The Present State of Peru/The Editor's Preface
THE
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
Relative to the progressive advances of civilization and society, in the Spanish colonies of South America, little has been hitherto known; and this imperfect knowledge has been, for the greater part, derived from polluted sources. The Spaniards by whom these colonies have been visited, and who have, on their return to the parent kingdom, drawn up the result of their observations, have been led by various motives, either personal, or founded in policy and the terrors of the inquisition, to have recourse to reticences and misrepresentations, in whatever has regarded the social condition of the inhabitants, and their philosophical and scientific attainments. On another hand, the native writers have had uncommon impediments to encounter, in the illustrations at which they have aimed: but a few years have elapsed since they have had the advantage of a press, by which to disseminate their ideas; and this facility they enjoy at certain intervals only, under the most liberal and enlightened of their administrators. They were before under the necessity of transmitting their MS. productions, destined for impression, to the capital of Spain, where they were in most instances lost to the public, either through the cupidity of the correspondents to whom the remittances, intended to defray the expences, were made, or through the restraints which are imposed, in every arbitrary government, on those who dare to give a full scope to their opinions. Those of the literati of Peru, on subjects appertaining to the policy of states, have been occasionally pronounced with a boldness and a decision which mark a strong spirit of independence, in the periodical works established, within these few years, in the capital and other parts of that kingdom.
By one of those casualties[1] (if this term can be applied to events arising from the preponderance of a formidable marine, and from an heroic ardour carrying with it a resistless force), by which Great Britain has appropriated to herself, in her different contests with Spain, so great a share of the colonial treasures belonging to the latter nation, several volumes of a periodical work, printed at Lima, and richly stored with intellectual treasures, fell into the hands of the Editor. The few specimens of their contents which he was enabled to give at the time,[2] on the eve of his being called abroad by his public duty, were favourably received: they indeed excited, among men of letters, a degree of surprize, which demanded the evidence of the originals to attest their authenticity. It was suspected that a new Psalmanazar, or another Damberger, of still more recent notoriety in literary imposture, had conceived and digested the plan of obtruding on the public credulity these scientific sketches, purporting to be from a part of the globe where not any degree of science could be reasonably supposed to exist.
Such were the sentiments generally entertained in this country, of the abject state of every description of knowledge in the South American continent, when the periodical work entitled "El Mercurio Peruano" (the Peruvian Mercury), strayed from its destination, to efface the impressions which had been made, and to substitute others very different in their nature. An Academical Society established in the capital of Peru, the members of which, in treating the diversified subjects of literature, philosophy, history, &c. displayed a profound knowledge of ancient and modern learning, was a novelty as welcome as it was unexpected. Whether that society still exists in Lima, is uncertain; but it appears that the Peruvian Mercury, after having been progressively subjected to a variety of restraints, was discontinued somewhere about the year 1796. On the following year, its learned editor, Don Jacinto Calero y Moreira, passed from Lima to Buenos-Ayres.
From the above periodical work, as it was carried on during the first sixteen months, commencing with January 1791, and from various authentic sources,[3] of which the Editor has gladly availed himself, the "Present State of Peru" has been compiled. Whatever can tend to interest or amuse the British reader, has been selected, and given in a more or less abridged form, according to the relative importance and curiosity of the objects of inquiry. A certain degree of arrangement has been followed in the introduction of the different subjects, which, the Editor flatters himself, collectively form a literary olla podrida, a true Spanish dish, the ingredients of which are so seasoned, as to hold out the promise of becoming in a greater or less degree suitable to each palate: he has otherwise missed the aim he had in view.
The old English saying, "to shoot at a pigeon and kill a crow," was, however, verified by him, when he obtained the set of Peruvian Mercuries, the selection from which forms the basis of his work. He was in quest, not of books, but of a valuable Peruvian remedy belonging to the vegetable kingdom (the carahuala), little known in this country. To the end that the adventure might be complete, he stumbled on a painting, which he has employed, partly with a view to illustrate the subject matters of his work, and partly to render the work itself more agreeable to the reader, where such illustration was not absolutely necessary. The painting in question, the production of an untutored native, denied the advantages which the high cultivation of the arts in Europe affords, is in many of its parts finely executed, as will appear by the subjects that have been taken from it on the present occasion. It represents the Indian festival, in the great square of Lima, on the event of the accession of his present Catholic Majesty, Charles the Fourth, to the throne. In the engravings, the design of the artist has been strictly adhered to; and it ought therefore to be noticed, that, as he was planted on an eminence, his picture presents what is termed by painters a bird's-eye view. The curve of the petticoat in some of the female figures, may, with other peculiarities of a similar kind, be thus explained.
It would be to anticipate the pleasure of the reader, whose industry, in the agreeable task of exploring what may be in a manner considered as a terra incognita, is not to be questioned, to point out to his notice all the curious and novel information he will obtain, by a perusal of the sheets now respectfully submitted to him. There are some leading points, however, on which it may not be inexpedient to touch in this Preface. One of these is, the extraordinary depopulation of the Indian tribes, since the conquest: from upwards of eight millions of souls, at which they were computed in 1551, they have been reduced to little more than half a million. They are, notwithstanding, absolutely necessary to the prosperity of the mines, which they alone are capable of working, and which have progressively fallen off in their produce, in a nearly similar ratio. A milder and better policy has been latterly adopted towards these unfortunate victims of Spanish ambition, and Spanish cupidity. Would that this observation could be made to apply to the condition of the negroes, whose lot in Peru appears to be rigorous, beyond any example that has been elsewhere furnished!
Natural history has been, within the last few years, enriched by many important discoveries made in South America; one of which, that of the bombyx papyrifex, or paper-making silk-worm, is highly curious. Belonging to this department of science, and to divers others, the reader will derive much valuable information, from a perusal of what is given in the part of topography, and in the Appendix, containing, with other details of great interest, those of the travels of the missionaries in the heretofore unexplored territories of Peru. In his researches into the literature of that country, he will find quotations from authors prohibited in Spain. "El Eusebio," a work in the Spanish language, on the same plan as the Emile of Rousseau, was, he will perceive, boldly cited by the learned and patriotic Bishop of Quito, in the eloquent discourse he pronounced, at the first meeting of the Economical Society established in that city. An Index of the modern authors quoted in the Peruvian Mercury, is subjoined, to furnish some idea of the extent of the literary attainments made in that remote quarter of the globe. These attainments will constantly be proportioned to the industry employed in the acquisition of the means. Where books are sought after with so much avidity, and at so great a risk, the beams of mental illumination cannot fail to expand their celestial light, and to dispel the thick gloom of ignorance.
Joseph Skinner.
- ↑ The capture of the St. Jago, bound from Callao, the port of Lima, to Cadiz, in 1793.
- ↑ Through the medium of the Monthly Magazine, in 1797, and the commencement of 1798.
- ↑ In obtaining this information, the Editor has been laid under particular obligations, which he here most gratefully acknowledges, by Don Pedro d'Oribe y Vargas, a learned naturalist, now residing in this capital, to whom the public are indebted for an interesting account of a Peruvian plant, the juice of which is a sure antidote against the bite of serpents, given in the Philosophical Magazine, vol. xii., p. 36. The queries relative to the phenomena of the climate of certain districts of Peru, were answered by this gentleman.
