Now that the question of cotton-supply is attracting so large a share of attention in England, it is gratifying to be able to state that landed proprietors on the coast of Peru have seriously turned their attention to the subject, and that in 1860 the cultivation of cotton was becoming a favourite speculation. The soil and climate of these coast valleys are admirably adapted for its growth, and, though the quantity that could be drawn from them would be insignificant when compared with the vast demands of Manchester, yet the quality is good, and they will supply one out of many sources which may hereafter render us partially independent of the Confederate States. The estates of Don Domingo Elias and others, in the valleys of Yca, Palpa, San Xavier, and Nasca, yield 800,000 lbs. of excellent cotton. I visited these cotton estates in 1853, and found that the cotton was carefully picked, and packed by screw presses. A great deal of cotton is also shipped from the port of Payta, which sells in Liverpool at 8d. to 9½d. the lb.; and in the valley of Lambayeque,[357] between Payta and Lima, cotton cultivation has lately been undertaken on a very large scale. In 1860, in the four districts of Talambo, Cayalti, Collus, and Calupe, there were already 600,000 plants in the ground, and in neighbouring estates extensive tracts of land had been prepared for cotton by the house of Zaracondegui and others. At Talambo, in the valley of Pacasmayo, there are many Biscayan families, numbering in all 176 souls, who are exclusively engaged in cotton cultivation; and the yield in that district in the first year was 800,000 lbs. In the province of Chiclayo 700,000 plants were put in the ground during 1860, and land was being prepared for the growth of cotton crops to a much larger extent. These cotton-growing provinces of Lambayeque, Chiclayo, and Truxillo are fertile and well watered; storms of rain are unknown, and they enjoy an equable climate with a mean temperature between 70° and 84° Fahr. It has been calculated that, after leaving a fifth of the available land for crops to supply provisions for the inhabitants, as many as 140,000 fanegadas[358] might be brought under cotton cultivation in these provinces alone. Allowing four feet for each plant, and that each plant yields four pounds a year, this extent of land would produce 580,000,000 lbs. of cotton annually, worth twelve dollars the cwt. at the port of shipment, or 69,600,000 dollars. Deducting 22,400,000 for expenses, this would leave 47,200,000 dollars profit. But these provinces only contain a small fraction of the fertile coast valleys of Peru; and it is clear that, if the speculations of 1860 yield a reasonably profitable return, the cultivation of cotton may, in all probability, be undertaken over a vast area, and render Peru an important source of supply for Manchester.[359]
The lofty table-lands of the cordillera of the Andes produce sufficient maize, wheat, and sugar for home consumption; but their chief exportable wealth is to be found in the vast flocks of sheep and alpacas which find pasture on those grassy uplands, and in the veins and washings of silver and gold. About 400,000l. worth of wool is annually exported, of which 5,017,100 lbs., valued at 287,339l., were embarked from the port of Islay in 1859, and 4,214,000 lbs. in 1860. The export of specie amounted to about 200,000l. in 1859, of which 34,705l. were exported from Islay, and 32,000l. from Arica. But of this a portion is in coined money and chafalonia, or old plate.
Besides the raising of the various valuable products suitable to the coast valleys and the sierra, the vast forests to the eastward of the Andes, and the great fluvial highways which flow through them to the Atlantic, offer an inexhaustible field for Peruvian enterprise. The incredible resources of this portion of Peru are only now beginning to be fully appreciated, though ten, and even twenty years ago, there were evident symptoms of the first early pulsations of life and commerce on the mighty river Amazons and its tributaries. Petty traders, the pioneers of a stirring future, were then busy, each in his little traffic; canoes laden with hammocks, hats, wax, sarsaparilla, copaiba, and other products of the forest, found their way to Para at the mouth of the Amazons, and returned with European manufactured goods.
But of late years an immense stride in advance has been taken; and in 1857 a Brazilian company was working eight steamers on the Amazons and its tributaries, conveying passengers, and bearing up and down a ceaseless ebb and flow of commerce. Measures were adopted in 1853 to connect the Brazilian line of steamers with a Peruvian line navigating the upper waters, and two small steam-vessels were sent out from New York for the purpose, called the "Tirado" and "Huallaga." The revolution of 1854 temporarily put a stop to these efforts, and the two steamers were left to rot at Nauta, 2300 miles up the Amazons. Latterly, however, steps have again been taken to supply the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazons with steam navigation, and thereby to encourage settlement, attract commerce, and thus develop the incalculable wealth of Peru's Amazonian provinces.
