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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11




The people here are perhaps the most expensive in their habits of any
in the world. The men dress nearly as in England, their coats being
either of silk, fine English cloth, or camblets, embroidered or laced
with gold or silver, and their waistcoats usually of the richest
brocades. The women wear no stays or hoops, having only a stitched
holland jacket next their shifts, and they generally wear a square
piece of swansdown flannel thrown over their shoulders, entirely
covered with Flanders lace, and have their petticoats adorned with
gold or silver lace. When they walk out, the Creole women are mostly
veiled, but not the mulattoes; and, till thirty or forty years of
age, they wear no head-clothes, their hair being tied behind with fine
ribbons. The pride of the ladies chiefly appears in fine Mechlin or
Brussels lace, with which they trim their linen in a most extravagant
manner, not omitting even their sheets and pillows. Their linen
jackets are double bordered with it, both at top and bottom, with four
or five ruffles or furbelows hanging down to their knees. They
are very extravagant also in pearls and precious stones, in rings,
bracelets, and necklaces, though the value of these is hardly equal to
the shew.

The viceroy has a splendid palace in the royal square, or great
quadrangle of the city, which seemed as large as Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.
His salary is ten thousand pounds a-year, but his perquisites amount
to double that sum. And though his government expires at the end of
three, four, or five years, he generally makes a handsome fortune,
as all places are in his gift, both in the government and the army
throughout all Peru, except such as are sent out or nominated by the
king. The great court of justice consists of twelve judges, besides a
number of inferior officers, councillors, and solicitors. Before this
court all causes are decided, but they are too often determined in
favour of the party who gives most money. And, though these vast
dominions abound in riches, there is not much work for the lawyers,
as the laws are few and plain, which certainly is much better than
a multiplicity of laws, explaining one another till they become so
intricate that the issue of a cause depends more on the craft of the
solicitor and advocate, than on its justice. Every magistrate in this
country knows that his reign is short, and that he will be laughed at
if he does not make a fortune, so that they wink at each other; and,
so great is the distance between Spain and Peru, that the royal orders
are seldom, regarded, being two years in going backward and forward:
Hence arise many clandestine doings. According to law, the king ought
to have a twentieth part of all the gold, and a fifth of all the
silver procured from the mines; but vast quantities are carried away
privately, without paying any duty, both north by Panama, and south
through the Straits of Magellan. There are also vast sums allowed for
the militia, the garrisons, and the repairs of fortifications, one
half of which are never applied to these objects. Hence it may easily
be imagined what immense riches would flow into the treasury of
Madrid, if his catholic majesty were faithfully served.

The country of Peru is naturally subject to earthquakes. About fifty
years before I was there, or about the year 1670, there were two great
ones at Lima, which overturned many houses, churches, and convents.
And in the reign of Charles II. the late king of Spain, there was an
earthquake near the equator, which lifted up whole fields, carrying
them to the distance of several miles. Small shocks are often felt
which do no harm, and I have been often called out of bed on such
occasions, and heard nothing more about the matter; but on these
occasions the bells always toll to prayers. Yet, although this country
has suffered much from earthquakes, especially near the coast, their
churches are lofty and neatly built. Such parts of their buildings as
require strength are made of burnt bricks; but their dwelling-houses
are all constructed of bamboos, canes, and bricks only dried in
the sun, which are sufficiently durable, as it never rains in Peru.
Instead of roofs, they are merely covered over with mats, on which
ashes are strewed, to keep out the dews. The small river of Lima,
or _Runac_, consists mostly of snow-water from the neighbouring
mountains, which are covered all the year with snow, that partly
dissolves in the summer-season, from September to March.

One would expect the weather to be much hotter here; but there is
no proportion between the heat of this part of America and the
same latitudes in Africa. This is owing to two causes; that the
neighbourhood of the snowy mountains diffuses a cool temperature
of the air all around; and the constant humid vapours, which are so
frequent that I often expected it to rain when I first went to Lima.
These vapours are not so dense, low, and gloomy, like our fogs, nor
yet are they separated above like our summer clouds; but an exhalation
between both, spread all around, as when we say the day is overcast,
so that sometimes a fine dew is felt on the upper garments, and may
even be discerned on the knap of the cloth. This is a prodigious
convenience to the inhabitants of Lima, who are thus screened half the
day from the sun; and though it often shines out in the afternoon, yet
is the heat very tolerable, being tempered by the sea-breezes, and
not near so hot as at Lisbon and some parts of Spain, more than thirty
degrees farther from the equator.

