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

by Johann Jakob von Tschudi

Don Jose Salcedo, a poor Spaniard, who dwelt in Puno, was in love with a young Indian girl, whose mother promised, on condition of his marrying her daughter, that she would show him a rich silver mine. Salcedo fulfilled the condition, obtained possession of the mine, and worked it with the greatest success. The report of his wealth soon roused the envy of the Count de Lemos, then viceroy of Peru, who sought to possess himself of the mine. By his generosity and benevolence Salcedo had become a great favorite with the Indian population, and the viceroy took advantage of this circumstance to accuse him of high treason, on the ground that he was exciting the Indians against the Spanish government. Salcedo was arrested, tried, and condemned to death. Whilst he was in prison, he begged to be permitted to send to Madrid the documents relating to his trial, and to appeal to the mercy of the king. He proposed, if the viceroy would grant his request, that he would pay him the daily tribute of a bar of silver, from the time when the ship left the port of Callao with the documents, until the day of her return. When it is recollected that at that period the voyage from Callao to Spain occupied from twelve to sixteen months, some idea may be formed of the enormous wealth of Salcedo and his mine. The viceroy rejected this proposition, ordered Salcedo to be hanged, and set out for Puno to take possession of the mine.[73]

But this cruel and unjust proceeding failed in the attainment of its object. As soon as Salcedo's death-doom was pronounced, his mother-in-law, accompanied by a number of relations and friends, repaired to the mine, flooded it with water, destroyed the works, and closed up the entrance so effectually that it was impossible to trace it out. They then dispersed; but some of them, who were afterwards captured, could not be induced, either by promises or tortures, to reveal the position of the mouth of the mine, which to this day remains undiscovered. All that is known about it is that it was situated in the neighborhood of Cerro de Laycacota and Cananchari.

Another extraordinary example of the productiveness of the Peruvian mines, is found at San Jose, in the department of Huancavelica. The owner of the mines of San Jose requested the viceroy Castro, whose friend he was, to become godfather to his first child. The viceroy consented, but at the time fixed for the christening, some important affair of state prevented him from quitting the capital, and he sent the vice-queen to officiate as his proxy. To render honor to his illustrious guest, the owner of the San Jose mines laid down a triple row of silver bars along the whole way (and it was no very short distance), from his house to church. Over this silver pavement the vice-queen accompanied the infant to the church, where it was baptized. On her return, her munificent host presented to her the whole of the silver road, in token of his gratitude for the honor she had conferred on him. Since that time, the mines and the province in which they are situated have borne the name of Castrovireyna. In most of these mines the works have been discontinued. Owing to defective arrangements, one of the richest of these mines fell in, and 122 workmen were buried in the ruins. Since that catastrophe, the Indians refuse to enter the mines. Many stories are related of spirits and apparitions said to haunt the mines of Castrovireyna. I was surprised to hear these tales, for the imagination of the Indian miners is not very fertile in the creation of this sort of superstitious terrors.

Notwithstanding the enormous amount of wealth, which the mines of Peru have already yielded, and still continue to yield, only a very small portion of the silver veins has been worked. It is a well-known fact, that the Indians are aware of the existence of many rich mines, the situation of which they will never disclose to the whites, nor to the detested mestizos. Heretofore mining has been to them all toil and little profit, and it has bound them in chains from which they will not easily emancipate themselves. For centuries past, the knowledge of some of the richest silver mines has been with inviolable secresy transmitted from father to son. All endeavors to prevail on them to divulge these secrets have hitherto been fruitless. In the village of Huancayo, there lived, a few years ago, two brothers, Don Jose and Don Pedro Yriarte, two of the most eminent mineros of Peru. Having obtained certain intelligence that in the neighboring mountains there existed some veins of pure silver, they sent a young man, their agent, to endeavor to gain further information on the subject. The agent took up his abode in the cottage of a shepherd, to whom, however, he gave not the slightest intimation of the object of his mission. After a little time, an attachment arose between the young man and the shepherd's daughter, and the girl promised to disclose to her lover the position of a very rich mine. On a certain day, when she was going out to tend her sheep, she told him to follow her at a distance, and to notice the spot where she would let fall her manta; by turning up the earth on that spot, she assured him he would find the mouth of a mine. The young man did as he was directed, and after digging for a little time, he discovered a mine of considerable depth, containing rich ore. Whilst busily engaged in breaking out the metal, he was joined by the girl's father, who expressed himself delighted at the discovery, and offered to assist him. After they had been at work for some hours, the old Indian handed to his companion a cup of chicha, which the young man thankfully accepted. But he had no sooner tasted the liquor than he felt ill, and he soon became convinced that poison had been mixed with the beverage. He snatched up the bag containing the metal he had collected, mounted his horse, and with the utmost speed galloped off to Huancayo. There, he related to Yriarte all that had occurred, described as accurately as he could the situation of the mine, and died on the following night. Active measures were immediately set on foot, to trace out the mine, but without effect. The Indian and all his family had disappeared, and the mine was never discovered.

