Spanish America, Vol. II (of 2)

The port of Arequipa is Aranta, at twenty leagues distance, the harbour of which is deep, but difficult of access.

Arequipa is the see of a bishop, who enjoys a revenue of 16,000 dollars. This bishopric was erected on the 20th July 1609.

The public buildings consist of a cathedral with a parish-church for the Indians, six convents, a college, seminary, hospital, and three nunneries, with the revenue office, &c.

This city has been repeatedly devastated by earthquakes, which have four times totally ruined it; and a volcano in its vicinity, named Guayna Patina, contributed to destroy the devoted town by a tremendous eruption, on the 24th of February 1600.

The district of Camana lies along the shore of the South Sea, north of Arequipa, and is very large, but contains many deserts, extending on the east to the chain of the Andes. Its temperature is nearly the same as the former, excepting on the mountains, where it is cold. It contains many old silver mines, but these being neglected, its chief trade consists in supplying the mines of the neighbouring district with asses and other beasts of burthen. The principal town of the same name is seventy miles north-west from Arequipa, on the river Camana near its confluence with the South Sea.

The next district to the north and bounding Lima, is Condesuyos de Arequipa, extending about thirty leagues. It is chiefly inhabited by Indians who breed the cochineal insect, with which they supply the woollen manufactures of the adjacent districts. Condesuyos abounds in gold and silver mines, but they are unworked.

Ocona is situated in this district, and is a port on the Pacific, ninety-six miles west-north-west of Arequipa, in sixteen degrees south latitude, on the Rio Ocona, which rises in the interior, and receives a small river flowing from lake Parina Cocha.

Caylloma is the next jurisdiction bounding the kingdom of La Plata on the east, and Cuzco on the north; it lies entirely among the Cordilleras of the Andes, which here divides its western branch into several ramifications, approaching very near the South Sea. Caylloma is famous for containing a very high mountain of the same name, and the sources of the Apurimac or Genuine Maranon, which rises in a small lake formed by the curvature of the chain of the Andes, and flows through a long valley made by two parallel ranges of the same mountains, which divide its bed from that of the Vilcamayo on the east. The source of the Apurimac is in about 16° 10' or 20' south latitude.

Caylloma contains, several badly worked mines of silver; but the cold is so intense, owing to the great height of the Andes, that the inhabitants who have settled in it, are obliged to have recourse to the neighbouring districts for grain, fruits, &c.; and the country abounds with wild asses and beasts of prey.

Caylloma, the principal place, is a village on the eastern range of the Andes, at the silver mines of the great mountain of the same name. It contains an office for receiving the king's-fifths, and for selling the quicksilver necessary in the extraction of the metals.

South of Arequipa, at the distance of forty leagues, lies the district of Moquehua, at sixteen leagues from the Pacific. This jurisdiction extends forty leagues to the south, in a fine climate and fertile soil, adorned with large vineyards, producing great quantities of wine and brandy, which constitute its whole commerce, and with which it supplies all the provinces, as far as Potosi on the Andes by land carriage, and by sea to Lima; and the fruits of Moquehua are also numerous and good, among which are olives of excellent quality.

The chief town of the same name is principally inhabited by Spaniards and mestizoes, who are in general opulent; it is seventy miles south of Arequipa, in 17° 20' south latitude, and 70° 56' west longitude.

The most southerly district of the intendancy of Arequipa, and the last of the kingdom of Peru, is Arica; it is bounded on the north by Arequipa and Moquehua, west by the Pacific, east by the Cordillera and Charcas, and south by the desert and province of Atacama in the kingdom of La Plata. It is eighty-two leagues in length, north-west and south-east; and sixteen wide, east and west; composed of valleys commencing from the Andes and running to the Pacific. The ranges separating these valleys are arid and unfruitful, while the vales themselves grow maize, wheat, &c. Long-pepper is also cultivated, and a thriving trade is carried on with this, and with cotton, sugar, olives, wines, and brandies. The mountains feed numerous herds of cattle, and are famed for the vicunas, llamas, &c.; but the climate is hot, and in the higher parts inclement.

