extremely fertile, and might yield the most valuable productions, were not the attention of the inhabitants drawn off by the glittering but often useless treasures found in the bowels of the earth. S. Joao del Rey is a neat little town of whitewashed, red-tiled houses, surrounded by a singular scene of round hills and broken rocks, with tracts entirely sterile, and others covered with the most luxuriant verdure. Its situation is so agreeable and central, that an intention was once formed of making it the capital of Brazil. Villa Rica may be regarded as the El Dorado of Brazil, from its highly productive gold mines, already described. The place is large, its inhabitants being variously reported from 8500 to 20,000. Tejuco, the capital of the diamond district of Serro do Frio, is situated in a most dreary tract, where all the necessaries of life must be brought from a considerable distance. It is well built, on very rugged ground, and contains 6000 free inhabitants, and as many slaves employed in searching for diamonds. Villa do Principe, in a fine country, on the borders of the diamond district, enjoys a more solid prosperity, and contains about 5000 people.

There are still several exterior provinces of Brazil, which have been occupied by the Portuguese only at a few detached points, while by far the greater part remains in full possession of the unsubdued Indians. These provinces are, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, and Pará.

Goyaz is a province, or rather kingdom, of vast extent, watered by the mighty streams of the Tocantines and the Araguay, which unite in their progress towards the Amazons. Gold was the lure which attracted settlers into this desolate and unfrequented region; and in the country round Villa Boa, the capital, the quantity produced was for some time considerable, though now it is much diminished. Villa Boa contains also a governor, a bishop, and about 6000 inhabitants.

Matto Grosso, west of Goyaz, is a still vaster region, extending far into the interior, and bounded only by the Madeira and the Upper La Plata. The principal settlement is at Cuiaba, in the south-western district, where it can hold communication with the more civilised regions. Here, too, gold was the first attraction, and even when the quantities which it produced began to diminish, the country was found so fine and fertile, that its cultivation amply indemnified the settlers. They amounted, in 1809, to 30,000. The official capital, however, is Villa Bella, on the Guapure, one of the principal heads of the Madeira; a neat small city, perhaps the most advanced point which the Portuguese hold in America.

Pará forms the northern section of this vast region. The greater part is, if possible, still less known or occupied than even Matto Grosso; but there is a district near the mouth of the great river, which is not only very fertile, but cultivated to a considerable extent. It is well fitted for sugar, and, since the cotton trade rose to such importance, has particularly prospered, yielding a description little inferior to that of Bahia. The population of the capital, Pará or Belem, has been stated at 20,000; but probably this includes the immediately surrounding district. The water communications, however, of this city with the interior are so immense, that it must continue to advance with the progressive settlement of the provinces of Goyaz and Matto Grosso.

PERU.

PERU, of all the regions south of the Gulf of Mexico, is the most celebrated for wealth and ancient civilisation. Its very name is proverbially used to denote profuse abundance of the most precious metals. The following general description will apply to what was originally Peru, now comprising three separate republics, the local description of each will be given under their respective heads. The boundaries of Peru are on the west the Pacific, forming a long line of coast between 4° and 25° of S. lat., which, probably exceeds 2000 miles in extent. On the north, the boundary is formed by a winding line drawn from the Javari in a northwesterly direction to the Pacific Ocean at Tumbez. On the east, Peru is separated from Brazil by lines vaguely drawn through barbarous regions

which cannot very properly be said to belong either to one or the other. On the south, the general boundary is formed by a line drawn from the Paraguay in about 22° S. lat. westerly, to the Andes, thence south with the crest of the mountains to about 25° south, and from thence westward to the Pacific. Peru will thus be about 1500 miles in length, and 700 in breadth.

The surface of this extensive territory is of the boldest and most varied description. It is crossed, and in a great measure covered, by the Andes, in their greatest extent and loftiest height. Very high summits occur in the western chain facing the Pacific, and are seen in lofty succession from the cities of the coast. The last is in 8° S. lat., after which there does not occur one for 350 miles. But the mightiest part of the range is that extending over Bolivia, or Upper Peru. It is both the most spacious and the highest of all the branches of the Andes. It contains the stupendous peaks of Sorata and Illimani, the highest in the New World; and which rise, the former to the height of 25,400 and the latter of 24,350 above the level of the sea. It encloses an extensive table-land, scarcely anywhere less than 12,000 feet high, and peculiarly distinguished for the great altitude at which full cultivation, large towns, and even cities, are situated. In this lofty district also are found the rich mines of Potosi. Between the Andes and the sea extends the plain of Peru, where the chief Spanish settlements have been formed. It is from 50 to 100 miles in breadth, partly covered with branches from the Andes, but towards the sea forming a flat expanse of land, often white with saline incrustations, and absolutely a desert, unless where one of the broad streams, or rather torrents, from the mountains, can be directed over it.