In Huancayo there also dwelt a Franciscan monk. He was an inveterate gamester, and was involved in pecuniary embarrassments. The Indians in the neighborhood of his dwelling-place were much attached to him, and frequently sent him presents of poultry, cheese, butter, &c. One day, after he had been a loser at the gaming-table, he complained bitterly of his misfortunes to an Indian, who was his particular friend. After some deliberation, the Indian observed, that possibly he could render him some assistance; and, accordingly, on the following evening, he brought him a large bag full of rich silver ore. This present was several times repeated; but the monk, not satisfied, pressed the Indian to show him the mine from whence the treasure was drawn. The Indian consented, and on an appointed night he came, accompanied by two of his comrades, to the dwelling of the Franciscan. They blindfolded him, and each in turn carried him on his shoulders to a distance of several leagues, into the mountain passes. At length they set him down, and the bandage being removed from his eyes, he discovered that he was in a small and somewhat shallow shaft, and was surrounded by bright masses of silver. He was allowed to take as much as he could carry, and when laden with the rich prize, he was again blindfolded, and conveyed home in the same manner as he had been brought to the mine. Whilst the Indians were conducting him home, he hit on the following stratagem. He unfastened his rosary, and here and there dropped one of the beads, hoping by this means to be enabled to trace his way back on the following day; but in the course of a couple of hours his Indian friend again knocked at his door, and presenting to him a handful of beads, said, "Father, you dropped your rosary on the way, and I have picked it up."

When I was in Jauja, in the year 1841, an Indian whom I had previously known, from his having accompanied me on one of my journeys in the Sierra, came to me and asked me to lend him a crow-bar. I did so, and after a few days, when he returned it, I observed that the end was covered with silver. Some time afterwards I learned that this Indian had been imprisoned by order of the sub-prefect, because he had offered for sale some very rich silver ore, and on being questioned as to where he had obtained it, his answer was that he found it on the road; a tale, the truth of which was very naturally doubted. The following year, when I was again in Jauja, the Indian paid me another visit. He then informed me that he had been for several months confined in a dark dungeon and half-starved, because the sub-prefect wanted to compel him to reveal the situation of a mine which he knew of, but that he would not disclose the secret, and adhered firmly to the statement he had made of having found the ore. After a little further conversation, he became more communicative than I had any reason to expect, though he was fully convinced I would not betray him. He confessed to me that he actually knew of a large vein containing valuable silver, of which he showed me a specimen. He further told me that it was only when he was much in want of money that he had recourse to the mine, of which the shaft was not very deep; and, moreover, that after closing it up, he always carried the loose rubbish away to a distance of some miles, and then covered the opening so carefully with turf and cactus, that it was impossible for any one to discern it. This Indian dwelt in a miserable hut, about three leagues from Jauja, and his occupation was making wooden stirrups, which employment scarcely enabled him to earn a scanty subsistence. He assured me it was only when he was called upon to pay contributions, which the government exacts with merciless rigor, that he had recourse to the mine. He then extracted about half an aroba of ore, and sold it in Jauja, in order to pay the tax levied on him.

I could quote many well-authenticated instances of the same kind; but the above examples sufficiently prove the reluctance of the Indians to disclose the secret of their hidden treasures, and their indifference about obtaining wealth for themselves. It is true that the Indians are not, in all parts of the country, so resolutely reserved as they are in Huancayo and Jauja, for all the most important mines have been made known to the Spaniards by the natives. But the Peruvian Indians are composed of many different races, and though all were united by the Incas into one nation, yet they still differ from each other in manners and character. The sentiment of hatred towards the whites and their descendants has not been kept up in an equal degree among them all. In proportion as some are friendly and social with the Creoles, others are reserved and distrustful. In general, the Indians regard with unfriendly feelings those whites who seek to trace out new mines; for they cherish a bitter recollection of the fate of Huari Capcha, the discoverer of the mines of Cerro de Pasco, who, it is said, was thrown into a dungeon by the Spaniard, Ugarte, and ended his days in captivity. I have not met with any proofs of the authenticity of this story, but I frequently heard it related by the Indians, who referred to it as their justification for withholding from the whites any directions for finding mines.

