Chapter XIII: The Central Provinces (1)

CORDOVA, LA RIOJA, SANTIAGO, TUCUMAN, CATAMARCA, SALTA.

CORDOVA. Government. Pastoral Habits of the People.
Productions. LA RIOJA. Population, &c. Famatina Mines.
Evils arising from the present subdivision of the
Provincial Governments. SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO. The Sandy
Desert or Traversia. Quichua Language. Productions, &c.
The Salado navigable to the Paranã. The Chaco. Mass of
native Iron found there. Theory of its Meteoric Origin
questionable. Account of the native Iron from Atacama.
TUCUMAN. Delightful Climate. Mines--little worked. Richness
of the Vegetation. Declaration of Independence of the
Provinces made there in 1816. CATAMARCA. Population, &c.
Original Inhabitants--their long Wars with the Spaniards.
SALTA. Divisions, Population, Government, Climate, Rivers.
The Vermejo, and its Affluents from Tarija and Jujuy.
Valuable Productions of this Province. Labour of the Mataco
Indians obtainable, and preferable to that of Europeans in
such Latitudes. Importance of inland Steam Navigation urged.

In proceeding now to give such information as I have been able to collect respecting the state of the provinces on the road to Peru, and to the westward of it, I shall take them in their geographical order, although it may be as well to observe that they were not, as may be supposed, originally conquered and settled by the discoverers of the Rio de la Plata. Those adventurers, following the course of the river Paraguay, reduced to subjection the warlike tribes they found upon its shores, and, navigating its higher branches, after incredible hardships and many valiant deeds, succeeded in opening a communication with their countrymen in Peru; but they made no attempt to possess themselves of the vast extent of country lying to the westward of them.

The discovery of those regions was reserved for the followers of Almagro, who, after the conquest of Peru, marched southward to take possession of Chile, in fulfilment of his agreement with Pizarro; and his successors laid claim to them as part of the jurisdiction originally allotted to him in virtue of that agreement--a pretension which gave rise to many contentions amongst the chiefs who first established themselves in those parts; nor were they put an end to until, by the king's authority, these settlements, comprising Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, the towns in the valley of Catamarca, and many others since destroyed, were erected into a distinct and separate province called Tucuman, from the chief of the Calchaqui tribes which inhabited them. This was in 1563, some years before the existence of Buenos Ayres. Nor was it indeed till nearly half a century after De Garay had founded his settlement there that they became politically connected, and were united under one and the same government.

PROVINCE OF CORDOVA.

The province of Cordova, after that of Buenos Ayres, is the most important of the Union. According to a census taken in 1822-23, the population then amounted to something more than 85,000 souls, of which from 12,000 to 14,000 lived in the city.

It is ruled by a governor, who is elective by a provincial junta occasionally convoked, and whose power is almost arbitrary; he has the command of all the forces and militia of the province, and has the power of reversing, on appeal, all decisions of the tribunals.

It is bounded by the province of Santiago del Estero to the north, and Santa Fé to the east, and on the western side by the mountain-ranges generally known as the Sierra de Cordova. From these ranges descend many rivers and streams which irrigate and fertilise the plains below; amongst which may be enumerated the Rio San Miguel, the Tortoral, the Carnero, the Primero, Segundo, Tercero, Quarto, and Quinto: of these the Tercero is the only one which reaches the Paranã; all the rest are lost in the flat intervening plains. It has been ascertained that very little is requisite to render the Tercero navigable for boats from the Paranã to within about thirty leagues of the city, whereby a water communication might be opened, which would save much of the present expensive and tedious land carriage of the productions not only of Cordova, but of the provinces of Cuyo, to Buenos Ayres.

The perpetual irrigation of so many streams gives rise to a constant supply of excellent pasturage for cattle and sheep, the facility of rearing which may in some measure account for the preference evinced by the people for pastoral over agricultural pursuits. These habits occasion the country population to be much scattered: they congregate but little in the towns; and the principal places after the capital, Conception, Ranchos, and Carlotta, are at the best but wretched villages.

In travelling from Buenos Ayres after passing the post of Frayle Muerto on the river Tercero, the aspect of the country begins to change: it becomes undulated, and at last there is an end of the monotonous scenery of the Pampas, throughout which not a tree is to be seen save the solitary Umbú, standing like a giant land-mark in the boundless plain.

The traveler's eye is relieved by the appearance of woods and forests which become more dense as the Sierra is approached. The trees are for the most part varieties of the mimosa family, thickly set with thorns; and so marked is this peculiarity in those parts, that I recollect a gentleman from Cordova who came to Buenos Ayres whilst I was there, expressing something more than common surprise at finding that the greater part of the trees which grew in the gardens about the city, and which were probably chiefly of European origin, were not covered with thorns like those of his own province.

The palm-tree is scattered over the valleys in the northern part of the province, and on the road to Santiago del Estero; and it is the land of the aloe and cactus in every variety.

The city which gives its name to the province was founded by the conquerors of Tucuman in 1573; it is situated in lat. 31° 26´ 14",[59] long. from Ferro, 314° 36´ 45", in a pleasant valley upon the banks of the river Primero, sheltered from the north and south winds, which, in the more exposed parts of the province blowing alternately hot and cold, produce great and sudden variations in the atmosphere, very trying to the constitutions of the inhabitants.

