The inhabitants of Conchucos are said to be less civilized than those of the neighbouring districts; there is some reason for this assertion; they are indeed more uncouth and less kind in their manners. There appears to be a certain degree of licentious independence in their behaviour, and more robberies and murders are committed here than in any other part of South America: however, a stranger is generally treated with respect. When at Corongos, which is certainly the most disagreeable town I ever entered, I went to purchase some snuff—the shopman was asleep, and I awoke him, at which he became so enraged, that he jumped from his chair and struck at me; I ran into the street, and the man followed me, swearing most lustily, and threatening to strike me; but a person who was passing stepped in between us, pushed back the shopman, and clapping his breast with his hand, he said, with me, with me, that gentleman is a stranger, con migo, con migo, el señor es forastero. Finding myself thus unexpectedly relieved, I left my champion to settle matters as well as he could, and hastened to the house of the parish priest, cura, where I, as usual, had taken up my temporary residence. In a few minutes my friend, though entirely unknown to me, made his appearance, and inquired what quantity of snuff I wanted; on being informed, he immediately went to fetch it, and would not admit of any return for his kindness and trouble, except my thanks.
During my stay at Corongos, the cura related to me several anecdotes concerning his parishioners, one of which was the following. The titular saint of the town is Saint Peter, and on the day of his festival an image of a natural size is carried in procession through the principal streets; when, on his return to the church, he arrives at the corner of the plasa, the inhabitants of the upper and lower part of the town place themselves in two rows, having large heaps of stones at their feet, and not unfrequently the boys and women stand behind them with a supply in baskets. The carriers of the image rest here for a few minutes, and then run towards the church in a sort of gallopping procession; but the moment that the saint enters the plasa, he is assailed by volleys of stones from each side, and pursued to the church door. If the saint enter the church with his head on his shoulders, it augurs a bad year, failure of the harvest, death of cattle, and other calamities; but if the contrary happen, which is generally the case, the augury is quite changed; and if the fishes be knocked out of his hand likewise, every good thing is expected in abundance during the year. After the decapitation, a scuffle ensues for the possession of the head, between the inhabitants of the two barrios, or wards of the town, in which many bones are broken, and generally two or three lives are lost. The victors carry off the head in triumph, and, like that of a malefactor, place it on the top of a high pole, and pretend that it averts all damage that might be done to them by lightning, while the other half of the town, they say, receives no benefit. The cura told me that his predecessor had endeavoured to do away with this irreligious practice, and wrote to a friend at Lima, to charge the sculptor not to finish the new head for Saint Peter, hoping that if one year passed without such impiety, the practice would be relinquished; but, to his great surprise, on the 30th of June, the indians informed him, that the procession would take place in the evening, for which purpose they had dressed an image of the Virgin Mary in the garments of Saint Peter, and that she looked very much like the saint, but rather younger, as she had no beard. The procession took place; but, to the disappointment of the inhabitants, the female apostle entered the church with her head on her shoulders, and from that time she was called Our Lady of the Miracle.
In the year 1817, two Englishmen, sent from Pasco by Mr. Trevethick, who afterwards followed with the intention of working some of the silver mines in Conchucos, were murdered by their guides at a place called Palo seco. This horrid act was perpetrated by crushing their heads with two large stones, as they lay asleep on the ground; the murderers were men who had come with them from Pasco.
It is a well known fact, that many young Conchucanos go to Lima, and enlist in the army, for the purpose of obtaining possession of a musket, and then desert with it on the first opportunity that offers; indeed there is scarcely a white family in the province that is not possessed of one or more of these muskets.
I have observed, that those persons who are employed in the mines in South America are generally the most vile characters; they become inured to every kind of vice, and as they form a kind of body, or rather banditti, they almost defy the arm of justice, and deny the power of the law. This may in some measure account for the character of the Conchucanos; many mines were formerly wrought by them, but since the discovery of Pasco and Gualgayoc, which produced more ore, and of a very superior quality, the miners of Conchucos have resorted to them, abandoning their own less profitable ones; but they have, unfortunately, left the seeds of their evil actions behind them, and their example is too frequently followed.
The province of Conchucos might be one of the most agreeable in Peru, if the inhabitants were but more kind to each other, and more happy among themselves. The various climates, assisted by the various localities of the soil, would produce all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life; for in the small compass of fifty leagues, a traveller experiences the almost unbearable heat of the torrid zone, the mild climates of the temperate, and the freezing cold of the polar regions.