But to return to Cerro de Pasco. That city has, by its wealth, become one of the most important in the Peruvian Republic; and under improved legislation, and a judicious mining system, it might be rendered still more prosperous and fully deserving of its title of "Treasury of Peru." Though from its situation Cerro de Pasco is cut off from the principal lines of communication with other parts of Peru, yet the city is itself the central point of four roads, on which there is considerable traffic. Westward runs the road to Lima, through the Quebrada of Canta, by which all the silver that is not contraband is transported to the capital. The silver, when melted into bars, is consigned to the care of the mule-drivers, merely on their giving a receipt for it; and in this manner they are sometimes entrusted with loads of the value of several hundred thousand dollars, which they convey to Lima unattended by any guards or escort. There is, however, no danger of their being plundered; for the robbers do not take the stamped bars of silver. The silver specie, on the other hand, which is sent from Lima, is escorted by a military guard as far as Llanga or Santa Rosa de Quibe. The escort is not, however, very adequate to resist the highway robbers, consisting of numerous bands of armed negroes. On the east is the road running through the Quebrada de Huarriaca to the town of Huanuco and the Huallaga Forests. The road on the north of Cerro de Pasco leads to the village of Huanuco el Viejo, one of the most remarkable places of Peru, being full of interesting ruins of the time of the Incas. From Huanuco the road leads to Huaraz, and from thence to the north coast. The south road passes over the level heights to Tarma, Jauja, and the other southern provinces.

From the village of Pasco two roads diverge, the one leading to Lima, the other to Tarma. The former crosses the Pampa of Bombon and the Diezmo, and continues onward to the Pass of La Viuda. The latter leads by way of the Tambo Ninacaca, and the village of Carhuamayo[74] to Junin, passing near a very large lake, situated at the height of 13,000 feet above the sea. This lake is the Laguna de Chinchaycocha,[75] which is twelve leagues long, and at its utmost breadth measures two leagues and a half. It is the largest of the South American lakes, next to the Laguna de Titicaca, which is eighty-four English miles long and forty-one broad. As the lake of Chinchaycocha loses by various outlets much more water than it receives from its tributary sources, it is evident that it must be fed by subterraneous springs. Its marshy banks are overgrown by totora (Malacochæte Totora), and are inhabited by numerous water fowl. The Indians entertain a superstitious belief that this lake is haunted by huge, fish-like animals, who at certain hours of the night leave their watery abode to prowl about the adjacent pasture lands, where they commit great havoc among the cattle. The southwestern end of the lake is intersected by a marshy piece of ground, interspersed with stones, called the Calzada, which forms a communication between the two banks of the lake. At the distance of about half a league from the lake is a village, which, under the Spanish domination, was called Reyes. Adjacent to it is the celebrated Pampa of Junin, which, on the 24th of August, 1824, was the scene of a battle between the Spanish forces, commanded by General Canterac, and the insurgents, headed by Don Simon Bolivar. The result of this battle had an important influence on the destiny of Peru. It is generally believed that treachery in the Spanish army threw the victory into the hands of the insurgents. A few days prior to the battle Bolivar is said to have received, from the Spanish camp, a letter in cypher, which he transmitted for explanation to his minister, Monteagudo, in Cerro de Pasco. The answer received from the minister was, that the letter recommended Bolivar to attack the enemy without a moment's delay, for that on the part of the Spaniards the victory was insured to him. The bearer of the letter is still living, and he does not deny that he was in the secret of the whole plot. The insurgents were victorious, and in commemoration of their triumph they gave to the village of Reyes, and to the whole province, the name of Junin, calling them after the plain on which the battle was fought.

From Junin, the road runs to the distance of eight leagues across a difficult level height, to Cacas, a hamlet containing only a few huts. From thence, it is continued three leagues further, through several narrow Quebradas, and finally terminates in the beautiful valley of Tarma.