The chief town is Arica, in 18° 26' south latitude, and 70° 18' west longitude, 210 miles north-west of La Plata, and 270 north-west of Atacama, in a beautiful valley on the shore of the Pacific, with a good port, much frequented by the coasting vessels. It was formerly a large place, but having been destroyed by an earthquake in 1605, and sacked by the English in 1680, most of the inhabitants removed to Tacna twelve leagues distant, where the climate is better. Near the small port of Yquique are the celebrated silver mines of Huantajaya already mentioned.

Having now treated of the known provinces of Peru, we shall give some account of those countries which lie on the east of the Andes, between the intendancies and the frontier of Portuguese America.

By the most recent authorities it appears that the viceroyalty of La Plata is supposed to extend to the frontiers of Jaen de Bracamoros and Maynas in New Granada; but as it is not distinctly stated where its limits in this quarter are, it will be better to follow the old boundary of Peru, on the north-east and east.

Within the confines of that extensive territory, lying between the Andes, the Guallaga, the Maranon, or Ucayale, and the western frontiers of the Portuguese settlements, are several immense tracts of land, known by the names of Pampas del Sacramento; Colonna, or the Land of the Missions; Chunchos, &c.

The Pampas del Sacramento, in their restricted sense, include all the country between the Guallaga on the east, Maynas on the north, the Ucayale on the west, and the Apurimac on the south.

It consists of immense plains, and was so called by the Jesuits; but it is now usual to give the same name to the whole country denominated the Land of the Missions, and extending from the Ucayale to the Portuguese limits, bounded only by the Amazons on the north, and embracing 8000 square leagues. The Jesuit missionaries succeeded in establishing several villages among the numerous nations who inhabit this region, through which flows the Ucayale. Father Girval is the most recent traveller in this great steppe, and the information he has given concerning the country, is not uninteresting.

Embarking on the lake of the Great Cocama, at the junction of the Guallaga and Tunguragua, in Maynas, he went to the confluence of the true and false Maranons, near St. Joachin de Omaguas, (a Spanish fort, at the distance of 180 miles from St. Pablo de Omaguas, the most westerly Portuguese settlement.) Having two canoes with 14 Omaguan Indians to row them, he soon passed into the Ucayale, which he ascended with great resolution, frequently meeting with little fleets of canoes, manned by unknown tribes, from whom it required all his address to escape; and after 14 days' rowing, there appeared on the west a chain of mountains, running south-east and north-west.

In two days after this, he reached the little settlement of Sariacu, among the Panos, then the habitation of Anna Rosa, an Italian lady, educated at Lima; passing this, he reached the river Manoa, which he ascended, with the view of seeing if a passage could be had to Maynas, but it was found almost impracticable, on account of the thick forests, and the precipices; therefore again descending the Maranon, he arrived at the missions of Maynas, after an absence of four months.

In this voyage, Father Girval found that there existed several singular tribes of Indians, of whom the Conibos were nearly as fair as Europeans, but that they were discoloured by the bites of mosquitoes, and by painting their skins. Their customs were much the same as those of the other American Indians, in a state of nature.

In the second voyage of Girval, in 1791, he was unaccompanied by any soldier or white person; and again ascending the Ucayale, found the Casibos, a fierce tribe on the eastern banks, but the Conibos still appeared to be the principal navigators of this part of the stream, and were the most humane; the sound of their rude flutes indicating peace, and a desire to show hospitality.

After passing the Conibos, they met the canoes of the Panos, and sixty of these accompanied him to Anna Rosa's village, where he found that she had built a little convent, and that the tribe obeyed her as their chief, with great devotion.

In twenty days' navigation from Sariacu, in the latitude of Tarma, he found the Piros, whose country produces a species of cinnamon, and in which a settlement has since been made.

Father Girval is said to have passed 400 miles up the Genuine Maranon, from its confluence with the Tunguaragua; to have discovered twenty-five tribes, and to have partly persuaded the Piros, the Chipeos, the Panos, and the Conibos, to become Christians.

He found the worship of most of these tribes to consist in the adoration of the moon, and evil spirits. In war they always choose a chief noted for his courage and capacity, and make prisoners of the women and children of their enemies, slaying the men. Some tribes were gentle and humane, while others resembled tigers more than human beings; of these the Casibos, and Carapochas, were anthropophagi.

