded to the tem- 

 ple. At the base of the hills, they found a few 

 cabins of Indians, who stated that they had not 

 chosen the proper place for landing. 



The temple of Pachacamac, or castle, as it is 

 called by the Indians, is on the summit of a hill, 

 with three terraces ; the view of it from the north 

 is somewhat like that of the pyramid of Cholula, 

 given by Humboldt, except that the flanks were 

 perpendicular. 



The whole height of the hill is two hundred and 

 fifty feet, that of the mason- work, eighty; the form 

 is rectangular, the base being five hundred by four 

 hundred feet. At the south-eastern extremity, the 

 three distinct terraces are not so perceptible, and 

 the declivity is more gentle. The walls, where great 

 strength was required to support the earth, were 

 built of unhewn square blocks of rock; these were 

 cased with sun-dried brick (adobes), which were 

 covered with a coating of clay or plaster, and 

 stained or painted of a reddish colour. 



A range of square brick pilasters projected from 

 the uppermost wall, facing the sea, evidently be- 

 longing originally to the interior of a large apart- 

 ment. These pilasters gave it the aspect of an 

 ! Egyptian structure. In no other Peruvian antiqui- 

 ! ties have pilasters been seen by us. On one of the 

 northern terraces were also remains of apartments; 

 here the brick appeared more friable, owing to a 

 greater proportion of sand ; where they retained 

 their shape, their dimensions were nine inches in 

 width by six inches deep, varying in height from 

 nine inches to two feet; and they were laid so as to 

 break joint, though not always in a workmanlike 

 manner. 



The remains of the town occupy the same undu- 

 lating ground, of less elevation, a quarter of a mile 

 to the northward. This also forms a rectangle, one- 

 fifth by one-third of a mile in size ; through the 



middle runs lengthwise a straight street, twenty 

 feet in width. The walls of some of the ruins are 

 thirty feet high, and cross each other at right 

 angles. The buildings were apparently connected 

 together, except where the streets intervened. The 

 larger areas were again divided by thinner parti- 

 tions, and one of them was observed to contain four 

 rectangular pits, the plastering of which appeared 

 quite fresh. 



No traces of doors or windows towards the 

 streets could be discovered, nor indeed any where 

 else. The walls were exclusively of sun-dried 

 brick, and their direction, north-east and south- 

 west, the same as those of the temple, which 

 fronted the sea. 



Some graves were observed to the southward 

 of the temple, but the principal burying-ground 

 was between the temple and town. Some of the 

 graves were rectangular pits, lined with a dry wall 

 of stone, and covered with layers of reeds and 

 canes, on which the earth was filled in to the depth 

 of a foot or more, so as to be even with the surface. 

 The skulls brought from this place were of various 

 characters ; the majority of them presented the 

 vertical elevation, or raised occiput, the usual cha- 

 racteristic of the ancient Peruvians, while others 

 had the forehead and top of the head depressed. 

 Eight of these were obtained, and are now deposited 

 at Washington. The bodies were found enveloped 

 in cloth of various qualities, and a variety in its 

 colours still existed. 



Various utensils and other articles were found, 

 which seemed to denote the occupation of the indi- 

 vidual : wooden needles and weaving utensils; net- 

 ting made in the usual style ; a sling ; cordage of 

 different kinds ; a sort of coarse basket; fragments 

 of pottery, and plated stirrups. They also found 

 various vegetable substances : husks of Indian 

 corn, with ears of two varieties, one with the grain 

 slightly pointed, the other the short and black 

 variety, which is still very commonly cultivated ; 

 cotton seeds ; small bunches of wool; gourd-shells, 

 with a square hole cut out, precisely as is done at 

 present. These furnished evidence of the style of 

 the articles manufactured before the arrival of the 

 Spaniards, and of the cultivation of the vegetable 

 products; when to these we add the native tuberous 

 roots (among them the potatoe) cultivated in the 

 mountains, and the animals found domesticated, 

 viz. the llama, dog, and Guinea-pig, and the know- 

 ledge of at least one metal, we may judge what has 

 since been acquired. 



The embarkation of the party was attended with 

 risk, but they all got on board the Flying-Fish 

 without accident, and in a few hours they again 

 reached the anchorage at Callao. 



The results of my inquiries into the commerce 

 and trade of Peru, are by no means satisfactory. 

 The vacillating policy pursued towards the trade 

 has been most extraordinary ; and some of those 

 engaged in commercial pursuits have frequently 

 been enabled, through the necessities of the govern- 

 ment, to reap many advantages. Much illicit trade 

 was carried on, even before the revolution, under 

 the Spanish rule. The restriction laid by its autho- 

 rity on commerce, kept the prices of imports high, 

 whilst the low value of exports, left to the arbitrary 

 demand of monopolists, prevented or diminished 

 the means of these countries to pay for what they 

 wanted from abroad. 



