436 The Andes and the Amazons. 



over 4,000,000 quintals ; but were the senseless restriction 

 on its exportation (25 cents per quintal) removed, the quan- 

 tity would be tripled. The demand is on the increase, yet 

 the supply exceeds the demand. It is mainly exported 

 from Iquiqne, where the price is about $2 50 a quintal ; 

 in Liverpool, £16 a ton. Mixed with guano, saliter (or 

 " caliche," as it is called in the crude state) is the best com- 

 post for cereals. In the deposit at La PeSa Grande, fossil 

 birds, with a flannngo-like bill, have been discovered nine 

 feet below the surface. Water is found in these pampas 

 180 feet below the surface. In this same region there is 

 an abundance of borax and nitre ; but they are scantily 

 worked. 



Sugar. — In many respects, this is the most important 

 production of Peru. All along the coast, wherever the 

 land is watered by streams or irrigation, the cane grows 

 luxuriantly (from fifteen to twenty feet), and yields 85 per 

 cent, of juice, having 12° or 15° Baume. The green and 

 ripe are seen in the same field; men are cutting at one 

 end, and planting at the other. The cane requires re- 

 planting but once in ten years, and gives a crop every 

 fourteen months. On large plantations, the manufacture 

 of sugar continues all the year round. It is exported 

 mainly from Eten (12,000 tons annually') — the richest 

 agricultural region in Northern Peru — Pacasmayo (800 

 tons), Malabrigo, Huanchaco, Chancay, and Pisco. The 

 bulk goes to Europe to be refined, under the name of chan- 

 cdca, or rapidura. A superior quality is grown in the in- 

 terior, at Abancay, which is sent to Bolivia. The annual 

 yield of sugar and spirits together, in all Peru, is esti- 

 mated at 20,000,000 soles. 



Coffee. — A small quantity is produced at Guadalupe, 

 near Pacasmayo, which is second to none in richness of 

 flavor. Its excellence is due to the fact that it is grown 



