Chapter VII: The Cordillera of the Andes (2)

"The poor Cholo has retained one fortunate condition from
the civilization of his Inca forbears--he is an independent
landholder. The small holding, or _chacara_, which he has
wrested from Nature's chaos of rocks and ravines on the Andine
slopes is his own; no one can dispossess him of it, and it
affords him sufficient crop of _maiz_, potatoes, and, in places,
_alfalfa_, to keep him and those dependent upon him. He is
often, in addition, the owner of herds of _llamas_, _alpacas_,
or sheep and goats, and from their wool he and his woman spin,
and weave with their primitive looms, the 'tweeds'--for of
this nature is the native cloth--and felt hat, which are his
garments. These small holdings have been made in the most
inaccessible places in many cases, by clearing away rocks and
banking up the ground on the lower side in a similar way to
that in which the _andenes_, or old cultivated terraces of the
Inca period, were formed, and which still remain and excite the
traveller's notice throughout the whole Andine region.

"Indeed, to the rough, topographical conditions and difficult
environment of these small holdings is due the Cholos'
undisputed possession, in the first instance, thereof. Had they
existed in more favourable situations they would have been
annexed long ago, first by the Spanish landholders, and then by
the owners of large _haciendas_ under the Republic, or taken by
the petty authorities under one or another pretext. It is again
an instance of Nature protecting her progeny against the ravages
of their own kind. The laws of the Republic now forbid these
small holdings to be alienated from the Cholos; a wise measure,
tending to preserve this useful peasant class.

"The _andenes_, as the terraced fields which cover the
hill-slopes of the Andine region are termed, are worthy of
detailed description. They exist in almost every valley,
extending upwards from the coast and the foothills to elevations
of 12,000 feet, and even 16,000 feet or more, covering the
slopes even in the most inaccessible situations and rigorous
altitudes. From some high saddle or summit whence the
surrounding horizon is visible, the observer notes a curious
chequered or rippled appearance upon the flanks of the ridges,
as far as the eye can reach, from the floor of the valleys up
to the precipitous rock escarpments. They are the _andenes_;
small terraces, one after the other, embanked on the lower sides
with stone walls, like a series of irregular steps, where the
soil has been collected and cultivated. The great number of
these small holdings in every direction throughout the Peruvian
Sierra has given rise to the supposition that a numerous
population inhabited the Andes in prehistoric times--estimates
even of ninety million inhabitants having been made. But this
is fabulous, although it is evident that a numerous people must
have formed and cultivated these remarkable terraces, of whom
the present population are only a residue.

"Adjacent to these valleys, especially in certain districts,
as upon the Upper Marañon,[36] are groups of extensive
ruins of habitations, as well as of burying-places, known
as _huacas_--often containing mummies--and of castles and
fortresses. These latter often command the heads of valleys
and defiles, and they go to show that the former inhabitants
must have dwelt as separate groups or communities under the
leadership of some chief--probably in pre-Inca times. These
_andenes_, as the Spaniards termed the terraces when they
conquered Peru, may have given rise, it has been surmised,
to the name of the Andes; but this probably is not correct,
the real derivation undoubtedly coming from the name of the
_Antis_--a tribe which inhabited the snow-covered Cordillera
region, which was termed by the Incas _Ant-isuyu_. This name, in
Quechua, signifies 'copper-bearing,' and copper was extensively
used by the Incas.

[36] Visited by the author and described before the Royal
Geographical Society.

"The Cholo, then, provides for his wants, and he is quite
independent--when allowed to be so--of the governing race. He
asks nothing from civilization, and indeed this has, so far,
brought him mainly two things--the superstitious part of
the Roman Catholic religion, and alcohol! The one has partly
improved his mind--the other tends to ruin his body.

"At Fair times, and on the numerous Church feast-days, the
Cholos and their women flock into the towns to buy, sell, drink
and indulge in religious exercises. With their bright-hued
blankets and _ponchos_--generally made by themselves--they
lend colour and interest to the scene. And the priests--ha! the
priests!--this is the time of their harvest, and the Cholos
are the inexhaustible supply whence they draw fees, tithes and
offerings. For the Cholo nature has been most susceptible to
the rites and representations with which Roman Catholicism is
interpreted among them. They all bear Spanish names--Christian
and surname--and each has his patron saint: and they must be
considered a civilized race.