The Capaguas, a tribe on the Mague, were said to cook and eat their dead, and yet to be one of the most humane of the savages on the Maranon.

The Pampas del Sacramento are divided from Peru by a lofty chain of mountains, from which they appear so level as to resemble the ocean; they are covered with trees and verdure, and produce balsams, oils, gums, resins, a sort of cinnamon, cacao, cascarilla, and many other excellent drugs, spices, &c.

In these vast levels the trees are very lofty, and form impenetrable forests unexplored by man, in which wander all the animals peculiar to the torrid climate of America. The heat is very great, and is accompanied with much humidity, and thick fogs, so that till the forests could be cleared, the Pampas would not be a desirable residence for Europeans; the missionaries have nevertheless been very active in founding villages in the most accessible parts, several of which now exist, and new communications are opened constantly with Peru.

South of the Pampas del Sacramento is a district named Montana Reale, through which runs a chain east from the Andes, named the Cerro de la Sal, which gives birth to the Pachitea, and several other rivers, and divides their streams from the Perene, and some others which flow into the Apurimac; a branch from this Cerro, runs to the north, under the name of Sierra de San Carlos, and separates the Maranon, after receiving the Beni, from the Pachitea. There are some missions in this country, on the banks of the Pachitea, but it is in general inhabited only by the Mayros, a fierce nation, and several other wandering tribes.

The land of the Missions, or Colonna, now included in the Pampas, is that territory on the Amazons, through which flow the Cassiquin and the Yvari, part of which serves as the boundary of Brazil; the Yutay, the Yurba, and several other large rivers, joining the Maranon, and of which little, or in fact, nothing is known.

Chunchos is a district between the Beni and the Paucartambo, in which are many wandering tribes, who are very imperfectly known, and whose country forms the barrier between Brazil and Peru.

We shall conclude the description of this viceroyalty, by some few remarks upon the language of the natives, &c.

The number of dialects totally differing from each other, which are spoken by the Indian inhabitants of this kingdom, is very great, and it was the same during the time of the Incas; to remedy which inconvenience, those sovereigns instituted a general language, which they ordered all the chiefs who came to their courts to speak; it was called the Quichuan, or language of the Incas; and was that which prevailed in the capital; and so unbounded was the power of these princes, that the Quichuan was soon learnt, even in the most remote provinces, and continues to the present day to be the general tongue of the Peruvians, who are averse to making any efforts to obtain a knowledge of the Spanish; so that the priests consider it as indispensably necessary to become acquainted with the Quichuan, in order to retain the Peruvians in their power.

The sounds b, d, f, g, r, are wanting, but the language is harmonious, and its grammar as variegated and artificial as the Greek. A work has been published at Lima on this subject; and great pains have been used to render it well known.

At the time of the conquest, Peru was named by its inhabitants Tavantin-suyu, or the Four Parts. That on the east, in which was Cuzco, was named Colla-suyu, or the east part; that of the west or coast, Chinchay-suyu; that of the north, Anti-suyu; and that of the south Conti-suyu; which titles, with some alterations, were retained till very lately, in the best maps. The names of most of the principal places, are still Quichuan; and so little is the Spanish language and power spread in this country, the first of their conquests, that upwards of sixty unsubdued nations or tribes, are said to exist within its territories; though these have been greatly straitened by the formation of the new government, of which it now becomes necessary to give a description.

VICEROYALTY OF BUENOS AYRES, or LA PLATA

BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT

This government is the most extensive and one of the richest kingdoms of the New World. It is bounded on the north by the vast steppe of the Amazons, or, according to some authorities, by that noble river itself; on the east the territories of the Portuguese and the Atlantic ocean are its limits; on the west it is divided by the Andes from Peru and Chili, having also a province bordering on the South Sea; and on the south its bounds are the Pampas and Patagonia.

From Cape Lobos in the Atlantic to the most northerly settlements on the Paraguay its extent may be estimated at 1600 miles; and from Cape St. Antony, the mouth of the Plata, to the Andes of Chili, its breadth is at least 1000 miles.

