VIII. Nature of Volcanic Agencies in the Andes-Cotopaxi-The Quina, or Cinchona Bark-Architectural Remains in Peru-The Inca Roads-Aqueducts and Fortifications-Destruction of Public Works in Peru by Spanish Conquerors -Caxamarca-Remains of the Palace-"Baths of the Inca"-Pizarro and Atahuallpa-The Descendants of Atahuallpa-A Peruvian Aladdin's Garden. THE HE tremendous nature of the volcanic agencies which have contributed to the formation of the Andes range will appear as described by Humboldt in the Views of Nature, a work in which a very great amount of physical science is concentrated and popularised in a very agreeable manner. The author says— "From the granitic rocks of Diego Ramirez and the deeplyintersected district of Terra del Fuego-which in the east contains Silurian schist, and in the west the same schist metamorphosed into granite by the action of subterranean fire-to the Polar Sea, the Cordilleras extend over a distance of more than 8,000 miles. Although not the loftiest they are the longest mountain chain in the world, being upheaved from one fissure which runs in the direction of a meridian from pole to pole, and exceeding in linear extent the distance which, in the old continent, separates the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) from the icy cape of the Tschuktches in the north-east of Asia. Where the Andes are divided into several parallel chains, those lying nearest the sea are found to be the seat of the most active volcanoes; and it has moreover been repeatedly observed that when the phenomenon of an eruption of subterranean fire ceases in one mountain chain it breaks forth in some other parallel range. The cones of eruption generally follow the direction of the axis of the chain, but in the Mexican table-land the active volcanoes are situated on a transverse fissure, running from sea to sea, in an east and west direction. Wherever the upheaving of mountain masses in the ancient crust of the earth has opened a communication with the fused interior, volcanic activity continued to be exhibited in the mass which had been upheaved like a wall by means of the ramification of fissures. That which we call a mountain chain has not been raised to its present elevation, or manifested as it now appears, at one definite period; for we find that rocks, varying considerably in age, have been superposed on one another and have penetrated towards the surface through fissures formed at an earlier period." The imagination fails in the attempt to portray the extent of volcanic force necessary to upheave a range of granitic mountains through a distance of 8,000 miles. Cotopaxi, which the travellers ascended on the 5th of May, though not the most lofty, is at once the most beautiful in shape and the most terrible in its destructive power of the numerous volcanoes in the Andes range. The valleys around it are shown to a great depth, with the ashes and scoria which this giant of 18,000 feet has at various periods cast forth. In the great eruption of 1724 the roaring of the volcano is said to have been heard at a distance of 200 leagues. Humboldt and Bonpland distinctly heard it at Guayaquil-more than fifty leagues distant-and its noise is compared to the sound of salvoes of heavy artillery. The dazzling snow-covered cone-six times higher than that surmounting the Peak of Teneriffe - which towers above Cotopaxi, is pronounced inaccessible by Humboldt, who moreover observes that ascents of mountains beyond the line of perpetual snow are rarely productive of any definite scientific result. One of the most tremendous volcanic outbursts that ever changed the face of these regions happened in February, 1797. The so-called mud eruption of the Moya caused the death of forty thousand Indians in the torrents that swept suddenly from the mountains upon the plains. At Riobamba the travellers had an opportunity of noting the effects of this fearful event. At Loxa their attention was drawn to the tree whence the quina, or cinchona bark, known in Europe as the Peruvian bark, used in cases of fever, is obtained. Humboldt describes the pleasure they felt, after a year's residence in the higher regions of the Andes at an elevation of from 8,000 to 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, in descending to a more genial tract, rich in new and beautiful forms of tropical vegetation. The quina, or cinchona bark, first became known in Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century. According to the assertion of Sebastian Badus, the year 1632 is given as the date of its introduction; but other accounts speak of its being brought to Madrid in 1640 by Juan del Vego, physician to the Countess of Chinchon, wife of the Viceroy of Peru. This lady had been cured of a fever at Lima by the use of this valuable remedy. The following account is given of the quina tree :— "The trees which yield this bark grow on mica, slate, and gneiss, at the moderate elevations of 5,755 and 7,675 feet above the level of the sea, nearly corresponding respectively with the heights of the hospice on the Grimsel and the pass of the Great St. Bernard. The cinchona woods