JOURNEY ACROSS THE CORDILLERA TO PUNO.

In the region of the cordillera of the Andes, in Northern and Central Peru, the country is broken up into deep warm valleys and profound ravines, separated by lofty precipitous ridges and snowy peaks, which combine to form some of the most magnificent scenery in the world. Vast flocks of sheep and alpacas find pasture on the upland slopes, while abundance of wheat is grown lower down. Indian corn generally flourishes at a still lower elevation, though it is grown as high as 13,000 feet on the islands of lake Titicaca, and sugar-cane is cultivated in the deep valleys. This is the nature of the country between Ayacucho and Cuzco, and in the valley of Vilcamayu, which extends from the foot of the VilcaÑota range until it subsides into the vast tropical plains to the north and east of Cuzco.

But the southern part of the interior of Peru, and the northern portion of Bolivia, present a very different character. From the VilcaÑota mountains the Andes separate into two distinct chains, namely, the cordillera or coast-range, and the Eastern Andes, which include the loftiest peaks in South America, Illimani and Sorata, or Illampu. The region between these two ranges contains the great lake of Titicaca, and consists of elevated plains intersected by rivers flowing into the lake, at a height never less than 12,000 feet above the sea. The magnificent scenery of Northern and Central Peru is wanting in this southern part of the country, which composes the department of Puno, and is usually called the Collao. It, however, possesses features of its own which are at once striking and imposing, while the land which is drained by the lake of Titicaca was the cradle of the civilization of the Incas.

The journey up the "Alto de los huesos" is very fatiguing, and the change from the pleasant exhilarating air of Chihuata, to the chilling icy blasts which constantly sweep over the upper region of the cordillera, was severely felt. As the afternoon advanced a drizzling mist came on, and added to the cheerless desolation of the plains it was necessary to traverse before reaching the post-house of Apo. Occasionally a drove of llamas, with their Indian driver, loomed for a moment through the mist, and at nightfall we arrived at the post-house of Apo (14,350 feet), tired, drenched, and cold.

The rainy season of the cordilleras commences in November, and continues until the end of March, and during most of that time the discomfort of travelling is so great, and the rivers so swollen, that a journey is seldom undertaken by an ordinary traveller. In March, however, the rain does not fall continuously or in any quantity. The early morning is generally clear, but in the afternoon mists, rain, or snow begin to fall, and continue until far into the night. From April until October is the dry season, and in May, June, July, and August a cloud is scarcely ever seen in the sky.

The post-houses in the desolate mountains between Arequipa and Puno are all of the same character. They consist of a range of low stone buildings surrounding a courtyard on three sides, and consisting of five or six rooms with mud floors, a rough table, and a platform of stone and mud at one end, which is intended for a bed-place. The roof is badly tiled or thatched, and the doors are so roughly fitted that it is impossible to close them. Both man and beast are subject to a most distressing illness, caused by the rarefaction of the air at these great altitudes, which is called sorochi by the Peruvians. I had suffered from a sharp attack of illness at Arequipa, so that I was probably predisposed to a visitation from sorochi, which I certainly endured to its fullest extent. Before arriving at Apo, a violent pressure on the head, accompanied by acute pain, and aches in the back of the neck, caused great discomfort, and these symptoms increased in intensity during the night at the Apo post-house, so that at three A.M., when we recommenced our journey, I was unable to mount my mule without assistance.

A ride of seven hours across grassy plains covered with herbage, with patches of snow here and there, and ranges of hills with fine masses of rocks, forming a setting to the distant peaks of the cordillera, brought us to the post-house of Pati. During this ride we had to ford the river, which flows past Arequipa as the Chile, more than a dozen times. The only living creatures are the lecca-leccas, a bird which frequents the numerous streams, and the graceful flocks of vicuÑas. The lecca-lecca is a large plover, with red legs, white head, grey body, white under the breast and tail, and wings and tail broadly edged with black. It incessantly utters a wild shrill scream. The vicuÑas, a species of llama with the habits of an antelope, are very beautiful and graceful creatures. They have rich fawn-coloured coats, with patches of white across the shoulders and inside the legs, and long slender necks. They are constantly met with in the most desolate parts of the cordillera, browsing on the tender shoots of the tufts of ychu, or galloping along with their noses close to the ground, as if they were scenting out the best pasture.