By the post-road it is 172 leagues distant from Buenos Ayres.

It is related that for many years after its foundation, the inhabitants were subjected to much inconvenience from the occasional overflowings of a lake in the neighbouring hills, until an earthquake swallowed up its waters, and drained it apparently for ever. Much damage, however, is still done by the mountain-torrents which descend from the Sierra in the rainy season, and have made it necessary to build strong walls to save the city from being occasionally inundated.

Limestone and timber being to be had in the immediate neighbourhood, the houses are generally better built than in other towns in the interior.

Cordova contains many churches, and is the seat of a university, at which, in the time of the Old Spaniards, most of the better classes from all parts of the Vice-Royalty received their education: it was under the management of the Jesuits, to whom this city owes much of its importance. It was here they had their principal college (the Colegio Maximo); and they held large possessions in the neighbourhood, from whence they derived considerable revenues, the greater part of which were spent in the foundation and embellishment of the churches, and in other pious establishments. Here also they had a celebrated library, rich in manuscript records of their Missions and labours amongst the Indians, which upon their expulsion was sent to Buenos Ayres. The printed books formed the nucleus of the present public library in that city; but the greater part of the manuscripts, and amongst the rest an unpublished portion of Father Guevara's History, have never since been seen: they were probably, either sent to Spain or destroyed by Bucareli, who was charged with the expulsion of the Order; a duty which he fulfilled with a harshness and illiberality never to be forgotten in a country which owes all it possesses in the shape of civilization, to the indefatigable zeal and enlightened spirit of that community.

Out of their confiscated property the university of Buenos Ayres was subsequently founded; and being more conveniently situated for the rising generation, it has in proportion diminished the importance of that of Cordova, which, though still kept up, has dwindled to the scale of a provincial school.

From the year 1699 Cordova was also the residence of a bishop (removed from Tucuman), but the see has been vacant since the first years of the revolution.

The effects of the preponderating influence of the monastic establishments are still visible in the habits of the generality of the people; and though the ladies are not all nuns, their manners are a vast deal more reserved than those either of the capital or of the other principal provincial towns. As an instance of this, a fair lady of Buenos Ayres told me she had caused no little scandal whist on a visit to some of her Cordova relations, by insisting on dancing at a ball with a male partner, instead of with one of her own sex, an innovation which greatly horrified the mamas. Captain Andrews, too, has given a lively account of the alarm he unwittingly occasioned by a like breach of decorum in offering his arm to a young lady on going to dinner. These scruples, however, have I believe, since been much modified, and I am told that ladies and gentlemen now dance country-dances together at Cordova, much as they do in other parts of the world, in spite of the fears of the mamas and the frowns of the priests.

Living is very cheap and provisions abundant, the wants of the people few, and their hospitality unbounded; their kindness, indeed, to strangers, is spoken of by all who have been amongst them.

Cordova at present forms a sort of centre of communication between the Upper Provinces and Buenos Ayres. Its own produce, consisting chiefly of hides and wool, is all sent to the capital, whence it receives European manufactured goods in exchange.

If steam navigation were established on the Paranã between Buenos Ayres and Santa Fé, Cordova, as well as the provinces further north, would share in its advantages, and would be more easily supplied through Santa Fé, by the road which runs nearly in a direct line between the two cities; whilst the shorter line of communication thus opened between the provinces of Cuyo and those on the Paranã, passing necessarily through Cordova, would fully compensate to the people of that place for any loss they might sustain in consequence of the transit trade from Buenos Ayres to the Upper Provinces being turned in another direction.

The people of Cordova and Santa Fé would also once more have a joint interest in checking the inroads of the Indians from the Chaco, and by a better combination of their joint means might be enabled to protect their frontiers more effectually and perhaps at less expense than either province is now at for the maintenance of the militia which is requisite for its separate defence.

Cordova, owing to the miserable weakness of the adjoining governments of both Santa Fé and San Luis, is obliged at present to support a large armed force to protect her frontiers, not only from the savages of the Chaco, but from those of the Pampas.

PROVINCE OF LA RIOJA.

To the west of the province of Cordova, across the Sierra, lies La Rioja, formerly a dependency of that government, but now dignified with the title of an independent province, divided into four departments, viz., Arauco, Guandacol, the Llaños, and Famatina. It is nominally under the rule of a governor and a municipal junta of five members. The city from which it takes its name was founded in 1591, at the foot of the Sierra de Velasco, a granitic range, and is situated, according to a MS. in my possession, in latitude 29° 12´, though I know not upon whose authority. In 1824 the population did not amount to more than 3500 souls, though the whole province may contain from 18,000 to 20,000. Arauco, which is the most northern department, contains about 3000, chiefly occupied in the cultivation of vineyards, from which they make 8000 or 10,000 small barrels annually, of a strong sweet wine, which is sent to Cordova and the neighbouring provinces.

Guandacol, which lies to the westward, beyond the range of Famatina, and along the base of the Cordillera of Chile, contains about 1500 inhabitants,--chiefly congregated in the towns of Guandacol and Vinchina. They are employed in agriculture, and, at a particular season, in hunting the vicuñas in the Cordillera, the wool of which forms a valuable article of trade:--the flesh is an article of food.

The Llaños, which lie to the south of La Rioja, constitute a rich grazing district, in which about 20,000 head of cattle are annually bred. The inhabitants are calculated to be about 6000.