The interior is bordered, and partly traversed, by the greatest rivers in the world. The Amazon commences its unrivalled course among the Peruvian Andes, and with its giant branches collecting the water of a thousand floods, rolls its vast and mighty volume eastward to the Ocean. Peru has for its eastern boundary part of the courses of the Madeira and the Paraguay; but these belong more properly to Brazil and Paraguay. In the south the Pilcomayo falls into the Paraguay, having passed through the richest mineral region in the world.

Lakes in South America are not very grand or characteristic features; yet Peru contains one enclosed in its greatest table-land, the Lake of Titicaca, which, though twenty times the size of the Lake of Geneva, cannot come into any competition with the mighty inland seas of Canada.

Peru, in consequence of its liberation, was formed into two separate republics: one, consisting of Lower Peru, considered now as Peru proper; and the other of Upper Peru, or Bolivia, to which may be added by the division of the former the republic of South Peru. It must be owned, however, that our information respecting the organisation and present state of these republics is very imperfect. The revenue of Lower Peru is said to amount to 1,250,000l., its debt somewhat above 6,000,000Z., and its army at 7500. The revenue of Bolivia is stated at only 460,000l., its debt 750,000Z.

Agriculture is not the branch on which the wealth of Peru in any great degree rests. The plain on the sea-coast is a sandy desert, and the sides of the mountains are steep and broken into ravines; while the parameras or table-lands at the summit of the Cordillera are rendered nearly unfit for cultivation by the extreme cold and the perpetual snow which covers them; so that it is almost solely through the neglected remains of the Indian terraces and irrigating canals, that any of the elevated tracts are rendered very productive. Some of the valleys, also, and of the lands along the rivers, are extremely fertile. Maize is the staple grain and chief food of the natives, in the various forms of bread, puddings, porridge, and roasted grain. It is also made into a fermented liquor called chica, which is agreeable enough; but, unfortunately for the fastidious taste of Europeans, the Indian women consider it their duty carefully to chew it, as a means of fermentation. For wheat, Peru is dependent upon the Chilian province of Concepcion. The sugar-cane is cultivated with decided success, though not on a very great scale. Fruits of every climate, from the successive slopes of the Cordillera, are poured down into the markets of Lima. The neighbourhood of Pisco is covered with vines, from the grapes of which are made 150,000 gallons

of excellent brandy; but the wine of Peru possesses no merit. Ipecacuanha, balsams, medicinal plants, and valuable dye-woods may also be mentioned.

Manufactures are in a still less advanced state. In the mountain districts are made considerable quantities of coarse woollens, blankets, flannels, baize, and particularly ponchos, a loose riding cloak, generally worn throughout Spanish America, and sometimes made of great fineness. A few towns on the coast manufacture cottons. Goatskins are made into good cordovan. The Indians execute very fine filigree work in gold and silver, and their mats and other articles of furniture made from grass and rushes are very much admired. In general, however, the Peruvians look to Europe for a supply of all the finer manufactures.

The mines have been the source of the unrivalled wealth of Peru. These are seated in the inmost depth of the Andes, approached only by steep and perilous passes, and in mountains which reach the limit of perpetual snow. The silver mountain of Potosi, in Bolivia or Upper Peru, has no equal in the world. It rises to the height of 16,000 feet, is eighteen miles in circumference, and forms one entire mass of ore. It appears from the city dyed all over with metallic tints, green, orange, yellow, gray, and rose-colour. Though since the conquest upwards of 1,600,000,000 dollars have been drawn from it, the mountain is still only honey-combed, as it were, at the surface; ore still lies at a somewhat greater depth, and is in some places overflowed with water. Yet it has sunk