"As stated, these people are the descendants of the Incas, or
rather of the Quechuas and Aymaras, who formed the population of
the Inca Empire, for of the Inca line there are no descendants
whatever left. The Incas were a royal line, and whilst their
members were more or less numerous, owing to the polygamy
customary to them, the irregular descendants were not recognized
as legitimate Incas, the real line of succession having been
preserved by the progeny of the marriage of the reigning Inca
with his own sister. The illegitimate offspring naturally
intermarried with the common people, and were merged into
these again. Elsewhere some particulars of the past history and
conditions of the Incas, and the population under their rule,
have been described, as also their structures--temples, palaces
and habitations--the ruins of which are encountered to-day along
these vast uplands, where the Cholo feeds his flock, and lives
his remote and melancholy existence. In marked contrast are some
of these beautiful ruins to the wretched habitations of the
present occupiers of the land.

"The Cholo-Indians of the uplands are, then, miners, shepherds
and agriculturists. In tending their flocks, and in the
breeding and domestication of the _llama_, they are remarkably
expert, and their patience and endurance arouse the interest
of the traveller who sojourns among them. They have many good
qualities, which have been unable yet to expand. The true
policy of the administrations which govern them must be towards
bettering them and causing them to multiply, for, apart from
motives of humanity, they are one of the country's most valuable
human assets. If they fail, and become exterminated, a large
part of the uplands and higher valleys of the Andes would become
an uninhabited desert, for it is doubtful if any other race
could ever occupy their place, or perform manual labour at the
great elevations which form their habitat.

"Let us now glance at the conditions of life in some of the
principal towns of this region of the Sierra. As is but natural,
the farther these communities are removed from the coast, the
more primitive does their mode of life become. When the only
means of communication with the outside world are by difficult
and sometimes dangerous mule-roads, journeys are undertaken
but rarely, and new influences, objects and appliances are not
easily forthcoming. Yet in some cases demand is met by supply,
and in spite of the difficulty of conveyance of heavy goods;
pianos, billiard-tables and such things are constantly met
with in the houses and restaurants of the large towns in the
inter-Andine region. But books, pictures and other essentials of
refined life are scarce.

"What is the aspect of these towns? Imagine yourself astride
your mule upon the summit of the range which bounds one of
these Andine valleys. You have toiled on all day, saddle-galled
and weary, and you gladly direct your gaze to where the town
lies spread below--a bird's-eye view. The streets run at right
angles, with a central _plaza_ containing the cathedral or
church, and official buildings; the hotel--if there be one
at this particular place--and various shops and houses. The
cultivated plain surrounds it--the 'flat place' which Nature has
provided, and which, together with the river which intersects
it, is the reason of man's habitation there at all. For it is
early impressed upon the traveller in the Andes that 'flat
places' are a prime requisite for humanity's existence. You
begin the descent, having seen that the crupper of your mule is
in place, in order that you may not journey upon the animal's
neck; whilst your _arriero_ tightens the pack-mule's girths.
Small _chacaras_, or holdings, with little tumble-down stone
huts, grass-roofed, straggle up the hillside, and bare-legged,
unwashed children rush out among your animal's legs--the
progeny of unkempt Cholo peasant women, at work within upon
the preparation of some primitive meal. The little holdings
are surrounded by rude stone walls, or hedges of prickly-pear,
or _maguey_ (agave). Still you descend. The huts give place
to adobe houses, with whitewashed walls and red-tiled or
grass-thatched roofs; the straggling trail forms itself more
into the semblance of a street; your beast's hoofs rattle over
the cobble pavement; some few inhabitants stand at their doors
to stare and remark at the advent of a stranger; and in a moment
you have entered the _plaza_.

