INTENDENTE OF POZUZU. 



109 



tabardillo. Pleurisies are said to be cured by taking an infusion of 

 mullaca, an herb which grows in the neighborhood. It has very small 

 leaves, and gives a small, round, red fruit. 



There is no cultivation in this neighborhood, with the exception of a 

 little barley, which gives no grain, but is cut for fodder. The market, 

 however, is well supplied from Huanuco, and the neighboring valleys. 

 Expenses of living are great, particularly where articles of luxury from 

 the coast are used. 



July 12. — I visited some of the haciendas for grinding the ores. 

 These mills are also rude. A horizontal water-wheel turns an upright 

 axis, which passes up through a hole in the centre of the lower stone. 

 The upper stone is bolted to the side of the axis, and is carried round 

 on its edge upon the lower one. A very small stream of water trickles 

 continually on the stones, and carries off the ground ore into a receptacle 

 below, prepared for it, where the water drains off, and leaves the harina 

 to be carried to the circo. A pair of stones will grind nearly a caxon 

 a day. A stone of granite, nine feet in diameter, and twenty inches 

 thick, costs, delivered, one hundred and thirty-five dollars. It will wear 

 away in six or seven months so as to be unfit for an upper stone ; it 

 then answers for a lower one. 



I had a visit from an enthusiastic old gentleman, the Intendente of 

 Pozuzu, who says that he is about to memorialize Congress for funds 

 and assistance to carry on a work which he has himself commenced — 

 that is, the opening of a road from the Cerro direct to Pozuzu, without 

 taking the roundabout way by Huanuco. He says that he is prac- 

 tically acquainted with the ground ; that it is nearly all pampa, or plain ; 

 (people told us the same thing of the road between Tarma and Chan- 

 chamayo;) and that part of it is over a pajonal, or grassy plain, where 

 there will be no forest to clear. He says that when the road is opened 

 from the Cerro to Pozuzu, and thence to Mayro, (the head of naviga- 

 tion on the Pachitea,) communication may be had and burdens carried 

 between the Cerro and Mayro in four days ; also, that roads may run to 

 the southward from Pozuzu, over a plain, by which the commerce of 

 foreign countries, coming up the Amazon, may reach Tarma, Jauxa, 

 and all the towns of the Sierra. 



This is the day-dream of the Peruvians of that district. They know 

 the difficulties of the Cordillera passage, and look earnestly to the east- 

 ward for communication with the world. Though this gentleman is led 

 away by his enthusiasm, and probably misstates, yet I think he is in 

 the main correct; for between the Cerro and Mayro there is but one 

 range of the Andes to pass to arrive at the Montana, (as is also the case 



