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There is evidence that before the arrival of the Inca who introduced the worship of the sun, one Supreme Being was reverenced by at any rate some of the tribes they subjected to their rule. At a distance of twenty miles south of Lima are the extensive ruins of the city of Pachacamae, a name which signifies "He who animates the Universe," "The Creator of the World," and clearly designated the nature of the religion of the ancient Peruvians. Here the explorations of Mr. Squires brought to light relics of the most interesting character in the shape of pottery and articles of domestic use, including even clothing, which elucidate very considerably the manners and customs of the old inhabitants.

ants of the ancient Guanches-brother and sister-who together answered that description. So muscular and brave was this race, that it took the Spaniards sixty years to complete the conquest of these islands, in spite of their armor and superior weapons, opposed to clubs and stones alone. It is a matter of history that Diramus, one of the kings of the Grand Canary, when taken pris oner by the Spaniards and conveyed to Spain, was led before the king, who requested him to measure his strength with that of the most powerful soldier in the Spanish army. His reply was: "Let your two strongest men prevent my lifting a goblet of water to my lips with each hand, and I will do so." The experiment was tried, and he successNow, with regard to the Incas, various fully resisted their efforts. This immense theories have been advanced as to their orig- strength appears to have been inherent in inal nationality and origin, but none seems the race, for a notoriously powerful Spaniard to me to be more plausible than that of Ig- arrived at Teneriffe when I was there, with natius Donnelly, the American author of a the sole Quixotic object of testing the strength work entitled "Atlantis in the Antediluvian of the surviving male Guanche I have alluded World." This Atlantis is referred to by Pla- to. On reaching the latter's dwelling, the sister to, whose information descended to him requested him to be seated until her brother from his ancestor Solon, who resided for two returned. She then took up a sack of flour years in Egypt. There the priests informed weighing more than two hundred pounds him that they derived their civilization from under each arm, and with them ascended a the Continent of Atlantis, which had existed ladder into a loft above, without any support in the Atlantic to the west of Europe and whatever. This so terrified the Spaniard, Africa, and which having been long sub- who judged of the might of the brother by merged by a sudden catastrophe, gave rise what he saw of that of the sister, that he abto the tradition of a universal deluge. Ac- solutely vanished before she reappeared. cording to Donnelly, civilization spread from Now, Donnelly makes out-indirectly, howAtlantis both in an easterly and westerly di- ever-that these Guanches, inhabitants of the rection, as evidenced by numerous ruined Canary Islands, which are probably some of cities and other remains, the origin of which the mountain peaks, as the Azores undoubt has hitherto puzzled archæologists-for in- edly are, of the submerged Continent of Atstance those of Central America-the gigan- lantis, were identical in race with the origi tic masonry and statues found in Easter nal Incas of Peru. Island, and the prehistoric mounds existing in this country. Donnelly also ventures on the hypothesis that the Incas were in some way descended from the Atlanteans. Now tradition tells us that the original Incas were fair, with long amber or yellow hair and powerful frames; and it is a fact, that until within the last few years there existed in the Island of Teneriffe, one of the Canary group (where I saw them), two descend

There is one disagreeable feature incidental to a residence on the west coast of South America to which I have only casually re ferred, viz, the earthquakes. When I was is Santiago de Chile they were of frequent o currence, although, fortunately, not dor? any great amount of damage. They were startling enough, however, while they lasted but at times productive of some amusement for I have more than once seen lines of ladies