in these parts are bounded by the little rivulets Zamoob and Cachyacu. The tree is felled in its first flowering season, or about the fourth or seventh year of its growth, according as it may have been reared from a strong shoot or from seed. At the time of my journey in Peru we learned with surprise that the quantity of the cinchona condeminca annually obtained at Loxa by the cascarilla gatherers, or quina hunters (cascarilleros and casçadores de quina), amounted only to 110 cwt. At that time none of this valuable product found its way into commerce; all that was obtained was shipped at Payta, a post on the Pacific, and conveyed round Cape Horn to Cadiz for the use of the Spanish court. To procure the small supply of 11,000 Spanish pounds no less than 800 or 900 cinchona trees were cut down every year. The older and thicker stems are becoming more and more scarce; but such is the luxuriance of growth that the younger trees-which now supply the demand though measuring only six inches in diameter - frequently attain a height of from fifty-three to sixty-four feet. This beautiful tree, which is adorned with leaves five inches long and two broad, seems, when growing in the thick woods, as if striving to rise above its neighbours. The upper branches spread out, and when agitated by the wind the leaves have a peculiar reddish colour and glistening appearance, which is distinguishable at a great distance." A story was extensively circulated to the effect that the lion (puma) chewed the bark and leaves of the quina tree when tormented by fever; but there is no foundation for the "traveller's tale." Throughout their wanderings in Peru, the travellers were continually astonished at the stupendous remains of great public works erected in the time of the Incas. It is curious to notice what erroneous impressions prevailed in Europe, even long after the return of Humboldt, respecting the civilisation and power of the Peruvians, whom the Pizarros combated so bravely and oppressed so ruthlessly. Lord Macaulay, writing in 1842, draws the comparison, in his masterly essay on Clive, between the natives of Hindostan in the last century, and the Peruvians and Americans of the sixteenth, in which he greatly underrates the importance of the enemies against whom Cortez and Pizarro had to contend, presenting the civilisation of the natives of India as a contrast with the barbarism of Spanish America. "They had not broken in a single animal to labour," he says, speaking of the native American races, while "the natives of Hindostan had built cities larger and richer than Saragossa or Toledo;" and in an elaborate passage he designates the Mexicans and Peruvians as "savages." But when Humboldt and Bonpland travelled among the relics of the ancient Peruvian dominions, they found the remains of a stupendous road, constructed of slabs of hard black stone, twenty feet in breadth, and extending the whole way between Cuzco and Quito, the two ancient capitals of Peru. Now the distance in a direct line between these two cities is no less than 1,000 miles; and as the road necessarily follows the windings of the mountains, some idea may be formed of the magnitude of this stupendous work and of the co-operation necessary to accomplish it. Some of the old Inca roads are covered with a coating of cemented gravel, and have the appearance of being macadamized. Others, which traverse regions where the mountains are unusually steep, are cut out into broad steps, impracticable indeed for the passage of cavalry, but perfectly adapted to the passage of llamas, the Peruvian beasts of burden, which had only light loads to carry. The great road between Cuzco and Quito traverses the mountains at an elevation considerably higher than the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe. Aqueducts and fortifications, on an equally magnificent scale, were also constantly found. "The early Spanish Conquistadores," says Humboldt, "were filled with admiration at the first sight of the roads and aqueducts of the Peruvians; yet not only did they neglect to preserve those great works, but they even wantonly destroyed them. As a natural consequence of the destruction of the aqueducts, the soil was rendered unfertile for want of irrigation. Nevertheless, those works, as well as the roads, were demolished for the sake of obtaining stones, ready hewn, for the erection of new buildings; and the traces of this devastation are more observable near the sea coast than on the ridges of the Andes, or in the deeply-cleft valleys with which that mountain chain is intersected. During our long day's journey from the syenitic rocks of Zaulac to the valley of San Felipe, we had no less than twenty-seven times to ford the Rio de Guancabamba, which falls into the Amazon. We were compelled to do this on account of the numerous sinuosities of the stream; whilst on the brow of a steep precipice near us we had continually within our sight the vestiges of the rectilinear Inca road. The little mountain stream, the Rio de Guancabamba, is not more than from 120 to 150 feet broad; but so strong is the current, that our heavily-laden |