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

by Johann Jakob von Tschudi

There is no want of promenades in the vicinity of the city. Leading from the Callao gate is the fine long avenue of trees I have already mentioned. In the suburb of San Lazaro there is a fine broad promenade planted with trees, called the alameda vieja, at the end of which is situated the Convent of the Descalzos. Along the bank of the Rimac there is a new promenade planted with four rows of trees, called the alameda nueva. Behind it the Paseo militar, with two rows of trees, extending as far as Piedra lisa, on the road to the pleasant village of Lurigancho. On the right of these promenades is the river, on the left the pyramidal hill, of the Cerro de San Cristoval. At the extremity of the Alameda nueva are the Puquio.[32] These baths are within a long low-roofed building, covered on the top with straw mats.

On summer evenings the bridge and the Plaza Mayor are visited by throngs of promenaders who there enjoy the refreshing breeze, which, after sunset, is wafted from the Cordilleras, along the surface of the Rimac. After the hour of the Oraciones (evening prayers), the bridge is crowded with gentlemen, who walk up and down whilst the ladies sit in the rotundas built above each of the piers. Long rows of promenaders are seen moving to and fro, either going to the Alamedas, or returning from thence to the Plaza, to obtain refreshments. Before the Portal de los Escribanos, on the Plaza Mayor, tables are laid out with lemonade, almond milk and ices. The promenaders sit down on benches, which are placed round these tables, and partake of refreshments, none of which, however, are so delicious as the cool breeze after the sultry heat of the day.

To the inhabitants of Lima, ice is one of the necessaries of life: it is considered so indispensable, that a scarcity of it, during several days, would be sufficient to excite popular ferment. In all revolutions, therefore, the leaders carefully avoid calling into requisition the service of the mules employed in the transport of ice. It is obtained in the Cordilleras, at the distance of about twenty-eight leagues from Lima. The Indians who ascend the glaciers break the ice into blocks of about six arobas in weight, which are lowered by ropes down the declivity of the mountain. The women and children then cover the blocks of ice with Ichu grass (Joara ichu, R. P.), after which they are drawn by another party of Indians to a depôt, about two leagues distant, where they are packed on the backs of mules. Each mule carries two blocks. Thirty mules form what is called a Recua, which daily proceeds from the ice depôt to Lima. At intervals of two or three miles there are stations where relays of mules are in readiness. The operations of unloading and reloading are performed with the utmost possible speed, and the mules are driven at a brisk trot, wherever the roads will admit of it. In the space of eighteen or twenty hours, the ice reaches Lima, and as may be expected, considerably reduced in weight by melting. The average loss on two blocks of ice is about one hundred pounds.[33] The daily consumption of ice in Lima is between fifty and fifty-five cwt. About two-thirds of that quantity is used for preparing ices, most of which are made of milk or pine-apple juice. Ice is hawked about the streets of Lima for sale, and all day long Indians, carrying pails on their heads, perambulate the streets, crying helado.

The ladies of Lima, when they make visits, seldom go on foot. They generally ride in the caleza, a very ugly kind of vehicle, being nothing more than a square box raised on two high wheels, and drawn by a mule, on whose back a negro in livery is mounted. Many of the older calezas, instead of being painted on the outside, are covered with variegated paper. The calezin is a prettier kind of carriage, and is drawn by two horses or mules. Taste in the article of carriages is, however, improving in Lima, and several very elegant ones have been recently introduced.

Within the last few years a regular line of omnibuses has been established between Callao and Lima. From each of those cities an omnibus starts daily, at eight in the morning and at four in the afternoon, and the journey occupies an hour and a half. To Miraflores, Chorillos, Lurin, and other places on the coast, the conveyance is by a balanzin, a sort of caleza, drawn by three horses harnessed abreast. This balanzin is one of the most awkward vehicles ever invented, and the slightest shock it sustains is felt with double force by the persons riding in it. At greater distances from the capital, the want of proper roads renders the employment of vehicles a matter of difficulty. Even along the coast to the south of Lima, a journey of about forty leagues cannot be accomplished without vast difficulty and expense. On such a journey it is usual for a train of sixty or eighty horses to accompany the carriage; and it is found necessary to change the horses every half-hour, owing to the difficulty of drawing the carriage through the fine quicksand, which is often more than a foot deep. A Peruvian planter, who was accustomed to take his wife every year on a visit to his plantation, situated about thirty-two leagues from Lima, assured me that the journey to and fro always cost him 1400 dollars.