The entire want of rain in this country induced the Indians, even
before the conquest, to construct canals and drains for leading water
from among the distant mountains, which they have done with great
skill and labour, so as to irrigate and refresh the vallies, by which
they produce grass and corn, and a variety of fruits, to which also
the dews contribute. A Spanish writer observes that this perpetual
want of rain is occasioned by the south-west wind blowing on the coast
of Peru the whole year round, which always bears away the vapours from
the plains before they are of sufficient body to descend in showers:
But, when carried higher and farther inland, they become more compact,
and at length fall down in rain on the interior hills. The inhabitants
of Peru have plenty of cattle, fowls, fish, and all kinds of
provisions common among us, except butter, instead of which they
always use lard. They have oil, wine, and brandy in abundance, but not
so good as in Europe. Instead of tea from China, which is prohibited,
they make great use of _camini_, called herb of Paraguay, or Jesuits
tea, which, is brought from Paraguay by land. They make a decoction
of this, which they usually suck through a pipe, calling it _Mattea_,
being the name of the bowl out of which it is drank. Chocolate is
their usual breakfast, and their grace cup after dinner; and sometimes
they take a glass of brandy, to promote digestion, but scarcely drink
any wine. In Chili, they make some butter, such as it is, the cream
being put into a skin bag kept for that purpose, which is laid on a
table between two women, who shake it till the butter comes.

The Spaniards are no friends to the bottle, yet gallantry and intrigue
are here brought to perfection, insomuch that it is quite unmannerly
here not to have a mistress, and scandalous not to keep her well. The
women have many accomplishments, both natural and acquired, having
graceful motions, winning looks, and engaging, free, and sprightly
conversation. They are all delicately shaped, not injured by
stiff-bodied stays, but left entirely to the beauty of nature, and
hardly is there a crooked body to be seen, among them. Their eyes and
teeth are singularly beautiful, and their hair is universally of a
dark polished hue, nicely combed and plaited, and tied behind with
ribbons, but never disguised by powder; and the brightness of their
skins round the temples, clearly appears through their dark hair.
Though amours are universal at Lima, the men are very careful to bide
them, and no indecent word or action is ever permitted in public.
They usually meet for these purposes, either in the afternoon at
the _Siesta_, or in the evening in calashes on the other side of the
river, or in the great square of the city, where calashes meet in
great numbers in the dusk. These are slung like our coaches, but
smaller, many of them being made only to hold two persons sitting
opposite. They are all drawn by one mule, with the negro driver
sitting on his back; and it is quite usual to see some of these
calashes, with the blinds close, standing still for half an hour at
a time. In these amusements they have several customs peculiar to
themselves. After evening prayers, the gentleman changes his dress
from a cloak to a _montero_, or jockey-coat, with a laced linen cap on
his head, and a handkerchief round his neck, instead of a wig; or if
he wear his own hair, it must be tucked under a cap and concealed, as
it is the universal fashion to be thus disguised. Even those who
have no mistress, are ashamed to appear virtuous, and must be somehow
masked or disguised, in order to countenance the way of the world.
As, all this is night-work, they have an established rule to avoid
quarrels, by never speaking to or noticing each other, when going in
quest of or to visit their ladies.

