COMMERCE. 



95 



piastres ; and, in favour of that of Cuzco, two hundred and 

 fifty- eight thousand nine hundred and seventy-five piastres. 

 By this intercourse, more than a million of piastres, coined in 

 the mint of Potosi, are annually introduced, in aid of the 

 circulating specie, into the viceroyalty of Lima. 



As the provinces of La Sierra annexed to Buenos Ayres, are 

 the most abundant in mines, and on that account the most 

 populous and steril, it is necessary that the consumers, whose 

 numbers are very considerable, should be supplied with the 

 natural productions of the coast, the only part of the territory 

 of Peru where the lands can be profitably cultivated. Arequipa 

 is, by its proximity, the source of these supplies ; and Cuzco 

 administers, by its manufadlories, the baizes, and other arti- 

 cles of clothing which the population demands. It ought, 

 however, to be observed, that the augmented introdu6lion of 

 the manufadlures of Europe, by the river of La Plata, has 

 latterly occasioned this branch of commerce to decline in a 

 sensible manner, the camlets, fustians, second cloths, &c. 

 imported by this channel, having been sold at little more than 

 their prime cost, so as to have ruined, by their competition, 

 the baizes and stuffs of the manufacture of the country. 



With the other governments the commerce is maritime, and 

 is carried on from the port of Callao, in vessels of different 

 classes, chiefly belonging to inhabitants of Lima. The above 

 port is the rendezvous of from sixteen to seventeen thousand 

 tons of shipping*, five thousand tons of which are reserved 



for 



* The following is a correfl list of the vessels belonging to the port of Callao, 

 at the close of the year 1789. Galleons: San Miguel, of 1800 tons; Hercules, of 

 X200; Aguila, of lOOO; Neponiuceno, of 950 ; Piedad, of 900 j Barbara, of 



850; 