nd gentlemen in light costumes-blankets, people were seated at the table d'hôte dinner, eets, etc.-standing in the small stream of the floor oscillated under us, and the gazeliers ater which flowed down the center of most moved backwards and forwards for three and the streets, in order to be out of the way a half minutes more, but not a soul stirred. At the falling houses should the shock which Lima the earthquake did no damage, but at oused them be repeated. It was not an Callao, its port, six miles distant, a number common occurrence to hear the sereno, of houses were overthrown; and had it not night-watchman, whose duty it was to call been for the island of San Lowrenço at the ur and weather at intervals, using the for- southwest, which broke the force of the wave ala, "Ave Maria Purissima, las doce han approaching from that direction, the town do y serena," that is, "Hail, purest Mary, must have been overwhelmed. As it was, elve o'clock has struck, and it is fine," considerable damage was done; but the ried, of course, according to the hour and greatest was sustained by the ports of Arica te of the weather), suddenly pause and and Iquique, far to the south. At the foringe the last word into temblando, i. e. mer I was at a large dinner-party given by Ave Maria Purissima, las doce han dado y the British Consul to some of the Peruvian blado—“Hail, purest Mary twelve o'clock Ministers and other magnates three weeks struck, and the earth is quaking." Val- before the 13th August, on which day his aiso has been seriously damaged on house completely disappeared, so that in 1870 eral occasions by earthquake shocks, but when I revisited the place I could not even most frightful catastrophe Chile has discover the site on which it stood. The erienced was about the year 1839, when whole town was destroyed by the earthquake town of Concepcion was first shaken and its concomitant wave, and what happenin and then overwhelmed by a huge ed to some of the shipping was most curious. hquake wave, which drowned nearly the The Peruvian corvette "America" was driven le of the inhabitants, amounting to sev- ashore and became a wreck, with the loss of thousands. half her crew; the American storeship "Fredonia" was turned topsy-turvy with all the men on board; but the gunboat "Wateree," commanded by Captain Gillies, after being tossed to and fro in pitchy darkness, suddenly came to a standstill without any shock, and when the Captain ordered the lead to be heaved to ascertain the depth of water, it was found that she was actually on dry land, and, being very flat, no perceptible contact with the ground was noticed, so gently had she been deposited more than half a mile inland. In 1870 I visited her, and took some grape-shot from her magazine; and there I believe she still remains. It was even proposed at one time to convert her into an hotel.

happened to be at Lima on the 13th of
ust, 1868-a date which will long be re-
ibered as that of the occurrence of one
e most disastrous earthquakes recorded
e same year in which took place that
h created so much alarm as well as
age in this city. In the republic of Ec-
or the victims were numbered by scores
ousands, the earth opening and swallow-
p whole villages, with a rotatory motion;
t in Peru, although the destruction was
> means so extensive, it was sufficiently
to cause much misery and destitution,
ll as loss of life. A little before five
k P. M. I was entering the large square,
Plaza de la Constitucion," when I ob-
d that every one on the spot was stand-
ill, watching the towers of the cathedral,
1 were swaying to and fro, but too gently
turb their equilibrium, at the same time
he ground under our feet was heaving.
for four minutes and a half; and half
ur later, at the hotel, when about eighty

As to Iquique-a thriving port, the outlet of the nitrate of soda manufactured at La Noria, to which there is a railroad owned by English capitalists-scarcely a vestige remained of the town. In the Maury hotel at Lima, at which I was staying, there was an Englishman calling himself "Colonel" Har

ris, who was associated with another named Dixon in works established at Iquique for the smelting of the tailings of silver left by the old Spaniards. He said to me, "Well, this earthquake must have done an immense amount of damage further south, but I shall be quite satisfied if my partner has escaped with his life." Two or three days afterwards, Dixon, then a man sixty-four years of age, was brought up by a steamer, having had one of the most marvellous escapes man ever experienced. After closing his establishment he was standing near it talking to another Englishman named Billingshurst, and to a Peruvian. The shock came-he saw the sea recede, and said to them, "Fly for your lives, the sea will come back upon us." Billingshurst rushed into his tottering house close by just in time for the roof to fall in, and bury himself, wife, and ten children; the eleventh, a girl, was afterwards picked up alive floating in the sea, by a boat. Dixon made as fast as he could for a slight elevation in the plain where he knew he would be safe, but before he reached it, the earthquake wave overtook him, and when he

came to himself he found that he was several hundred yards out at sea, with his jacket caught by a beam which kept him momentarily under. He had the presence of mind, however, to draw his arm out of the sleeve and abandon the jacket, when another beam struck him on the head, and he became senseless, whilst a jagged piece of wood pierced his thigh. When he regained consciousness he found himself, after having been insensible for some fifteen hours, about four hundred yards inland, close to the cemetery, and covered with sand and blood. Rising on his hands and knees, he managed to crawl to the neighborhood of his late works which had altogether disappeared, but on the tramway close by he actually found his lost jacket, which he wore at the time he told me the story.