At Pati a range of abrupt porphyritic cliffs rises from the plain, up which a rough zigzag pass leads to the "Pampa de Confital,"[128] the loftiest part of the road over this pass of the cordillera. A storm of hail began to fall, which turned into snow as we reached the pampa, and a ride of many hours over a succession of wild desolate plains, in an incessant snow-storm, brought us to the "alto de Toledo," the highest part of the road, and 15,590 feet above the level of the sea.[129] Some glorious snowy peaks appeared through the gloom at sunset, and after several weary hours in the darkness we at length arrived at the post-house of Cuevillas.

In the neighbourhood of Cuevillas there are large sheep-farms, one called Toroya, near the "alto de Toledo," and another called Tincopalca farther on. The sheep, at this enormous height, lamb in March and July, and, of the March lambs, usually about fifty per cent. survive. Beyond Cuevillas there are two large Alpine lakes, whence a river flows down into Titicaca, and we thus passed the watershed between the Pacific and the great lake. The scenery is grand and desolate, reminding me, in some respects, of the interior of Cornwallis Island in the Arctic regions. The road passes between the two lakes, and we reached the post-house of La Compuerta as the afternoon rain commenced. The hills are covered with tufts of coarse grass (Stipa ychu), of which the llamas eat the upper blades, while the sheep browse on the tender shoots underneath; and with two kinds of shrubby plants, one a thorny composita called ccanlli, and the other called tola or ccapo, which is a resinous Baccharis,[130] and is used for fuel.[131]

The gorge in which the La Compuerta post-house is situated is the only outlet for the waters of the lake. Mountains of great height rise up on either side, clothed, at this season, with herbage of the richest green, while ridges of scarped cliffs of dark porphyritic rock crop out at intervals. The river dashes noisily over huge boulders, and near its left bank are the rough stone buildings of the post-house. Great quantities of ducks, gulls, coots, godwits, and sandpipers frequent the shores of the lake. The postmaster supplied alfalfa for the mules, and a chupÉ consisting of potatoes and salt mutton for the travellers, at exorbitant prices; the mules were freed from their cargoes, which were placed within the porch, ready lashed up in their redecillas or hide nets; and we were soon rolled up in blankets and ponchos, while the snow continued to fall unceasingly through the early part of the night. When we got up next morning the thermometer was at 31° Fahr. indoors.

Starting at dawn, we descended the gorge, passing two ruined mining establishments, San Ramon and Santa Lucia, into green plains with large flocks of sheep scattered over them.

In these uninhabited wilds it is an event to meet a traveller, and his appearance is the signal for a succession of questions and answers. We here passed a cavallero, in whose dress and general appearance we saw a reflection of our own, excepting the comforters. He wore a large poncho of bright colours, reaching nearly to his heels; a broad-brimmed felt hat with a blue cotton handkerchief passed over it, and tied in a knot under his chin; an immense woollen comforter passed round his throat and face, until nothing appeared but his eyes; a pair of woollen gaiters, bright green, with black stripes; and huge spurs. He was an officer on his way to Arequipa, and complained of the severity of the weather and the heaviness of the roads. After a short conversation the traveller passed on, followed by his cargo-mules, and soon became a speck in the distance.

In the afternoon we came to the first signs of cultivation, since leaving the valley of Cangallo, in the neighbourhood of the great sheep-farm of Taya-taya—patches of quinoa, barley, and potatoes, with the huts of Indians scattered amongst them; and, crossing a rocky ridge, we came in sight of a vast swampy plain, with the little town of Vilque, at the foot of a fine rocky height, in the far distance, which we reached at sunset. The long rows of thatched brown huts dripping with rain, and the muddy streets, looked melancholy. But at the time of the great fair, in June, Vilque presents a very different appearance. The plains, for several miles beyond this little town, were so swampy as to be rendered almost impassable. It was with the greatest difficulty that we made our way across them, constantly wading and splashing through water, and in some places sinking so deep in the adhesive mud, that it was not without desperate exertions that the mules could extricate themselves. At length we came to a rocky ridge which bounded the vast pampa of Vilque, and continued our journey over rather drier ground.

