In these vast levels the trees are very lofty, and form impenetrable forests unexplored by man, in which wander all the animals peculiar to the torrid climate of America. The heat is very great, and is accompanied with much humidity, and thick fogs, so that till the forests could be cleared, the Pampas would not be a desirable residence for Europeans; the missionaries have nevertheless been very active in founding villages in the most accessible parts, several of which now exist, and new communications are opened constantly with Peru.
South of the Pampas del Sacramento is a district named Montana Reale, through which runs a chain east from the Andes, named the Cerro de la Sal, which gives birth to the Pachitea, and several other rivers, and divides their streams from the Perene, and some others which flow into the Apurimac; a branch from this Cerro, runs to the north, under the name of Sierra de San Carlos, and separates the Maranon, after receiving the Beni, from the Pachitea. There are some missions in this country, on the banks of the Pachitea, but it is in general inhabited only by the Mayros, a fierce nation, and several other wandering tribes.
The land of the Missions, or Colonna, now included in the Pampas, is that territory on the Amazons, through which flow the Cassiquin and the Yvari, part of which serves as the boundary of Brazil; the Yutay, the Yurba, and several other large rivers, joining the Maranon, and of which little, or in fact, nothing is known.
Chunchos is a district between the Beni and the Paucartambo, in which are many wandering tribes, who are very imperfectly known, and whose country forms the barrier between Brazil and Peru.
We shall conclude the description of this viceroyalty, by some few remarks upon the language of the natives, &c.
The number of dialects totally differing from each other, which are spoken by the Indian inhabitants of this kingdom, is very great, and it was the same during the time of the Incas; to remedy which inconvenience, those sovereigns instituted a general language, which they ordered all the chiefs who came to their courts to speak; it was called the Quichuan, or language of the Incas; and was that which prevailed in the capital; and so unbounded was the power of these princes, that the Quichuan was soon learnt, even in the most remote provinces, and continues to the present day to be the general tongue of the Peruvians, who are averse to making any efforts to obtain a knowledge of the Spanish; so that the priests consider it as indispensably necessary to become acquainted with the Quichuan, in order to retain the Peruvians in their power.
The sounds b, d, f, g, r, are wanting, but the language is harmonious, and its grammar as variegated and artificial as the Greek. A work has been published at Lima on this subject; and great pains have been used to render it well known.
At the time of the conquest, Peru was named by its inhabitants Tavantin-suyu, or the Four Parts. That on the east, in which was Cuzco, was named Colla-suyu, or the east part; that of the west or coast, Chinchay-suyu; that of the north, Anti-suyu; and that of the south Conti-suyu; which titles, with some alterations, were retained till very lately, in the best maps. The names of most of the principal places, are still Quichuan; and so little is the Spanish language and power spread in this country, the first of their conquests, that upwards of sixty unsubdued nations or tribes, are said to exist within its territories; though these have been greatly straitened by the formation of the new government, of which it now becomes necessary to give a description.