144 



CLIZA FAIR TRADE. 



at what is called the weekly fair. Six hundred dollars worth of chiclia 

 have been sold in a day at these fairs. A foreigner once had this liquor 

 prepared by pounding the corn between stones, and* offered it to. some 

 of the country ladies to drink. An old chicha toper, after tasting it, 

 said, "for her part, she much preferred chicha made pf chewed corn, 

 which gave it a different flavor from that made by the stones, and 

 she was fond of good chicha." 



The merchants make their remittances to the sea-coast by putting 

 twenty-two hundred dollars in silver in bags well covered with leather, 

 forty-four hundred dollars being a mule load. The arriero signs the 

 bill of lading and arms himself for the robbers. Sixteen dollars per mule 

 load is paid for delivering it at Tacna, in Peru, near Arica. The trip 

 is made in fourteen days. It is strange that these trains are seldom 

 robbed among the uninhabited regions of the Andes and Cordilleras, 

 where the arriero sleeps upon the mountain-top or in the deep gorge 

 by himself. 



The trip from Cochabamba to Cobija is made in forty days. The 

 distance is two hundred and nineteen leagues. 



Since 1830, the government have thought it policy to debase their 

 coins about twenty-six per cent, worse than ordinary dollar standard ; 

 sometimes they have exceeded this standard. Their doubloons of 1827 

 to 1836 contain eight hundred and seventy parts of fine gold in one thou- 

 sand. The dollars and portions from 1827 to 1840 are from six hun- 

 dred and seventy to nine hundred and three fine in the one thousand, 

 showing very great irregularities. 



The consumption of their cotton cloths and silks increases as we move 

 east, and where the climate is warmer. The Indian girls are seam- 

 stresses here, and are very handy workers with the needle. Wine, rum, 

 and dried fish are imported from Peru, for which wheat, maize, and 

 soap are given in exchange, making up the balance of trade with Peru 

 in silver. 



The inland situation of these people places them so far from the 

 markets of other countries, that they are obliged to supply their own 

 wants very much, and we find various descriptions of industry. Weavers 

 produce beautiful cotton and woollen cloths ; hatters form, hats of the 

 vicuna wool equal to well-taught workmen. We found them much 

 more comfortable than our own. The women cut out and make dresses, 

 and tailors abound. Blacksmiths are in greater numbers, and carpen- 

 ters' shops, a rare establishment on the mountains, indicate our close 

 proximity to the forests. Cabinet-makers supply the city' with' much 

 furniture, although the deficiency is still apparent. W"e have seen a train 

 of jackasses entering the city loaded with cane-bottomed chairs manu- 