Since leaving La Compuerta we had been continually descending; the vicuÑas had disappeared, as they confine themselves to the loftiest and wildest parts of the cordillera; but, in the lower region between Vilque and Puno, the feeling of desolation and solitude is dissipated by the numbers of birds which enliven the country, and by the increased quantity and variety of wild flowers.

The lecca-leccas or plovers were very numerous, screaming shrilly as they flew in circles, or ran along the ground. In the clefts of the rocks there were many birds, like creepers, called haccacllo by the Indians, and pito in Spanish—beaks curved downwards, black on the top of the head, white underneath, red at the back of the neck, speckled wings, white breast, and a black line from the beak to the back of the neck. We also saw many small green paroquets, bright yellow finches called silgaritos, a kind of partridge called yutu, and, above all, the glorious coraquenque or alcamari, the royal bird of the Incas, whose black and white wing-feathers surmounted the imperial llautu or fringe of the sovereigns of Peru. The alcamari is a large and noble-looking bird of prey, with a scarlet head, black body, and long wing-feathers of spotless white. Wherever the plains are intersected by ridges of rocky cliffs, which is frequently the case, there are swarms of large rodents, called biscaches, which sat on their hind legs, and looked about inquisitively as we rode past.

Riding over several wide grassy plains, and passing the village of Tiquillaca, we arrived at the banks of the river Tortorani, which was so swollen as to be quite impassable. By following its course for about half a mile, we came to a place where the whole volume of water precipitates itself down a sheer declivity of 250 feet, and forms a magnificent cascade. A league below the falls we found a bridge, and, at sunset, we came in sight of the great lake of Titicaca, with the snowy range beyond. A steep zigzag descent leads down to the city of Puno, which is close to the shores of the lake, and hemmed in by an amphitheatre of argentiferous mountains.

Puno, the capital of the department, owes its origin and former prosperity to the rich veins of silver-ore in the surrounding country. It is approached, from the north, by a stone archway built over the road by General Deustua, who was prefect in 1850; and the streets slope by a gradual descent towards the lake. The houses are built of small-sized brown adobes, with roofs of thatch or red tiles, and courtyards very neatly paved with round pebbles and llama's knuckle-bones in patterns. There are scarcely any with more than a ground-floor, and the rooms open on to the court; but, though at this elevation, 12,874 feet above the sea, it is extremely cold at night, stoves are unknown; and the unusual luxury of a fireplace, which exists in one house, is merely a luxury to the eye, for it is never lighted. The streets are clean and well paved, and the stone church in the Plaza, dating from 1757, has an elaborately carved front and two towers. In another plaza is the college, a large building with an upper story, also built by General Deustua; and both these public squares have bronze fountains erected by the Government of General Echenique, the late President, besides drinking fountains in the corners of several of the streets. The water is excellent.

Puno is surrounded by heights covered with patches of potatoes, barley, and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), the huts of Indians being interspersed amongst them; and immediately over the town there is an isolated rocky ridge of carboniferous limestone perforated by several natural caverns, called the Huassa-pata. The shores of the lake are a few hundred yards from the town, and at the little port there are always a number of balsas, made of large bundles of reeds tied together, with a reed sail.[132] The view to seaward is, however, confined by the peninsula of Capachica, and two islands at the mouth of the bay of Puno. A canal to enable balsas to come up nearer the town was made by the Spanish Intendente Gonzalez Montoya in the beginning of the present century.[133]

