The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

The region of the Montaña lies chiefly in the Amazon plain, where the rubber trees and hardwoods of commerce grow in abundance, though on its western and southern border it extends to the slope of the Cordilleras, covering a territory rich in agricultural production. The northern provinces of Puno and Cuzco and the eastern provinces of Junín and Huánuco, as well as the entire Departments of San Martin, Amazonas, and Loreto, belong to the region of the Montaña. Much of this vast territory has never been cultivated, and a great deal of it remains to be explored. It is richer in natural resources than any other part of Peru, and, with the exception of the lower wooded region of the rubber country, where malaria and anemia prevail, the climate is healthful.

The Montaña really comprises two separate regions, the high woodlands of the eastern Andean slopes and the level lands that stretch away from their base to the northeastern boundary of the republic. The high woodlands have a mild cool climate, similar to that of southern Europe, and their altitude renders them free from the diseases usually prevalent in a tropical country. This part of the Montaña is a veritable paradise, luxuriant in vegetation and marvellously productive. The chief drawback to its industrial development has hitherto been the difficulty of transporting its products to market, owing to the lack of railway facilities. Now that this obstacle is rapidly being removed, there is every reason to expect a greatly increased development of the agricultural wealth of the Montaña, which is an especially promising field for immigration.

The natural resources of the Montaña include many plants, fruits, and herbs not found in other countries. In the warm valleys and on the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras, at an altitude of from two thousand to five thousand feet above sea level, the coca plant grows in abundance. It is a native of Peru and Bolivia and has not been cultivated successfully in any other part of the world, except to a small extent in Ecuador and Colombia. From this plant is manufactured the well-known drug, cocaine, used so generally for medicinal and surgical purposes. Its leaves are the Indian’s most cherished consolation; he will perform wonderful feats of endurance if provided with a small sack of these, which he chews as the Oriental does the betel, mixing them with a kind of lime which greatly increases the stimulating effect.

CANOEING ON THE HUALLAGA RIVER.

The Peruvian Indian eats little and yet, by chewing coca leaves, he is able to make long journeys on foot or to do hard work in the fields and in the mines without fatigue. The effect of the excessive use of this stimulant is very harmful, dulling the mental faculties and, in extreme cases, causing paralysis. Used in moderation, it seems to produce no bad effects, and has even been recommended for soldiers on the march, who are exposed to fatigue and all kinds of weather. When taken as a hot tea, coca excites perspiration; and it acts as a sedative in asthmatic attacks. The leaves are used for cataplasms in relieving rheumatic pains. The curative effects following the use of this drug are so numerous that it is regarded by the Indians as a panacea for all ills. When the Spaniards first arrived in Peru, they were unable to account for the wonderful properties of the coca plant, and in superstitious fear they prohibited its cultivation, believing it to be an instrument of the devil.

The best locality for the growth of the coca plant is in warm valleys, not more than five thousand feet above the sea, where the average temperature is between fifty and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and the land is clayey, abundant in iron, and without the presence of salts of any kind; the ground must be soft and loose, and is best on the hillside, where the water of the rains is quickly carried off and does not leave the soil too damp, though frequent rains are desirable to promote rapid and leafy growth. The first harvest is gathered eighteen months after planting, and great care is required in collecting the leaves, so that the shrub may not be injured. Each leaf is picked separately and dropped on a cloth, spread on the ground for the purpose, only the top leaves being left on the plant to prevent its dying off. As a rule, three or four crops are harvested every year, the most productive coca plantations being in the Departments of Cuzco, Huánuco, Junín, and the inter-Andean valleys of La Libertad. The province of Urubamba, in the Department of Cuzco, is famous for the abundance and fine quality of its coca, the plant growing here to a maximum height of about six feet. The only coca plantations of importance on the coast slope of the Cordilleras are those of the province of Yauyos, in the Department of Lima.

A Peruvian scientist, Dr. Hipólito Unánue, was the first to make a thorough study of the constituent properties of the coca leaf; and, in 1859, an Austrian chemist, Albert Niemann, extracted from coca leaves the alkaloid known as cocaine, which is now manufactured in Peru, as well as in other countries. A great deal of the coca produced on the various plantations is consumed in the country, the average Indian chewing from fifteen to twenty grammes daily. In the native factories, each pound of leaves yields from three to four grammes of cocaine. The exportation of coca leaves amounts annually to upwards of three million pounds, and that of the manufactured product, cocaine, to about fifteen thousand pounds. The leaves are employed, in Europe and the United States, not only for the manufacture of cocaine, cocaidine, and other alkaloids, but in the making of wines, tonics, and refreshing drinks of various kinds.

SHIPYARD AT ASTILLERO, WHERE THE INCA MINING COMPANY’S FIRST STEAMER WAS BUILT.