Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1891 — THE LAND OF THE INCAS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE LAND OF THE INCAS

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE PERUVIAN REPUBLIC. jlta Marvelous Natural Resources—PenPictures of the Customs and Habits of Its People—A Possible Future lor This ■Wonderful Country.

PHE name of Peru alone carries with it much that is: romantic, and brings to 'mind a gallery of word paintings b y I Prescott's master hand. The name of Pizarro is familiar to every child, 'apd the record of the deeds and marches of his

great lieutenant, De Soto, one of the ablest cavalry officers of the world, is always read with deepest interest. We have no certain data as to the boundaries of ancient Peru, but they included a territory larger, no doubt, than the present state, and it was peopled by a eemi-civilized race with an efficient government by the Incas. The country, at the time of the invasion by the Spadjiards punder the command of the illiterate and cruel Pizarro, in 1532, had many good iroads and was under fair cultivation, jhaving a population of forty or fifty (millions. Pizarro, with less than 200 men, was hospitably received by the Inca, whom She treacherously imprisoned without the iloss of a man, and demanded of the peoLple an immense ransom for their king. The natives collected and brought to iPizarro silver and silver utensils which, when melted down, were worth a 3 bullion about eighteen millions of dollars. (But, instead of releasing the Inca Ataihualpa, the rascally Spaniard had him jput to death. History does not furnish more horrible illustrations of human (greed and barbarity than are portrayed tin tho conquest of Mexieo by Cortez and ithat of Peru by Pizarro. But we must pass over the intervening centuries and the long misrule of Spain, and try and ,give a pen picture of the Peru of to-day. ABEA AND POPULATION. Peru is bounded on the north by Ecuador, on the south by Chili and tho Pacific Ocean, and on the east by Brazil and Bolivia, and it stretches 2,000 miles along the coast of the Pacific, which bounds it on the west. Peru is about ten lime as large as the State of New York, and has to-day only about three and a half millions of people Sixty per cent of these people are Indians and twenty-five per cent half-breeds, twelve per cent, are whites, and the remainder negroes and Chinese. CLIMATE. Though in the tropics the prevailing south winds temper the heat so that no days at Lima, which is near the equator, are so warmr as many summer days in Chicago. The trade winds and the range of the Andes Mountains cause an absence of rain, and, except in the extreme north and the extreme south, between the Andes and the ocean, rain never Tails, and all agriculture depends upon Irrigation, as in Colorado and Utah. Here umbrellas, overshoes, and overcoats are never needed. The weather is so uniformly delightful that it is never a subject of conversation; it is so springlike that crops grow the year round. This continuous mild weather is said not to agree perfectly with some Europeans and North Americans. Under the Incas the very sides of the Andes were terraced to get more land, and the whole territory was cultivated as is the valley of the Nile and the densely peopled provinces of China. The three centuries of Spanish cqjitrol changed all this. Spanish is the language of the country, and the Roman Catholic is the established religion. AGKICULTUBAL LAND. These are found in the valleys of innumerable streams which flow from the Andes to the Pacific, and where Irrigation is easy and water abundant. These irrigated lands show an almost unexampled fertility. Peruvians claim that the snow of the mountains send a water to their fields which is rich in plantfood, and that it is only necessary to plow two or three inches in depth, or to barely tickle the soil, to make it smile with abundant vegetation. The plow in use is nothing but a forked stick, sometimes pointed with iron, and has only one handle, as the plowman finds it necessary to use one hand wholly in thrashing his oxen, two of which draw the plow which is attached to a beam fastened across the cattle's foreheads.

These animals push with their heads instead of drawing with a yoke as with us. The Peruvians will not use our improved* plows, and only buy plows of foreign make, which closely resemble their crooked sticks. Their plows are quite like those used in Oriental countries in the days of Pharaoh, and which are used in portions of Persia to-day. The most portentous implement in this agriculture is the whip, which is often twenty feet long, and it is harder work to use it almost incessantly than it is to handle the plow. The fields are all easily flooded with water from the irrigating ditches whenever required. Wheat cannot be raised to advantage, and bread is made from Chilian and California flour, and is always made In bakeries; Peruvian women who can make a loaf of bread are as scarce as birds' teeth. Corn grows all the year round and is native here, and is the stapo food of nearly all classes. The ‘‘tortilla,” like oatmeal for a Scotchman, U standard, and is a sort of pancake

made of msal and seasoned with a dressing composed of lard and "pepper, and rolled into lumps or loaves. Chica is the national tipple of Peru, as pulque Is for Mexico, whisky for Peoria, or beer for Bavaria, and the native Peruvian is never known to shirk his grog. The natural adaptation of the soil and cli-

