276 BOUGUER's voyage to PERU. 



had a contrary motion, inftead of defcending with an equal one. The lower fun, whofe ^ 

 light was not quite fo brilliant, but whofe edge was not lefs determined than the upper 

 one, was when 1 obferved it already divided by the horizon, and did not even form a 

 complete half-circle. It fet, and was immediately followed by the other, which did not 

 appear to me fubjed to any other refradtion than what I had already obferved, and for 

 fome days following continued to obferve. 



Mofl: part of the places we have mentioned are famous in the antient hiftory of Peru. 

 Manta, at the time of the Incas, was the metropolis of all this country, then funk in the 

 groffeft idolatry : the divinity they adored was competent to do them neither good nor 

 harm ; it was an emerald of the fize of an oflrich egg, to which they had confecrated a 

 temple, and attached a college of priefts to have charge of its worlhip. Every eme- 

 rald of an ordinary bignefs partook of a fmall portion of its divinity, were reputed her 

 daughters, and were often brought from a great diftance to be depofited in the 

 fame place, that they might have the fame homage rendered to them as the god- 

 defs their mother : this lafl was loft on the arrival of the Spaniards ; probably the 

 Indians carried it^away and concealed it. It is in vain they have fought for the mines 

 from whence thefe ftones are taken ; nor have they been more fuccefsful in the 

 perquifltions made in another neighbouring country, further north upon the fame 

 coaft, the name of which augurs a better profpe<5t. They pretend to be acquainted 

 in this province, which is that of the Emerald, with the Little Mountain, in which 

 are the richeft of thefe mines ; it is not farther than five leagues from the fea, and 

 is upon the fouth bank of the river of the fame name as the province. But, be- 

 fides the impenetrable nature of the country, almoft throughout caufed by the thick 

 woods, the Indians are wife enough not to be very aiding in thefe fort of refcarches : 

 they are fenfible, no doubt, fhould they fucceed, they would be opening a career 

 of labour painful to excefs, which themfelves alone would bear the weight, and with 

 but little portion of the profits. 



It is very probable this coaft, notwithftanding the relation of the firft travellers who 

 have gone over it to the contrary, have never been much peopled. The villages are 

 at ten or twelve leagues diftance from each other, and in many places twice that ; 

 and there are none of them fituated at a fhort diftance from the fea. We may 

 hazard an opinion that this has always been the fame : immenfe forefts are not 

 fituations calculated for the fubfiftence of a numerous population. It is a contradic- 

 tion, of which fome writers, otherwife very able, have not been fenfible ; who have 

 believed that the Gauls in the time of the Romans were more numerous than the 

 French are now, although all the country, almoft, was then covered with wood. 

 We are aware, befides, that we cannot, in the remote countriejs of which we are 

 now fpeaking, confider forefts as a new produftion : commerce alone, by the abun- 

 dance it draws fometimes from without, may furnifh the means of fubfiftence" to a 

 large population : but we are not left ignorant that there has ever been but little 

 communication between the coaft and the reft of the continent ; befides, as we fhall 

 not hefitate long to prove, the infpedion of thefe places confirms this to be very 

 probable. 



We muft not feek in thefe forefts for our oaks or elms, and other trees com- 

 monly found in our woods. There are, however, to be noticed fome which the 

 Spaniards, from fome vague relation, have taken for the French, or holm-oak. We 

 fee there alfo oranges, citrons, and olives : thefe trees have been carried there by the 

 Spaniards, for which reafon they cannot, any more than figs and pomegranates, be ex- 

 peded to be feen in America, but in cultivated fpots. We may even obferve of the 



ti olive. 



