June i, 1892.1 
YHF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
881 
FROM THE METROl’OLIS. 
April 1st, 1892. 
“PERU” AND THE ROYAL QBOQBAPUIOAL BOCIKTV. 
The reading of the paper hy Mr. Alex. Rosa took 
place on Monday evening last, and I send you a 
copy if the same, for which no doubt you will be 
able to make room in the Literary liegister as 
well as Trupieal] Agriculturist. Here it will be 
Buflleient to give the summary which appeared next 
day in the London Times : — 
CENTRAL PERU. 
Last evening, at a meeting of the Royal Geo- 
? :raphical Society in the theatre of the University of 
jondon, Burlington-gardens, apaper by Mr. Alexander 
Ross, on ‘ A Recent .louniey to the Head Waters of 
the Eoayali, Central Peru,” was rend hy Sir Alfred 
Blunt. Sir M. E. Graut-Duff, the president, took the 
chair. There was a good attendance, including Lord 
Dononghmore, Mr. Clemente Markham, Sir Beau- 
champ Walker, General .1. T. Walker, Major Uarwin, 
Colonel Church, Mr. P. L. Sclater, Senor Poxet 
(Peruvian Ccnsul-General). Mr. ,d. Scott Keltic, 
and the author of the paper, who is imderetood to 
have been prevented by a cold from reading it 
liimself. , , . , 
Mr. Ross said that tlio joumoyinge of which 
he proposed to give some account were 
undertaken by desire of tlie Poruviau Cor- 
poration of 'London for tlio exploration of 
tho central territory of Peru, witli the view of 
selecting end inspecting lands which tho corpora- 
tion had the right of acquiring, and to report 
goiioraily upon their suitability, climatic coiiditioiis, 
a’ud other matters affooting the industrial geography 
of that part of the country. He wae accompanied 
liy Mr. Arthur Sinclair, who. like liimself, had 
spent many years plauting in Ceylon ; and also, 
for roaeacoh in ocoiioniic ootasnyi by Jir. i , D. Ct. 
Clark, OiBsititaut cit tho lioyal Hotauic Cardona, 
Veradeiiiya, near Kandy. Ceylon. Thoir travels, 
whioli lasted five juoDtns, were ccmliued to the 
central portions of the interior, and extended, 
leaving out tlie railway journey froau Ivima to the 
terniiuua at Chiola. from the latter point in the 
direction of the Amaaouor baaiu as far as tho rapids 
the Uio Permit on the eiAfc, thn towns * f (Vrro 
de Pafooand Husnoco— tho latter f n the Hio Ilunllaga 
—on the north, to nuHncA>o, Comas, snd 
An^anmrca on the sMith eod BOuth*east, nlso, to a 
litniisd extent, on tho wo'^totn ce»«t niirth of Callao, 
'J'he area visited wae not of great extent, regard being 
had to the immonpe territory they had set out to ex- 
plivd, and hftd been visited by eeveral oom|uteut travel- 
lers in tho past, while in quite recent years the Peru- 
vians themselves had done much for a knowledge of 
t heir iiiteresting country. After a close description 
of tl’o cniutry, Mr. Koss Btnt-d the cocclnsitU'S 
at which he bad arrived. Not much c£ the 
Sierra vi-i^ed by them, he said, was suited 
to modern ayateins of tillage. But in tho 
Montana there were vast areas at auitablo altitudes 
well adapted for settlement by European inirnigmnts. 
In the lower parts of the Amazon basin, in a climate 
more or loss unsnited to white labour, immense tracts 
awaited only theintroduation of Chinese or tho Indian 
coolies to turn what was now a inagniticerit forest 
wilderness into a rich and thriving province. The 
Central Railway would have been completod to Orova 
in .June next, and the Chanchaniayo road would be 
opened soon thereafter. In continuation of those, and 
to connect them with tho navigable waters of the 
Amazon, the survey of a railway lino had already 
been ordered. Tlio immenso infiuenoe these w'ould 
have upon tho future of Peru and its progress would 
then bocomo apiMirent. Atpiosont, to those who bad 
not seen that country's varied aiul unlimited mineral 
foaources, its grand foreat, ita rich sou and splendid 
divers, a full realization of tho future of I eru wasini* 
possible. , . , r 11 1 .1 
In the course of the diaouasion which followed the 
Heading of the paper, 
Mr. Ulomenta Markham 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 live 
times larger that that of any other part of the world.* 
Seiior Pezet and Lord Donoughmote also boro testi- 
mony to the opportunities which the natural richness 
of the Country afforded. 