mate to the sugar cane will eventually cause vast quantities of sugar to be made here. The amount of sugar now made and exported amounts annually to only fifty or sixty thousand tons. The whole country has been poverty-stricken slhce its defeat in the late Chilian war, and, it is difficult to find capital with

which to do work. Much cane juice is made into rum, which contains 50 or 60 per cent. 1 of alcohol, andean be afforded for 10 or 15 cents a quart. As this article seems admirably adapted to the Peruvian and Bolivian digestive apparatus, it is used largely as a beverage, and is within the financial grasp of the humblest citizen. As with our composite citizens of Milwaukee avenue, such mild tipple as this rum and Kentucky gour mash are never diluted by drinkers, and seem to produce no doloterious effects upon the copper-lined anatomies of all who delight in this form of intoxication, and tho census records few who do' not. COTTON AND WOOL.

The cotton plant, instead of a diminutive shrub as with us, is a tree in Peru. It begins to bear wheu it is two or three year old and continues to produce cotton for fifty years. In the warm country of the north of Petu two crops of cotton a year are picked, and it is all marketed in England; the amount annually exported Is worth about five millions of dollars. This industry could be,, enlarged a hundred fold. Peru exports wool to about the same value as its cotton, and there seems to be hardly any limit to which sheep raising might be Carried. In this land of present backwardness most people outside the towns make their own cloth in rude looms. There are today only two woolen factories In the whole country, one at Lima and one at Cuzco. Here Is a rich field for manufacturing cotton and woolen cloths. , ‘ TIIE VINE. The vine grows luxuriantly, especially in thb cooler southern regions of the country. Only half a million barrels of wine are now made, but there is no reason why the product could not easily bo increased fifty fold, and enterprise and capital will eventually enlarge this to an .enormously profitable industry. THE POTATO. The potato, as is well known, is a native bf this region; that it grows wild nearly everywhere where there is moisture enough for it. Pizarro found it cultivated by the natives, and the seed was taken to Europe by the Spaniards. A writer says he has seen-the wild plant which he could hardly recognize; it was only six inched high, with abide bfdslom like a small viiolet, ~%nd ithe pMfttooS bn the roots below vrere no larger than filberts. From .this wild weed the hundreds of varieties of potatoes have been derived by cultivation, and thd»* have become one of th# most important articles of food for the whole world. As an illustration of the disadvantage at which labor is done in jPeru, an observer says that he saw a party of laborers gathering potatoes from a field. A team of oxen plowed up the hihs vith a light plow exposing the tubM(« =the-laborers picked up the potatoes and carried them to a pilo in one corner of the field without bag or basket, carrying them sh their hands, with the exception of tw<> of the laborers who used their hats, apd, thus going to and-fro» eve¥y -pact of the field. An American boy with: a wheel-barrow would do more work of this kind than twenty Peruviana- . •; i OCtf'FEk. No country of the world could raise better coffee <fia» tha£ which grows in the warmer gortlpns of ‘Pern, though little iSJnow raised - , beyond! the needs of homo consampaoh-. 'H&Vg ift another opportunity for most profitable investments. $ :, / ; OATS AND GRASS. Oats can be raised in the mountainous regions, but none have yet been exported. In fact, by going to the higher lands.

nearly all tho fruits and vegetables the temperate Tones can be raised In perfection. The alfalfa grass grows perennially. and is the chief food for horses, „osen. and mules. Whqn the grass Jt cropped from one field the cattle are merely turned into another. What must a farmer of this latitude think of rich green pastures for his flocks and herds for every day in the year? THE CINCHONA THEE. The bark of this tree was first gathered in Peru for making quinine, but the trees were wastefully destroyed, as natives and Ignorant people always destroy such gifts of nature. The savage cuts down a trey of a century’s growth in order to gather a few nu-ts. On this plan the cinchona tree was destroyed. Under the auspices of the British Government the trees were introduced into India, and from this cultivated stock the world’s present supply of quinine is now largely derived. Peru has deposits of salt almost pure and of sufficient magnitude to supply the whole world, yet the salt used by the people is of English manufacture. Peru will soon have the labor and skill with which to utilize these salt deposits, at least for the needs of South America. There are fields of gypsum and vast deposits of sulphur nearly pure. There are limitless deposits of asphalt, and no doubt vast reservoirs of petroleum. An American near Payta, in North Peru, has several spouting oil wells, and Is to

erect refineries on a large scale. He says he expects, in a few years r td have in operation the largest oil field in tho world. foo, has .befen found jtn immense quantises*,‘and tjje magic touch of demand, whlclvis sure;to come before the close of the ccntuiv.' 1 > It is almost idle to deposits of gold, 'silver, copper,/iron, nickel, platinum, mercury, ete.-. which * ■ ■ 1,1 itit ra» i \if