I will now give a short account of the war between Chile on the one side, and Peru and Bolivia on the other, which lasted for from four to five years. Within the last four months, however, terms have been ar

ranged for a peace, which it is to be hoped will prove lasting-however humiliating it may be to one of the Republics engaged, and disastrous to another. A work propos ing to be an impartial account of this war and of its origin has been published by Mr. Clements Markham, F. R. S., and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of London; but I cannot help thinking tha: his views are anything but impartial, and undeservedly hostile to Chile, which he stig matizes as actuated by an inordinate cupidity. Different accounts are of course given by the parties recently contending, but there can be no doubt, as even Mr. Markham himself acknowledges, that by a treaty made be tween Chile and Bolivia the latter engaged to allow Chilean citizens and their foreign associates to establish nitrate of soda works at Antofagasta, and only to levy a certain amount of export duty thereon. The Chil eans consequently expended large sums in those works, and then Bolivia-unquestiona bly instigated by Peru, which had for som time viewed with jealousy the progress mad by Chile in this branch of industry, which was successfully competing with the Per vian exportation of nitrate from its proving of Tarapaca-considerably raised the dut The Chileans naturally refused to pay it, t Bolivians used force to compel them, an the government of the former had recour to arms in order to protect its citizens. Per in virtue of a secret treaty with Bolivia, cau to her assistance, and thus the war cor menced. Fortunately for Chile her iron-ch and other vessels gave her considerably advantage over the Peruvian squadron still for some time the latter caused trouble, and prevented her landing tro on Peruvian soil until it was annihila and the heroic captain Grau killed whilst command of the ironclad "Huascar called after the brother of Atahuaspa, ill-fated last of the Incas). These obsta being removed, Chile was enabled to dis bark a considerable force on Peruvian te tory; and although her troops sustained rather serious defeat not long after the mencement of operations, she was afterwa

niformly victorious in spite of the opposion, in many instances heroic, both of Pevians and Bolivians, including many indiidual cases of most patriotic devotion. Her Iccess was mainly owing to her very supeor artillery, admirably equipped cavalry, nd the better physique of the men. The sult, as is well known, has been the quasi onquest of the whole of Peru, an immense id probably wanton destruction of proper, and the cession to Chile of the province Tarapaca (and possibly Arica and Tacna) the part of Peru, and the desert of Ata

cunavar, with its minerals and nitrate of soda, on that of Bolivia.

It is asserted, and I believe with reason, that the Chilean soldiery were guilty of great atrocities during the war. This, however, is scarcely to be wondered at. These men, who now speak nothing but Spanish, are of the blood of Spaniards mingled with that of the Araucanian and other (ancient) kindred tribes of Indians, and inherit some of the ferocious nature of their ancestors; whereas the Peruvian and Bolivian soldiers are mostly of pure Indian blood and of milder races. F. Studdy Leigh.

I.

NOTES ON LOWER CALIFORNIA.

NATURAL HISTORY.

On the map of the Western Hemisphere our globe, we see this strip of land athed like a little tail to the northern part the American continent. But on nearer wledge it proves much less insignificant ize than it may appear to the eye of the less student of geography. Especially traveler on a coasting-vessel, viewing day day the shifting scenery of its rugged t, will find an excellent opportunity to realize its length. In fact, this small ing appendage of the Western Continent ot less than six hundred miles long, with eadth of from sixty to eighty miles, conng, at a rough estimate, an area of more 40,000 square miles.

though the southern extremity of the sula just touches the tropical line, its ge temperature is by far less intensely than that of other regions lying under ame latitude—at all events, much more rate than the temperature on the oppoide of the Gulf, in the tierras calientes n lands) of Sonora and Sinaloa. Fresh nts of air sweep almost continually over ountains, either from the ocean in the or from the Gulf in the east, gratefully ering the atmosphere during the summer

season. For the valleys and on the lower plateaus near the coast the thermometer will rise to a higher degree, but on the loftier elevations in the interior-for example, on the spot where these notes are written-it seldom points above ninety degrees F. in summer, and very rarely falls below the freezing point in an exceptional winter night. Therefore, the ancient derivation of the name of California from calida fornax, (hot furnace) can hardly be taken as appropriate.