In short, the fore-part of every night in the year is a kind of
masquerade. Among people of any rank who do not keep calashes, one
couple never walks close behind another, but each at the distance
of at least twelve paces, to prevent the overhearing of any secret
whispers. Should a lady drop a fan or any thing else by accident, a
gentleman may take it up, but he must not give it to the lady, but to
the gentleman who accompanies her, lest she may happen to be the wife
or sister of him who takes it up; and as all the ladies are veiled,
these wise rules are devised to prevent any impertinent discoveries.
Any freedom in contravention of these laws of gallantry would be
looked upon as the highest affront, and would be thought to merit a
drawn sword through the midriff. Should any one see his most intimate
friend any where with a woman, he must never take notice of it, or
mention it afterwards. Every thing of this nature is conducted with
all imaginary gravity and decorum, by which the practice of gallantry
becomes decent and easy; yet there are some jealousies in this regular
commerce of love, which sometimes end fatally. A story of this kind
happened shortly before I went to Lima. A young lady, who thought
herself sole sovereign in the heart of her lover, saw him by chance
in the company of another, and, waiting no farther proof of his
infidelity, she instantly plunged a dagger in his bosom. She was soon
after brought to trial, and every one expected that she should pay
the forfeit with her life; but the judges, considering her rashness
as proceeding from excess of love, not malice, acquitted her. However
agreeable these gallantries may be to the _Creole_ Spaniards, they
have an inconvenient effect on society; as the men are so engrossed
by these matters, as to spoil all public conversation. Their time is
entirely taken up in attendance on their mistresses, so that there are
no coffee-houses or taverns, and they can only be met with at their
offices, or in church.

Perhaps it may be chiefly owing to this effeminate propensity, that
all manly exercises, all useful knowledge, and that noble emulation
which inspires virtue, and keeps alive respect for the public good,
are here unknown. Those amusements which serve in other countries to
relax the labours of the industrious, and to keep alive the vigour of
the body and mind, are unknown in Peru; and whoever should attempt to
introduce any such, would be considered as an innovator, which, among
them, is a hateful character: For they will never be convinced, that
martial exercises or literary conferences are preferable to intrigues.
They have, however, a sort of a play-house, where the young gentlemen
and students divert themselves after their fashion; but their dramatic
performances are so mean as hardly to be worth mentioning, being
scripture stories, interwoven with romance, a mixture still worse than
gallantry. At this theatre, two Englishmen belonging to the squadron
of Mons. Martinat, fought a prize-battle a short time before I came
to Lima. Having first obtained leave of the viceroy to display their
skill at the usual weapons, and the day being fixed, they went through
many previous ceremonies, to draw, as the phrase is, a good house.
Preceded by beat of drum, and dressed in holland shirts and ribbons,
they went about the streets saluting the spectators at the windows
with flourishes of their swords, so that the whole city came to see
the trial of skill, some giving gold for admittance, and hardly any
one less than a dollar. The company, male and female, being assembled,
the masters mounted the stage, and, after the usual manner of the
English, having shaken hands, they took their distance, and stood
on their guard in good order. Several bouts were played without much
wrath or damage, the design being more to get money than cuts or
credit, till at length one of the masters received a small hurt on
the breast, which blooded his shirt, and began to make the combat look
terrible. Upon this, fearing from this dreadful beginning that the
zeal of the combatants might grow too warm, the company cried out,
_Basta! basta!_ or enough! enough! And the viceroy would never permit
another exhibition of the same kind, lest one of the combatants might
receive a mortal wound, and so die without absolution.

So deficient are the Spaniards in energy of spirit, that many
extensive countries and islands remain unexplored, in the immediate
neighbourhood of their vast American dominions, though some of these
are reported to be richer and more valuable than those which are
already conquered and settled. The first Spanish governors of Mexico
and Peru were not of this indolent disposition, but bestowed great
pains in endeavouring to acquire the most perfect knowledge bordering
upon their respective governments: But now that general thirst of fame
is entirely extinguished, and they content themselves with plundering
their fellow-subjects in the countries already known. The regions to
the north of Mexico are known to abound in silver, precious stones,
and other rich commodities, yet the Spaniards decline all conquest on
that side, and discourage as much as possible the reports which have
spread of the riches of these countries. On the same principles, they
give no encouragement to attempt penetrating into the heart of South
America, whence most of the riches of Peru are known to come, the
mountains at the back of the country being extremely rich in gold; and
the regions, on the other side, towards the Atlantic, being inhabited
by nations that have abundance of that metal, though, for fear of
being oppressed by the Europeans, they conceal it as much as possible.

