Tarapacá

“ The Nitrate Fields we know are in the north, chiefly in the Provinces of Tarapacá, Antofagasta, and Atacama. If this desert land does not blossom as the rose, it produces the wherewithal to make other fields blossom, and the wealth to purchase the roses. The richest deposits are mainly along a stretch of 300 miles from Pisagua in Tarapacá, to Coquimbo. With an average width of 21⁄2 miles, the fields are at a distance of from 10 to 80 miles back from the coast, and at a height of 2000-5000 feet. ”

“ Setting sail, they missed the mouth of the Copiapó River, and had an anxious search for water along the arid coasts of Tarapacá. Entering at length the mouth of the Pisagua River they had a stroke of luck, for there on the bank lay a Spaniard, fast asleep, in charge of a train of llamas laden with silver bars from Potosí and a quantity of charqui (dried meat) . ”

“ Moreover, the nitrate is filled with the petrified eggs and bones, even the feathers of sea-birds, suggesting that the nitrate was originally guano. Why should it not be true? For this desert was once beside the sea, as it was once beneath the sea.
But the law of compensation works even here. It has always been common opinion that the desert of Tarapacá shelters fabulous riches. Lured by the glisten of a fallen meteor, men have squandered their fortunes and risked their lives searching for gold, while they trod the nitrate under foot. ”

“ The jurisdiction of the city extends from Acari to Tarapaca, and there are also some villages belonging to it in the province of Condesuyo. Hubinas, Chiquiguanita, Quimistaca, and Collaguas are villages belonging to this city, which were formerly very populous, and possessed many flocks of sheep. The civil wars of the Spaniards have now destroyed the greater part both of the natives and of the sheep. The Indians who were natives of these mountain villages worshipped the sun, and buried their chiefs in great tombs, in the same manner as was practised by other Indians. ”

“ The next important port south of Arica is Iquique, 156but between the two is Pisagua where many boats call, affording opportunity for any who desire, to disembark and go 124 miles by rail to Iquique, thus to see without loss of time something of the rich nitrate lands of Tarapacá. This part of the coast may not look very different from some of the Peruvian, yet it is still more of a desert; for the Peruvian will blossom like a rose, with a sufficient water supply, while this is less easily transformed. ”

“ It were easy to accept a pantheistic interpretation of a divinity so addressed; it is plausible to regard that deity as androgynous, as Lafone Quevado suggests. What is certain is that here we have a creator-god superior to the world of visible nature, so that he was represented, according to Salcamayhua, by an oval plate of fine gold above the symbols of the heavenly bodies in the great temple at Cuzco. Salcamayhua, moreover, connects with Viracocha two other names, Tonapa and Tarapaca, which, he declares, are appellatives of a servant (or servants) of Viracocha ”

“ It was also agreed that Chile should be allowed to mine and export the products of this district without tax or hindrance on the part of Bolivia. In 1870, in further consideration of the sum of $10,000, Bolivia granted to an Anglo-Chilean company the right of working certain nitrate deposits north of the 24th parallel. The great wealth which was passing into Chilean hands owing to these compacts created no little discontent in Bolivia, nor was Peru any better pleased with the hold that Chilean capital was establishing in the rich district of Tarapacá. ”

“ On the 5th of April 1879 the republic of Chile declared war upon Peru, the alleged pretext being that Peru had made an offensive treaty, directed against Chile, with Bolivia, a country with which Chile had a dispute, but the publication of the text of this treaty made known the fact that it was strictly defensive and contained no just War with Chile, 1879–1882. cause of war. The true object of Chile was the conquest of the rich Peruvian province of Tarapaca, the appropriation of its valuable guano and nitrate deposits, and the spoliation of the rest of the Peruvian coast. ”

“ Peruvian provinces which produce, 133 Supe, the landing-place, 82 Superunda, Count, memoirs of, 93 Taboga Isle, 45 Tacna, Pampas of, 224; tin mines in district, 315 Tacora, Mt., in Bolivia, 183 Taft, Secretary, 47 Tagua, or ivory nut, Ecuador’s production of, 64 Talcahuano, naval port, 195 Taltal, nitrate shipping-port, 188 Tambilla, 292 Tambo de Mora, 86 Tambos, or inns, 31; one at Majo, Bolivia, 279 Tarapacá, Province of, lost to Chile, 152, 217 ”

