Perhaps the effect produced on the grass at the Totoral, and this on the fish, may throw some light on the problem of the sterility occasioned by earthquakes, which I have already noticed—in particular, as the gaseous matter having become condensed was left on the surface to produce its effect on the ground, where it could not be washed off by the rains.
An old mulatto, one of the four men who escaped at Callao in 1746, when that city was submersed in the sea, assured me, that the convulsion there did not appear to him so terrible as the one I have just mentioned.
Near to this village is a convenient port and landing place, called de la Barranca, and about a mile to the northward of the village is the river de la Barranca. During the rainy months, in the mountainous districts of the interior, it is so filled with water, that its passage is attended with considerable danger without the assistance of the chimbadoros, ferrymen. The bottom is very stony, which also occasions much danger, if the horses are not sure-footed and accustomed to ford rivers. The rapidity of the current precludes the use of boats or canoes, and its width would render the construction of a bridge extremely expensive. I have often crossed it when the water covered the space of half a mile, and was divided into thirteen or fourteen branches, through some of which the horse on which I was mounted had to swim. About six leagues from the main coast road, and the usual fording place of the river, there is a bridge of ropes, made from the fibres of the maguey leaves. These are first crushed between two stones, immersed in water till the vegetable matter easily separates from the fibres, when they are taken out, beat with a stick, washed, and dried; the ropes are then twisted by hand, without the assistance of any machinery, the fibrous parts of the leaves being inserted when the diminished strength of the rope requires them. This bridge is called de Cochas, from the small village which stands near to it: it is thirty-eight yards across. On one side, the principal ropes, five in number, each about twelve inches in circumference, are fastened to a large beam laid on the ground, secured by two strong posts buried nearly to their tops: on the opposite side the beam is secured by being placed behind two small rocks. Across these five ropes a number of the flower stalks of the maguey are laid, and upon them a quantity of old ropes and the fibrous parts of leaves are strewed, to preserve the stalks and the principal ropes. A net-work, instead of railings, is placed on each side, to prevent the passengers from falling into the river. Although the whole construction appears so flimsy, the breadth being only five feet, I have seen droves of laden mules, as well as horned cattle, cross it; and I have repeatedly done so myself, on horseback, after I had reconciled myself to its tremulous motion.
These swing bridges, which are common in South America, are called puentes de maroma, or de amaca; and by the indians, cimpachaca, bridge of ropes, or rather, of tresses—as cimpa signifies a platted tress. Some persons, however, call them huascachaca, huasca being more properly a twisted rope; but I apprehend that they were originally made from platted ropes, in which the insertion of leaves is more easy.
Bridges of this description were general in Peru before the conquest, and they are unquestionably the best calculated for a mountainous country, where some of the ravines requiring them are very steep, and the currents impetuous. Bridges were likewise formed by the indians by laying large beams across stone piers; but these were not so common nor so appropriate as the rope bridges. The largest of them was over the river Apurimac, which runs between Lima and Cusco, and is crossed by travellers who frequent this road to and from the ancient and modern capitals of Peru. The bridge was two hundred and forty feet long, and nine feet broad; the ends of the principal ropes were fastened on one side the river to rings of stone, cut in the solid rock: one of these was broken in 1819, when the stream rose so high that it caught the bridge, and dragged it away.
Two leagues to the northward of Barranca is the neat village of Pativilca, without any indian population: it was formerly a country covered with wood, and a place of retreat for malefactors; but the Viceroy Castel-forte sent people to form a village, and ordered a church to be built, offering an indult to all persons who should leave the bush, and build themselves houses in the town. By this wise policy he accomplished his end—reclaiming many outcasts, and rendering the road secure to travellers.
While residing at Barranca I had an excellent opportunity of judging of the condition of the slaves on the plantations; and I shall here give a brief account of one of the best regulated that I visited, which was Huaito, the property of Doña Josefa Salasar de Monteblanco.
This plantation is principally dedicated to the cultivation of cane and the elaboration of sugar; but a part is destined to ordinary agricultural pursuits, such as the growth of maize, beans, camotes, pumpkins, &c., beside some pasture land for cattle. The number of slaves employed on it, including all descriptions, is six hundred and seventy-two; and the weight of sugar produced annually, according to the statement given to me by Don Manuel Sotil, who superintended the manufactory, is as follows:—
| Loaves of clayed Sugar 9555, each weighing | } | ||
| on an average 50 lbs. at 10 dollars per | } 47770 | dollars. | |
| quintal | } | ||
| Chancaca, or coarse brown Sugar in cakes | 6000 | ||
| Coarse Sugar made from the refuse | 1500 | ||
| Molasses sold on the estate | 600 | ||
| —— | |||
| Value of produce of Sugar | 55870 | ||
| —— | |||
| Expences:— | Clothing of slaves at 10 dollars each | 3720 | |
| Chaplain | 200 | ||
| Surgeon | 300 | ||
| Overseer | 500 | ||
| Sugar boiler | 800 | ||
| Premium to Slaves | 600 | ||
| Drugs | 200 | ||
| —— | |||
| 6320 | |||
| —— | |||
The result of this statement is, that after defraying all the expences of the cultivation of the cane, and the elaboration of the sugar, the profit amounted to 49550 dollars.