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.

The Subject of the foregoing Chapter continued.

ALTO 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 merciless robbers, obeying the dictates of no law but their avarice and cruelty; a people who, after being deprived of every thing, were 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 relentless task-masters. How affectingly are these feelings expressed by Garcilasso, a descendant of the Incas, in a few simple words "my grand-uncle," 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.

"O could the ancient Incas rise again,

How would they take up Israel's taunting strain!

E 2

Art thou too fallen, Iberia? Do we see
The robber and the murderer weak as we ?
Thou that has wasted earth, and dared despise
Alike, the wrath and mercy of the skies;
Thy pomp is in the grave, thy glory laid
Low in the pits thy avarice has made.”

COWPER.

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 vigour, at once to the virtues and the vices of mankind-which has fomented wars of interest and ambition, and kindled the worst of passionsat 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 track which lies between the base of the western ridge, and the Pacific; hence, it is called the 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 track, between the snowy Andes, is, at least, twice that of the highest summits of our Alleganies; but varies considerably, as within the enclosed space the mountains have a more gradual slope, which is also the case to the east; but on the west they rise like a vast wall, to be descried from

-"Many a league at sea."

The description of a celebrated French philosopher * 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 trans

* Bouguer, figure de la terre, p. 31.

verse 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 band, as Humboldt expresses himself,) most agreeable to him, from perpetual spring to the rigour of Siberian winter; few, I presume, would hesitate much in the choice; the higher regions are, therefore, abandoned to the more wretched of the Indians, who subsist on papas, or potatoes, and to the timid Guanaco; while the condor, soaring above the loftiest peaks of the Andes, seems to belong to another world. All who have visited the region of perpetual spring, have expressed themselves with rapture a perpetual se

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.

I saw several Peruvians at Buenos Ayres, who spoke of the climate of that place with a kind of horror, and were unceasingly praising the temperature of their "blissful seats above." In the proceedings of the congress, in my possession, there is a notice of a member from Peru, who asked leave of absence from Buenos Ayres, his constitution having suffered from the unhealthiness of the climate."