Vol. I. To face p. 250.
]

"The condition of the _plaza_, in Spanish American cities, is
an index of the prosperity and enterprise of the particular
community. In the more wealthy and advanced towns it is well
paved, and planted with shrubs and flowers, and a band, during
several evenings of the week, discourses music therein, to the
delight of the populace. Here pretty girls and amorous youths
promenade--the only means of exercise the former are permitted,
and the only general meeting-ground of the two sexes. In the
interior towns of Peru the _plaza_ is often grass-grown and
unpaved. It seems to reflect the poverty of its inhabitants,
and to impress upon the foreigner that the country is but
slowly recovering from the misfortunes of its troubled history.
The traveller, accustomed to the movement and modernness of
the cities of other lands, will observe the _triste_ aspect
of the place with dismay, and wish he might turn his horse's
head again without delay towards the coast and civilization.
But the more leisurely observer will not fail to find much
that is interesting even here. The buildings are quaint; the
air of mediaeval times which shrouds the grass-grown _plaza_
and the half-ruined church, together with the strange garb of
the Indians who slink through the streets, and the struggling
evidences of modern civilization--in shop sign or municipal
notice--are almost pathetic. Whatever it is, it is peaceful; the
climate is bracing, the cost of living--to foreign eyes--_nil_;
and do not the surrounding hills and valleys contain unknown
possibilities of mineral and industrial wealth?

"The society of these places consists of the official
element--the prefect and other functionaries, and few
professional men; the few storekeepers, and the chief landowners
of the neighbourhood. There is but little social life--an
occasional _baile_, a few political meetings, and the Sunday
morning Mass. At the latter, the young men of the place
foregather at the church door, what time the devout _señoritas_
come forth, and pass review of soft faces and flashing eyes,
beneath shady mantillas. There is probably a club with
billiard-tables, brought with difficulty over mountain roads, as
before mentioned, and newspapers of somewhat remote date. But
the chief centres for gossip-mongers are the stores, and shops
where _copitas_ of brandy and native spirits are sold.

"The great merry-making period of the year is that of the
three days' carnival celebration. During this time business is
entirely suspended, and the whole population--whether in Lima
and other coast cities, the towns of the Andes, or the remote
hamlets of the plateaux--give themselves over to frenzied play.
This consists principally in bombarding each other from the
balconies of the houses with _globos_, or india-rubber bladders
full of water; squirts, scents, powder and other matters. It is
impossible to pass along the streets during these three days'
riotous play without being soaked or covered with flour or
powder from above, and the only method is either to enter into
the sport, or else lie low at home until it is over. The usual
reserve between the sexes is much broken down at this time, and
the warm-blooded Peruvian girl enters with much zest into the
temporary licence of Carnival.

"The houses of the upland towns are generally built of adobe
or _tapiales_--that is, of bricks or concrete made of wet
earth, sun-dried and whitened--the roofs being covered with red
pantiles, or thatched with grass. Through the wide entrance door
access is gained to the _patio_, or interior paved yard, after
the usual Spanish American style, upon which the various rooms
look and open. The windows upon the street are all securely
barred with iron _rejas_, or grilles, and the whole aspect is
quaint and mediaeval, though the arrangement lacks in comfort
from the foreigner's point of view; whilst the interior _ménage_
is naturally of a nature more primitive than that of communities
in European towns. But in general, the peoples of these regions
dwell in sufficiency, and that acute poverty, as among the lower
strata of foreign cities, does not exist in Peru.

"The ultimate and irrevocable line of caste distinction in
these places is that between the coat and the _poncho_. From
the prefect and the lawyer and the doctor, down to the shop
assistant, the dress is the coat of the ordinary European form.
Be there but the smallest recognized strain of European blood in
the individual, it will be sheltered by the coat, but below this
all is ignorance and the _poncho_. This useful but uncivilized
garment consists of a species of blanket with an opening in the
centre by which it is slipped over the head. We must, however,
temper this 'clothes--philosophy' by remarking that the _poncho_
is used even by _caballeros_ on certain occasions, especially on
horseback, when, in the form of a thin white material, it wards
off the sun's rays and protects the horseman from dust, whilst
as a thick woollen garment it shields him from the bitter blasts
and keen air of the mountain uplands. The _ponchos_ woven of
_vicuña_ wool by the Cholos are of the most exquisite texture,
and practically, waterproof. But the ordinary blanket _poncho_
is the poor Indian's greatest possession. It shelters him by
day from the sun or rain, and at night it forms his bed.