Of all the discoveries that have been talked of among the Spaniards,
that which has made the most noise is the island or islands of
Solomon, supposed to be the same with those discovered by the famous
Ferdinand Quiros. He reported them to be extremely rich and very
populous, and repeatedly memorialed the court of Spain to be
authorised to complete his discovery. All his solicitations, however,
were neglected, and it became a question in a few years whether any
such islands had ever existed. At length, towards the close of the
seventeenth century, such discoveries were made as to the reality of
these islands, that Don Alvaro de Miranda was sent out to discover
them in 1695. He failed in the attempt, but in the search met with
four islands, between the latitude of 7 deg. and 10 deg. S. which were
wonderfully rich and pleasant, the inhabitants being a better looking
race, and far more civilized than any of the Indians on the continent
of America. This discovery occasioned a good deal of discourse at the
time; but the subsequent disturbances relative to the succession to
the crown of Spain, so occupied the attention of every person, that
all views of endeavouring to find the islands of Solomon were laid
aside.[2]

[Footnote 2: These islands of Miranda appear to have been the
Marquebes, between the latitudes of 8 deg. 45' and 10 deg. 25' N. and long.
139 deg. W. The Solomon islands, or New Georgia, are between 5 deg. and 10 deg. N.
and long. 200 deg. to 205 deg. W. 63-1/2 degrees of longitude farther to the
westwards.--E.]

Sec. 5. _SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MINES OF PERU AND CHILI_.

As the riches of Peru consist chiefly in mines of silver, I shall
endeavour to give some account of them, from the best information I
could procure. There are two sorts of silver-mines, in one of which
the silver is found scattered about in small quantities, or detached
masses, while, in the other kind of mine, it runs in a vein between
two rocks, one of which is excessively hard, and the other much
softer. These certainly best deserve the name of silver-mines, and
are accordingly so denominated. This precious metal, which in other
countries is the standard or measure of riches, is the actual riches
of Peru, or its chief natural commodity; as, throughout the whole of
that vast country, silver-mines are almost every where to be met with,
of more or less value, according as the ore produces more or less
silver, or can be wrought at a greater or less expence. Some of these
mines are to the north of Lima, but not a great many, but to the south
they are very numerous. On the back, or eastern side of the Andes,
there is a nation of Indians called _Los Platerors_, or the _Plate_,
or _Silver_ men, from their possessing vast quantities of silver,[1]
but with them the Spaniards have very little communication. The best
of the mine countries are to the south of Cusco, from thence to Potosi
and the frontiers of Chili, where, for the space of 800 miles, there
is a continued succession of mines, some being discovered and others
abandoned almost every day.

[Footnote 1: This tribe still holds its place in modern geography,
in the vast plain to the E. of the Maranors or Amazons, where there
cannot be any silver-mines, at least that they can explore. They are
so named because of wearing silver ear-rings, which they must, almost
certainly, procure in barter from the tribes in the mountains, far to
the west.--E.]

It is common, both here and elsewhere, for people to complain of the
times, commending the past, as if there had been infinitely greater
quantities of silver dug from the mines formerly than at present. This
certainly may be the case with particular mines; but, on the whole,
the quantities of silver now annually obtained from the mines in
Spanish America, abundantly exceeds what used formerly to be procured.
Those mines which are at present [1720] most remarkable in Peru are,
Loxa, Camora, Cuenca, Puerto-veio, and St Juan del Oro. Those of Oruro
and Titiri are neglected; and those of Porco and Plata are filled
up. At Potosi there are a vast number of mines; and those of Tomina,
Chocaia, Atacuna, Xuxui, Calchaques, Guasco, Iquique, &c. are all
wrought with more or less profit, according to the skill of the
proprietors or managers. It is generally believed that the Creoles
have a very perfect acquaintance with the minerals, from experience,
and with the art of treating them, so as to obtain the largest profit;
but, when their utter ignorance in all other arts is considered, their
constant going on in the old beaten track, and their enormous waste of
quicksilver, one is tempted to believe that our European miners might
conduct their works to still greater advantage.

The most perfect silver that is brought from Peru is in the forms
called _pinnas_ by the Spaniards, being extremely porous lumps of
silver, as they are the remainder of a paste composed of silver dust
and mercury, whence the latter being exhaled or evaporated, leaves the
silver in a spongy mass, full of holes, and very light. This is the
kind of silver which is put into various forms by the merchants, in
order to cheat the king of his duty; wherefore all silver in this
state, found any where on the road, or on board any ship, is looked
upon as contraband, and liable to seizure.

