cedars, cotton, or Cuba trees of gigantic magnitude, and many kinds of ebony, and other useful woods.

The lofty plains between the Andes are perpetually verdant; and the grains, the vegetables, and fine fruits of Europe, flourish here amidst those of the torrid zone. Wine, oil, and sugar, are the most valuable productions of the coast; and corn, wheat, Peruvian bark, and cacao, of the high country.

The rivers on the west side of the Andes are mere mountain streams of short course; on the eastern side rise the Arragon and its tributaries.

The mountainous districts are of far-famed metallic wealth. Recently the number of gold mines and washings worked in Peru was sixtynine, the number of silver mines 784, of quicksilver four, of copper four, and of lead twelve. The annual produce of the whole is valued at 4,500,000 dollars, of which silver constitutes seven-eighths. These rich mines, however, have always been under bad management, and their produce is hence very inferior to what it might be made. Those that are most productive are the mines of Pasco, in the province of Tarma. They are situated on a high table land, which rises more than 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, and were discovered in 1630, by Huari Capac, an Indian. The metalliferous bed is not far from the surface, as the pits are only from ninety to 400 feet deep. Water is then met with, and either occasions great expense to remove it, or causes the works to be abandoned. This mine was lately 15,747 feet long, and 7217 broad; and if worked by steam-engines, and according to the improved methods practised in Europe, it would be as productive as the celebrated mines of Guanaxuato in Mexico. The annual produce exceeds 131,000 lbs. troy. The mountain of Lauricocha, in which these mines are situated, is about six miles from Pasco, and contains an immense mass of fine porous brown iron-stone, which is interspersed throughout with pure silver, and yields eight or nine marks of the metal for every fifty hundred weight of the ore. There is also a rich vein of friable white metallic argil, which produces from two to ten pounds of silver for every hundred weight. The mines of Choco, in Truxillo, were discovered by Don Rodrigues de Ocano, a European, in 1771; but in the time of the incas the Peruvians obtained metal from this district. The mines in the Partido of Choco, which are included under the appellation of Gualgayoc, have sometimes supplied the provincial treasury of Truxillo with more than 44,000 lbs. troy of pure silver annually. These mines are richer than those of Potosi, and are situated at the height of 13,385 feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean. The mines of Huantajaya, in the partido of Arica, in a desert near the small port of Iquique, are famed for their large portion of native silver. Two pieces were not long since found, the one weighing two, and the other eight quintals. These mines are also surrounded by beds of rock-salt, and their whole annual produce of silver is from 42,000 lbs. to 52,000 lbs. troy. Immense wealth has likewise been discovered in several other places. At Pampa de Navar, wherever the turf is turned up,

for more than half a square league, filaments of silver are found adhering to the roots of the grass, and sometimes large pieces of native metal appear. At present most of the Peruvian gold comes from Pataz and Huilies, in Tarmar, where it is met with in veins of quartz, traversing the primitive rock, and from the banks of the Maranon Alto, or higher Maranon, where it is procured by washing the alluvial soil. Emeralds and other precious stones are obtained in various places in this viceroyalty. The annual produce, as estimated from the royal revenues, between 1708 and 1789, was £768,424. The coinage of gold and silver in the royal mint at Lima, from 1791 to 1801, amounted to £1,113,000 per annum, of which 1726 lbs. were gold, and 285,000 lbs. silver. Among the most valuable animals of these elevated regions are the llama, the guanuco, the vicuna, and the alpaco; which are considered as the camels of America, and are of great use both as beasts of burden, and for their wool.

In the country of Valles, included between the western cordillera and the coast, rain, thun der and lightning are entirely unknown. During the winter, however, which lasts from July to November, the ground is almost constantly covered with a thick fog, which, towards the close of the day, generally dissolves into a very small mist, or dew, and moistens the earth equably. During the summer the sun's rays occasion an intense heat throughout all this region; the more so as they are received upon a sandy soil, whence they are strongly reflected. This low region is far from being healthy; malignant, intermittent, and catarrhal fevers, pleurisies, and constipations, are the most common diseases, and rage constantly at Lima. A great part of Peru, between the western coast of the Andes and the shores of the Pacific, supplies one of the most perfect examples of what is called a hot and dry climate; as for the space of about 400 leagues along the coast, rain is wholly unknown. The Andes intercept the clouds, which pour their contents on the mountain districts, often accompanied by tremendous thunder and lightning, while near the sea not a drop falls to moisten the parched soil. The air in all this tract is, therefore, uniformly hot. During the winter at Lima, Fahrenheit's thermometer never sinks below 60°, and seldom rises above 85°. Vegetation flourishes to the height of 10,000 feet.

The elevated plains between the western and central cordillera, called by Humboldt the high table-land of Peru, has scarcely any variation of temperature throughout the year; the mercury of Fahrenheit's thermometer always standing at about 65° or 66°; the climate is here mild and genial. The only distinction of seasons arises from the rains, which prevail from November till May. The highest Andes are perpetually covered with snow, and experience an uninterrupted winter between the tropics. Here are also many volcanoes which are flaming within, while their summits and all their apertures are clothed with ice.