The flora of a country which, though within the tropics, is at an elevation of nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea, must necessarily be meagre, and the few plants are lowly and inconspicuous. I noticed the following in the immediate vicinity of Puno. The only tree was one of stunted growth, with a pretty pink and white flower, and dark-green leaves, almost white underneath, called "oliva silvestre" by the Spaniards, and ccolli in Quichua (Buddlea coriacea); and of these there were not more than a dozen, sheltered behind walls. By far the greater number of plants are CompositÆ: of these I observed three species of Tagetes—one with a small yellow flower; another very sweet, called by the Indians huaccatay and chicchipa, and used to flavour their chupes; and a large shrubby marygold, called sunchu;[134] also the common sow-thistle, a Hieracium, and the tola and ccanlli before mentioned, used for fuel. I found two Verbenas and a Solanum, all with purple flowers; a clover, a creeping cucurbitaceous plant, two Cacti, a large dock, three Geraniums, all with pink flowers; three Crucifers, very small herbs, one with a white flower, one with a yellow flower, and the third the common shepherd's-purse; a Gilium with a minute white flower, a small legume with tomentose leaves, a pretty little creeping Adoxa, a Statice, a wild Chenopodium, a Veronica, a minute Stellaria, a Rhinanthus, a mallow, a plantago, and three species of wild Oxalis, two very minute with white flowers, and one with a yellow flower. There were also two ferns, one a very beautiful Gymnogramma with silvery fronds; nine grasses, the most abundant of which was the coarse Stipa ychu; and a few mosses. On the shores of lake Titicaca I saw rushes in great quantities, a Mimulus, a Ranunculus, a Rumex, and three grasses. These plants, though lowly and unpretending, are in sufficient abundance to cover the country with verdure and pretty wild flowers, and brighten those parts which are not cultivated. The cultivation consists of quinoa, caÑahua (both Chenopodia), barley, potatos, ocas (Oxalis tuberosa), and wheat in very small quantities, which does not ripen.

Close to Puno, on the south, are the famous silver-bearing mountains of Cancharani and Laycaycota, to which Puno owes her existence: and to the discovery and working of the Laycaycota mine in the middle of the seventeenth century a very curious history is attached; which is always talked of by the people of Puno as one of the principal events in the annals of their city.

In about 1660 an exceedingly rich vein of silver had been discovered on the hill of Laycaycota, by one JosÉ de Salcedo, which was called the "Veta de la Candelaria." One account says that the secret of its existence was revealed to Salcedo by an Indian girl. JosÉ de Salcedo, and his brother Gaspar, continued to work this vein, and several others which were opened on the Cancharani and Laycaycota hills; enormous quantities of silver were extracted; and the fame of his enormous wealth, and its source, attracted crowds of unruly people to the spot, from the various towns of Peru.[135] Salcedo is said to have been generous and open-handed in finding employment for applicants, but, from some unexplained cause, tumults took place at the mines in 1665, which, from first to last, are said to have caused 450 violent deaths. The governor of the district, Don Angelo de Peredo, seems to have taken part against the Salcedos, who retired to the village of Juliaca, with a body of armed followers, in November, 1665. In March, 1666, they attacked the governor's people who had possession of the mines; Salcedo neglected repeated orders to come to Lima; and was accused of having threatened to extort a general pardon from the Viceroy, at the head of a thousand men. Salcedo himself, however, appears to have been absent at Cuzco when the attack was made on the mines. These tumults, accompanied by much bloodshed, continued until 1669, when the Viceroy Count of Lemos came to Puno in person, and settled the question by sending JosÉ and Gaspar de Salcedo to Lima, where JosÉ was tried, condemned, and executed. Gaspar was detained a prisoner in Callao castle.

It was the general impression at the time, and is so still at Puno, that jealousy and envy of their riches occasioned the persecution of these men; for not only were the charges against them most frivolous, but the Count of Santistevan, the predecessor of the Count of Lemos, had caused the Bishop of Arequipa to publish a general pardon of all offences in 1666. The accusations against JosÉ Salcedo were that he went about with armed men, took a seat next to the corregidor at a bull-fight in Cuzco, and neglected to obey the order to come to Lima.[136]

A petition was afterwards sent to Spain, representing that the Salcedos were the victims of injustice, and not guilty of disloyalty; that the Viceroy's proceedings were irregular; and that the heirs of the Count of Lemos were bound to make reparation for the evils caused to these deserving men. The petition also prayed that the President of the Council of the Indies might not be allowed to decide the case, because he was related to the Count of Lemos.[137] This petition seems to have received favourable consideration; for I find that the son of JosÉ de Salcedo was afterwards created Marquis de la Villa Rica de Puno, and that he took a leading part in subsequent mining operations.