The department of Famatina, of which Chilecito is the principal place, lies to the west of La Rioja; it contains 5000 or 6000 inhabitants, who, like those of Arauco, are much engaged in the cultivation of their vineyards, from which they make 6000 or 8000 barrels of wine yearly. It takes its name from the famous mineral range of Famatina, distant from La Rioja about thirty leagues:--this range is described to extend for fifty leagues; in the centre is the Nevado, a lofty peak covered with perpetual snow,--its geological formation is chiefly gneiss and clay-slate; but it is specially celebrated for the richness of its silver ores, which are said to surpass in intrinsic value those of Potosi,--the extreme remoteness and inclemency of their situation, however, accessible only by rugged and difficult mountain paths, has been a constant bar to their being worked to any extent, and as yet they may be said to be only superficially known: nevertheless a mint was established at La Rioja, at which some gold and silver coins have been struck; and, in 1824 and 1825, during the rage for mining speculations in South America, companies were formed for the working of those of Famatina:--those schemes, however, only ended in disappointment to all concerned in them, not from any scarcity, I believe, of the precious metals, but from miscalculations and mismanagement, and an entire ignorance of the political state of the country. In such remote parts it has been but too sadly proved how little foreigners can calculate upon any effectual protection either for their property or their persons. It is idle to talk of contracts or title-deeds where the only real law is the will of some petty despot, whose necessities or interests, direct or indirect, will always overrule all other considerations. That such should be the state of La Rioja is not surprising, when its geographical position is considered, which cuts it off from almost all intercourse with the more civilised parts of the republic. The roads which lead to it, if roads they can be called, which are hardly passable by mules, are as bad as they can be, whilst the distances by these circuitous paths to the nearest of the other provincial towns are enormous. From La Rioja to Cordova it is 114 leagues, to Mendoza 159, and to Buenos Ayres by the nearest beaten route 287. To Guasco or Copiapo, the nearest towns in Chile, the length of the route by the Cordillera of Guandacol is 130 leagues:--this pass is said to be easy of transit, and has been often used to convey goods across the Cordillera from Chile, when the communication with Buenos Ayres has been closed.

The people, as might be expected, are in a lamentable state of ignorance. The governor himself, in sending me an account of his province, confessed that the only school in it was one established in the town of La Rioja, where the instruction was entirely limited to reading and writing, and that, for want of support, was often closed.

If the establishment of the present federal system be found of any real advantage, or gratifying to the ambition of some other provinces, the local situation and means of which may induce them to look forward with any confidence to improving their social condition; on the other hand I fear it must be fatal to those which, like La Rioja, are necessarily thrown by it upon resources which are palpably inadequate either to ensure them any tolerably efficient government for the present, or any likelihood of an improvement in their condition hereafter. It seems to me that the only means of saving them from lapsing into a state of semi-barbarism is to make them, as before, dependencies of their more powerful neighbours:--nor would they alone benefit by such an arrangement; a concentration of the Republic into half-a-dozen instead of twice the number of provincial governments (as was originally contemplated when it was divided into provinces in 1813 and 1814), would render each in itself infinitely more respectable, and better able to maintain its own independence, whilst it would vastly facilitate the management of all their national interests and affairs by the government of Buenos Ayres.

The provinces to the north of Cordova and La Rioja originally formed only two governments, according to the division established by the National Congress in 1814:--that of Tucuman, which included Santiago del Estero and Catamarca; and that of Salta with Jujuy, Oran, and Tarija; but these have since subdivided themselves, and instead of two now form five distinct governments,--viz., Santiago, Tucuman, Catamarca, Salta, and Tarija,--the latter of which has become united to Bolivia: of the others, the first, after leaving Cordova, is Santiago del Estero.

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO.

The distance from the city of Cordova to that of Santiago del Estero is 110 leagues by the post-road. Portezuela is the first station beyond the jurisdiction of Cordova, shortly after which commences what is called the Travesia, a vast sandy zone thirty to forty leagues in breadth, for the most part covered with a saline efflorescence, and producing a salsola, from the ashes of which the inhabitants extract soda. It borders the Sierra de Cordova to the north, and extends west as far as La Rioja, running southward nearly to San Luis. In this arid district the sultry heat of the north wind, which is very prevalent in the summer season, is almost insufferable.

My intelligent correspondent Dr. Redhead, who has lived for more than a quarter of a century in the upper provinces, and to whom I am indebted for some of the most valuable of my information respecting them, speaking of its geological appearance, observes in one of his letters how forcibly he had been led to conjecture that the southern part of the province of Santiago must once have been a sea-coast. "Its sandy hillocks, he says, always reminded him of those on the shores of Flanders:"--certain it is, that throughout the whole extent of this sandy zone, from Ambargasta to Noria, the level of the country becomes very much depressed, and falls very nearly to that of Buenos Ayres; thus in the very heart of the continent, at a distance of 700 miles direct from the sea, we have a considerable tract of land hardly elevated above its immediate shores.