Peru labors under great disadvantages in regard to inland communication. The deep valley s which separate the elevated plains, and the lofty mountains which rise between the table-land and

the coast, render travelling difficult. In many parts there is a total want of roads as well as bridges, and in others the paths lie along the edges of steep and rugged precipices, so narrow that mules alone pass in security. In the most mountainous districts it is customary for those who can afford it to travel on the backs of Indians; in this way they are carried for fifteen or twenty days together. Nor is the Pacific Ocean here favorable to commerce. On the whole extent of its western coast there is no harbour except that of Callao, the port of Lima, which can be entered by a vessel of such a size as is fit for the navigation round Cape Horn. The wind blows constantly from the southward, varying only as the coast tends; wherever, therefore, there is a high projecting headland there is shelter, and sometimes good anchorage to the northward, as at Ylo, Iqueque, &c. But on every part of the shore the swell from the sea causes such a tremendous surf that no communication can be had with the shore by the boats of European ships. The natives pass this surf, on what is called a balsa, constructed of two skins of the largest sized seals, inflated and lashed side by side. The native sits on a small platform fixed between them, with a pipe made of the entrails of the seal, communicating air to each of the inflated skins as he finds it necessary. On these contrivances the natives fear no waves or breakers, and frequently proceed to such a distance as to lose sight of land: sometimes they add a paddle, and occasionally a small sail. Other vessels of this name are used for longer voyages, and consist of an unequal number of trees of light wood, squared, and lashed together, but so loosely as to admit the action of the waves between them. The centre tree is longer than the others, and serves the purpose of a prow. Some of these vessels are more than 100 feet in length, have huts constructed upon them for the crew, and pass with security from the shores of Peru to the ports of Guyaquil and Panama.

The native manufactures of Peru consist of homely articles, such as woollen and cotton t loths of inferior texture. But in dyeing the cloths, whether of woollen or cotton, the natives show ingenuity, and make use of plants scarcely known in Europe. They have a root called reilbon, resembling madder, but with a smaller leaf, an infusion of which makes a fine red. A plant called poquel, a kind of female southern-wood, with green chequered leaves, is used for yellow colors, as is also the stem for dyeing green. A wild indigo yields them a blue dye, and the panque a black. The dress of the natives is simple, consisting of a square cloth, with a hole in the centre, through which the head is thrust, and which falls before and behind. The head is generally covered with a large hat made of the straw of the maize.

The Peruvians were taught by their celebrated Manco to adore the Creator, whom they denominated Paca Camac, that intelligence which animated the world. They seldom built temples, or offered sacrifices to him. One temple, however, dedicated to a kind of unknown god, the Spaniards found at their arrival, erected in a val

ley, thence named the valley of Paca Camac. The sacrifices instituted in honor of the sun consisted chiefly of lambs; besides which they offered all sorts of eattle, fowls, and corn, and even burnt their finest cloths on the altar by way of incense. They had drink offerings made of maize, steeped in water. They also paid some kind of veneration to the images of several animals and vegetables that had a place in their temples. Besides the solemnities at every full moon, four grand festivals were celebrated annually. The first, called Raymi, was held in June, not only in honor of the sun, but of their first inca, Manca Capac, and Coya Mama Ocla, his wife and sister, whom the incas considered as their first parents, descended immediately from the sun. At this festival all the viceroys, generals, governors, and nobility, assembled at Cuzco, and the inca officiated in person as high-priest; though on other occasions the regular pontiff, who was usually the uncle or brother of the inca, officiated. On the morning of the festival, the inca, accompanied by his near relations, in order of their seniority, went barefoot in procession, at day-break, to the market-place, where they remained looking attentively towards the east. The luminary no sooner appeared than they fell prostrate on their faces in the most profound veneration, and acknowledged it to be their god and father. The vaisal princes and nobility, that were not of the blood royal, did the same in another square. The priests then offered a black lamb, in sacrifice, first turning its head towards the east. From the entrails of the victim they drew prognostics of peace and war, &c. The Peruvians believed in the immortality of the soul. The incas taught them that, on leaving this world, they should enter into a state of happiness, provided for them by their god and father the sun.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards the natives were acquainted with some points of astromomy. They had observed the various motions of the planet Venus, and the different phases of the moon. The people divided the year by the seasons; but the incas, who had discovered the revolution of the sun, marked out the summer and winter solstices by high towers, which they erected on the east and west of Cuzco. When the sun rose directly opposite to four of those towers, on the east side of the city, and set against those of the west, it was then the summer solstice; when it rose and set against the towers, it was the winter solstice. They had also erected marble pillars on the great court before the temple of the sun, by which they observed the equinoxes, under the equator, when the sun being vertical, the pillars cast no shade. At those times they crowned the pillars with garlands of flowers and odoriferous herbs, and celebrated a festival to the sun. They distinguished the months by the moon, and their weeks were called quarters of the moon; the days of the week they distinguished, as first, second, &c. When the sun was eclipsed, they concluded it was on account of their sins, imagining that this phenomenon portended famine, war, and pestilence, or some other terrible calamity. In a similar state of the moon, they apprehended that she was sick and dying.