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

by Johann Jakob von Tschudi

At the entrance to the port of Huacho the breakers are so dangerous that an ordinary-sized boat cannot put in. Landing is therefore effected in the small canoes of the Indians. When we approached the shore we made signals, and called loudly for canoes, but in vain. The dismayed Huachanos showed no inclination to assist their supposed enemies. Our captain, who was with us in the boat, said, that as a fresh wind from the shore was springing up he could wait no longer, and that he must take us with him to Panama. This very unpleasant piece of information prompted us to put into execution a plan which was suggested by despair. The tall, lank pastor, wrapped in the black ecclesiastical robe, called the talar, was placed at the prow, where he stood up, making signs of peace and friendship to the natives. This had the desired effect. The port captain had a good glass, with which he quickly recognized the marked features of the Cura, and several Indian boats were instantly despatched to convey us on shore. These Indian canoes consist of long narrow stumps of trees, hollowed longitudinally. On either side is nailed a palo de balzas, viz., a beam of a very porous kind of wood. One Indian sits forward, another more backward, each having a short wooden shovel-shaped oar, with which they strike the water right and left, and thus scull the boat onward. The passengers must crouch or kneel down in the middle, and dare not stir, for the least irregularity in the motion would upset the boat. We landed safely, and amused ourselves by referring to the mistake of the brave guardians of the coast. Horses were provided for us, and we rode to the town, which is situated at about half a league up the gently-rising coast.

My principal occupation, during a six weeks' residence on this part of the coast, which is very rich in fishes, was to augment my ichthyological collection, and to make myself well acquainted with the environs of Huacho. Every morning, at five o'clock, I rode down to the shore, and waited on the strand to see the boats returning with what had been caught, during the night, by the fishers, who readily descried me at a distance, and held up, in their boat, such strange inhabitants of the deep as had come into their possession. I succeeded in making out, from several hundred individual specimens, one hundred and twenty distinct species of sea and river fish. But an unlucky fate hovered over this fine collection. The fishes were all put into a cask with brandy, which, by neglect of the commissary of the port, was left on the Mole at Callao, for several months, in the burning heat of the sun: in consequence its contents were utterly destroyed. A second collection was prepared, and immediately shipped for Europe, and in the packing the greatest care was observed. Nevertheless it arrived, after a voyage of fifteen months, in a state quite useless. Thus the fruits of much labor and a considerable expense were entirely lost.

Huacho is a little village, which, since the war of Independence, has received the title of "city." It has more than 5000 inhabitants, of whom four-fifths are Indians and the rest mestizes. Very few whites have settled here. Among them I met an old lame Spaniard, "Don Simon," who, at the beginning of the present century, accompanied the celebrated Alexander von Humboldt to the beds of salt situated a few miles to the south. In relating, with enthusiastic pleasure, his recollections of the youthful and indefatigable traveller, he told me that, some years ago, he had read through the book which Humboldt wrote on America, and he added, with great simplicity, "pero, Señor, ahi he perdido los estribos."[43]

The natives employ themselves in fishing, agriculture, and the breeding of poultry. Most of the poultry brought to market in Lima comes from Huacho. Every Friday large caravan-like processions of Indian women repair to the capital with fowls, ducks, and turkeys. Fifteen or twenty are tied together by the feet, and make a sort of bunch; and two of such bunches are hung at the pommel of the saddle, so that one hangs down on either side of the horse. The chola[44] sits in the middle. Under this burthen the poor animal has to travel two days and a half. Only when the caravan halts does he enjoy the relief of being unsaddled and fed. Some of the Indians of Huacho work in the salt-pits. The women plait coarse straw hats, and a kind of mats called petates, which they carry to Lima for sale.

The Huachanos cannot be ranked among the best classes of the Indians. They are malicious, revengeful, and knavish. Their character has evidently deteriorated amidst the numerous revolutions which preceded the establishment of the Republic, and the frequent passage of troops through the town. The Padre Requena sketched to me a terrible picture of his Indios brutos; but truly, under the guidance of such a shepherd, it were unreasonable to expect the flock to be very good. This venerable Cura was a fair type of the Peruvian priesthood. He was passionately fond of hunting, and for the enjoyment of that recreation he kept a number of excellent horses, and several packs of hounds, particularly galgos (greyhounds), for some of which he paid 150 or 200 dollars. In the most shameless way he violated the ecclesiastical vow of celibacy, and he was usually surrounded by several of his own children, who called him uncle, addressing him by the appellation of tio, the term usually employed in Peru to express that sort of relationship. The Padre used to boast of his alleged friendship with Lord Cochrane, in which he affected to pride himself very greatly. He died in a few weeks after his return to Huacho. He refused so long to make his confession, that the Indians, uttering furious menaces, assembled in crowds about his house. Some even compelled a priest to go in to him, to represent the awful consequences of his obstinacy. On the approach of death, he declared that the thought which most occupied him was his separation from his hounds, and when his hands were becoming cold he called to his negro to fetch a pair of buckskin hunting gloves, and desired to have them drawn on.