The following table of barometrical observations, taken by Dr. Redhead, will not only show the variations in the height of the country intervening between Buenos Ayres and Santiago, but also of that to the northward, along the high road, as far as Tupiza in Peru:--

Barometrical Observations, made on the road from Buenos Ayres to Potosi, by Dr. Redhead:--

+---------+---------------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+
|Distance | | | | | |
|from one | | | | | |
|place to | | | | | |
|another |Point of Observation |Barometer|Thermo-| Date | Hour |
| | | | meter | | |
|Post | | | | | |
|leagues | | | | | |
+---------+---------------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+
| 134 |Rio Tercero from } | | | | |
| | Buenos Ayres } | 28·945 | 86 |Feb. 11 |11 a.m.|
| 3 |Cordova | 28·400 | 86 | 20 | 4 p.m.|
| 14 |Sin-Sacate | 27·990 | 75 |Mar. 12 |11 a.m.|
| 22 |San Pedro | 26·990 | 60 | 17 | 6 a.m.|
| 4 |Durasno | 27·300 | 73 | -- | 9 a.m.|
| 4 |Piedritas | 27·500 | 72 | -- | Noon. |
| 4 |Pozo del Tigre | 27·550 | 71 | -- | 5 p.m.|
| 6 |Portezuela | 27·860 | 69 | 18 | Noon |
| 6 |Ambargasta } | 28·875 | 67 | 19 | 9 a.m.|
| 6 |Punta del Monte} The | 29·260 | 82 | -- | 4 p.m.|
| 6 |Salinas } Travesia| 29·600 | 68 | 20 | 6 a.m.|
| 14 |Noria } | 29·400 | 76 | -- | 2 p.m.|
| 24 |Santiago del Estero | | | | |
| 40 |Tucuman | 27·563 | 75 |Feb. 10 | |
| 100 |Jujuy | | | | |
| 30 |Humaguaca | 21·415 | 57 | June 2 | 4 p.m.|
| 8 |Cueba | 21·200 | 54 | 1 | |
| 3 |Abra de Cortaderas | | | | |
| 3 |Colorados | 19·350 | 50 | May 31 | 8 a.m.|
| 6 |Cangrejos | 19·625 | 32 | 30 | 6 p.m.|
| 9 |Quiaca | 19·300 | 50 | 29 | 4 p.m.|
| 5 |Cumbre del Cerro} | 19·100 | 60 | 28 |11 a.m.|
| | de Berque } | | | | |
| 4 |Berque | 19·975 | 54 | 27 | 4 p.m.|
| 5 |Talina | 20·800 | 56 | 26 | 9 a.m.|
| 8 |Tupiza | 26·260 | 60 | 25 | 9 a.m.|
+---------+---------------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+

_Note._--At Buenos Ayres the mean of the barometer for the month of March, 1822, was 29·61.

In the upper parts of the Sierra de Cordova granite everywhere breaks through the surface, and innumerable fragments of it may be traced in the descent to the Travesia, whilst beyond that sandy zone there is not a vestige of it throughout the rest of the road to Potosi, the formation the whole way being of blue argillaceous schist and slate, with occasional strata of limestone and red sandstone. In the neighbourhood of Potosi, however, and on the tops of some of the highest mountains in its vicinity, Helms tells us that he fell in with a pretty thick stratum of granite pebbles rounded by the action of water. How, he says, could these masses of granite have been deposited here? Have they been rolled hither by a general deluge, or by some later partial revolution of nature? His astonishment would have been infinitely greater had he known that marine shells are to be found on the lofty mountain of Chorolque (about twelve leagues north-west from Tupiza, between Salta and Potosi), the summit of which has been determined by Dr. Redhead to be 16,530 feet above the level of the sea.

The word Chorolque is corrupted from Churucolque, signifying in the Quichua tongue that the mountain contains silver and shells. The Spaniards, however, little suspected that the latter were to be found there, till, in 1826, an enterprising Frenchman ascended the mountain and brought down specimens which established beyond doubt the fact.

A further study of that language might lead the scientific inquirer to many an important discovery. The disposition of the Peruvians for observation is well known, and their nomenclature of places is generally expressive more or less either of the nature of the soil, or some peculiarity attached to it: thus a person well versed in Quichua is beforehand aware of what he is to see. Peutocsi, for instance, difficult to be properly pronounced by an European, and corrupted into Potosi, signifies, "_It is said to have burst forth_:" such must have been their tradition, which the very appearance of this singular cone, standing alone and distinct from the system of mountains which surrounds it, and the hot springs in its vicinity, would seem to corroborate.

It is in the province of Santiago that the Quichua is first met with. The Jesuits reduced it to a written language, and published a grammar and dictionary of it in Peru.

The city of Santiago is a miserable ill-built place, containing not more than 4000 souls. It is situated in lat. 27° 47´, according to Azara, upon the banks of a considerable river which rises in the territory of Tucuman, and running south through this province is finally lost, under the name of the Rio Dulce, in the great lakes called the Porongos, to the west of Santa Fé. The whole population of the province it estimated to be about 50,000; the greater part of which is much scattered in small villages built along the courses of this river and of the Salado, which runs parallel to it, and separates the province on that side from the gran-chaco, or desert, the low lands along their banks being better suited for the pasturage of cattle and for cultivation than the other parts of the province. The soil there is well adapted to the growth of wheat, which is said to yield eighty for one.

