PERU. 



SITUATION AND EXTENT. 

 M«le»i Degrees. Sq. Miles, 



Length 1800) b 5 The equator and 25 South lat.J - 



Breadth 500$ Detween ^ 60 and 81 West long. 5 9 '°> 00c 



Boundaries. ...Bounded by Terra Ffrmaon the north ; by Amazo- 

 nia and Paraguay on the east ; by Chili on the south ; and by the Pa- 

 cific Ocean on the west. 



Divisions. Provinces. Chief Towns. 



The northern division J Quito .... 5Q ult0 - 

 3 ^ <> Payta. 



1 fLima, 76° 49' West 



The middle division V- Lima, or Los Reyes < long. 12° 11' S» lat. 



J (_Cusco and Callao. 



The southern division > Los Charcos 



( Porco. 



Mountains. ...Peru is separated from Amazonia and Paraguay by a 

 chain of mountains the most extensive, and of which some of the 

 summits are the highest in the world. These are the Cordellira de 

 los Andes, or chain of the Andes, of which an account has already 

 been given in the general description of America. 



Rivers. ...The rivers Granada, or Cagdalena, Oronoque, Amazon, 

 or Plate, rise in the Andes. Many other rivers rise also in the An- 

 des, and fall into the Pacific Ocean. 



Metals, minerals.. ..There are many gold mines in the northern 

 part, not far from Lima. Silver too is produced in great abundance 

 in various provinces ; but the old mines are constantly decaying, and 

 new ones daily opened. The towns shift with the mines. That of 

 Potosi, when the silver there was found at the easiest expence (for 

 now having gone so deep it is not so easily brought up) contained 

 90,000 souls, Spaniards and Indians, of which the latter were six to 

 one. Peru is likewise the only part of Spanish America which pro- 

 duces quicksilver, an article of immense value, considering the vari- 

 ous purposes to which it is applied, and especially the purification of 

 gold and silver. The principal mine of this singular metal is at a 

 place called Guancavelica, discovered in 1567, where it is found in a 

 whitish mass, resembling brick ill burned. The substance is vola- 

 tilised by fire, and received in steam by a combination of glass ves- 

 sels, in which it condenses by means of a little water at the bottom 

 of each vessel, and forms a pure heavy liquid. In Peru likewise is 