“ There is very little money in circulation, cotton cloth, wax, and balls of sewing [202] cotton being used instead. English goods brought over the Andes sell in Tarapoto for four times their value in Lima. All the land carriage is performed by Indians, for want of roads: an Indian will carry 75 lbs. of goods on his shoulders from Tarapoto to Juan Guerra, whence he paddles in a canoe to Tinga-Maria, and there shoulders his burthen again, and carries it to Huanaco, the distance of which town from Tarapoto is 390 miles. The population of the place in 1848 was 3,500. ”

“ The Indians he had seen were called Tarapecosies; they have plenty of provisions, and they rear geese and poultry like ours. This was the account given by Francisco de Ribera and by the Spaniards who accompanied him, and by the guide, all of whom confirmed what Francisco de Ribera had said.
There were some Indians in the port of Los Reyes belonging to the same tribe of Tarapecosies, from whose village de Ribera had just returned. They had come with Garcia, the interpreter, when he made his journey into the interior and returned defeated by the Guaranís of the Paraguai. ”

“ Lieutenant Herndon embarked on the Huallaga at Tinga-Maria, the head of canoe navigation, and 335 miles from the city of Lima, and descended to its junction with the Amazon, and thence to the mouth of the latter, a distance of not less than 3,500 miles. The first place he came to was Tarapoto, situated in a beautiful plain, watered by many rivulets, and producing cotton, coffee, sugar, cocoa, and drugs in great abundance. The district is very healthy, and free from annoying insects. ”

“ Wheat may be had
164 TOBACCO.
from the high lands above it; cattle thrive well; and its coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice, and maize are of fine quality. It is true that vessels cannot come up to Shapaja, the port of the town of Tarapoto; but a good road may be made from this town eighteen miles to Chasuta, to which vessels of five feet draught may come at the lowest stage of the river, and any draught at high water.
Tarapoto is situated on an elevated plain twenty miles in diameter; is seventy miles from: Moyobamba, the capital of the province, a city of seven thousand inhabitants ”

“ The population of Tarapoto, with its annexed ports of Shapaja and Juan Guerra, is five thousand three hundred and fifty souls. The births annually are from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty; deaths, from thirty to fifty. ”

“ But in the immediate neighbourhood of Guachochic toward the west and south lie the ridges and barrancas that run toward Sinaloa, and these are inhabited by pagan Tarahumares. Toward the north the Indians hold undisputed sway over that extensive region of mountains, pine-covered plateaus and well-watered arroyos around the pueblos of Norogachic, Pamachic and Nararachic, and here are found the most independent Tarahumares that are left, who still defy the whites to take their land away from them. They are more valiant than the rest and not easily intimidated. ”

“ In the village of Tapaca, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of March, one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine, the illustrious Captain Grabiel de Ribera, upon finding that he had been unable to seize any Indians in the ambuscades which his Grace had ordered to be made in the said village, in order to talk with them regarding affairs of the said river, left, when about to depart, two ambuscades of soldiers in the said village of Tapaca. ”

“ The census of the Talamanca Indians is as follows:
[50]
The Térrabas and Bruncas or Boruca Indians are located on the Pacific slope of the Talamanca mountains, and especially in the great valley of the Diquis or Rio Grande de Térraba, although there are also a few Indian palenques in the neighborhood of the Chirripo. The Borucas or Bruncas are dolichocephalic. The men are large, the women short and plump. They are more intelligent and active than the Tishbi of Térraba. ”

“ They are a hardy people, and are the least civilized of the four principal native races.
The Totonacs inhabit northern Vera Cruz and speak a language related to that of the Mayas; the Tarascos form a small group living in Michoacán; the Matlanzingos, or Matlaltzincas, live near the Tarascos, the savage Apaches, a nomadic group of tribes ranging from Durango northward into the United States; the Opata-Pima group, inhabiting the western plateau region from Sonora and Chihuahua south to Guadalajara, is sometimes classed as a branch of the Nahuatlaca ”

“ Tarata, in the spurs of the mountains, is reached only by horseback, is chiefly important as head of the department of the same name, and is only a degree nearer modern life than the villages of sturdy mountaineers that cling to the Andean folds above it. ”