The most remarkable part of this story is that on the day of Salcedo's death the mine became full of water, and the Viceroy was thus disappointed in his expectation of succeeding to the wealth of which he had deprived his victim. This curious coincidence made a great impression on the Indians, which is not yet effaced; and they still point out a small lake or pond that is said to cover the once rich vein or "Veta de la Candelaria."

Salcedo's son, the Marquis of Villa Rica, attempted to reach his father's source of wealth by cutting a horizontal adit or socabon in the side of the hill looking on lake Titicaca; and he is said to have penetrated nearly 700 yards, and within sixty yards of his father's perpendicular shaft; but his funds failed him, and he died mad. In spite, however, of the filling up of the "Candelaria," great numbers of other shafts were sunk, and much silver was extracted, both by the Marquis, and by other speculators. A report, dated 1718, mentions as many as forty-six shafts on the hills near Puno, which were then being worked.[138] In 1740 a native company attempted to finish the socabon which had been commenced by the Marquis, but their workmen were unable to cut through the masses of porphyry, and, after vast expense, it was abandoned a second time.

From 1775 to 1824 the mines near Puno yielded ores worth 1,786,000 marcs of silver, at seven to nine dollars the marc; the richest year being 1802, when the yield was 52,000 marcs; but since 1816 it has been steadily decreasing, and in 1824, the year after the expulsion of the Spaniards, it had sunk very low. In 1826 the manto mine, to which the socabon leads, which was excavated by the Marquis of Villa Rica, was granted to General O'Brien, a gallant and enthusiastic old Irish hero of South American independence, who resumed the work, but without any success. Mr. Begg, an enterprising English merchant, undertook the completion of the socabon in 1830. He imported expensive machinery from England, employed an intelligent engineer named Patterson, and continued to work the manto mine until 1839. He built himself a house furnished with every English comfort, and lived in very good style; but the speculation was a failure, and he left the country a poor man in 1840, and died in Chile. After the departure of Mr. Begg, some Peruvian speculators continued to work at the same mine, but without any energy; and, at the time of M. de Castelnau's visit in 1845, only thirty workmen were employed.[139] When Lieut. Gibbon, U.S.N., passed through Puno in 1851, the manto was still being worked, but at the time of my visit it had been entirely abandoned since 1858.

It is one of the great evils arising from the political condition of Peru since the independence that there is a complete want of confidence in each other amongst the moneyed classes, and an absence, to a great extent, of the spirit of enterprise; so that any combination on a large scale for mining, or other purposes of a similar nature, is almost impossible. Peru is still a very young country, and there is reason to hope that this state of things will not continue; but now a feeling of suspicion, added to a want of energy, prevents the formation of native companies. Thus the manto is abandoned, and the numerous mines which once covered the hills of Cancharani and Laycaycota, and actually created the city of Puno, which nestles at their feet, are not worked. At present there is only one small mine at work, high up on the hill of Cancharani, called the Cachi Vieja. Its proprietor, Don Manuel Ferrandis, is an upright, intelligent, and most kind-hearted old gentleman, who has had much experience in mining operations; and on the 29th of March he took me to visit the abandoned manto, and his own works at Cachi Vieja.

About two miles south of Puno is the establishment built by Mr. Begg, at the foot of the Laycaycota mountain, and facing the lake. The buildings stand round a long courtyard, containing four trees of the oliva silvestre, probably, as the only trees in the country, once carefully tended by the former English residents. There is a steam-engine which turns a large stone wheel, twelve feet in diameter, for grinding the ores; and the quicksilver was separated by the heat of fires of llama-dung and tola,[140] the only fuel to be had. In the house there were papered rooms, fire-grates, and English conveniences, now all in ruins, and the rooms used as stables for donkeys. At a short distance from Mr. Begg's ruined house, and a little higher up the mountain, is the entrance to the famous "Socabon de Vera Cruz" of the manto mine, commenced by the Marquis of Villa Rica, and finished by Mr. Begg. The "socabon" penetrates into the mountain, in a generally south-west direction, for a distance of a mile and a quarter; the first 900 yards having a depth of some feet of water, which is dammed up at a little distance outside the entrance. This part of the gallery is navigated by an iron canoe about a foot and a half wide; but the canal is so narrow that the canoe frequently grates on both sides at once against the rocks. The roof of the excavation, too, is very low, and several times we actually had to crouch down in the bottom of the canoe, to avoid knocking our heads. Thus we penetrated into the bowels of the earth by this subterranean navigation, with an Indian holding a burning torch in the bows. From the entrance, for about 300 yards, the excavation traverses a mass of grey porphyry. In the 900 yards of navigation there are six locks; and when the water terminates, the gallery continues for a hundred yards, where there is an iron tramway laid down. The metal was dragged down to the head of navigation in cars, by two old mules, one of which had not seen daylight for fifteen years when they ceased to work the mine. At the point where the tramway comes to an end, the gallery still continues for 1200 yards; but this part is very narrow and tortuous, and the metal was carried down to the cars on the backs of Indians. The rock at the extreme end of the excavation is a very hard green porphyry, with quartz and veins of silver ore.