POLITICAL AND TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS, &c

This country was erected into a viceroyalty in 1778, and at that time several provinces were added to it from Peru and Chili. At present it is divided into five governments, Los Charcas, Paraguay, Tucuman, Cuyo, and Buenos Ayres, which are again subdivided into departments and districts.

The whole is governed by a viceroy, whose title is at present disputed, by the capital being in possession of the insurgent government; and the ecclesiastical affairs of the country are under the guidance of the archbishop of La Plata, in Charcas, who has six suffragans.

Its population is estimated at 1,100,00 °Creoles and Spaniards: but the Indians have not been numbered.

HISTORY, DISCOVERY, &c

The Spaniards claim the honour of first discovering this country. Juan Dias de Salis, having sailed from Spain with two ships, in 1515, to explore Brazil, arrived at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, and took formal possession of the land: but, deluded by the friendly appearance of the Indians, and being off his guard, he was slain, with the few attendants who had landed with him. In 1526, Sebastian Cabot, then in the Spanish service, also endeavouring to make the coast of Brazil, entered the same river, and discovered an island, which he called St. Gabriel; advancing about 120 leagues, he found a fine river flowing into the great stream, this he named St. Salvador, and causing his fleet to enter this river, disembarked his men, and built a fort, in which he left a garrison, while he proceeded farther up, and also discovered the Paraguay. Having procured much silver from the Indians, particularly the Guaranies, who brought the metal from the eastern parts of Peru, he imagined that mines existed in the country he was in, and accordingly gave the name of River of Silver, or Rio de la Plata, to the great stream he had sailed up.

The Spaniards soon came to a determination of colonizing this valuable acquisition, and to prevent any interference on the part of the other nations of Europe, Don Pedro de Mendoza was sent from Spain, and founded the city of Buenos Ayres, in 1535. From the early times of the colonization of this country till the establishment of a viceroyalty, the government was dependent on that of Peru; though the chief of Buenos Ayres had the title of captain-general. Buenos Ayres continued for a long time almost unknown, all the inhabited parts of the kingdom lying at a distance from the ocean, and by the restrictions put upon its commerce having no other communication with Europe than by the annual flota from Spain, it languished in indigence and obscurity: but the resources of so extensive and so fertile a territory could not remain for ever concealed; as the population, and, consequently, in an agricultural country, the riches increased, the constant remonstrances of the people at last opened the eyes of the Spanish government to the importance of the colony, a relaxation took place in the system of commercial monopoly which had been hitherto rigorously adhered to, and at last, in order to put a stop to a contraband trade that had been carried to an alarming height, register ships were allowed to sail under a licence from the council of the Indies at any time of the year. The annual flota dwindled away from 15,000 to 2000 tons of shipping, and, in 1748, they sailed for the last time to Cadiz, after having carried on, for two centuries, the trade of Spanish America.

The register ships now supplied the market with European commodities at a cheaper rate, and at all times of the year; and Buenos Ayres became from that time a place of importance.

Other relaxations in the mercantile system followed soon after: in 1774 a free trade was allowed between several of the American ports, and in 1778 seven Spanish sea-ports were declared free, to which in 1788, five others were added, and these were allowed an open trade to Buenos Ayres, and the ports of the Pacific.

The city and the captain-generalship was now advancing with rapid strides into political importance; this was rendered stable by the erection of the government into a viceroyalty in 1778; and since that time its trade has progressively increased.

Previous to this epoch, not more than fifteen registered vessels traded to South America, and these not oftener than once in two or three years; but in 1778, their number at once augmented to 170. They kept gradually increasing till 1797, when the memorable war began between Spain and Great Britain, and a death blow was given to the commerce of Spanish America, for in 1798, it was calculated, that three millions of hides were rotting in the warehouses of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, for which no vent could be had, so active and vigilant were the British cruizers. Various causes have since contributed to fluctuate the commerce of this government; sometimes it has risen to an amazing height, whilst at others, owing to foreign causes, or to its own internal convulsions, it has been totally at a stand.