During the brilliant period of the Spanish domination, incredible sums were frequently expended on carriages and mules. Not unfrequently the tires of the caleza wheels and the shoes of the mules were of silver instead of iron.

In Peru, riding is a universal custom, and almost every person keeps one or more horses. The ladies of Lima are distinguished as graceful horsewomen. Their equestrian costume consists of a white riding-habit, trowsers richly trimmed with lace, a fine white poncho, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. Some of the females of the colored races make use of men's saddles, and display great skill in the management of the most unruly horses.

The horse-trappings used in Peru are often very costly. On the coast and in the interior, I have sometimes seen head-gear, bridle, and crupper, composed of finely-wrought silver rings, linked one into another. The saddle is frequently ornamented with rich gold embroidery, and the holster inlaid with gold. The stirrups are usually the richest portion of the trappings. They are made of carved wood, and are of pyramidal shape; about a foot high and a foot broad at the base. In front and at the sides they are close, and are open only at the back in the part where the foot rests. The edges are rimmed with silver, and the top of the stirrup is surmounted by a bell of the same metal, with a ring through which the straps are passed. A priest with whom I was acquainted in the Sierra, got a saddle and a pair of stirrups made for me. The silver ornaments on the stirrups alone weighed forty pounds. The decorations of the saddle were of corresponding richness. The value of the silver on both saddle and stirrups was about 1500 dollars. The spurs used in Peru are of colossal magnitude. Old custom ordains that they must contain three marks (a pound and a half) of silver. The stirrup-bow is broad and richly wrought; the ornaments being either of the pattern called hueso de tollo,[34] or of that styled hoja de laurel con semilla.[35] The rowel is one and a half or two inches in diameter, and the points are about twenty-five or thirty inches long.

In the bridle, the bit and the snaffle are in one piece, and the reins are brought together by being passed through a ring, to which the long riding-whip is also fastened. The head-band and reins are commonly composed of narrow slips of untanned calf or sheep-skin, plaited together, and ornamented with silver buckles. The saddle is short and narrow, and exceedingly awkward to riders unaccustomed to it. The front bolster is four or five inches high, and inclines backward; the hind one is lower, and is curved forward in the form of a half-moon; the intervening space just affording sufficient room for the thighs of the rider, who, in a saddle of this construction, is so firmly fixed that he cannot possibly fall. These saddles have, however, one great disadvantage, viz., that if the horse starts off at a gallop, and the rider has not time to throw himself back in his seat, he is forced against the front saddle-bolster with such violence that some fatal injury is usually the consequence. Under the saddle is laid a horse-cloth, called the pellon, about a yard long, and a yard and a half wide. The common sort of pellones are composed of two rough sheep-skins, sewed together. In the finer kind, the raw wool is combed out, and divided into numberless little twists, of about the length of one's finger; so that the pellon resembles the skin of some long-haired animal. The finest Peruvian pellones are made of a mixture of sheep's wool and goat's hair. Between the saddle and the pellon are fastened the saddle-bags (alforjas), which, on long journeys, are filled with provisions and other necessaries. These bags are made either of leather or strong woollen cloth; finally, the trappings of a Peruvian horse are not complete without the halter (haquima), which is ornamented in the same manner as the bridle. The halter-strap (cabresto) is wound round the front bolster of the saddle, and by it the horse may be fastened whenever the rider alights, without the use of the reins for that purpose. At first a foreigner is apt to regard the equipments of a Peruvian horse as superfluous and burthensome; but he is soon convinced of their utility, and, when the eye becomes familiar to them, they have a pleasing effect.

The pure-bred Peruvian horse is more elegantly formed than his Andalusian progenitor. He is of middling size, seldom exceeding fourteen hands high. He has a strong expanded chest, slender legs, thin pasterns, a short muscular neck, a rather large head, small pointed ears, and a fiery eye. He is spirited, docile, and enduring. It is only in a few plantations that the purity of the race is preserved, and the animals fostered with due care. The common horse is higher, leaner, less broad on the chest, and with the crupper thinner and more depressed. He is, however, not less fiery and capable of endurance than the horse of pure breed. The most inferior horses are ill-looking, small, and rough-skinned.