With respect to the many minor streams which fall into the rivers of Jujuy and Tarija, they are for the most part mere mountain torrents of little importance, except as adding to their waters, which finally become navigable below Oran.
The Jujuy river rises near the Abra de Cortaderas, about three leagues from Colorados, one of the most elevated points passed by the traveller on the road to Potosi: from thence the lofty peak of Chorolque beyond Tupiza, in the north, and the snowy ranges of Atacama, in the north-west, are distinctly visible. The channel of the river in its descent from this elevated region, the whole way to Jujuy, is little more than a succession of precipitous ravines, occasionally swelling into basins, highly interesting to the geologist, as exhibiting on all sides evidences of the tremendous convulsions which at some remote period must have torn and shaken this part of the continent to its very foundations. The road to Potosi winds along it, but it would seem to be a region only suited to the wild llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas, which range in countless herds over the snowy ranges above, looking down with apparent surprise on the casual traveller, who wends his toilsome way through these rugged defiles. The favourite food of these animals is the ichú, a very coarse grass, which is only found at an elevation little short of that of perpetual snow. At Jujuy the river turns eastward through a more open and habitable region, which skirts the southern base of these mountain ranges, and about twenty leagues beyond receives the Siancas, or Lavayen, its most important tributary, which rises in the heights of San Lorenzo, to the north-west of the town of Salta:—it is afterwards joined by the Ledesma and three or four other minor streams, before it falls into the Tarija river, as before stated, below Oran.
The course of the Tarija, in the first instance, is nearly as precipitous as that of the Jujuy, running through broken mountainous passes; but when it trends to the south, and receives the Pescado (which separates the departments of Oran and Tarija), and shortly after the Senta, it opens into wide and extensive valleys, traversed by many streams, which, running down into the main river, irrigate the rich lands along its shores, and unite with the warmth of a tropical climate to form one of the most fertile districts in the world.
These are the principal rivers of this province. Its productions are as various as its physical features. In the west the mines of the Cerro de Acay and San Antonio de los Cobres, have been at times worked with considerable success; and in the still more elevated districts bordering upon Atacama, the natives of Cochinoca, the Rinconada, Cerillos, Santa Catalina, and Rosario, employ themselves in collecting considerable quantities of gold from the alluvial deposits after heavy rains.
It is in those cold regions that the alpacas and vicuñas are found:—the guanaco also abounds there, and the beautiful little chinchilla, thousands of dozens of the skins of which are yearly collected and sent down to Buenos Ayres for exportation to Europe.
In the same part of the province, not far south of La Rinconada, are extensive plains of salt, called the Salinas of Casabindo, to which the natives of the adjoining districts resort when the salt is hard and dry, and cut out large blocks of it with hatchets, which they load upon their llamas and asses, and carry to Salta and Jujuy, and other parts of the province:—there, also, they collect, in the same manner, the snow which is used in those towns for making ices in the summer season. The eyes of travellers obliged to traverse these inhospitable wilds are said to be as much affected by the glare of the sun reflected from these fields of salt, as from the snow-capped mountains which bound them. Casabindo is about forty-five leagues east from Atacama, the intermediate distance being all Cordillera, and is situated upon the desolate road from Salta, which is appropriately called El Despoblado.[63]
In the valleys, further south, of Colalao, San Carlos, Calchaqui, and Cachi, watered by the streams which afterwards fall into the Salado, as already described, large quantities of corn and maize are grown, with which the rest of the province is chiefly supplied: the vine is also extensively cultivated there, from which a good deal of an ordinary wine is yearly made and drunk in those parts for want of better.
It was from their rich pastures, however, watered by the mountain streams, that the Salteños in former times derived their principal profits. Before the revolution, and when the upper provinces, which now form the separate state of Bolivia, were part of the Vice-Royalty of Buenos Ayres, a great trade was carried on by the people of Salta in mules, 50,000 or 60,000 of which were annually sold there for the service of the carriers of Peru:—these mules were chiefly bred in the provinces of Santa Fé and Cordova, and sent to Salta when two or three years old, where, after being kept for a season or two in the rich grazing grounds of that province, they were considered strong enough for the work expected of them in the severer climate of the Andes. A periodical fair was held in the neighbourhood of Salta, to which the purchasers from Peru repaired, and bought the animals in droves at the rate of fourteen or sixteen dollars each (five or six more if broken in), about a third of which was clear profit to the Salteños, who bought them of the Cordova and Santa Fecino breeders at a price seldom above ten dollars. These that reached Lima were worth double the price paid for them at Salta. A tax, called sisa, of three quarters of a dollar on each mule, was levied by the government, the annual amount of which was destined to the maintenance of the forts upon the frontier, kept up as defences against the encroachments of the Indians of the Chaco.
The struggle for independence stopped this traffic, for the upper provinces and the greater part of Peru being in possession of the Royalists to the last, all intercourse with Salta was cut off for many years, nor has there been any sufficient encouragement to renew it since the restoration of peace. Peru, however, must have mules, and it does not appear that she is likely to be supplied with them from any other quarter in sufficient numbers.
Proceeding eastward, through the valleys of Campo Santo, and those watered by the Lavayen and its affluents, to Oran, and throughout all that department, a tropical vegetation is found in all its natural luxuriance.[64] Forests of noble trees stud the banks of the rivers, and extend far down the shores of the Vermejo, valuable not only as timber, but as producing fruits which may be said to supply the place of bread and wine to the natives:—such, amongst others, is the algaroba tree, a sort of acacia, from the fruit of which, a large bean growing in clusters of pods, mixed with maize, the Indians make cakes; and, by fermentation, produce their chicha, a strong intoxicating spirit in very general use. The quinaquina, the palm-tree, and the plant from which the famous maté, or Paraguay tea, is made, are equally indigenous there, and many others, as yet only known to us by their Indian names, which it would be useless to recapitulate.