In regard to the art of refining, I propose to shew the progress of
the ore, from the mine till it comes to this spongy mass or cake.
After breaking the stone or ore taken out of the veins, it is grinded
in mills between grindstones, or pounded in the _ingenious reales_,
or royal engines, by means of hammers or beetles, like the mills for
Paris plaster. These generally have a wheel of twenty-five or thirty
feet diameter, with a long axle or lying shaft, set round with smooth
triangular projections, which, as the axle turns, lay hold of the iron
hammers, of about two hundred-weight each, lifting them to a certain
height, whence they drop down with such violence that they crush and
reduce the hardest stones to powder. The pounded ore is afterwards
sifted through iron or copper sieves, which allow the finest powder
to go through, the coarse being returned to the mill. When the one
happens to be mixed with copper or other metals which prevent
its reduction to powder, it is roasted or calcined in an oven or
reverberatory furnace, and pounded over again.

At the smaller mines, where they only use grindstones, they, for the
most part, grind the ore along with water, forming it into a liquid
paste, which runs out into receivers. When grinded dry, it has to be
afterwards mixed with water, and well moulded up with the feet for a
long time. For this purpose, they make a court or floor, on which that
mud, or paste of pounded ore and water, is disposed in square parcels
of about a foot thick, each parcel containing half a _caxon_, or
chest, which is twenty-five quintals or hundred-weights of ore, and
these parcels are called _cuerpos_, or bodies. On each of these they
throw about two hundred-weights of sea-salt, more or less, according
to the nature of the ore, which they mould or incorporate with the
moistened ore for two or three days. They then add a certain quantity
of quicksilver, squeezing it from a skin bag, to make it fall in drops
equally on the mass or _cuerpo_, allowing to each mass ten, fifteen,
or twenty pounds of quicksilver, according to the nature or quality of
the ore, as the richer it is, it requires the more mercury to draw it
to the silver contained in the mass, so that they know the quantity
by long experience. An Indian is employed to mould or trample one
of these square cuerpos eight times a-day, that the mercury
may thoroughly incorporate with the silver. To expedite this
incorporation, they often mix lime with the mass, when the ore happens
to be what they call greasy, and in this great caution is required,
as they say the mass sometimes grows so hot that they neither find
mercury nor silver in it, which seems quite incredible. Sometimes also
they strew in some lead or tin ore, to facilitate the operation of the
mercury, which is slower in very cold weather; wherefore, at Potosi
and Lipes, they are often obliged to mould or work up their cuerpos
during a month or six weeks; but, in more temperate climates, the
amalgama is completed in eight or ten days. To facilitate the action
of the mercury, they, in some places, as at Puno and elsewhere,
construct their _buiterons_ or floors on arches, under which they keep
fires for twenty-four hours, to heat the masses or _cuerpos_, which
are in that case placed as a pavement of bricks.

When it is thought that the mercury has attracted all the silver,
the assayer takes a small quantity of ore from each cuerpo, which he
washes separately in a small earthen plate or wooden bowl; and, by the
colour and appearance of the amalgama found at the bottom, when the
earthy matters are washed away, he knows whether the mercury has
produced its proper effect. When blackish, the ore is said to have
been too much heated, and they add more salt, or some other temper. In
this case they say that mercury is _dispara_, that is, shoots or flees
away. If the mercury remains white, they put a drop under the thumb,
and pressing it hastily, the silver in the amalgam sticks to the
thumb, and the mercury slips away in little drops. When they conceive
that all the silver has incorporated with the mercury, the mixed mass,
or cuerpo, is carried to a basin or pond, into which a small stream
of water is introduced to wash it, much in the same way as I shall
afterwards describe the manner in which they wash gold, only that as
the silver-ore is reduced to a fine mud without stones, it is stirred
by an Indian with his feet, to dissolve it thoroughly, and loosen the
silver. From the first basin it falls into a second, and thence into
a third, where the stirring and washing is repeated, that any amalgam
which has not subsided in the first and second may not escape the
third.

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