Peru

“ With the inauguration of the republic, the progress of Peru entered a new channel, and though, at first, the stream of liberal ideas had to force a narrow passage between walls of tradition, to surmount rocks and boulders of obstructing prejudice, carrying in its flow an accumulated driftwood of sentiment from the ancient groves of worship, yet its course has been always toward the sea of universal good, and its channel, deepened and widened by the growing force of the current, now forms the bed of a mighty tide of worthy endeavor. ”

“ The Incas chose it for an empire’s emblem and dedicated to it a temple close to that of the Sun.
It symbolized to the Spaniards the astounding country which had fallen as by miracle into their grasp, the land of mystery, whose romantic wealth and dazzling promises encircled them as with the rainbow arch, and, like it, receded as they advanced.
Peru still keeps the rainbow symbol. Many-colored mysteries hover about the man who leans over its glittering jewel-casket. ”

“ Our indefatigable botanist, aided by the skilful draughtsman, Don Francisco Pulgar, is unceasingly occupied, and keeps up a constant communication between the mountains, Lima, and Madrid. The Flora of Peru, augmented by new and continual supplies, will be an eternal monument of the wisdom and magnificence of two sovereigns; a rich accumulation of the treasures of the vegetable kingdom; and the most authentic testimony to prove, that Peru does not abound less in exquisite plants, than in precious metals. ”

“ But whatever may be thought of the advantages offered by the towns of Peru and La Salle—for their destiny is one—for settlement and the investment of capital, there can be no doubt about the inducements presented to farmers and others by the surrounding country. The climate is genial and salubrious, the atmosphere invigorating and free from miasma, and the scenery delightful—alternating from green and billowy swells of prairie, varied by cultivation and improvement, to wild and romantic dells and ravines. ”

“ Here you have an epitome of Peru. Gentlemen and rogues jostling one another in painful contiguity. Gentlewomen and their opposite, men who work and scoundrels who prey upon other people's labour, priests and colonels, knowledge and ignorance, in some form or other brought in violent collision: the utmost freedom of opinion and nobody to keep the peace! ”

“ Peru has played a tremendously important part in the affairs of men. It was the treasure of Peru that armed the soldiers of Alva and laid the keels of the Armada. It was the treasure of Peru that relieved the Spanish people of the necessity of wresting a national revenue out of a soil by agriculture ”

“ From Marmontel to the Peruvian Tales of Guenelette, from Frank Stockton to José-Maria de Heredia, chiseler of faultless cameos, who himself came from a dramatic land of Spanish conquest, Peru has been a word to conjure with. But invention has added no glamour to history. ”

“ It was fitting that the capital of the Inca empire which had been subjugated by Spain three hundred years before, should be the first city to receive the patriots who had won its independence, and that the children of the new Peru should link their destiny with the descendants of its oldest civilization on this historic ground, both of them proud to claim the title of Peruvians. ”

“ From our windows westward, over a wide extent of broken ground among the mounds, many of which might in other countries be called mountains, would be seen the fertile plains of Peru stretching away to the ocean, distinguished on clear days by a silvery line in the horizon. ”

“ Peru, the limits of which are traced out by the great phenomena that divide the provinces of its universal empire, forms, without doubt, the whole of the southern part of the Burning Zone, which runs north and south from the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn, and west and east from the borders of the Pacific Sea to the forests and deserts of the country of the Amazons, by which the eastern branch of the Cordillera of the Andes is terminated. ”

“ Such is a rapid view of that portion of Peru which is called the plain; to which must be added that the sea along its entire coast is always smooth and tranquil, from which it has been called the Pacific Ocean, being never vexed with storms, or disturbed by high and low tides; so that vessels can everywhere ride in perfect security at single anchor.
Those Indians who inhabit the mountainous regions of Peru are entirely different from the inhabitants of the plain, whom they vastly exceed in strength, courage, and mental abilities. ”

“ Not only in the descendants of the Incas’ subjects does the charm of the past linger in many beautiful and interesting features of Peru to-day. The influence of the viceroyalty is seen in some of the most attractive characteristics of republican Peruvians; their inheritance from their colonial ancestry may not be an unmixed blessing, but they have reason to be proud of some of its advantages. ”

“ The old Peru is passing,—the dominant traits of the nation are changing,—new life is apparent in its ideals, its institutions, in the spirit that rules society and politics, in everything that shows the influence of a broader outlook, a greater range of endeavor, a loftier aspiration. The traditions of caste and the contempt for utilitarian ideals which constituted a part of the creed of the colonial aristocracy have given place to an appreciation of true worth wherever found ”

“ While for centuries Peru has been celebrated as a land of marvelous mineral riches, especially of gold and silver, nevertheless, in spite of her desert shore, her bleak table-land, and her undeveloped montaña, like California, her chief wealth is in her agriculture. ”

“ The rubber industry of the Iquitos and tributary territory is to Peru what the fur trade of Oregon was to the United States in the period between 1830 and 1850. The populating of the vast inlying country, the trans-Andine slopes and the river basins, means to Peru what the settlement of the Rocky Mountain region extending to the Pacific meant to the people of the United States. If the hardy pioneer class is lacking, and it is, the Peruvian national instinct is not wanting. Enlightened public men are seeking to find expression for it. ”

“ The Spanish rule was bad, but Peru was then a pleasant place to live in compared with what it is now. It is a sort of cock-pit, where a succession of ambitious rascals struggle for the spoils, and the moment one gets the better of his rivals fresh intrigues are set on foot, and fresh rebellions break out. There are good Peruvians—men who have estates and live upon them, and who are good masters. ”