In most parts of the province the cactus may be seen growing to an unusual size, and the cochineal gathered from it used to form one of the most valuable productions of this part of the country: from 8000 to 10,000 lbs. of it were annually sent to Chile and Peru. Large quantities of wild beeswax and honey were also collected in the woods and sent to the other provinces, in which they were always in demand; but the civil dissensions which have of late years been so frequent in these provinces have checked the industry of the people, who have almost entirely abandoned their old pursuits, and given up their yearly gatherings of these once valued productions. This is the more to be regretted as they are said to be naturally an enterprising and intelligent race, less given to habitual indolence than some of the other inhabitants of these latitudes. The women manufacture ponchos and coarse saddle-cloths, or blankets, which are sold in great numbers to the people of Tucuman and Salta.

To the eastward of the river Salado lies the vast region commonly called the Gran-chaco, or desert, which extends to the Paranã, and reaches north as far as the province of Chiquitos, solely inhabited by Indians of various tribes, who, safe in their own forests and jungles, have there found a refuge from Spanish domination and persecution. It is through this territory that the rivers Pilcomayo and Vermejo wind their tortuous courses to the Paranã from the most remote parts of the interior of the Upper Provinces.

Some way beyond the Salado, about seventy leagues east from Santiago (in lat 27° 28´), was found that very remarkable specimen of native iron which I sent to this country some years ago, and which is now deposited in the British Museum. Its existence was first made known by some of the people of Santiago, who had passed through that part of the country in their journeys to the forests beyond to collect honey; and their reports, which were transmitted to Buenos Ayres, induced the Viceroy, in 1788, to send Don Reuben de Celis, an officer in the King's service, to examine it. His report upon it was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for 1788, and excited much speculation at the time.

As in those times the working of iron was forbidden in South America, after sundry specimens of it were forwarded to Lima, to Buenos Ayres, and to Spain, the remainder lay neglected for many years in its original site.

In the beginning of the struggle for independence, however, when the Spanish ships of war blockaded Buenos Ayres, iron, amongst other necessaries, becoming extremely scarce, the people recollected De Celis's account, with the reports of the Indians, that in the same parts there were extensive veins of the same mineral; and at a great expense the mass in question was sent for and brought to Buenos Ayres. By the time it got there the blockade was over; and as it was evidently much easier to procure iron from Europe than by a cart-carriage of 1000 miles from the uninhabited wilds of the Chaco, no further trouble was taken to determine whether or not the Indian reports of its being procurable in larger quantities were true or not. By way of experiment a pair of pistols were manufactured from it, which were sent as a present to the President of the United States, and what remained was placed at my disposal by the Minister of Buenos Ayres on the occasion of my signing the treaty with him in 1825, which recognised on the part of Great Britain the political independence of his country. I sent it to Sir Humphrey Davy to be placed in the British Museum, hoping that he would himself have analysed it, and given his opinion respecting its supposed meteoric origin. The analysis I believe was never made, owing to his death, which occurred very shortly after the arrival of the iron in this country.

It seems, however, to have been assumed here that this iron, as a matter of course, is meteoric, because it contains those admixtures of nickel and cobalt which accompany other known meteoric productions. It appears to me that the hypothesis is not very satisfactorily or conclusively made out.

The mass I sent home weighs about 1400 pounds, and, making allowance for what may have been taken from it at Buenos Ayres, may probably when it arrived there have been not much less than a ton weight. Now De Celis estimates the mass he examined to have been about fifteen tons weight, and of much larger dimensions: either this therefore is only a fragment of what he particularly described, or it is another which has been found in the same part of the country, and if so, is corroborative of the Indian accounts of there being more in the vicinity. This was the opinion of Dr. Redhead, who, in writing to me on the subject, says, "The native iron found in Santiago is not a single mass, as has been said; there are several, and the most recent accounts describe them as huge trunks with deep roots (I use the expression of the natives), supposed to communicate with each other."[60]

Dr. Redhead's observation was caused by a discussion which arose here upon some other specimens of native iron, which he had forwarded to me, from the desert of Atacama, in Peru, and which were described by the late Mr. Allan in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for 1828. They were analysed by Dr. Turner, who found them to contain--

Iron . 93.4
Nickel ... 6.618
Cobalt . 0.535
-------
100.553

a result which he considered decisive concerning their origin, because, he says, it differs from any compound hitherto described in the earth, and corresponds exactly both in appearance and composition with other meteoric iron.

But these opinions differ entirely from the belief of those who procured the specimens.

That iron is found scattered in large quantities over a plain at the foot of a mountain a little to the south-west of a small Indian village called Toconao, ten leagues from San Pedro, the capital of Atacama, and about eighty from Cobija, on the coast. The tradition there is, that the fragments have been thrown out by some volcanic explosion from the side of the neighbouring mountain, in which the people of Toconao say there is a large _veta_ of pure iron. The Indian who collected the specimens which I sent to this country was employed to _catear_, or search for mines; and the nature of his occupation rendered it requisite for him to be particular in his observations: his account was, that "they were taken from a heap of the same nature, estimated at about three hundred-weight, and that they existed at the month of a _veta_, or vein of solid iron, situated at the foot of a mountain; he called them '_reventazones_,' or explosions from the mine, or _veta_. He had been charged to bring a piece of the _veta_ itself, and some of the rock in which it is embedded, but this he said he could not effect for want of tools; he therefore contented himself with picking up some of the pieces that were at the foot of the hill, where the mouth of the vein opens."