The Cachi Vieja works are high up on the Laycaycota hill, and not far from the famous "Veta de la Candelaria." The mouth of the shaft is in a building opening on a courtyard, where women were sorting the ores in small heaps. The most abundant ore is called brosa, containing forty marcs of silver in the cajon of fifty quintals (cwts.); other ores are called rosicler, pavonado, and polvarilla. The rosicler, or ruby silver, is a most beautiful rose-coloured mineral, containing a considerable quantity of silver.[141]

Besides Cachi Vieja in the immediate vicinity of Puno, there are some very productive silver-mines at San Antonio de Esquilache, twenty miles south-west of that town, which have been worked since 1847 by Don Manuel Costas, one of the most influential citizens of Puno, and my host during my stay in that city.

Wool and silver are the great staple products of the department of Puno; the whole value of exported articles being about 1,200,000 dollars.[142] The population is rather under 300,000 souls; that of the town of Puno 9000.[143] Upwards of 1,500,000 dollars come into the department yearly, either in payments for wool, or in salaries for officials, without counting the expenditure for the troops; and it is calculated that more than half this sum eventually finds its way into the hands of the Indians, who bury it. Thus, in considering the mineral wealth of Peru, the enormous quantities of coined money, and vases or other articles made of the precious metals, which have been buried by the Indians, must be taken into consideration; for this practice has been going on since the time of the Incas. Now that the currency consists almost entirely of the debased half-dollars of Bolivia, if a Spanish dollar or any other good coin is accidently received by an Indian, it is immediately buried.

The principal people in Puno, during my visit, were General San Roman, in command of the army of the South, an old man with the face and head of a pure Indian, and plenty of white hair brushed off his forehead, who has been mixed up in all the wars since 1822, and from whom I received much information respecting the Indian rebellion of Tupac Amaru in 1780, and of Pumacagua in 1815; SeÑor Garces, the Prefect; Don Juan Francisco Oviedo; Don Manuel Costas; and Don Manuel Ferrandis, the proprietor of the mine on the Laycaycota hill. Every evening there was a party assembled at the house of the latter to drink coffee, and talk over the news of the day. On these occasions, amongst other topics of conversation, the possibility of forming a company for the navigation of lake Titicaca was frequently discussed. Costas had first been struck by the immense good that steam navigation on the lake would bring to the department of Puno in 1840, and in 1846 he purchased a small steamer called the 'Titicaca,' and had her sent out in pieces. He sold her to the Government, on condition that they would defray the expense of sending her up to the lake; but this was never done. It is considered that any steamers which may hereafter be ordered for this purpose should be about forty tons, drawing four and a half feet, with paddles (as a screw would inevitably foul amongst the rushes), and accommodation for passengers on deck. They would take all the products of the Bolivian forests, bark, timber, chocolate, coca, fruit, and arnotto, to Puno; European manufactured goods, sugar of Abancay, and aguardiente of the coast, from Puno to Bolivia; provisions and traffic of all kinds amongst the Indians of the shores; and copper of Coracora to Puno. Timber in vast quantities might be felled in the forests of Caravaya, and floated down the rivers of Azangaro and Ramiz during the rainy season, which, with the coal on the island of Soto, would furnish supplies of fuel. Markets and easy means of communication having been formed, the trade would rapidly increase on all sides. The face of the country would be entirely changed; the people, finding new wants, would become more civilised; and Puno, instead of a city with empty silent streets, and half a dozen balsas at its anchorage, would be a flourishing and busy port.[144] These bright prospects, however, will require time, and a total change in the political condition of Peru, for their realization in a somewhat distant future.