"The advent of a foreigner in these more remote places is a
matter of interest to the inhabitants, and--especially if he
be a person bent upon some scientific or exploratory work--he
is well and hospitably received, and all facilities afforded
to him. Keen interest is taken in anything pertaining to the
outside world, for these people, cut off as they are by natural
barriers from its happenings, are far from being apathetic, or
indifferent of events. Indeed it is this eager interest and
avidity for knowledge of the modern world which most greatly
touches the sympathy of the traveller, and which is the element
which must redeem the people of these remote places from
stagnation and decadence.

"Peruvian hospitality is proverbial, and nowhere is it stronger
than among the peoples of the upper class in the Sierra. The
traveller soon becomes the centre of a group who press their not
unwelcome attentions upon him; and they provide the best their
houses afford for his refreshment and entertainment, as a rule
accepting nothing in payment. This pleasing quality, in addition
to being born of their native kindness, is motived partly from
the desire to be considered civilized, and this is not without
a note of pathos. The traveller, moreover, will not fail to
recollect that he has sojourned in other--business--communities,
whose higher civilization certainly does not necessarily include
hospitality. These Sierra people of Peru, whilst they possess
pleasing traits of the above nature, have also others less
happy. They, as a class, are sometimes unscrupulous in their
business dealings, and agreements are not always to be relied
upon--a defect of the Spanish American generally, which at times
overshadows his better qualities."[37]

[37] _Peru_, Enock, in the South American Series.

We have already remarked on the mineral resources of the Andine region of Peru. It may be that, in the future, attention will be more widely directed thereto, and travellers with technical knowledge of mining are increasingly making their way here, and some notes on this score are of interest. Little, however, seems possible in this field without the use of foreign capital.

In a land so famous for its gold as was that of Old Peru, it is remarkable that so little gold is produced at the present time--an insignificant annual amount of little over £100,000. Yet there are many gold-bearing deposits scattered over the vast upland region, from auriferous quartz-seams: to vast gravel deposits. There do not appear to be any huge ore-bodies of the nature of South Africa, with low-grade but abundant material. The seams, however, in many cases offer "payable propositions." There are rock ledges of great length and depth, capable of being worked economically by adits rather than shafts, and sometimes with water-power available and with "cheap mining labour" (that attractive item of the company-promoter's prospectus) at hand, with immediate areas of fertile land for the needful foodstuffs. A difficult feature sometimes is the matter of transport, for, from the coast, the Cordillera must be surmounted.

The enormous gold-bearing alluvial deposits are generally situated on the most westerly side or summits of the Cordillera, and in the Montaña, and are difficult of access at present in the absence of railways. Various enterprises have been set on foot to win the gold from these in recent years--whether by the method of dredging, whether after the Californian "hydraulic" system--but it is doubtful if they have proved a success, from a variety of causes. There, however, is the gold, awaiting recovery.

The reputation for fabulous wealth of silver in the Peruvian mountains has passed into a proverb. Great wealth has been recovered, and the ores are often extremely rich. Myriads of old workings exist, which were abandoned because the more primitive appliances of a past age did not permit the drainage of the mines, which became filled with water; but they are capable of being pumped out. Romantic tales are told of the enrichment of miners who persevered in their labours in some lonely mine and won great fortune. In the many examinations I made here of gold and silver mines in Peru there were found conditions that should well repay modern mining enterprise. There is, of course, a good deal of work being carried on.

The great wealth of copper, lead, zinc, quicksilver, iron and coal also present their attractions, and there are rarer metals whose use commerce urgently requires. But foreign capital does not flow very freely to Peru, and Peruvian capital does not seem to have the organizing faculty to develop the mineral wealth of the country for itself. The mining laws of Peru offer considerable privileges to the foreigner, whom the Government is ever desirous of encouraging.

The Indian, the native miner, has his own methods of winning the gold from the rocks and gravels, or the gold-bearing streams of the Montaña, or the auriferous earths of the high pampas. In the streams he selects a suitable spot and paves it with large stones. Then, when the floods pass over the prepared surface of rude "riffles," the gold carried down by the waters from the auriferous rocks lodges in the interstices, and, removing the stones, he recovers the precious nuggets and dust. Or, by laborious panning in a _batea_, or wooden bowl, hollowed out of a block of wood, he washes the gravel from the rich banks of sediment, and the gold lies at the bottom. In the case of the gold-bearing ores, he digs shallow pits in the surface of the ledge, where Nature, under the oxidation of the pyrites, has transformed the gold into a form recoverable by the simple method of amalgamation with quicksilver, after crushing the friable quartz under a primitive rocking-stone.

