8 



GENERAL IDEA OF PERU. 



protradlcd. Until about the year 1 780, it was a source of vast 

 riches to a commercial house to keep a vessel of its own em- 

 ployed in the coasting trade ; but in proportion as mercantile 

 speculations have been since multiplied, the price of freightage 

 has been lowered, and the profits divided among a greater 

 number of adventurers. 



The fishery is a branch of industry exclusively belonging to 

 the Indians situated on the coast ; but they are destitute of 

 skill, and, being at the same time unprovided with proper 

 boats and fit instruments, keep constantly within sight of the 

 coast, venturing but a very small distance to sea. Hence arise 

 the scarcity and dearness of fish, so often experienced at Lima, 

 and in all the places along the coast. A few years ago several 

 boats of a particular constru6lion were built, for the purpose 

 of fishing throughout the whole extent of these seas ; but this 

 scheme was shortly afterwards abandoned. The lakes of Peru 

 afford but few fishes. Were the Indian to resort to them, he 

 would not estimate the fruit of his labours : content with his 

 maize and his dried pease, he considers the multiplicity of 

 foods as a voluntary surrender of health and life. 



Agriculture might, generally speaking, be made to supply 

 our wants, insomuch that our subsistence ought not to be so 

 precarious as it is, nor so dependent on foreign aid. In the 

 vallies adjacent to the capital, wheat may be cultivated with 

 the greatest success. The bad, uneven roads, together with 

 the delays and expence of carriage, almost entirely obstrudl 

 the internal circulation of this kingdom, and are so many ob- 

 stacles in the way of agriculture. The valley of Jauja*, affords 



many 



• This valley, the circumfereoce of which is not more than seventeen leagues, is 



extremely 



