458 PERU. 



pleasant, and, considering the latitude, its temperature is cool. The river which crosses the 

 city is pure and transparent, watering the whole valley. Tt is 4 miles long by 2 broad, and is 

 surrounded by brick v^alls with ramparts and bastions. The streets are handsome and straight, 

 but the houses, which are built chiefly of wood, are generally only one story high, on account 

 of the frequent earthquakes to which they are exposed. Like all the other Spanish chies, Lima 

 has a great square in the centre, where all the principal streets terminate, and where stands the 

 vice-regal and archiepiscopal palaces, the cathedral, the university, the treasury, the arsenal, 

 and the town hall. Trees are planted all round the houses. The churches and convents are 

 extremely rich. The population of Lima is estimated at 80,000 ; of which number, above 20,000 

 are whites. This city is visited by frequent and tremendous earthquakes, which occasion great 

 destruction to property and life. The last was in 1828, and though only of 30 or 40 seconds 

 duration, it destroyed and injured houses and public edifices to the amount of 6,000,000 of dol- 

 lars. About 30 persons perished. Its port, Callao, the strongest fortress and principal sea- 

 port of Peru, contains 3,000 inhabitants. It is connected with Lima by a magnificent road. 



Cuzco may be considered as the inland capital of Peru. It is a very ancient city, and boasts 

 of having had its origin from the first of the Incas. Situated amid the Andes, on the skirts 

 of various mountains, it is watered by the little river Guatenay. In size it is nearly equal to Lima, 

 and it has a population of more than 40,000 souls. It has a college ; a nunnery on a spot where 

 the virgins of the sun formerly lived ; and a large, rich, and handsome cathedral. The houses 

 are mostly built of stone, and covered with very red tiles. Cuzco was regarded by the natives 

 as a sacred city, and the celebrated temple of the sun, with its gorgeous decorations of gold and 

 silver, was one of the richest in the world. Two immense causeways, 1,500 miles in length, 

 led from the city to Quito, and their remains still exist. Iliiamanga, a commercial and manu- 

 facturing city, with 25,000 inhabitants, and Huancavelica, with a population of 12,000, near 

 which are the rich quicksilver mines, now obstructed by rubbish, are the principal places in the 

 department of Ayacucho, which derives its name from a little village, where the Spanish forces 

 were defeated by the Colombian general Sucre, in 1824. 



Arequipa is a maritime city, which has been 6 times destroyed, and as often rebuilt ; and 

 yet, previous to the late revolution, it was said to contain 40,000 inhabitants. The cause of 

 its misfortunes is its vicinity to the vast volcano Omati, a central peak of a whole group of 

 volcanoes. 



Among the other towns worthy of note, are Piwra, with 7,000 inhabitants ; Truxillo, which 

 has suffered much from earthquakes, and has now a population of about 5,800 ; Ica, or Val- 

 verde, with 6,000 inhabitants, and trading in glass, wine, and brandy ; Gumalies, where there 

 are manufactures of serges, baizes, and other stuffs, and also a silver mine ; Puno and Tarma. 



3. Jlgriculture. Generally speaking, agriculture is in a wretched state. So languid and 

 backward is it on the coast, that Lima and many other towns along shore depend on Chili for 

 their provisions. This has been ever since the great earthquake of 1793, which was followed 

 by such sterility of the valleys of Lower Peru, that the people in many places ceased to culti- 

 vate them. The country has since in a measure recovered its fertility ; but till some aheration 

 is made in the mode of cultivation, and greater facilities of communication between the interior 

 and coast are introduced, there is no hope of any great progress in agriculture. 



4. Commerce. Peru trades with Europe, the East Indies, coastwise with Mexico, Guate- 

 mala, and Chili, and over land with the provinces of Rio de la Plata, including Buenos Ayres, 

 &c. Its exports are chiefly gold and silver, wine and brandy, sugar, Jesuit's bark, sa.t, the fine 

 wool of the vicunna, or sheep of the Andes, which is made into beautiful shawls, coarse wool- 

 ens, and other manufactures of little value. It receives in return, European goods, live stock, 

 provisions, tallow, cacao, Paraguay tea, coca leaf, indigo, timber, cordage, pitch, copper, and 

 iron. Its commerce ranges under three heads : that by land, with the Rio de la Plata provinces ; 

 that by sea, with the other colonies ; and that with Europe. 



The official accounts of the Peruvian commerce for 1825, valued the total importations of 

 that year at 15,541,750 francs. Owing to the diversity of the climate in the vice-royalty of 

 Peru, all kinds of European manufacttu-ed goods find a ready sale. Those from England are 

 mostly preferred to any other. 



5. Inhabitants, &c. The Peruvians, like the other people of South America, are com- 

 posed of various races, the most numerous being the Creoles, of European descent, and the 

 Indians. The Indians are broken and debased, and seldom cheerful. There are many tribes. 

 The Carapachas are said by Girval to rival the Circassians in beauty ; but from the guttural 