“ Republican Peru has already produced many eminent writers who have devoted their talents to historical studies, and to the elucidation of the archæology and philology of their native land. The names of Rivero, Paz Soldan, Palma, Zegarra, Barranca, Mujica, and others, at once occur to the mind. Peru, in her undeserved misfortunes, has shown that her sons can fight bravely for their beloved fatherland. In literature, many of her sons have shed lustre on their country’s history. In no christian land is there warmer family affection; in none is there truer and more cordial hospitality. ”

“ Peru is cut up by the lofty and barren Andean ranges into a number of valleys, each more or less isolated. Some of its cities, like Arequipa, stand in solitary oases surrounded by deserts, while the eastern towns are severed from the capital by so many ridges and gorges that the formation of an active and homogeneous public opinion has been retarded. ”

“ And it may truly be said that what the Moors were to Andalusia and Southern Spain, Europeans and Asiatics have been to Peru; supplying it not only with literature and science, but industry also. All the great estates of Peru are tilled by foreigners; so are its gardens. All the steam ships on its coast are driven by foreigners; foreigners surveyed and built their railways, their one pier, gave them gas, and would give them water if the Peruvian Government would only be wise. ”

“ CONQUEST OF PERU.—The conquest of Peru was effected by Francisco Pizarro, and Almagro, both illiterate adventurers, equally daring with Cortes, but more cruel and unscrupulous. The Peruvians were of a mild character, prosperous, and not uncivilized, and without the savage religious system of the Mexicans. They had their walled cities and their spacious temples. The empire of the Incas, as the rulers were called, was distracted by a civil war between two brothers, who shared the kingdom. ”

“ Owing to this circumstance, as the Spaniards have learnt the language of the Incas, or of Cuzco, they are able to converse with all the principal natives of Peru, both those of the mountain and of the plain.
It may appear difficult to some of my readers to comprehend why no rain should fall in the plain of Peru, considering that the country is bounded along the whole of one side by the sea, where many vapours are constantly ascending, and on the other side by a vast range of mountain which is always enveloped in rain or snow. ”

“ It is on that score alone, in the acceptation which embraces the whole extent of the kingdom, that Peru is in some measure defective. A good taste, urbanity, and a social disposition, are the hereditary qualities of every Peruvian. ”

“ Many of the leading families of Peru are descendants of Spanish nobles who came over with the viceroys, and a few trace their ancestry from the conquerors; but the best fibre of the nation is derived from the enterprising colonists who established commerce in the country during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and by their industry and practical energy laid the foundations for a better development of the mercantile interests of Peru. ”

“ Universally known as a land of untold antiquity, of fascinating romance and marvellous traditions, Peru may be considered, from the standpoint of history, the most interesting of all the South American countries. ”

“ The part they see is the desert coast line with its dirty, poverty-stricken towns, the bleak barren peaks that fringe the Pacific littoral, here and there a spot of verdure at the mouth of a river, and Lima, the capital. A few others, mostly mining men and engineers, take a trip to the summit of nearby mountains on the Oroya railroad, sojourn in the mining towns, suffer from cold and lonesomeness, and swear that Peru is the damnedest country on the face of the globe, and are heartily glad when the time [471] comes for them to leave, vowing never to return again. ”

“ The prosperous future of Peru is assured by the patriotism, energy, and enterprise that are apparent in every feature of the national life, and it is certain that the present century will see the wealth and greatness of the country increased beyond 14anything dreamed of in the days of the Incas and the viceroys. The spirit that won the national independence and successfully established republican institutions lives to-day, and is working for the ascendancy of the noblest ideals of the race. ”

“ Peru is a hot and barren country. It is barren, because it seldom rains there. It has many dreary deserts. The lofty Andes pass through, and divide it. It abounds in gold, and silver, and mercury, or quicksilver. Here, too, is found Peruvian bark, which is so much used in this, and other parts of the world.
Peru is a large country; and yet it has but about a million and a half of inhabitants. 172 They consist of Creoles, Mestizoes, and Indians, or natives of the country. The Creoles are natives of Spanish descent. They are well made, and of good stature, with lively, agreeable countenances. ”

“ Peru,—a splendid country, stretching along the coast of the Pacific from Chili to Quito, a space of fifteen hundred miles. Inland, the mighty Andes lifted their snowy ridges, and at once cooled and diversified this fine country with every variety of scene and temperature. Like Mexico, it had once consisted of a number of petty and savage states, but had been reduced into one compact and well-ordered empire by the Incas, a race of mysterious origin, who had ruled it about four hundred years. ”

“ The real Peru, the Peru of the ancient Indian civilization and of the Spanish colonial Empire, is the central region which lies along the Andes between these thinly settled, far eastern forests and the barren deserts of the Pacific coast. ”

“ But, although scientific investigation and literary skill have added much within recent years to what was already more or less generally known about Peru, and the land of the Incas and the viceroys has been made a more charming subject than ever before as regards its antiquity and romance, yet the Peru of to-day, the real Peru, has received comparatively little attention from writers and travellers, and is still almost an unknown country to the average reader. ”

“ The extensive territory of Peru, well provided by nature to meet the needs of a great population, has at present between four and five million inhabitants. The coast region supports one-fourth of this population, having an average of 4.53 inhabitants to each square kilometre; the sierra has about two-thirds of the entire population, with an average of 5.32 to each square kilometre: and the Montaña, with less than half a million inhabitants in its vast forests and plains, shows only one inhabitant to every three kilometres. ”

“ Many thousands of pounds weight of gold and silver have indeed been also sent from Peru; but at the time we conquered New Spain the name of Peru was not even known, nor was it discovered till ten years after. We forwarded to his majesty presents of immense value from the very beginning, for which and other reasons I place New Spain at the head; for we very well know with regard to the affairs of Peru, that the captains, governors, and soldiers continually carried on civil wars with each other, in which the lives of many Spaniards were sacrificed. ”