Dr. Redhead says, that in giving him this account the man endeavoured to give him also some idea of the direction of the vein in the mountain.

Further inquiries were subsequently made, the result of which corroborated his testimony. The alcalde of Toconao, who had been at the place, stated that the fragments had issued from a cavity of about fifteen feet diameter, which, from the nature of the soil, was filling up. This is sandy, and for three leagues round there is neither wood nor water nor pasture of any kind. Several persons in San Pedro, and amongst others one named Gonzales, who had likewise seen the cavity, gave a similar account.

The Atacama iron is certainly remarkably similar to the specimen of that met with by Pallas in Siberia, which is to be seen in the British Museum, but what proof is there of that being meteoric?

The Santiago iron differs from them both in appearance. The Atacama and Siberian specimens are full of cavities, looking like large sponges or scoriæ. That from Santiago, on the contrary, is more like a solid lump of well-kneaded dough.

So long as such specimens were supposed to be of very rare occurrence, and differing as they do from the character of all other known minerals, it was not extraordinary that they should have been ascribed to an extraneous origin; but now that further discoveries have proved their existence in all parts of the world, and that enormous masses of similar iron have been met with in the northern parts of America, in Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brazil,[61] and the provinces of La Plata, to speak of that continent alone, I think we may begin to doubt whether they may not be _bonâ fide_ productions of our own planet, instead of bringing them from the moon, or elsewhere. On this I shall only quote another passage from the letters of my excellent correspondent, who took the trouble to institute the inquiries for me as to the origin of the specimens from Atacama. "Time," he says, "may perhaps justify the tradition or opinion of the Indians relative to the origin of this iron; nor do I know why we should refuse to Nature the power of reducing in her laboratory a metal so easily separated from its combinations by the efforts of man."

PROVINCE OF TUCUMAN.

Forty leagues (post distance) beyond Santiago del Estero is situated the city of San Miguel de Tucuman. It stands (in lat. 27° 10´) on an elevated plain in a position from which the prospect on every side is delightful; indeed all accounts agree in describing it as the best situated town in the republic. The climate, though hot, is dry and salubrious; and Nature has been so prodigal of her choicest gifts, that the province of Tucuman well merits its appellation of the garden of the United Provinces. The population amounts to about 40,000 souls, of which 7000 or 8000 reside in the city.

After leaving the travesia of Santiago, the road ascends a slightly inclined plane the whole way to Tucuman, the jurisdiction of which commences after crossing the river Santiago, there called the _Rio Hondo_, or deep river, which separates the two provinces, and is formed by the confluence of many streams which rise in the mountains to the west. To the eastward the Salado continues to be the general boundary-line separating it from the Chaco: to the north the river Tala divides it from the territory of Salta; and to the west and south-west the lofty mountains of Aconquija separate it from Catamarca. The highest peak of this range is covered with perpetual snow, and is said to be above 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. It abounds in mineral treasures, and contains ores of gold, silver, copper, and lead; but the toil and difficulty attendant upon mining operations in those parts of the sierra where they are to be found have caused them to be much neglected, and the mining, if mining it can be called, is now confined to a few wretched people scattered amongst the hills, who occasionally collect small quantities of silver, which they bring down to the city for sale. I have had some of the specimens of silver so collected, which are singularly rich and beautiful.

The _mita_, and other oppressive enactments have will nigh destroyed the unfortunate race whose forced labour brought to light the mineral wealth of these regions. The _mamelucho_, as the gaucho of Tucuman is called, the horseman of the plains, with the help of his wife, who makes the greater part of his clothing, has almost everything he wants about him. He knows not, and therefore needs not, those comforts which become wants in less genial climes, and where civilization is more advanced. Free as the air he breathes, he gallops over boundless plains unfettered by the slightest restraint upon his own inclinations. He has no temptation to quit such a life for the fatigues and dangers of an occupation which he considers as degrading,[62] to bury himself under ground, and to seek by the sweat of his brow treasures of which he does not stand in need. His cattle are the finest in the republic; and the least possible cultivation and labour is sure to yield in return not only the necessaries, but what in his opinion are the luxuries of life.

Nothing can be more luxuriant than the vegetation in this province; whilst the plains yield corn and maize, and rice and tobacco, in the greatest abundance, the base and slopes of the mountain ranges in the west are covered with noble trees in every variety, interspersed with innumerable shrubs, and hung with the most beautiful parasitical plants. Extensive groves also of aroma and orange-trees produce a fragrance which adds to the delights of this favoured region. The sugar-cane grows naturally in the low lands, and might be turned to valuable account; the demand for it, however, at present, is not sufficient to induce the country people to attend to it. Not so with the tobacco-plant, which they cultivate and find a ready sale for in all the adjoining provinces. The people are a well-disposed hardy race, proud of their beautiful country, and always ready to take up arms in defence of _La Patria_.

It was at Tucuman, in 1816, that a Congress of Deputies from the several provinces solemnly declared their independency and separation from Spain. From 1810 to that period the ruling authorities set up had been avowedly merely provisional, and all their acts had been in the King's name, the people vainly looking forward to the King's restoration for a redress of their grievances. It is useless now to say that if the Spanish government had treated them with kindness and conciliatory measures, they would have found the colonies abounding in the same loyal and affectionate feelings for the mother country of which in other times they had repeatedly given such striking proofs.

