Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests Part 8

[Footnote 32: _Puquio_ in the Quichua language signifies springs.]

[Footnote 33: These fine blocks of ice clearly refute the a.s.sertion made by some travellers, that the first real glaciers are found in 19 S. lat. The extensive fields of ice from which the blocks in question are brought are situated in 11 14' S. lat.]

[Footnote 34: A sort of arabesque resembling the backbone of a fish called the _Tollo_.]

[Footnote 35: Laurel leaves and seed.]

[Footnote 36: _Toros_ (Bulls) is used by way of contraction for _Corrida de Toros_ (Bull Course).]

CHAPTER VII.

Geographical Situation of Lima--Height above Sea level--Temperature--Diseases--Statistical Tables of Births and Deaths--Earthquakes--The Valley of Lima--The River Rimac--Aqueducts, Trenches, &c.--Irrigation--Plantations--Cotton--Sugar--Various kinds of Grain--Maize--Potatoes, and other tuberous roots--Pulse--Cabbage--Plants used for Seasoning--Clover--The Olive and other Oil Trees--Fruits--Figs and Grapes--The Chirimoya--The Palta--The Banana and other Fruits.

Lima, according to the careful observations made by Herr Scholtz, is situated in 12 3' 24'' south lat.i.tude, and 77 8' 30'' west longitude from Greenwich. It may, however, be mentioned that the longitude from Greenwich is very differently stated. In sea charts and Manuals of Geography it is often marked 76 50'. Humboldt makes it 77 5' 5''; and Malaspina 77 6' 45''. According to Ulloa it is 70 37' west of Cadiz.

The lat.i.tude is very generally fixed at 12 2' 3'' south. The height above the level of the sea is also differently estimated. Rivero, in the _Memorial de Ciencias Naturales_, I., 2, page 112, states it to be 154 metres, or 462 French feet. On another occasion he makes it 184-4/5 Castilian varas (each vara being equal to 33 inches English). He gives the following account of heights, according to the barometer, between Callao and Lima, in varas, viz., Callao, 00; Baquijano, 24-3/5; _La Legua_, 50-2/5; Mirones, 94-3/20; Portada del Callao, 150; _Plaza de Lima_, 184-4/5.

The first estimate given by Rivero is the most correct. Gay makes the height of Lima, at the corner of the church of _Espiritu Santo_, 1722 Castilian varas; but most of his heights are incorrectly stated.

The conical hill in the north-east of Lima, called Cerro de San Cristoval, is, according to trigonometrical measurements, made in 1737, by Don Jorge Juon, and De la Condamines, 312 varas higher than the Plaza Mayor, or 134 toises above the sea; but one of the most exact measurements is Pentland's, who found the height to be 1275 English feet.

The average temperature during the hottest period of the year, from December to March, is 25 C. The medium temperature during the cold season, from April to November, 175 C. Highest rise of the hygrometer, 215.

The low temperature of Lima at the distance of only twelve degrees from the Equator is to be ascribed to the situation of the town, and the prevailing atmospheric currents. The Cordilleras, rising at the distance of only twenty-eight Spanish leagues east of the city, are crowned with eternal snow; and on the west the sea is distant only two leagues. The prevailing wind blows from the south-south-west. West winds are not very common, though they sometimes blow with extraordinary violence for those regions, and breaking on the surrounding mountains, they form atmospheric whirlwinds, which diffuse alarm through the whole population. In June, 1841, I had the opportunity of observing one of these dreadful whirlwinds, which swept away huts, and tore up trees by the roots. The atmospheric currents from the north, which pa.s.s over the hot sand-flats, are not of constant occurrence, but they are oppressively sultry. There must be other causes for the low temperature of Lima, for in the villages, only a few miles from the city, and exposed to the same atmospheric influences, it is much higher.

Miraflores is a small place, about one Spanish league and a half from Lima, but it is much hotter. Among the records of the thermometer are the following:--

December 20 to 27, maximum 318 C.; minimum, 259 C.

December 28, at 6 in the morning, 260 C.; at 2 P.M., 327 C.; at 10 at night, 273 C.

January 1, at 2 P.M., 331 C., maximum of the day.

January 18, at 2 P.M., maximum 342 C.

A comparison with the temperature of Lima, on the same days, gives an average of 57 C. of heat in favor of Miraflores.

The River Rimac, which rises among the glaciers of the Cordilleras, and after a course of no great length, intersects the city, doubtless contributes to cool the atmosphere.

The climate of Lima is agreeable, but not very healthy. During six months, from April to October, a heavy, damp, but not cold mist, overhangs the city. The summer is always hot, but not oppressive. The transition from one season to another is gradual, and almost imperceptible. In October and November the misty canopy begins to rise; it becomes thinner, and yields to the penetrating rays of the sun. In April the horizon begins to resume the misty veil. The mornings are cool and overcast, but the middle of the day is clear. In a few weeks after, the brightness of noon also disappears. The great humidity gives rise to many diseases, particularly fevers, and the alternations from heat to damp cause dysentery. On an average, the victims to this disease are very numerous. It is endemic, and becomes, at apparently regular but distant periods, epidemic. The intermittent fevers or agues, called _tercianos_, are throughout the whole of Peru very dangerous, both during their course and in their consequences. It may be regarded as certain that two-thirds of the people of Lima are suffering at all times from _tercianos_, or from the consequences of the disease. It usually attacks foreigners, not immediately on their arrival in Lima, but some years afterwards. In general the tribute of acclimation is not so soon paid by emigrants in Lima as in other tropical regions.

