their neighbors, the inhabitants of the city and district of Corrientes, are the offspring of the intermarriage of their forefathers with the Indian women, and, in consequence, speak Guarany; and it is only those who receive an education, or the men of the city Curruguaty, who understand Spanish." At Assumption, there is also a proportion, not small, who are of Portuguese descent. This mixed race, like the Paulistas, have shewn themselves greater oppressors of the uncivilized Indians, than the Europeans.* The cities of Cordova, Tucuman, Salta, Mendoza, Santa *May not the revolutionary decrees of Buenos Ayres, giving equal rights and liberty to the poor Indian, as well as to the Spaniard, have produced an unfavorable effect with the wealthy and influential inhabitants of Paraguay? Indian slavery has been abolished in that province, I believe; but there is still Indian servitude! The difference in the language of this province from the others, may, also, be a reason for their not joining with them. Mr. Bland, in his Report, page 42, labors under the common error, when he speaks of "the Paraguay agriculturist, with his smattering of letters and his Jesuit habits." The Jesuits had no influence in Paraguay, on the contrary, the influential clergy, the Franciscans and Dominicans, were their deadly enemies; and had the Spaniards on their side. The bishop Cardenas, succeeded in procuring their expulsion, and it required the greatest exertions on the part of the civil authorities, to protect them. The Jesuits were extremely unpopular, excepting among their Indian converts in one corner of the province, separated by deserts from the Spanish inhabitants, with whom they wished to avoid all intercourse. I refer the reader to the 2d vol. Southey's Brazil, Azara, and Wilcock's Buenos Ayres. What I have said of the Jesuits, proceeds from no partiality to their society, but from a desire to give every one his due. The Jesuits could not have acted otherwise, in the circumstances in which they were placed. Whether they would have pursued a different course if it had been in their power, is another question. Fee, and some others, have a population similar to that of Buenos Ayres. The uncivilized Indians are not taken into the estimate. Several subordinate districts of the union, I was informed by the gentleman from whom I procured my estimate, were not included, from his being unable to obtain information on which he could rely. The statement agrees tolerably well with that given by Mr. Graham. CHAPTER III. "Oh! could the ancient Incas rise again, COWPER. THE SUBJECT OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTER CONTINUED. THE provinces of upper Peru, or the audiencia of Los Charcas, it will be recollected, is the sixth natural division of the territory of the viceroyalty of La Plata. What a train of thought is inspired by the name of Peru! The seats of civilization in the new world—an innocent and industrious people, living under a mild and paternal government, a prey to mer. ciless robbers, stimulated by avarice and cruelty, and after being deprived of every thing, compelled by strangers to wear the chains of slavery in their own country. The wrongs of the injured Peruvians can never be atoned. The Jews, in their Egyptian bondage, were in a land of strangers, but the children of the Incas, were enslaved in their native land, and compelled in the sight of objects calculated to awaken the most sorrowful recollections, to do the bidding of their unfeeling task-masters. How affectingly are these feelings expressed by Garcilasso, a descendant of the Incas, in a few simple words-"my granduncle," says he, "often related these things to me, when a child, and then he would weep." To the present day they cherish a melancholy remembrance of their former state; and, it is said, have become habitually sad and mournful. But, with the greater part of mankind, the name of Peru is associated with other ideas. Here is the principal fountain of that golden stream which has given life and vigor, at once to the virtues and vices of mankind-which has fomented wars of interest and ambition, and kindled the worst of passions—at the same time that it has animated commerce and its attendant train, has excited and rewarded industry, fostered science, improved the condition of man, and civilized the world. Who has not heard of Peru, and the riches of Potosi? And who can calculate the effects of the golden stream on the condition and character of mankind, throughout every region of the earth? Here then is the prize for which the infant Argentine republic, I have just described, and the once mighty, but now decaying strength of Spain, are contending! Can the civilized world remain indifferent spectators of the issue? I propose, in this chapter, to take a rapid survey of these important provinces. In order to convey a more clear idea of their situation, it is necessary to bestow some remarks on the disposition or arrangement of the two principal ranges of mountains. The two great ridges which run along almost the whole longitude of South America, and very nearly in parallel lines, give a character to the country which lies between them, scarcely resembling any other in the world. The snowy summits of these parallel ranges of mountains, from the seventeenth to the twenty-fourth degrees, south, (that is, from the Disaguadero to Jujuy,) are, generally, distant from each other about one hundred and fifty miles; the ground between them is greatly elevated above the level of the sea, and above the tract which lies between the base of the western ridge, and the Pacific; hence, it is called alto Peru, (high Peru,) to distinguish it from lower Peru, or the provinces whose elevation above the level of the sea, is not so great. The general elevation of this zone, or tract, between the snowy Andes, is, at least, twice as great as the highest summits of our Alleghanies; but varies considerably, as the mountains within have a more gradual slope than on the eastern side, where they rise like a vast wall, to be descried from -“Many a league at sea.” The description of a celebrated French philosopher* * Buguer, figure de la terre, p. 31. of the alto Peru, will convey a clearer idea. "After having scaled one of these mountains, whose aspect is so frightful, one would naturally expect to be compelled, by the inclemency of the skies, to descend on the other side into deep glens and forests, such as he has left; it can never enter his mind that beyond these mountains there are others of equal height, and that both appear only designed to conceal that happy country where nature traces in her liberality, or more properly speaking, in her perfection, the image of a terrestrial paradise." This description is correct, although the high region as well as the lower, is covered with verdure and magnificent forest trees, and presents a great number of savannas, and is also occasionally intersected with deep valleys. There are, also, transverse ridges, which bind the two mighty walls together, and are almost as elevated.* The elevation of upper Peru above the level of the sea, and the difference in the elevation of different parts of this delightful country, enables one to choose the temperature, (with the thermometer in his hand, as Humboldt expresses himself,) most agreeable to him, from perpetual spring to the rigor of Siberian The Andes are most usually known by the name of the eastern and western Cordilleras. In upper Peru, the first is vulgarly known by the appellation of sierra del Oro, or gold range; as it is here that gold mines are most frequently found; the other is the sierra de la Plata, the silver range; as the silver mines are most abundant. The first diverges as it runs south, gradually diminishing as it passes through Tucuman and Cordova, and finally subsides in the pampas of Buenos Ayres, near San Luis, in the province of Cuyo. The western range, where it forms the eastern boundary of Chili, (called the Cordillera of Chili,) is, in reality, an unbroken wall; but further north, it is more properly a chain of mountains. |