The King was otherwise advised; and the natural consequence ensued, that the South Americans, who had acquired a knowledge of their own strength and importance, simultaneously with the conviction that they had nothing to hope, and all to fear, from a return to the rule of the mother country, declared themselves the arbiters of their own destinies.

PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA.

Catamarca, divided from Tucuman by the sierras of Aconquija, is one of those subordinate provinces which, like Rioja, owes its independence rather to its insignificance and secluded situation than to any pretensions which the people can have to govern themselves; properly it should be a dependency of the government of Tucuman, to which the Congress annexed it in 1814.

When I applied to the Governor for some general statistical information as to the extent and resources of his province, he fairly confessed his own ignorance and utter inability to answer my queries; much less was it possible to obtain any satisfactory topographical data.

The inhabitants of the province are estimated at 30,000 to 35,000, of which about 4000 reside in Catamarca. The valley so called, and in which the greater part of this population is settled, runs from north-west to south-east, extending from the confines of Atacama to those of Rioja. On the eastern side it is separated from Tucuman first by the sierras of Ancasti and Ambato, and more to the north by the lofty chain of Aconquija: it is watered by a river which holds its course through it (said to have been once a much more considerable stream than at the present day), the waters of which are finally lost in the low sandy plains of the province of Santiago.

The climate is sultry, and the people, at certain seasons, are very subject to intermittent fevers. They produce corn and cattle enough for their own subsistence, and supply the adjoining provinces largely with their cotton, the quality of that of Catamarca being in higher repute than their own, for their domestic manufactures: considerable quantities of red pepper are also sent from thence to Buenos Ayres.

Catamarca, by the usual track, is about sixty leagues distant, south-west, from Tucuman. In a MS. by Dean Funes, in my possession, he places it in south latitude 28° 12´. The first Spanish settlement in this part of the country was formed by Juan Perez de Zurita, in the year 1558. He named it New England, and the principal town London, in celebration of the nuptials of his sovereign King Philip with our Mary. From thence, however, the Spaniards were shortly after expelled by the native Indians, and, removing to the valley of Conando, founded the town of Villagran. That district was subsequently abandoned from the same cause,--the continual hostility of the natives; and the population was finally settled in the valley of Catamarca.

The Calchaquis, who originally occupied those parts, were a warlike race, whose dominion extended from the confines of Peru over all the country lying between the ranges of the Cordillera on the west and those of Aconquija on the east. They derived their name from the valley of _Calchaqui_, which, in the Quichua language is strongly significant of the fertility of the soil; and for a long period they defended themselves against the Spaniards with an obstinate bravery, unequalled perhaps in any other part of South America, excepting Araucania. The history of those parts for the first century and a half, indeed, is little more than an enumeration of their bloody wars with the Spaniards, in which the latter were often defeated with serious loss, their towns besieged and destroyed, and they themselves obliged to fly before the brave defenders of the soil, whom they drove to desperation by their wanton cruelties and oppressive treatment. Amongst other instances of the outrageous and overbearing conduct of the conquerors which are recorded, one may serve as a sample, which Funes relates of Don Philip Albornos, who, being named Governor of Tucuman, some of the Caciques of the Calchaquis, at the time on good terms with the Spaniards, repaired to Tucuman to tender to him their customary tribute upon his appointment. Upon their arrival, instead of the welcome they expected, he wantonly ordered them to be publicly flogged, to have their heads shaved, and so to be sent back whence they came. The Calchaquis swore to be avenged: they secretly sent forth emissaries to rouse all the people of their tribes, especially those of Andalgala, of Famatina, of Copoyan, and Guandacol, who were known to be smarting under the yoke of their new task-masters, for that part of the country was nominally reduced to subjection by the Spaniards; and then, with an overwhelming force, at one and the same time, fell upon Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, London, and La Rioja, carrying everywhere desolation, and sparing not man, woman, nor child. Never were the Spaniards in those parts reduced to such shifts; in vain they endeavoured to make peace, the Indians would listen to no terms, and this war raged for ten years, with great loss to the Spaniards, and the utter annihilation of many of their settlements. Nor was it till a large force could be spared from Peru that this formidable insurrection was put down.

The Spaniards, once masters again, retaliated as usual. Many tribes were exterminated; others capitulated with their conquerors to abandon altogether their native valleys, and were removed to a distance; amongst others a people called the Quilmes, inhabiting a part of the valley of Calchaqui, being reduced to about 200 families, after a long resistance, were sent to Buenos Ayres, where the Governor settled them a short distance from the city, at the place which still bears their name.

The labours of the Jesuits, however, were eventually more successful than all the military forces which were sent against the Calchaquis. The indefatigable missionaries reduced one tribe after another to a state of comparative civilization, and eventually removed the greater part of them from their native soil to form the nucleus of the Christian settlements which they were anxious to establish upon their own plan on the shores of the Vermejo, amongst the Indians of the Chaco. There they soon lost all importance, and the hostilities of other Indian nations, and a dreadful epidemic which broke out amongst them, in the year 1718, finally put an end to the existence of a gallant people, who had not only signalized their name by their successful wars against the Spaniards, but who, in times long before, had maintained their independence in spite of all the efforts of the dynasty of the Incas of Peru to reduce them to subjection.