In consequence of the ignorance of the medical attendants, and the neglect of the police, the statistical tables of deaths are very imperfectly drawn up, and therefore cannot be entirely depended upon.

I may, however, here subjoin one of them, which will afford the reader some idea of the mortality of Lima.

The annual number of deaths in Lima varies from 2,500 to 2,800.

In the ten months, from the 1st of January to the 30th of October, 1841, the number of marriages was 134, of which 46 were contracted by whites, and 88 by people of color.

DEATHS IN LIMA FROM JANUARY 1, TO OCTOBER 30, 1841:-

Diseases. Men. Women. Children. Total.

Dysentery 171 105 59 335 Fevers, chiefly intermittent 57 88 71 216 Typhus 14 7 24 45 Pulmonary Consumption 87 110 11 208 Inflammation of the Lungs 78 75 26 179 Dropsy, for the most part a consequence of intermittent fevers 33 32 7 72 Hooping-cough 36 36 Small Pox 3 1 4 Sudden death 23 13 1 37 Shot 3 3 Various Diseases 271 228 610 1,109 --- --- --- ----- 740 658 846 2,244

The number of births were:--

Boys. Girls. Total.

In marriage 410 412 822 Not in marriage 432 428 860 --- --- ----- 842 840 1,682

The number of births not in marriage (860) is remarkable, and no less so is the number of dead children exposed, which, during the above interval, was 495. These are most decided proofs of the immorality and degraded state of manners prevailing in Lima, particularly among the colored part of the population. Though there is no certain evidence of the fact, yet there is reason to conjecture that a considerable number of those infants are destroyed by the mothers. Of the children born out of marriage, nearly two-thirds, and of those exposed dead, full four-fifths are Mulattos.

The important annual surplus of deaths over births is a matter of serious consideration for Lima. The above tables show, in the course of ten months, a surplus of 562 deaths. By a comparison of the lists of births and deaths from 1826 to 1842, I find that on an average there are annually 550 more deaths than births. It would lead me too far to endeavor to investigate all the grounds of this disparity, but I may observe that one of the causes, unquestionably, is the common, though punishable crime of producing abortion.

Along the whole coast of Peru the atmosphere is almost uniformly in a state of repose. It is not illuminated by the lightning's flash, or disturbed by the roar of the thunder: no deluges of rain, no fierce hurricanes destroy the fruits of the fields, and with them the hopes of the husbandman. Even fire appears here to have lost its annihilating power, and the work of human hands seems to be sacred from its attack.[37] But the mildness of the elements above ground is frightfully counterbalanced by their subterranean fury.

Lima is frequently visited by earthquakes, and several times the city has been reduced to a ma.s.s of ruins. At an average forty-five shocks may be counted on in a year. Most of them occur in the latter part of October, in November, December, January, May, and June. Experience gives reason to expect the visitation of two desolating earthquakes in a century. The period between the two is from forty to sixty years. The most considerable catastrophes experienced in Lima since Europeans have visited the west coast of South America, happened in the years 1586, 1630, 1687, 1713, 1746, 1806. There is reason to fear that in the course of a few years this city may be the prey of another such visitation.

The slighter shocks are sometimes accompanied by a noise; at other times, they are merely perceptible by the motion of the earth. The subterraneous noises are manifold. For the most part they resemble the rattling of a heavy loaded wagon, driven rapidly over arches. They usually accompany the shock, seldom precede it, and only in a few cases do they follow it; sounding like distant thunder. On one occasion the noise appeared to me like a groan from the depth of the earth, accompanied by sounds like the crepitation of wood in part.i.tions when an old house is consumed by fire.

Of the movements, the horizontal vibrations are the most frequent, and they cause the least damage to the slightly-built habitations. Vertical shocks are most severe; they rend the walls, and raise the houses out of their foundations. The greatest vertical shock I ever felt was on the 4th of July, 1839, at half-past seven in the evening, when I was in the old forests of the Chanchamoyo territory. Before my hut there was an immense stem of a felled tree, which lay with its lower end on the stump of the root. I was leaning against it and reading, when suddenly, by a violent movement, the stem rose about a foot and a half, and I was thrown backwards over it. By the same shock the neighboring river, Aynamayo, was dislodged from its bed, and its course thereby changed for a considerable length of way.

I have had no experience of the rotatory movements of earthquakes.