In October 1858 a fluvial convention was signed between Brazil and Peru, establishing the free navigation of the Amazons, under certain restrictions; and in February 1860 the Brazilian steamer 'Tabatinga' arrived at Laguna on the Peruvian river Huallaga, upwards of 3000 miles from the mouth of the Amazons. Meanwhile the Peruvian Government have ordered steamers to be constructed to work on the upper waters of the Amazons, in conjunction with the Brazilian line; and roads are to be made connecting inland towns with the nearest navigable points on the tributaries of the Amazons. In June 1860 a party of sixty men left the town of Huanuco to explore the wide forest-covered plains known as the "Pampas del Sacramento" to the eastward; and in July a road had already been commenced, which is to connect Huanuco with a navigable part of the river Ucayali, a distance of 150 miles. A small colony of Germans has been established on the river Pozuzu. Other measures of a similar nature are in contemplation, and it is impossible to estimate the rapid and certain increase of wealth which will accrue to this hitherto neglected region, when steam communication has thus brought one of the richest regions in the world within reach of a market. Para, at the mouth of the Amazons, already exceeds, in the number of its staple commodities of export, all indigenous to the regions of which it forms the outlet, almost any other port on the surface of the globe. My space will not allow me to dilate further on this most interesting subject; but it is assuredly one which well deserves the attention of commercial men in England.
The most remarkable source of Peruvian wealth, and one which has caused effects on her financial system which are perhaps unique in the history of any country, is the guano on the desert islands off the coast. When the South American Republics were thrown open to the trade of Europe, the value of guano as a manure was soon discovered, the demand rapidly increased, and the Peruvian Government were not long in availing themselves of this, as they believed, inexhaustible source of riches.[360] The three Chincha islands, in the bay of Pisco, contained a total of 12,376,100 tons of guano in 1853, and, as since that time 2,837,365 tons have been exported up to 1860, there were 9,538,735 tons remaining in 1861.[361] In 1860 as many as 433 vessels, with a tonnage of 348,554, loaded at the Chincha islands; so that, at the above rate, the guano will last for twenty-three years, until 1883. The guano monopoly brings in a revenue to the State of 14,850,000 dollars.
In Peru even the arid deserts are the sources of enormous wealth; for while the desolate Chinchas pour millions into the treasury, the pampa of Tamarugal, in the Tarapaca province, contributes its nitrate of soda (salitre) and borate of lime to swell the riches of this favoured land. It is calculated that the nitrate of soda grounds in this district cover fifty square leagues, and, allowing one hundred pounds weight of nitrate for each square yard, this will give 63,000,000 tons, which, at the present rate of consumption, will last for 1393 years.[362] In 1860 the export of nitrate of soda from the port of Iquique amounted to 1,370,248 cwts., and a good deal of borax is also exported, though its shipment is prohibited by the Government.
The extensive use of mineral substances, such as guano and nitrate of soda, as a top-dressing for corn-crops, is a discovery of modern times, and these manures were not generally appreciated in England until a period between 1824 and 1829. I believe that farmers consider guano and nitrate of soda to be about equally efficacious as a top-dressing for corn; and it is now a matter of pressing interest to the agricultural community in England to reduce their prices, which are as high as twelve and sixteen pounds a ton respectively. But, with this view, a careful search for deposits of guano in other parts of the world has only led to the discovery of those at Ichaboe, on the coast of Africa, in 1843, and of those on the Arabian Kooria Mooria islands more recently. The deposit at Ichaboe was all carried off by the end of 1845, while that on Jibleea, one of the Kooria Moorias, is still being worked; but it is very inferior to the guano of the Peruvian islands.[363]
On the whole these attempts to find other deposits of guano, which would tend to bring down the price in England, have failed of success; and the Peruvians may consider themselves secure of their strange source of revenue for some twenty years to come. And a stranger means of defraying nearly the whole expenditure of the state was never before heard of. In 1859 the disbursements amounted to 20,387,756 dollars, of which sum three-fourths were raised by shovelling heaps of dirt off a desolate island on the coast!