“ The pampas are dotted over with the dome-shaped huts and houses of the Quichuan Indians, and from their being built in mud and stones, the country presents features similar to many of the plains of Central India, with their stone and mud walled villages. We passed through the towns of Tarata and Cliza, both populous and flourishing places, built on the flat pampas, and at each of these towns we had to stop while politics were discussed, and vast quantities of pisco and chicha consumed ”

“ We went through the Carpapata tunnel, 184 m. long—very dark and narrow, and extremely dangerous if you happened to meet pack animals in the middle. The scenery was enchanting and the vegetation wonderful until, 20 kil. farther, I entered, by a magnificent avenue of eucalyptus trees, the most picturesque town of the higher Andes, Tarma. The narrow, neat streets were paved with cobble-stones. All the houses were painted white, and had red-tiled roofs. The streets swarmed with quaintly attired Indians and tidily dressed Peruvians. There were many Italians and Spaniards in Tarma. ”

“ The Place of Delights, as the name of Patzcuaro is translated from the Tarascan language of its old inhabitants, is a lonely little city now, containing no more than eight thousand natives, many of whom are descended from the first inhabitants, and speak the Tarascan tongue. The town is built on hilly broken ground, with narrow crooked streets, from which glimpses are constantly to be had of the beautiful lake stretching out below. Abundant springs water the town and flow through the fountains in the market-place, an open square surrounded by noble ash-trees. ”

“ Alonso Martín—The encomienda of Talapa y Gatara belongs to Juan Vasquez and Juan de Argonca. It has five hundred tributes, or two thousand persons. They are hostile. One religious might be stationed there, when they are pacified, and who can visit the estuary of Talapanga, which has fifty tributes, or two hundred persons, and belongs to Alonso Martín. ”

“ Near the Cordilleras of the coast he was probably known as Pariacaca, who expelled the huaca of the district by dreadful tempests, hurling rain and hail at him for three days and nights in such quantities as to form the great lake of Pariacaca. Burnt llamas were offered to him. But the Incas, discontented with this local worship, which by no means suited their system of central government, determined to create one thunder-deity to whom all the tribes in the empire must bow as the only god of his class. ”

“ The seat of this town of Toparimaca was very pleasant, standing on a little hill, in an excellent prospect, with goodly gardens a mile compass round about it, and two very fair and large ponds of excellent fish adjoining. This town is called Arowocai; the people are of the nation called Nepoios, and are followers of Carapana. In that place I saw very aged people, that we might perceive all their sinews and veins without any flesh, and but even as a case covered only with skin. ”

“ It is obvious that we have here a legend concocted by the later Inca priesthood to account for the evolution of Peruvian religion in its different stages. The first brother would appear to represent the oldest religion in Peru, that of the paccariscas the second that of a fetishistic stoneworship, the third perhaps that of Viracocha, and the last sun-worship pure and simple. There was, however, an "official" legend, which stated that the sun had three sons, Viracocha, Pachacamac, and Manco Ccapac. ”

“ In the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are the Zapotecan and Mixtecan stocks, which differ widely in sound and structure from the Mayan and Nahuan tongues that hem them in. West and east of the Valley of Mexico are, respectively, the Tarascan and Totonacan stocks, which show no great amount of subdivision. In Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica are several language groups that have never been carefully studied. ”

“ While living among the heathen, of whom there are vet some three thousand left, I had no fear of being robbed of any part of my outfit. The Indians themselves would not touch anything, and there were no strange Mexicans about. If they had come, the Tarahumares would have immediately warned me. Everything was perfectly safe as long as I had an honest interpreter. The Tarahumare in his native condition is many times better off, morally, mentally, and economically, than his civilised brother; but the white man will not let him alone as long as he has anything worth taking away. ”

“ Taking their women with them, they marched through the provinces of Huanuco and Chachapoyas, and, passing the forests of the Andes, they arrived at a very large lake which, I believe, must be that described in the story of El Dorado. Here they established their settlement, and multiplied. The Indians relate great things of that land and of the chief Ancoallo. [197]
The Inca captains, after what has been written had come to pass, returned to the valley of Xauxa, where already great presents and many women had been got together to be sent to Cuzco, and the people of Tarama did the same. ”