into such a state of decay, that in the ten years ending 1829, the annual produce is not believed to have exceeded 330,000 dollars. But the present depressed state of the mine is chiefly owing to the late political convulsions, and the exhaustion of all the capital that was formerly employed. The mines of Pasco are situated at a prodigious height, on the Andes, more than 13,000 feet above the sea. They are chiefly in the mountain of Lauricocha, forming a bed of brown ironstone, about three miles long and one and a half broad; from every ton of which two or three marks of silver are extracted. These mines, before the revolution, yielded annually 131,000 lbs. troy of silver. By that convulsion their working was for a time suspended, but has been lately resumed. There are mines also at Hualgayas in the province of Truxillo, and Huanlaya in that of Arequipa. All the Peruvian mines, however, are so much declined, that their produce, during the entire period, from 1819 to 1829, was under 4,500,000 dollars. The gold mines are found chiefly in the interior district of Tarma, bordering on the Amazon. The mines of mercury are considered equally precious with those of silver, from its scarcity and its necessity in amalgamation. The discovery, therefore, of the mines of Guanca-Velica was of the greatest importance, and they yielded at one time an immense amount. They are at present, however, almost useless, in consequence of the most valuable part of the works having fallen in.

Commerce, during the late crisis, can scarcely be said to have had an existence in Peru; nevertheless we must describe what has been, as likely to exist again, when peace and security revive. The export trade rests almost entirely on gold and silver, with a little bark, cacao, cotton, sugar, copper and tin, vicugna wool, &c. The value which, before 1739, scarcely exceeded 2,000,000 dollars, had risen between 1785 and 1794 to 6,680,000. The imports consist of all the articles of European manufacture, except those coarse and common fabrics, which are produced in the country itself. From the peculiar state of society, in which European habits prevail without European industry, the market for foreign goods is here, as in the other American states, much more than in proportion to their wealth and population. A good deal of Peruvian produce is imported at secondhand from Buenos Ayres and Valparaiso.

The population of Peru, according to enumerations made about 1803, amounted to 1,076,000. It has since been estimated by Humboldt at 1,400,000, by the Patriots in 1818, at 1,700,000, and by Malte Brun, in 1820, at 1,500,000, of whom 10,000 were whites, 900,000 Indians, 320,000 Mestizos, and 100,000 free and slaved negroes. This last estimate is probably as near the truth as any other, and as the circumstances of the country have been unfavourable to any increase

of population since that period, it may be assumed as about the amount at the present time. Bolivia has been estimated to contain 1,716,000, of which 510,000 are Europeans and mixed races, 486,000 Indians, and 220,000 not distinguished. Thus the region under consideration will contain in all 3,216,000 inhabitants.

The character of the Creoles, or native Spaniards, of Peru, is painted under colours somewhat less flattering than that of the same class in almost any of the other states. The preponderance of the European Spaniards appears to have been more overwhelming than elsewhere. This political degradation, with the general diffusion of wealth and facility of subsistence, seems to have been the chief cause of the enervated state into which the natives of Lima had sunk. The male inhabitants are described as almost too insignificant a race to be worthy of mention; destitute of all energy both mental and bodily; so that, notwithstanding the extensive trade, there are not above two or three mercantile houses carried on by native Peruvians; all the rest are conducted by foreigners, many of whom are from Chili and Buenos Ayres. The ladies act a much more conspicuous part; though not always, we are sorry to say, altogether to their credit. From their earliest years they are led to consider themselves as the objects of admiration and homage; and a system of the most decided coquetry, or at least flirtation, is established. Gaming prevails also among both sexes to a destructive extent; and families are extremely ill managed. Yet the Peruvians are courteous, humane, hospitable, and generous. In the country, these amiable qualities are combined with equal mirth, but a much greater degree of simplicity.

The Indians, or native Peruvians, are still, over all Peru, the most numerous class. They present nothing of that fierce aspect, and that untamed and ferocious character, which render the Caribs, the Brazilians, and the Indians of Canada, so terrible to European settlers. They have small features, little feet, wellturned limbs; sleek, coarse, black hair, and scarcely any beard.

The mixed races are more numerous than the pure Spaniards, though less so than the Indians. They consist of the usual multiplied branches from the three original stocks of Europeans, Indians, and Negroes. The mestizo is strong, swarthy, with little beard, laborious, and well disposed; the mulatto is less robust, but is acute, talkative, imaginative, fond of dress and parade. The zambo (mulatto and negro) is violent, morose, and stubborn, prone to many vices, and guilty of more robberies and murders than any other class, only excepting the Chinos (negro-Indian), said to be the very worst mixed breed in existence, ugly, lazy, stupid, and cruel.

