a, “3 
Chili. 
1799-] ‘ 
Accordingly, in the beginning of the year. 
1793, he failed from Callao, the port of 
Lima, on board ofa regifter-fhip ; and after 
a fortunate paflage of two months and a 
- half round Cape Horn, fafely arrived in 
Cadiz. Having been obliged to fpend feven 
months in Madrid in tedious folicitations to 
have the terms of his agreement fulfilled ; 
he at laft obtained a fmall penfion for life, 
on which he now lives in his native land, 
at Vienna. 
The account he has given of his travels is in 
the proper fenfe of the’ word a Journal: 
which, as is evident from every page, con- 
tains, unaltered, the remarks made and 
written down on the fpot. What it thus 
lofes in agrément, is amply compenfated by 
its authenticity. Station after ftation, the 
number of miles daily travelled over are in- 
dicated; and interfperfed we find fingle re- 
marks on what he every day had feen, and 
likewife extras from the official details on 
the ftate of the mines which he had ex- 
amined. Helms is only a minerand miner- 
alogift. To the other parts of natural 
hiftory he is a ftranger, and few things 
worthy of notice relative to that fcience, 
are to be found in his Journal. Even geo- 
graphical and ftatiftical obfervations occur 
enly occafionally: but among them are 
many which contain valuable information, 
and which throw confiderable light on the 
prefent ftate of thefe remote regions, with 
which we are yet but imperfeétly acquaint- 
ed. Mineralogical and metallurgic remarks 
on Potofi and Peru, and on the Cordilleras, 
the largeft and richeft chain of mountains 
in the world, which Helms had travelled 
over in every direction in length and 
breadth, from the borders of Chili to 
Lima, form the bulk of the work. As 
few, however, would have courage and 
patience enough to perufe the whole of his 
long dry mineralogical day-book, we have 
concluded that a concile abridgment of 
thefe travels, which exift at prefent only 
in the German language, will be acceptable 
to the generality of our readers. ] 
UENOS-AYRES, capital of the 
kingdom of La Plata, contains, ac- 
cording to the affertion of the viceroy, 
from 24 to 30. thoufand inhabitants. From 
this place there is an uninterrupted poft- 
road, with poft-houfes, and proper relays 
of horfes and carriages, acrofs the conti 
nent to Peru. Twenty miles from the 
capital, the traveller enters on an immenfe 
‘plain, by the Spaniards called Pampas, 
‘which ftretches a hundred miles weftward 
to the foot of the mountains, and to about 
five hundred miles to the fouth towards 
This plain is indeed fertile, and 
wholly covered with very high grafs ;. bat 
for the molt part uninhabited and deftitute 
of trees. It is the abode of innumerable 
Travels in South America. 
737 
herds of wild horfes, oxen, oftriches, &c. 
which, under the fhade of the grafs, find 
protection from the intolerable heat of the 
fan, and of which myriads are here feen in 
crowds together. ‘The largeit tamed ox 
is fold for-one piafter, and a good horlfe 
may be purchafed for two. 
Cordova, a neat clean town, 156 Spanith 
miles from Buenos-Ayres, is very plea- 
fantly fituated near a wood, at the foot of a 
branch of the Andes. . It is the feat of a 
bifhop, and is inhabited by 1500 Spaniards 
and Creoles, and 4000 Negro flaves ; and 
not far from the town, in the granite and 
gneis mountains, are found veins of lead 
and copper-ore which contain filver. As _ 
the ridge of mountains (compofed of red 
and green granite) gradually becomes 
higher, the population increafes: but at 
Remanfo, 60 miles from Cordova, they 
again branch out fo far from one another, 
that from that place to Tucuman the tra- 
veller paffes through a faline plain, 70 
Spanifh miles in length, and for the moft 
part barren and defart, from which the 
mountains are feen at a diltance. The 
whole ground is covered with a white in- 
cruftation of falt, and bears no other plants 
except the fal/ola kalz, which here grows 
to the height of four Parifian yards, The 
decayed little town of St. Jago de Eftero is 
fituated in this plain. 
Tucuman, a pleafant little town, fur- 
rounded with groves of citron, orange, 
fig, and pomegranate-trees, lies 150 miles 
from Cordova, and 233 from Potofi. It 
is the feat of a bifhop, and contains three 
monatteries: the inhabitants are wealthy, 
and might derive great profits from work- 
ing gold and filyer mines ; as immediately 
after pafling this place, the whole ridge of 
mountains appear to contain the nobler 
metals in abundance. But the Negro 
flaves, who are here employed in mining, 
and their overfeers, are fo ignorant, 
that they had not even an idea of the ad- 
vantages arifing from the ufe of a wind. 
Jafs, and carried out the ore in facks upon 
their fhoulders: and this Helms found in 
the fequel to be the praétice at Potofi, and 
in the whole kingdom of Peru.—Before he 
reached Tucuman, the mountains confift- 
ed of ‘granite: but as he proceeded farther, 
the granite began to change alternately 
with a bluifh (in fome fpots dark red, 
flefh-coloured, gray, and yellow) argillace- 
ous flate, which chiefly predominates in 
the Cordilleras, as far at leaft as Helms 
had an opportunity of examining them. 
Strata of lime ftone, and large mafles of 
ferruginous iand-ftone, in many places, 
occur on the argillaceous flate. Helms 
2 likewife 