It is also a very important question whether larches, firs, and birch-trees might not be naturalized in the more sheltered ravines of these lofty treeless regions; where large plantations might be formed for the supply of timber and fuel. The Indians are now entirely dependent, for the framework of their roofs, on the crooked poles of the queÑua tree (Polylepis tomentella); and for fuel on llama's dung and the tola shrubs (Baccharis). The winters, from May to September, are not nearly so cold as in Scotland, though very dry; and, during the summer or rainy season, though it is cold, there is plenty of moisture. The introduction of these plantations would change the whole face of the country, and the introducer would confer an inestimable blessing on the inhabitants.

I remained for some time at Puno, in order to collect information, and come to a determination respecting the best course to pursue in the performance of the service on which I was employed. The supply of the bark of Chinchona Calisaya trees is now entirely procured from the forests of Munecas, Apollobamba, Yuracares, Larecaja, Inquisivi, Ayopaya, and the yungus of La Paz in Bolivia; but I found that the difficulties in the way of making a collection of plants and seeds in these districts would be very great, and it afterwards turned out that these difficulties would have been insurmountable. As a considerable part of the revenue of Bolivia is derived from the bark trade, which is not the case in Peru, the Bolivians are exceedingly jealous of their monopoly; and the nature of my mission was already suspected. Moreover there was an imminent prospect of a war between Peru and Bolivia; a large army was massed in three divisions—at Puno under General San Roman, at Vilque under Beltran, and at Lampa under Frisancho; and, as soon as hostilities commenced, it would have been next to impossible for a private person to preserve his mules from seizure. This war did not actually take place, but Linares, the President of Bolivia, issued a decree on May 14th prohibiting all traffic, or the passage of travellers, from one country to the other;[145] a decree which was strictly enforced, and which would have rendered it impracticable at that time to have conveyed myself and companion, with laden mules, from Bolivia to the coast, without long delays and detentions. One of the pretexts for this threatened war is perhaps the most extraordinary that has ever been alleged in modern times; namely, that the Bolivian Government persisted in coining and deluging Peru with debased half-dollars. A strange way of settling a financial difficulty!

While these objections weighed against an attempt to collect plants in the forests of Bolivia, I found that, with regard to the chinchona forests of the Peruvian province of Caravaya, on the frontier of Peru and Bolivia, the facilities for such an enterprise would be much greater. I had reason to believe, though I afterwards found myself in error, that, as there was no bark trade in Peru of any importance,[146] no jealousy would be felt at the nature of my mission. Any hostile proceedings on the Bolivian frontier would not materially affect the route between the Caravaya forests and the coast; and, above all, Caravaya is much nearer and more accessible, as regards an available seaport, than any part of the chinchona forests of Bolivia. This latter point was of the very greatest importance, because success depended chiefly on the rapidity with which the plants could be conveyed across the frozen plains of the cordilleras. I knew from Dr. Weddell that, though the bark trade from Caravaya has now ceased, and bark from that district is of no market value, owing to a foolish habit of adulteration amongst speculators in former times, yet that young plants, and trees bearing fruit, of the Chinchona Calisaya, and other valuable species, were abundant in the forests of that province, as far north as the valley of Sandia.

I, therefore, after much anxious consideration, determined to proceed direct from Puno to the forests of Caravaya.

During my stay at Puno I had opportunities of examining some interesting ruins, and of collecting information respecting the Indian population of Peru, especially with regard to the great insurrections of Tupac Amaru and Pumacagua in 1780 and 1815. Much of this information is quite new; and I, therefore, trust that a description of ancient ruins near Puno, and an account of some of the most stirring events connected with the Indians since the Spanish conquest, may prove of sufficient general interest to justify a halt on the road to the chinchona forests, and a brief digression from the principal subject of the present work.