To the eastward of Conchucos lies the district of Huamalies: it is a very extensive valley, generally very narrow at the bottom, where a river runs, which takes its origin at the lake of Lauricocha, in the province of Tarma, and is called the Marañon, as it is considered the stream most distant from the mouth of the great river Marañon, or Amazons. The temperature of this province is very irregular; to the south it is cold, as well as on each side, according to the local height of the different places, but to the northward, particularly in the parish of Huacaibamba, it is extremely hot during the whole year; and the people are here of a much darker colour, and are often called zambos.
Huamalies produces wheat, barley, maize, and the different vegetables, fruits, and pulse of the neighbouring provinces. Near to Huacaibamba some coca is cultivated. This is a small tree, with pale bright green leaves, somewhat resembling in shape those of the orange tree. The leaves are picked from the trees, three or four times a year, and carefully dried in the shade; they are then packed in small baskets. The natives, in several parts of Peru, chew these leaves, particularly in the mining districts, when at work in the mines or travelling; and such is the sustenance that they derive from them, that they frequently take no food for four or five days, although they are constantly working; I have often been assured by them, that whilst they have a good supply of coca they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor fatigue, and that, without impairing their health, they can remain eight or ten days and nights without sleep. The leaves are almost insipid; but when a small quantity of lime is mixed with them they have a very agreeable sweet taste. The natives put a few of the leaves in their mouths, and when they become moist, they add a little lime or ashes of the molle to them, by means of a small stick, taking care not to touch the lips or the teeth; when the taste of the coca diminishes, a small quantity of lime or ashes is added, until the taste disappears, and then the leaves are replaced with fresh ones. They generally carry with them a small leather pouch containing coca, and a small calabash holding lime or ashes; and one of these men will undertake to convey letters to Lima, a distance of upwards of a hundred leagues, without any other provision. On such occasions they are called chasquis, or chasqueros, and this epithet is also given to the different conductors of the mails. The Incas had men stationed on all the principal roads for the transmission of any article belonging to the Inca, who, according to the quality of the road, had to carry it to different distances, some one league, others two, and others three. These men were continually employed, and when one of them arrived, he delivered to the one in waiting whatever he was charged with, and gave him the watchword, chasqui; this man ran immediately to the next post, delivered his charge, and repeated chasqui; and then remained to rest until the arrival of another. By these means the court of the Incas was supplied with fresh fish from the sea near Pachacamac, probably from the bay of Chilca, where a village of indians employ themselves at present in fishing: it is the place to which Pizarro was directed by the indians when in search of a good harbour, before that of Callao was discovered. The distance from this part of the coast to Cusco is more than a hundred leagues, yet so vigilant and active were the indians, that Garcilaco affirms, that the fish often arrived at Cusco alive. The communication between the most distant parts of the empire and the capital was maintained, and it is asserted, that by the chasqui news could be conveyed from Quito to Cusco, a distance of six hundred leagues, in six days; while in their route they had to cross several parts of the Cordillera, and many rapid rivers. This, I think, proves a policy in the ancient government of Peru, which does not well accord with the epithet of barbarians.
Large quantities of bark are brought from the woods to the eastward of Huamalies, and is known by the name of the Arancay bark. It is considered equal in quality with that called Calisaya, from the woods to the eastward of La Pas. It is much to be lamented, that the destruction of this invaluable vegetable is making great progress, wherever it has been found; the indians discover from the eminences where a cluster of the trees grow in the woods, for they are easily discernible by the rose-coloured tinge of their leaves, which appear at a distance like bunches of flowers amid the deep green foliage of other trees. They then hunt for the spot, and having found it out, cut down all the trees, and take the bark from the branches. If the roots sprout again, as they generally do, no trees of any large size grow up, for they are either smothered by the lofty trees which surround them, or else they are choaked by other young trees, which spring up near to them, and are of quicker growth. If the government of America do not attend to the preservation of the quina, either by prohibiting the felling of the trees, or obliging the territorial magistrates to enforce the cutters to guard them from destruction, before a sufficient population will allow of those tracts of woodland becoming personal property, this highly esteemed production of the new world will be swept from the country. After the indians have stripped off the bark, they carry it in bundles out of the wood for the purpose of drying it.