Chapter I: Preface

In this refined age and country, to make a graceful appearance as an author requires endowments to which the writer of the following pages has no pretension: neither would he have intruded himself on the public notice, had he not thought it a duty incumbent on every one who travels, to give his own country the benefit of his observation and experience. He will venture to assert, that he has had ample means of making himself acquainted with his subject, and that he has treated it with candour and impartiality.

For upwards of ten years he lived in Peru: sometimes residing among miners; at other times associating with agriculturists; and professionally brought into contact with persons of all classes and ranks in society, from the palace to the humblest hut.

In the interior of Peru, but more especially in Lima, the writer has met with great courtesy and kindness in private life, and been distinguished by very flattering marks of public favour. He therefore, it may be well believed, has not “set down aught in malice;” and he trusts that in the following pages there will not be found any thing injurious to the Peruvian people, or at variance with that lasting gratitude and honest pride with which he remembers and acknowledges their hospitality.

With respect to the manner of executing his task, he feels that he requires the indulgence of his reader; but, with regard to the matter, he persuades himself that, however unskilfully treated it may be, and however deficient in that exquisite minuteness of detail which delights the curious, it will nevertheless be found to convey to the intelligent reader a fair general idea of the physical and moral condition of Peru; which, as it is all that the writer has aimed at, so to have attained it is all that he desires.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

Boundaries of the Peruvian Republic.—General appearance
and climate of the coast.—Seasons divided into Wet and
Dry.—Vegetation.—Lunar influence.—Enervating effects of the
climate of Lima. Page 1

CHAPTER II.

Chances of life in Lima diminished by neglect of medical
police.—Statements showing the proportion of deaths to the
population of Lima.—Proportion between the different sexes
and castes of the inhabitants. 18

CHAPTER III.

Food, fruit, and water used in Lima. 32

CHAPTER IV.

Remarks explanatory of certain Dietetic maxims, and established
notions or prejudices, illustrative of the physical
constitution and domestic habits of the Limenians. 46

CHAPTER V.

Condition of Slave population, and its influence on the family
economy and moral sentiments of the European race. 106

CHAPTER VI.

Social state of the Limenians under the Spaniards
and Patriots.—Spanish colonists.—Style of
conversation.—Improvements in female education.—Zamba
attendants.—Omnipotence of the ladies at fifteen.—Esprit
de corps of the fair sex.—Forgiving temper of public
opinion.—Defective administration of justice.—Prerogative
called Empeño.—God-fathers and god-mothers.—Saint-day
parties.—Flowers and perfumes.—Limenian women excel in
attention to the sick.—General character of the white women
and dark races.—Boys of European race.—Few men of intellectual
habits.—Promenade of Amencaes, as illustrative of national
feeling and character.—Pillo and Pillo-fino.—Money a substitute
for morality.—Relaxation of morals general, but not universal. 121

CHAPTER VII.

Religious prejudices.—No faith with heretics.—Corpse of an
Englishman cast into the street by the pious mob.—English
supposed to have been buried with money in the island of San
Lorenzo.—New cemetery, and Latin inscription for the English
burial-ground.—Religious disadvantages of the British in Peru. 160

CHAPTER VIII.

Clergy and lawyers more honoured than physicians
or surgeons.—University of St. Mark.—Anatomical
amphitheatre.—College of San Fernando.—State of the medical
schools and profession on the coast and in the Sierra.—General
remarks on Limenian education. 177

CHAPTER IX.

General features of the Sierra.—Roads.—Wilds of San
Mateo.—Indian’s eyrie.—Mountain curate.—Enterprise of a priest
engaged in inland traffic.—Pastoral life of Indians.—Ancient
ruins.—Royal road of the Incas.—Tarma, a pretty Sierra
town, or pueblo.—Various sorts of bridges.—Balsa, or canoe
of rushes.—Ancient aqueducts and terraced gardens of the
aborigines.—Pagan edifices among the rocks near the coast.—Vale
of Rimac.—Temples of the ancient Sun-worshippers of the land. 199

CHAPTER X.

Journey from Lima to Pasco by Obrajillo.—Diversity of air
and climate.—Canta, a locality favourable to consumptive
individuals.—Obrajillo, residence of muleteers.—Relay of mules,
and payment in advance.—Cultivation and crops.—Ascent to and
pass of the Cordillera.—Veta, or Cordillera sickness.—Indian
hut.—Muleteers’ lodgings on the Puna.—Huallay.—Diezmo.—Pasco. 252