In Peru the clergy have no fixed stipend. Their emoluments are derived from the fees and perquisites which their ecclesiastical functions bring in. For baptisms, marriages, and masses, fixed sums are established; but it is not so with burials, for which the priest receives a present proportional to the circumstances of the deceased. The interment of a poor person (entierro baxo) costs at least from eight to ten dollars, which sum is extorted from the survivors with the most unrelenting rigor. For the burial of a rich person (entierro alto) the sum of two hundred dollars is frequently paid. If a wealthy man should express in his will his desire for an entierro baxo, the priest sets this clause aside, and proceeds with the costly ceremonies, the payment for which is insured by the pious feelings of the family. Hence some of the richer comunerias, of which Huacho is one, yield to the priest annually from 12,000 to 14,000 dollars. When a priest dies, the clergy of the neighboring villages meet and bury him with great pomp, free of any payment except a good banquet.

A rich Indian of Huacho made a bargain with his countrymen that, on their paying him weekly a medio (the sixteenth part of a dollar), he would defray the expenses of their funerals. By this agreement he realized a considerable sum of money. The Cholos made it a condition that they should be buried in coffins, which is not common with the lower classes in Peru. The Indian complied with this condition. When a Cholo died, a coffin was sent to his residence. If too short, the corpse was bent and forced into it. The interment then took place according to the ritual of the Church. On the following night the Indian who had contracted for the burials repaired with a confidential servant to the churchyard, dug up the coffin, threw the body back into the grave, and carried off the coffin, with the mortaja (the funeral garment), which served for the next customer. The contractor made each coffin last as long as the boards would hold together. This system, at all events, secured the Cholos against the danger of being buried alive.

The churchyard of Huacho presents a revolting spectacle. A low wall surrounds a space of sandy ground, which is strewed with skulls, bones, fragments of burial clothes, and mutilated human bodies. The coffin plunderer, on replacing the corpse in the grave, merely throws some loose sand over it, and the consequence is that the remains of the dead frequently become the prey of dogs, foxes, and other carrion feeders. When the family of a deceased person can contribute nothing to defray the funeral expenses, the body is conveyed privately during the night to the churchyard. In the morning it is found half consumed.

The environs of Huacho abound in fine fruit gardens, and productive Indian farms. The climate is healthful, though very hot. The vicinity of the sea and the convenience of good bathing would render it an agreeable place of residence, were it not infested with vermin. Fleas propagate in the sand in almost incredible multitudes, especially in the neighborhood of the Indian huts, and any person entering them is in a moment covered with hundreds of those tormentors. Bugs, too, swarm in the lime walls; though that description of vermin is less numerous in Huacho than in some of the more northern towns.

In a fine valley, about two short leagues from Huacho, the little town of Huaura is situated on the bank of a river of the same name. This Rio de Huaura is formed by the union of two rivers. The larger of the two rises in the Cordillera de Paria, and flows through the wild ravine of Chuichin: the smaller river, called the Rio Chico de Sayan, rises from a lake of considerable size in the Altos de Huaquimarci. Both unite below the village of Sayan. In the vicinity of Huaura the river forms several marshes, in which malaria is generated. In very few places have I seen the stratum of malaria so distinctly separated from the atmosphere as here. It lies at an average about two, or two and a half feet above the marsh, and is carried over it by strong atmospheric currents. It is distinguished by a peculiar kind of opalization, and on certain changes of light it exhibits a yellowish tint. This is particularly perceptible in the morning, on coming down from the high grounds. The marshy plain then appears overhung with a thick color-changing sheet of malaria. Malignant intermittent fever and diseases of the skin are frequent in Huaura. The town is thinly peopled; the number of inhabitants being not more than 2000.