The religion, as in every country over which Spain ever reigned, is exclusively Catholic. Lima is the seat of an archbishop, who had for suffragans the bishops of Cuzco, of Panamá, two in Chili, and six in the south of Colombia; but this extensive jurisdiction must now be curtailed. Immense wealth has been accumulated by several of the convents, from pious donations. Some of the clergy are respectable, but a great proportion of the friars are said to lead very dissolute lives, and to promote, rather than check, the general licentiousness. Although no toleration is admitted, yet in 1812 the inquisition was abolished.

Literature is not in so utterly depressed a state at Lima as in the other cities to the south of the Isthmus of Darien. Besides several colleges, there is a highly endowed university, founded in 1549, on the model of that of Salamanca. The professors do not deliver lectures; but examinations and disputations are maintained with considerable diligence.

The amusements consist of the theatre, which, at Lima, is tolerably conducted; bull-fights, cock-fights, and religious processions; and the rage for public diversions, as already observed, is extreme.

The extensive region which once bore the common name of Peru comprises at present three independent states; the republic of Peru, the republic of Bolivia, and the republic of South Peru.

The republic of Peru, though much reduced by the defection of its four southern departments, is still a considerable territory, comprising about 1000 miles of sea-coast, and extending into the interior, on the tenth degree of south latitude, full 900 miles, with an area of about 350,000 square miles, and a population of

probably 700,000. A large portion of the east part of this republic is unsettled and even unexplored by Europeans, being still in the possession of the aborigines, of whom many of the tribes are stated to be exceedingly savage, and some of them cannibals.

The republic is divided into three departments, which are subdivided into provinces.

Lima, next to Mexico the most splendid city of Spanish America, is situated about six miles in the interior, from its port of Callao. It is of a form nearly semicircular; two miles long, and one and a half broad; the base being washed by the river Limac. It is surrounded by a wall of brick and clay, twelve feet high, but capable merely of serving for purposes of police. The houses run in straight lines, dividing the city into a multitude of squares of various forms and dimensions. The plaza, or principal square, is, as in other Spanish cities, surrounded by all the finest edifices. The viceroy's palace, however, is an old plastered and unsightly structure, of a reddish colour, the lowest story of which is strangely occupied by a row of mean shops, above which is a gallery open to the public. The apartments now employed as government offices display some vestiges of decayed magnificence. The cathedral is an elegant building, with a stone front, and two towers of considerable height; and the interior, particularly the great altar, is, or at least was, excessively rich. There are twenty-five convents in Lima, with churches attached to them; and fifteen nunneries. The convent of San Francisco, with its appendages, is the most extensive, and though not so rich, is more elegant than the cathedral. An immense treasure in the precious metals was contained in these establishments; but during the revolution, great part has been abstracted, though the base materials substituted have been carefully gilded over. The population of Lima is about 70,000, of whom about 25,000 are Spaniards, 2500 clergy, 15,000 free mulattoes, 15,000 slaves, 7200 mestizos, and 5200 Indians. Callao, communicating with Lima by a very fine road, has an excellent harbour formed by two islands. The forts by which it is defended are handsome and strong; and Callao itself is a considerable town, with 6000 inhabitants.

In proceeding southward from Lima, the coast becomes very desolate. Pisco, though bearing the name of a city, is, in fact, only a poor village. On islands near it, however, are vast accumulations of the excrement of birds, forming the richest manure that is anywhere known. The vines in the neighbourhood produce fruit, from which is made a large quantity of good brandy.

On the coast to the north of Lima is Truxillo, a handsome little town, a miniature of Lima, and built in the same gay style. By its port of Guanchaco, which has a tolerable roadstead, Truxillo sends the produce of its territory to Lima, and receives foreign manufactured goods in return. It contains about 12,000 inhabitants. Sanna is the seat of a considerable trade, and Lambayeque, to the north of Truxillo, is the most thriving place between Lima and Guayaquil. Piura, still farther north, is generally accounted the most ancient city in South America, though it is not exactly on the site of the city founded by Pizarro. Its district is noted for the finest breed of mules in Peru, sometimes selling for 250 dollars each; also for a very fine breed of goats, from whose skins they manufacture good cordovans; and they make also some cotton cloths, though not on so great a scale as at Lambayeque. Payta, celebrated for the successful descent of Anson in 1741, is a commodious and well-frequented sea-port, the most northerly in Peru. It being in a complete desert of sand, potable water is brought from a distance of twelve miles, and sold at a high price.

The northern interior of Peru, forming part of the departments of Junin and Truxillo, occupies various levels in the great interior table-land of the Andes. They present that variety of rich and valuable produce, which generally marks