SALTA

is the frontier province of the republic to the north; and follows in geographical succession those of Tucuman and Catamarca, which bound it to the south and west. The river Vermejo and its tributary, the river of Tarija, constitute its limits to the east. It is divided into the four departments of Salta, Jujuy, Oran, and Tarija; the latter of which has been occupied by the Bolivians, apparently with a determination to maintain possession of it. Deducting the population of that department, the rest of the territory of Salta is estimated to contain nearly 60,000 souls. The city of Salta has between 8000 and 9000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1582, by Don Philip de Lerma, Governor of Tucuman, with a view to secure the communication between that province and Peru from being cut off by the hostile Indians. Its latitude is said to be 24° 30´. Upon the whole it has a neat appearance, and boasts of its cathedral and many churches. It is, however, badly situated in the bottom of a valley, through which flow the rivers Arias and Silleta, the latter of which has of late years abandoned its ancient bed, and seems to threaten at no distant period to burst over the low marshy grounds upon which the city stands. Shut in by the mountain ranges in the neighbourhood, the atmosphere is at certain seasons charged with miasma, giving rise to intermittent fevers and agues, which are very general at those periods amongst the inhabitants.

The form of government in this province, as in all the rest, is based upon the example of that of Buenos Ayres; consisting of a popular assembly, which has the power of electing the Governor. But though democratic in theory, it is far otherwise in practice: the lower orders have not the smallest notion of the real meaning of a representative form of government, and bow with submission to the dictates of a patriarchal coterie of influential families, which, alternately electing and elected, arrange the government amongst themselves very much as suits their own convenience and interests. If any appeal to the people is ever made, it is generally from the necessity of supporting by a demonstration of brute force the pretensions of some particular candidate for power.

Such are these governments in the infancy of society. One may serve as a sample of the rest, although local circumstances may have given rise to slight shades of difference in their appearance. Salta, as a frontier province, during the struggle for independence, was much exposed to the vicissitudes of the war; but this very circumstance roused the energies of the people, and excited in them a spirit of improvement which has placed them in advance of most of the Upper Provinces. The establishment of a printing-press, from which occasionally a newspaper is produced, and of schools, in which reading, writing, and the first rules of arithmetic are taught, are great steps compared with the state of things under the old regime. The clergy, too, either from conviction, or the force of circumstances, are daily becoming more tolerant, and opinions which in old times it would have been heresy to think of, are now as freely discussed as at Buenos Ayres, where religious toleration has become the law of the land.

From Buenos Ayres, Salta is distant 414 leagues, by the post road, and so far the journey may be gone the whole way in a four-wheel carriage; but beyond Salta this is no longer possible, and the traveller must mount his mule to traverse the regions of the Cordillera, which there may be said to begin in earnest, and the rugged and precipitous passes through which are quite impracticable by any other mode of conveyance.

The Salteños boast that within their own territory they possess every climate, from extreme heat to the most intense cold; and, consequently, that they can rear almost every production of nature; for although directly under the tropic, the mountain ranges rise in some places to the height of perpetual snow, counteracting the sun's influence more or less according to the elevation. Thus whilst in all the department of Oran, in the east of the province, the tropical sun has its full influence, under the same latitude in the west, in the mountain districts of Rosario and Rinconada, the cold is intense. In the intermediate valleys the climate is temperate and agreeable. It is in these valleys that the population is chiefly located: they are for the most part highly fertile, being watered by many small rivers and streams, which, running eastward from the mountainous districts, fall into the Salado and Vermejo, which have already been described as the principal aqueducts of these Upper Provinces. Indeed it is in this province that both these noble rivers may be said to have their origin, of which I shall venture to give the following account, chiefly from data published by Colonel Arenales, son of the late Governor of Salta, and now at the head of the topographical department of Buenos Ayres.

As a general observation it may be stated that the tributaries of the Salado all run south, whilst those of the Vermejo will be found to the north of the city of Salta, as may be seen on reference to the map.

The sources of the Salado may be traced to the snowy ranges of Acay, where the river Cachi rises, about fifty leagues' journey westward of Salta, running nearly due south, for more than thirty leagues, through the valleys, successively named Cachi, Calchaqui, Siclantas, and San Carlos; during this course it is joined by three smaller rivers from the west. Six or seven leagues from San Carlos, the river Santa Maria falls into it from the south. This river rises in the province of Catamarca, forty leagues off, running from south to north with little variation. The road from Salta to Catamarca and La Rioja follows its course. At the junction of the Santa Maria the Cachi changes its direction from south-east to north-east, and takes the name of Guachipas, from the town so called, by which it afterwards passes. A little beyond that place the Silleta falls into it, about sixteen leagues to the south of Salta. This river rises near the lake del Toro, to the north-west of Salta, and is augmented by the Arias, from that city, and by two or three other minor streams. Thence the Guachipas turns again south, and, ten leagues below its junction with the Silleta, crosses the high road from Buenos Ayres, where it is called "El Pasage." In the summer season, when the waters are low, its breadth may be here about 100 yards, and not being then more than three or four feet deep, it may be safely forded; but at other seasons when the waters rise, it becomes a very wide and formidable river, the passage of which is rendered extremely dangerous, even to those best acquainted with it, not only from its increased depth and rapidity, but from the many large boulders and trunks of trees which are hurried down by the stream with irresistible violence, and which carry everything before them.