Being almost a tropical country of but moderate average elevation, the year can only be properly divided into two seasons, the dry and rainy. The dry season ordinarily sets in during October. From this month till May, and sometimes even later, very little rain will fall, if any. At the end of this time the clouds begin to gather thicker in the sky-which rarely remains entirely cloudless-until the beneficent moisture begins to descend, frequently in heavy showers and accompanied by magnificent thunder storms. Soon after the first installments of rain, trees and shrubs will dress themselves in their new attire of green; grass and herbs begin to shoot up, and all organic nature rapidly revives after a prostration of several months. In some years, when the rains are not copious enough to raise sufficient pasture, the whole country suffers severely; cattle and

beasts of burden sometimes perish by the upon than the sad and monotonous sagehundreds. covered plains and slopes of our interior territories.

The rainy term usually ends with a heavy gale, which lasts for a day or two, sometimes making great havoc among trees, wooden houses, palm-roofs, brush-fences, and other unsubstantial constructions. On such a day there is a grand commotion on the waters of the gulf. This annually recurring tempest is called a temporal or cordonazo. During our two years' residence no such convulsion of the atmosphere occurred, and we doubted somewhat whether these temporales are quite as regular as people hereabout affirm.

Owing to its dryness and the fresh breezes from the sea constantly fanning the land, the climate is exceedingly healthy, and the little sickness which prevails among the inhabitants comes rather from individual ignorance, exposure, neglect, and recklessness than from natural causes.

The northern portion of the peninsula is an unknown land to the writer. Of the mountains that come within view, none seem to surpass the height of 4,000 feet, while the cerros in our immediate neighborhood scarcely attain one-half of that height. Both on the ocean side and the gulf side a widespreading, gentle slope, almost a level plain, extends for many miles from the base of the mountain ranges down to the coast.

All these mountains, hills, valleys, and plateaus are covered by a remarkable vege. tation-remarkable on account of its variety and distribution. It is an almost continuous bush, composed of trees and shrubs, mostly garnished with pricks and thorns, many of them belonging to the mimosa family, intermixed with the columnar cactus or pitihaya, but seldom forming an impenetrable thicket like a tropical jungle. These trees and shrubs, all of a low and stunted growth, make the hills and slopes very beautiful during and soon after the rainy season, especially when they are in blossom; but they offer very little shade to the wayfarer, or to the cattle that browse amongst them. This bush, which seems to spread all over the country, is very different from the chapparal of Alta California, and altogether much pleasanter to look

Among the wild plants there are some of remarkable medicinal virtue; others might become of utility and some commercial con sideration if properly taken in hand. The orchilla, so frequently quoted of late, grow only near the coast, and it has not been my good fortune yet to visit its original haunts The damiana, an herb of which the leave and stalks are used in a decoction like te by the natives, was said here to possess som extraordinary qualities as a tonic and stimu lant, long before its introduction to com merce. A very common bush, called tor baya, contains in its leaves and branches rich sap of an indelible dark brown colo The wild cotton plant is frequently met wit on the plains; also a kind of wild fig tre which grows to a large size and bears a sma eatable fruit. The pepper bush bears sma round berries, which, after ripening and dr ing, turn from green into red, and have exceedingly pungent, peppery taste-de cious to the native palate. The castorplant grows spontaneously in many place especially on the banks of arroyos, or dr sandy river beds.

A peculiar feature of the landscape is th frequency of the before mentioned pitahay or pitaya (Cereus giganteus, I believe, is i botanical name). It grows almost ever where, not in massive groups or clumps, b mostly singly, at irregular distances. Ofte on noticing a fine specimen, with its sho sturdy stem of a dozen or more inches ameter, and its branches stretching som thirty feet perpendicularly upward, like s many fluted green columns, I said, “Wh an attraction it would be if transplanted the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, the Centra Park of New York, or the Golden Gate P in San Francisco!" There are two distin varieties of this interesting plant: one h coarse, parallel grooves running down i branches, and bears a fruit very much lik the head of a large thistle. The other more densely and symmetrically striped ribbed along each individual shaft, and it

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