Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests

by Johann Jakob von Tschudi

In the middle of the Plaza is a magnificent bronze fountain with three basins. From the middle basin rises a pillar, surmounted by a figure of Fame spouting the water from her trumpet. In the other two basins the water is ejected from the mouths of four lions. The pillar and figures for this triple fountain were cast in the year 1650, by the able artist Antonio Rivas, by order of the then reigning viceroy, Count de Salvatierra. Besides this principal fountain, there are several smaller ones, from which the public are permitted to supply themselves with water.

The second large public square in Lima is the Plaza de la Inquisicion, which, since the war of independence, has received the name of the Square of Independence (Plazuela de la Independencia). It is of trapezi-form, widening in the eastern part, and is certainly no ornament to the town, for it is always in a very dirty condition. Being the public market-place, it presents a very busy aspect during the fore part of the day. Two buildings on this Plazuela attract attention, viz.—the Palace of the Inquisition and the University. There are now but few remaining traces of the internal arrangements of the fearful tribunal; for, on the suppression of the Inquisition by the Cortes, the enraged populace forced their way into the building, where they gutted the rooms, and destroyed the furniture. Lima was the seat of spiritual jurisdiction for the whole western coast of South America; and the rigor of its despotism was not far short of that of the Inquisition of Madrid. Every year vast numbers of persons convicted or suspected of crimes were brought from all the intervening points between Chiloe and Columbia to the Tribunal of the Inquisition, and most of them were doomed to the most dreadful punishments. Autos da fe were frequently held in Lima, and cases of other kinds of martyrdom were exceedingly numerous. The lists, which have been only partially preserved, present melancholy results. One part of the Palace of the Inquisition is now converted into a store-house for provisions, and the other part is used as a prison.

The University of Lima was once the most important seat of education in South America. It owes its origin to a decree of the emperor Charles V., issued at the solicitation of the dominican monk Maestro Fray Tomas de San Martin. The decree was dated the 12th of May, 1551, but it did not reach Lima until two years after that time. A papal bull of Pius V. confirmed the imperial decree, and conferred on the institution the same privileges as those enjoyed by the Spanish university of Salamanca. The Lima university was originally established in the convent of Santo Domingo, but after the lapse of three years it was removed to the building now occupied by San Marcel, and in 1576 it was installed in the site it now occupies. It received the name of Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Marcos. In the year 1572 the first lay rector was elected in the person of Gaspar Menendez, a doctor of medicine.

The building is situated on the east side of the Plaza de la Independencia, next to the hospital of la Caridad. The façade is not handsome, but is remarkable for a style not belonging to the age in which it was erected. The building is entered by a lofty door, opening into a spacious quadrangular court, along the four sides of which there are pillared corridors. On the walls of these corridors the different branches of science are allegorically represented in fresco paintings, and beneath these paintings are inscribed quotations from ancient classic authors. The lecture rooms open into the corridors which run round the court. Facing the entrance door, in the left angle of the court, are great double doors opening into the Aula, which is spacious, and has rather an imposing aspect. In the middle of the wall, on the right-hand side, stands the rector's chair in a sort of niche, surmounted by a canopy. On either side of this chair are ranged the seats of the professors, and the members of faculties. Opposite to the rector's seat, on the left-hand side of the Aula, is an elevated chair occupied by the president, when academic prizes are distributed. Below it is an arm-chair for the candidate. On each side of the president's seat are several rows of benches, for the members of the university and visitors. Over the entrance door there is a gallery to which the public are admitted, and which, on the occasions when prizes are distributed, is usually occupied by ladies. On the walls of the Aula are hung portraits of celebrated learned men.

The National Library, situated near the convent of San Pedro, was founded by a decree, dated the 28th of August, 1821. The books belonging to the university of San Marcos formed the nucleus of the National Library. To them were added the libraries of several of the monasteries, some sequestrated works, and the collections of a few private individuals. Of these latter, the most considerable was the collection of General San Martin, and a library of 7772 volumes bequeathed, together with a legacy of a thousand dollars, by Don Miguel de la Fuente y Pacheco. In November, 1841, the National Library of Peru contained 26,344 printed volumes, 432 manuscripts, and a small collection of maps and copperplate engravings. It is particularly rich in old works on religious and historical subjects. The books relating to the Conquest, and to the early period of the Spanish dominion, form in themselves a complete historical series. Of modern works there are but few. The pecuniary support of the establishment is very inconsiderable. The government exacts from it the import duty, three per cent., on European books, making an average annual sum of 400 dollars. In addition to this the salaries of the librarians amount annually to 2794 dollars. The library is open to the public every day (Friday and Sunday excepted) from eight in the morning till one in the afternoon, and from four in the afternoon till six in the evening.

In the left wing of the same building is the museum, containing a collection of objects of natural history, antiquities, and other curiosities. This collection was first formed in the year 1826, in some of the spare rooms of the palace of the Inquisition, and was afterwards removed from one place to another, until at length the government allotted to the purpose the two fine apartments in the building above mentioned. As yet the establishment is quite in its infancy. It contains nothing of scientific value, and but for the series of historical portraits already described, it would differ but little from the collections of curiosities frequently formed by amateurs, in which all sorts of heterogeneous objects are jumbled together. The museum of Lima bids fair to remain for some time to come on the footing on which it was when I saw it, for the establishment has no funds, save a monthly allowance of thirty-two dollars, and out of that scanty pittance the expense of fitting up the rooms, the glass cases, &c., has yet to be defrayed. The museum is open to the public four days in the week.

Two other apartments in the same building are set aside for the Academy of Design (Academia de Debujo). On three evenings every week pupils are admitted to this academy to receive gratuitous instruction in drawing. The number of the pupils amounts to between 80 and 100; but there is convenient room for 200. The collection of models and drawing copies for the use of the students is but indifferent.

The mint is situated in the vicinity of the Plazuela de la Independencia. It was founded in Lima in the year 1565; in 1572 transferred to Potosi, and in 1683 removed back to Lima. For the space of seventy years this establishment was in the hands of private individuals; but in the year 1753 the Spanish government took the management of it, and erected the building in which it is still located. It is a large and handsome structure, but very defective in its internal arrangement. Until the year 1817 the machinery for casting was worked by mules, ninety-two of those animals being employed daily. Subsequently, under the direction of an Englishman, water-power was introduced, by which expense was diminished and time saved. A few years ago a French merchant made an arrangement with the government for the use of a complex machine, which he proposed to bring from Europe. The machine arrived, but by an unlucky fatality it proved perfectly useless. For the space of four years repeated attempts were made to work it, but in vain; it fulfilled none of the required conditions. Its faults are manifold, and it reflects but little credit on the person by whom it was contrived. It has cost no less than 250,000 dollars, and has never been of the least use.

In the mint of Lima there are annually cast from two to two and a half millions of dollars, which yield a profit of from 140,000 to 180,000 dollars, out of which are paid the salaries of the persons employed. Under the Spanish government these salaries amounted annually to 48,906 dollars; now they make, together with other customary outlays, the sum of 85,105 dollars.

The value of a mark of silver in the mint is 8 dollars 4 reales; that of a mark of gold is 144 dollars 4 reales. The standard worth of the gold is 21 carats; that of the silver 20 grains.