are known to all intelligent people. The natural wealth and resources Of Peru are fabulous in variety and amount, and they have practically been untouched by man. If Peru were as densely peopled as New York, it would have sixty millions of people, or about as many as tho United States and Territories now have, and the resources of the country would give such a population work enough to do. These resources are practically unknown to most people, but when they are properly appreciated capital and directive ability will seek that region and bring its wondrous wealth to light. The policy of European countries has been to ftlrtiish cheap fabrics to these people and prevent manufacturing. The Peruvians are arousing themselves, and begin to realize the disadvantages of this dependence, and are planning railroads and devising schemes for manufacturing which cannot but inaugurate a new life for this people. They were almost

crushed by the recent war with Chili, which left them impoverished and burdened with a dcbtiof $550,000,000. Their , guaiio beds and tjto Vast: nitrate deposits ,4n the, province of were practicaHf lost to them, to Chili, but now praatioaHy ,owned by Chili. Tho profits to the Peruvian .Government from these gtiano beds and nitrate fields alone werag nearly $30,000,000 a year. This source of revenue is gone. We have been toldT)V : fi!ftall%ent Chilians that they determined, when they conquered Per u, to cripple the State so that it could

»ot think of another war for a genera* "’Hon. *-*—*—~ PERUVIAN COMMEHCE. Since the war with Chili Pern has been in a state of financial prostration, her industries destroyed for the time, her mines flooded, mining machinery destroyed, commerce gone, thousands of

able-bodied men killed, and the people have barely been able, to produce food with which to live,, Onr trade with Peru was once of considerable value, but it is hardly worth mentioning now, and her small dealings are almost wholly with Europe, with which she is connected ; by several lines of ocean steamers, while we have none. Freight rates from Pern to Liverpool are only one-half of what they are to New York. Even in the present impoverished condition of the country Peru annually exports at the rate of 810,000,000 syorth of her products to England, 85,000,000 to France and 82,000,000 to Germany. These exports are largely drugs and chemicals, of which our country gets about 8250,000 worth a year. Her exports, with proper attention, ought to be increased a hundred fold by the dose of this century.

ITS FUTURE, Capital is needed in Peru, and investments there, with fair business management, would be very profitable. The proposed intercontinental railroad would pass through that country to connect with the,lines of Chili and Argentine. The country, now so sparsely peopled, is oapable of supporting a larger population than the whole of South America now holds. As a field for.mining, manufacturing, railroad building, and speculation it is not surpassed by any. territory now open to- settlement development While its debt is Ikrge for a people so poor as the Peruvians now are, it could be funded at a !o>v rate of interest, and each year would lighten the burden. As the land becomes bettejr understood capital, and ability with it. will flow there, and, with railroads, *tho population Would increase. Coffee, -sugar and grape raising would quickly become largo and profitable industries, the mineral wealth would be brought into the channels of commerce, and Peru would necessarily rise to high rank tumong the nations of the world. Some of the ability which is now seeking a theater of action in Africa will, ere lorfg, be directed to Pern, which is as wqu,.. worthy of attention as the best provinces of the dark continent It is tp bo hoped that efforts now making to seiiuie for us a far larg<er proportion of the commerce of South American countries will call more thoughtful attention oil the part of our people to the unquestioned possibilities of the wonderful land to which we have asked attention in this chatty sketch.

CUSTOMS OF THE PERUVIANS. ,The Peruvian common people are not noted for cleanliness; brushes and brooms aro scarce, and spiders spin their webs in security. The Spanish custom of a midday or afternoon nap is common, and the .hammock is a luxury for these naturally lazy people. The lower the scalq of being the more do we see women called upon to do the drudgery of life. She seems roan’s willing slave in Peruvian country districts as she does on our own Indian reservations. ANTIQUITIES OF PERU. Conspicuous among the aboriginal monuments to be found in Peru is the Great Temple of the Sun, the remains of which, as they still stand in the city of Cuzco, are shown in the illustration. The ruins of other temples, built on a plan similar to this one, are scattered throughout the country. The crest of a hill was the spot usually chosen for their erection. The ground for two hundred paces around the temple was considered sacred, and no one was permitted to enter this boundary except with naked feet.

DUANE DOTY.

PERUVIAN BELLES.

IUCA WOMAN AND CHILD.

MAP OF PERU.

PLOWING IN PERU.

TEMPLE OF THE SUN, CUZCO, PERU.

THE GREAT SEBAE, OR COTTON TREE