Nothing of any material moment occurs in the political history of Buenos Ayres, till the year 1806; when there appeared a British squadron in the Rio de la Plata, from which a body of troops was landed for the purpose of taking the capital; and this object General Beresford accomplished in a very spirited manner. He had not however had possession of the city for more than six weeks, when he was assailed by such a superiority of force, that his garrison were obliged to surrender on the 12th of August. Reinforcements arriving under Sir Home Popham, from the Cape of Good Hope, Fort Maldonado at the mouth of the La Plata was taken, and Monte Video unsuccessfully besieged. Other troops commanded by Sir Samuel Auchmuty, coming to the assistance of their companions, Monte Video was eventually taken by storm, and here the combined forces waited for a further succour, to resume the attempt on the capital. In May, 1807, these succours arrived, under General Whitelocke, who assumed the chief command, and was joined on the 15th of June by General Crawford. The army now amounting to 8000 men sailed up the river, and disembarking below the capital, marched towards it. But no sooner had they entered the place, than they were assailed from all quarters, with a tremendous fire of grape and musquetry. The subsequent results are well known; a convention was entered into, and the British troops evacuated the territories of the viceroyalty.

When Sir Samuel Auchmuty took Monte Video, the people of Buenos Ayres were in a state of ferment. They assembled an extraordinary junta, and deposed their viceroy, Sobremonte, placing in his seat, Don Santiago Liniers, a French emigrant, who had headed the military force, which retook the metropolis, on the 12th August, 1806. This man had sunk himself by a propensity for gambling into a state of great obscurity; but when the British landed in the country, his superior military talents, at once placed him above the inactive and ignorant Spanish officers, who composed the army of the viceroyalty, and by his success in retaking the capital, the populace looked upon him as the only man fit to guide them to repel the second attack, which they were in constant expectation of; thus rose Liniers to the highest station, which could be obtained in a country, where a very short time before, he had been unknown. But his reign lasted not long, attempting to thrust on the people the yoke of Buonaparte, they began to doubt his sincerity; and aided By Xavier Elio, who had been dispatched from the junta of Cadiz, to assume the viceregal title, and who had succeeded in getting possession of Monte Video, they became turbulent.

To quell this spirit, Liniers sent an expedition against Monte Video; but while this was going on, Don Josef de Goyeneche arrived from Spain, to endeavour to mediate between the newly formed parties. He caused the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres to proclaim Ferdinand the Seventh; advising at the same time, that a junta should be immediately formed. So powerful were his measures, that on the 1st of January 1809, the people rose in all parts of the city, and demanded the establishment of a junta. They were however dispersed, and the leaders punished by the troops who remained faithful to Liniers.

But this temporary triumph was not of long continuance, as in August, 1809, Cisneros, the new viceroy, arrived from Spain, and Liniers was deposed by the junta, which now solemnly declared their rights. Liniers was then exiled to Cordova, but the spirit of insurrection had spread itself too widely by this time to admit of the new viceroy continuing long in the exercise of his functions; commotion succeeded to commotion, and on the 26th of May, 1810, a provisional government assembled itself; deposed the new viceroy and sent him to Spain; against this measure the interior provinces and Monte Video protested. Liniers formed an army in the neighbourhood of his retreat, and in Potosi another assembled under General Nieto. To check these, a force marched from Buenos Ayres; Liniers and Nieto were defeated, and themselves and six of their principal officers beheaded.

This violent measure did not extinguish the loyal feelings of the natives of the kingdom; a force was put in motion in Paraguay, under the governor Velasco, who was however taken prisoner and sent to Buenos Ayres, but Monte Video still remained firm in her allegiance to Spain, and repelled every attempt of the new government. Since this period Monte Video has been taken possession of by the Portuguese. Buenos Ayres, though threatened with a counter-revolution, still retains its provisional government; the mines of Potosi are in the hands of the viceroy of Peru; the greater part of Paraguay is quiet, and the spirit of insurrection is chiefly confined to the capital; which furnishes a great number of privateers that much annoy the Spanish merchant vessels trading to Peru and the coasts of the Pacific. It would be endless to recount the different actions which have taken place between the royal troops and the insurgents, or between the city of Monte Video and that of Buenos Ayres; but the latter have been generally victorious, and the privateers of this new government still dare to show their flag in the Pacific, and to keep the coasts of Chili and Peru in constant alarm.