June i, 1892. | YHF TftOPICAL 
AGRICULTUR53T. 
88r 
FROM THE METROPOLIS. 
April let, 1892. 
"PEEU" AND THE ROYAL QBOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
The reading of the paper by Mr. Alex. Ross took 
place ou Monday evening last, and I send you a 
oopy of the same, for which no doubt you will be 
able to make room in the Literary Register as 
well as Tro'ptcar, Agriculturist. Here it will be 
Buffioient to give the summary which appeared next 
day in the London Tivics : — 
CENTRAL PERU. 
Last evening, at a meeting of the Eoyal Geo- 
graphical Society in the theatre of the University of 
London, Burlington-gardens, a paper by Mr. Alexander 
Ross, on ''A Recent Journey to the Head Waters of 
the Eoayali, Central Pern," was read by Sir Alfred 
Blunt. Sir M. E. Grant-Duff, the president, took the 
chair. There was a good attendance, including Lord 
Donoughmore, Mr. Clements Markham, Sir Beau- 
champ Walker, General J. T. Walker, Major Darwin, 
Colonel Church, Blr. P. L, Sclater, Senor Pezet 
(Peruvian Ccnsul-General), Mr. ,J. Scott Keltic, 
and the author of the paper, who is understood to 
have been prevented by a cold from reading it 
himself. 
Mr. Ross said that the journeyings of which 
he proposed to give some account were 
undertaken by desire of the Peruvian Cor- 
poration of London for the exploration of 
the central territory of Peru, with the view of 
selecting and inspecting lands which the corpora- 
tion had the right of acquiring, and to report 
generally upon their suitability, climatic conditions, 
and other matters affecting the industrial geography 
of that part of the country. He was accompanied 
by Mr. Arthur Sinclair, who, like himself, had 
spent many years planting in Ceylon; and also, 
for research in economic botany, by Mr. P. D. G. 
Clark, assistant at the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Peradeniya, near Kandy, Ceylon. Their travels, 
which lasted five months, were confined to the 
central portions of the interior, and extended, 
leaving out the railway journey from Lima to the 
terminus at Chicla, from the latter point in the 
direction ol the Amazoner basin as far as the rapids 
the Rio Perei.^ on tlio eist, the towns nf (Vrro 
(ie Pasco and Huannco— tho latter ( n the Rio HuallaRa 
— on Ibe north, to Janja, Huanoajo, Comas, nnd 
Andamarca on the scuth and eouth-e.ast, .slso, to a 
limited extent, on the we-i'ern coast nortb of Callao. 
The area visited was not of great extent, regard being 
had to the immense territory they had set out to ex- 
Vlcra, and had been visited by feveral compt tent travel- 
lers in tho past, while in quite recent years tlie Peru- 
vians themselves had done much for a knowledge of 
their interesting country. Afttr » close description 
of the country, Mr. Ross stat-d the cnnclnsioiis 
at which .he bad arrived. Not much of the 
Sierra vi-i'ed by them, bo said, was suited 
to modern systems of tillage. But in the 
Montana there were vast areas at suitable altitudes 
well adapted for settlement by European immigrants. 
In the lower parts of the Amazon basin, in a climate 
more or less unsuited to white labour, immense tracts 
awaited only the introduction of Chinese or the Indian 
coolies to turn what was now a magnificent forest 
wilderness into a rich and thriving province. The 
Central Railway would have been completed to Oroya 
in June next, and the Chanchamayo road would be 
opened soon thereafter. In continuation of these, and 
to connect them with tho navigable waters of the 
Amazon, the survey of a railway line had already 
been ordered. The immense influence theso would 
havo upon tho future of Peru and its progress would 
then become api»,rent. At present, to those who had 
not soon that country's varied and unlimited mineral 
resources, its grand forest, its rich soil and splendid 
rivers, a full realization of the future of Peru was im- 
possible. 
In tho course of tho discussion which followed the 
reading of tho paper, 
Mr. Clements Markhanx dwelt upon the improved 
fertility of Peru, pointing out, among other things, 
that four crops of maize were to be got there every 
year, and that each head of this maize was four or five 
times larger that that of any other part of the world.* 
Senor Pezet and Lord Donoughmore also bore testi- 
mony to the opportunities which the natural richness 
of the country afforded. 
I may mention, in addition to the above, that the 
dinn;r which preceded the lecture Mr. Rosa had 
tho opportunity of giving in a few minutes a 
brief ludioatiou of the contents of his paper, at 
the request of the Chairman, Sir M. Grant-Duff, in 
respoiuiing to the toast of his health. The 
Chairman was further interested vchen he learned 
that Mr. Rose's oolleaguo was his old acquaintance 
Mr. Sinclair who took Eden House, Banff, from Sir 
M G. Duff, when ho retired from Ceylon. At the 
public gi'.thfring, there was a fairly good assembly, 
though " Peru " is not so attractivd a subject aa 
the " Antiquities in Mashonaland " which in Mr. 
Theodore Bent's hands, drew an overflowing meet- 
ing, or even ' Ceylon" which filled the " Whitehall" 
Room.'' Sir Alfred Dent read the paper very deliber- 
ately, while Mr. Ross pointed out the different places 
mectioned from tim.e to time. After that, 
there was an exhibiiion of a number of interesting 
photographic slides by lime-light, showing viewa 
io the Andean railway, tunnels, gullies, &a., also 
hriiUa paths traverEed, and in the Perenc river and 
forett, tomb of the luoas, marketa of the Indiana 
and s'j on.— The Pebuvian Oonsdl.Geneeal (whose 
Ipfiture on Peru was recently given) opened the 
discussion, and he was followed by Lokd Donodgh- 
M EE, a hardy specimsn of tho British, or rather 
Irish poor, who has large interests in Peru where 
he has spent 2^ years. He thought enough had 
not bteu made of the sugar onterpr'ae, which ha 
maintained was in as favourable not to say strong 
a portion as any pjanting industry in the world 
and able to compete profitably even in these 
days of low prices and Continental adverse 
duties. He spoke in high terms of Peru and 
its people and the rainless region where 
irrigation did such wonders. To him suc- 
ceeded Mr, Clements Mabkham who, of course, 
spoke with authority and with a wider scope ol 
knowledge than anyone else present, respecting 
a country of which he had made so special a 
study. He gave a very interesting resume ol the 
early history and referred to unpublished manu- 
scripts in his possession, descriptive of certain 
districts and resources down to minute particulars, 
by Spanish monks and travellers. Then he gave 
a general picture of the outlook in the different 
divisions of Peru, telling us how one portion 
greatly resembkd the Nilgiris save that in place 
of the colouring afforded by rhododendrons (when 
io flower), there were flowering shrubs of other 
varieties and colours but equally striking and 
gorgeou.'?. Then as to products, Mr. Markham 
maintained that the great matter was the superiority 
of the quality of these in Peru, rather than the 
greatnfsa of the quantity. Peruvian coliee, for 
instanoe, was absolutely the finest in the world. 
[1 thought of Mocha, and no doubt the dry Peru- 
vian climate is comparable with that of Arabia. 1 
Then in cinchona India and Ceylon might send 
some -10,000 to 50,0C0 boles to Europe against 
7,000 from South America, but seo tho vast 
superior! y of the latter — double and more in value 
per lb. Ard so with ''Rubber," how vastly superior 
was the article got from the ,'iroazonian basin 
to that of Africa or Asia ; and so with " Cocoa"; 
and then there was " Coca " which required the 
» Mr. Clements Markhara'a highct character alone 
induces us to credit four crops per aummi of maaza 
witli cobs four or five times tlie usual size! — Ed. T.J. 