I may mention, in addition to tho above, that the 
dinner which preceded the leotiire Mr. Ross bad 
the opportunity of giving in a few minutes a 
brief indioation of the contents of bis paper, at 
the request of the Chairman, Sir M. Grant-Duff, in 
responding to the toast of bis health. The 
Chairman was further interested when he learnod 
that Mr. Ross’s colleague was his old arquaintanoe 
Mr Sinclair n-ho tork Eden House, Banff, from Sir 
M O. Duff, when lie retired from Ceylon, At the 
publio gathering, there was a fairly good assembly, 
though “ Peru " is not so attractive a subject as 
the “ Antiquities in Mashonaland ” which in Mr. 
Theodore Bent's hands, drew an overflowing meet- 
ing, or even ‘ Ceylon” which filled tho “ Whitehall" 
Room.’ Sir Alfred Deut read the paper very deliber- 
ately, while Mr Rose pointed out the different places 
menlioued from time to lime. After that, 
there was an exhibiiion of a number of interesting 
photographio slides by lime-light, showing views 
in Ibn Andean railway, tuunels, gullies, &o., also 
bri.Hu paths traversed, and in the Pereni; river and 
forest, tomb of the Itioas, markets of the Indians 
and so on. — The Percvlin CciNeoL.GKNEBAL (whose 
leetiire on Peru was reoently given) opened the 
disotiSfioD, and lie w.tb followed by Lord Donocoh. 
M BE, a hardy spseiraen of the British, or rather 
Itiab peer, who has large interests in Peru where 
he baa spent 2^ years. He thought enough had 
not bt.cn made of the sugar enterpr'se, whicli he 
iiinintaiand was iu as favourable not to say strong 
a portion as any planting industry in the world 
and able to oompete protiiably even in these 
days of low piieis and Contineotal adverse 
duties. Hs spoke in high terms of Peru and 
its peoplu and tbs rainless region where 
irrigation did such wonders. To him sue. 
ceoded Mr, Clements Markham who, of oonrae, 
spoke with authority and with a wider scope of 
knowledge than anyone else present, respecting 
a country of which he had made so special a 
study. Ho gave a very interesting resumd of the 
early history and referred to unpublished manu- 
scripts in bis possession, descriptive of certain 
diatriota and rosouroes down to minute partioulars, 
by Spanish monks and travellers. Then ho gave 
a general pioture of the outlook in the different 
divisions of Peru, telling us how one portion 
greatly resembled the Nilgiris save that in place 
of the oolonring afforded by rbododendrous (when 
in flower), there were flowering shrubs of other 
varieties and colours but equally striking and 
gorgeous. Then as to produols, Mr. Markham 
mnintaiued that the great matter was the superiority 
of the ipjality of these in Peru, rather than the 
greatness of tho quantity. Peruvian coffee, for 
instanoe, was absolutely the finest in the world, 
[i thought of Mocha, aud no doubt the dry Peru- 
vian climate is oomparablo with that of Arabia.! 
Then in cinchona India and Ceylon might send 
seme 40,000 to 60,0 ;0 bales to Europe against 
7,000 from South America, but see the vast 
siiperioriiy of the latter— double and more in value 
per lb. Ard so with ‘-Rubber.'' how vastly euperiot 
was tho article got from the Amazonian basin 
to that of Africa or Asia ; and eo with “ Cocoa”; 
and then there was " Coca " whioh required the 
* Mr. Clements Markham's highet character alone 
induces ns to credit four crops per annum of maize 
■with dobs font- or five times tho usual size I— Kd. T.A, 
