14 



A PERUVIAN MUMMY. 



independence of the country might have been in- 

 definitely retarded. 



On the 1 3th of December, I went to the palace 

 to breakfast with the Protector, and to see a 

 curious mummy or preserved figure, which had 

 been brought the day before from a Peruvian 

 village to the northward of Lima, The figure 

 was that of a man seated on the ground with 

 the knees almost touching his chin, the elbows 

 pressed to the sides, and the hands clasping his 

 cheek-bones. The mouth was half open, exposing 

 a double row of fine teeth. The body, though 

 shrivelled up in a remarkable manner, had all 

 the appearance of a man, the skin being entire 

 except on one shoulder. In the countenance 

 there was an expression of agony very distinctly 

 marked. The tradition with respect to this and 

 other similar bodies is, that, at the time of the 

 conquest, many of the Incas and their families 

 were persecuted to such a degree, that they actu- 

 ally allowed themselves to be buried alive rather 

 than submit to the fate with which the Spaniards 

 threatened them. They have generally been found 

 in the posture above described, in pits dug more 

 than twelve feet deep in the sand ; whereas the 

 bodies of persons known to have died a natural 

 death, are invariably discovered in the regular 

 burying-places of the Indians, stretched out at 

 full length. There was seated near the same 

 spot a female figure with a child in her arms. 

 The female had crumbled into dust on exposure 

 to the air, but the child, which was shown to us, 

 was entire. It was wrapped in a cotton cloth 

 woven very neatly, and composed of a variety of 

 brilliant colours, and quite fresh. Parts of the 

 clothes also which the female figure had worn were 

 equally perfect, and the fibres quite strong. These 

 bodies were dug up in a part of the country where 

 rain never falls, and where the sand, consequently, 

 is so perfectly dry as to cause an absorption of 

 moisture so rapid, that putrefaction does not take 

 place. 



The male figure was sent to England in the 

 Conway, and is now in the British Museum. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Arrest of Don Pedro Abadia, an Old Spaniard.— His Cha- 

 racter, Influence, and Reverse of Fortune.— Fluctuating 

 Nature of Public Sentiment exhibited at the Theatre.— 

 Order of the Sun established. 



About this time a great sensation was excited 

 among the English, as well as the majority of the 

 inhabitants of Lima, by the arrest and imprison- 

 ment of Don Pedro Abadia, an Old Spaniard, 

 who had possessed for many years the highest 

 influence over every class of society ; a power 

 which he owed, not so much to his extensive 

 wealth, as to his talents, knowledge, and amiable 

 disposition. As a man of business he held the 

 highest reputation for probity, liberality, and per- 

 severance. Of his enterprise it will be sufficient 

 to state that he was the first man in South Ame- 

 rica who sent to England for steam-engines ; 

 a i h1 he had actually erected them at one of the 

 mines in the interior, at the distance of several 

 hundred mil's from the capital, lie was a most 

 accomplished traveller, had visited great part of 



the world, and spoke and wrote English, and 

 several other European languages, with great 

 facility and correctness. Long before the attack 

 was made on Lima, he had, in vain, exerted all 

 his influence to prevail upon the government to 

 open the port to free trade ; which measure, he 

 promised, would not only win the confidence and 

 hearty support of the people, but would supply 

 the treasury with means of resisting the enemy, 

 should an invasion be threatened. His advice, 

 however, was overruled by the body of merchants, 

 who possessed a close monopoly of the commerce 

 of Peru, and who could not be induced by any 

 considerations to yield the smallest portion of 

 their exclusive privileges. It signified nothing 

 to prove to them that, without commerce, there 

 could be no receipt of duties, and without receipts, 

 the treasury must remain in a state inadequate to 

 provide means of resistance, when the contest should 

 arise. All such patriotic views were absorbed in 

 the selfishness of a monopoly which could bear no 

 modification : the united influence of these mer- 

 chants prevailed, and the measure proposed by 

 this sagacious individual was not adopted till 

 long after it was too late — till Lord Cochrane 

 had blockaded the port, and put an end to com- 

 merce in that quarter, and San Martin had landed 

 with his army to instigate the oppressed popula- 

 tion to assert their right to the advantages enjoyed 

 by every other part of South America. Thus 

 these bigoted and obstinate people, by acting 

 under the influence of deep-rooted prejudices, and 

 narrow views of the real principles of commerce, 

 not only paved the way for the conquest of the 

 colony, but in the end brought total ruin upon 

 themselves. 



But although this able and enlightened Spaniard's 

 influence was unequal to the task of successfully 

 opposing the monopolists, and of affording govern- 

 ment the pecuniary means of defending the coun- 

 try, it will easily be understood that a man of his 

 extensive views, attainments, and wealth, must 

 have possessed great consequence in a society like 

 that of Lima. His influence, indeed, extended 

 from the palace to the lowest cottage : he was 

 the companion and the counsellor of the highest ; 

 the comforter and protector of the most wretched; 

 and he was the friend of all strangers, to whom 

 his hospitable doors were always open. Not a 

 mortal in Lima could act without his advice ; a 

 word or two with him was essential to every 

 project, great or small ; his house was constantly 

 besieged by crowds, and whenever he walked 

 along the streets he was arrested at every corner 

 by supplicants. 



With all this real importance, he had not a spark 

 of presumption : in his manners he was simple and 

 unaffected ; always in good-humour ; always saw 

 the bright side of things ; made the most of the 

 good, and promised that the bad would mend : 

 his heart was open to every generous impression, 

 and it was impossible not to feel in his presence 

 something of that involuntary, but entire respect, 

 which men pay to taste and excellence in the other 

 sex. 



But when San Martin entered Lima, a new 

 order of things took place. That vigorous chief 

 wanted no adviser ; he directed everything him- 

 self, and with the decision of a soldier, admitted 

 no appeals ; he swept whole classes away ; estab- 



