176 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



General Santa Cruz was called by the constituent Congress to 

 be President, but a party, or rather a faction, forcibly elevated 

 General Don Pedro Blanco to the chief magistracy. On the 

 25th of December he made his public entry into Chuquisaca, 

 and the next day took the oath of office. On the thirty -first a 

 revolution took place, he was made prisoner, and on the morn- 

 ing of the 1st of January 1829, he was shot, after having been 

 President four days ! 



On the 14th of December 1828, Gamarra was received at 

 Lima, amidst the rejoicings of the people, who styled him the 

 Liberator of La Paz, and entertained him at the theatre, and 

 at the Plaza del Acho with a bull-bait. 



On the 15th of February 1829, (six weeks after the death 

 of General Blanco,) the Vice President dissolved the Conven- 

 tional Assembly, and declared all their acts to be void, leaving 

 the laws the same as at the adjournment of the constituent 

 Congress, and named again General Santa Cruz as the provi- 

 sional President. 



Since that period, Santa Cruz has been at the head of the 

 government, which for prosperity ranks amongst the foremost 

 of the South American republics. He has established schools, 

 increased commerce by relieving it of many heavy taxes, and 

 he has concluded a treaty of peace and commerce with Peru. 



The extensive territory of Bolivia is rich in mines of cop- 

 per and the precious metals ; the vine and olive flourish ; in 

 many places sugar cane grows wild, and rice and flax are pro- 

 duced in abundance. Peruvian bark and indigo are success- 

 fully cultivated ; and the coca, which is so essential to the In- 

 dian's comfortable existence, is a staple of this climate. The 

 erithroxylon peruvianus or coca, at the time of the conquest, 

 was only used by the Incas and those of the royal or rather 

 solar blood. The plant was looked upon as an image of di- 

 vinity, and no one entered the enclosures where it was culti- 

 vated without bending the knee in adoration. The divine 

 sacrifices made at that period were thought not to be accepta- 

 ble to heaven, unless the victims were crowned with branches 

 of this tree. The oracles made no reply, and auguries were 

 terrible, if the priest did not chew coca at the time of consult- 



