: 
j 
| 
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF ORTON AND PERU. 227 
Americans and English. One hundred thousand Chinese have been introduced 
into Peru under a contract for eight and six years of labor. There are now 
nearly 80,000 free Chinamen who speak the Spanish language, have adopted the 
western dress and, marrying native women, have settled down as permanent citi- 
zens of Peru. As slaves,they are worked in sugar cane and rice fields—and free 
they are keepers of shops and eating houses, and toil upon railroads and in mines. 
Outside the large cities, the only public eating houses are the Chinese fondas, 
and these are patronized by all classes. 
The material resources of Peru and Bolivia, are enormous. The fertilizer, 
guano, is found on the rocky promontories and isiands along the entire Peruvian 
coast. The government receives $36 per ton. It is the revenue from guano, 
without one cent of tax from the people, that has enabled Peru, under the 
direction of Henry Meiggs, to perform those gigantic feats of railway construc- 
tion. Millions of tons have been exported, and many millions of tons remain. 
From the earliest date, Peru and Bolivia have been famed for their mineral 
wealth. Gold has been found in many provinces. In the districts of Carabaya 
and ‘Tipuhuani, mines have been worked ever since the Conquest. Silver is most 
abundant—probably not wanting in any one of 1,500 miles of mountain range. 
The silver mines of Hualguayoc, Chilete, Cerro de Pasco, of Puno and others 
were worked before the Conquest, are still worked, but in the most primitive 
manner, without machinery—the metal bearing rock being carried to the surface 
in rawhides on the backs of Indians; each vein being abandoned when covered 
with water. Quicksilver, copper, lead, zinc, are also mined. 
Sugar cane comes to maturity in sixteen months, producing eight to ten an- 
nual crops without replanting. For the production of sugar on the coast of 
Peru, there are no seasons—the sugar mill never stops. During 365 days of the 
year the cane is cut, when the field first harvested, is again ready for the knife. 
The mills produce many tons of sugar each day—there are two of the capacity 
of sixty tons each twenty-four hours.. The profits on sugar production are no- 
where so large as in Peru. 
It is claimed that Peruvian cotton commands a higher price in the London 
markets than the American, and that the climate, soil and system of irrigation 
produce fine crops of Sea Island cotton. 
Near Pacasmayo, in northern Peru, grows a variety of coffee of such de- 
licious aroma that the entire yield was sold at $1 per pound from the haciendas. 
If there is any specific for pulmonary consumption, it is the climate of Peru. 
A carefully kept record of the temperature four times each day for four years at 
_ our hospital in Pacasmayo, gave us 86° for the hottest, and 5814° Fahrenheit for 
the coldest day—a variation of only 28° in four years. In many confined val- 
leys from middle of December till middle of March—the three months of their 
summer—the mercury rises to a hundred and over, but all enjoy nine months of 
our May and September. I believe that every consumptive who possesses 
strength sufficient to travel, can find somewhere, within one hundred miles, be- 
IV—15 