Indeed, in many places, it would seem that Nature has placed the gold here in a form such that recovery will remunerate the natural son of the soil, when a more greedy and better-equipped "company" would be unable to pay its way. The stores of gold possessed by the Incas of Peru were won by such primitive methods; large bodies of Indians being employed upon the work, and evidences of their operations remain to the present time.

The ancient folk of the Andes had as their greatest food products maiz, millet and potatoes, together with the numerous tropical fruits of the lowlands. They gave Europe the potato--surely no inconsiderable gift--having developed it in Ecuador, Peru and Chile, from the wild, bitter variety; and Europe gave them wheat and other cereals, and, of course, the domestic animals--ox, cow, sheep, horse and pig.

The llama was their only beast of burden here--this curious, hoofed, ruminating quadruped of the camel tribe, with its long neck and timid face. In our journeys along these bleak uplands we shall meet large droves of the llamas, bearing loads of merchandise, in weight up to a hundred pounds. These animals are sagacious in their way, and if overloaded refuse to move. Their services, their wool, their flesh, are all extremely valuable adjuncts of Indian life. The creature costs little or nothing to keep: it requires no shelter, and it feeds itself as it goes along, at a rate of about four miles an hour. The llama indeed was--and is--an outstanding figure in the native economics of the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes. Its cousin the alpaca is also to be seen in large bands.

Up to the limit of the temperate zone in the Peruvian Andes, about 11,500 feet, we shall remark some of the familiar flora of England, such as ferns, nettles, buttercups, violets and stitchwort, together with wild geraniums and pelargoniums. Apples, pears, cherries and strawberries also grow, under desultory cultivation. Trees are scant in the almost treeless Andes, and we find little beyond the groves of stunted _quinua_ and other native shrubs, which, however, are valuable for fuel. The _ichu_ grass--_stipa Incana_--which also serves for "thatching" the Indian huts, is the predominant herbage.

As we ascend, the vegetation becomes even more humble. At 13,500 feet the potato will not grow; the hardy barley will not yield. Only a few thorny shrubs and some curious cacti are to be seen. Higher still we reach the limit of the perpetual snow, where little but the lichens and a few cryptogams appear, except a few cold-resisting flowers having medicinal properties. Above, all is bare, the inorganic world asserts its kingdom--except for the condor of the Andes circling around the summit of some ice-covered volcano.

Here in these high, inclement uplands, I have pitched my tent, and my Indians are now preparing a meal around the camp-fire, made of the dry grass or some scanty _leña_ or firewood, or possibly we may have come across a "colony" of the curious _yareta_, a huge mushroom-like woody growth, perhaps three feet in diameter, full of resin, which burns fiercely: a product only of the Peruvian and Bolivian heights. Failing these matters, the fire must be of dry llama dung, or _taquia_, a useful fuel in the Andes, from which even the ores of silver, in places, are smelted.

Vol. I. To face p. 260.
]

Here on the roof of the world we mark the rays of the setting sun tinting a rosy red the eternal pinnacles of the Andes, and the last glow gone, we must seek the tent and draw the ponchos about us; the Indians throwing themselves upon the ground outside. Simple and faithful souls are these children of the uplands, full of gratitude to the _patron_ who treats them fairly; resourceful and industrious. And the _Ingles_, of course, treat them well and justly. Is not an Englishman's word his bond? Further, are not his pockets invariably lined with silver! Months have I spent in these wilds, without any other companions than the Quechua Indians and the Cholos, our only language Spanish and what smattering of Quechua it was possible for me to acquire.

Or perhaps I have formed camp in some abandoned Inca ruins, and the evening meal has been cooked in the ruined stone fireplace of folk departed these many centuries: my seat a cube of stone neatly fashioned--one of those which strew the ground around--by some ancient mason. There one may ponder upon the strange folk, who built massive temples and megalithic walls--in a region where there is no timber and where corn does not grow. Why did these folk establish themselves in these high places? Are there any other mountains in the world where Nature brought forth a dominating culture so near the clouds as that whose progenitors went forth, as we are told, from the mysterious island of Titicaca?