According to the statements of all who have observed them, they are very destructive, though uncommon. In Lima I have often felt a kind of concussion, which accords with that term in the strictest sense of the word. This movement had nothing in common with what may be called an oscillation, a shock, or a twirl: it was a pa.s.sing sensation, similar to that which is felt when a man seizes another unexpectedly by the shoulder, and shakes him; or like the vibration felt on board a s.h.i.+p when the anchor is cast, at the moment it strikes the ground. I believe it is caused by short, rapid, irregular horizontal oscillations. The irregularity of the vibrations is attended by much danger, for very slight earthquakes of that kind tear away joists from their joinings, and throw down roofs, leaving the walls standing, which, in all other kinds of commotion, usually suffer first, and most severely.

Humboldt says that the regularity of the hourly variations of the magnetic needle and the atmospheric pressure is undisturbed on earthquake days within the tropics. In seventeen observations, which I made during earthquakes in Lima with a good Lefevre barometer, I found, in fifteen instances, the position of the mercury quite unaltered. On one occasion, shortly before a commotion, I observed it 24 lines lower than it had been two hours before. Another time, I observed, also on the approach of the shock and during the twelve following hours, a remarkable rising and sinking in the column. During these observations the atmosphere was entirely tranquil.

Atmospheric phenomena are frequent, but not infallible prognostics of an earthquake. I have known individuals in Lima, natives of the coast, who were seldom wrong in predicting an earthquake, from their observation of the atmosphere. In many places great meteors have been seen before the commotion. Before the dreadful earthquake of 1746, there were seen fiery vapors (_exhalaciones encendidas_) rising out of the earth. On the island of San Lorenzo these phenomena were particularly remarked.

Many persons have an obscure perception--a foreboding, which is to them always indicative of an approaching earthquake. They experience a feeling of anxiety and restlessness, a pressure of the breast, as if an immense weight were laid on it. A momentary shudder pervades the whole frame, or there is a sudden trembling of the limbs. I, myself, have several times experienced this foreboding, and there can scarcely be a more painful sensation. It is felt with particular severity by those who have already had the misfortune to have been exposed to the dangers of an earthquake.

I will here only briefly mention the celebrated earthquake of 1746, as all its details are fully described in many publications. The reader need scarcely be reminded that it happened on the 28th of October, the day of St. Simon and St. Jude. During the night, between ten and eleven o'clock, the earth having begun to tremble, a loud howling was heard, and, in a few minutes, Lima became a heap of ruins. The first shock was so great, that the town was almost completely destroyed by it. Of more than 3000 houses, only twenty-one remained. Still more horrible was the destruction in the harbor of Callao. The movement of the earth had scarcely been felt there, when the sea, with frightful roaring, rushed over the sh.o.r.e, and submerged the whole town with its inhabitants. Five thousand persons were instantly buried beneath the waves. The Spanish corvette San Fermin, which lay at anchor in the port, was thrown over the walls of the fortress. A cross still marks the place where the stern of the vessel fell. Three merchant vessels, heavily laden, suffered the same fate. The other s.h.i.+ps which were at anchor, nineteen in number, were sunk. The number of lives sacrificed by this earthquake has not been, with perfect accuracy, recorded.[38] Humboldt, in his Cosmos, mentions that during this earthquake a noise like subterraneous thunder was heard at Truxillo, eighty-five leagues north of Callao. It was first observed a quarter of an hour after the commotion occurred at Lima, but there was no trembling of the earth. According to the old chronicle writers, the earthquake of 1630 was more disastrous.

The serious commotions which take place on the Peruvian coast appear to acquire progressively greater extension, but only in the southern and northern directions. A shock, of which Lima is the centre, though felt fifty leagues towards the north, and as far towards the south, may, nevertheless, be imperceptible in the easterly direction (towards the mountains) at the distance of ten or twelve leagues. This peculiarity is made manifest, not only by the terraqueous oscillations, but also by the undulations of the sound, which usually proceeds still further in a direction towards the south or the north.

Slight shocks are usually only local, and are not felt beyond the limits of a few square miles.

The atmospheric phenomena during and after earthquakes are very different. In general, the atmosphere is tranquil, but occasionally a stormy agitation is the harbinger of a change. I was unexpectedly overtaken by a violent commotion on the sand-flat between Chancay and Lima. The whole surface of the plain presented a kind of curling movement, and on every side small columns of sand rose, and whirled round and round. The mules stopped of their own accord, and spread out their legs as for support and to secure themselves against apprehended danger. The _arieros_ (mule-drivers) leaped from their saddles, threw themselves on their knees beside the animals, and prayed to heaven for mercy.

The effect of earthquakes on the fertility of the soil is sometimes remarkable. Numerous observations tend to show that after violent commotions luxuriant lands often become barren wastes, and for several years produce no thriving vegetation. Several Quebradas in the province of Truxillo, formerly remarkable for their fertility in grain, were left fallow for twenty years after the earthquake of 1630, as the soil would produce nothing. Similar cases occurred at Supe, Huaura, Lima, and Yca.

All kinds of grain appear to be very susceptible to the changes produced by earthquakes. Cases are recorded in which, after slight shocks, fields of maize in full bloom have withered; and in the course of a day or two the crops have perished.