Or again, night has overtaken us on the edge of the Montaña, and, below, we overlook the tree-filled valleys, part of the forest which stretches unbroken for thousands of miles across the Amazon plains of Brazil. The valley may be filled with mist, and the effect is remarkable, as a weird transformation scene. The sun sets; it still tinges the western sky with its beauteous and indescribable tints. The palest saffron fades into the pearly-green of the zenith, and the last, orange rays, calm and cold, flash faintly and expiringly upwards. In the deep cañons the fleecy masses of pearly vapour slowly pour--"slow, lingering up the hills like living things." So soft and pure are they that they might be the couch spread for some invisible god-traveller! No eye but mine beholds them. The Indians are busy at the camp-fire. Then the mist masses arise as if to engulf the lonely headland on which we stand, like awful billows. But the light fades, except that of a single jewelled planet, which gleams softly and protectingly down from its gathering height.

The Indians sustain themselves at times on their journeys by chewing the leaves of the _coca_ shrub, which are a valued possession among them. This shrub, peculiar to Peru and Bolivia--although it has now been transplanted to Ceylon--is that which gives us the cocaine of the pharmacopoeia. For the invaluable quinine, we may also be grateful to Peru and to the memory of that viceroy's lady, the Countess of Chinchon, who, sick of a fever--it was _tercianas_ or tertial malaria--was cured by an Indian woman with doses of the steeped bark of the quinine shrub, which bears her name to this day.

The most ancient and remarkable town of the Cordillera is Cuzco, the one-time Inca capital. It lies in a valley, overlooked by lofty mountains; and on its northern side stands the famous fortress of Sacsaihuaman, the cyclopean fortress of the early Peruvians--the Incas and their predecessors. Here we may stand upon the great walls of what is one of the most remarkable of prehistoric structures, forming terraces along the hillside of great stone blocks, built in the form of revetments and salients, some of the stones being nearly twenty feet high.

Many of the walls of the Cuzco streets still retain their Inca stone construction, a monument to the clever masonry of these people, which has excited the interest and admiration of many archæologists and travellers. Here was the Temple of the Sun, and indeed part of its beautifully moulded walls still remains.

The town is the centre of one of the most popular districts of Peru, labouring Indians mainly; and it has a number of interesting Spanish colonial buildings, with some textile and other industries. We may reach Cuzco now by rail from Arequipa and the coast at Mollendo. Not far away are others of the remarkable remains of early Peruvian civilization, including the Inca "astronomical observatory" of Intihuatana, where the priests determine the solstices by means of the shadow cast by a stone column, a portion of which still exists. Also Ollanta.

Cuzco witnessed the final overthrow of the Incas after the scene at Cajamarca, and many excesses were committed here by the Spaniards, in their purpose of stamping out the early Peruvian civilization--a sad and pathetic page of history indeed.

If on these high and often dreary uplands it was destined that the power of the Inca Empire should pass away in so melancholy a fashion, it would seem that fate had here a similar end for the empire of its conquerors in store. For are not the fateful names of Junin and Ayacucho stamped upon the face of this Cordillera region? Here the Royalists of Spain made their last stand.

We cannot enter upon the details of Spain's downfall. From its history stand out the famous names of San Martin, with his march across the Andes from Argentine into Chile; Bolivar, and his equally or more renowned march across the Northern Andes; Cochrane, the English admiral, and his operations on the coast; Sucre, La Serna, and others. At the Battle of Junin the Royalist leader of the Spanish forces was defeated. Cuzco, the last stronghold of Spain in South America, fell. Then came the historic Battle of Ayacucho. The patriots--Peruvians, Chileans and some Argentines--numbered some six thousand; the Royalists nine thousand. The Royalists were utterly routed, fifteen hundred were slain: the viceroy, his generals, officers and army were captured. It was hailed as a providential victory for freedom; a new life after three hundred years of Spanish domination, and the colours of Iberia flew no more upon the Cordillera.

Vol. I. To face p. 264.
]